HOPE OF DIVINE MERCY FOR INDIVIDUALS

20, 21. (a) When were individuals of the exiled “house of Israel” allowed to avail themselves of Jehovah’s mercy, and how? (b) Jehovah pointed forward to that with what words at Hosea 1:10, 11?

²⁰ Christendom’s ancient type, the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, was never again established on its God-given land in the Middle East. Nevertheless, individual members of that rejected “house of Israel” were allowed to avail themselves of Jehovah’s mercy and return to him and become part of his approved people. This privilege would be theirs when Assyria’s successor, the Babylonian World Power, would be overthrown. Then Cyrus the Conqueror would release the exiled worshipers of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Pointing forward to that, Jehovah continued on to say through his prophet Hosea:

²¹ “And the number of the sons of Israel must become like the grains of the sand of the sea that cannot be measured or numbered. And it must occur that in the place in which it used to be said to them, ‘You men are not my people,’ it will be said to them, ‘The sons of the living God.’ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will certainly be collected together into a unity and will actually set up for themselves one head and go up out of the land, because great will be the day of Jezreel [God Will Sow].”​—Hos. 1:10, 11.

22. A typical fulfillment of that prophecy took place when, and how did the “day of Jezreel” become “great” for them?

²² A typical fulfillment of that merciful prophecy took place in 537 B.C.E., when Babylon’s conqueror, Cyrus the Persian, let a faithful remnant of “the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah” leave, “go up out of the land” of Babylonian exile. In unity they went, under orders by Jehovah’s servant Cyrus, to rebuild Jehovah’s temple at Jerusalem. (2 Chron. 36:20-23; Ezra 1:1-11) Then, on their own land, the remnant could become populous again, like the unmeasured, unnumbered grains of sand on the seashore. In that way ‘great would be the day of Jezreel.’ Here the name Jezreel, meaning “God Will Sow,” is to be fulfilled in a favorable manner. God sows the sons of his restored people like seed, multiplying them.

23. (a) After rejecting whom, and by what action of Jehovah, did the nation of Israel cease to be His people? (b) Upon whom of that rejected nation did Jehovah show mercy, and how?

²³ So, no longer would Jehovah say to them, Lo-ammi, or, “Not My People.” In a typical way they would be called “The sons of the living God.” With reference to the antitypical fulfillment of this in the realm of Christianity, the apostles Paul and Peter wrote in Romans 9:25, 26 and; 1 Peter 2:9, 10. After the natural sons of Israel rejected Jesus as the Messiah in 33 C.E., they ceased to be Jehovah’s people. He abolished his Law covenant by means of which he had been married to the twelve-tribe nation of Israel in Moses’ day. But he mercifully accepted a believing remnant of the nation of natural Israel and brought them into the new covenant mediated by his Son, Jesus the Messiah. In such a way he founded a new nation, a spiritual Israel.​—Gal. 6:16; Jas. 1:1; Rom. 2:28, 29; Rev. 7:4-8.

24. Why and when did Jehovah turn to those who had never been his people, and how did he make them his people?

²⁴ Unhappily, not enough natural Israelites became Christians to make up the full “seed of Abraham” in whom all earthly nations are to be blessed. So Jehovah turned to those who had never been His people, persons “Not My People,” Lo-ammi. He opened the way in 36 C.E. for such non-Israelite believers to become part of the spiritual Israel in the new covenant. These were made part of “Abraham’s seed,” which was to become like the sands upon the seashore.​—Gal. 3:8-29; Gen. 22:18.

25. (a) Who is the “one head” whom the “collected” remnant of spiritual Israelites “set up for themselves,” with what liberation accompanying? (b) Who expect to survive the war at Har–Magedon with them?

²⁵ The “one head” that the “collected” spiritual Israelites “set up for themselves” is Jesus Christ, the now reigning King. By means of him as the Greater Cyrus, the repentant remnant was released from the power of Babylon the Great in 1919 C.E., after World War I. This remnant was used to restore Jehovah’s pure worship on earth. Jehovah has made these liberated spiritual Israelites “the sons of the living God.” According to his mercy they expect to be saved at the approaching “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon, yes, to live through it to see his New Order start off. A “great crowd” of fellow worshipers, like the ancient Rechabites, also expect to share in God’s mercy and to survive with the remnant.