Why God created the Jewish Nation

The creation of the Jews.

If we were somehow transported back to 30 or 40 AD, all we would have to go on is the Old Testament.  The Old Testament doesn’t make a lot of things we know now very clear.  Such as life after death, heaven or hell, where we go when we die. The Jews had two groups, 1 the Sadducees that didn’t believe in life after death and 2 the Pharisees that did believe in life after death.  The Old Testament program in simplistic form went something like this:  At around 2000 BC God called out Abraham, and through him would create the Jewish nation.  They were to be a nation of priests before God ( Exodus 19:6) in a world where they would be surrounded by Godless nations. Those nations would then go to the Jews to learn about God. Then when the time was right, God would send the Jews a Messiah, who would be born in Bethlehem then be cut off from his people.  After that there would be great suffering and tribulation for 7 years, and then the Messiah would return and set up his kingdom upon the earth.  If the Messiah was cut off (Christ’s crucifixion) in 29 AD, then the 7 years tribulation should have started right after that and concluded in 36 AD.  Then Christ should have returned and set up his kingdom upon the earth. 

We know that God does not lie, and all prophecy in the bible comes true in its appointed time.  So to figure out what happened to the simple plan listed above, let’s look at the prophetic scriptures involved and the time lines set.

God creates the Jews

This major biblical pivotal point happened when God called out Abram.  Genesis 12: 1 – 3, 1) Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your kindred and from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2) I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.  3) I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  God made a covenant with Abram that has never been rescinded.  That covenant is still valid today. 

God led Abram and his family to the land of Canaan (modern day Palestine), and the land was inhabited by the Canaanites.  The Canaanites were the descendants of Ham, one of Noah’s three sons.  Genesis 12: 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.  Genesis chapter 15 explains God promising Abram a nation. God also explains to Abram that he cannot take to land just yet, because the iniquity or the sinfulness of the people in that land has not yet reached its full.  God lets Abram know it will take until Abrams fourth generation for the land to become his.  Of course Abram will be long since deceased, but his descendants shall take the land.  So during the second generation from Abram, his grandson Jacob has twelve sons, and they become the third generation of the new (not yet formed) nation.  They go into captivity for 120 years in Egypt, but come out under the leadership of Moses around 5 million people strong. And after 40 more years took over the land promised to Abram some 400 years earlier. 

The Jews finally take over the promised land around 1600 BC.  They live and prosper there for around 1000 years before they finally get so defiled themselves that God allows a Gentile king named Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon to overthrow them and carry the Jews off as captives.  This happened around 606 BC.

Messiah and Kingdom

Here are some scripture references about the a promised Messiah and his kingdom.  The plan I mention above is laid out fully in Psalms 2.  1) Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2) The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed say, 3)Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4)He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5)Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 6) Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.  In verses 1 and 2 the heathen are the gentile world and the people are the Jews.  They both come together to council against Jesus Christ.  In verse 3 they decide to “cut off” the promised Messiah, and in verses 4 & 5 speaks of the following 7 year tribulation. That is followed by verse 6 and the promised king and kingdom.

In Isaiah 9: 6 – 7, 6) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The might God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7) Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.  The zeal of the Lord of host will perform this.  These two verses talk about the promised Messiah and the kingdom given to him.

Christ death

In Isaiah 61: 1 – 6 is the same plan that was laid out in Psalms 2.  1) The Spirit of Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2) To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3) To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes , the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. 4) And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 5) And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers. 6) But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.  Verse 1 is about the first appearance of Jesus Christ.  The part about opening of the prison to them that are bound was accomplished after his crucifixion.  He descended down into Sheol and preached to those in paradise.  His blood was able to set them free from their prison and now they were able to leave that place and ascend up into heaven.  Verse 2 talks about the day of vengeance which is again a reference to the tribulation, then the remaining verses are about the kingdom to come.

Daniel's 70th week

The time line for the coming of the Messiah and when he’ll be “cut off” along with the following seven year tribulation can be found in Daniel 9: 24 – 26  24) Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people (this is a reference to 70 weeks of years or 490 years) and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25) Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous time, 26) And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  These verses state from the time the command is given to restore Jerusalem until the time God sets up his kingdom is 490 years.  After 483 the Messiah is “cut off” and prince that shall come ( the antichrist) will appear in the next 7 years until God destroys them with a flood.

The book of Revelations elaborates on the last 7 years in Chapter 11: 3 where the scripture splits it into 2 halves.  3) And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.  Here God says he will send two witnesses at the start of the 7 year tribulation, and they have power for three and a half years, or unto the middle of the tribulation.  Then in Revelations 12:6  6) and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.  After the two witnesses are slain, God tells the Jews to run for the mountains and there they will be protected for the remaining three and one half years.  Christ also states this in Mathew 24:15 - 16 15)When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: ) 16) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains:  The abomination of desolation happens at the midpoint of the tribulation when the antichrist deceives the Jews and comes into the temple and desecrates it.  Probably happens right after the two witnesses are killed.

The 490 years is broken down into 3 parts.  The first part is 7 x 7 or 7 weeks of years (49 years).  This time is allocated for the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem.  The second part is 62 weeks of years (434 years) from the time the city is restored until the Messiah is cut off.  The third part is 1 week or 7 years and this is the tribulation period.   The starting point for the 490 years was the decree going out to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.  There were actually 3 decrees that went out.  The first one in the first year of the reign of King Cyrus the king of Persia.  They started on the temple but never completed it.  This information can be found in the book of Ezra.  The second decree was issued by Darius I, in the second year of his reign.  They finished the temple, but never really got started on the city.  So the third decree is the one that was issued by Artaxerxes in the 20^th year of his reign.  It was from this point that the restoration of Jerusalem the city began and was finished.  This decree was issued in April 452 BC. This information can be found in the book of Nehemiah starting in chapter 2. 

Using the information above the Jewish nation according to Daniel had 490 years determined upon them until the coming of the Kingdom of God.  So if the 490 years started in April of the year 452 and we subtract the 1^st part of 49 years for the city’s restoration that would bring us to 403 BC.  The second part was 434 years before the Messiah would be cut off.  That brings us to the year 29 AD, which happens to coincide with the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ in April of 29 AD.  So now there is one week left, the 7 years of tribulation before Christ returns and sets up his kingdom. It appears there was an interruption in this time scale, because the 70^th week hasn’t happened yet, and it should have started some 1,983 years ago.  I’ll cover the reason for this gap in time in my fourth biblical pivotal point.