Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 209 Treasures From The Prophets - 7 To subscribe just send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org THE FUTURE UNFOLDS Jeremiah 3:16-18 MKJV And it will be when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Jehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah! Nor shall it come to mind; nor shall they remember it; nor shall they visit it; nor shall it be made any more. (17) At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. Nor shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. (18) In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers. Jeremiah makes a very long distance prophecy here. This is NOT the return from Babylon - after which the Temple was rebuilt and the Ark of the Covenant installed. It is a time after the complete demolition of the Mosaic system, when the Ark is forgotten because of the sheer glory of Christ and the conversion of all Israel. Despite Harrison Ford and end-times doomsayers the Ark of the Covenant is not especially powerful. It is not the path to world peace and whoever captures it will not rule the world. God is not quite so easily contained! In fact the Ark of the Covenant will be forgotten: "in those days, says Jehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah! Nor shall it come to mind; nor shall they remember it; nor shall they visit it; nor shall it be made any more. " The ultimate religion is not Judiasm but Christianity; the Messiah Jesus is God -With-Us. In Jesus God got out of the Golden Box (the Ark was a golden box) of religion and walked among men and women and healed them and blessed them and died for them and redeemed them. What sensible person would want God located in the Ark of the Covenant in a temple in Jerusalem when instead he could have God immediately with him and in him through faith in Jesus Christ? In the above prophecy Jeremiah tells that the religious system of Judaism, represented by the Ark of the covenant, would come to a complete end and would not be revived. The Messiah would replace the Ark, something better would come, and Hebrews explains in detail that Christianity has fulfilled Judaism and supersedes its liturgy. Now the Jews today do still think of the Ark of the Covenant and remember it and there are probably plans to rebuild it. There are even movies about it. So Jeremiah's prophecy is in a time still future, a time when the Jews will return from the lands of the North, live in unity and forget about the Mosaic worship system. But why would they forget something that they have cherished for 3000 years? Because they will find Christ. Paul addresses the problem of the salvation of the Jews in Romans 9-11 and towards the end he writes: Romans 11:24-27 MKJV For if you were cut out of the natural wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more these being according to nature will be grafted into their own olive-tree? (25) For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, lest you should be wise within yourselves; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the nations has comes in. (26) And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, "There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. (27) For this is My covenant with them, when I have taken away their sins." So at some point in redemptive history "all Israel shall be saved.." And when they find Jesus their Messiah then the Temple, the wailing wall and the Ark of the Covenant and the Jewish liturgy will be replaced by the ministry of the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus. The Temple was impressive but it was replaced by the true Temple - the body of Christ Jesus. John 2:18-22 MKJV Then the Jews answered and said to Him, What sign do you show us, since you do these things? (19) Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. (20) Then the Jews said, This temple was forty-six years building, and will you rear it up in three days? (21) But He spoke of the temple of His body. (22) Therefore when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. Jeremiah also says that while Judaism the religion will be forgotten, Israel as a people and as a physical nation and a land will endure. "(17) At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. Nor shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. (18) In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers." It is clearly national Israel with Jerusalem as the capital "throne of Jehovah" - in its traditional location "the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers" and it is populated with ethnic Jews "days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel". Jerusalem has not been the recognized capital of Israel as an independent nation for thousands of years. This is a prophecy yet to be fulfilled. After the great Jewish revival, the nations of the world will recognize Jerusalem as the capital and the remnants of the Jews will be gathered "out of the lands of the North". So we see that the religion of Judaism will vanish and be forgotten but the nation of Israel will remain and be established and honored by God; especially after it accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior. When will these things be? Jeremiah does not say and I do not know. The prophecy implies many events that have not yet occurred. We are nowhere near seeing all Israel saved, or the Ark forgotten, or Jerusalem as the recognized united capital of Israel. With the events of this week and the bombings and controversies it seems many years off - but I write as a mere man. I do not know the will and timing of God or how He will bring things to pass. The Scriptures cannot be broken (John 10:35), these things will happen and the prophets will be fulfilled. (Matthew 26:54-56). As Christians we should rejoice in our New Testament freedoms, our place in the heavenlies in Christ, and be aware that while the Law and the Jewish liturgy and festivals and Temple were grand and glorious - they are finished in Christ. The religion of Judaism is not something we should turn back to (see Galatians and Hebrews). On the other hand we should realize that God is faithful to the patriarchs and to the Jewish people and is bringing them back to their land to meet their Messiah and to be saved as a whole nation and to display the glory of God. We should also be careful about Jewish "myths and fables" of legends about the Ark of the Covenant or the Kabala or Jewish mysticism. "Titus 1:13-14 MKJV This witness is true; for which cause convict them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith, (14) not giving heed to Jewish myths and commandments of men, turning away from the truth." Such myths may be the stuff of Hollywood but they are not the stuff of faith. Blessings, John Edmiston Were you blessed by Eternity Daily Bible Study? To subscribe just send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org Visit the Eternity Daily Bible Study Archives - http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ Study at the Asian Internet Bible Institute- Free online non-formal, in-service, bible and ministry training: http://www.aibi.ph