Question: What will be the church’s role in restoring Israel during the End Times?

Question: What will be the church’s role in restoring Israel during the End Times?

Response: I don’t believe that the church is going to somehow play an active role in the restoration of Israel. The disciples’ very question—“Lord wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”—suggests that He, rather than we, will do the job. This is the message also of Peter’s second sermon in Acts:3:19-26 [19] Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; [20] And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: [21] Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. [22] For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. [23] And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. [24] Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. [25] Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. [26] Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
See All...—“Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution….”

If He remains in heaven until it is time for the restoration, then it is clear that there will be no restoration of Israel’s place in this world until Christ comes back to do the job that only He can do. Such is the picture we have in Zechariah 12, when Christ returns to intervene at Armageddon, rescue Israel, and destroy those who were in the process of destroying her. Clearly that is when the restoration takes place, not before, and not by any effort of, or revival in, the church—but by Christ’s personal intervention of heaven, with us being alongside the armies of heaven (He comes with all His saints to take vengeance) in glorified bodies, to reign with Him under His direction and empowerment.

As for the restoration of the church to “first-century purity and power,” the Bible doesn’t hold out any hope for that but instead warns of worsening apostasy. Moreover, even if the church of today would be thus transformed, that would not suffice. We who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, compared with the vast numbers who have died in Christ and are now in His presence, will constitute but a small fraction of the complete church.