Today, The Bible & You
Today’s Front Page
The Nation’s Christian Newspaper
September 2025
Has God Replaced His Chosen People,
Israel?
Are God’s promises to Israel
still in effect?
Does God have a plan for the nation of Israel in the end days?
Of course. We are told in Numbers 24:14, “Now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.”
The apostle Paul brings us this same question in the New Testament book of Romans 11:1-2, 25-27 “I say then, Has God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Know you not what the scripture says of Elias? How he makes intercession to God against Israel saying … For I would not, brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so, all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, “There shall come out of Scion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.“
Israel was blinded to the two comings of our Lord Jesus to earth. The two comings of the Messiah serve as a framework for understanding divine intervention in human history, emphasizing hope and the promise of salvation. Israel failed to see their Messiah come as a suffering servant, as is pictured in a very graphic way in Isaiah 53, where the Messiah was to become the Lamb of God who would die for the sins of the people. Being under the rule of Rome, the Jews wanted a Deliverer like Moses, not someone who would die on a Cross.
Regarding the time of the Second Coming of the Messiah Jesus, we read in Hosea 5:15-6:3, “I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early. (They shall say) Come and let us return unto the Lord; for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight…”.
Some understand this verse to say that the phrase after two days, refers to two thousand years of the dispensation of the mystery mentioned in Romans 11:25, when Israel will be revived, after being in exile for this period since Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Does the Scripture give credence to those who believe a timeframe may be calculated for prophetic events such as the Rapture of the Church or the Rebirth and Restoration of Israel to true faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
The prophet Daniel calculated the length of the Babylonian Captivity from Jeremiah’s prophecy. “In the first year of his reign, I Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, whereof the Word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem” (Daniel 9:2). Most Bible centered teachers believe that such evidence has been available to the Church, through the prophecies of Hosea, to give us a credible time frame for the momentous events of prophecy that will close out this Church Age. “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your Redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).
The Bible is about two-thirds prophecy, and God certainly wants us to have an understanding of prophecy. It is written, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter” (Proverbs 25:2). As Daniel wrote in Daniel 12:4, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.“ Many passages of prophecy would be sealed until the time of the end, which time we believe we are now living in.
It is only the Blessed Paraklete Himself (the Holy Spirit) that can remove the scales from our eyes to make plain the meaning He intended when He inspired the writing of the prophecies. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you Things To Come” (John 16:13). Much of what the Old Testament prophets composed by the Spirit’s inspiration, was not understood by the prophets themselves, though they faithfully recorded Jehovah’s message. “Of which Salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven; which things the angels desire to look into” (1st Peter 1:10-12).
God gives us a huge view into the future of the chosen nation, Israel, and its restoration in the latter days. God spoke through his prophet Hosea in 808 BC. “After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight” (Hosea 6:2). Hosea’s prophecy occurred during the days of Northern Israel, before the successive invasions of the Assyrians as we read in “And the LORD said unto him. Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel” (Hosea 1:4-5). Though much of prophesy has a dual meaning, a “contemporary-to-them-but-historic-to-us” significance, some passages were difficult to interpret under any contemporary, historic, future, or prophetic scenario. “Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: HIs going forth is prepared as the morning: and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the Earth” (Hosea 6:1-3).
In John Gill’s commentary, “An Exposition of the Old and New Testament” (1809), he offers this short explanation of the cryptic second verse of Hosea’s sixth chapter — “After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in HIs sight” (Hosea 6:2) — Gill comments:
“But the Targum comes nearer the truth, which paraphrases the words thus, ‘he will quicken us in the days of consolation which as to come, and in the day of the resurrection of the dead he will raise us up; where by days of consolation are meant the days of the Messiah, with which the Jews generally connect the resurrection of the dead; and if we understand them of the last days of the Messiah, it is not much amiss; for the words of respect the quickening and raising up of the Jews in the latter days, the times of Christ’s spiritual coming and reign: and these two and three days may be expressive of a long and short time, as interpreters differently explain them; of a long time, as the third day is a long time for a man to lie dead, when there can be little or no hope of his reviving — ‘But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done’ (Luke 24:21) — or of a short time, for which two or three days is a common phrase; and both true in this case: it is a long time Israel and Judah have been in captivity, and there may seem little hope of their restoration;
But it will be a short time with the Lord, with whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years [‘But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years as one day’ (2nd Peter 3:8)]: and this I take to be the sense of the words, that after the second Millennium, or the Lord’s two days, and at the beginning of the third, will be the time of their conversion and restoration, reckoning from the last destruction of them by the Romans [70 AD]; for not till then were Israel and Judah wholly in a state of death: many of Israel were mixed among those of Judah before the Babylonish captivity, and many returned with them from it; but, when destroyed by the Romans, there was an end of their civil and church state; which will both be revived on a better foundation at this period of time; but if this conjecture agreeable (for I only propose it as such), the sense may be taken thus, that in a short time after the repentance of Israel, and their conversion to the Lord, they will be brought into a very comfortable and happy state and condition, both with respect to things temporal and spiritual.”
Mr. Gill wrote this in 1809, many years before the Jews began their return to their promised land at the beginning of the 1900’s, which resulted in the declaration of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948.
Certainly, John Gill was not attempting to predict the timing of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, but many students of prophecy are certainly encouraged that their “Redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28), in light of Hosea’s ancient writings, fits Hosea’s prophecy. Why?
First, Daniel’s prophecy indicates a time of Tribulation (often called the Tribulation or the Seventieth Week of Daniel). “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy Holy City… and in the midst of the week [the Seventieth Week] he [the Antichrist] shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he [the Antichrist] shall make it desolate” (Daniel 9:24, 27).
Second, the departure of the watching and waiting Church before the beginning of the Tribulation week is held out to the saints as an inducement to remain faithful. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
Third, the restoration of the Nation of Israel to true faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will occur suddenly in one day after the seven-year Tribulation Week, when Messiah Jesus returns “Shall the Earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” (Isaiah 66:8). Israel was born in one day on May 14, 1948.
Fourth, the destruction of Jerusalem by the legions of Rome occurred in 70 AD. When did Rome burn the Temple? The Romanized Jewish historian, Josephus, witnessed the actual event. He recorded that it was burned on ‘exactly the same day it was burned by the Babylonians’. Jeremiah the Prophet gives the exact date of Nebuchadnezzar’s burning of the Jerusalem Temple. ‘Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem. And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire’ (Jeremiah 52:12-13). It was destroyed by the Babylonians on the 10th day of the 5th month or Av 10. John Zachary in his book, ‘Scientific Evidence for the Second Coming of Christ’ on page 8, establishes Sunday, August 5, 70 AD (Julian) — also Av 10 as the correct date for the destruction of the 2nd Temple.
And finally, if we interpret Hosea’s “two days” (Hosea 6:2) as 2,000 years — “one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2nd Peter 3:8) — and since the Old Testament Jewish calendar is based upon a 360 day year, then “two days” (Hosea 6:2) — 2,000 years times 360 days equals 720,000 days — “after” (Hosea 6:2) the Av 10 Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple would be the period August 5th 70 AD (Julian) to November 17th 2041 AD (Gregorian).
What did Hosea’s prophecy say would occur after “two days” (Hosea 6:2)? “He will heal us… and He will bind us up” (Hosea 6:1). The future Conversion and Restoration of Israel would occur “after two days” (Hosea 6:2).
SOME THINK — (not John Barela) that based on some of their calculations, Israel could be (not WILL be) -restored for the Millennial Reign of the Messiah soon after November 17, 2041 AD (Gregorian). “In the third day [the thousand year Millennium] He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight” (Hosea 6:2). But, since the Restoration of Israel occurs at the the Second Coming of Christ, which follows the end of the Seventieth Week of Daniel, then about seven years prior, the Pre-Tribulation Rapture would take place. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36). This additional calculation would mean that the Tribulation would begin on December 25th 2034 AD (Gregorian), which is 2,520 days or seven prophetic years before the end of the Tribulation Week.
Does this mean that December 25th, 2034 AD (Gregorian) is the date of the Pre-Tribulational Rapture? NO, NO, because it would be much more agreeable to be raptured now, instead of years later! “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).
Our Lord Jesus Can Come At Any Time: God himself knows the exact time when he will return, even though he wants us to live with the expectation that he can return at any time. That allows the Judge of All the Earth, as he is referred to in Genesis 18:25, to work his work of judgment at any time. “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of All Flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).
God gave us a wonderful story in the Bible when Hezekiah asked for and received a sign from the LORD that he would recover from his illness. Our Creator caused the “space-time continuum” to go back in time, i.e., God reversed the rotation of the Earth temporarily. “And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that He hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz” (2nd Kings 20:9-11). The ability of the Alpha and Omega to touch the improbable is underappreciated. “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). He is able to affect the timing of prophetic events, such that what things man calculated as impossible, God will bring to pass, for the honor of His prophetic Word. “So shall My Word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).
Why would the Almighty cause this prophecy to seemingly falter from the fulfillment of His end time prophetic goals? It is possible that the “falter” and confusion are for the benefit of:
(1) Satan, to keep him from unnecessarily understanding or interfering with Jehovah’s prophetic plans, i.e., “And his [Satan’s] tail drew the third part of the stars of Heaven, and did cast them to the Earth: and the dragon stood before the woman [Israel] which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her Child [Jesus] as soon as It was born. And she brought forth a Man Child, Who was to rule all nations with a Rod of Iron: and her Child was caught up unto God, and to His Throne” (Revelation 12:4-5),
(2) the scoffers, to harden them for ultimate judgment, i.e., “For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favor, but that He might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses” (Joshua 11:20), and
(3) the Saints, to cause them to develop faith, hope and love, even when our limited resources cannot fathom the sheer perfection of timing of the Father’s prophetic program, “As for God, His way is perfect: the Word of the LORD is tried: He is a Buckler to all those that trust in Him” (Psalm 18:30). “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our LORD” (Romans 8:37-39).
The impending deliverance through the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church, the subsequent Re-Birth and Restoration of the Nation of Israel to true faith in Jehovah, the Second Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ, and the Millennial Reign of the Messiah, are events of the greatest hope for our world, but all can be manipulated by the Almighty, with greater ease than a child plays with a toy, or than a potter forms his clay. “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear My Words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel. At what instant shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in My sight, that it obey not My voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them” (Jeremiah 18:2-10).
Our prayer is: may the “LORD direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ” (2nd Thessalonians 3:5), that when He sovereignly chooses to execute His prophetic plans, we “may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless” (2nd Peter 3:14), with our “hand to the plough” (Luke 9:62).
Printed with permission of Today, the Bible & You located at P.O. Box 1722, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74013, Phone Number (918) 279-1136 the name of the original article in the September 2025 issue of Today’s Front Page was “Has God Replaced His Chosen People, Israel? Are God’s promises to Israel still in effect? Does God have a plan for the nation of Israel in the end days?” www.JohnBarela.com
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