Friends, our journey together is gaining momentum and I continue to pray that you are blessed as you join us in Looking for the Blessed Hope!  My objective is to invite you to partake in the live study we’re doing on Thursday nights (along with Individual Study throughout the week).  I only wish you could join our discussions!

 

Israel…God’s chosen land and God’s chosen people!  The Lord has a very special and very specific plan for His chosen ones, and it is laid out in Bible prophecy.  Through the hundreds of prophecies already fulfilled, we are given assurance that God will be just as faithful to fulfill prophecies to come.  By studying fulfilled prophecies of the past we get some idea of how future prophecies will play out in history.

 

I’m excited about this week’s study and I have prayed that the time we spend in study this week will further ignite our excitement about God’s promises, not only to His chosen people…the Jews, but also to those of us He has “grafted in” to partake of His precious promises as well.

 

This week’s Individual Study will culminate with Ezekiel’s fascinating prophecy concerning the re-birth of Israel.  However, before we can understand the re-birth of Israel, we need to understand the original birth of Israel!

 

But let’s get a jump start!  To better understand the importance of prophecy, we need to examine how God established His relationship with His chosen people.  Over 3500 years ago, God called Abram (later named Abraham) out of Ur of the Chaldeans (in modern-day Iraq), and initiated the covenant found in Genesis 12:1-3, defined in Genesis 15:1-21, and reaffirmed in Genesis 17:1-21.  Prior to God’s covenant with Abram, there was no Israel, and Jews did not exist.   Here is a diagram of Abram’s route to the Promised Land (Israel):

I visited Abraham’s Gate in March.  It is located in Tel Dan (Northern Israel), and may well be a city gate Abraham passed through when he arrived in the Promised Land!

 

Other key events in Israel’s 3500+ year history include:

• The Israelite Period – highlighted by Jacob’s son, Joseph’s, slavery in Egypt and rescue of his family from family.
• Wilderness Wandering – featuring Moses leading the people out of Egypt, and Joshua leading them into back into the Promised Land.
• Kingdom Age – Israel’s desire for an earthly king (approximately 1022 – 933 BC)
• Building of the first temple (approximately 952 BC)
• Divided Kingdom – when Israel was split between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.
• Babylonian Captivity and Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of the first temple.
• Captivity prophets and the Jews’ return to the land of Israel to re-build Jerusalem and the temple.
• The Roman Empire – in control during the time of Jesus.
• Destruction of the second temple (70 AD) and the subsequent dispersion of the Jews.
• The re-birth of Israel on May 14, 1948.

 

We’ll look at those things and more this week!  Our crowning moment will be the study of the very fascinating prophecy regarding the re-birth of Israel.  You won’t want to miss that, as it is perhaps THE key end time prophecy at this point in history.

 

Jump back on the boat, as we’ve got ground to cover!  Have a good week!