“For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, and the nations will be utterly ruined.” Isaiah 60:12
A proper understanding of Israel is foundational to a proper understanding of the Rapture. God made promises to Israel that include ruling the nations. The ruling of nations is directly connected to the kingdom of David! Israel failed at this directive by the sovereign plan of God. This failure is highlighted in the Scriptures in two places: Amos 9:11-15 and Acts 15:16-17.
“In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, and wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old.” Amos 9:11
God uses the words ‘fallen booth’ as a term describing the House of David. (2 Samuel 7:5, 11, 16) ‘House’ means kingdom or dynasty. The nation of Israel is to be a dynasty that will last forever.
“Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” 2 Samuel 7:16
God will Restore the Fallen Booth
God is emphasizing in Amos 9:11 that the kingdom promised to David will dominate the world. That which had become a booth, a fallen kingdom, a collapsing dynasty, will rise and rule! God uses three verbs to describe the rise of Israel.
- God says He will ‘wall up its breaches.’ That means that God is going to repair its walls. This means that one day God will set in order what was broken down. When Israel divided into the northern and southern kingdoms, it was a heartbreaking failure. God prophesied in Ezekiel 37: 15-28 that one day He will make the two kingdoms one again.
- God says He will ‘raise up his ruins.’ God is raising up David from the ashes, meaning that Messiah Himself will rule and reign over the whole earth. Zechariah 14 highlights Messiah coming and being the king of the whole world, ruling from Jerusalem. Isaiah 2 teaches that one day all of the nations will stream to meet with the Jewish king of kings!
- God says He will ‘rebuild it as in days of old.’ This is referring to the Temple and the land of Israel, all of her cities. Jeremiah 30-33 emphasizes this truth repeatedly. God especially highlights the rebuilding of the Temple in Zechariah.
Amos 9:11-12 quoted in Acts 15
‘After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,’ Acts 15:16-17
When James quoted Amos 9:11-12, it emphasized the coming reign of Messiah through Israel. (The translation James was reading was from the Dead Sea Scrolls.) Notice the emphasis on the “rest of mankind” (the Gentile nations) called by the Lord’s name. When the church completes its job bringing the gospel to every nation, then Israel will become a channel of blessing to the nations again. This brings me back to Isaiah 60:12. God is clear that all nations will be in a submissive relationship with Israel. In fact, Isaiah 60 emphasizes that the wealth of nations will be brought to Israel.
The Abrahamic Covenant gives Israel an exalted place in God’s program for the world. Genesis 12 promises that Israel will be a channel of blessing to “all peoples on earth.” Genesis 12:3
Israel is God’s servant nation to carry out His plan for all humanity. The church also has a job!
Mystery of the Church
The church is a mystery, meaning that it was unknown until Jesus revealed it and the Holy Spirit initiated its conception. There are at least 13 different mysteries listed in the New Testament. Here are the important ones about the church:
“Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past.” Romans 16:25
“that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Col.1:26-27
“that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel……. and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.” Ephesians 3:3-6, 9
The Church’s Role in God’s Plan
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and even to the remotest parts of the earth.” Acts 1:8
It is clear that the Church has a job to preach the good news of the gospel to all nations. When this responsibility is complete, three things will happen:
- The end of the church age will begin a new phase in God’s plan. When the church finishes the job, Israel will become a channel of blessing again!
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14
“For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,“The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” (Romans 11:25-27)
The book of Revelation catalogues all God will do to make Israel a channel of blessing to the world; including the 144,000 witnesses from twelve tribes of Israel, the two witnesses, and Satan desecrating the Temple!
- The church will be removed so that Israel can be reestablished as the source of blessing to the world. The Rapture will usher in the false church of antichrist rising to deceive many!
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” 1Thess.4:16-17
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.” 1 Tim.4:1
- The nations of the world will reject all that God is doing through Israel. The prophets are very clear about the response of the nations.
“Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it. It shall come about on that day, declares the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves.” Jeremiah 30:7-8
‘For I am with you, declares the LORD, ‘to save you; for I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you, only I will not destroy you completely. But I will chasten you justly and will by no means leave you unpunished.’ Jeremiah 30:11
“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.” Joel 3:1-2
Timing of the Rapture
The rapture of the Church was not prophesied in the Old Testament. What was prophesied was a gap between times God carries out His plan for Israel.
Daniel 9:24-27 teaches us that there are two gaps. The first gap is between Jesus death/resurrection and the destruction of Jerusalem.
The second gap is between Jesus death/resurrection and the last week called the Tribulation. The purpose of the Tribulation is to reestablish Israel as the channel of blessing to the world and prepare the world for the second coming.
The New Testament is clear that we are looking for two things: a resurrection, which no one knows the day or hour, and the second coming, which is replete with signs and events clearly mapped out for us in scripture.
All of the nations of the world will fight Jesus and resist all that He is doing on the earth. The book of Revelation catalogues all of this for us, but the prophets Zechariah and Isaiah give us specific details.
“Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.” Zechariah 14:3-4
“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning. The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name which the mouth of the LORD will designate.” Isaiah 62:1-2
The rapture of the church is very near. One piece of evidence is the large number of nations coming against Israel. For instance, Iran is determined to destroy Israel and the world is very interested in helping Iran accomplish their goal. If it were not for the United States standing in the way, Israel would be in for a big war. Here is an article highlighting the world doing what God said would happen in the last days!
“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that in light of Iran’s substantive breaches of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, (JCPOA, i.e., the Iran nuclear deal), the U.S. is triggering the so-called “snapback” clauses of UN Security Council Resolution 2231. Resolution 2231, passed in 2015, serves as the legal anchor to the JCPOA, which was itself an informal, unsigned agreement between Iran, the U.S., the EU, Russia, China, France, the U.K. and Germany.
Rather than respect 2231’s snapback clauses that the U.S. triggered last Thursday, Russia, China, the EU, the U.K., France and Germany responded to Pompeo’s announcement by claiming that the U.S. lacks the power to trigger the snapback sanctions because the Trump administration abandoned the JCPOA in 2018. For its part, the Obama administration viewed the Security Council as a means to weaken its political opponents. The purpose of Resolution 2231 was to subvert the Senate’s constitutional power to ratify treaties. As Henry Kissinger noted at the time, the JCPOA, which legitimized the greatest state sponsor of terrorism’s illicit nuclear weapons program, upended 70 years of U.S. nuclear non-proliferation efforts. Trumps commitment to preventing a rogue regime, which has pledged to annihilate Israel and aspires to destroy the United States, from acquiring the means to build a nuclear arsenal. Obviously, it is not the Trump administration that is behaving immorally.” carolineglick.com
I hope that you are getting ready for the rapture! Confess your sins, obey God, and believe all that the prophets have foretold. It is an exciting time to be alive, we are praying for you.
