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