“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Matthew 23:37-39
In this final lament over the city of Jerusalem, Jesus longed for His people to gather to Him, but they had to make a choice and their choice brought condemnation.
Though He will soon depart, a future time will come for the Jewish people to repent and plead with Him to return. Jesus tells them that they will not see Him again until they say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“I will return again to My place
Till they acknowledge their offense.
Then they will seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” Hosea 5:15
The scene is the tribulation period, a time of affliction. Israel’s Messiah had returned to His place like a lion returning to its lair (Hosea 5:14). He would not hear their prayer until Israel acknowledged their national sin and plead for Him to return.
“Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.” Hosea 6:1-2
Either by studying the Scriptures, or by the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and of the two witnesses, Israel’s leaders will finally recognize why the tribulation has fallen on them. The confession of Israel’s national sin will take two days when they turn to Isaiah 53:1-9 and acknowledge what they kept hidden for almost 3000 years:
“Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, everyone, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.”
The Jewish people will admit that the nation of Israel had looked upon Jesus as nothing more than a criminal who had died from His own sins. Their collective forgiveness will come from national acknowledgment of Messiah Jesus when they repeat what He said they will say:
“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This was the Lord’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I pray, O Lord;
O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.” Psalm 118:22-26
At the time of His coming, Jesus will go to Bozrah in Edom (modern day Petra, southern Jordan) where the Jewish remnant will have been protected from Antichrist fulfilling Daniel 11:41.
“He (Antichrist) shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon.”
The prophet Isaiah 63:1-3 in Edom encounters a Figure approaching in shekinah glory…
“Who is this who comes from Edom,
With dyed garments from Bozrah,
This One who is glorious in His apparel,
Traveling in the greatness of His strength? —
“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
2 Why is Your apparel red,
And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone,
And from the peoples no one was with Me.
For I have trodden them in My anger,
And trampled them in My fury;
Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,
And I have stained all My robes.” Isaiah 63:1-3
… fulfilling Romans 11:26-27
“ 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”
(All Israel will be saved is a reference to all Jews living at that point in time, the tribulation remnant of Zechariah 13:8-9)
“And it shall come to pass in all the land,”
Says the Lord,
“That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die,
But one-third shall be left in it:
9 I will bring the one-third through the fire,
Will refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them.
I will say, ‘This is My people’;
And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’
They will mourn for Him:
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” Zechariah 12:10
The stage is now set for the triumphal Return: Revelation 19:11-16
“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
‘KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.’”
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Final thought: A Day is like a Thousand years
If we apply 2 Peter 3:8 which says, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” a possible new prophecy comes to light.
Applying the thousand years for a day principle, Hosea said there would be 2,000 years (2 days) between the time the Lord went back to heaven (Ascension) and the time He would return at the 2nd Coming to set up the millennial Kingdom. On the 3rd day, the 1000 years reign of Christ on earth, the redeemed Jews will live in His sight.
References:
- The Footsteps of the Messiah, Arnold Fruchtenbaum
- Bible Knowledge Commentary, John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck
- Jack Kelley, Grace Thru Faith (.com), “Hosea 6:2”
- Centurion, contributor to our blog