This is an artist’s portrayal of what it might look like when the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven. No one knows what that will look like. A lot of people get stuck wondering about the details surrounding Jesus’ second coming while forgetting the most important thing: that there is a lot of work that needs to be done for that to happen. These things are: Helping the Jews home to Israel, preaching the gospel to all nations and being a part of the local church.
The photo above shows a baptism in the Jordan River during our latest group trip to Israel. Nine people were baptized, including a Catholic priest and a young girl from Brazil.
Today we can see that two movements that started 2000 years ago are now nearing their climax. The Jews are on their way home to Israel, and soon the gospel will have reached all nations. Everything is coming together perfectly according to God’s plan.
Just when the Jews started to return to Israel in the middle of the 1800’s, the revival church started to become empowered to conclude the Great Commission. Simultaneously, the Holy Spirit emphasized Bible verses about the Jews as God’s possession. The insight into the meaning of Genesis chapter 12 – where God promises that whoever blesses Abraham (that is, Israel and the Jews) will be blessed – revealed the lies of replacement theology while also revealing God’s true plan for the Jews. Christians began to actively work to help and bless the Jewish people. They realized the association between the final phase of evangelization, the restoration of Israel, the second coming of Christ and the Jews’ Messianic calling to receive Him in Jerusalem. See Zach. 12:9-14:4.
So, should we help the Jews home to Israel?
“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, and set up My standard for the peoples; They shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.” Is. 49:22. The oath is the virgin who will conceive and bear a Son, Jesus (Is. 7:14). When we see the oath, Jesus, all nations will help the Jewish people home to Israel.
“It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues…Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the LORD out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem.” Is. 66:18-21.
“It shall be,” Isaiah foretells, that the nations, you and I, as a way of giving thanks to God, will help the Jewish people home to Israel, to God’s “holy mountain in Jerusalem”!
So how many Jews do they have room for in Israel? “When I have brought them back from the nations…I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind.” Ez. 39:27-29. There will be room for everyone, no one will be left behind, and everyone will be given the opportunity to return.
The inner motives of the church are tested and revealed in the history of the Jewish people. One church has persecuted the Jews for 2000 years and has been indirectly responsible for the suffering and death of a large number of Jews. This church has also intensely attempted to quench all revival movements. The other church, however, is just the opposite. With self-sacrificial love and a huge heart, they have fought for Israel while having a passionate commitment to reaching the lost.
