God's Witnesses

Seldom before in history has there been such an outright attack on the credibility of the Bible. So it is now common to hear of those who say that God is dead; Adam and Eve were a myth; the Exodus never occurred; Abraham did not exist; King David was a figment of the imagination and so on and so on.

But those who oppose God's truth, and who are enemies of His Son the Messiah, are on the losing side: "He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall have them in derision." (Psalm 2:4)

They are powerless in the face of God's challenge: 'Present your case,' says the LORD. 'Bring forth your strong reasons,' says the King of Jacob. ' . . . show us what will happen . . . or declare to us things to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods . . . Indeed you are nothing, and your work is nothing; he who chooses you is an abomination.' (Isaiah 41:21-24)

Yet God declares what will happen, so there is no need for anyone to be deceived. He tells us that Israel are His witnesses. "'You are my witnesses,' says the LORD, 'and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he . . . I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, and there was no foreign god among you; therefore you are my witnesses,' says the LORD . . . " (Isaiah 43:10,12)

The people of Israel have been appointed by God. What happens to them, already foretold in detail, will prove who is telling the truth. And when it happens, then let all the nations know that He is God.

God knew that in the last days scoffers would arise and challenge the record of history. " . . . knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of his coming?'" (Second Letter of Peter 3:3-4)

They would deny that Biblical events ever took place. But one thing they could not deny. There would be a people in their midst who could not be destroyed. A people who would provide the on-going link from the distant past right down to our present day. This people would still be commemorating the events that took place in ancient times in recurring yearly celebrations handed down from father to son (e.g. Passover; Purim; Yom Kippur etc.)

They would still be instructing their children about their history, this defying the modern sceptics who would claim that these things never took place. These people would be the continuing witness to the truth of God's Word – whether they recognized it or not.

This is why every ploy and every device has been attempted to destroy the Jew. If he were destroyed then God could be called a liar. So there was the attempt in Egypt, through the haughty Pharaoh who decreed that all the Hebrew male babies be destroyed. There were the various nations that fought against Israel during their journey to the Promised Land, and later in their conquest of Canaan. There were the Philistines during the times of the Judges. There was Haman, the Agagite who ended up on the gallows he had prepared for Mordechai, because Esther had been raised up by God for "such a time as this" . (Esther 4:14) There was the Spanish Inquisition, and in our own day there was Hitler with his 'final solution'.

Although God allowed punishments to come to both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel, because of their unfaithfulness to Him, He always remembered His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And for their sakes, those promises remain unconditional, as is affirmed in the New Covenant. "For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable." (Romans 11:29)

Though punished in measure, Israel would never be totally destroyed "'For I am with you,' says the LORD, 'to save you; though I make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.'" (Jeremiah 30:11)

Though scattered into every nation under heaven, they would ultimately be brought back to dwell in their own land-that which was originally promised to Abraham. God had told him he would make of him a great nation. From that nation would come the promised Seed, the Messiah, who would be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

And all those who blessed Israel would be blessed, while those that cursed Israel would be cursed. "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." (Genesis 12:3)

This is the Bible explanation to the enigma that surrounds the Jew. Many have tried to understand this mystery, but without accepting the Bible they are left dumb-founded, bewildered, and groping for an answer. How is it that the Jew "has stood at the graveside of all his enemies"?

Surely, the answer lies in the LORD God who continues to be faithful to His people Israel: "For I am the LORD, I do not change, therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob." (Malachi 3:6)

Indeed Israel's future and purpose are secured by the New Covenant. "'Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD,' when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,' says the LORD.

'But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: after those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 'No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, "Know the LORD," for they all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,' says the LORD. 'For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.'

"Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is his name): If those ordinances depart from before me,' says the LORD, 'then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me for ever.'

"Thus says the LORD: 'If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,' says the LORD." (Jeremiah 31:31-37)

Surely they are God's witnesses. He has appointed Israel to prove beyond doubt that He is God. Let those who wish to glorify God and His Messiah, Yeshua, "Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, 'O LORD save your people, the remnant of Israel!'" (Jeremiah 31:7)

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