“Is Israel, Israel?” -3

  In part 1, I offered natural reasons why contemporary Israel is historical Israel. In part 2, I gave my first Biblical reason, in this tidbit I want to reveal yet another Biblical reason why contemporary Israel is historical Israel.
   Biblically, God continually judged Israel for their sin! Why? Because God is perfectly righteous (Deut32:4), He must judge sin (Gen18:25; Ps89:14)! For example, God brought the pagan nation of the Assyrians against the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722BC--for its sin; and subsequently brought the pagan nation of Babylon against the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 586BC--for its sin! I repeat,  Israel is judged repeatedly for their sin!!!!
  However, because God is no respecter of persons, He also judges the Gentile nations for their sin. For example, why do the following nations no longer exist: the Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaims, Amorites, Amalekites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites?!?! Because God is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works(Ps 145:17), He brought judgment against these nations for their sin! Tragically, because the sin of these Gentile nations was so great, God’s judgment was all-consuming, i.e. His judgment FOREVER destroyed these Gentile nations from the face of the earth!
  On the contrary, God makes a difference between the nation of Israel and nations of the world in Jeremiah 46:28: “Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.”
  In other words, although God judges all nations, including Israel, for their sin, Jeremiah 46:28 reveals a distinction between Israel and the Gentile nations!!! But why? In spite of the fact that God is perfectly just(Deut32:4), God has a unique call on Israel, separating Israel from the nations of the world.  For example,
“18.The Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments;
19.and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.”                                     -Deut26:18-19(NAS)
 
“23.And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods?
24.For You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, have become their God.
25.Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as You have spoken”   
-2Sam7:23-25(NAS)
 
   In other words,
1.God judges both the Gentile nations and Israel for their sin. Romans 2:9 declares: “Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile”. The word “First” in Romans 2:9 reveals the Divine order of judgment. In other words, Israel will be judged for their sin before or prior to the Gentile nations because God made His covenant first with Israel. So, God has higher expectations for Israel than the other pagan nations.
2.He gives both Jew and Gentile space to repent(Rev2:21; Gen15:16)
3.If Israel does not repent, God must judge Israel first, which means although He may judge Israel using different measures or intensities of judgment (2Chron12:7), BUT…He will NEVER totally destroy Israel from the face of the earth.
4.If the Gentile nations do not repent, God can choose to give those violating nations a measure of mercy, BUT…He can also choose to forever destroy them from the face of the earth (Gen15:16; Ex17:16).
   Therefore, Israel is the only nation in the world, AND in the history of the world that God will not completely wipe from the face of the earth for their sin! Why? I repeat, because God’s unique call on Israel….is forever! For example, the word for “forever” in 2Samuel 7:24 and 25 is the Hebrew word ‘owlam’! When ‘owlam’ is applied to God, it means eternal; or, God has no beginning and no end. However, when owlam is applied to God’s creation, it means that creation has a beginning, but no end.
   Because Israel is a creation of God(Is43:15), when owlam is applied to Israel, it means the nation of Israel has a beginning, but has no end. In 2Samuel 7:24, God applies owlam to Israel…therefore Israel has a beginning but cannot have an end!
   Again, all this does NOT mean God has not, nor will not judge Israel according to their sin! I repeat, all throughout the Old Testament, Israel was judged for their sin!!! However, because God has a unique covenant with Israel, and that covenant is forever (owlam), unlike what God did with other nations who sinned against Him, He cannot judge Israel into total oblivion!! Therefore, Israel cannot cease to exist…because their existence is rooted in the ‘forever’ covenant of God with Israel!
   So, when Israel became a nation again in 1948, that was God’s ‘forever’ covenant---which can never be broken---that literally raised them up again!
 
   So, “Is Israel, Israel”?  ABSOLUTELY!!! God’s covenant with Israel is FOREVER!!!
 
*Is 43:15- “I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King”. The Hebrew word for “creator” is “bara”, and is the same Hebrew word used by God to create both the heavens and earth, as well as man in Genesis 1!!!
 
 
QuoteBit
Motivation comes through vision, thoughts, and words, but only your resulting actions can turn that motivation in reality.                                                  -Derrick Jackson