The prophet Amos informed us that “God doesn’t do anything without first revealing His secrets to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Since God’s plan of salvation is central to messages of prophecy, it is important to look at the writings of the prophets within the context of any section of scripture. Doing so tells us why a particular thing was said.
The knowledge imparted by prophecy is meant to be very motivational to those who are or who will be in a relationship with God. God is allowing us a window into the development of His plan of salvation and His desire for a relationship with humanity (Ephesians 1:4-6).
Prophecy is a connector between God’s covenant with ancient Israel and the Church. He made a covenant agreement with Abraham: If he and his descendants would agree to be a people representative of the God family, living under God’s authority by God’s commandments and laws, God would promote them as examples for the rest of the world. As a witness to the existence of God and His plan of salvation for all humanity.
But ancient Israel hardened their hearts and failed to fulfill their obligations. However. God’s plan involved a Savior. Christ would “sprinkle His blood” to ratify the original covenant. A new covenant which would allow human beings a spiritual relationship with God’s laws being written into their hearts.
The New Testament Church became a spiritual organism, a spiritual nation which stands on the foundation of ancient Israel. The ratification of the covenant by the blood of Christ raised humanity to a spiritual plane with God whose focus is bringing many into a personal relationship with Him.
He desires “. . . a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).
The Church’s God-given purpose is to reveal the existence of God, His plan of salvation for all, and the blessings that flow from Him. This is a profound concept that links the Church and ancient Israel together:
“Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’” (Genesis 12:1-3). We could regard this, in type, as the beginning of the Church – an extension of the Church in the wilderness, as Israel came to be known.
As God worked with Abram (Abraham), we see a development of a concept for the role of these people: “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ” (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:16). Through Jesus Christ all the nations of the earth were going to be blessed. That’s the plan of salvation for all of humanity.
Central figures in the development of this plan were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their offspring (Genesis 35:10-11). We are now shown that a nation and a company of nations were going to develop from ancient Israel.
At the end of his life, Jacob, facilitated the fulfillment of these promises. Joseph, as Israel’s first-born son with Rachael, was to receive a double portion of inheritance. That inheritance was fulfilled in Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Joseph’s two sons now bear the name Israel, and they are promised some very specific blessings (Genesis 48: 3-6, 15-16,19-20).
Israel was to be the vehicle that God would use to show His light to the world. God had a plan and a specific purpose for them. Israel entered into a covenant agreement with God at Mount Sinai, an agreement which had specific requirements:
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel” (Exodus 19:5-6).
Israel was to be a national living example of God and of His desire to form a relationship with all humanity. They were meant to stand out as a witness, to be a light to the Gentiles: (“Gentile” simply means any nation that does not descend from Jacob and his12 sons.)
“Surely I (Moses) have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’” (Deuteronomy 4:5-6).
And Israel was the vehicle to bring that knowledge into the world. Knowledge that His love was not just for these people that He set high above all nations. It’s love for all peoples. However, God set out terms and conditions in His covenant with Israel in Deuteronomy 28, blessings for obedience and cursing for lack thereof:
“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you” (Deuteronomy 28:2, 9-10).
But Israel failed to live up to the covenant agreement. Leviticus 26:17 states one aspect of what God would do if the House of Israel did not obey Him: “I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.”
Interestingly, Ephraim and Manasseh had not fulfilled their birthright promises before the House of Israel went into captivity in 722 BCE. Their future was to still to become a nation and a company of nations. God explained why the delay: “. . . if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins “(Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28).
Numbers 14: 34 teaches the principle of using a day to represent a year. So, there was to be 2520 years of punishment after Israel went into captivity which is approximately 1800CE — the years leading up to the industrial revolution. Around the 1800s two nations took off – a nation and a company of nations.
The British Commonwealth and the United States very quickly grew to prominence and became the most powerful peoples in the world. After the seven times of punishment, God fulfilled His promises to Abraham. We see the British Commonwealth, a company of nations, develop a world ruling empire with enormous wealth and power and then alongside but slightly behind it, came the United States of America. There again, a very wealthy, powerful nation. God fulfilled the blessing promises He gave to Abraham.
So, the rise of the Gentile nations over Israel is after the fulfillment of the birthright blessings. This time comes as a result of Ephraim and Manasseh’s continued rejection of God after God had blessed them.
“. . . the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ ‘O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,’ says the Lord God. ‘Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the Lord God. ‘Therefore turn and live!'” (Ezekiel 18:29–32).
God will fulfill the curse promises if they continued in disobedience: “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail“ (Deuteronomy 28:43-44).
God prophesied a time when the Gentile (non-Israelite) nations will rise over Israel: “The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, ‘Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ‘Wail, ‘Woe to the day! For the day is near, Even the day of the Lord is near; It will be a day of clouds, the time of the Gentiles” (Ezekiel 30:1-3).
Christ used this expression as well: “And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). It is then that Christ will directly intervene in the affairs of man. After the Gentiles will have risen high over Israel, Christ returns, and will bring the domination of the Gentiles over Israel to an end:
“I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them.”
“Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name— after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid.
“When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord God” (Ezekiel 39:21-29).
The Bible tells us when the times of the Gentiles begin: “Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months” (Revelation 11:1-2).
The times of the Gentiles begins 42 months before the return of Jesus Christ. “Then the woman (Church) fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days (42 months)” and “And he [the Beast power] was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months “ (Revelation 12:6, 13:5).
The beginning of the times of the Gentiles is the beginning of the tribulation. This is the time when God allows the Gentiles to so dominate Israel to the point that the modern nations of Israel experience captivity. It’s part of the punishment upon Israel for their rebellion and their rejection of God. It is a time when we can see the prophecies beginning to materialize where we see modern day Israel going down in its influence and we see the Gentile nations rising in their influence.
The times of the Gentiles, however, should be measured against the prophecies that God has given regarding Israel. To understand the times of the Gentiles, we need to understand God’s prophecies as they relate to Israel because Israel is central to God’s unfolding plan of salvation.
Today, Israel is both physical and spiritual. There are modern descendants of the nation of Israel and there is the Church, spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel would do well to heed the messages that God has sent through His prophets, because many of those messages that were delivered to Israel ring true and have a bearing on God’s people today.
God loves all of humanity. He wants a relationship with them, and the Church is intended to be the spiritual proclamation of that plan of salvation; a living example as He intended ancient and modern Israel to be. The Church is to be composed of individuals living as examples of that plan.
Brian Orchard