Fulfilled Prophecies

God - Did God Divorce Israel?
poster God - Did God Divorce Israel?


By Dan Maines

Did God Divorce Israel?

Jeremiah 3:8 8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.

We're told in Jeremiah 3:8 that God would indeed divorce Israel including Judah. God divorced Israel and destroyed her unbelieving people. This took place in the 70 AD Jewish Roman war.

Isaiah 1:2 The Wickedness of Judah 2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: "I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me;

The heavens and earth in Bible prophecy represented the old covenant people, old covenant law and the Temple system. Until heaven and the earth pass away not one jot or tittle will pass from the law until all be fulfilled.

In Matthew 21:43, Jesus was speaking to the Jews of Israel in 30-33AD. He basically said to physical Israel, He didn't want to be married to them anymore because of their unfaithfulness. Matthew 21:43 tells us He would take away the kingdom of God the physical Temple and destroy it. He then would make another (not built with hands) and give it to His new bride, his church of believers the New Jerusalem.

The question here is would this happen again in the future? No and I'll tell you why. First off there is no physical kingdom of God on earth, Second it's the body of Christ that makes up His Church.

In addition to an eschatological view point, There is another example about divorce. Usually people look down on other people that have gone through a divorce or divorces. But when you think about how God divorced physical Israel it was fair and right, leaving us, NOT TO JUDGE.

Rev. 21:1-3 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, (covenant, people, city)" a for the first heaven (covenant) and the first earth (people, city) had passed away, (unbelieving Jews, old covenant, literal city of Jerusalem passed) and there was no longer any sea. (The sea represents people in the bible and this sea is referring to the Jews who died in 70 AD) 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (The new Jerusalem city represents the church they came out of the old covenant heaven), prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband (The New Jerusalem city which was the church was the bride who was marrying her husband Christ Jesus ). 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."

Revelation 21:4 Tells us the first things (old order of things/former things) have passed away. This is clearly speaking of the end of the old covenant. In Revelation 21:1-7 we see that The dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. So, again, this about the new covenant relationship with God's people, not a literal city or building. Nor is it about heaven, as some people think.

The church no longer needs a temple because Christ brings the presence of God to his people. Christ replaced the temple (Revelation 21:22). No longer could anyone claim that salvation was in the temple rituals. Salvation rests only in Christ.

Hebrews 8:13 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Most people miss the entire point, it's heaven and earth passing away.

Hebrews 9:26-28 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

In verse 26 Jesus had appeared "once" to put away sin by sacrificing himself. The Greek word translated once is "hapax" and normally means "once for all time" (see Jude 3, I Peter 3:18). The writer then says Jesus "shall appear the second time unto salvation," vs. 28. The force of the word "second" as used here is the same as "once;" Christ would not appear again and again. In other words, "second" carries the same distinctive nature as does "once" indicating the singularity of the event.

Hebrews 9:28 says Jesus would appear a second time, not many times, unto salvation. Jesus said he was going to return at the destruction of Jerusalem, and this would be the redemption [salvation] of his Body. He said it would be in that generation. Therefore, Jesus' return in the destruction of Jerusalem, for the purpose of redemption, is the return of Hebrews 9:28. Since Christ's coming in 70 was the coming for redemption, and since he was to return only once for salvation per Hebrews 9:28, then Christ's return in 70 was the final (second) coming of Christ.

In Daniel 12:1-7 Daniel's people are the Jews of Israel. The people were not to be shattered. It was the power that was to be shattered. The power was the covenant. When the power was shattered that is when the Lord divorced Israel. The only power Israel ever had was a covenant relationship with the Lord.

It was Israel that persecuted the early church in Rev. 17. It was Israel that was guilty of all the righteous blood shed on the earth Matt. 23:35. The mother of all harlots was drunk with a blood of the saints she persecuted the church.

The New Jerusalem is the bride (Revelation 21:2), which means the bride of Christ (Matthew 22:1-14; John 3:29; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:22-32; Revelation 19:7-8). Israel was a harlot (Revelation 17:1, 5, 15; 19:2). Israel was the original bride of the LORD (Jeremiah 2:1). But, throughout the Bible, whenever Israel is unfaithful, she is characterized as a "harlot" and an "adulterer." See: Deuteronomy 31:16-18; Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 2:20; 3:6-9; Ezekiel 16:15, 26, 28; Hosea 9:1.For her marital unfaithfulness, she received divorce and punishment. Then we see the new bride-the church (The Kingdom), coming to take her place. Old Covenant Jerusalem is destroyed and replaced by the New Jerusalem of which first-century Christians were citizens.

Share on Facebook
Links
Comment Form is loading comments...