Gabriels Prophecy Fulfilled
Gabriels Prophecy Fulfilled – The angel Gabriel gave three prophecies to Daniel. Look at the second one. He said, “A command will come to rebuild Jerusalem. The time from this command until the appointed leader comes will be forty-nine years and four hundred thirty-four years” (Daniel 9:25). The Hebrew term for “appointed leader” means Messiah…Jesus Christ. The angel mentioned two blocks of time, for a total of 483 years.
Nehemiah was a high-ranking exiled Jewish ruler. He made a request to Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem, and the king agreed. According to the Hebrew calendar, the 483rd year occurred during the Passover of AD 33, on April 6 – the very year and day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Our Savior fulfilled Gabriel’s prophecy. What a testimony to the authority of the Bible!
A Spectacular Future Era
Our Father Has the Wheel – Be assured, God is at work. His plans are proceeding at the right pace, in the right places, and according to his will. What he has said, he will do.
When our daughters were young, I took them on many road trips. On the eve of our departure, I’d tell my daughters what was about to happen. “Early tomorrow, while you are still sleeping, I will carry you to the car, cover you with a blanket, and buckle you in your seat. By the time you wake up, we will be on the road.” I told them in advance what would happen. Consequently, they relaxed. Their father had told them what to expect.
Our good Father has done the same. So, as his promises are being fulfilled, we have no need of fear. We can relax, knowing that our Father has the wheel.
Our Father Has the Wheel
Our Father Has the Wheel – Be assured, God is at work. His plans are proceeding at the right pace, in the right places, and according to his will. What he has said, he will do.
When our daughters were young, I took them on many road trips. On the eve of our departure, I’d tell my daughters what was about to happen. “Early tomorrow, while you are still sleeping, I will carry you to the car, cover you with a blanket, and buckle you in your seat. By the time you wake up, we will be on the road.” I told them in advance what would happen. Consequently, they relaxed. Their father had told them what to expect.
Our good Father has done the same. So, as his promises are being fulfilled, we have no need of fear. We can relax, knowing that our Father has the wheel.
Gods Covenant with Jeremiah
Gods Covenant with Jeremiah – In Jeremiah 31:31, God made a covenant with Israel: “The days are coming…when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.” In Ezekiel 36:24 and 28, God affirmed, “I will take you [Israel] out of the nations…and bring you back into your own land…Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.”
This stunning covenant envisions a return and a revival among the Jews. Since 1948 more than three million Jews have moved to the historic homeland. But what of the spiritual revival? According to the prophecy of John, it is coming. He speaks of the day in which Jews will declare, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:10). Let’s pray for the people of Israel.
Gods Covenant with David
The Soil Promise – “…the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘to your descendants I will give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates…’” (Genesis 15:18). Israel is the only nation in history to whom God has given land. This covenant includes modern-day Israel as well as parts of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. God ratified this covenant with a ceremonial sacrifice of animals, and his covenant is untethered to performance.
The Soil Promise
The Soil Promise – “…the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘to your descendants I will give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates…’” (Genesis 15:18). Israel is the only nation in history to whom God has given land. This covenant includes modern-day Israel as well as parts of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. God ratified this covenant with a ceremonial sacrifice of animals, and his covenant is untethered to performance.
The Seed Promise
The Seed Promise – God said to Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3).
My passport bears multiple stamps from the nation of Israel. Pharaoh, Haman, and Hitler attempted to eradicate the Jews and failed. Modern-day neighboring nations have sworn to erase Israel from the map. They will fail as well. There are Jews all over the world. God preserves their unique identity because he plans to use them in the end.
God has blessed the world through the seed of Abraham. We have the prophets. We have King David’s psalms. But greatest by far we have a Savior – we have Jesus Christ. We have his Word, his church, and the blessed hope of his return. God kept the seed promise that he made to Abraham.
A Billboard of Gods Grace
A Billboard of Gods Grace – God made a promise to Abraham and Abraham’s heirs. Two words serve as subheads for this covenant: seed and soil. First, God promised to bless the seed of Abraham and bless the world through Abraham’s seed. The Lord had said to Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3).
Why would God make such a covenant with Israel? Not because of anything Israel had to offer. God chose Israel for the same reason he chose you and me: grace. Sheer, sovereign grace. He simply chose them as his billboards of grace.
Gods Covenant with Adam and Eve
Gods Covenant with Adam and Eve – God declared a shared dominion. God bequeathed upon his first couple an assignment. They would oversee, superintend, and exercise authority over the earth. Our first parents were placed in charge of real animals and real fish on real land and the real sea. The Hebrew term for rule is “have dominion” or “dominate.”
Adam and Eve fulfilled this promise—until they did not. Their allegiance faltered, but did God’s? Did he change his mind? Abandon his plan? No scripture indicates a shift in divine strategy. God’s covenant was not written with easy-erase markers. God’s Edenic covenant is leading us to a time in which God’s perfected children will reign over a perfect earth.
God Cannot Lie
God Cannot Lie – Our God is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. He does not lie. He cannot lie. He can no more break a promise than you and I can swim the Pacific Ocean. The Scripture says, “God is not a human being, and he will not lie. He is not a human, and he does not change his mind. What he says he will do, he does. What he promises, he makes come true” (Numbers 23:19).
God is not like us. We remake our decisions and reconsider our opinions. We are prone to make a promise only to break it due to unforeseen circumstances. Not God. He sees the end of history. His decrees are not his desire for the future, they are his description of the future. We are on a divine trajectory governed by his promises. What God has set out to do, he will do.
