"The Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your descendants I have given this land'" (Ge 15:18). Later God repeated to Abram, "'I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings'" (17:8). Then God told Moses to say to Israel, "'If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine'" (Ex 19:5). While ministering during their return from captivity, the Levites related that God had found Abram's "'heart faithful before Thee, and didst make a covenant with him to give him the land'" (Neh 9:8). Isaiah describes the relationship as, "'Your husband is your Maker, whose name is the Lord of hosts; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the God of all the earth'" (Isa 54:5).
However, the Lord asked Jeremiah, "'Have you seen what faithless Israel did?'" (Jer 3:6). Israel and Judah had committed adultery, and God "'had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce'" (:8). "'You were sold for your iniquities'" (Isa 50:1). "'I will also do with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant'" (Eze 16:59). "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear" (Isa 59:1). This means that "her former husband is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled" (Dt 24:4). Satan has been trying to defeat God's purposes since Adam sinned. "They have said, 'Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation; that the name of Israel be remembered no more.' For they have conspired together with one mind: against Thee do they make a covenant" (Ps 83:4-5).
"Jesus began to preach and say, "'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Mt 4:17). He said, "'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel'" (15:24). "They were entrusted with the oracles of God" (Ro 3:2). But "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him" (Jn 1:11). "They were not able to enter because of unbelief" (Heb 3:19). Jesus stated, "'How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling'" (Mt 23:37). "'Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it'" (21:43). "A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in" (Rom 11:25). Jesus stated, "'Behold, your house is being left to you desolate'" (Mt 23:38). Peter testified of the seriousness of their actions saying, you "'put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses'" (Ac 3:15).
God has a plan. "'The Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord God has scattered you'" (Dt 30:3). "'I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; and My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, and My glory for Israel'" (Isa 46:13). "Thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written" (Ro 11:26). Here Paul refers to, "'A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob'" (Isa 59:20). He also quotes, "'Therefore through this Jacob's iniquity will be forgiven; and this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin'" (27:9). "'It will come about after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land'" (Jer 12:15).
God has a plan for the restoration of the "'remnant of Israel'" (Jer 31:7). "'The days are coming . . . when I will restore the fortunes of My people . . . [and] bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers'" (30:3). It will be a "'new covenant . . . not like the covenant which I made with their fathers'" (31:31-32). "'This is the covenant which I will make, . . . I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it'" (:33). He will "'restore your fortunes before your eyes'" (Zeph 3:20) and "make them one nation in the land'" (Eze 37:22). His disciples knew of this asking, "'Lord, will you at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?'" (Ac 1:6). It had been prophesied that, "'In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places' (Amos 9:11) "'that the remnant of men may seek the Lord'" (Ac 15:17). However, "'that day is great . . . it is the time of Jacob's distress, but he will be saved from it'" (Jer 30:7). "When I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed'" (Eze 16:63). They "will return and seek the Lord . . . and to his blessings in the last days" (Hos 3:5). The "latter days" are the 1,260 days of the two witnesses during the Great Tribulation.
Some see the Old Testament prophesies regarding Israel as applying to Christ and His Church because Jesus said, "'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (Jn 14:6). However, literally consider "how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?" (Rom 11:24). All are invited because "let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost" (Rev 22:17). "We are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles" (1Co 12:13). "There is neither Jew nor Greek . . . for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28). "Neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (Gal 6:15) resulting in "peace and mercy . . . upon the Israel of God" (:16). "He is a Jew who is one inwardly" (Rom 2:28) for he who "is born of the Spirit is spirit" (Jn 3:6). "Put on the new self who is being renewed . . . [which is] a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew" (Col 3:10-11). He has "made both groups into one" (Eph 2:14) "and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (3:6). "Having predestined us to adoption as sons" (1:5) "you received the Spirit of adoption" (Rom 8:15). "If you belong to Christ, then you are real descendants of Abraham" (Gal 3:29). You are "a royal priesthood . . . His special people" (1Pe 2:9).