and Australia back to their homeland—finally understanding their identity and the true God! Were these just the mystical ramblings of deluded old men, as some scoff, or were these the promises of God, assurances that Judah and Israel will finally repent of their sins and be restored? Yes, there is hope beyond the coming trouble! Though the Israelite nations will be brought down and punished, God will restore them to greatness. They will abandon their idolatrous and sinful ways and “will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments” (Deuteronomy 30:8). Furthermore, the future is so clear in God’s plan that He went so far as to explain that the resurrected King David will rule over the reunited Israel (Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 37:24-25). Then Jesus Himself explained that under David, the individual tribes will be ruled by the 12 apostles (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30). At that time, Jerusalem will become the world’s capital and “out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). Eventually, the knowledge of God will fill the entire earth (Isaiah 11:9). People of all nations will obey and reap the blessings of obedience! The true Sabbath and holy days will be restored to Israel and will eventually be faithfully observed by all nations around the world (Isaiah 66:23; Zechariah 14:16-19), resulting in worldwide blessings and happiness—a stark reversal of the curses that have come through rejecting God’s days of worship. Eventually, Israel will be united with the gentile nations who formerly enslaved them in serving and obeying the true God: “In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, ‘Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance’” (Isaiah 19:24-25). Israel will finally fulfill its intended destiny to be a model nation, setting the example of obedience toward God, which brings such positive blessings (Isaiah 2:3; 27:6; Zechariah 8:23). The Kingdom of God only starts with Israel—God will see that it spans the globe to include all peoples and nations! This is the good news of the coming Kingdom of God—the heart of the true gospel message (Mark 1:14).
Your response
Yes, God has set on the horizon hope for all humanity, but between now and the return of Christ we seem determined to chart our own course, one that is leading to destruction! Why? Why is our world today so bent on following a path of ruin and suffering? Why are we grasping for solutions to our LifeHopeandTruth.com 113