Body

Understanding Israel
The Kingdom of Israel - Desolate and Restored

Today Israel is largely a secular nation, but to all those that believe in the Messianic Kingdom, that condition is only temporary. Believers look to the Scriptures to define Israel's final state and function in this earth's community of nation. The Scriptures say that Israel and it's rulers are destined to take their place at the head of world government. That the king of Israel (Messiah) will rule not only over one nation (Israel), with (expanded) borders covering much of the middle east, but also over the kingdom of 'meta-Israel' covering the rest of the world and beyond. To understand (and participate in) the process of transformation that the current Israel must undergo we must carefully piece together what the Scriptures say about Messiah, Israel's king, and about the players and events surrounding His return to earth and the setting up of the Kingdom.

To speed that process here, I am borrowing much from a book entitled, "UNTIL The Coming of Messiah and His Kingdom", by Robert Shank

1. The Waiting King:
2. The House Left Desolate:

1. The Waiting King:

For forty days after his resurrection Yesuha spoke to his disciples about the kingdom of God. Their burning question was recorded:

(Acts 1:6 NIV) So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" This 'restoration', would have to wait - but not forever. The king would go away until...

(Hosea 5:14-6:2 NIV) For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces and go away; I will carry them off, with no one to rescue them. {15} Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me." "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. {2} After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.

(Psa 110:1-5 NIV) Of David. A psalm. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." {2} The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. {3} Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." {5} The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.

(Acts 2:34-35 NIV) For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand {35} until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."'

(Acts 3:19-23 NIV) Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, {20} and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus. {21} He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. {22} For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. {23} Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.'

(Rev 2:26-28 NIV) To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations-- {27} 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery' -- just as I have received authority from my Father.

(Acts 15:16-18 NIV) "'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent (the Royal House of David). Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, {17} that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things' {18} that have been known for ages.

(Rom 8:19-23 NIV) The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. {20} For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope {21} that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. {22} We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. {23} Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

(Mat 25:32 NIV) "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

(Mat 19:28 NIV) Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

(Mat 17:11-12 NIV) Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. {12} But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands."

We can summarize these events with the following:

1. Yeshua will sit at the right hand of Jehovah in heaven until the time comes for...
2. The 'times of refreshing' and the 'restoration of all things' which conclude with...
3. His return to earth to crush kings on the day of his wrath, after which...
4. He will rule (with the saints) in the midst of your enemies (millennium).

2. The House Left Desolate: (The Royal House of David)

(Jer 22:1-5 NIV) This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there: {2} 'Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, you who sit on David's throne --you, your officials and your people who come through these gates. {3} This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. {4} For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David's throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. {5} But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin (house will become desolate).'"

(Ezek 21:26-27 NIV) this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Take off the turban, remove the crown (from Zedekiah). It will not be as it was: The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low. {27} A ruin! A ruin! I will make it a ruin! It will not be restored until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs; to him I will give it.'

"Israel's royal house became desolate with the deportation of Zedekiah in 586 B.C. From that time till now, no king of the house of David has sat on David's throne. None shall sit on that throne until Jesus Christ, the Son of David returns to earth to take his rightful place on the throne of David in Jerusalem".- RS

(Luke 2:29-32 NIV) "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. {30} For my eyes have seen your salvation, {31} which you have prepared in the sight of all people, {32} a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

(Luke 2:36-38 NIV) There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, {37} and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. {38} Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

(Zec 9:9 NIV) Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

(Luke 19:41-44 NIV) As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it {42} and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. {43} The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. {44} They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's (visitation) coming to you."

(Mat 23:37-39 NIV) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. {38} Look, your house is left to you desolate. {39} For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

(Mat 21:42-44 NIV) Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone ; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? {43} "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. {44} He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

Comment:

Up until this time, Israel embodied two kingdoms. A physical and a spiritual, an earthly and a heavenly kingdom. The earthly '(fallen) Royal House of David' and the heavenly 'Kingdom of God'. In rejecting their king, Israel postponed indefinitely their earthly kingdom (soon to be restored), but even more important, the spiritual counterpart was torn from natural Israel permanently, and given to a 'nation' (Church) that will produce its fruit. The fact that Israel embodied both kingdoms initially (concealing the fact that there was really two), and has since (for 2000 years) not embodied any kingdom, has given rise to the extreme confusion in both Christianity and Judaism. Judaism refuses to see the mystical spiritual kingdom it died giving birth to, and Christianity, in large part, has dismissed the possibility of a restored (earthly, Levitical) House of David. It behooves us to get serious about unraveling this truth. It is abundantly clear that both Israel and Christianity needs restoration, and God has a detailed plan for both. In brief, the spiritual kingdom must be restored first - it takes precedent. Without the leadership of the spiritual kingdom not only Israel but he whole world is doomed. Once restored, the spiritual kingdom's priority is the protection and restoration of the earthly kingdom, with Israel at the head. - (SD)

but many points and Scriptures go well outside the framework of the book and no attempt is made to distinguish the difference.