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How can we know for sure what we believe is true ?
If you feel you need more faith this is for you!
Israel - Judah
Text collected: J. Burke
Pictures: D & C Mogg
Additional text and
formatting: J. Henriksen
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another,
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. (Isa. 42:8-9)
There have been many who longed to see our day…
but they saw it, and rejoiced
These were years where people could die at the stake
for holding our beliefs
- let us feel their faith their sure confidence in the
witness of prophecy
‘one of the major formulators of the doctrine of the restoration of the Jews was Thomas Brightman (1562-1607).
In his work called "Apocalypsis Apocalypseos", Brightman proposed that the Antichrist is the Pope in Rome and that the "Calling of the Jews" by God back to their land … would overthrow the Turks, so said Brightman, and expose the Antichrist.’
Joseph Shulam, ‘A Proposed Theological Breakthrough and The Success of Messianic Judaism in our time’
The Prophets and the Jewish Return
‘Shall they return to Jerusalem again? There is nothing more certain: the prophets do everywhere confirm it and beat upon it.’
Thomas Brightman, 'A Revelation Of The Apocalypse’, 1609
‘Where Israel, Judah, Zion and Jerusalem are named [in the Bible] the Holy Ghost meant not the spiritual Israel, or the Church of God collected of the Gentiles or of the Jews and Gentiles both... But Israel properly descended out of Jacob's loynes.
The same judgement is to be made of their returning to their land and ancient seats, the conquest of their foes...
The glorious church they shall erect in the land itself of Judah... These and such like are not allegories, set forth in terrene similitudes or deliverance through Christ (whereof those were types and figures), but meant really and literally the Jews.’
Sir Henry Finch, ‘The World's Great Restoration’, 1621
The Prophets and the Jewish Return
‘The sixth phial shall be poured out upon that great river Euphrates, that being dried up, a passage may be prepared for new enemies of the Beast to come from the East; that is, for the Israelites to be wonderfully converted to the pure faith and worship of Christ, and now to have conferred upon them the kingdom promised so many ages since.
Whom the worshippers of the Beast, haply, shall esteem for the army of their imaginary Antichrist to arise from among the Jews, God so revenging the obstinacy of their error…’
Joseph Mede, ‘Key to the Apocalypse’, page , 1640
Joseph Mede’s confidence in events begun in1918
We see now how the Papal led European Beast will oppose Christ, who will arise as
king of the Jews, when he comes.
‘...with and amongst some of the Izraell race called Jewes, and growing sensible of their heavy out-cryes and clamours against the intolerable cruelty of this our English Nation, exercised against them by that ... inhumane ... massacre ... and their banishment ever since,
...that by discourse with them, and serious perusal of the Prophets, both they and we find, that the time of her call draweth nigh…
...and that this Nation of England, with the inhabitants of the Netherlands, shall be the first and readiest to transport Izraells sons and daughters in their ships to the land promised to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for an everlasting inheritance.’
Ebenezer and Joanna Cartwright, English Puritans, 1649
THE CARTWRIGHTS CALL FOR THE JEWS’ RETURN
‘The great river Euphrates, the strength and fulness of whose streams doth yet rage so high that there is no passage for the kings of the east to come over. Wherefore this must be dried up... Rev.xvi.12.
...and then it may well enough denote the Turkish power; which, proud as it is at this day, possessing in peace all those regions of the east, yet God can quickly make it wither and be dried up.’
John Owen, ‘The Shaking and Translating Of Heaven And Earth’, sermon preached April 19, 1649
Confidence in events begun in 1820-1918
‘…what kingdom soever the Lord Christ will advance in the world, and exercise amongst his holy ones, the beginning of it must be with the Jews.’
John Owen, Parliamentary Sermon, 13 October 1652
'Therefore He hath seven vials, which contain the last plagues... to despatch the Pope and the Turk and wholly root them out....
The plagues of these vials are the contents of the 15th and 16th chapters. The first five vials do dissolve and by degrees ruin the Pope's power in the west. Then the sixth vial breaks the power of the Turk in the east -- so making way for the Jews (whom He means to bring into the fellowship of His Kingdom in their own land)...‘
Thomas Goodwin, ‘An Exposition of the Revelation’, page, 209 1654
Great Confidence in events which began after
The pope’s power was lost1793-1870and the breaking of the Turkish power
1820-1918
'The four first vials [in] chapter 16 are lesser, and more insensibly carry on Antichrist's ruin, as for the four first trumpets did more insensibly increase his rise; the fifth vial overturneth Rome his seat, as the fifth trumpet seated him there, and revealed him, the sixth overturneth Turks, Popes, and the rest of that kingdom; bringeth in the Jews; and setteth the Gospel at its full brightness.’
James Durham, ‘Complete Commentary upon the Book of Revelation’, volume 2, page 604, 1657
Goodwin was not alone.. Many believed this
And they waited for it…
Library of the Polish Brethren: notes on the Olivet Prophecy
Verse 25: “and there shall be signs in the sun and moon…”
After the times of the Gentiles have been fulfilled, then will begin their judgement, the forerunners of which are those things predicted in this verse.., through which a way will be laid down for the liberation of natural as well as spiritual Israel.
Ed: Andrezej Wizowaty Amsterdam 1656-1692
From Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum
They looked for Jerusalem to be liberated from Gentile, or non-Jewish, control which
occurred in 1967
‘The Jews, who are observed to be in greatest numbers in the Eastern countries, having had a promise, Ex 19:6, to be a kingdom of priests, may well be called here the kings of the east. Two things hinder their embracing the Christian faith: 1. The image worship and idolatry of the papists. 2. The power of the Turks, with the success they have had against Christians.
…To which it contributes a little, that it is probable, that the sixth vial answereth the sixth trumpet; and that as they were the people first let loose by Euphrates, where they were bound, so they are the people to be destroyed under the notion of drying up the waters of Euphrates…’ Matthew Poole, ‘New Testament Notes’, note on Revelation 16:14, 1685
Confidence in events begun in 1820-1918
‘Dry Bones of Israel
Considering how these dry bones of Israel lie scattered most parts of the world over, and do hardly know themselves of what nation they are, much less do others know, and it may be speak divers languages, I rather incline to think that God will, in some way or another, first bring the Jews into their own Land, and give them advantage to return by drying up the river Euphrates, that is, as I conceive, by diminishing and abating the great power of the Turk in and about that part of the world; and that either by intestine commotions or wars with other nations, or both.
Now is the time when those dry bones will come together and stand upon their feet, and become an exceeding great army, and have breath breathed into them, and have a civil life put into them, but no spiritual life till after they be in their own Land.’
William Torrey, ‘Prophetical Considerations In New England’, 1695
Confidence in events begun in 1820-1918
‘Great Wars to Come
After their return to their own Land, way being made for them by the weakening of the Turkish power, it is very likely there will be great wars, and much blood shed, and the Jews will be much diminished and brought very low, as we may read in Daniel 12:1.
The prophet Zechariah tells us that many of them will be cut off and die and their holy city taken. A compound of nations shall engage in a war, not with one another, but principally with the Jews, and many nations shall be gathered together in battle against them to destroy them. There shall be a time of trouble as never was since there was a nation to that same time.’
William Torrey, ‘Prophetical Considerations In New England’, 1695
Confidence in events not yet begun….
'...it may perhaps come forth not from the Jews themselves, but from some other kingdom friendly to them, and precede their return from captivity, and give occasion to it…
…the return from captivity and coming of the Messiah and his kingdom are described in Daniel 7, Revelation 19, Acts 1, Matthew 24, Joel 3, Ezekiel 36, 37. Isaiah 60, 62. 63, 65. and 66: and many other places of scripture.
The manner I know not. Let time be the Interpreter.'
Sir Isaac Newton, ‘Observations On Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St John’, pages 134-135 , 1733
Isaac Newton prefigures the Jewish restoration and the Balfour Declaration of
1918
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto
you. (1Thess. 5:1)
They knew they had to wait..
‘When shall all these things be accomplished?
‘Not till the holy city has been trodden under foot forty and two months. Not until the witnesses have prophesied a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. And not till he woman has been in the wilderness a time, and times and half a time’
Joseph Bellamy ‘The Millenium', 1754
Joseph Bellamy – THE MILLENIUM
The 1260 year eras began to end in 1793 and1809 and finished in 1868-70
….when the pope became a prisoner in the Vatican.
'You see the Jews 'led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem trodden down of the Gentiles' and likely to continue so 'until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled', as the Jews are by a constant miracle preserved a distinct people for the completion of the other prophecies relating to them.'
Bishop Thomas Newton, 'Dissertations On The Prophecies', 1754
THOMAS NEWTON – THE MIRACLE OF THE JEWS
‘The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most signal and illustrious acts of divine Providence.’
Bishop Thomas Newton, quoted in ‘The Treasury of Religious and Spiritual Quotations’ page 280, 1994
‘the Turks are meant, in whose dominions this river is;
…for as the sounding of that trumpet looses the four angels bound in the great river Euphrates, which founded the Turkish empire, as we have seen; so the pouring out of this sixth vial affects the same empire, and brings it to ruin. And the water thereof was dried up; the Ottoman empire will be extinct, just as the destruction of the Babylonish monarchy is expressed by the drying up of its sea, Jer 51:36 so the destruction of the Turkish empire is signified by the drying up of the water of this river, which is in the heart of it: and this is the passing away of the second woe, Re 11:14…’
John Gill, ‘Commentary On the Bible’, note on Revelation 16:12, 1748
Confidence in events begun in 1820-1918
‘that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared; which some understand of Christians in general… …others think, as before observed, that the Jews are designed; that the Jews will be converted in the last days seems manifest from Ho 3:5 Ro 11:25,26 and other places; and that they will return to their own land is suggested in abundance of prophecies, particularly in Eze 37:21 Am 9:14,15 and it must be allowed that the eastern, as well as the western antichrist, is a stumbling to them; and especially the advantage which the Turks have gained over the powers that go under the Christian name, and their possession of their land is an hinderance to their return to it; so that the destruction of the Turkish empire will undoubtedly make way for their conversion, and restoration to their own land…’
John Gill, ‘Commentary On the Bible’, note on Revelation 16:12, 1748
‘Quest. But what is meant by Euphrates here? Ans. Probably the Turkish empire, according to Mr. Mede and Dr. More, the Turks first taking up their habitation about this great river so that by Euphrates may be understood the people inhabiting about Euphrates; and by drying up its waters, the diminishing and lessening of their empire. By the kings of the east, the Jews are said to be understood, who inhabit the eastern countries, to whom God made a promise, Ex 19:6 that they should be a kingdom of priests.’
William Burkitt, ‘New Testament Notes’, note on Revelation 16:12, 1804
As the time drew near to events begun in 1820-1918
‘One great body of the Jews will be converted and restored by the instrumentality of some mighty maritime nation of faithful worshippers, and therefore by some maritime nation hostile to the views and principles of AntiChrist.’
George Faber, ‘A Dissertation On The Prophecies’, volume II, page 245 , 1806
‘…the maritime power must not only be sought for generally in the West, but particularly in the isles of the Gentiles or Europe; and, not only generally in the isles of the Gentiles or Europe, but particularly in the believing isles of the Gentiles or Protestant Europe.’
George Faber, ‘A Dissertation On The Prophecies’, volume II, page 259 , 1806
‘These prophecies, exclusive of many others, need no comment. They declare, as clearly as language can, that the Jews shall return to Judea, and be at last permanently re-established in the land of their fathers. The uniform experience of the literal truth of every prediction respecting their past history may suffice to give assurance of the certainty of their predicted restoration.
And, amidst many signs that the times of the Gentiles are drawing towards their fulfilment, many concurring circumstances seem also to be preparing the way of the children of Israel.
Scattered as they have been for so many ages through the world, and maintaining still their distinctive character, their whole history forbids the thought that they will ever mingle among the nations, or cease to be, what they have ever been, a peculiar people.’
Alexander Keith, ‘Prophecies Concerning the Final Restoration of the Jews and Their Return to the Land of Judea’, 1831
‘But to what degree, and in what manner the present convulsions of the Turkish empire, combined with the peculiar, and in many instances, novel condition of the Jews throughout Europe and America, shall be the means of facilitating their eventual restoration to their own land, no mortal can determine.
It is enough for Christians to know, that two thousands of years, through nearly which period it has been dormant, can neither render extinct the title, or prescribe the heaven-charted right of the seed of Abraham to the final and everlasting possession of the land of Canaan; that God will remember the land, and gather together unto it his ancient people…’
Alexander Keith, ‘Prophecies Concerning the Final Restoration of the Jews and Their Return to the Land of Judea’, 1831
ALEXANDER KEITH PREDICTS A JEWISH RETURN
‘Your Memorialists beg leave... to remind your Lordship that the land of Palestine was bestowed by the Sovereign of the Universe upon the descendants of Abraham as a permanent and inalienable possession nearly 4,000 years ago, and that neither conquests nor treaties among men can possibly affect their Title to it.
He has also decreed that they shall again return to their country and that the Gentiles shall be employed as the means of their restoration.’
Petition to Lord Palmerston (British Foreign Secretary), by 320 British Christians, memorandum dated March 2, 1841
CHRISTIANS PETITION FOR A JEWISH RETURN
'The pre-adventural colonization of Palestine will be on purely political principles; and the Jewish colonists will return in unbelief of the Messiahship of Jesus, and of the truth as it is in him.
They will emigrate thither as agriculturists and traders, in the hope of ultimately establishing their commonwealth, but more immediately of getting rich in silver and gold by commerce with India, and in cattle and goods by their industry at home under the efficient protection of the British power.’
John Thomas, ‘Elpis Israel’, pages 441-2, 1849
JOHN THOMAS PREDICTS A JEWISH RETURN
‘As I have said elsewhere, the Lion-power will not interest itself in behalf of the subjects of God's kingdom, from pure generosity, piety towards God, or love of Israel; but upon the principles which actuate all the governments of the world - upon those, namely, of the lust of dominion, self-preservation, and self-aggrandizement. The possession, or ascendancy of Britain in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba, [Saudi Arabia] will naturally lead to the colonization of Palestine by the Jews.’ John Thomas, ‘Elpis Israel’, page 445, 1849
JOHN THOMAS PREDICTS A JEWISH RETURN
‘There can hardly be a doubt that the sixth trumpet prophesies the eruption of the Turks from across the river Euphrates. Dr. Gill, Bishop Newton, Dr. Cumming, and we believe nearly every commentator on the Revelation agree on this point; and, indeed, the description is too plain and clear to admit of doubt. Thus, the river Euphrates is the symbol of the Turkish Empire. Now upon this river the sixth vial is poured, most evidently pointing out the seat of God's judgments.
This vial was poured out about 1820, when Ali Pacha lifted up the standard of revolt against the Sultan, and has been going on ever since, and will go on till the Turkish empire, at least in Europe, dies of decay and exhaustion.’
J C Philpot, ‘Review of ‘Apocalyptic Sketches’, ‘Signs of the Times’, and ‘The Coming Struggle’’, published in ‘The Gospel Standard’, 1854
J C PHILPOT PREDICTS A JEWISH RETURN
‘By the Kings of the East the Author of “The Coming Struggle” understands the English power in India, but it seems more agreeable to the tenor of God's word to refer it to the Jews and their return to their own land.
… The restoration of the Jews to their own land seems to us as clearly revealed as their dispersion.
To quote the passages which promise this restoration would fill pages.’ J C Philpot, ‘Review of ‘Apocalyptic Sketches’, ‘Signs of the Times’, and ‘The Coming Struggle’’, published in ‘The Gospel Standard’, 1854
J C PHILPOT PREDICTS A JEWISH RETURN
‘It seems to me manifest that the same Turkish power is here intended that was described under the sixth Trumpet as loosed from the Euphrates.’
Edward Elliott, ‘Horae Apocalypticae’, volume III, 5th edition, pages 422-3, 1862
‘The reader is doubtless familiar with the predictive clause as one most generally explained of the restoration of the Jews to their land, following on the decay and fall of the Turkish empire: an explanation to which the recent political changes, and present troubled aspect of things in Syria and Palestine, must be allowed to have lent not only a new interest, but perhaps also an increased probability.’
Edward Elliott, ‘Horae Apocalypticae’, volume III, 5th edition, page 455, 1862
ELLIOTT PREDICTS A JEWISH RETURN
‘At the same time some signs are wanting, even as I revise this a fifth time in 1861, especially the non-gathering as yet of the Jews to Palestine and predicted troubles consequent…
So that, as it seems to me, we shall probably not err in looking for nearly coincident occurrence of the two grand events following; viz.,
1st, the homeward return of the Jews from their dispersion, in fullness and strength, like as when the mighty Euphratean stream, on the willows of whose banks the harps of their earlier captivity were suspended, was each day forced backward by the mightier influence of the tide of the southern ocean.
2nd, the gathering, and the destruction, probably in Judaea, of some great anti-Jewish confederacy…’
Edward Elliott, ‘Horae Apocalypticae’, volume IV, 5th edition, pages 127-9, 1862
ELLIOTT PREDICTS A JEWISH RETURN
‘Vs. 12-16.-"The great river Euphrates" is the object of the sixth vial. By the very general consent of expositors the Turkish empire is intended by this symbol; and they seem to be equally agreed that the sixth vial in now in process of pouring out. The object of the sixth trumpet is the same, (ch. ix. 14.) … By the "kings of the east" may be understood the Jews, agreeably to the symbolical nature of this book; (Is. xli. 2, 3;)…’
David Steele, ‘Notes On the Apocalypse’, pages 241-2, 1870
DAVID STEELE PREDICTS A JEWISH RETURN
‘The dynasty of the Turk is in process of visible exhaustion, and nothing but what is termed among antichristian nations "the balance of power," prolongs its existence or hinders its extinction.
"Drying up," evaporation, is a gradual process, and with singular precision describes the waning light of the once proud Crescent,-the expiring breath of what has been termed by a bold figure, "the sick man."’ David Steele, ‘Notes On the Apocalypse’, pages 241-2, 1870
DAVID STEELE PREDICTS A JEWISH RETURN
‘In the prophecy of Ezekiel we have, in the vision of the valley of dry bones, and its interpretation, a very full account of the final restoration and conversion of Israel (Ezek. xxxvii. 7-14).
According to the representation of that vision the restoration is to take place in successive and perfectly distinct stages.
Thus the prophet saw that, before the giving of life to the dry bones, which symbolized the house of Israel, before the clothing of them with flesh, sinews, and skin, there was first of all ‘a noise and a shaking, and bone came to bone, each bone to his fellow;’ that is, he saw in the first place a preliminary organization, the necessary antecedent of all that followed.’
Grattan Guinness, ‘Light For The Last Days’, chapter 7, 1888
‘If this feature of the vision mean anything, it would seem that it can mean nothing else than this, that a tendency to external organization in the scattered nation was to be looked for, antecedent and preparatory to their actual reinstatement in their land, and conversion to God, by the power of the Spirit of life."
This prediction as to the beginning of the final restoration is being very literally fulfilled.
…
The climax of the Jewish renaissance is, as we know, to consist in their restoration as a nation to the land of Palestine, - a climax which has not yet come, but which is perceptibly nearer than it was even a quarter of a century ago.’
Grattan Guinness, ‘Light For The Last Days’, chapter 7, 1888
We knew the times and seasons
‘In chapter vii. it is the sixth trumpet angel that unlooses the angels bound by the river Euphrates. Here the sixth angel pours his vial upon the river Euphrates.
Evidently the power affected by the sixth angel and described by the river Euphrates in both cases, is the same in chapter vii. and in the present chapter.
Prophecy has described the rise of the Turkish power. It also foreshadows the fall of this mighty scourge of the nations.
The cruel and sensual invader, who has desolated the Holy Land and plowed with destruction regions in which flourishing churches were founded by the apostles, is destined to fall.
A vial shall be poured out upon it and it shall be dried up.’ B W Johnson, ‘Vision Of the Ages’, page 312, 1888
We knew the times and seasons
‘I wish to ask the reader to observe the effects of pouring out the vial. The Euphrates is dried up. This symbolism does not indicate a sudden destruction but a gradual decay. Earthquakes, and falling cities and lands, or mountains swallowed up, are symbols of sudden destruction, but a drying up indicates an extinction by slow degrees. This is just what is taking place in the case of Turkey.
I do not know when her end will come, whether soon, or far in the future; but her end will come, and I do know that for more than a hundred years the foundations of her power have been slowly drying up.’
B W Johnson, ‘Vision Of the Ages’, page 313, 1888
We knew the times and seasons
‘In considering the sixth trumpet the river Euphrates was interpreted to represent that which bound or held in check for a time, the four angels—the Turkish-Ottoman forces in their invasion of the Eastern or Greek Christendom. …For nearly thirteen centuries with the exception of a brief period of about ten years, the great Ottoman or Turkish Empire held possession of Jerusalem and the land of Palestine.’ ‘In 1917, a very significant date in symbolic time prophecy, this Turkish power was forced to deliver over the government of that land to England—an event most remarkable in connection with the fulfillment of the prediction of the drying up of the Euphrates.’
R E Streeter, ‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ’, chapter 37, c. 1922
We knew the times and seasons
This, however, does not complete the fulfillment of the symbol in even its earthly aspect. The complete drying up of the great river Euphrates, would be accomplished only in the Jews’ gaining complete possession of their land under a government of their own.
This would require that even England, a friendly power to the Jews, would have to relinquish its governmental authority in that land.
Furthermore, there would be required the removal of all those obstacles in the land itself, that is, the removal of the peoples now living in the land; either their removal or their cessation of opposition to the ownership and rulership of the Jews over Palestine.’
R E Streeter, ‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ’, chapter 37, c. 1922
And predicted what was to occur in 1947-8
The restoration of the Jews is a work of time, and will require between fifty and sixty years to accomplish. ..
It is described by the prophet as, “a land of unwalled villages. Whose inhabitants are at rest and dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates…” John Thomas Elpis Israel, 1848
The prophet was so clear, but it was not until 1994 when a large ‘security wall’ was begun about the ‘mountains of Israel, that Gog’s strong reference to a lack of walls makes sense.
The 60 years envisioned have passed
Do we sense the times we live in? Shall we confidently proclaim that shortly Israel will dwell without that wall?
