Is All This Just A Coincidence?
Good Morning Friends,
The story and success of the Jewish people is pretty incredible. In many ways their very existence proves the accuracy of the Bible. The odds of all those prophecies being fulfilled and the very existence of Israel today defies the law of probabilities. But, Is All This Just A Coincidence?
Scripture: Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to put him to death. Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with the disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?”
John 11:45-56 (NRSV)
Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.
Ezekiel 37:11-14 (NRSV)
The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, take a stick and write on it, “For Judah, and the Israelites associated with it”; then take another stick and write on it, “For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it”; and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. And when your people say to you, “Will you not show us what you mean by these?” say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with it; and I will put the stick of Judah upon it, and make them one stick, in order that they may be one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, then say to them, thus says the Lord God: I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms. They shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God. My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes. They shall live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your ancestors lived; they and their children and their children’s children shall live there forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary among them forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations shall know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forevermore.
Ezekiel 37:15-28 (NRSV)
Message: I wonder how we would have experienced the time of the Passover when Jesus came into Jerusalem as a conquering King and how we would have considered the prophecies of Ezekiel manifested in the Messiah and those yet to come on Jesus’ return. Would we have seen the plot and the prophecy of a pompous priest? Would we have considered it coincidence? Would we have been moved by the presence of Jesus and felt the importance of the whole experience or would our emotions and intellect have been caught up in the mentality of the crowds and elite? Would we have realized the importance of the events as a partial fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy? And friends, how do we interpret the events we face in the world today? How do our leaders? Perhaps the promise of Ezekiel 37 has been unfolding right before our very eyes in our lifetimes. Ezekiel was written to those in the Babylonian captivity but even today the prophecy of Ezekiel 37 has not yet been completely fulfilled. However in Holy History these passages seem to fit the historical return of Israel to the land over the last couple of generation. Even more remarkable than the first return (from Babylonian captivity) was the second return of the people to the land beginning in the late 19th century and culminating in the establishment of the modern day State of Israel on May 14, 1948. Friends this is after 1900 years without a place to call one’s own nation. Is it just good luck that Israel has survived the consistent and relentless attacks meant to destroy her since the day after she was declared a nation? There is more too this so do not make the mistake of glossing over it. The events of Holy Week have a significance that is deeper and wider than most grasp. Around this pivots the promises of God. What has been fulfilled and what is yet to be. Friends, know this, the spiritual life in the Messiah is still in the future and will occur when Israel turns to Christ as King. Friends, God keeps promises. So do not be surprised if God’s promises to Israel are being fulfilled before our very eyes. Scripture can be trusted, and the rest of God’s promises are close at hand. We do not know the time but is anticipating Jesus coming soon such a crazy thing. We need to be ready to meet Jesus. Jesus may be coming sooner than you think.
Pray we realize that Jesus brings us life but also accountability. Pray we realize that Jesus is Israel’s sacrifice but also ours. Pray we have a friend in Jesus and that more Jews discover they have a friend as well. Pray as we prepare for Palm Sunday and the celebration of the return of the conquering King into Jerusalem nearly 2000 years ago that we are also to contemplate Jesus’ second return. Pray we are ready for what is to come. Pray we not forget the promise in Genesis 12 to Abraham to make a great nation. Pray God’s Kingdom come on earth as in heaven. Pray we all are restored with a right mind
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 