Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future

God Keeps His Promises August 31, 2021

Imagine if the Jewish people had accepted and proclaimed Jesus as their Messiah.  In this scenario the High Priest, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes would recognize the hand of God upon Jesus and the Holy Spirit within Him.  They would have no doubt taken Him into the Temple and worshipped Him for what He is: God and man united in a virgin’s womb.   

There would have been no crucifixion and therefore no resurrection.  In the what-if of this imaginary tale, though the people of God read the signs of the times, though they perceived and accepted the coming of God, they would have remained an earthly people.  

For without the crucifixion there would be no substitutionary death cleansing humanity of sin.  Without the resurrection there would be no risen body of Christ, and consequently we would have no chance to be raised with Him.  And without the ascension of Christ into Heaven the Helper never would have come and no one would be baptized in and subsequently filled with the Holy Spirit. 

The promises given by God to the people of Israel through Abraham all related to earthly things.  Things which the Bible says, “perish with the using.”  I don’t in any way mean to say the faith of either historical or present-day Jews does not deal with deeper things than that which we can see, taste, touch, or feel.  Or, that the plan of God for the Jews did not include things that may be forever hidden from us.   

However, from the Biblical record which is the only record we will ever have that is directly from God, the Jewish people were an earthly people whom God called out from among the Chaldeans and promised them the land “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.”    

And even though it may be beyond our understanding, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”  How these things work out in the here and now may not be recognized, they may be misinterpreted, they may not even be noticed by the generation who witnesses them, but we can be assured when all is said and done it will all be done just like He said. 

In the meantime, here in the flowing stream of reality we call the present and in its historical wake the whole pageant of Israel’s existence: their repeated rejection of God, their worshipping of idols, their almost deification of tradition ceremonies and laws, and finally their rejection and crucifixion of Christ, has come about so that all the people of the world could be adopted into the family of God. 

The Jews were dispossessed of the land God promised them.  They were scattered over all the earth.  They have been persecuted, rejected, and the other people of the world have attempted to obliterate them.  But God has preserved them while those who sought their destruction have themselves faced annihilation time after time.  Their very existence has proven the reliability of God’s word. 

There is an old story which goes like this: Queen Victoria, who was an agnostic, asked her Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli who was a Jew who had converted to Christianity, “If you can prove to me the existence of God I will believe.”  Disraeli answered, “Madam, I can prove the existence of God with just two words.”  The Queen taken aback by this calm assurance asked, “And what are those two words?”  “The Jews,” her Prime Minister answered. 

Whether or not the return of the Jews to their promised land after World War Two and the subsequent founding of the modern state of Israel is the long-anticipated ingathering foretold in scripture, which may be beyond our powers of perception, one thing is clear.  The reestablishment of a Jewish state in the promised land is unequivocally a banner to all nations that God does not repent of His promises. 

Here’s a New Testament promise we can all hold on to, “… if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” 

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  © 2021 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com   Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook, Twitter, Gab, or MeWe @ Drrobertowens, or visit Dr. Owens’ Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens