“…Has God cast away His people?  Certainly not! …God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.”  Romans 11:1-2

Who has not been fascinated with the history of Israel and the Jewish nation as they read through the scriptures from Abraham until the present day?  God’s covenant with Israel began in Genesis 12 with God’s promise to Abram.  It promised him a land, a great nation, a great name, a blessing, all nations would be blessed if they honored Israel, and all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. And yet as we read of their history, we wonder!

Israel failed in many areas and yet, they were given the promises of God  1.) Israel’s sinfulness demonstrated our need for a Savior.  Their idol worship, persecution of the prophets and sinful lifestyle were examples of our fallen condition.  2.)  Israel was appointed guardians of the “oracles of God” and written by “holy men of God,” 2 Peter 1:21.  We are recipients of that blessing.  3.)  Israel was the nation through which the Savior would be born.  Jesus was of the “house and lineage of David,” Luke 2:10,11.  4.)  Israel was chosen as God’s witness to the world.  “You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen,” Isaiah 43:10. 

God’s commitment to Israel began with Abram and continues today.  Many mightier, more powerful nations have disappeared off the pages of history.  The Jewish people have been persecuted more than any people on earth, yet they survive and thrive.  The “indestructible Jew” has baffled historians through the ages!  I read this story as I was waiting for my flight home from Florida last weekend and I want to share it with you, a remarkable act of God’s providence.

The scene was Russia shortly after World War II.  On March 1, 1953, Josef Stalin unveiled a proposal to liquidate the three million Jews then living in the Soviet Union.  Stalin, a paranoid Jew-hater, had executed thousands of Jews in the 1930’s, including many who had supported the Communist cause since the beginning of the Bolshevik revolution.  Stalin’s anger against them was rekindled when Israel’s first ambassador to Moscow, Golda Meir, was invited to a reception held by Soviet Jews.  Soon after, Stalin announced that a “plot” to kill him had been discovered.  He explained to the Soviet press that Jewish medical doctors arranged the clever and sinister plot.  Soon denunciations against all Jews from leading Communists were broadcast on government-controlled radio and television and circulated in the press.  On March 1, 1953, at noon, Stalin called a meeting of the Politburo in the Kremlin and read to the Soviet leaders his plan for the extermination of the Jews.  However, Stalin’s plan to annihilate them never took place.  On March 2, only twenty-four hours after outlining his plans and exactly one week before the devastation would begin, Josef Stalin died of a stroke.  He lay in state for a week and was buried on March 9, which was the Jewish holiday Purim!  Purim is the holiday in remembrance of God’s deliverance of the Jews in the book of Esther.  God is still in control and His hand protects the nation of Israel.  “This is what the Lord says, He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea…. The Lord Almighty is His name: ‘Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,’ declares the Lord, ‘will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.’”  Jeremiah 31:35-36.   Praise God!  His promises never change!  He keeps His covenants to every generation!

Your friend, Jean

(taken from “Replacement Theology” by David Dunlap)