The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 10 - The Reason Why

Israel's return to the land wasn't just for the heck of it.  Perhaps you are wondering, what is the ultimate purpose of that return?

Let's jump in.  But we need to go back briefly to the very beginning.

There is a very special word that God uses on day four of creation.  Genesis 1:14 says, And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.  And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years...

The word for seasons is moedim, which literally means appointed times.  God has set up appointments with His people that were built into the very fabric of creation and the biblical calendar.

These appointments are explained in detail in Leviticus 23.  The first is a weekly appointment known as the Sabbath, commemorating the day that God rested after creating the world.  Then, the chapter continues and describes seven annual appointments that are to take place - four in the spring and three in the fall.  People often refer to them as the Biblical Feasts, but the word is moedim. (Moe eh DEEM). Appointments.

For thousands of years, the Jews have celebrated these appointed times.  The bible often translates the observance of these appointments as convocations, or dress rehearsals.  Dress rehearsals for what?

As the biblical narrative unfolds, we see an awesome promise to Abraham.  Genesis 17:7-8 tells us, And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.  And I will give to you and to our offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.

My favorite depiction of YHVH's promise to Abraham

The story continues to unfold, and God makes a covenant with His people at Mt. Sinai after He delivered them from slavery in Egypt.  Unlike the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant, this Sinai Covenant required obedience.  Israel was told what would happen if they did not follow its precepts.  They would be booted out of the land (see Deuteronomy 28:63-64). The ownership of the land was never taken away because of the everlasting Abrahamic covenant, but the right to live in it was temporarily taken away. 

And indeed, failure to obey the Sinai Covenant caused the Israelites to be carried off to Babylon, where they remained for 70 years. But since God had an appointment to keep with His people, they had to return to the land of promise for that appointment - and miraculously, they did.

Several hundred years after Israel's return to the land, the LORD in His perfect timing sent the Messiah, Yeshua, to earth to take on the sin of the world as the Passover Lamb.  Yeshua perfectly kept the Sinai Covenant, yet He was killed, even though He did not owe the death penalty for sin like the rest of us do.  In doing so, He took on our sin Himself and paid the penalty for us.  Through His self-sacrifice, He instituted the New Covenant that had been prophesied to Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-33.

Passover Lamb

And even though the first New Covenant believers were all Jewish, most Jews missed the time of Messiah's first visitation.  They were looking for deliverance from Rome, not from their own sin.

Yeshua said in Luke 19:43-44, He said, For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you.  And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

This was fulfilled in 70 AD, when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Jews were scattered to the ends of the earth.

The second exile lasted much longer than the 70 years in Babylon.  I believe it is because the scope of the New Covenant is much larger and more far-reaching than the Sinai Covenant, which itself pointed to (and was fulfilled by) the Messiah.

But now, Israel is back.  The Messiah, the suffering servant, son of Joseph, perfectly fulfilled the four spring appointed times when He came 2000 years ago.  Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Shavuot saw the precise and perfect fulfillment of His death, burial, resurrection, and indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

The fall feasts have yet to have their ultimate fulfillment.  When Messiah returns as the Son of David and the Conquering King, He will perfectly complete the fall appointed times.  Israel is back in the land so that the Lord can keep this appointment with them and reveal Himself to them.  

Psalm 118 says, 

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of LORD!

(Reminder:  every time you see the word LORD in the Hebrew scriptures, it is -  a representation of the tetragrammaton the name of God, YHVH)

In Matthew 23:38, Yeshua quoted Psalm 118 when he said to the Jewish leaders, "You will not see me again until you say blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD."  Yeshua is reminding His people that He WILL keep His appointment with them when they finally recognize and call out to Him.

Zechariah 12:10 says, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Romans 11 tells us, And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
“and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”

The story doesn't end with the redemption of Israel. The glorious return of the Messiah and the redemption of Israel signals the beginning of a new age, the world to come. Yeshua will come to Jerusalem for the purpose of setting up His kingdom on earth, where He will rule and reign with His redeemed people - those of Israel and those of the nations that are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.  God is preparing to keep an appointment with Israel, in the land of Israel.

It is a big deal.  The biggest deal since the beginning of time, for all who will trust in Him as Redeemer, Lord, and King.

In Isaiah 49:6, YHVH says about the Messiah:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation (Yeshua - Messiah's name, which means salvation) 

may reach to the end of the earth.”

And Revelation 11:5 says, Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

Week after week, the Jews continue to celebrate the appointed time of the Sabbath.  Every week, the Jews partake of bread and wine.  Week after week, they celebrate an incredible dress rehearsal for that which is about to come.

For six days YHVH created the world, and then He rested.  For six thousand years of human history, the world has been in travail.  We are at the dawn of the seventh (and Sabbath) millenium, the thousand years of peace and rule under the coming kingdom of the Messiah (see Revelation 20). The pattern is unmistakable. He is coming again soon.  Have you made Him your king yet?  Will you trust in Him and receive Him?