by crmann on Sun Aug 05, 2007 3:05 pm
Well, Isn't the Lord being good today... In my reading of a book I was given, I came upon another...
Hosea 5:15“I will go away and return to my place until they [Israel] acknowledge their guilt and seek My face in their affliction [during the seventieth week] they will earnestly seek me” This affliction may be understood both of the Assyrian and Babylonish captivity; or rather of their present affliction toward the close of it, when they shall be sensible of their sins, and confess them, and look to him whom they have pierced, and mourn, and seek for pardon, righteousness, and salvation, from him; and so all Israel shall be saved, of whose conversion this is a prophecy.
(1.) He will leave them: I will go and return to my place, to heaven, or to the mercy-seat, the throne of grace, which is his glory. When God punishes sinners he comes out of his place (Isaiah 26:21); but, when he designs them favour, he returns to his place, where he waits to be gracious, upon their submission. Or he will return to his place when he has corrected them, as not regarding them, hiding his face from them, and not taking notice of their troubles or prayers; and this for their further humiliation, till they are qualified in some measure for the returns of his favour. (2.) He will at length work upon them, and bring them home to himself, by their afflictions, which is the thing he waits for; and then he will no longer withdraw from them. Two things are here mentioned as instances of their return:-- [1.] Their penitent confession of sin: Till they acknowledge their offence; marg. Till they be guilty, that is, till they be sensible of their guilt, and be brought to own it, and humble themselves before God for it. Note, When men begin to complain more of their sins than of their afflictions then there begins to be some hope of them; and this is that which God requires of us, when we are under his correcting hand, that we own ourselves in a fault and justly corrected. [2.] Their humble petition for the favour of God: Till they seek my face, which, it may be expected, they will do when they are brought to the last extremity, and they have tried other helpers in vain. In their affliction they will seek me early, that is, diligently and earnestly, and with great importunity; and if they seek him thus, and be sincere in it, though it might be called seeking him late, because it was long ere they were brought to it, yet it is not too late, nay, he is pleased to call it seeking him early, so willing is he to make the best of true penitents in their return to him. Note, When we are under the convictions of sin, and the corrections of the rod, our business is to seek God's face; we must desire the knowledge of him, and an acquaintance with him, that he may manifest himself to us, and for us, in token of his being at peace with us. And it may reasonably be expected that affliction will bring those to God that had long gone astray from him, and kept at a distance. Therefore God for a time turns away from us, that he may turn us to himself, and then return to us.
Satan must do all in his power to prevent what God has clearly pre-dicted He will do with Israel — namely, bring the entire nation back to Himself in salvation. When Israel as a nation comes to her Lord, as the Lord Himself has declared she will, then He alone “will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one" (Zech. 14:9). Satan will use his eighth and final beast empire nation, ruled by his minion Antichrist, in a final but vain attempt to destroy God’s elect nation of Israel and “the rest of her offspring [the church], who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 12:17) — hoping thereby to thwart God’s plan for His people by leaving Him no earthly subjects over which to rule. All of this will occur during the seventieth week of Daniel; all of this, then, encompasses what we call the "end times."
Now, let me point something out here....if you have not already seen it, who is Satan using today (right now) to try to destroy Israel? Why of course, the Muslims...Palestanians....the Persians...the people of Islam. Satan is even now preparing his armies to wipe out Israel.
Once again, looking at Hosea 5:15“I will go away and return to my place until they [Israel] acknowledge their guilt and seek My face in their affliction [during the seventieth week] they will earnestly seek me”
As God did previously when Israel turned away from him, so Jesus has done to Israel when they rejected Him as His first coming.
Matthew 23:39 when He said, “For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” The Apostle Peter tells the Jewish nation that it will not see Jesus again until its people: “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time” (Acts 3:19- 21). “This, then, is the two fold basis of the Second Coming; Israel must confess her national sin,” explains Fruchtenbaum, “and then plead for Messiah to return, to mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son.”
One more sign.... when we see the Nation of Israel saying ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ then we will know He is on His way....
And as we read in Luke 21:28
[color=blue"]Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."[/color]
IN CONCLUSION
The Bible clearly teaches that the time of Jacob’s trouble (the Tribulation), in which the non-elect Jews are to be purged out and removed while the remaining believing remnant will the saved (both spiritually and physically), did not occur through events relating to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Sorry Mr. DeMar, but try as you might, through your naturalist interpretations, you cannot ram, cram and jam these supernatural events into the first century. These texts of Scripture just do not fit! Instead, they require a future fulfillment for a literal nation of Israel. Fruchtenbaum says, “Only by faith in the Son of Man can Israel be regenerated. Only by calling upon the Name of the Lord can Israel be saved spiritually. Only by the return of the Son of Man can Israel be saved physically.” Yet, that is exactly what will occur in the future in the Tribulation. The Lord is setting the stage for these future events since He has brought His chosen people back to their land in anticipation of both the purging of the non-elect and the redemption of the elect. Maranatha!
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to the board, Yogi!
