Sit

209. ROOTS

 

People try to find their “ROOTS” to discover their identity or to get their inheritance. Israel is special to God – they are our ROOTS in a spiritual way.

If we know about our forefathers, then we can have our identity.  People are driven to find out about whom their ancestors were.  They spend billions every year to go to family reunions.  The problem is that no matter how good our forefathers were they cannot transfer to us our SPIRITUAL ROOTS.  Every ancestor has some sin that we do not want to inherit, every ancestor except for Jesus.  That is why He needed to be born of a VIRGIN.

 

God wanted a family!

Isaiah 51:16 says that God did three important things.  First, He created the heavens.  Then, He created the earth.  Third, God told Israel and us, “You are My People.”

Romans 11 says that Israel is God’s original family starting with Abraham.  It says that they are the original olive plant, and we Christians are the wild olive branches that have been grafted in through Jesus in a spiritual way.   The original branches, Israel, have been temporarily cut off, but they are going to be put back on the vine.  Romans 11:17-24 says that we should not be puffed up with pride about having favor with God that Israel does not have right now because we got ours by God’s mercy. It also says that we could lose it just like they did.  But by God’s mercy, Israel will be restored.  In a way, we Christians are spiritual Jews grafted in by Jesus, but we need to know that the natural Jews are still special to God.

Jesus came down through Jewish history just as it was prophesied by many prophets.  He was and still is a Jew.  Galatians 3 says that Jesus is the seed of Abraham. If we belong to Jesus, then we are also the heirs of Abraham and therefore we are Jews as well.

 

The tiny country of Israel is the center of the earth.

The Israelites supernaturally survived wars in the 20th century, during my lifetime, the wars that should have wiped them out.  Israel does not have oil like her Arab neighbors. The Arab neighbors outnumber them by the thousands and they have been trying, without success, to destroy Israel. There have been several accounts of angels defending Israel during the wars of the 1970s.

During our lifetime, the prophecies of Ezekiel 36 and Ezekiel 4 have been fulfilled, at least in part.  Israel is the time clock for God dealing with this earth.

Our job is to bless the Jews and understand that they are special; not because of them, but because of God.  Romans 11 says that they have been blinded to the Gospel but in the last days they will come back and be saved.  We do not understand everything that will happen, but in our lifetime many very important events with eternal nature have and will continue to happen.

 

A little history and prophecy:

God did not choose the Jews; He made them for Himself!

Long ago Abraham was chosen by God (Genesis 12-15) to be the first Hebrew or Jew. HE DID THIS THROUGH A BLOOD COVENANT.  God told Abraham that his family would be a blessing to all other families and that God would take care of and defeat Abraham’s enemies.  God said that whoever would bless his people would be blessed and whoever would curse his people would be cursed.  This has proven to be true in history.  England, Spain, Germany and Egypt have all experienced failures due to the way they treated the Jews. America has been blessed due (partially) because it has blessed and defended Israel.  Abraham had a deal that God would be on his side if he stayed on God’s team.

God told Abraham that sometime in the future his people would become slaves for 430 years.  Exodus 12:41 says that on the very day 430 years after Egypt took them captive, they were released by Pharaoh under Moses.  God was on time.  They did nothing to deserve this. The nation of Israel was enslaved with no connection at all to God, from their point of view anyway.

After they broke out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea and settled in Canaan (later renamed Israel), they became disobedient time and time again. Years later, Babylon came and took them into captivity.  Jeremiah gave a prophecy that they would be released from Babylon in 70 years.  They were released, but just a few of them returned home.

In Ezekiel chapter 36:24-28, sometime around 590 BC, God caused Ezekiel to predict that Israel will again return to their own land after they were scattered.  He said it was not because they were good or righteous, but to fulfill what God was trying to do in starting up a new family.

 

One of the most amazing prophecies given by Ezekiel was the foretelling of the very month (maybe even to the day) of Israel’s return to the Promised Land after being away for over 2,000 years.  The year was 1948!

In 70 AD, a little more than 30 years after Jesus was resurrected, the Roman General Titus came and destroyed Jerusalem.  The Jews dispersed all over the world. Over 2,000 years later, in the 1940s, Hitler tried to destroy the last traces of Jews from the face of the earth. 

 

The Jews are the only race of people to survive thousands of years without a country!

In 1948 (during my own lifetime) after World War II and Hitler’s failure, the Jews came back and formed a new country called Israel.  I watched it on TV!  I saw the United Nations vote to ordain this.

Ezekiel gave this most amazing prophecy that is recorded in Ezekiel 4:3-6.  He said this would be a sign to Israel.  Lie on your left side 390 days (representing 390 years), and then lie on your right side 40 days (representing 40 years), or a total of 430 years.   This would be a sign to Israel that their punishment would be for 430 years.  In the spring of 536 BC they were released from Babylon.  If you count the 70 years of captivity in Babylon, they still had 360 years left (430- 70 = 360).

However, nothing happened at the end of this 360-year period.  The majority of the Jews were still in Babylon, now known as Iraq and Iran, and they were still backslidden people.  They had failed to repent of their disobedience.

The solution to this mystery is in Leviticus 26 where it states that the punishments for Israel are based on her obedience and disobedience to His commands.  God said here that if Israel did not repent, the punishments would be multiplied by 7 [1].  This means that the 360 years of further punishment prophesied by Ezekiel were multiplied by 7 (360 X 7 = 2,520 Biblical years).  A Biblical year consisted of 360 days.  Converting this to our calendar years that would total 2,483.8 years (2,520 X 360 = 907,200 days) / 365.25 = 2,483.8 years)

 

Ending of Babylonian Captivity         

536 BC

Plus    

2,483.8 calendar years

Equals

1,947.4

 

 

Adjust for no zero year

between 1 BC and AD 1        

1

 

 

Therefore the captivity of Israel would end in 

Which was the date Israel became a nation.

1948 May 15

 

This great day marked the first time since the days of Solomon that a united Israel took its place as a sovereign and independent state among the nations of the world.

 

It’s one more proof that God is the Author of the Bible. 

Such prophecies being fulfilled in this way are beyond human manipulation.   It also shows that Israel is part of God’s plan and that we are living in very special days; some call it end times.  We do not know when things on this earth will change, when Jesus will come back, when anything will happen, but we do know that just a little over 50 years ago a MAJOR historical event of the Bible took place!

 

Let’s trace your ROOTS.  

Galatians 3:29 says that if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s heir and offspring.  How did that happen if your family never had Jewish roots? 

It goes like this:

Abraham > Isaac > Jacob became > Israel > several generations including King David (see Matthew chapter 1) > down to Mary mother of Jesus. 

But God intervened here and used His own birthing process to put Jesus inside of Mary through the Word of God.  Then you and I were grafted into the family through the New Birth. 

So, if we trace our roots, they go right to Jesus.  On His mom’s side they go back to Abraham but on His Dad’s side they go directly to God.

 

What do these roots give us?  It is our choice!

1.  The potential to receive from God.  This requires your obedience to the Lordship of Jesus and the Word. This gives you an inheritance from God and every time you get into the Word you receive more inheritance.

2.  The potential to receive from the world, by being rebellious and unbelieving like many of the Jews. This does not require anything but being lazy and not working on your relationship with Jesus and the Word.

If you choose your heritage and inheritance in the Word of God, then you will:

·      Be righteous and in right relationship with God;

·      Have forgiveness of sins, even the ones you have not done yet.

·      Have God’s very nature, His Holy Spirit living inside of you.

·      Have the right to walk into God’s throne room and fellowship with the Creator as Dad.

·      Have victory over every enemy that ever tries to defeat you, including sickness, poverty, loneliness, low self-esteem, etc.

·      Have God supply all of your needs during your lifetime as your Father.

·      Have the right to be a special servant of the Most High God and work for Him on earth during the short time here.

·      Have a permanent home in Heaven with God for eternity, escaping Hell and its torture.

Romans 11 warns us that we can be cut off from our inheritance and our roots through unbelief and rebellion toward God’s Word.

We need to take this very seriously.  We have been given a brand new family inheritance, however, it is our choice to receive it and live it out.

Satan always tries to stop you from receiving your inheritance. Mark 4 says that he steals the Word out of your heart.

 

Our natural family inheritance will take us over and make a slave out of us.

 

God is a gentleman; He will not force you to do or receive anything you do not want.

 

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[1]  Grant Jeffreys, The Signature of God Page (Toronto, Ontario: Frontier Research Publications, Inc. 1996) 167.