Opus 2026-333: Keep the Entire Promise in Mind

What does it mean to be God’s chosen people?  Not what you think.

It is the promise, for sure.  God offered blessings, physical and spiritual.

It was also the reality.  God made it all available, gave them access and opportunity.  At the same time He knew that His second gift after life, free will, would open avenues of choice that would drag most of them into perdition.

Some like to focus on God’s promises to Israel.  For the moment set aside if they were conditional or unconditional.  The pattern that developed after the first round of promises was that Israel almost unanimously chose to ignore the expectations of God and try to take advantage of the riches offered as God’s people.  They did it by ignoring Him and living lives of evil and self gratification.  

God says they will eventually return to Him.  Again I don’t care if He forces the issue of repentance or if it comes before the restoration.  Under either scenario there is also the assurance of massive destruction.  To make that clear:  Almost all of Isreal will be killed by violence and suffering.  Take you pick.  You can have the sword, disease, starvation or natural disaster.  This is portrayed as extinction level although it seems that some will always survive.  

We have no comprehension of what this means.  We apply our comic book view of a battle.  We play video games where we can gain extra lives.  When we hear about massive casualties we are usually referring to 10% or less and that includes the walking wounded.  Picture the massive invasion of D-Day in this Biblical rendering.  Out of the hundreds of thousands of troups who stormed the beaches picture a dozen being able to walk out at the other end.  That would be the nature of the preservation of Israel.  All were invited, few survived to celebrate.

Is the modern state of Israel the fulfillment of prophecy?  Except for the name and a small percentage that are serious about the things of God, there is nothing that correlates to the descriptions in the Prophets.  In both types of predictions, conditional or unconditional, there is a return to faithfulness and righteous living.  That has no indication of being in the cards after all these years.  The land?  The parameters of Solomon’s kingdom are still not reached.  

Either way, unless you are Jewish, it does not make any difference in your life or mine.  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem but trust in the blood of Jesus.  

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