Amazing Prophecies from the Bible

A Monthly Feature to Build Our Faith

One of the most amazing prophecies in the Bible is something we all take for granted and don’t even think about as Christians. The amazing prophecy I am speaking about is the fact that the God of Israel would reach the Gentile world with His love and grace.

We take that fact for granted today because the Church is full of Gentiles and not Jews. Certainly there are Jews today who believe that Jesus is the Messiah, but they constitute a very small percentage of Christendom, perhaps less than 1%. Almost all of us reading this article are Gentiles by ethnic background (even though there may be some Jewish blood floating around in us). As a matter of fact, if you talk to some Jewish people today they think that anyone who is a Gentile is a Christian.

Now the amazing thing about this turn of events is that it was prophesied thousands of years ago that this would happen. In Isaiah 49:6 we hear these words about the Lord’s work among the Gentiles:

"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

This passage from Isaiah was written about 2700 years ago and 700 years before the birth of our Lord Jesus. The passage tells us that the “servant” of the Lord would restore and bring back the people of Israel AND bring salvation to the Gentiles throughout the world. The “servant” being referenced here is none other than our Lord Jesus. The “servant’s” work would be to restore Israel as a people and expand the nation among the Gentiles through the Great Commission found Matthew 28:18-20. All of this has come to pass in an obvious and incredible way.

When you go to Israel today, few Israelis can figure out why so many Christians are visiting Israel. Sure, they love the tourist dollars, but few see this as an amazing prophecy from the Lord that is being fulfilled before their eyes. Last year there were almost 2 million tourists visiting Israel, most of whom are Christian pilgrims. Christian tourism is one of THE leading industries in Israel today, accounting for a huge portion of national revenue. The Christians are returning to Israel because of the amazing prophecies from Isaiah.

When our Lord Jesus came in the 1^st century no one even liked Gentiles, let alone wanted them in their synagogues/churches. Gentiles were often despised and seen as “low life” by many people in Israel. As a matter of fact, the Gentiles were such a marginalized group, the Lord took the first 15 chapters of the Book of Acts to allow them to even be accepted in the faith at all. None of us can fully realize what a problem it was to let Gentiles into the Church. In a word, Gentiles should never have been Christians in large numbers.

Now if the Lord wasn’t going to fulfill this amazing prophecy from Isaiah, the Lord’s salvation would just have just stayed with a few Jews in Israel and the Middle East. However, the Lord had big plans for the world. As the prophet Isaiah stated so wonderfully, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to (just) restore the tribes of Jacob (Israel)…” The Lord’s love was bigger than just the Jews and the nation of Israel at the time. One day His love and glory would reach out to the whole world of Gentiles as well.

For those of us reading this article, we should stand in awe of how the Lord reached us. In a way, we shouldn’t be here, but we are!!! However, the Lord’s plan to reach the Gentiles was not something than He came up with in the 1^st century with our Lord Jesus and the Great Commission. No, our redemption and the plan to reach the Gentiles was very carefully planned from the beginning and clearly predicted in Isaiah. The fact that the Lord had us in mind from the beginning is wonderful to read about in Isaiah. I am not sure that very many Jews or Christians understand or marvel at this amazing prophecy from Isaiah. It is my prayer that this amazing prophecy will show us another glimpse of the power and majesty of the Lord to control and plan all of history and our lives for His glory. I am glad that is the Lord I know and serve. I hope you feel the same way as well this month.