“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.” (Hosea 14:4)
In this short chapter of the prophet Hosea with only nine verses, the Lord pleads with Israel to repent. In verses 2 and 3 Hosea speaks the words the Lord wants Israel to speak in their repentance. Then He will heal their apostasy, love them and turn His anger from them.
Notice that it will be a work of God. God says to Israel, “I.” It will be a supernatural work of God to make them whole, spirit, soul and body so that they will not wander from the Lord. This speaks of the supernatural and miraculous work of salvation. When the Lord heals, He heals completely. We are reminded of our own salvation. We were sick and dead in sin, our souls darkened and without understanding because of sin and our bodies suffering the destruction of sin. But God in His mercy healed us spirit, soul and body, completely and revealed His love to us. (Ephesians 2:4-9) He came to reside in us in the person of the Holy Spirit. (John 14:23; 1 Corinthians 3:16) He saved us because of the work of Jesus, Who took the wrath of God for our sin on Himself. (1 John 2:2) So now, God’s anger is turned from us.
This time of healing for Israel is the day all the Jews are waiting for. It’s when our Lord and Savior Jesus comes to reign. It’s when the Jews’ Messiah comes to them to fulfill all His promises to them. Every generation has waited for this time, which seemed to each one to come in their time because of the climate of war and destruction of Israel or in Israel. But it was not the time. And so, we wait expectantly with the Jews for the Messiah to come rule and reign. When we look at the clues in the Bible, we know so much has yet to happen, but when it’s time, it will unfold quickly. “Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” (Romans 9:27-28) It’s hard for us to gage the Lord’s time because we operate in a different set of times. The Lord operates in eternity where the past, present and future are all revealed to Him at the same time. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2Peter 3:8) When God says soon, it doesn’t mean the same thing to us as it does to Him.
Let’s look at some things that have yet to happen, which although we believe the appearance of Jesus is sooner than we think, lots has to happen. How it will look and how they will come about, we have no idea. According to John F. Walvoord, long-time president of Dallas Theological Seminary and who is considered the world’s foremost interpreter of biblical prophecy, there are certain events which must occur before. I will name them briefly because this is a detailed study, but it will show us that although the time is soon and sooner than we think, we can have a better idea if it will happen in our generation. There must be a revival of the Roman empire according to Daniel’s prophecy. Just what that is now is cloudy, but it will be European. There must also be an appearing of the Antichrist who will persecute the church. The rapture of the church will occur before the covenant between Israel and the Antichrist. So, the church will be raptured before the seven-year tribulation. The first half of that covenant will be kept, but the covenant will be broken at the halfway point.
There are three periods between the rapture of the church and the 2nd coming of Christ. The first is a short period in which the ten nation emerges and makes the covenant with Israel. The second period is the first half of the Tribulation. And the third period is the second half of the Tribulation.
Today we see Russia emerging as a warring country. This will continue until Russia and her allies are conquered probably by the ten nation European kingdom. When this ten nation European kingdom emerges, it will change the world. There will be “great disturbances in nature.” And there will be world-wide war. God will protect the 144,000 Jews from the persecution of those who refuse to worship this world leader who claims to be deity. This will be Armageddon. Jesus will then return and put an end to it all. Then will come the reign of Christ.
As I mentioned, this is a very brief summary of the account of the end times according to John Walvoord. The study has many disputed points. Many things are yet unclear. How it will look is also unclear. But if God said it, it will happen. And as things are unfolding presently in Israel, we are seeing the beginning to the beginning of the set up for the end times.
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