And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse,
which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations
where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you
and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all
your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your
fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the
peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 30:1-3; ESV)
One of the most wonderful things about God, the true God, as
revealed in the Bible, is that he is always willing to receive those who humbly
and sincerely turn to him. In the Hebrew Bible there were times when it
appeared that the people had gotten to the point of no return as if they no
longer had any hope of restoration. But even some of the vilest of characters
found mercy with God when they repented.
As Moses was preparing to die, the prospects of success for
the people of Israel looked dim. God knew that Israel's heart was not truly for
him and that they would neglect his ways in the years ahead. Yet, as quoted
above, he also foresaw a time when Israel would take his Word to heart and turn
back to him. Then he would them restore them to himself and to the Land.
How this would all work out is not spelled out here. What is
clear is that Israel's waywardness would not result in God's renouncing his
promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As Paul wrote to the believers in Rome,
"For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29;
ESV). In that same passage, he agrees with Torah by asserting that Israel's
eventual complete restoration before God is assured (see Romans 11:26, 27).
While we don't know exactly how and when this will occur, we
do know that the only way for Israel to be restored to God is through the
Messiah. Israel would discover through its history its inability to live up to
God's standards due to the curse inherited from our first parents in the Garden
of Eden - an inability shared by all people - but highlighted by the people of
Israel through the receiving of the Torah. While the Torah reveals so much of
what is good and holy, including providing an accurate understanding of the
person and nature of God, it indicts those who seek to live by its standards,
thus impressing upon its disciples their need of a deliverer. The message of
the New Covenant Scriptures (New Testament) is that everything Israel needed
and longed for in its difficult history is fulfilled in Yeshua of Nazareth.
Some postulate that certain circumstances need to be in
place in order for Israel to be restored to God. Yet God's word through Moses
sounds like this could happen whenever. Whenever Israel takes to heart all they
have gone through and turns to the Lord, the Lord will restore them. Paul again
agrees. Speaking of the Jewish people, he says, "But when one turns to the
Lord, the veil is removed" (2 Corinthians 3:16; ESV).
All over the world this is happening. Jewish and non-Jewish
people alike are experiencing restoration with God upon turning to him in
response to the good news of the coming of the Messiah. Let's not think that
anyone, Jew or Gentile, is beyond God's reach today. The time of salvation is
whenever.
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