Conflicting Kingdoms – Book 5 – Unlikely Messenger

There are many hundreds of Bible prophecies concerning Abraham, and Jacob/Israel. The purpose of this book is to discover the plans and purposes of YHWH God as revealed through these prophetic utterances both in the Old and New Testaments.

Together with the theme of restoration, YHWH’s dealings with the nation of Israel are by far the largest subject of the Bible as far as volume of references are concerned. As such, it must obviously play an important role in YHWH’s plans and purposes for this world and the end times in which we live. The nation of Israel plays such a prominent part in these prophecies that it would be impossible to understand the prophecies if we were to exclude Israel from the picture. It is therefore vital that we ask some pertinent questions, and search honestly to find answers to those questions.

The first obvious question which we must ask ourselves is, Who are these prophecies about Israel speaking about? There are four views which theologians generally hold. They are as follows:

1. Some say that all the prophecies are fulfilled in the Jews of today…
2. Some say the prophecies apply to the church.
3. A third group believes that the prophecies have fallen away and are irrelevant. Effectively, this blindly shuts off the vast majority of Scriptures as insignificant, and I don’t think such a claim is even worth my time to answer.
4. This leaves the fourth group, which is rather small, but believes that the Scriptures will be fulfilled exactly as they stand. They believe that all 12 tribes of Israel (the Jews forming only a small part of two of those tribes) are still alive and well on planet earth and are a part of YHWH’s overall plan for the nations. It is in this group that I find myself, and from this point of view that I teach.

Yet, in considering YHWH’s calling of Israel, one cannot help but be surprised that YHWH should choose them. From the very beginning this was the most unlikely nation to be chosen as YHWH’s messenger nation. The initial calling into Israel’s nationhood came to Abram and Sarai who were not able to have children.

So, as we enter this subject, let us lay some important foundations in trying to understand YHWH’s purposes and the factors behind the conflict between kingdoms. We start with a surprising and significant part of the character of YHWH who created all the nations of mankind as His most beautiful creation: