In these three important verses below we see how Paul sealed the fall of Israel as he proclaimed the dispensational change in God’s focus from being upon Israel to te Gentile “church, which is His body.” Israel has continued in her LoAmmi condition over the last 2,000 years, as they will until the Lord’s 2^nd coming to save and restore Israel to their long-promised “kingdom come on earth.”

²⁶ Saying, Go unto this people [Israel], and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: ²⁷ For the heart of this people [Israel] is waxed gross [Gk. pachynō, dull, stupid, hardened, and calloused], and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and [lest they] should be converted, and I should heal them. ²⁸ Be it known therefore unto YOU [ISRAEL], that the salvation of God is sent unto the GENTILES, and that they will hear [heed] it. Acts 28:26-28 (KJV)

Coincident with one’s growing realization of the importance of the many dispensational changes that Paul announced with Acts 28:26-28, it prompts us to consider Hosea’s prophecy. Hosea makes clear that at some time in Israel’s history they would go into a fallen, impounded, status as indicated by the word, “Lo-ammi,” which means “ye are not my people.”

⁹ Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. Hosea 1:9 (KJV)

After His resurrection Jesus’ disciples asked Him; “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6. Though Jesus gave no date or time, we learn that the Restoration of Israel as His Believing Kingdom Nation will occur at His return and appearing to them, as seen below.

¹⁰ And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me [Jesus] whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Zechariah 12:10 (KJV)

In considering Acts 28:26-28, we realize that there is no other point of time before Acts 28 that fits all the requirements of Hosea’s LoAmmi prophecy. Consider that it was not many years after Acts 28 that Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed, There can be no time after Acts 28 that would fulfil all Scriptural requirements.

Let’s examine Hosea’s prophecy to see what are the conditions of Israel’s Lo-ammi position. The Hebrew words Lo-ammi means “ye are not My people.” The words are symbolic of the name given to one of the Hosea’s children, “Lo-ammi.” The purpose of this is in the name Lo-ammi, i.e., “For ye are not My People and I will not be your God” (Hosea. 1:9). Then verse 10 makes it clear that however long the rejection of Israel may last, it will not be forever, for it looks forward to the day of Israel’s restoration and fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham.

¹⁰ Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Hosea 1:10 (KJV)

Hosea 2 ends on the high note of Israel’s restoration, to ultimately be ‘betrothed in righteousness’ forever; their Lo-ammi condition will be reversed. The Lord will say,

“Thou art My people,” and they will say, “Thou art my God” (cf. Hosea 2.18-23).

From the days of Hosea, until the scattering of Israel at the end of the Acts, no such condition has been recorded that fulfils all what Hosea has predicted.

Jeremiah declares:

“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I sow.” (See the name, “Jezreel,” in Hos. 2:18, is where this sowing and this covenant include both Israel and the beast of the field.) . . . “I will make a New Covenant With The House Of Israel, And With The House Of Judah.” (Jer. 31:27-37)

In Hosea 3 the prophet throws further light on Israel’s Lo-ammi, fallen, impounded, condition; where all is lost.

4 The children of Israel shall abide many days without a KING, and without a PRINCE and without a SACRIFICE, and without an IMAGE [the Pillar], and without an EPHOD, and without TERAPHIM.” (Hosea 3:4)

During the 2,000 years since the Nation Israel rejected their true KING, Jesus Christ, God suspended Israel’s calling as seen in Acts 28:26-28 (cf. Romans 11:25). Today’s Israel has only a little of piece of the “promised land” territory and no king. Yet still, by reason of their dispersal to many lands, no ruler has been able to claim their allegiance.

Consider that since the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem in A.D.70 (not that long after Acts 28), the Priestly office in Israel became nothing. The mentioning of the ‘teraphim’ and ‘ephod’ in Hos 3:4 (above) supports the idea that these were items without which no one would be allowed to officiate as a Priest in Israel, they had to produce their family genealogy (cf. Neh. 7:64). These genealogical records were stored in the Temple and perished in the destruction of the Temple and the city. So after Acts 28, without the Temple and records, the Priesthood in Israel lost all significance, as we see today. A Rabbi is a ‘teacher,’ not a Priest.

Now consider this below, which is Paul’s summary of the current fallen, blinded, position of Israel.

²⁵ For I would not, brethren, that ye [Israel] should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that BLINDNESS in part [i.e., temporarily] is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Rom. 11:25 KJV

The actual duration of Israel’s time of being sequestered in “blindness” (Rom. 11:25) is not recorded. But Paul speaks of this period of “the mystery” of Israel’s “blindness” as being largely parallel with … the time of “the mysteries” of “the kingdom of heaven.”

After Acts 28, Paul, in his 2^nd ministry, tells us ‘the Heavenly places’ (cf. Eph. 2:6) are to be eternally inhabited by “the faithful” of the Gentile “church, which is His body.” Paul below describes the ultimate destiny of “the faithful” believers of “His body.”

⁴ When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye [the members of His body] also appear with him in [heaven’s] glory. Col 3:4 KJV

Christ as “the head” of His Gentile “church, which is His body” (Eph. 1:22b-23a) is to appear with His body members in heaven. This occurs only a short number of years before … Christ then appears to Israel to save them and restore the Kingdom on earth in Jesus’ Post-Tribulation Millennial kingdom.

Hosea 3:5 assures us that after the period of Israel’s sequestration and suspension; Israel shall seek the Lord and David their king “in the latter days” and be “saved” Rom. 11:26 KJV. So by all the signs around us “the latter days” are drawing near as we now see a yet secular Israel in part of the Land. So, the stage is being set; first for us to “appear with Him,” and then soon after He will appear again to restore Israel’s kingdom come on earth.

In the end, Lucifer having been cast into “the lake of fire,” God will have recovered and re-established His government “in heaven and on earth.”

• Christ’s Post-Acts Gentile “Body” will reign with Him in “the heavenly places” (2Tim. 2:12)
• Believing Israel, as His agent on earth, will reign with Christ forever in the eternal kingdom (Rev, 20:6; 5:10).