God’s words to Solomon were eventually shown accurate.

Israel turned to other gods and God kept His word and the temple was reduced to a heap of ruins and the Jews were expelled from the land.

The Jewish people became a “byword.” I’ve heard people call people an ugly name by calling them a Jew; it was the equivalent of calling them a snake.

Israel, the land flowing with milk and honey, became a dry wasteland, where you could barely find a cactus growing. Part of the land became a swampy marsh.

Mark Twain traveled there and reported on how you could go miles without seeing another human, an uninhabited wasteland.

People thought it was impossible for Israel to be restored. They came up with a false doctrine that God was done with Israel and that it had been replaced with the church.

But we know better. The Bible says we become part of Israel, not replace it, and God has kept His word, spoken later in Scripture, and has brought back His people to Israel.

Vegetation is growing. I’m very proud that an EP family is part of a family that traveled to Israel to start farming there and taught Israelis to how to grow crops. They bring in ministry teams each year to help with the harvest. How cool is that?

It is said (source One for Israel) that currently cows in Israel produce more milk, per cow, than any others in the world. Beehives in Israel produce on average 40% more than anywhere else. Also, very cool.

This will culminate in many Jews coming to believe in Jesus as their Messiah!

But, let’s go back. How did all this tragedy start when God had said He had chosen them and put His name in that place and kept His eyes and heart there?

The Scripture says “because they abandoned the Lord their God.”

God doesn’t abandon His people. Jesus says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

We do the leaving. The Jewish people did the leaving. He gave us free will to choose.

Choose to know and love Him. Choose to make Him alone your God.