Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Stay tuned as Dr. Gary Hedrick discusses Israel's Coming Restoration right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinguished first century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today, our Bible teacher is Dr. Gary Hedrick and he's talking about the coming restoration of National Israel, a restoration in fact that has already begun. I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. And now, with today's installment, here is Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right, thanks and welcome listening friend to another edition of the program. It's good to have you with us today as we continue this series on Israel's Coming Restoration. We're talking about that great prophecy in Ezekiel Chapter 37 about Israel's end-time restoration. And we said that Ezekiel had been studying to be a priest in the temple at Jerusalem, but five years before he would have been old enough to enter temple service, the Babylonians invaded the land and destroyed the temple and the holy city. Tens of thousands of Jewish people, including Ezekiel, were taken captive to Babylon. So with their land taken from them and their beloved temple destroyed, the nation is dead.

But God uses Ezekiel to deliver a message of hope to the nation. He prophesies that one day, God will supernaturally restore the fortunes of Israel. She will be returned to her land, all of the land that was promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But more importantly, Israel will be restored spiritually, that is she will enter into a new covenant relationship with the Lord, and we'll talk about that when we come to it in just a few moments. But Ezekiel's message is that Israel will live again, life from the dead.

And here's what the Lord tells Ezekiel in Chapter 37 verse 12. He says, “Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, oh my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel.” Those graves are the nations of the world where the Jewish people were driven into exile in the Diaspora. But the Lord says, “I will bring you back. I will bring you into the land of Israel.” Let me tell you something, my friend. There's a very special relationship between the Jewish people and their land.

It's almost uncanny how that land has responded to them and how it has blossomed since the Jewish people have returned. By the way, do you know what they call the border between Northern Israel and Syria? It's called the green line because you can stand on a hill looking down into Syria and you can tell where the border is, because everything is green with grass and vegetation and flowers and beautiful plant life right up to the border. And then on the Syrian side, it's stones and sand and desert.

Now, I'm not saying that as a slam against the Syrian people. There are some wonderful Christian brethren, Messianic brethren, in Syria. The Bible tells us that God has an exciting future plan for the Syrians. In fact, prophetically speaking, the destinies of Israel, Syria, and Egypt are linked together. They will all be blessed during the coming Messianic age. So I'm not putting anyone down. I'm just telling you how it is. It's uncanny. The whole border is like that, and that's why they call it the green line: green on the Israeli side, desert on the Syrian side. Maybe you can go with us sometime and see it for yourself.

But he tells them, he says, “I will bring you into the land of Israel.” And he says in verse 13, “And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, oh my people, and brought you out of your graves.” There's that name Yahweh again. “You shall know that I am the Lord.” In our English Bible, it's translated Lord, L-O-R-D, all caps. We call it God's covenant name because that's the name he always uses when he makes a covenant. The name Yahweh emphasizes God's power to keep his promises.

So he tells them when they are brought back to the land, they will know that he is the Lord. He is “I am that I am.” Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 9 says, “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, Yahweh thy Elohim, the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” The 105th Psalm verse 8 says, “He hath remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.”

So let's see if Israel's time has expired. A thousand generations. Well, let's say 40 years for each generation. That's a total of 40,000 years, a thousand generations. Now let's see. The initial promise to Abraham was given about what, 1900 BC or so? We'll just say 3,900 years ago. Now subtract 3,900 from 40,000 and what do you get? 36,100 years. Israel is still covered by the Abrahamic covenant for another 36,100 years. I guess their time isn't up yet, is it?

Now of course, I say that tongue in cheek. We all understand that a thousand generations is a figure of speech. But what I want you to see is that God will keep his covenant with his people Israel and not just to a thousand generations, but to a million generations. And when he takes them back to their land, my friend, they will know that he is the Lord. You say, “Now wait a minute Gary, I thought they were already back in their land. Isn't that the place we call the state of Israel?” Yes, it is, or at least that's part of it.

But the prophetic scriptures tell us that Jerusalem and the land of Israel will be trodden under foot of the Gentiles one last time during the coming tribulation period. Let me show you. Mark your place in Ezekiel 37 so we can come back to it and then turn with me back to Luke Chapter 21. Let's start reading in verse 20. Jesus says, “And when you shall see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that her desolation is near.” Verse 21: “Then let them who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them who are in the midst of it depart from it, and let not them that are in the countries enter into it.”

Verse 22: “For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” Then he says in verse 23: “But woe to them that are with child, and to them that nurse infants in those days, for there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.” Verse 24: “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until when? Until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled.”

Now, sometimes our amillennialist friends will say that this refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. In other words, they say it's past history rather than future prophecy. But don't you ever wonder why they always stop reading right there at the end of verse 24? I'll show you why. Just keep on reading in verse 25. He says, “And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.” Verse 26: “Men's hearts failing them for fear and for expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”

Verse 27: “And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Verse 28: “And when these things begin to come to pass,” he says, “then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” You see, he's not just talking about past history here. He's also talking about future history, which is what prophecy is: history told in advance. Remember this important principle of premillennialism: the term “last days” refers to the times of Messianic fulfillment. We just talked about that a couple of weeks ago.

It's a period that began with the first coming of our Lord and it will end with his second coming. In other words, the apostles were living in the last days and we're still living in the last days. And there are many Old Testament prophecies that apply to both periods: the beginning of this age and the end of this age because the times of Messianic fulfillment encompasses the entire church age. In Acts Chapter 2, Peter in his sermon said that the events of Pentecost marked the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel Chapter 2.

But when you go back and read Joel Chapter 2, you find that most of that prophecy won't be fulfilled until the second coming of Jesus Christ. You see, the same thing happened to Jesus one day when he was reading in the synagogue from the scroll of Isaiah. He stopped reading right in the middle of the prophecy, rolled up the scroll, and just sat down. And the people were amazed. So he told them, he said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” That's why he stopped in the middle of the prophecy, because he wanted them to hear the part that had to do with his first coming.

The rest of the prophecy, if you go back and read it, had to do with his second coming. So you can have one verse of prophecy that has a 2,000 year gap right in the middle of the verse. And that's exactly what's happening in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and here in Luke Chapter 21. Of course there were things that were fulfilled in AD 70. But remember the cycles of history: what goes around comes around. You have the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel. Who fulfilled it? Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC and then Titus in AD 70 and again the future Antichrist or the beast during the tribulation period.

The cycles of history, you see. And look at Jewish history where you have certain dates like the 9th of Av that turn up over and over and over again. The Jerusalem Temple, for example, was destroyed on the 9th of Av. Again, it's the cycles of history. So what does all of this mean? It means Jerusalem will be trodden under foot of the Gentiles one final time. The cycle will be repeated one more time. And then the restoration promises will be fulfilled and Israel will be planted in her land, never to be uprooted again. Well, that's all we have time for. We'll continue on the next program. Until then, this is Gary Hedrick saying God bless you. Take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. We've been listening to Dr. Gary Hedrick discussing Israel's Coming Restoration from the prophecy in Ezekiel Chapter 37. If you found today's program especially helpful and insightful, you'll be glad to know that we have placed the entire series of programs on compact disc. The title is Israel's Coming Restoration. It's available for your gift of just $6 or more to help us keep this program here on your station. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order.

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I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on Israel's Coming Restoration right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas and is made possible on this station by the free will contributions of our listeners in this area.