GET READY TO GO HOME

 Even if they don't know it yet, millions of people will be chosen to take the long journey.

You could be among them.

The journey will be turbulent and far from comfortable but the lives of all those who reach their destination will change drastically for the better.

It may be hard for you to believe it but the reasons for this next trip are to be found in what happened thousands of years ago in a distant area of ​​the Middle East.

 

Many years ago the Creator of the universe, Yahweh, made a promise to a man named Abraham that he would have an immense number of descendants as well as the possession of a large geographic, territorial area - Genesis 12:1-9; 1:14-4 p.m.; 28:13-15

Abraham was not chosen at random: his great faith and obedience made him pleasing in the eyes of God - Genesis 22:9-18

Abraham begat Isaac at a very old age when, from a human point of view, it seemed impossible for this to happen - compare Genesis 18:9-14

This event was very important because it demonstrated that God's purpose was sure to come true.

After this miraculous birth Isaac begat Jacob who took the name of “Israel”: he became the patriarch, the father of all the homonymous nation – Genesis 32:28; 33:20

Jacob had twelve sons who would in time found the twelve tribes of that nation we know today as Israel - Genesis 35:22-26

However before this happened several things happened including a great famine which forced the children of Israel, still nomadic and without their own land, to move to Egypt - Genesis 41:25-27, 36, 56, 57; 42:1-3

After a welcoming start from the first pharaoh, in time the Egyptians had a new pharaoh who began to mistreat and enslave them - Genesis 45:14-20; Exodus 1:8-11

It had now been several years since God had made that promise to Abraham...

Had he forgotten or had he changed his mind?

Obviously not because He is not a mere human being: God cannot lie, forget or change his mind – Isaiah 55:11; Romans 11:28, 29; Hebrews 6:17, 18

That promise was in fact repeated to Moses, a Levite Jew raised as an Egyptian - Exodus 3:6-10

After various vicissitudes and a turbulent exodus through the desert, in fulfillment of the promise made to the children of Israel, they finally occupied part of that territory.

The prophecy was fulfilled… but did it end there?

No, to begin with because they never occupied all the territory originally promised to Abraham but in addition, as confirmed by the biblical story, several years later the people were hit by an internal crisis which led them to civil war and finally to division - 1 Kings 11:29-33

This happened, in essence, because the people became disobedient by forgetting the True God, the God of their ancestor Abraham, the One who had freed and greatly blessed them.

The kingdom of Israel, originally composed of 12 tribes, then divided into the "northern kingdom" and "southern kingdom".

The northern kingdom was made up of 10 tribes, among which Ephraim which became the main one (and in fact this name will later be used to indicate all that kingdom), while the southern kingdom remained composed only of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, including the the screws.

From then on there were several problems and this disobedience, as well as blatant idolatry and violence, brought the people of the northern kingdom face to face against the Assyrian might.

The northern kingdom was therefore dispersed around 730 BC and this was in fulfillment of the words that God had spoken many years before: words that they knew very well - Deuteronomy 29:2 4 -28

The Assyrians , after deporting the Israelites of the northern kingdom throughout their vast empire , placed people of different origins including Babylonians and others in that territory – 2 Kings 17:24

God had explained very clearly that if they became disobedient and wicked He would allow other nations to do this .

Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, i.e. those of the southern kingdom, were spared the deportation of the time.

However, over 100 years later a similar thing happened to them too, again for the same reason, but from an entirely different power: Babylon.

Did Israel's disobedience make God's covenant useless? Did God's purpose come to naught?

Of course not: nothing and no one can stop God from fulfilling his purposes – Daniel 4:35

The covenant that He had made with Abraham had foreseen this situation and in fact also included the conditions for the return.

He had said that even after their eventual deportation, when they repented of their evil deeds and returned wholeheartedly, he would allow them to return to their homeland – see Deuteronomy 30:1-7

This was exactly what happened, some seventy years later, for the tribes of the southern kingdom.

In God's appointed time, the kingdom of Judah was able to return to its homeland, rebuild the temple, and restore pure worship - Isaiah 44:24-28

What, however, of the tribes of the northern kingdom or Ephraim and the others, dispersed several years before?

They never came back.

From that moment on, historically, only the tribes of the southern kingdom will be spoken of as the "Jewish people", even as Israel itself.

But Jacob had twelve sons, not just two.

Since biblical and secular history apparently make no further mention of these tribes, precisely because they were scattered among Assyrian power and elsewhere in the distant past, should we conclude that God forgot about them or abandoned them altogether?

As we have already said, this is not really possible.

For Him there is nothing that is unachievable: His Own Name shows that He can accomplish whatever He wishes - Exodus 3:13-15; Job 42:2

Let's stop for a moment.

By now you may have smiled because your religion has taught you that Israel has been rejected by God and that the nation as well as the Jews themselves are no longer particularly relevant to His purpose.

Or they may have taught you that "the church" is one thing while the people of Israel are quite another.

Before closing any further reflection and perhaps not continuing reading, I encourage you to question yourself again.

People who have taught you that "Israel has been rejected" will surely agree that God does not lie or change his mind.

If this is true … how is it possible to reconcile God's clear statement that he made a covenant to time indefinite with Abraham and his seed, and then assert that they were rejected because they were disobedient?

Disobedience, as we saw in Deuteronomy 30, had already been taken into account by God, who can do everything and sees everything in advance.

As you can read for yourself, in this pact there were no annotations or "fine print" as seen in man-made contracts in this age of disloyal and deceitful where everything is questionable and interpretable.

God, on the contrary, was very clear.

Furthermore, He clearly stated that He Himself would choose the land where His Name would dwell forever – 1 Kings 8:27-30; 9:1-3; 11:36; 2 Kings 21:7; 2 Chronicles 6:6; Nehemiah 1:8, 9

Reading these scriptures, don't you seem to see a contradiction in the teaching of those who say that Israel has been rejected forever?

Furthermore, doesn't it seem at least illogical to you that, because of the infidelity of the many, God also renounces the land chosen by Himself?

Those who have spoken to you about this "definitive abandonment" are perhaps the same ones who have explained to you that the war of Armageddon will not mean the destruction of the entire planet, as some believe, for the simple fact that it would not be logical.

A landlord who had unworthy tenants, who maybe soiled, disturbed the neighbors or didn't pay the rent... what would be more logical for him to do?

Would it be more logical for him to blow up the whole apartment (or to choose another one) or simply to kick out those unworthy tenants? - compare Matthew 21:43

If this is logical for the war of Armageddon, why should it be illogical for the land of Israel?

If even the people, in the majority and not all, proved to be like those unworthy tenants, wouldn't it be more normal to "rent the apartment to others" rather than destroying or abandoning it?

However that God did not forsake Israel we understand not simply from logical conclusions but from the Scriptures themselves.

To understand this, we need to read the scriptures without religious bias or bias – read Luke 10:21

The apostle Paul, speaking to the Romans who had become Christians asked... “God has not rejected his people, has he? Never be! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin” – Romans 11:1

If you continue reading this interesting chapter, there will be talk of the holy firstfruits to which would be added the gentiles (people of the nations) who were likened to wild branches grafted on.

Who was the holy first fruits?

Obviously they were the apostles and first disciples of the Lord, all strictly Jews, especially those present at Pentecost 33 AD - Acts 2:1-4

To remind the Romans not to take for granted the great privilege they now had, they were told not to exalt themselves over the natural branches (the Jews) but to be afraid and to realize that "it was not they who bore the root but the root to bring them” – Romans 11:17, 18

It is true that the Lord is called "the root of David" but the apostle Paul, in that context, is speaking of the Jewish root from which true worship originated - John 4:22

Despite the evidence from Scripture, religions are in dire need of eliminating Israel from God's prophecy and will because… if they were never truly rejected, who are they and what do they represent?

All religions that exist today are self-referential, i.e. they have never had any legitimation from God.

To try to prove their doctrines, as well as their very existence, they usually cite two particular biblical episodes.

The first episode concerns the words of Jesus when he said… “ your house is about to be left desolate ” – Matthew 23:37, 38

The second episode will probably be that of the Samaritan woman at the well where he said “ the hour is coming, indeed it has already come, that true adorers will adore the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeks such worshippers. God is Spirit; and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth" - John 4:23, 24

However none of these scriptures prove in the slightest what they would argue.

In the first case, the Lord is saying that because of their crimes, Jerusalem would be severely punished in a similar way to what happened many years before, in the time of the Babylonians.

Even at the time they were punished and the destruction of the temple may have seemed like a final judgment, from a human point of view, but after seventy years, in fulfillment of the promise, they returned and re-established pure worship.

Not only was Israel as a people not abandoned at the time, but it was during this period that notable personalities such as Daniel and others were born .

The insinuation that God forgave them in the time of Babylon (that time) but no longer in the first century also has no logical or scriptural basis.

Meanwhile, not all Israelites denied the Messiah: as we have seen, the disciples of the Lord, although a minority, constituted a representation of faithful Israel... but then believing that God keeps account of transgressions is profoundly wrong - compare Psalm 130:3, 4

On one occasion Peter asked the Lord if he should forgive his brother "up to seven times" but the Lord replied "I do not say to you: Up to seven times, but: Up to seventy-seven times" - Matthew 18:22

By this the Lord was simply teaching Peter and all of us the duty to forgive the truly repentant person regardless – compare Luke 17:3, 4

If we are consistent with these words we cannot think that the Son of God would have taught Peter something that God himself would not have done - compare Psalm 15:4

Jesus' words on that occasion obviously condemned the wicked Israelites, but neither their descendants nor the nation would be forsaken forever.

Do you remember God's promise?

“When all these things which I have set before you, the blessing and the curse, shall be accomplished upon you, and you shall call them to your mind in the midst of all the nations, whither the Lord your God shall have driven you out, if you turn to the Lord your God and you will obey his voice, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, as I command you today, then the Lord your God will bring back your prisoners, will have mercy on you and will collect you from new from all the peoples among whom the Lord your God scattered you. Even if your exiles were at the ends of the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and from there he will take you back. The Lord your God will bring you back to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it;

What about the episode at the well?

This too has no title in replacement theology.

Meanwhile, Jesus explains to the Samaritan woman that they adored what they did not know because salvation comes precisely from the Jews, but he also explains to her that God would have chosen people according to His heart and not exclusively by birthright.

Furthermore, the conversation centered on the place of worship: Jerusalem.

Until then the Israelites used to go to Jerusalem to worship but with the coming of the Lord this would no longer be necessary or possible - Matthew 18:18-20

He knew very well that within a few decades the city of Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed – read Matthew 24:1, 2

Once the foretold destruction came, how would the disciples feel if they gave Jerusalem and the temple that centrality for worship?

Obviously God can be worshiped in any place: this is not in question.

The same prophet Daniel is mentioned many times praying and being listened to despite being a long way from Jerusalem and at a time when the temple no longer existed – compare Daniel 9:20-23

This was because Daniel was a "very desirable" man from God's point of view, that is, according to His heart.

Among other things, Abraham himself was heard by God before the people of Israel, Jerusalem or the temple existed: this happened because he was just and faithful - Galatians 3:11; Romans 11:8-10

So Jesus is not at all telling the Samaritan woman that God's people would be replaced or abandoned: if anything, he explained to her that it was not the place that counted nor the formality of adoration.

God sees the heart – 1 Samuel 16:7; Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26

Indeed the apostles of the Lord were all Jews: they constituted a representation of that people, those obedient Jews and according to the heart of God, that holy first fruits to which the Gentiles should have attached themselves in order to receive holiness and also become part of the people of God.

No Gentile, of his own accord, could ever become part of God's people because He had chosen the seed of Abraham - Genesis 22:18

Cornelius himself, a Roman centurion of whom everyone spoke well, had to wait for the visit of the apostle Peter to be baptized - Acts 10:44-48

Neither he nor any other Gentile at the time founded a religion: all these "grafted branches," as Paul later called them, recognized the priority of the Jews in this regard.

The prophecy also said that true worship would be stifled by ravenous wolves who would take over – see Matthew 13:24-30; Acts 20:29, 30

When did this happen—that is, when did true worship end?

It ended right at the death of the last Jewish apostle, certainly not at the death of any Gentile convert - compare 1 John 2:18

It was normal for this to happen because, even if from the point of view of hope there would have been no difference between Jews and Greeks, it was the Jews who received the sacred oracles of God - read Romans 3:1, 2

They alone formed that leadership that made important decisions regarding circumcision and other matters.

They alone acted as a restraint on the vicious rapacious wolves already lurking in the congregations and just waiting for an opportunity to leap out and devour the flock.

Reflecting on the structure of first century Christianity (the only true and approved by God) you will understand that everything your religion tells you about the abandonment of Israel and the Jews is simply false; perhaps they will do it in good faith but the concept does not change.

The current existing religions are self-referential because they are separated from the original olive tree, the Jewish one, the only one that could have given them the necessary authority also through the Holy Spirit.

True worship did not restart in the last century or some other date in the past, nor will it restart in any country in the United States, Italy, or China…but it will restart exactly where it started.

As we have seen, however, those who are currently recognized as "Jews" are actually a small minority of God's original twelve-tribe people.

Millions and millions of people, originally from these ten tribes dispersed 2700 years ago, are still among the nations.

How many of them there are and in how many nations they are today we cannot know... but God does.

God has not changed his mind about his promise: as Judah returned to his homeland, so it must be for Ephraim.

However, you may ask yourself, “How is this possible since Israel is a small nation and already densely populated?”

In the meantime, note what a prophetic scripture says : “Lift up your eyes all around and see. All of them gather and come to you. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt put upon them all as an ornament, and bind them upon thee as a bride. Therefore your deserted and desolate places and your land once stricken with destruction will now be too cramped for the inhabitants, while those who devoured you will be far away. The children you will have after those you have lost will whisper in your ear: "This place is too narrow for me; give me more space so that I can settle down". - Isaiah 49:18-20

Even if this scripture will not be fulfilled immediately, it demonstrates not only how God has everything under control but also how the scripture contains all the useful information for our saving education.

Obviously we cannot even delude ourselves that all this will happen peacefully and without shocks: can you imagine the reaction of the current inhabitants of Israel but also of the surrounding nations in learning that millions of people, of every tribe and people and language, will be organized to reach the land promised to them by God thousands of years ago?

This news will not be greeted with joy.

Note what the scripture says… “ Listen to the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word.
"Your brothers, who hate you and drive you away because of my name, say:" Let the LORD appear in his glory, so that we may see your joy! ". But they will be put to shame” – Isaiah 66:5

Precisely the brothers of this mass of people, at least the majority, will not react well to this news and will do everything to keep them away.

Even though God's will will be fulfilled in any case, this stubbornness of both Israel and other nations will cause various problems for the world at large.

Do you remember what happened to Egypt and Pharaoh himself for refusing to let the Jews go? - Exodus 7:2, 3

That great nation was plagued by several plagues that finally left the Egyptian people exhausted.

Furthermore, his false "gods" showed all their impotence and uselessness before the True God.

A similar thing will happen during what the Bible calls “the time of the end.”

As the Lord said “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom” and several other things you will find described in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21.

Even though “it is necessary that these things should take place”, God's people need not be terrified on the contrary… that will be the moment to “lift up their heads” because their deliverance will have drawn near – Mark 13:7; Luke 21:28

But before all this happens, widespread biblical education is needed because religions have deceived people from wholesome teaching – Jeremiah 23:28-32

They have applied Bible prophecy to themselves, misleading its meaning, saying that Israel, as a people and a nation, has been forsaken – read Isaiah 49:14, 15

They taught that to become part of God's people it is enough to "believe in God" or in Jesus - compare James 2:19

Some have taught that the end time began over 100 years ago and this is false - compare Luke 21:8

Many have polluted pure biblical teaching with Greek, Oriental and all kinds of philosophies.

These religions speak of a "spiritual Israel", but giving it the meaning of "symbolic", to confuse and distance from the truth - John 17:17

Spiritual and symbolic are not synonymous but confusing the terms is functional to their very existence.

The Israel of God is yes, spiritual , because as we have seen it would have been selected for obedience and condition of heart and not "apart from descent", but it is certainly not symbolic : Israel remains Israel and the Gentiles, grafted like branches wild, they become part of this Israel by enlarging its identity but which always depends on it - Romans 9:6-8

While religious ministers will be firm in trying to belittle, ridicule, or even impede this aspect of God's will, they will be shamed as were the Egyptian priests and their gods.

In order for people to understand that it is God's will that his people return to the "land where His Name dwells" it is necessary to question the dogmas that have been imposed on us and to study the Bible without conditioning.

Believe it or not, the day is coming when the two kingdoms of Israel, the northern and the southern, will once again be one as they were in the beginning – read Ezekiel 37:15-20

Even if it will be preceded by a particularly difficult period, for those who arrive at their destination, life will change drastically for the better.

No more wars or disease; there will be perfect health and plenty of food – Isaiah 65:20-24; Micah 3:10; Malachi 4:1-4

There will be no more injustice nor any reason to fear – Psalm 46:9; Micah 4:3; Ezekiel 39:25-27

Only then will the thousand-year reign of Christ begin, about which you have certainly heard.

Whether or not you are part of this large crowd will depend, at least in part, on understanding the importance of this information.