Friday, May 06, 2016

Review: "Miracle of Israel"



The Miracle of Israel:  the Shocking, Untold Story of God’s Love for His People by Gary Frazier & Jim Fletcher examines the proto-history of Israel, through the calling of Abraham, the Dispersion, the Holocaust, the making of the state of Israel, the rapture, tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ.  I would describe this as a dispensational, pre-tribulational, pre-millennial, Zionist reading of the history and future of Israel.
Let me say I agree with the authors – and more so with God in the His Word – that god chose Israel to be His people – to enter into a conditional theocratic union with them, to be those through whom He gave the Law and the Prophets and through whom, in the flesh, the Messiah, Jesus Christ our God and Savior, was born.  I read Romans 11 to say that God will do something great through the elect of biological Israel before the Second Coming.
However, as the authors use the prophets to show that they predict the dates of the Holocaust and the foundation of the nation of Israel, I find this bad exegesis.  In my reading of the Scripture, God was finished with the theocratic nation-state of Israel in 70 A.D. – especially since there is no Temple – how 1948 be the restoration of the theocratic state?
I would recommend Kim Riddlebarger’s The Case for Amillenialism for those interested in end-times prophecy. http://smile.amazon.com/Case-Amillennialism-Understanding-End-Times/dp/0801015502/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462556478&sr=8-1&keywords=the+case+for+amillennialism
While I do believe God did great things through the nation of Israel, I do not believe there is a biblical warrant, nor a prophetic warrant, for the nation now.  (That is not to say there is no political warrant for the nation.)
All in all, I would recommend reading other works on Israel and her place in biblical prophecy.
#MiracleofIsrael
[This review appears on my blog and Amazon.com.  I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.]

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