Year of Promise: © 1295 BC (Joshua 9:1-27)

Year of Promise Broken: © 1051 (2 Samuel 21:1)

Time until fulfillment: ~ 244 years

As previously noted, God made many prophecies through people He chose to speak for Him. These usually spoke proclaiming their words were directly from God. However, others spoke prophecies that they themselves spoke, although they were God inspired. In addition, God sometimes held people to the promises they made as well. An example of that is presented here.

When Joshua and the Israelite army started their conquests in Canaan, the people from the town of Gibeon decided to try trickery to save their lives. God had told the Israelites to drive out completely all those who lived in Canaan, over time, and not to make any covenants with them (Ex 23:31-33). However, having seen their neighbors being wiped out by Israel, the people of Gibeon, descendants of the Amorites (2Sa 21:2) of whose land was promised to Israel through Abraham (Gn 15:21) and who lived in a nearby section of Canaan, put on old clothes, packed moldy bread, and feigned they had traveled a long distance. They did this so they could make a peace treaty with Israel and would agree to be their servants if Israel agreed to spare their lives (Js 9:1-13). Joshua and the leaders, knowing God’s command to them about the inhabitants of Canaan (Js 9:7), did not trust them at first, but later believed them. Yet, they did not seek the Lord in regard to their decision (Js 9:14). Later, Joshua found out about the ruse, and made the Gibeonites slaves to Israel (Js 9:15-27).

However, during the time of Saul, the first king of Israel (1Sa 11:17-25), Saul tried to annihilate the Gibeonites (2Sa 21:2) and God showed his displeasure by sending a 3-year famine during the reign of King David (2Sa 21:1). The reason God did this is unknown but may be tied to the command God had given Israel, which stated the alien within their land should be treated as native-born (Lv 19:33-34). When David asked the Gibeonites what they wanted for retribution, they replied they wanted seven of Saul’s sons delivered to them for execution (2Sa 21:6). This was done and later, David gathered their remains as well as those of Saul and Jonathan, who had previously died in battle, and buried them in a family tomb within Saul’s family (2Sa 21:7-14), and God again blessed the land (2Sa 21:14).

You may find this a bizarre story. I will admit it is one of the more unusual stories in the Bible. Yet, it does show how seriously God takes his promises and the promises of those who he has placed in charge. Even after 200 years, God still held to what Joshua had promised the Gibeonites. Maybe Saul focused on the deception of the Gibeonites and felt he was being patriotic by taking them out. This is a caution to us to understand carefully the history of an event before we take action based upon our own beliefs without all the facts. God upheld Joshua’s original promise, and Saul should have also. I think we can see time is inconsequential to God. We cannot use it as an excuse.

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Year of Prophecy: ©689 BC (Isaiah 45:1)

Year of Fulfillment: 539 BC (2 Chronicles 36:20-23; Daniel 5:30-31)

Time until fulfillment: ~150 years

The prophecy that Cyrus would defeat Babylon is an example of fulfilled Biblical Prophecy. To show how the amount of time passing between prophecy and fulfillment doesn’t matter, we will cover ten of such prophecies. This is the seventh of ten.

Cyrus II (also known as Cyrus the Great) was the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire that continued for two centuries until the time of Alexander the Great. He inherited the throne at his father’s death, Cambyses I, in 559 BC and soon managed to unify the Median and Persian kingdoms into a single nation. Then, in 539 BC, he went after the kingdom of Babylon. Over the previous 14 years, Babylon had not had strong leadership, for its king Nabonidus had not been in the city during this time and he had left his son, Belshazzar, in charge of affairs in Babylon (Dn 5). Nabonidus had also fallen into disfavor with the Babylonian priesthood. Cyrus attacked Opis on the Tigris River defeating the Babylonians and causing Nabonidus to flee and later return to Babylon.  This gave Cyrus control of Babylon’s vast canal system. According to Herodotus, Cyrus had the Euphrates River, upriver from Babylon, diverted enough to cause the water level flowing through Babylon to drop to the height of one’s thigh and enabled the Persian army to march through the riverbed into Babylon during the night and capture the city. Cyrus himself entered Babylon shortly thereafter and proclaimed himself “king of Babylon.”

The prophet Isaiah predicted this long before it ever occurred. Isaiah was a prophet during the reigns of the Judean kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah (Is 1:1). He began his ministry around 740 BC and may have lived into the first part of the reign of Manasseh.  Isaiah prophesied to both Israel and Judah. The main world influence during the time of Isaiah was the Assyrian Empire. The main subject of the first 12 chapters of the book of Isaiah is the prophecy of the demise of Israel by Assyria in three stages.  Although Isaiah warned, Israel did not heed. Then, starting in chapter 13, Isaiah turns to Judah and predicts the punishment of Judah for the same reasons God allowed the destruction of Israel by Assyria. The interesting thing about the prophecy against Judah is that Isaiah prophesied the overtaking of Judah by Babylon and the demise of Babylon long before Babylon was anything to write home about. It was another century before Babylon came onto the world scene as a nation with which to be reckoned. Not only did Isaiah predict the invasion of Judah by Babylon almost a century before it occurred, but he then predicted that Judah would return to their homeland and by whom it would occur. This definitely shows that God is in control of all situations. The prophet Jeremiah would later prophesy that Babylon would take Israel captive for 70 years under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar (Jr 25). However, Jeremiah was not very specific in what would happen to Israel at the end of this 70-year period. He states that Babylon will be punished and enslaved by other nations, but not specifically about Israel’s return. By Isaiah giving specific prophesy about Israel’s return and under whose reign it would happen, it gave the people hope and assured them that it would occur—especially to those who were keeping track of the years of captivity. This must have been very exciting to Daniel when he realized that he was living during the time of fulfillment of these prophesies by Jeremiah and Isaiah (Dn 9:1-2).

This should be exciting to us as well. Why? It means whatever God has recorded in His Scripture will come to pass and we can be sure of it. Do you know what promises you can claim? Maybe it’s time to read and find out.

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Year of Prophecy: 606 BC (Jeremiah 29:10)

Year of Fulfillment: 536 BC (2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4)

Time until fulfillment: 70 years

The prophecy that Babylonian captivity would last 70 years is an example of fulfilled Biblical Prophecy. To show how the amount of time passing between prophecy and fulfillment doesn’t matter, we will cover ten of such prophecies. This is the sixth of ten.

This prophecy of Jeremiah was actually made by him in 597 BC when he wrote a letter to the 10,000 captives that had been taken captive with Jehoiachin (2Ki 24:14) to tell them to plant gardens because they would be in Babylon a long time—70 years to be exact (Jr 29:10). However, 8 years earlier (605 BC), Nebuchadnezzar had fought with Necho, king of Egypt at the battle of Carchemish, and defeated him making Judah a Babylonian vassal state (2Ki 24:1) and took captives to Babylon (Dan 1:1-5). This was the beginning of captivity that Jeremiah used for his timetable. In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, Cyrus decreed that the Jews could return and build their temple in Jerusalem (2Ch 36:22-23; Er 1:1-4). This occurred in 537 BC. This difference in years from the battle of Carchemish to Cyrus’ decree is 68 years by simple subtraction. However, one must take into account the Jewish way of counting years. After leaving Egypt, Israel began having their year start in the spring (Ex 12:2; 13:3-4) but the practice of sabbatical years started in the fall (Lv 25:1-4) with the count starting from the Day of Atonement in the seventh month of the year (Lv 25:8-9). Most nations had their king’s years start in the spring and is how Jeremiah states that the battle of Carchemish occurred in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jr 46:2); however, Daniel states he was taken captive in the third year of Jehoiakim (Dn 1:1). Since both events occurred within the same year, this seems a discrepancy. Both would be correct if Jeremiah was counting the king’s year starting in the spring and Daniel from the Jewish perspective of the fall. It is highly likely that Daniel was counting the years according to the sabbatical year system since God had stated that Israel would be in Babylonian captivity a year for each sabbatical year not observed (2Ch 36:20). Therefore, the beginning of the year Daniel was taken captive would be in the fall of 606 BC. The Israelites settled back into Jerusalem after Cyrus’ decree in the seventh month (Er 3:1) and the official end seems to be the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles (Er 3:1-4). Since this feast is after the Day of Atonement, it would put them into the following year according to the sabbatical year counting system. Therefore, from the Israelite captivity by Nebuchadnezzar during the reign of Jehoiakim until the official consecration of being back into their homeland after Cyrus’ decree was indeed 70 years.

I think this helps us with two things. First, God is sure to keep his promises even when they seem impossible, or people forget about them. Second, “discrepancies” that are claimed to be in the Bible are actually not discrepancies at all when one understands all the details. We can rely upon God because he is indeed faithful (1Co 1:9).

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Year of Prophecy: © 701 BC (Isaiah 39)

Year of Fulfillment: 586 BC (2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36:15-19)

Time until fulfillment: ~115 years

The prophecy of the captivity of Judah by Babylon is an example of fulfilled Biblical Prophecy. To show how the amount of time passing between prophecy and fulfillment doesn’t matter, we will cover ten of such prophecies. This is the fifth of ten.

As was noted in a previous post, even before this prophecy, Joel prophesied against Judah regarding the invasion by Assyria. Not long after the Assyrian conquest of Israel, the Assyrian general Sennacherib (the son of Sargon II) came to power in 705 BC and attempted the invasion of the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 701 BC (130 years after Joel’s warnings). King Hezekiah of Judah attempted to buy him off with approximately 11 tons of sliver and 1 ton of gold, even stripping off the gold from the doors of the temple to obtain it (2Ki 18:13-16). Instead, this just made the king of Assyria want more and within two years returned to Jerusalem knowing that Hezekiah was building an alliance with Egypt. The key to this Assyrian attempt being unsuccessful was Hezekiah turning the problem over to God. Hezekiah’s prayer for victory was so that “all the kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God” (2Ki 19:19). In response, God smote 185,000 of the Assyrian army causing Sennacherib and the remainder of his army to return to Nineveh (2Ki 19:35-37). In Sennacherib’s personal account, there is no mention of the capture of Jerusalem, just the ancillary conquests and tribute.  But, of course, no mention of the defeat. Therefore, by this act of Hezekiah, Judah and Jerusalem never succumbed to Assyria.

Not long thereafter, Hezekiah had a fatal illness (2Ki 20) and Hezekiah prayed that God would heal him. God sent word through the prophet Isaiah that Hezekiah’s request had been granted (Is 38:4-8). Then, Merodach-Baladan of Babylon sent an envoy to Hezekiah to wish him well after his recovery (2Ki 20:12). Hezekiah received them and showed them all he had. When Isaiah heard of this, he told Hezekiah that one day everything Hezekiah and his descendants had would be carried to Babylon (2Ki 20:16-18; Is 39).

The Chaldean (or Neo-Babylonian) empire grew in power and eventually overthrew the Assyrian empire in 612 BC as prophesied by the prophet Nahum. The main power came when Nabopolasser became king in 626 BC and brought Babylon to world renowned status regaining control over Mesopotamia. During this time of the conflict between Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt, the kingdom of Judah became the pawn. Josiah tried to take the opportunity to gain back territory taken from Judah, but was defeated in a battle with Necho, king of Egypt (2Ki 23:29-30; 2Ch 35:20-26). King Necho deposed Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, caring him off to Egypt where he died, and made his brother Eliakim a puppet king, changing his name to Johoiakim (2Ki 23:31-35). Judah thus became a tribute state to Egypt. In 605 BC, Nabopolassar’s son, Nebuchadnezzar, defeated Egypt and completed the Chaldean dominance of the known world, and Judah then became a tribute state to Babylon (2Ki 24:1). However, when the Babylonians suffered a defeat in 601 BC, Jehoiakim defected his alliance back to Egypt. Jehoiachin became king of Judah after his father died and at the same time Nebuchadnezzar mounted an offensive against Jerusalem. Jehoiachin surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC. Nebuchadnezzar plundered the city and temple, took Jehoiachin captive, and made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king, changing his name to Zedekiah (2Ki 24:17). Nine years later, Zedekiah rebelled, and Nebuchadnezzar returned in 588 BC, besieged the city for 2 years, and caused its utter defeat in 586 BC, burning and plundering the city (2Ki 25).

During this time, God made several attempts through various prophets to get the people to repent and turn back to him and not suffer the fate of this judgment; however, they would not listen (2Ch 36:15-17). King Zedekiah treated many of these prophets harshly and accused them of treason (Jr 37:9-21) and not being patriotic (Jr 38:4-6). It is never a question of if God will fulfill his promise, but when.

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Year of Prophecy: © 765 BC ,  (Book of Amos)

Year of Fulfillment: ©722 BC  (2 Kings 17:3-6)

Time until fulfillment: ~43 years

The prophecy of the captivity of Israel by Assyria is an example of fulfilled Biblical Prophecy. To show how the amount of time passing between prophecy and fulfillment doesn’t matter, we will cover ten of such prophecies. This is the fourth of ten.

Although Amos was the first prophet to prophecy of the capture of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, he was not the last. The prophet Hosea picked up where Amos left off. Other prophets like Isaiah and Micah also prophesied against Israel. The fall of Israel to Assyria occurred during the lifetime of these later three prophets.

Also, approximately 70 years before Amos, the prophet Joel prophesied against the Southern Kingdom of Judah similarly and compared the Assyrians to locusts. Joel first reminded Judah of the invasion of locusts they had encountered and how it occurred in four phases with each more destructive than the previous (Jl 1:4). Joel then calls the people to repentance (1:13-20) where he is probably thinking back to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 11 where Moses stated that this type of punishment would come because of sins of disobedience. Joel then informed Judah that an army was coming “such as never was of old nor ever will be” (2:2). Joel contrasted this army with the locusts that had devastated the land earlier. The locusts left nothing; neither would this army (2:3). The number of the army would be just as vast as the locusts; one would be able to hear them coming from a far distance (2:5). As they came, all obstacles would seem futile to them: they would appear to leap over mountains (2:5), scale walls, and enter houses without resistance (2:9). The invasion would be relentless; it would keep coming, not swerving from their course (2:7). As the locusts blotted out the sun by their numbers, so would this army (2:10). Joel then again asked Judah to repent (2:12-17) so that the Lord would have pity on them and reclaim His land (2:18). Then the Lord would make food plentiful (2:19), drive away enemies (2:20), send the needed rain showers (2:23), and they would have plenty (2:24). But first, they must repent. This description that Joel gave shows just how relentless and cruel the Assyrians could be to those deemed enemies.

From the time of Jonah’s ministry (785-772 BC) when the king of Nineveh repented (Jh 3:6-9) until approximately 40 years later, Israel received no confrontation with Assyria. However, in 745 BC, when Tiglath-pileser III came to the throne, all that changed. King Menahem of Israel was able to buy off Tiglath-pileser with 50 shekels of silver for each man: 60,000 men for a total of 37 tons of silver! (2Ki 15:19-20). Less than a decade later, Pekah, a later king of Israel, tried to force Ahaz, the king of Judah, into an alliance against Assyria (2Ki 16). Tiglath-pileser then took more of Israel’s cities and people captive and set Hoshea up as a puppet king over Israel (2Ki 15:29-30). Five years later, Shalmaneser V, the king of Assyria after Tiglath-pileser, besieged the capital city of Samaria because Hoshea had failed to pay the customary tribute to Assyria and had tried to gain the help of Egypt (2Ki 17:3-6). The siege lasted for 3 years (2Ki 17:5) during which time Shalmaneser V died and Sargon II completed the conquest in 722 BC. Sargon then intermixed the remaining people of Israel with the people of several conquered countries (2Ki 17:24) thereby destroying national resistance and the people’s national identity. This resulted in the people of Samaria losing their Jewish identity and forever being classified as Gentiles by the people of Judah (Ne 2:20, Jn 4).

Although the Kingdom of Israel had time to heed prophetic warning, they did not. They were considered troublemakers and asked to leave the country (Am 7:12-13). However, just because the people did not want to hear the message or the prophets were considered unpatriotic did not change the truth of the matter. It occurred as prophesied and probably occurred more harshly than anyone would have predicted. Scripture is clear in that Israel fell because “they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated His covenant” (2Ki 18:12).

This fulfillment should be a sober reminder to us that we also need to heed what scripture tells us is part of our future. Our God has made a way of escape from impending apocalypse. The solution is simple, but requires a leap of faith. The Israelites here, did not do that. Don’t follow their example. Heed the words of the prophets and obey the Lord your God.

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Year of Prophecy: © 1762 BC (Genesis 46:4, 47:9)

Year of Fulfillment: © 1422 BC (Joshua 4:19)

Time until fulfillment: ~340 years

The promise to Jacob that his family would return to Canaan is an example of fulfilled Biblical Prophecy. To show how the amount of time passing between prophecy and fulfillment doesn’t matter, we will cover ten of such prophecies. This is the third of ten.

This promise is similar and related to the promise to Abraham discussed previously. God had told Abraham his descendants would be enslaved for a 400-year period but would return with great wealth (Gn 15:13-16). Apparently, Abraham’s descendants taught this fact to their children, for Joseph asked his brothers to not forget ‘his bones’ (realizing that it would be a long time before it would happen) when they returned to Canaan (Gn 50:24-25). Joseph realized that he was part of that fulfillment (Gn 50:19-20) and the reason he asked his father and family to come (Gn 50:21), and the reason God assured Jacob that going to Egypt was part of His plan (Gn 46:3-4). After the time of Joseph, however, this promise seemed to have faded with time. The Israelites complained even before they left Egypt (Ex 5:20, 6:9) and as they were leaving Egypt (Ex 14:12). Truly, if God had not kept His promise, no one would have even known He had forgotten. Thankfully, God does not forget! (Is 49:15; 2Pt 3:9).

There are promises in the Bible for us as well. That is why we need to read and study so that we can know what they are and claim them, knowing they will come true. God never forgets. That should be a comfort to us as well as a wakeup call. Do you want to be ready for the next fulfilled promise to come or be totally surprised and unprepared? The choice is yours.

Note: There seems to be a discrepancy between the times the Israelites were slaves in Egypt versus the time it took for the fulfillment of this prophecy. We know the Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years (Ex 12:40-41) and were in the wilderness for 40 years (Js 5:6); However, John Pratt (a Biblical chronologists whom I chose to indicate the timing of these Biblical events) puts the Crossing of the Jordan River in 1422 BC. Apparently, he is considering the 430 years to start with Joseph entering Egypt rather than Jacob and his family entering Egypt. Jacob was in Egypt 17 years before he died (Gn 47:28), which is about the same number of years as Joseph’s age when he was sold into Egypt (Gn 37:2). The important point is that God kept his promise even when the children of Israel had forgotten all about it. We can always count on God not forgetting.

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Year of Prophecy: ©1977 BC (Genesis 12)

Year of Fulfillment: ©1395 BC (near death of Joshua – Joshua 24:13)

Time until fulfillment: ~582 years

The promise of a nation to Abraham is an example of fulfilled Biblical Prophecy. To show how the amount of time passing between prophecy and fulfillment doesn’t matter, we will cover ten of such prophecies. This is the second of ten.

As was seen earlier, when God made His covenant with Abraham (Gn 17), it included the promise of making Abraham into a great nation. Actually, this promise was given even earlier – when God called Abraham out of Ur of Chaldea (Gn 12:2). However, the fulfillment of this promise did not occur during Abraham’s lifetime. Both Abraham and his son Isaac seemed to remain somewhat Nomadic during their lifetime (Gn 20:1, 21:34, 24:62, 26:1, 17, 23) although they became very wealthy (Gn 26:13), another part of the promise (Gn 12:2-3). It was not until after the time of Moses and during the leadership of Joshua that the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham through the promise, became recognized as a nation. The life of Joshua was devoted to the conquering of the land of Canaan for establishing Israel as a nation. At the time of his death, Israel had rest from war (Js 23:1). Although other altercations later ensued, Israel had become a formidable nation with which to be reckoned.

Because this promise to Abraham was unconditional, the actions of Abraham or his descendants did not change the outcome. This was probably a good thing, because the Israelites were not always appreciative of the journey to becoming a nation. Over the 2-year period it took the Israelites to reach Canaan, the Promised Land, from Egypt (Ex 13:17-18 states that they did not take the shortest way so as to avoid early war with other nations which would discourage them and have them voluntarily return to Egypt) there are 10 rebellions that are recorded in Scripture:

1. Complained at the Red Sea about being trapped (Ex 14:11): God performed a miracle by parting the Red Sea so Israel could go through on dry ground, but Pharaoh’s army was drowned (Ex 14:21-31)

2. Complained at Marah about water being bitter (Ex 15:24): God performed a miracle by showing Moses a tree to cast into the waters which then became drinkable (Ex 15:25)

3. Complained in Desert of Sin about no food (Ex 16:3): God performed a miracle by sending quail for food and sent manna every morning until they reached Canaan (Ex 16:4-15)

4. Disobeyed and tried to gather manna on the Sabbath (Ex 16:27): God had Moses re-explain the significance of the Sabbath and why a double portion was to be gathered on the sixth day (Ex 16:29-30)

5. Complained at Rephidim about lack of water (Ex 17:2): God performed a miracle by providing water from a rock (Ex 17:5-6)

6. Worshipped golden calf (Ex 32:5-6): Levites killed about 3000 people using their swords (Ex 32:27-28)

7. Complained at Taberah about their hardships (Nu 11:1-3): fire from the Lord consumed the outskirts of the camp (Nu 11:1)

8. Complained about the manna at Kibroth Hattaavah (Nu 11:4-6): God performed a miracle and sent quail, but also sent a plague among them (Nu 11:31-34)

9. Miriam & Aaron opposed Moses (Nu 12:1-2): Miriam was given leprosy and had to dwell outside the camp for 7 days at which point God healed her (Nu 12:15)

10. Complained at Kadesh Barnea about not being able to enter the Promised Land (Nu 14:2-3): God had them stay in the wilderness a year for each day the spies were spying out the land of Canaan (a total of 40 years) (Nu 14:34).

These incidences show the longsuffering of God to Israel and how the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham was not dependent upon their obedience. The first five instances above have no consequences attached to them. However, the last five have consequences, yet Israel still did not learn their lesson. Then, after the 10th rebellion, God stated that they would have to roam for another 38 years before the Israelites could enter the Promised Land (Nu 13:34, Dt 2:14) – to purge those that disobeyed (Nu 14:22-34) and allow them to learn to depend and trust upon God. As noted above, God fulfilled the promise through Joshua and his conquests with help from the Lord (Js 24:13).

Therefore, it took over 5 centuries for God’s promise to Abraham to be fulfilled. It seems obvious that the people of Israel did not necessarily remember this promise as evident by their complaints or was just too self-absorbed about their own comfort and desires at the time, God did not forget, and the promise came to fruition.

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Year of Prophecy: ©1977 BC (Covenant with Abraham – Gn 15)

Year of Fulfillment: 1952 BC (birth of Isaac – Gn 21:2)

Time until fulfillment: ~25 years

The promise of a son to Abraham is an example of fulfilled Biblical Prophecy. To show how the amount of time passing between prophecy and fulfillment doesn’t matter, we will cover ten of such prophecies. This is the first of ten.

Abraham was born as Abram in the land of Ur (Gn 11:27), which is in modern Iraq. Abraham had received a special call from God to leave his homeland (Gn 12:1). It is unknown why Abraham received such a call. However, the genealogical record in Genesis gives evidence that Noah may still have been alive during Abraham’s early years. Perhaps through his influence or other godly descendants of Noah, Abraham’s heart was softened to God’s direction and leadership. As is usually the case then as today, all around Abraham was ungodliness – even his own father worshipped idols (Js 24:2). God’s challenge to Abraham was to ‘step up to the plate’ and choose whom he was going to serve. Abraham chose wisely and reaped an everlasting benefit not only for himself but also for his descendants (Gn 17:7).

Abraham, as great as he was, was still human. As so many married couples do today, Abraham and Sarah desired a child. Not just a child, but one of their very own (Gen 15:2). Throughout history, being childless has often had a hurtful stigma to a Jewish couple. It was said that he who had no child was like one dead.  We don’t know exactly when the promise God made to Abraham that he would have a son occurred (Gn 15:4), but it was at least 10 years after they had reached Canaan that Sarah and Abraham began to compromise (Gn 16:3). Perhaps the reasoning went something like this: I believe what God said, but He stated that I would have a son from my own body, but he did not exactly state Sarah would be the mother, so perhaps it is okay to go with custom and have a son through my wife’s maidservant. It was God who instituted one man and one women to be together (Gn 2:24), so for what reason would God yield to man-made customs over His own declaration? Bottom line, man is weak. However, God did not give an exact date for Isaac’s birth until Ishmael, the son of Hagar (Sarah’s maidservant) and Abraham, was 13 years old (Gn 17:21) – one year after the establishment of the circumcision as the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants, and the changing of Abram’s name to Abraham (Gn 17:5) and Sarai’s name to Sarah (Gn 17:15). Isaac was born at least 25 years after God’s first proclamation of the promise – a lifetime of wait for any couple, but just in time on God’s timetable. Isaac was born after the sign of God’s covenant to Abraham was established.

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Remnant is a term that is not uncommon for Israel. Here are some of the times it was used:

 1.      It was first used by Joseph when he stated that God allowed him to save a remnant of Jacob’s family (Gn 45:7).

 2.      It was used of Israel being preserved from the ravages of Assyria (2Ki 19:4).

 3.      It was used by God to state that the remnant of Judah that was saved from the sword would be taken captive (2Ch 36:20).

 4.      It was a term Ezra used to describe those that returned from Persia back to Jerusalem (Er 9:8).

 5.      It was used by Paul to state the Jews who would turn to Christ during the time of the Gentiles (Ro 9:27, 11:15).

The term has also been applied to Gentiles as well: It is also a term used by the prophets to state Gentiles who would accept Christ during the Tribulation (Is 11:16).

We can see from this that the righteous have always been the minority. In broad strokes, the righteous minority prior to Christ were the Gentiles, and the righteous minority after the time of Christ are the Jews. Even within Israel, though, were both righteous and unrighteous. We know of people like Moses, Joshua and David were righteous and followed both the spirit and intent of the Law. However, we know there were many ordinary people who did the same. We have an example with Elijah, who after killing the prophets of Baal felt he was alone in his serving God; however, God told him there were over 7,000 who had not bowed to Baal (1Ki 19:18). We also know there were many who did not serve the Lord and is the reason for the prophets’ announcements of doom and captivity.

As we stated in previous posts, the Jews were the Christian majority in the beginning of the Church Age but became the minority as more and more Gentiles became Christians. When many Christians became anti-Semitic, it caused a big rift between Christians and Jews which isolated more and more Jews from Christian contact and influence. Today, many Jews are pretty much agnostic when it comes to their relationship with God. They are strongly tied to tradition but necessarily to God Himself. Therefore, although the Jews are the Christian minority today, that will not always be the case. We read that one day, it will again be the Jews who will lead the world in the worship of God (Zc 8:23). This will occur after Jesus Christ returns. Although Israel as a nation rejected Jesus Christ the first time, they will accept him when he returns; their sins will be forgiven, and Israel will once again be righteous before God (Zc 12:10). Then they will fulfill their original charge to lead to world in the worship of God (Ex 19:6). It is good to know that God always fulfills his promises no matter how long it takes.

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