Derek Prince - What Will Happen to The Jews In The End Times?
The next series of questions is about Israel. And naturally, there are a number of questions. How are the church and Israel related? Does Galatians 3:29 not mean that believers are Abraham's seed adopted Jews? We better look at Galatians 3:29. That's a very common, I would say, assumption. I don't believe it's correct. That's my personal opinion. Galatians 3:29 says: If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, and heirs according to promise.
Galatians 3:29 So, all who come to God through Jesus Christ, or belong to Christ, are Abraham's offspring. That doesn't make us Jews. That's the simple statement. You see, if you turn to Romans chapter 4 and verse 17, speaking about Abraham and quoting from the book of Genesis: As it is written, a father of many nations I have made you, in the sight of him who you believed [that's God] So God made Abraham a father of many nations. Hebrew, goyim. He's not only the father of the Jewish people; he's the father of many goyim who've come to faith in Jesus Christ. The fact that I'm a believer in Jesus makes me Abraham's descendant but it doesn't make me a Jew.
I see a puzzled look on the faces of some of you. What is or will be the role of Israel in the final evangelization of the world? Is world evangelization the exclusive duty of the church or is there an aspect that the church will not fulfill that is reserved for the Israel that recognizes her Messiah? That's a very intelligent question and I cannot give you a definitive and final answer. I'll give you my opinion. And as I've said many times to people, you can disagree with me and still get to heaven! In reading the book of Revelation I have to assume that you're familiar with some of these passages. It says that there will be 144,000 out of twelve tribes of Israel that God will seal for His end time purposes.
Now I am naive. I believe it will be 144,000. Not 143,999 and not 144,001. The precisely 144,000 and I believe they will come out of all the tribes that are mentioned. And bear in mind the tribe of Dan is not mentioned, that's a significant fact. I believe there will be just what the Bible says from the tribes of Israel. See, the last time Israel is mentioned in the New Testament, it's in Revelation in this passage and then in the description of the New Jerusalem, the names of the gates were the twelve sons of Israel. I see no reason to think that means anything other than what the whole Bible indicates, the twelve sons of Israel.
Now, I am excited because I really believe that God is going to move in supernatural grace and power in Israel among the Jewish people, and that thousands of them are going to come to the Lord Jesus. And out of them there will be 144,000, 12,000 from every one of the tribes named. And then: if you look at the next passage in Revelation, it's Revelation 7 and then Revelation 14. So we've looked at Revelation 7, but we didn't turn there. Turn now to Revelation 14, and it says: I looked, and behold, the Lamb [that's the first verse] was standing Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.
To me it seems probable that the144,000 of chapter 7 and the 144,000 of chapter 14 are the same persons. That seems to be reasonable. I understand that these have all given their lives as martyrs; that's why they're with the Lamb on the Mount Zion. They're a very special category of people. It says there was no guile found in their mouths. That makes them very special Israelites. Just like Nathaniel was very special when he came to Jesus. Behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile. See? That's the mark of a true Israelite. While there was one in the time of Nathaniel, by the end of the age there will be 144,000.
Now I have to avoid getting into this too deeply but, the each one had the name of Jesus and the name of the Father on their foreheads. You see, they were the counter to the antichrist who insisted on having his name either on the forehead or the hand of all the people he brought under his dominion. And typically, the antichrist doesn't mind whether he gets it on your hand or on your forehead, as long as he's got you. God will only put it on the forehead because He wants your mind. He wants your willing, yielding, believing submission. So for me, and if you look back I shouldn't have gone into this.
If you look back in Revelation 7 verse 4 I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand from every tribe of the sons of Israel. And then it says, verse 9 of revelation 7 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count from every nation, and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb. I could believe there's a connection. I could believe that the 144,000 Israelites were God's instrument to reap that harvest from all other nations, peoples, tribes and tongues. That would be a logical connection. And then it says of this uncountable multitude: these are those that came out of the great tribulation.
So, whether you like it or not, this present age is going to end with terrible tribulation. And immediately after the tribulation, there's going to appear a sign in the sun, moon and stars, and the Lord Jesus Christ is coming in power and glory. So, for those who believe the church is going to take over at the end of the age, we have to say the church is going to be responsible for a terrible state of affairs. Because, that's the final state of unredeemed humanity before the actual personal return of the Lord.
But returning to the question, and I've been talking about this much more at length than I intended, but as I've been talking, a conviction has formed within me that God is going to use the Israelites before the age actually closes in a tremendous, final reaping of the harvest. That's a personal understanding. Thank you for asking the question.
Now let's go on. When an Israelite gets saved, has a born again experience and is baptized in the Holy Spirit, is he then considered to be part of Israel or the church? Well, when an American gets saved and has a real born again experience, is he part of America or is he part of the church? The answer is he's part of both. We don't lose our national identity by becoming members of the church. But, our supreme commitment thereafter is not to our own nation but to the church of Jesus Christ. So, in that respect, an Israelite is no different from an American or a Britisher or Russian. Oh, how did we get here? Well, this is a very good question; I should have dealt with it.
You have to be familiar a little bit with the New Testament. In the great council that was held in Acts 15 to decide what to do with Gentiles who were believing in Jesus, do you remember that? See, it's very interesting because the boot is now on the other foot. Gentiles are deciding what to do with Jews who become believers in Jesus. And actually, the Assemblies of God in this country had a council meeting to determine what to do about Jewish believers. Eventually, one of their senior officials stood up and said, Well, we don't have any option. Nineteen centuries ago they took us, now we have to take them!
Then it was decided there were four things only that would be imposed upon Gentile believers. They were not required to observe the Law of Moses; they were not required to be circumcised. But these four things, and this is written out: It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements. Abstain from food sacrificed to idols, blood that means eating food with blood in it, meat of strangled animals and that's the same requirement because if you strangle an animal, the blood stays in it, and sexual immorality.
And notice that eating food with blood in it is placed one exactly the same level as sexual immorality. And I believe those apply. Those are the only requirements of the law of Moses that apply to all Gentile believers. And they're still in force today. Shall I read them again? Maybe I should. To abstain from food sacrificed to idols, eating blood, meat of strangled animals, and sexual immorality.
Then this: when you spoke of the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael, will any of the seed of Ishmael be included as the Israel of God? And are they considered true Jews? The answer is definitely not. But, all descendants of Ishmael who believe in the Lord Jesus and His sacrificial death will become part of the body of Christ. Thank God for that. And I incidentally believe there's going to be a great in gathering from amongst them also. And in case anybody should think that Ruth and I are prejudiced, our present main endeavor is to get my radio program into Arabic to reach the Arabs of the Middle East, who are the most unreached large segment of humanity anywhere.
Recently Youth With A Mission conducted an investigation of forty least reached national groups with the aim of reaching them. And of those forty, twenty-four were Islamic nations. So that gives you some idea of how little real penetration there has been of the gospel amongst the Islamic nations, who are the descendants of Ishmael primarily. So, may God help us to reach them and may they be brought in, and may the Lord be glorified. And would you please pray for that because we've never had so many frustrations and delays with anything we've tried to do as with getting that program into Arabic. Because, an Egyptian Christian who was working closely with us said about Islam, The head of the serpent is in the Middle East. And unless you crush the serpent's head you haven't dealt with it. So, some time or other we have to deal with Islam in the Middle East.