2001-03-24 - Messiah: His Final Call to Israel

Messiah: His Final Call to Israel Series, Part 24

Someday we will see Jesus face to face. We will rule and reign with Him and we will see peace in the war-torn land of Israel, as well as the entire Earth. We will see peace that lasts, along with blessings that will stagger the imagination. The Final Call Series hopes to encourage your prayers and your witness in cooperating with the Lord as it is His plan to lead Israel back to Him.

God's first call to Israel to return to Him (Jeremiah 3:12-13 ) went unheeded. The strokes of judgment, therefore, had to fall on them. The second call to return (verse 14 ) will not go unheeded.

Jeremiah 3:14 "Return, O backsliding children," saith Jehovah; "for I am a husband unto you: And I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion."

After giving a vision of Jerusalem in the great Kingdom Age of the future, the Lord calls the attention of the people of Israel to the promised blessings which they would have received had they followed Him implicitly.

Jeremiah 3:19-20 But I said, "How I will put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations!" And I said, "ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me. Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel," saith Jehovah.

According to Leviticus 26:1-13 and Deuteronomy 28:1-14, the land of Israel would have been Paradise regained, practically speaking, if the people of Israel had followed the Lord, trusting and obeying.

In a vision, however, Jeremiah sees a host of Israel marching penitentially back to God.

Jeremiah 3:21-25 A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel. Because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God. Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we are come unto thee, for thou art Jehovah our God. Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: Truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. But the shameful thing hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us. For we have sinned against Jehovah our God -- we and our fathers -- from our youth even unto this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.

In this vision the Prophet sees the land of Israel as a desolate waste and the remnant of Israel "marching to Zion," weeping and pouring their heart out to God, "because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten Jehovah their God."

God, who knows the hearts of all men, will realize that the remnant of Israel of the end time is dead in earnest--that the people have genuinely repented of their sinfulness, and sincerely crave His blessings. God, therefore, responds to this situation, saying, "Return ye backsliding children. I will heal your backslidings." By this invitation, God assures the penitent ones that He will accept them.

To this divine response, the penitential ones, by faith, look up into the face of God, confessing:

Jeremiah 3: 23-25 Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. But the shameful thing hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.

According to this quotation, the returning remnant vows that the God of Israel is their God. Then, according to verse 23, they will confess that idolatrous worship is vain. "Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills." Moreover, no help or assistance can be expected from the masses--" the tumult on the mountains." They will realize that "truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel." They close their confession of sin and wickedness by calling attention to the fact that the nation, from time to time, has engaged in idolatry from the beginning of its existence.

When the remnant penitentially returns to God, He will lovingly receive them and bless them in order that they may be a blessing to the world. Israel was formed to be a people who would bring God's ways to the rest of mankind. Jesus (a Jew) proclaimed that the greatest among men would be the servant of men. Israel, in her future greatest capacity, will bring untold blessings to every man, woman and child alive at the time the nation turns back to God and throughout the millennial reign of Jesus. It is within our abilities to pray for the peace (salvation) of Israel. To share Biblical facts and truths in loving friendship and concern for Israel, to our Jewish friends and neighbors. What will you do today to cooperate with God in bringing Israel to a saving knowledge of Him? Please write and let us know.

In His Service,
Rick & Sandy

 liv4yeshua@cfdevotionals.org
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