Israel Prophecy Guide: Creation and Conflict Prophecies

In part 1 of this Israel prophecy guide, we looked more deeply into a number of passages that many claim indicate a future restoration of the kingdom of Israel. We were able to conclude that a number of passages were either previously fulfilled or find their fulfilment in the New Testament. But there still remain a number of passages that are commonly referenced by those arguing for a future fulfilment of earthly promises to Israel and those passages deserve our careful attention. So, without further ado, let us tackle some of these verses and continue our pursuit of truth.

Isaiah 66:7-9
‘Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?’ says the Lord; ‘shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?’ says your God.

Many Zionists and Dispensationalists are fond of using Isaiah 66:8 and its surrounding passages as evidence of a future creation of an earthly nation of Israel. To the uninitiated and without prior context, the phrasing can often seem somewhat persuasive on its face. The language, with its amazement that such a thing could happen, that a nation should be miraculously born in one day, is seen as parallel to the lack of expectation by the church for many centuries that Israel could or would ever be restored. It can be inferred, perhaps, that such a thing was highly unlikely such that Israel’s creation in 1948 represents an event of miraculous proportions. In the heat of conversation and without proper perspective or background to refute such claims, the faithful apologist can easily be found without response.

But, as with many similar claims, the most pressing problem in responding is choosing which of the myriad paths of response to begin with as many are indeed available. We can begin by simply responding to the proposed fulfilment itself, that of the establishment of Israel in 1948. While many know of the 1948 date, the actual history of the modern state of Israel is much more complex and difficult to parse. Indeed, prior to the early 20th century, the prospect that the Jewish people would one day populate Palestine en masse must have seemed highly unlikely. But the identification of 1948 as a singular signpost of fulfillment is a somewhat arbitrary designation. Many other events in Zionist history are overlooked but equally important prerequisites, from the resulting war during the Summer of 1948, to the UN resolved partition plan some six months earlier in November of 1947. Why not the Balfour Declaration or previous collapse of the Ottoman Empire? 

For that matter, such a formal declaration was never necessary before in Israel’s history, nor does the Bible mention or emphasize statecraft like formal declarations of independence, so its importance here is certainly not directly hearkened to in the text. Furthermore, in what ways does Israel’s declaration of Independence represent an unprecedented creation of a nation in one day, something that no one has ever before heard of or seen? What of any number of similar declarations made by countless nation-states throughout history, the US being a simple and imminent example. Is it not also significant that the state of Israel looks nothing whatsoever like its Old Testament predecessor? God’s chosen nation in the time of Isaiah had no parliament, for one, a quite more open immigration policy, and a homogenous population of dedicated and devout Jewish citizens, something that the openly secular and socialistic leaders at the time could hardly hope to claim.

But if Isaiah 66:8 does not clearly foretell of Israel’s fate in 1948, what could it more fittingly refer to? A far more miraculous and meaningful nation brought forth in one day is spoken of in the New Testament. I Peter 2:9 tells us that those in Christ are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession…” and that, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.” This, indeed, echoes the words of Moses in Exodus 19:5 wherein those who kept God’s covenant would be, “[His] treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” As we have seen in our first prophecy guide, Pentecost represented the fulfillment of other prophetic passages and the extension of the kingdom of God to the gentiles represented quite an unexpected and unprecedented event itself.

As well, other Scripture firmly roots Isaiah 66 in Christ. Micah 5, a prophetic passage clearly identified as predicting Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, declares in verse 3: “Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.” Here we see the language of Isaiah 66:7 and 9 mirrored in a passage proclaiming Christ’s birth. It only seems reasonable, then, to root the verse in between along with the direct consequences of Christ’s first coming, not a separate event some 1900 years later.

Ezekiel 37:7-14, 21-27
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord…then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land…They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Another well-known passage that many Dispensationalists look to as a proof text is that of Ezekiel 37. As we discussed in our broad analysis of Biblical principles in evaluating these sorts of prophetic texts, the use of this text as one supporting Zionism is a relatively new phenomenon. Hal Lindsey took this novel approach when he explained in Road to Armageddon that: “Ezekiel 37:7-8 … is phase one of the prophecy which predicts the PHYSICAL RESTORATION of the Nation without Spiritual life which began May 14, 1948 … Ezekiel 37:9-10 … is phase two of the prophecy which predicts the SPIRITUAL REBIRTH of the nation AFTER they are physically restored to the land as a nation … The Lord identifies the bones in the allegory as representing ‘the whole house of Israel.’ It is crystal clear that this is literally predicting the restoration and rebirth of the whole nation at the time of Messiah’s coming [Ezekiel 37:21-27].”

But how does this understanding square with Scripture as a whole? For one, as we have previously noted, it stands in contrast to prior understandings by even early Dispensationalists in which the Jews would return to Israel as a Christian, not Jewish, nation. As well, it stands in stark contrast to the established pattern of restoration and blessing followed everywhere else in Scripture, even within Ezekiel itself in chapter 33, verses 25 and 26: “Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: You eat flesh with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood; shall you then possess the land? You rely on the sword, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife; shall you then possess the land?” The lesson seems to be that the unrepentant shall not be restored to the land nor enjoy its blessings. And, for that matter, even this understanding assumes that the covenant blessings for Israel mentioned in the Old Testament are still in force or available at all in the same way as they were before.

The following passages, from verse 15 on, should give us more than enough additional information to make sense of Ezekiel 37 as a whole. When viewed in the light of the New Testament, every major theme of the chapter comes into focus and fulfillment of Christ and the church. The regathering of the nations during Pentecost, described in Acts 2. God’s promise of dwelling with them, clearly fulfilled in the gift of the Holy Spirit, described in passages like II Corinthians 6:16: “For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” And the text itself, as well as the New Testament in passages such as Hebrews 8, obviously hearkens to the New Covenant as the intended result of this restoration. To construe the entire series of events of Ezekiel 37 as pointing to a national restoration for Israel is not only chronologically confusing but simply theologically unnecessary.

In the words of Brian Godawa, “On every level, this entire prophecy is about the arrival of the New Covenant, not some distant future reinstitution of the Old Covenant shadows of physical temple and land. Each of the prophecy’s constituent elements are fulfilled in the New Testament Scriptures at the time of the first century.”

Ezekiel 4:1-3
And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around. And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 4 is seen by some in Dispensational circles as being fulfilled in, or at the very least a recurring sign for Israel that finds an additional fulfilment in, the Six Day War of 1967. For those interested, we have done an extensive series of articles detailing the many factors that went into play in that conflict. Suffice it to say, the popular characterization of the war is seen as fitting the description here given by Ezekiel, that of Jerusalem surrounded by a besieging force and, ultimately, Israel emerging victorious.

The first point we should make is that, if indeed we are attempting to uphold the typical Dispensational literalism as it is claimed, the facts of the Six Day War hardly match the details given here. In the months and days leading up to the war, no siegeworks existed and no battering rams were used or needed. As well, if the image or impression given here is that of unwarranted aggression against an innocent Israel, this certainly does not fit within the history of continued Israeli provocation. At root, the Biblical description here does not match very well with the actual state of affairs in June of 1967 and, at any rate, Ezekiel 4 does not itself give us further detail with which to match it as being clearly fulfilled by the Six Day War. In fact, Ezekiel 5 then continues on to recount a prophesied destruction of Jerusalem itself, hardly fitting the actual history following 1967. If such a case can be made at all, it cannot easily be made using this small passage as a proof text; it would have to be a more cumulative case made from elsewhere in Scripture.

Once again, if Ezekiel 4 is recounting any far future event, the Scriptural case more closely resembles another, much more important, event in Israel’s past. In Luke’s gospel, chapter 19, he recounts Jesus’ words on approaching Jerusalem: “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. 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 coming to you.” (Luke 19:43,44) In Christ’s words, we see quite a parallel prophecy to the language and account of Ezekiel 4, and yet we see the fulfillment here in 70 AD, just a few decades later, not 2,000 years later.

Genesis 12:3
I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

In almost any discussion of the proper understanding, nature, and future of ethnic Israel, Genesis 12:3 will undoubtedly be mentioned. The concept that God continues to bless or curse those who bless or curse the modern state of Israel, or perhaps the Jewish people themselves, is found in abundance among American Christendom. The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem considers that “This promise was given to the Hebrew Patriarchs Abraham and Jacob – or Israel. So whoever blesses Israel will be blessed.” And the third International Christian Zionist Congress affirmed that, “The Lord in His zealous love for Israel and the Jewish People blesses and curses peoples and judges nations based upon their treatment of the Chosen People of Israel.” Indeed, this is yet another verse that, without a proper context or understanding of theology, can end discussions in a stalemate.

And yet, of course, we have a fitting response to this passage as well, one whose conclusions are far different than Dispensationalists affirm. This initial promise was originally given to Abram but it is also repeated twice in the Old Testament, once in Genesis 27:29, and again in Numbers 24:9. The first observation to make here is that, in at least the first two cases, this promise is made to individuals, Abraham and Jacob, not Israel proper. Strangely, while the passage in Numbers could most easily be used to justify a more collective blessing over all of Israel, the Numbers passage is not commonly used or referenced. So, given that the Genesis passages are used as the basis for this ongoing promise, what reasons do we have to believe that this individual promise is to be extended even to the Israel of today?

The link here made by Scofield supposedly hearkens to Matthew 25 and Christ’s depiction of the final judgment involving the separation of the sheep, the goats, and a distinction made between them and those labeled as “brothers” in the parable. Those early notes were adjusted somewhat through further revisions of the Scofield Reference Bible, though with the same conclusion, that somehow these categories found in a Gospel parable map closely enough to Israel and the nations of Genesis, such that any of the hermeneutic continues to make any sense. 

Honestly, a straightforward reading of Matthew 25 will likely leave the reader straining to see these distinctions and that strain is further compounded by numerous other factors, not the least of which is found in the words of Christ Himself earlier in the same Gospel, in Matthew 12:48-49: “‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.'” This statement most definitely and directly agrees with the language of Matthew 25 in its description of the blessed works of those categorized as sheep. Add to this the later Apostolic teaching regarding the True Israel found in Christ (Romans 11) as well as the numerous explicit Scriptural evidences that point to the lack of separation between Jew and Gentile in Christ (Galatians 6:15-16, Galatians 3:28-29, Romans 4:11, Ephesians 2:14-16) and this haphazard explanation breaks down further. 

In the words of Stephen Sizer, “it is therefore illegitimate to take a personal promise of divine blessing made to Abraham, to Jacob and then to ancient Israel and apply it in perpetuity to their descendants today…The promise made to Abraham that the nations would be blessed through him was fulfilled in and through his ‘Seed’, the Lord Jesus Christ.” If, indeed, this promise continues today, it continues in True Israel, through Christ and through His church. Undoubtedly, all nations have benefited greatly from the true religion of Christ and His law of love.

The Bottom Line

These Scriptures represent a “Top 10” of Biblical prophetic passages that are claimed as foretelling of the future restoration of national Israel. Unfortunately, as we have seen, many of them require quite a complex weaving of references, numerology, and unwarranted eisegesis in order to “clearly” reveal anything of the sort. Recall the myriad times that Christ, upon his disciples still not understanding His clear words and teaching regarding His life, crucifixion, and resurrection. I cannot help but imagine that, presented with the quite complicated and interwoven explanations meant to fit prophecy into the Dispensational, premillennial system, He would likely give a very similar response.

Biblical prophecy, though not always as clear as we would like, simply shouldn’t be this hard. Hopefully, these guides have helped to streamline and simplify your understanding of Biblical prophecy in ways that will set your mind at ease and leave you with an even greater appreciation for the cohesive Biblical story of God’s redemption of mankind.