QT 29 Jul 11, Now is the time of salvation, before the wrath of God is poured out on the earth

Jer 33:14-16 (NIV) "'The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

15 "'In those days and at that time

I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line;

he will do what is just and right in the land.

16 In those days Judah will be saved

and Jerusalem will live in safety.

This is the name by which it will be called:

The Lord Our Righteousness.'

NOTE: The real promise of hope to Israel was not the return from Babylon in 70 years, but of a day and time when a "righteous branch" will sprout from David's line.  His name will be the "The Lord Our Righteousness."  This is a pretty strong indication of the divine aspect of the messiah.  The passage says that in "those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety."  But Judah rejected the Messiah (Matt 12:22-24ff) and Jerusalem crucified him.  Because of that action, God withdrew his offer of salvation for a time.  We live in that time now, the time of the Gentiles.  Paul says it will continue until the full number of Gentiles have come in (Rom 11:25).  And then, God who has not forgotten his people will once again work in their lives.  The tribulation period will cause Israel to turn back to the Lord.  At the very end of the tribulation, Jesus will return and will defeat the antichrist, and will establish his new kingdom in a new Jerusalem, and so this prophecy will see its literal fulfillment.  To the Gentile and Jew, this is also a sort of warning.  I would not want to wait until the tribulation to make a decision for Christ.  I believe that believers will be rescued, raptured, from the earth prior to that time (as 1 Thess 1:10, 5:9 indicates).  Now is the best time for salvation, before the wrath of God is poured out on the earth.  Father, may I be a bold witness to this truth