In Bondage to Egypt
In the Book of Exodus we are told about Israel’s bondage in Egypt. “Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. (Exodus 2:23-25)
400 years of slavery
The Israelites had been in slavery in Egypt for 400 years. For much of that time they were under the favour of Joseph and the Pharaoh of Egypt. After Joseph and the Pharaoh had died a new Pharaoh came to the throne and started to inflict and oppress the people of Israel. God had allowed this to happen because He wanted them out of their comfort Zone in Egypt to go to a land of their own promised to Abraham and his descendants through a covenant of blood. (Genesis 15:7-19)
At home in Egypt
The Israelites had been part of the Egyptian world and undoubtedly under Joseph and the Pharaoh that Knew Joseph, God’s people had been enjoying prosperity as they integrated with the Egyptian way of life and culture and embraced their gods and over a period of almost 400 years began to forget their spiritual inheritance, much like many Jewish people today living in the world. However, God wanted them separated from the Egyptians, separated from idols and the way of life in Egyptian society to which the Israelites had become accustomed. He would have to use applied reassure. They were going to learn what it was really like to live under the despotic Pharaoh of Egypt.
Affliction and Torment
The time came when they were so afflicted and tormented and without hope in Egypt because of the tyranny of Pharaoh that they turned back again to God and began to cry out to Him for deliverance. God wanted them to see that He was their God and they were His people and that He wanted a Holy people set apart to Him from the ways and the idolatry and lifestyles of those in Egypt. God had to bring upon His people in Egypt such affliction that they would be forced to cry out to Him for help and deliverance realising the stark reality that they were in fact in slavery to the Egyptians and under the heel and oppression of Pharaoh the ‘god’ of Egypt. When Joseph had been alive they did not see or even contemplate the bondage and affliction to come but after Joseph had died and the Pharaoh who knew him had also died they became aware of their bondage in Egypt and to its despotic overlord Pharaoh who was worshipped as a god.
“An everlasting possession”
Because of His Covenant made to Abraham concerning his descendants and the land of Canaan, today known as Israel, God sent them a deliverer being Moses who would lead them out of bondage to the world of Egypt and lead them to the blood of sprinkling and ultimately into the Promised land of Israel, their inheritance from God, because of the covenant He had made with Abraham and sealed it in blood. Their land was to be for them “an everlasting possession.” (Genesis 17:7-8)
Restored but not renewed
Today Israel has been reborn as a nation as Ezekiel the prophet said they would be in the last days and this happened in 1948 but to this day as a people they are “without the breath of God’s Spirit within them” and are in spiritual bondage to the Egypt of this world and to its overlord ‘Pharaoh’ called Satan. Most Israelis do not see that God is using applied pressure from their enemies surrounding them on all sides to bring them to the point where they will be so desperate that they will cry out to Him for deliverance and to send them their Messiah to deliver them, but it will be on God’s terms and not theirs. The ways and idols of the Egypt of this world has enslaved most of the Israelis today and it is going to take a time of Trouble unparalleled in history for them as a nation to bring them to the feet of their Messiah our Lord Jesus and to the foot of His cross and to the blood of sprinkling by which they can be saved, sanctified, cleansed and spiritually revived. (Hebrews 12:24)
On the brink of annhiliation
A time is coming when Israel as a nation will be saved. (Romans 11:25-29) On the very brink of their total destruction as a nation, and after many have perished in the land and those still left alive are in dire straits, in their desperation they will call upon God who will hear their cry as He did when their forefathers were in Egypt and answer them. Indeed He will avenge his elect who are crying out to Him incessantly day and night for deliverance from their enemies and from the hand of all who hate them. He will answer then speedily.
The Spirit of Grace and Supplication
As the Prophet Zechariah declares; “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives.” (Zechariah 12:10-14) In that day He will banish ungodliness from Jacob and banish their idols “and on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the House of the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 14:21b)
Why is God going to spiritually restore Israel as a nation in the last days?
1. God is going to spiritually restore Israel for His own names sake.
He clearly says through the prophet Ezekiel; “Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, people of Israel! “ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. They will say, “This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.” Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the Lord have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’ “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Once again I will yield to Israel’s plea and do this for them: I will make their people as numerous as sheep, as numerous as the flocks for offerings at Jerusalem during her appointed festivals. So will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 36: 31-38) This will come to its full fruition in the Millennial Kingdom of the Messiah our Lord Jesus.
2. God is going to spiritually restore Israel because of the Blood Covenant.
This was the blood covenant He cut with Abraham as we see in Genesis when God gave the land of Israel to be for them an everlasting possession and affirmed to Abraham the salvation that would come to his descendants through the blood of the New Covenant cut with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. (Genesis 17:7-8) (Jeremiah 31:31) Even though they rejected their Messiah our Lord Jesus when He came the first time and have born the results of that rejection of Him ever since, God will have mercy on them at the last because of His blood covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and ratified and affirmed in the blood of Jesus the Messiah who came “to save His people from their sins.” Many in Israel will perish in the days that lie ahead but many will be saved through faith in the Lord Jesus and be ready to meet Him as their Messiah at His Second Coming. (Zechariah 13:8-9)
3. God is going to spiritually restore Israel because of the Messiah’s sacrifice.
This is the salvation provided for them in their Messiah our Lord Jesus. They will recognize that the Lord Jesus their Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for them and has taken upon Himself the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. (1 Corinthians 5:7) (Galatians 3:13) On that day multitudes of Israelis will be saved! As Isaiah the prophet also writes; “When the enemy comes in, like a flood The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. “The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the Lord. “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, or from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.” (Isaiah 59:19b-21) When any Israeli turns in repentance towards God and turns to faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah for salvation the curse of the law hanging over them is broken and they are set free from spiritual bondage to sin, to the world, to the flesh and to the devil and made inheritors of God’s eternal kingdom. When spiritual revival comes to the Jews in the last days there will be those who turn from transgression in Israel and who will be spiritually revived as they were on the day of Pentecost. (Joel 2:28-32) (Acts 2:17-21) Pentecost in Jerusalem will happen again but it will be in the midst of severe upheaval in the heavens and on the earth.
4. God is going to spiritually restore Israel because God’s gifts and call are irrevocable.
Paul tells us this fact concerning the nation of Israel (Romans 11:29) If God cannot be depended upon to keep his covenant promises to Israel then how can He be depended upon to keep His promises to the Church which by inclusion and extension are members of the Commonwealth of Israel being spiritually grafted into the olive Tree which is Israel, spiritually sustained by the root, being the Lord Jesus the anointed Messiah and the true vine and from whom all spiritual blessings flow to both the natural and engrafted branches believing in Him for salvation. (Romans 11:24)
5. God is going to spiritually restore Israel because He wants them free from bondage to the world.
God will bring Israel to the point where they will realise that serving the Egypt of this world, its idols and trusting in the rulers of this world for their security cannot save them from impending doom. It will be for them that Time of Great Tribulation for Jacob and the burden they carry will be beyond their ability to bear but God will hear their cry as He did in the time of their forefathers in Egypt. He will hear from heaven and respond to their plea and will have compassion on Jacob. He will save them out of the hand of Satan, the Pharaoh of this world and his taskmasters those demon spirits and fallen angels and from idolatry, because God remembers His covenants and His people as He remembered those centuries ago when their forefathers were slaves in Egypt to its gods and overlord Pharaoh. God sent them Moses and will send the Messiah our Lord Jesus back once again and this time the surviving remnant of Israel will receive Him gladly and in that day “All Israel will be saved.” (Romans 11:25-29) Yes the Time of Jacob’s Trouble is coming upon Israel, upon Christendom and upon the whole unbelieving world for that matter but Israel and the saints of God will be saved out of it! (Jeremiah 30:1-7) (Matthew 24:29-31) Once more God is looking upon Israel and acknowledging them and their rescue is coming!
