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The saints of God, who have their names
written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, should be the most
excited people in the world. For almost 2000 years, the
church has served the King of the Jews and has been grafted
contrary to nature into the True Vine. We are spiritually
His chosen people, fulfilling His will by proclaiming the
good news of salvation. Our future is star studded. We are
going to be His eternal Bride and dwell in the foursquare
city of New Jerusalem. Even though we are called a wild
olive tree by Apostle Paul, we are not called less than
precious by the Lord Jesus Himself.
His Gospel message of redemption has been
preserved alive by His church and tens of millions have been
redeemed from sin. The Scripture states,
“For if the casting away of them be
the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of
them be, but life from the dead? For if the first fruit be
holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are
the branches” (Romans 11:15-16). For two millenniums,
the only message of reconciliation has been declared by His
called and chosen saints. Now, in the end of this age, we
are about to behold the return of the Jews to the Messiah
they rejected and shared in crucifying. These are the very
people that God used to preserve the seed of woman until a
virgin named Mary could hear God’s voice, be overshadowed by
the Holy Ghost, and bear the Son of Man to be
“Emmanuel, God with us.” Such
a moment could not have occurred without the chosen people
of Israel.
Jesus announced to a sinful Samaritan
woman, “Ye worship ye know not what:
we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews”
(John 4:22). The Jews were not better than the Gentiles
because any Gentile could be redeemed by simply accepting
the true God as taught by His people. In fact, two Gentile
women were converted, became part of the lineage of the
Messiah, and helped preserve the seed of woman. God is no
respecter of persons. The Jews were not chosen because they
were superior. The only superiority anyone possesses is the
result of their being chosen, not the basis of His choices.
God alone chose men and women who were pure of heart and
willing to follow Him. The result was His chosen people.
That was true in the First Testament and it is certainly
true in the New Testament.
The hour has come for the Jews to be
reconciled. Ezekiel spoke of this day for Israel and said,
“After many days thou shalt be
visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land
that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of
many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have
been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the
nations...” (Ezekiel 38:8). Zechariah spoke of the
same day, “Behold, I will make
Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round
about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah
and against Jerusalem” (Zechariah 12:2). It is
impossible to separate what has already happened to Israel
from the rest of the story. How quickly the final moments of
their spiritual redemption might occur cannot be set, but
occur it will.
When the Rapture of the saints has
transpired, the time of Jacob’s trouble must begin. It will
be brutal beyond measure, but the darkness of the hour will
only serve to create the spirit of grace in the hearts of
those that escape. God Himself will act in that hour.
“And I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of
grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one
mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for
him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn”
(Zechariah 12:10). As the suffering Jews mourn for their
Messiah, He will return to the place of His ascension. It
appears that they will see Him on the Mount of Olives or as
He enters the Golden Gate of the Temple Mount. What a
statement! “And one shall say unto
him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall
answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my
friends” (Zechariah 13:6). My imagination fails me to
fully describe the glory of this moment.
After thousands of years of praying for
the Messiah -- only to reject Him when He appeared -- they
will look upon Him, see the wounds inflicted at the cross,
and will say to Him, “the Lord is my
God” (Zechariah 13:9). The church that has sacrificed
much -- sent some of its best to die as missionaries on
foreign soils, served the King unto death, which was often
premature, and fought to win the prize -- should be shouting
with joy that His own brethren are soon to be saved. Their
literal city, Jerusalem, will escape its present bondage to
become the capitol of the whole earth and the palace of the
King of Kings. Hope is in the air!
Joseph R Chambers
jrc@pawcreek.org
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