A People Remembered

On May 14, 1948, following a United Nations resolution the year before, the nation of Israel declared its independence and Jews from around the world had a nation of their own for the first time in nearly two millennia. Following the Jewish revolt against the Romans in A.D. 66, several years of warfare culminated in the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. Though smaller populations of Jewish people remained in the area for a few hundred years, the nation was never the same again. Yet against all odds, Israel was restored after World War II and remains to this day.

Israel’s history is a cycle of conquest, defeat, and national restoration. Time and again, even when the nation’s survival seemed totally hopeless, God delivered them from their troubles and set them up again. Even in the midst of conquest by Babylon, which was the worst horror Israel had seen until that point, when the Jews were starving and dying, God’s promise to them was still, “The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; He will no longer send you into captivity” (Lamentations 4:22).

As Israelites by faith, Christians can have the same assurance of deliverance. God only turns away from His children because of their sins. When we repent and turn back to God, He is faithful to forgive our sins and turn back to us. As Christians, we don’t look forward to the establishment of an earthly Christian kingdom. Rather, we long for the New Jerusalem, “a better, that is, a heavenly country” (Hebrews 11:16), and God will deliver us to that land.

Key Bible Texts

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13 KJV)