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God's Great Timepiece?

There are numerous indicators that the Bible's prophetic warnings to the world concerning the close of the age can be clearly seen in today's headlines.

But there arises a question which we should consider: Is there such a thing as a great biblical timepiece pointing humanity to an end-time clock and evidence of the end of the age? Yes, this certainly does seem to be the case. God's grand timepiece is currently among the most significant centerstage situations in current world affairs. And what is that great timepiece? It is the sovereign nation of Israel.

A good video explaining this matter can be viewed here.

I realize that the idea of Israel as God's great timepiece for recognizing the time of the end is objectionable for many people. By and large the world's opinion and view of Israel is one of contempt, negativity, and disdain. Unfortunately, that disdain produces a sort of inability to recognize the importance of Israel's existence for a significant part of the world's population. And rightly so! The Bible extensively explains the cause for this negative point of view. Long before Israel would become "a byword and hated among the nations" (Deuteronomy 28:37 ESV), God warned Israel that this very thing would occur if Israel failed to follow His commands and continue in His purposes for their existence. Israel failed to obey, and God kept his promises.

Yet, the importance of Israel is far more extensive than the world's negative view of the nation. His promises to Israel pertain to ancient years past, into our current generation, and will continue into the eternal future. If we are to understand Israel's history and place in the world, we must understand these things through the lens of Scripture, and adjust our views accordingly.

While this discussion will be more brief than other subject matters, we will touch upon why Israel is God's great timepiece. We will present some biblical and real-world evidence for the reasons we should view Israel through such a perspective. We will provide numerous video links that allow the reader to listen to capable teachers expound the matter more thoroughly. I will provide a list of books that are among the finest for delving more deeply into this subject. The following are some basic guidelines for our discussion.

1. Israel proves biblical prophecy is accurate and reliable.
While there is most certainly ample proof that biblical prophesy is accurate and reliable, the reestablishment and existence of Israel as a national entity is among the most recognizable. This is true because God has placed Israel on an international stage where their existence causes reaction from the nations of the world, just as the Bible predicted through the writings of the prophets. Possibly the finest explaination of this matter can be found in Dave Hunt's work, A Cup of Trembling: Jerusalem and Bible Prophesy. I highly recommend reading the text.

2. Israel is central to God's efforts and accomplishments in salvation history.
And what is this salvation history? Salvation history is the efforts of God for the benefit of humanity to redeem mankind from the eternal implications of sin (John 3:16; 1 Timothy 1:15; Ephesians 2:4-10).

Furthermore, the nation of Israel is the conduit through which God delivered the Scriptures to the world. Moreover, the nation of Israel is the ethnic race through whom God sent Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Savior of mankind into the world. Jesus Christ is the sole solution for our sins and He is an Israelite.

Quoting Hunt again concerning Israel as the conduit of prophesy and fulfillment, the author writes,

"...there are two major themes of prophesy in the Bible: Israel and the Messiah who comes to Israel and through Israel to the world. Every other topinc of prophesy, whether it be the Antichrist, Christ's second coming, Armageddon, or whatever, finds its focus in relation to these two major themes" (p. 98).

The reestablishment of national Israel is but one facet of these prophesies, and among the most important.

3. Israel is rightly considered the greatest modern sign of the biblical timeline.
The nation of Israel is among the most relevant (arguably the greatest) of all indicators for recognizing the end of the age. One of the unmovable signs of our age is the reestablishment of Israel as a sovereign nation, an absolute requirement for the return of Jesus Christ and the subsequent closing of the period in which we live.

To quote Hunt a final time, the author makes makes the following summary about Israel's existence (italics added):

After being scattered...to every nation on earth, hated, hounded, persecuted, and perpetually made the object of history's most systematic attempts at genocide, the Jewish people have astonishingly survived as an identifiable ethnic, national group of people and have returned to their ancient land! That would be miracle enough, but the prophets had more to say: that in the last days just before the Messiah's [Jesus Christ] return to earth, Jerusalem would be a "cup of trembling…a burdensome stone" for all nations of the earth. We have documented a number of prophecies being fulfilled in our day, but this is undoubtedly one of the most astonishing of all (p. 301).

Dave Hunt is correct. Israel's reestablishment as a self-governed nation on May 14, 1948, after two millennia, is beyond remarkable. What is even more astounding is that the Bible clearly indicates this would happen in the approximate time of the Second Coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

We humbly suggest that a failure to consider Israel's place in the world produces misunderstanding of the time in which we live. We might go so far as to say that it is impossible to rightly understand the time in which we live without recognizing the implications of Israel's existence and place on the world stage.

Join me as we continue to discuss Israel and their remarkable history.

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