Welcome to week 2 (The Fulfillment of God’s Mission for Israel in the Future) of ON MISSION with God in Israel.  Throughout our study together, we are building on the admonition to watch and see where God is working and join Him there. In week 1 we learned about God’s plan for Israel, implemented in the past.  This week, we’ll tie the past with the future by studying a diagram to help us visualize God’s plan. The prophet Daniel will put meat on the bones as he reveals God’s plan for Gentiles and Jews. The diagram will help us see the big picture! To close the week, the feasts of Israel will provide additional “color commentary,” further confirming God’s plan. It all points to His work and His invitation for us to join Him!

Before we dive in, be reminded that God, who is ON MISSION on Israel’s behalf and ours, is fully in control and will accomplish His good pleasure.  (Isaiah 46:9c-10)  The question is: will we join Him in His work? God’s plan for the end ties to the past in one coherent flow through history.  Take a look at the diagram below.  It will serve as the illustration for our study through the remainder of the week.  It will illustrate Daniel’s “Seventy Sevens” as well as the feasts of Israel, all meant by God to provide a timeline of God’s work on behalf of the Jewish people and us!  You will notice right away that Israel’s past is inextricably tied to their future. God is at work past, present and future!

There is a lot to unpack here and our study is not designed to dig deeply into every caveat, but let’s hit the highlights to illustrate how God is at work.  (If you want an extended version of this lesson, see Week 2 of a previous study called, Looking for the Blessed Hope.)

Beginning on the left in the diagram, the timeline begins with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Fifty days later, on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down and the Church Age began.  That all happened in the past, and yes, God was at work in the midst of it!  The Church Age continues today and will end at the rapture of the church. Tomorrow we will learn exactly how the Church Age was “carved out” from God’s plan for the Jews so He could offer a way of salvation for Gentiles!  As believers, the rapture is our “finish line” on earth as we know it.  (Though we will be back! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves!)

The Church Age ends and believers are taken out of here by the rapture to enjoy fellowship in heaven with our Savior! Once we are taken from this earth, the Antichrist will come on the scene and the tribulation will commence. While we spend seven glorious years with Jesus at the marriage supper of the Lamb (our “wedding feast”), the Bible tells us all hell will break loose on earth in an event called the tribulation. It will be 7 long years of death, destruction and evil, the likes of which we cannot begin to fathom.  Those who do not know Christ at the rapture are destined for the tribulation. 

Perhaps your mind just went to the Jewish people.  Will they be saved?  Jews come to saving faith in Jesus just like anyone else: only by calling upon the name of Jesus. Nationally-speaking, Israel will absolutely go into the tribulation, though Jews who put their faith in Jesus will accompany Gentile believers in the rapture. After catastrophic disaster, the tribulation will end exactly seven years after it begins, the timing of which we will learn tomorrow.  The merciful conclusion will occur when Jesus returns physically to earth and steps foot on the Mount of Olives!  This is called the Second Coming, and we will return with Him! It is during this time that Jewish eyes, as a nation, will be opened and all Israel will be saved!

That joyous occasion will lead into the Millennial Kingdom (Millennium) during which God’s Word tells us we will reign with Jesus on earth for 1,000 years. Satan will be bound during this royal reign, but will be loosed to wreak havoc again once the 1,000 years end. But not for long!  He will be forever defeated and cast into the lake of fire as God opens up the Great White Throne.  All will stand before that throne and give an account to God during that judgment time.  Of course, those whose sins were forgiven at Calvary, and whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (salvation in Jesus Christ), stand guilt-free before the throne and will live for eternity with Him in the New Heaven and New Earth. Those who never knew Jesus personally will be cast along with Satan and his demons into the lake of fire, where eternal darkness and fire will torture them forever. They will wish for death, but it never comes.

Whew!  That was a long narrative, so now it is your turn!

 Study tips:

• We are living in the Church Age because of Pentecost, when the church was born.  Read Acts 2:1-13.
  • Picture in your mind what the scene must have been like.
  • Seems like quite a crowd gathered from many places, including what are today Arab countries.  What do you think of that?  Do you think we might have surprises in store when we meet Arab brothers and sisters in heaven!  (We will also meet some when we travel to Israel!)
  • According to Acts 2:40-47, describe what happened as the church was born.
• Read Matthew 24:36, Matthew 25:13, and Mark 13:32.  These verses reference the rapture. When will it occur?  Who knows when it will occur? 
• Though no one knows the day or hour of the rapture, we know what marks the beginning of the tribulation and exactly how long it will last.  More about that tomorrow.
• Where will we (believers in Jesus) be during the tribulation?  What will we be doing, according to the diagram?
• The Millennial Kingdom is a bit more complicated than we will get into during this study.  However, read about it in Revelation 20:1-10.
  • In general, what happens to Satan during this 1,000 year period? (verses 1-2)
  • What is the status of the saints (believers in Jesus) during this Millennial reign?
  • Though Satan is bound in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years, what is the string of events detailed in verses 7-10?  What is his final fate?
• According to Revelation 20:11-15, what takes place at the Great White Throne judgment?  The Bible teaches that our sins were totally washed away by the blood of Jesus. At that time, our names are written into the Book of Life. What impact do you believe that has on judgment for us?

Prayer tip: Close today’s lesson praising the Lamb of God who takes away our sins, and thanking Him for removing all judgment from us.  He made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him! (2 Corinthians 5:21)  Hallelujah! If you are following along and do not know Jesus Christ personally as your Savior and Redeemer, today is the day!  Click here to find out how!