Church and Israel

[Celina Rose]

Hi,,, I really don't understand much about prophecy.
And I believe one reason is that I can't understand [exactly] how everything shifted from Israel to church.

I don't really "GET" the relationship of Israel and the Church..

You see, I don't understand the prophets. I used to read it and not knowing that I wasn't interpreting it literally, and bam... before I knew it, I have taken passages that only pertained to Israel. If not careful, I can create my own heresy with that kind of interpretation of the prophets!

Can you tell me, SUMMARIZE to me the whole Bible...
Because here's where my mind is, Israel is warned of God's judgement, they were led into captivity and then silence.

I don't know what happened. Then after years... A Son was born, in a manger. The Lamb of God...
Then the new testament..

So, if Israel shall be taken as the Israelites who put their faith in Christ, is Paul part of Israel or Church?

I'm really confused. I was even jealous of Israel before because I thought the Lord loved them more.
HAHAHAHA. Very immature..

But still, please help me understand.. :) Thanks.

[Bro. Dan]

It's kind of hard to summarize the whole Bible...but I'll try.

God created everything (including man) in six 24 hour days.  Everything that God created was "good".  However, Lucifer became Satan when he sinned through pride...he wanted to be like God.  Satan then deceived Eve by causing her to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Eve then presented the fruit to Adam, and he willingly sinned by disobeying God's clear command not to eat of that tree; thereby, passing a sin nature down to every human being since Adam was the earthly father of the human race.

God gave the promise of a redeemer early in Genesis, but mankind multiplied upon earth...as did sin.

Sin was so great, that God destroyed every living thing on the face of the earth except those whom he saved upon the ark during the great flood.  Noah and his family then had the task to once again repopulate the earth.

Still...sin reigned.

God chose a man named Abram to become the father of the nation of Israel (from whom the Messiah would come).  Much debate has centered around why God chose Abram and the nation of Israel.  The fact is, only God knows why, and God is just and right.  Perhaps Abram was the only man on earth that God knew would obey him, but I don't know.

Anyway, Abram obeyed God, and the nation of Israel became a reality.  God gave the nation of Israel certain laws for them to obey.  One of which was to let the land rest (from planting and harvest) every 7th year.  However, Israel disobeyed God, and God caused them to go into captivity because of it.

God used the prophets to continually warn the nation about their sin and coming judgment, yet Israel still disobeyed God.

Israel was still in the land when Jesus was born.  He fulfilled prophecy of the coming Messiah, yet Israel (as a whole) rejected Jesus.  Therefore, God began calling out a people unto himself from the Gentiles through faith in Christ (the church), and Israel was eventually scattered among all nations.

The day is coming; in which, the church will be taken out of the world.  This will be followed by seven years of tribulation on earth, and God will once again deal primarily with the nation of Israel.  There are still prophecies and promises that God made for Israel that have yet to be fulfilled...but they will be.  The first 3 1/2 years will be somewhat of a time of peace on earth; however, the last 3 1/2 years will be a time of great tribulation...when the wrath of God is poured out on the earth.  This will be to judge the sinfulness of mankind and bring Israel to the point in which they will finally accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah.

At the end of the seven years of tribulation, Jesus will return as King of kings and Lord of lords.  He will destroy his earthly enemies and set up a one thousand year reign of righteousness on earth.

At the end of the thousand years, Satan and his army will be destroyed (Satan will be cast into the lake of fire)...the lost from all ages will stand at the great white throne judgment and be cast alive into the lake of fire where they will spend eternity, and those who are saved will spend eternity with the Lord!

That's a very general summary...

[Celina Rose]

THANKS FOR THE SUMMARY!!

Here are my "blindspots"... 

So... As the Lord chose Abram, and then the whole nation of Israel, is it to have them as a sign that He exists and that the world will may continue to know and believe about the promise that He made in Genesis 3, that there will be a Messiah.

However, the whole Israel rebelled and instead of using them to lead the Gentiles to Him, they put His name in vain by going to other gods and doing abominations.

But God showed His faithfulness in the covenant that He made with Israel so, He did not leave them but called them all to repentance.

And when the time has been fulfilled, a Son was given, Jesus was born, died for our sins.
Israel refuses to accept their Messiah.

So, if the Lord's ultimate goal is to lead the world to Him and to make all men know about His salvation,
if Israel refuses to do that Task and refuses to believe the Messiah themselves, how can they even persuade all the world about His salvation if the "Hired labourers" refuses to believe the GOOD NEWS that they will be proclaiming to the ends of the earth?

So, the Lord goes to the Gentiles to proclaim His everlasting Salvation.
But, since the Lord is faithful, He will not stop caring for Israel, for He will not cast off forever and deal with the nation of Israel when the time comes.

This is how I get it... I think something is missing and something may not be right,..

WAAAH!