The Bible ends with a chronicle of Israel dwelling in everlasting peace and safety.  The Book of Revelation provides us with a factual written account of the yet future historical event as it comes to the full at the completion of God’s Plan.  It is a pretty picture, but we have a long way to go to get there.  How can we know that it will happen as prophesied?  The answer is easy – if we believe the word of God.  John saw it happening:

Revelation 21:2-4  I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Then we see a description of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, wherein Israel dwells.  It harkens back to the imagery of a walled city that is safe and protected:

Revelation 21:12  [It] had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:  [Compare Ezekiel 48:31-34]

The great high wall depicts the perfect peace and safety of Israel that will abound.  It will be much greater than the peace and safety that Israel enjoyed during the reigns of David and Solomon.  That peace and safety was lost to Israel because of the sins of breaking God’s Sabbath and idolatry.  And that is where we find our nations of Israel today.  We are dispersed and unrepentant, and certainly not worthy of the promise of a New Jerusalem.  Today, the nations of Israel are in a putrid state of affairs.  When will God strike these sinful nations with His wrath that He calls Jacob’s trouble?

Jeremiah 30:4-7  These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus says the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.  Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child?  Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?  Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but [Israel] shall be saved out of it.

Daniel also makes mention of this time of trouble:

Daniel 12:1  At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

God is faithful to allow His people to go into trouble for a time, only to deliver them out of the trouble and bring them to safety.

Psalm 34:17  The righteous cry, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.

It was the same with Jacob, Joseph and the children of Israel.  God allowed them to go into Egypt for the express purpose of delivering them out of Egypt.  Paul bemoaned the fact that Israel had rejected God, but he found great solace in the fact that Israel would be restored.  His personal prayer to God was for Israel, that they might be saved (Romans 10:1).  Holding the name Israel in respect, Paul refers to them in their sinful state as Jacob:

Romans 11:26  All Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

Paul knows this redemption for Israel is sure because he is reiterating the words of the prophet, Isaiah.  When we read closely we see that Isaiah stipulates that Israel repentance is a prerequisite to restoration.

Isaiah 59:20-21  The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the Lord.  As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord; My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, says the Lord, from henceforth and forever.

This prophecy is clearly speaking of the nations of America and Great Britain, including all its English speaking peoples.  Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, and said, “Let my name be named upon them.”

Genesis 48:16  The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads [Ephraim and Manasseh]; and let my name [Israel] be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

In today’s sermon we will be looking at the first reconciliation of the children of Israel, which foreshadows the future restoration of Israel.  Israel's modern descendants today have a key role yet to play in God's Plan.

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Sermon:

"Restoration of Israel"