(Heb 11:1 KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. 20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. 23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. 24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. 27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. 32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
We all do own a great debt of Gratitude to Israel, our Jewish brothers an sisters who followed in God’s way. were pilgrims of the heavenly journey we all must walk to. Sadly as today in real life not everyone chose to follow, walk after God and His ways.
(Isa 5:7 KJV) For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
(Rom 3:3 KJV) For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Now we already do know that the devil lies, distorts the scriptures, misleads us all, and as a direct result two separate Gospels of salvations and of the Kingdom of God too, are being too often preached, clearly one is false and one is true, even the gospel as to what it takes for a Jew to be saved, and what it takes for a Gentile to be saved. There is only one true gospel, it is the same one applies to all mankind, the Jews and the Gentiles and where there is only one very narrow road to be saved, and that is through the shed blood of the lord Jesus Christ, and that is true for us all. Jew and Gentile.
(Jude 1:3 KJV) Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
(Gal 3:1 KJV) O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. 5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
NOW ONE IS NOT A CHRISTIAN TOO LONG TIME WHEN ONE IS CLEARLY WARNED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT NOT TO TRUST IN MEN, TO BEWARE OF MEN, TO WATCH OUT FOR EVEN THE FALSE PROPHETS, LIARS, FALSE TEACHERS AND THE DEVIL NOW AS WELL.. ALL WHO WOULD LEAD YOU INTO ERROR, FALSE DOCTRINES OVER THE TRUTH JESUS CHRIST REVEALS TO YOU ALL.
(1 Tim 1:9 KJV) Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
(Titus 1:12 KJV) One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
(Rev 2:2 KJV) I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
(Rev 21:8 KJV) But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
(Mat 7:15 KJV) Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
(Mat 24:11 KJV) And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
(Mat 24:24 KJV) For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
(2 Pet 2:1 KJV) But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
(1 John 4:1 KJV) Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Sadly the majority of Christians actually do not study, read the Bible for themselves but for their doctrines they relay on what the preachers tell them, who often rely on what their profs told them. Most Christians would find out that a lot of things they believe, support are unbiblical if they actually read and followed the Bible. For example where is the substantiation, confirmation, prophecy, revelation in the New testament that Israel would return to the promise land and posses it again. In fact there is no new testament substitution for the Jews Return to return Israel. Or where is the substantiation, confirmation, that Tithing was carried over into the new testament, where’s in fact the early church collected the money to help the poor and needy persons even in their own congregation,, the distribution to the saints..
Even Heaven awaits firstly the Jewish return TO God, Jesus Christ, and rather NOT TO THE PROMISED EARTHLY LAND
BUT TO THE NEW HEAVENLY Jerusalem.. (Rev 3:12 KJV) Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Today’s Jews are are too quick to associate with the Promised Land of Joshua’s time. However, as per the conditions of the Bible , the New Testament and even the establishment of the State of Israel by the United Nations in 1948 it now raises many valid questions about that relationship validity. Still the state of Israel is big enough for both the Jews and Muslims to live together in peace too.. (Psa 133:1 KJV) Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
” Those who question the legitimacy of Israel’s actions are immediately labelled anti-Semitic by some quarters, effectively undermining the turn of phrase by using it in this context. We are right to question the state of Israel’s actions and I am not anti-Semitic for doing so. I think the religious fundamentalism exhibited by certain Zionist and Orthodox Jewish groups needs to be dealt with in a similar manner to Islamic fundamentalism, I don’t see the distinction between the two, both are equally repulsive. “ THEY BOTH FALSELY DO PREACH THEIR VERSION OF THE LETTER OF THE LAW OVER LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR TOO!
COUNT ON IT AND NOT JUST IN THE TIME OF JESUS CHRIST OR THE EARLY APOSTLES TIME BUT EVEN TODAY, THESE DAYS TOO WRITE ANYTHING BAD ABOUT THE JEWS, ISRAEL AND SOME WILL SLANDER YOU IMMEDIATELY AND CALL YOU A LIAR, TERRORISTS OR ANTI SEMITE.
Me firstly telling the truth about Israel, Jews does not make me an anti semite or a liar.. It seeems that anything anti Jewish is falsely anti-Semitism again … Jews, Arabs, None of them politically correct. « The non … IS IT ANTI-SEMITIC TO DEFEND PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS? | Intifada … Anti-Semitism – What is it? By Jeff Gates « Kanan48
It may surprise you to discover that the New Testament never uses the term ‘chosen’ to describe the Jewish people. It is only used of those who follow Jesus . I RIGHTFULLY have concluded also that God never uses the word chosen to refer to Israel in the NEW TESTAMENT and how do you define chosen? chosen for what? The Christians in the New Testament have replaced the chosen Jews of the Old Testament in reality now too.
WHAT SOME THEY STILL CANNOT UNDERSTAND, SEE THIS AND WHY? I concluded that God never uses the word chosen to refer to Israel and the reference was the New Testament.. but that is not the same as the Old Testament.. the Bible is composed still of both books firstly, or what you do not know this?
NOW WE VALID CHRISTIANS DO BASE THE VALID DOCTRINES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT SUBSTANTIATION BY JESUS OR THE APOSTLES, NOT JUST ON THE OLD TESTAMENT REFERENCES.. BY THE WAY THERE ALSO IS NO NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCE, THAT SUBSTANTIATED THE 3RD JEWISH RETURN TO THE HOLY LAND, THE PROMISE LAND. http://postedat.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/what-the-bible-says-about-israel-and-the-church http://mccainvrsobama.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/israels-past-promised-land/
As to I am not quite sure about what you mean regarding “justification of any of Israel’s past or present acts.” IT NOW STILL ALSO INCLUDES THEIR MURDER OF INNOCENT CITIZENS, EVEN THE CHRISTIANS TOO OFTEN NOW TOO.. http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/what-the-canadian-conservatives-do-not-say-about-israel/
Anyway what does the word chosen mean in the Bible and Chosen for what? For a job? a purpose? for sufferring? to bear fruit? as a wittness?
READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF AND ALSO DO FIND OUT THE MEANING OF THE WORD CHOSEN.. the Old Testament refers to the Jews as chosen but not the New Testament and we all do know why that was, they the Jews rejected God, the Messiah, Jesus Christ
(Deu 7:6 KJV) For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
(Deu 12:21 KJV) If the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
(Deu 16:11 KJV) And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
(Deu 18:5 KJV) For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.
(Deu 21:5 KJV) And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:
(Josh 24:22 KJV) And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.
(Judg 10:14 KJV) Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
(1 Sam 8:18 KJV) And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.
(1 Sam 10:24 KJV) And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king.
(2 Sam 6:1 KJV) Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
(1 Ki 8:44 KJV) If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name:
(1 Ki 8:48 KJV) And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:
(1 Ki 11:13 KJV) Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.
(1 Ki 11:36 KJV) And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.
(1 Chr 15:2 KJV) Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.
(1 Chr 16:13 KJV) O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
(1 Chr 28:4 KJV) Howbeit the LORD God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel:
(1 Chr 28:6 KJV) And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.
(1 Chr 28:10 KJV) Take heed now; for the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.
(2 Chr 6:6 KJV) But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.
(2 Chr 29:11 KJV) My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.
(Psa 33:12 KJV) Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
(Psa 78:31 KJV) The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
(Psa 105:26 KJV) He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen.
(Psa 105:43 KJV) And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:
(Psa 106:5 KJV) That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.
(Psa 106:23 KJV) Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
(Psa 119:30 KJV) I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
(Psa 119:173 KJV) Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.
(Prov 16:16 KJV) How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!
(Prov 22:1 KJV) A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.
(Isa 43:10 KJV) Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
(Isa 43:20 KJV) The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
(Isa 44:2 KJV) Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
(Isa 48:10 KJV) Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
(Isa 58:5 KJV) Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
(Isa 58:6 KJV) Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
(Isa 65:15 KJV) And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
(Isa 66:3 KJV) He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
(Jer 8:3 KJV) And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
(Jer 33:24 KJV) Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
(Jer 49:19 KJV) Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
(Hag 2:23 KJV) In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.
(Zec 3:2 KJV) And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
(Mat 12:18 KJV) Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles.
(Mat 20:16 KJV) So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
(Mat 22:14 KJV) For many are called, but few are chosen.
(Mark 13:20 KJV) And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.
(Luke 10:42 KJV) But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
(John 6:70 KJV) Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?
(John 15:16 KJV) Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
(John 15:19 KJV) If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
(Acts 1:2 KJV) Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
(Acts 1:24 KJV) And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen,
(Acts 9:15 KJV) But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
(Acts 15:22 KJV) Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
(Acts 15:25 KJV) It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
(Acts 22:14 KJV) And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
(Rom 16:13 KJV) Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
(1 Cor 1:27 KJV) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
(1 Cor 1:28 KJV) And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
(Eph 1:4 KJV) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
(2 Th 2:13 KJV) But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
(2 Tim 2:4 KJV) No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
(James 2:5 KJV) Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
(1 Pet 2:4 KJV) To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
(1 Pet 2:9 KJV) But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
(Rev 17:14 KJV) These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
If you claim to be chosen by God then this is what you have been chosen still to do..
Psalm 105:43 And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen ones with gladness {and} singing, 44 And gave them the lands of the nations [of Canaan], and they reaped the fruits of those peoples’ labor, 45 That they might observe His statutes and keep His laws [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
You have been chosen to love and to obey God, to follow him in all of His ways, to be His slaves, His servants, and to continually pray to God, and to praise, worship the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE LYING MESSIANIC JEWS, FALSE CHRISTIANS NOW, WHO PREACH PARTIALS TRUTHS WITH NEW TESTAMENT BIBLICAL DISTORTIONS TELLING US TO GO BACK UNDER THE OLD TESTAMENT LAWS THEY STILL ARE NOT THE REAL CHRISTIANS WHO WILL GO TO HEAVEN, BUT ARE THE NON CHRISTIANS WHO WILL GO TO HELL EVEN WITH THE UNSAVED JEWS WHO NOW HAVE REJECTED JESUS CHRIST THEIR MESSIAH.
The only main portion of the Bible that you really need to read, to follow is the New Testament because we are no longer under Old Testament covenant, law – essentially the New Covenant, the New Testament replaces the basic requirements of the Old Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament. All Believers should still embrace the whole Word of God is written by God but now they do not follow the non applicable Old Testament laws, rituals. The Old Testament has now been superseded by the New Testament. We are not under the Old Testament laws but under those laws solely in the new testament… the law of the spirit..(Rom 8:2 KJV) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
The sole basis of the Christian faith today, which is why it is also called the New Testament as well, is not at all the Old Testament Judaism but the New Testament Jesus. The true Christians since Jesus Christ next always left their old Jewish Synagogues all together… and all Christian Jews, Messianic Jews too need to do this today as well, also they are supposed to give up their Jewish roots, Jewish culture, Jewish religion when they accept Jesus Christ as their master, lord and savior . Some clerics, theologians, and scholars have worked hard to recover the supposedly historical Jewish Jesus. why? Ironically this rather was aided also by the Jews, Judiazers, even the false Christians themselves who falsely wanted it seems to promote their own self importance, the false value of the now rather false, obsolete old Judaic religion, and it’s also still the false observation of the Old testament letter of the law over the New Testament spirit of the law approach. It is an ungodly act still too.
(Acts 20:29 KJV) For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. (1 Tim 4:1 KJV) Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Old Israel being God’s people for they still will go to hell LIKE MANY PROFESSING CHRISTIANS WILL if they personally reject Christ and do not continue to follow after him. (Mat 7:21 KJV) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (Rom 2:9 KJV) Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
The Promised land and the unHoly Wars TODAY AS WELL
(Mat 21:19 KJV) And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away
(Jer 29:28 KJV) For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
What you need to know about the Nation of Israel today… Jews and Arabs have common ancestry. Both trace back to the Biblical family leader Abraham. Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Isaac also had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Jews today live in nearly every nation on earth as a result of the Babylonian captivity and the Roman expulsion. And there is absolutely not one New Testament verse, justification for “Zionism”, the Jews returning to their ancient homeland, the Zionist movement that eventually resulted in the re-establishment of a nation of Israel in 1948. Neither Jesus or any of the Apostles of Jesus had ever promised, or discussed, confirmed the re- establishment of the Nation of Israel. There will be no peace In Israel until the Prince of Peace is accepted by the jews.. (Mat 23:38 KJV) Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
(Hosea 7:13 KJV) Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
(Jer 2:8 KJV) The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
(Jer 10:21 KJV) For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
(Jer 22:22 KJV) The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
The evangelicals liars who quote old testament verses to try to falsely support Israel’s land grab are still just liars, for they have no valid direct New Testament basis for it and never will!
Both Jews and Palestinians allows. continually do have a right to self existence, to have their own lands, and both they do even have the same, equal human rights now too here on earth today. And yet people try to have us all now take sides .. wrongfully too and why?
(Psalm 133:1 KJV) Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Sibling rivalry is a type of sinful, selfish competition or animosity among brothers and sisters, blood-related or not.. the sibling bond is often complicated and is influenced by factors such as parental treatment, birth order, personality, and people and experiences outside the family. Sibling rivalry is particularly intense when children are very close in age and of the same gender, or where one child is intellectually gifted, or one child has received or attains a bigger inheritance, earning, position, status in life. Adolescents fight for the same reasons younger children fight, Fighting with siblings as a way to get attention, power may increase in adolescence. Events even such as a strained marriage may drive them seriously apart. Sibling Rivalry in the Bible – sample cases: Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, and Joseph and his brothers., Leah and Rachel, and today’s counterpart is the conflicts between the Arabs and the Jews, OTHERS. NONE OF IT IS ACCEPTABLE.
(Matthew 5:43 KJV) Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
It is God’s clear will that these brothers, all of the sons of Abraham, both the Jews and Palestinians do always live together in peace in the same land as well… or anywhere else too and none of that cannot be denied as not being now God’s will too
Obviously again both the Jews and the Palestinians. Muslims all even these days are very unreasonably in this, they really do not want real peace, they only wrongfully seem to want to escalate their wars and EVEN WRONGFULLY too often to drag now the rest of us into them..
Most of the wars which have plagued mankind have come as a result of one group of people trying to enslave another group with their own false demands. ideas, doctrines, religion and world view.
“The “nation of Israel” today knows it does not yet have all the land that they have believed that they are entitled to. The promise to them was from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Seems to me that if they want all the land they think they are entitled to they would next wrongfully to go to war and take it from some other countries around them. The river Euphrates goes right into Iraq, so they would go to conquer Jordan, Iraq, etc.It requires big time war over there even to get the temple built. “
I support rightfully today still neither of these groups , especially not their unholy wars or even in their separate Holy wars , promised land claims now too, and I would also ask all to rightfully still that even both sides to show some love, decency, restraints towards each other now too and always. This is not an option.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1, NIV).”Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Gal. 1:3-5, NIV).
I do rightfully treat the Palestinians and the Israel land issue, all of their existing human rights also as of equal importance including every man, women, child too.
(Mat 23:38 KJV) Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Suffice to say here as an introduction Jesus made it clear that even Israel’s present house, land grabs, will remain desolate.. and why?.. why do Judiazers want to rewrite the Bible using only Old Testament references? for they still clearly do not like what Jesus undeniably said above in the New Testament.. they still wrongfully do think they can change things on their own without God’s blessing on this now too. The Land belongs now to Jesus and he will come back to claim it fully for himself.
(Acts 1:11 KJV) Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
(Mat 19:19 KJV) Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
In reality neither nationalistic, ethnic groups side can claim any further ownership of the Land of Israel, not the Jews and not the Palestinians because it now belongs to the sole, only rightful heir, Jesus himself.
Israel as being supposedly the Chosen group today is rather also a clearly distorted emphasis too, for do note this there is no one New Testament verse, by Jesus himself or the Apostles, there are rather many contradictory ones, there are no verses confirming the present restoration of the land of Israel, or Israel’s rebuilding of it’s temple, or not this also especially a separate means of Salvation for the Jews outside of accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior individually like everyone else has to as well.
Some supposedly Professing Christian and even Judaic Biblical scholars would falsely have all of us, and you, to personally believe that the Old Testament Bible references to Jerusalem, or Israel still do even prophetically apply today, and in the future, that they will also all be fully fulfilled as well particularly in reference to the re-establishment of the nation of Israel too, and Jerusalem as a world. religious center.
Most of the Bible Prophecies generally quoted have already come to pass rather, some will come to pass in their own rightful context rather. It is very sad that these false Biblical expositors do still take mostly verses out of context, even disregarding the clear verses mentioned in the rest of the Bible as well. Yet it is also an undeniable fact that neither Jesus, nor any of his apostles next had confirmed their supposed truths at all in the New Testament, not even once supported the reestablishment of the nation of Israel so how can any supposedly prefacing Christian then now as well? They cannot.
Whose Jerusalem? Whose Land is it? All this is an inappropriate issue for any serious, honest discussion for it all now all really belongs to Jesus Christ the Messiah and who is no longer a Jew or a gentile! The Jews or the Palestinians thus as well have no biblical claim to this land any longer. I at least do have real love to even talk about it honestly, openly it too.. with all of the groups too. They cannot deny this reality, truths before God.
So many false Biblical scholars still do like to present a one side or a distorted Bible interpretations of Israel’s land rights.. they really do like to twist non relevant, out of date Bible verses to say that Israel is unconditionally entitled to own the whole land of Israel, with borders from the Nile to the Euphrates river.. whereas in fact the possession of this land in the past as per the Bible too now it was always still a conditional promise.. Israel finally they clearly had failed to live up to God’s sated conditions. The conditional was even on the Old Testament Israel obeying God still in all things… not just in those things of their own choosing.. Old Israel had finally not lived up to God’s conditions for possessing the land, so it did not even acquire all of the promised land firstly too.
The New Testament Israel, which is clearly identified in the new Testament as the body of Christ, all of the Church, and this Church has no present territorial land ambitions on earth rightfully still… not even in the present, or the near future. Jesus himself clearly said my Kingdom is not of this world… but of the next.
It is not the first time in life, history the Jews too now even have been trying hard to do their own thing. When they the Jews had left Egypt they even built a golden calf, idol. The Jews even today are thus trying to rebuild the nation of Israel in their own strength, all without God’s approval, all without Jesus Christ’s help too and thus are causing much unnecessary and undesirable conflicts in their process as well.
(John 15:5 KJV) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
“And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” Exodus 25:8
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Revelation 21:3
Rebuilding God’s temple in one own strength is deadly
Warning: (2 Sam 6:6 KJV) And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. 7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.
Because all of the tents and temples that God ordained were intended to be a means of grace, and a revelation of His presence in the midst of His people, whenever the purpose of the temple was, is perverted to mean something that man had built “for the glory of God,” God himself did not, does not hesitate to forsake it.
(Isa 66:1 KJV) Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Some persons would falsely say that Jesus’ supposedly implied that although the time of favor for Israel was at that moment to pass over to the Gentiles, there next would be a time when God would restore again the “kingdom to Israel.” This idea still is rather is an unsubstantiated assertion, directly not supported anywhere in the New Testament.
There is not one direct verse that says the Nation of Israel will be restored next in the New testament. Not one! Why?
The Old Testament Jewish system was only a shadow of the New Testament Christian system, and next the Old Testament system was fullfilled by Jesus Christ and thus really done away with next as well. Some people even still wrongfully are trying to hang on to the past, old testament laws included, and they do try make it now very important again too. They are clearly upsring God’s will here and are being lead by the devil rather to do this. Judiazers plagued Paul wherever he went opposing his support of jesus Christ and the New Testament and they wrongfuly do so today to the Christians today as well.
(Mat 27:51 KJV) And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
(Mat 24:24 KJV) For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
(Acts 20:30 KJV) Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
(Luke 6:22 KJV) Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
Rather we all may and must rightly understand the things of God. (2 Tim 2:15 KJV) Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
Too many people DO STILL REALLY EVEN preach, continue the falsehoods because of their own personal ignorance of the Bible firstly, and their listening to the lies of the devil and his followers, mere men and women.. They have already neglected to study, read the too obvious words of the Bible too.
“Apostle Paul’s purpose in writing his letters was also to address the great conflict which had fallen on the infant church because the Judiazers were saying that Gentile converts should obey the law of Moses and be circumcised. An entire Galatians epistle is a treatise on our blessings in Christ which are the result of God’s promise to Abraham rather than by keeping the law. Apostle Paul dealt with the Judaizers who were trying to ensnare the Gentiles by adding Law to the grace by which they were saved. We also do have people today falsely telling us we must be laying on the Jewish Culture and the Old testmaent laws on us, subtly or otherwise. The Apostle Paul makes two important points for us to consider today. 1. Our blessings in Christ are based on God’s promise to Abraham (Gal. 3:8), and 2. We are saved by grace through faith, “and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). Regarding Abraham, Paul said, “Thus Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” So you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are men of faith are blessed with Abraham who had faith” (Galatians 3:6-9, RSV). In verse 16 of that chapter, Paul makes it clear that Christ is the promised seed. In Christ, the seed of Abraham, shall all nations be blessed. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2, RSV) and “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law” (Gal. 5:18). Rejoice, for the law has been fulfilled in Christ who lives in you and me. We are free in Him and no one can take that way. Hallelujah!
” As to why Paul was persecuted by the Jews far more than anyone else. (2 Cor 11:22-29). James and Peter enjoyed relative peace with the Jews for a period of time. There was a great persecution recorded in the book of Acts, but then it subsides. What stopped it? The conversion of Paul, the death of Herod (Acts 12), the removal of Pontius Pilate as governor, and the end of the reign of Caligula. All these things happened in a fairly short period of time. Then we see the rise of Claudius as Emperor. Claudius was somewhat enamored towards Christianity. He even wanted it recognized as an official Roman religion. However, Paul continued to suffer at the hands of the Judiazers. Why did they go after Paul but not James and Peter? It had to have been the fact that he was preaching to the Gentiles only Christ and Him crucified. He did not teach them that they had to keep the Sabbath, circumcision, etc. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (I Cor 2:2)
The physical nation of Israel was a “type” or “foreshadowing” of the redemption that Jesus Christ would bring throughout all the nations of the world. Jesus is the true Seed of Abraham. (Gal 3:16 KJV) “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Rom 4:13 KJV) “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” The nation of Israel in the Old Testament was to be a light unto the Gentile nations of the world. It is through Jesus Christ ,the true Seed of Abraham, that this light is breaking forth into the world.
(Rom 2:28-29 KJV) “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: {29} But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”
(Gal 3:26-29 KJV) “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. {27} For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. {28} There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. {29} And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Sadly the Jewish Religion, Nation, promised land issue is still part of one of the biggest religious deceptions we all do face in life, and this now has been true now for thousand of years, where the Jewish people have lied about the importance of their Judaic religion daily to us Christians and they also have lied about the facts of Christianity, and God’s will as well to others.
As long as national Israel lives in unbelief in Jesus Christ, they live in a state of apostasy and are not to be regarded as part of God’s covenant family. As we have already seen, Jesus instructed the unbelieving Jews of his day that they were not of the true seed of Abraham because of unbelief, but they were of the seed of the devil.
Fact one: Jesus himself clearly denied that he himself was coming to restore the land, the nation of Israel.
(John 18:36 KJV) Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
(Acts 1:6 KJV) When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Fact two: The true Apostles also did not work towards, or support the restoration of the land, the nation of Israel, and only one apostle did, the unfaithful apostle Judas did.
Fact three: There is not one single New Testament reference to indicate the present, future restoration of the land, the Nation of Israel as wel as being valid, legitimate.
Fact four: The possession of the land of Israel by the Jews was conditional on obeying and following fully after God and they were warned the negative consequences of their disobedience towards God himself, being kicked out of their promised land included.. they did, had failed to live up to God’s conditions and lost the land for it and were occupied by other nations as a result.
Review what the Bible actually says on all of this.
(Gen 26:1 KJV) And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. 2 And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; 4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. 6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
Num 14:23-24 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land where into he went; and his seed shall possess it.
Fact five: God has superceded the Old Testament, the old covenant with a New Testament, the new covenant which is the Covenant now solely also obly with his Church.
Hebrews 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
(Heb 10:16 KJV) This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
(Mat 22:2 KJV) The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen. Here is the present reality
(Rom 3:29 KJV) Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
(Gal 3:16 KJV) Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
(John 20:31 KJV) But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
(Mat 23:38 KJV) Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Mat 10:34 KJV) Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. (Heb 12:2 KJV) Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
(Acts 20: KJV) 20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, 21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Acts 26:20 KJV) But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
The original Apostles of Jesus themselves taught that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah and they looked forward to a heavenly Jerusalem and cleay note this not an earthly one!
(Acts 2:22 KJV) Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: 23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. 25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: 26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. 29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
(Rev 3:12 KJV) Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
(Rev 21:2 KJV) And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
(Rev 21:10 KJV) And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.
Being a true Jew includes accepting the true God and his sole true religion from the start to the end.
The majority of Christians have often accepted the fact that Jesus of Nazareth–the founder of their religion, their Messiah, as being the promised original Jewish Messiah too, and also as the second part of the Trinitarian God–was God himself and thus he jesus not only was a Christian but indisputably a Jew as well,
The sole basis of the Christian faith today, which is why it is also called the New Testament as well, is not at all the Old Testament Judaism but the New Testament Jesus. The true Christians since Jesus Christ next always left their old Jewish Synagogues all together… and all Christian Jews, Messianic Jews too need to do this today as well, also they are supposed to give up their Jewish roots, Jewish culture, Jewish religion when they accept Jesus Christ as their master, lord and savior . Some clerics, theologians, and scholars have worked hard to recover the supposedly historical Jewish Jesus. why? Ironically this rather was aided also by the Jews, Judiazers, even the false christians themselves who falsely wanted it seems to promote their own self importance, the false value of the now rather false, obsolete old Judaic religion, and it’s also still the false observation of the Old testament letter of the law over the New Testament spirit of the law approach. It is an ungodly act still too.
(Acts 20:29 KJV) For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. (1 Tim 4:1 KJV) Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
(John 19:30 KJV) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (Mat 27:50 KJV) Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
(Gal 3:23 KJV) But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. . 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
(2 Cor 5:17 KJV) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Jesus- Christianity- a religion starting in Judaism and then moving away from it on it’s own or rather initially kicked out of it by the false Jews? but still all serving God’s purpose .
(Gal 2:16 KJV) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
(Amos 8:1 KJV) Thus hath the Lord GOD showed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. 3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence. 4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. 11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again. 9:1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. 2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: 3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: 4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. 5 And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 6 It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name. 7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. 9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
(Amos 9:11 KJV) In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. 13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.
and what was. is the promised restoration of the tabernacle of David now? The restoration of the nation of Israel? the Temple worship in Jerusalem? or what? what does God say it is?
(Acts 2:29 KJV) Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
(Acts 13:22 KJV) And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.23 Of this man’s seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:
What can be more clearer than this the restoration of the tabernacle of David it is the personal salvation of any of the Jews by Jesus Christ. It is certainly not the supposedly promised restoration of the nation of Israel, or the restoration of the earthly temple rituals in Jerusalem.
(2 Sam 6:14 KJV) And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.1 5 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
The personal baptism of the Holy Spirit expereince is the restoration of the tabernacle of David.. where Holy Spirit anointed, filled King David as a result DANCED before the Lord in praises.. the people not HOLY SPIRIT filled can tend to see only the restoration of the nation of Israel, the temple and wrongfully too not the singing and the praises to God, worship side. Not a coincident that the anti holy spirit fundamentals, persons cannot see this truth too and tend to support as a result the error filled, WRONG dispensationalist, Jewish based theology.
Note also that the predicted Old Testament restoration of the tabernacle of David is foremost actually the New Testament personal Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Pentecostalism, the restoration of the personal method of the worship of God. (John 4:23 KJV) But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth and not a nationalistic empire building.
“And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 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.” (Acts 3:20-21) “…Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24) “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part if happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Romans 11:25-26,
(Isa 44:18 KJV) They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
There is also no need for another Main temple now as well for we can all now have direct access to God again through jesus Christ… (Mat 27:51 KJV) And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, (Rev 21:10 KJV) And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,… 22 And I saw no temple herein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
Abraham, He was looking for the city, Jerusalem the true city of God is a heavenly one firstly.. being next built in our hearts for a start. (Heb 11:8 KJV) By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
“Trust in the LORD with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding” (Prov 3:5).
Lean not on your own flesh even for your own understanding, doctrines..
Psalm 134:1-3 Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Lk. 10:21).
Humans have a spirit originally fashioned after God’s image, which has a vacuum because it is capable of God-consciousness and of divine fellowship.
And this image was defaced by Sin. It is restored in accepting personally the finished work on the cross of Jesus Christ and there will be personally as a result an ever-increasing unfolding of His will, and an ever-expanding revelation of His glory. It is a constant growth in the realm of the Spirit until we are able to “comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to KNOW the love of Christ, which PASSETH KNOWLEDGE” until we are “filled with [or, unto] ALL THE FULNESS OF GOD” (Eph. 3:18-19). It is entering into and appropriating the inheritance which God has already given us, the promsied land, to take hold upon and apprehending that very thing for which God has laid hold upon and apprehended us! God is still the One Who is looking for a “home” in which He might dwell, in a people whom He has created for His own glory, wrongfully thought by many to be something too far-out, and not for today. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit experienced at Pentecost… the initial baptism of the first Church, it’s also for us to experience as individuals today promsied and given to us by the “Living word” today also. Did not Apostle Paul himself clearly identify the life we have in the Holy Ghost, and the good Word of God, with the powers of the next world?… and assure us that we are now actually partaking of the “powers of the world to come” (Heb. 6:4-5)
“And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” Exodus 25:8
“Martha was surprised that Jesus would spend so much time just talking to Mary, when He knew there was so much work to be done; and Mary should have been helping her–helping her to serve the Lord who had come to visit them. But Jesus told her plainly that Mary had chosen the better part, and that no one was to take this portion from her. He Jesus took Evidently greater delight in fellowshipping with Mary, than He did in Martha’s efforts to prepare Him a good meal. Now the Marthas too often they do not recognize what God really desires, and how He intends to accomplish the things that need to be done in the earth. For truly God’s plan is not merely to “get the job done.” He is creating a people that will be to the praise of His glory. And this can only come about as they submit to His Word and Spirit, and become vitally one with Christ Himself; and consequently one with His many brethren. What instruments and resources God may use from time to time and from one generation to another in working out His purposes in the earth are really quite incidental. He has shown us clearly that the world will know and believe only when God has a people “sanctified” unto the will of the Father, and made one with the Lord Jesus, as He is one with the Father. (Jn. 17:17-21.)
“My soul, wait thou only upon God; For my expectation is from him” (Ps. 62:5).
“Our soul waiteth for the LORD: He is our help and our shield” (Ps. 33:20).
“Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion” (Ps. 65:1).
“Blessed are all they that wait for him” (Isa. 30:18).
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time…Though it tarry, wait for it” (Hab. 2:3).
“They that wait upon the LORD Shall renew their strength” (Isa. 40:31).
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Revelation 21:3
He was looking for the city, Jerusalem the true city of God is a heavenly one firstly.. being next built in our hearts for a start. “…he was looking for the city… whose architect and builder is God” Heb 11:10
Paul’s warning for each of us to “take heed how he builds” is to be heeded.
( 1 Cor 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;)
“They soon forgat his works; They waited not for his counsel” (Ps. 106:13)
For Man still has a propensity to build false things. For not all of man’s building is of God.
This is reflected also in the first human community at Babel when they said, ( ”Come, let us build ourselves a city…so that we may make a name for ourselves… .” Gen 11:4 ) Many today are also building false ministries, churches, networks, movements, and denominations, but they still are not building the true city of God. (Mat 15:14 KJV Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.) Rather than building themslves a false name they need to build God’s kingdom which is somethign else and at a level higher altogether. They also do need to remember that ” Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, so that only the unshakeable will remain ( Heb 12:25-29 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.)
What about Abraham now even who also failed to wait upon God to keep his promise to give him a son?
Too many persons are still involved with the outward presentations, the packaging rather than the substance. They are playing ” Gods”, “Church” and not really connecting with the head of the church, they are reading the Bible and still really do know the author, and do you also “worship” and not really commune with the One worshipped. ”Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.’” Mtt 13:13-14 and “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Rev 3:17 in fact, you are deceived, or seduced?
John said, “… the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.” 1 Jn 2:27
(Psa 131:2 KJV) Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. 3 Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.
“Wait, I say, on the LORD” (Ps. 27:14). For “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).
Without a personal direct current revelation of Christ and without firect intimacy with Christ the merely religious church, also by definition, cannot be the true church. It may be the institution that calls itself “the church”, but it is not the church or the city that Jesus said would even overcome the gates of hell!
“Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” Heb 13:13-14
My tabernacle also shall be with them; Indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people” Ezekiel 37:27
“God promised the seed of Abraham with the promise land.” Seed is a singular term that includes all the children of God in the New testament now as well and it is the heavenly Jerusalem and not the earthly one..
” “In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Gen. 15:18). Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Genesis 50:24) In context: (Genesis 50:23-25)
The entitlement of any one past specific indwelling group religious to territory in the Middle East called the “Holy Land” cannot be supported by Scripture. In fact, the land promises specific to Israel in the Old Testament were also fulfilled.and
I draw your attention to some Scriptures which plainly state that God has fulfilled all that He promised Abraham concerning the land. Now the fulfillment. In Deut.1:7,8 Moses said to the children of Israel — “Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in all the plains, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in the south and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river the river Euphrates. Behold I have set the land before you; go In and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.”
After the death of Moses, the same promise was given to Joshua. Then shortly before Joshua died, he said — “And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed It, and dwelt therein. . . There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass” (Josh. 21:43,45).
In Nehemiah chapter 9 we have the same statement. Verses 7 and 8, “Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees and gavest him the name of Abraham; and foundest his heart faithful before thee …. and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give It I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous.” And verse 24 says —”So the children went in and possessed the land.”
Now turn to Jeremiah, Chapter 32 verse 21 … “And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror. And hast given them this land which thou didst swear to give to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey; and they came in, and possessed it.”
In the face of all this, how can it be said that Genesis 15:18 has never been fulfilled? We can believe that God certainly did fulfil all that He promised concerning the land. God keeps his part of the promise.
Possession of the land was also conditional.
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. (Deut.8:1) But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. (2Ch 7:19-20)
Did God know Israel would brake his covenant?
When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their forefathers, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. (Deut. 31:20)
Scripture also says the (land belongs to God) and was not a permanent entitlement to anyone. “‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.”‘ (Lev. 25:23 NIV) The Bible says that they were only “tenants”. As tenants there were in the land or God’s property for a fixed period of time. This arrangement is usually under the terms of a lease or some similar legal Covenant or agreement. (See Deut.8:1; 2Ch 7:19-20) To teach or imply otherwise is nothing less than to compromise the Bible and the Gospel itself.
A heavenly inheritance has been the expectation of Abraham and the people of God in all ages. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith Abraham, even though he was past age and Sarah herself was barren was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. “(Hebrews 12:8-16 NIV)
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” (Hebrews 11:13-16)
The Gospel offers eternal life in heaven to Jews and Gentiles alike as a free gift in Jesus Christ. Eternal life in heaven is not earned or deserved, nor is it based upon ethnic descent or natural birth. And there is also now no special divine favor for inheritance upon any member of any religious group to the earthly land of Palestine whether Jew or Gentile or Muslim. (Lev. 25:23)
The Apostle Paul, to the Circumcision, in Rome says nothing about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel in the land of Palestine. Instead, Paul persuades his Jewish readers to consider themselves dead to the old but alive to the new. (Romans 6:5) He fixes their hope upon the resurrection.
“No New Testament Apostle writer expounds on, or foresees a regathering of ethnic Israel in the land, as did the prophets of the Old Testament after the destruction of the first temple in 586 B.C. Moreover, the land promises of the Old Covenant are consistently and deliberately expanded in the New Testament to show the universal dominion of Jesus, (Psalm 2:7-8) who reigns from heaven upon the throne of David, inviting all the nations through the Gospel of Grace to partake of his universal and everlasting dominion. The promsied land issue regarding the “Middle East” and Palestine doctrine is both contrary to the teaching of the New Testament and a violation of the Gospel mandate.
Under that old covenant earthly blessings were promised to an earthly people, including national existence and the possession of the land of Canaan. Those blessings, moreover (and it is important to observe this) were made to depend upon express conditions, to be faithfully observed by that people, and were to be forfeited if those conditions were not observed. But that covenant, the Lord declares, “they brake.” And now, through Jeremiah, He proclaims the great fact that He will make, in a time then future, “a new covenant,” which was to be of a different sort. The Epistle to the Hebrews explains fully this prophecy of Jeremiah concerning the new covenant, the prophecy itself being quoted in full in Heb. 8:7-13, and in part in 10:15-17. It is the “everlasting covenant,” secured by the blood of Jesus Christ (Heb. 13: 20). It is established with a heavenly people, those who are “come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem, . . . and to the church of the first born (ones) who are written (i.e. enrolled) in heaven” (Ch. 12:22, 23). It is “a better covenant established upon better promises” (Ch. 8:6)”
We have already seen that, by the covenant of Sinai, God offered them the highest of all blessings, but upon the express condition of obedience; the terms being, “If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My Covenant” (Ex. 19:5,6). To this they all agreed, saying, “All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do” (v. 8). And this pledge of obedience was twice repeated by them after the ten commandments had been spoken to them (Ex. 24:3 and 7). Nevertheless, that covenant was broken by them within forty days through the idolatry of the golden calf (“Which My covenant they brake,” Jer. 31:32).
Now the matter of the past national destruction of Israel by the Romans inluded that there was to be no recovery. And in this, the prophecy of Moses is in full accord with that of Jesus Christ, recorded in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. For Moses said: “God will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land wither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even to the other” (Deut. 28:63,64). This, according to this prophecy, was to be the end of their history as a nation.
And now the law has been superseded by the gospel, with its “better hope.” The economy of the law, with all its shadows – people, land, city, temple, priesthood, sacrifices- has been set aside, and forever.
Being a member of Israel in the Old Testament was dependent upon faith and obedience to God. When the Israelites obeyed God, God loved them. But when the Israelites turned from him, He hated them, stripping them of their Israelite status. After centuries of Israelite rebellion against God, culminating in their rejection of Jesus the Messiah, the titles, attributes and blessings of Israel were transferred to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and to no one else, regardless of Abrahamic descent.””
PS God’s blueprint involves also involves generally De-construction before Construction
This means the personal loss of all things of past understandings, poet theologies, personal goals, ambitions, desitres, even reputation, respect, and resource of all the securities of this life and its regular patterns. (Phil 3:8 KJV Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.)
“The “architecture of the Spirit” will always de-construct before it constructs it will uproot, tear down, destroy and overthrow before it builds and plants ((Jer 1:10 KJV) See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.). As long as we are proud, secure and satisfied with our patterns and ways, we are not able to humbly receive revelation, nor experience true intimacy with Christ by his Holy Spirit. ” (Isa 57:15 KJV For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.)
(Isa 66:2 KJV) For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. 3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. 4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. 5 Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. 6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompense to his enemies. 7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. 8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. 10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: 11 That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies. 15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many. 17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD. 18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
God still seeks to lead His people into a higher relationship with Himself; and not rather to any false self, human, group exaltations
He instituted and ordained previous temples that was to provide for His people a place where they could draw nigh to Him, so that this place would become a “house of prayer” for all nations, and a means of grace whereby the inhabitants of the earth could discover the pathway to God, the greatest Temple of the ages. And so it was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus who declared Himself to be the Temple of God in the earth. And then He showed us, through His holy apostles and prophets, how this Temple would be expanded and enlarged to embrace those who now are the redeemed of the earth, and are part of the “living stones” in that same Temple.
“The great heavenly “architecture himself ” is calling you into a place of total, personal, complete abandonment to God alone, a place where you are no longer in control. even into a place of brokenness and contrition of heart where God can thus build in you a “new thing”, the new city whose maker is God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
(Eph 3:14 KJV) For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
And when God finds His home in the hearts of all of His redeemed, He will be again at rest and so will earth, mankind
(John 7:24 KJV) Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Still one of the devil’s most common method of harassment, the same devil who is the accuser of the brethren, is to send false persons, unholy, to try it detour us, the same people pretending to be our friends, claiming they are wanting to help us and are ready to give us false advice, false teachings as to what we should be doing.. firstly we should not be listening to any of these demon possessed persons.. or seeking, listen to their advice too
(2 Pet 2:9 KJV) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. 11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. 12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; 13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. 17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Secondly our best help comes not by listening to other people but personally daily abiding in God’s word alone.. our help is still mainly not in people, books, sernons of others, tapes, videos, but in the Bible alone..
(Psa 119:41 KJV) Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word. 42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word. 43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments. 44 So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever. 45 And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts. 46 I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. 47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. 48 My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes. 49 ZAIN. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. 50 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. 51 The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law. 52 I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself. 53 Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law. 54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. 55 I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law. 56 This I had, because I kept thy precepts. 57 CHETH. Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words. 58 I entreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word. 59 I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. 60 I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. 61 The bands of the wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy law. 62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments. 63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts. 64 The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes. 65 TETH. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word. 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. 68 Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes. 69 The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. 70 Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law. 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. 72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. 73 JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments. 74 They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word. 75 I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. 76 Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. 77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight. 78 Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts. 79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies. 80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed. 81 CAPH. My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word. 82 Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me? 83 For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes. 84 How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? 85 The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law. 86 All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me. 87 They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts. 88 Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. 89 LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. 90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. 91 They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants. 92 Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction. 93 I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me. 94 I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts. 95 The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies. 96 I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad. 97 MEM. O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. 98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. 101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. 102 I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me. 103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. 105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. 106 I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments. 107 I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word. 108 Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments. 109 My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law. 110 The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts. 111 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. 112 I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end. 113 SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love. 114 Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word. 115 Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God. 116 Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope. 117 Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually. 118 Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood. 119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies. 120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments. 121 AIN. I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors. 122 Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me. 123 Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness. 124 Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes. 125 I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies. 126 It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law. 127 Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. 128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way. 129 PE. Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them. 130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
A past individual had contacted me by email with obviously a phony name, of Clark Kent, claiming that he was a news reporter, who wanted to be my friend, to give me advice.. and next when I next replied that he needed to become a Christian, to accept Christ rather firstly, he responded with unkind vulgar, swearing words at me, even lying about me too.. he thus revealed who he really was, a demon possessed person being used by the devil.
(Gal 2:4 KJV) And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 5 To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. 6 But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:
(John 6:31 KJV) Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
(John 6:34 KJV) Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
The Pharisees in the New Testament times they claimed that Moses was the cause of their blessing, keeping old testament laws, and the same liars say the same thing today.. keeping the laws was a commandment of God for the Jews but still not a means of their salvation.. personally accepting the lamb of God, Jesus is still also their salvation
In reality (John 7:19 KJV) Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
The false Judiazers claim that going along with the Jews cause our blessing.. even today are still lying.
(John 1:17 KJV) For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
(John 3:14 KJV) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Jews also do need to accept Jesus Christ as their savior now to be saved, otherwise they too will go to hell.
(John 5:46 KJV) For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
(John 9:28 KJV) Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.
and if you do not go along with the Jews false religion now they will kill you like the killed Jesus Christ.
(John 9:35 KJV) Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? 37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. 39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. 40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? 41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
(Gal 2:3 KJV) But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: 4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 5 To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
The US Rev John Hagee is a person now I also really cannot endorse him.. he is clearly a hireling, one that wants more and more money.. and he distorts the Bible truth to do this as well..
“These combined Scriptures verify that PROSPERITY (Genesis 12:3 and Psalm 122:6), HEALING (Luke 7:1-5) and the OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT came first to Gentiles that blessed the Jewish people and the nation of Israel in a practical manner.” says John Hagee
Secondly he tries to support the rebuilding of the nation of Israel.. claiming that prosperity and healing comes by supporting Israel.. there is no such commandment by God too, not one in the whole New Testament..
(Luke 7:1 KJV) Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.2 And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this:5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.
By no means of the imagination can we use this New Testament reference to try to justify that Christians should build directly any of the Jewish synagogues or fully rebuild the nation of Israel.. after Christ came there was no need of the Jewish synagogues as well.. rather all, all of the Christians clearly met in separate places from the Jews.
Rather in reality Judaism is today a false religion still, but to many Jews it is also a false idol even today too for they do worship their nation, culture, religion now even more than God, JESUS, and the HOLY SPIRIT
(2 Cor 6:16 KJV) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
S ill our best peronsal help basically comes not by listening to other people but personally, daily abiding in God’s word alone.. our help is still not in people, their mere books, sermons, tapes, videos, but dwelling in the Bible alone .. really!!! And all of our Salvation, Deliverance Healing still comes to us by Jesus Christ, not by the Jews or Moses or anything else….
While still even claiming to be God’s chosen people, people following after God people blessed by God, the nation of Israel, almost all of it in reality has even today still clearly turned away from God, is wrongfully doing it’s own rebellious thing, and wrongfully try to justify it as well.. God is displeased at all of this and God is not being mocked by this as well.
Jer 2:20 KJV) For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. 21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? 22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD. 23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; 24 A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
I also do have no doubt that I am Christian nor the fact God has called me to do His work.. and I also clearly rightfully do oppose all Terrorists, CHRISTIAN, MUSLIM OR JEWISH ONES TOO, Israel’s religious land claims, and I rightfully do not accept this as a valid religion or worship of the same God that Christians do worship now too.. Like I said I am also mature enough to discuss it in love too. The JUDGMENT UPON THE NATIONS, it parallels often the specific judgments of each of the individual persons too, in both the Old and New Testament now as well. Understanding clearer the Old Testament passages must also generally personally involve our Understanding clearer the New Testament passages too… (John 1:1 KJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
(John 1:10 KJV) He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
(1 John 1:1 KJV) That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Many many persons do even today, these days misinterpret the Bible, it’s passages even firstly cause of their own real ignorance of what specifically the whole Bible says, and they as a result also do falsely rely on what others tell them.. which too often is still mere falsehood and lies.
Many persons do also still try to see the judgment of God as a one time event only, as either A past, present, future event, a sole historical event, and not rather as a series of events, even continuos ones, events of both spiritual and also next physical judgments.. firstly spiritual judgments themselves are real and are next related to the earthly, real physical judgments, even although initially the physical correlation many not be that obvious, fully known beforehand always to some persons.
One still personally cannot try thus to study the Bible, Old or New Testament in the flesh, without the spirit of God’s HELP who helped to write it now as well. (Gen 1:1 KJV) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
(Gen 1:3 KJV) And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Here also is the clear reference to the trinity. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, involved even in Creation. (Gen 1:26 KJV) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
(John 3:6 KJV) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
(John 3:8 KJV) The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
(John 7:39 KJV) (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
(Rom 8:2 KJV) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
(Rom 8:5 KJV) For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
(Rom 8:23 KJV) And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
(Rom 8:27 KJV) And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
(1 Cor 2:14 KJV) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
(1 Cor 12:7 KJV) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
(2 Cor 1:22 KJV) Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
(2 Cor 3:6 KJV) Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
(2 Cor 3:8 KJV) How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
(2 Cor 5:5 KJV) Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
(Gal 3:14 KJV) That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
(Gal 5:18 KJV) But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
(Gal 5:22 KJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
(Gal 6:8 KJV) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
(2 Th 2:13 KJV) But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
(1 Pet 1:2 KJV) Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Many persons today still also try to explain Old Testament prophetic passages as them next going to be literally and solely fulfilled in the future, even leaving out any reference to leading of the Holy Spirit to understand these passages and especially even to Jesus Christ’s role in them, and this is impossible to do for Jesus Christ alone now, is the sole established heir of all things too… including all of the the present and the future. (Acts 3:18 KJV) But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.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.
(Phil 3:8 KJV) Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
(Heb 1:2 KJV) Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
(1 Pet 4:7 KJV) But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
(1 John 2:27 KJV) But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
(Rev 1:2 KJV) Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Understanding clearer the Old Testament passages..
For one example: Regarding even the specific past the fulfillment of certain passages pertaining to the Old testament references to the judgment of nations: (Joel 3:2,11,12 Zech 12:3,9 Zech 14:2,3,12,14). All three of these chapters refer to God judging and fighting “all nations” (Joel 3:2 KJV) I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. (Joel 3:11 KJV) Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
(Joel 3:12 KJV) Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
(Zec 12:3 KJV) And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
(Zec 12:9 KJV) And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
(Zec 14:2 KJV) For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
(Zec 14:3 KJV) Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
(Zec 14:12 KJV) And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
(Zec 14:14 KJV) And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
Explanation Details:
Joel 3:18 In that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water; a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD and water the Wadi Shittim.
Now, specifcally compare the fountain with: Zecariah 13:1 On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. These passages are both referring to the same fountain? If so, would you agree that the fountain alone is Christ, the Living Waters? IS THIS HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS LED YOU TO UNDERSTAND IT TOO? Also, consider the phrase in Zech 13 “in that day.” So then, that would certainly lend itself to the rest of the context being fulfilled at the time of Christ. Consider how God uses that timeframe reference:
Zechariah 12:3-4 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. {4} In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
Zechariah 12:6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
Zechariah 12:8-9 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. {9} And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Now watch closely: Zechariah 12:10-14 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 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. {11} In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. {12} And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; {13} The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; {14} All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
Zechariah 13:1 On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. “On that day” or “In that day…” Zechariah 13:2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
Zechariah 13:4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
Zechariah 14:4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward. Now this next part is crucial: Zechariah 14:6-9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: {7} But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. {8} And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. {9} And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. Look at verse 8. That is clearly referring to Christ: John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
John 4:14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” and John 7:37-39 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. {38} He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. {39} (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) Clearly the Bible pssage declares Christ as the Living waters and the timing of it. So then, it is not so much a matter of *whether* Zech and Joel were fulfilled. It is a matter of the exact nature of the fulfillment. Remember what Joel said about the waters:
Joel 3:18 In that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water; a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD and water the Wadi Shittim. That water is Christ and that sweet wine is Christ. “Also, when did Judah sell Grecians as slaves (Joel 3:4-8), and when did Egypt become desolate(3:19)?”
Well, consider these passages in regard to this type of language:
Isaiah 35:7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. Again, it speaks of the parched ground becoming a pool. In other words through faith in Christ they receive the springs of living water. Through rejection of Jesus Christ Egypt and all other nations would be wasted or desolate and without water. Compare: Zechariah 14:17-21 If any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain upon them. {18} And if the family of Egypt do not go up and present themselves, then on them shall come the plague that the LORD inflicts on the nations that do not go up to keep the festival of booths. {19} Such shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to keep the festival of booths. {20} On that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the LORD.” And the cooking pots in the house of the LORD shall be as holy as the bowls in front of the altar; {21} and every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and use them to boil the flesh of the sacrifice. And there shall no longer be traders in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day. Zechariah is using metaphorical language to describe life without Christ-”no rain.” But upon those who worship the Lord would be rain, or Christ Jesus. It is desolation to be without Christ. It is emptiness and there is great void. But in Christ we lack nothing and we are never thirsty: John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But on the contrary, those who do not trust in Christ are thirsty: Isaiah 65:13 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; Again, without Christ in real life now too the end result is only shame and desolation. (Mat 24:1 KJV) And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple.2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
(Mat 27:51 KJV) And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; As far as theissue as to when actually Judah sold Grecians as slaves, I have an idea that specifcally which Joel is referring to is first century church of Jewish origin next also taking captive the Gentiles as slaves of righteousness. Through Jesus Christ. Judah, the lion of Judah, Israel is finally able to convert the foreign nations, the gentiles, something hey were not allowed to do in the Old testament. In other words, those Gentiles who previously dominated the whole kingdom of Israel would now also be subject to the Gospel of Christ under the New Covenant. Here are some other Scriptures that may allude to this:
Psalms 72:8-11 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. {9} They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. {10} The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. {11} Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. Here is an incredible passage that clearly describes the New Covenant kingdom of Christ and how it would first be the glory of Israel and that Gentiles would come to their Light: Isaiah 60 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. {2} For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. {3} And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. {4} Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. {5} Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. {6} The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the LORD. {7} All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. {8} Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? {9} Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. {10} And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. {11} Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. {12} For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. {13} The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. {14} The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. {15} Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. {16} Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. {17} For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. {18} Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. {19} The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. {20} Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. {21} Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. {22} A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.
(1 Ki 6:5 KJV) And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:
(1 Ki 6:15 KJV) And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.
(1 Ki 6:29 KJV) And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without. especially consider these verses: Isaiah 60:5 Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
Isaiah 60:10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Notice that the Gentiles would “build” up the walls( of the temple) .
In other words they would be servants helping build the kingdom of Christ, and, Isaiah describes, is in subjection to the original Jewish church or what we might remember as the tree (first century Jewish church) in which the fowls of the air (Gentiles) lodged. Consider this verse in Isaiah: Isaiah 60:14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. So that, indeed, this slavery reference can be observed as something optimistic rather than pessimistic: Romans 6:17-19 But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, {18} and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. {19} I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. However, the context in Joel does seem to suggest a larger context of judgment, though it is clear from the above passages that God uses this type of language in a metaphoric manner. I think the spiritual nature can be seen by this verse: Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.” Consider the opposite stated by those who would be called God’s people: Isaiah 2:4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. You see, one is speaking of those who bow to the king and taking their carnal weapons and gaining the strength of the Gospel which would produce goldy fruit, but stilldo produce death through its sword-like characteristics against those who would rebel: 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. {15} For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: {16} To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? {17} For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. Also, note, very important: Psalms 149:5-9 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. {6} Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; {7} To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; {8} To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; {9} To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
(John 14:23 KJV) Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
(John 14:24 KJV) He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
(John 15:23 KJV) He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
(John 15:24 KJV) If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
(John 15:25 KJV) But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
(John 15:1 KJV) I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:
(John 16:11 KJV) Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
(John 5:45 KJV) Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
It is clear that the Gospel would slay some of the enemies of God and also be responsible next for their own real rightouss jdugements as well if they refused to accept it..
This is precisely what takes place through the preaching of the Gospel to those who rebel against Jesus Christ. He slays them with the sword of His mouth.
Through the Gospel, they are “bound” with chains. Hence, the idea of slavery. Kings and nobles represent the haughty in the pride of their countenance in hatred of Christ. We get to execute judgment. It is our honor because of Christ and His power to make us holy by the Gospel. Originally John wept because only Christ was worthy to open the seals of judgment. But since the parousia we are all worthy because of Christ’s presence and word. Therefore, when we preach the Gospel, we are truly judging the world as Paul predicted:
1 Corinthians 6:2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
So then this selling into slavery makes perfect spiritual sense. Through the Gospel they are proven to be bound in sin and slaves to unrighteousness. They are made aware of their unbelief. They are made conscious of their rebellion against Christ. Thus they perish and are wasted and made an utter desolation. Surely the passage you quote has its origin with the first century church. But the Gospel is the everlasting Gospel the be proclaimed throughout eternity: Revelation 14:6-7 Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth–to every nation and tribe and language and people. {7} He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Hag 2:22 KJV) And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
But I would again refer back to Psalms to convey more powerfully the idea of binding the heathen with the power of the word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hence, the nations would be sold into slavery. So either way I believe their is an abundance of Scripture to show the vast usage of metaphorical language to convey this idea of the judgment that was to come as both spirutla and physical (Rev 2:16 KJV) Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
(Rev 19:21 KJV) And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
(Psa 33:9 KJV) For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. 10 The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. 11 The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. 13 The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. 14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. 15 He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works. 16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. 17 An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. 18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; 19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. 22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.
(Eph 6:17 KJV) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
God still firstly fights and judges the nations with the sword of His mouth, his own real warnings, promises and God he keeps his promsises.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: {4} (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) {5} Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; {6} And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
(2 Tim 2:15 KJV) Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
(2 Tim 2:16 KJV) But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
(2 Tim 2:19 KJV) Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
(John 5:38 KJV) And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
(John 5:42 KJV) But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
(2 Cor 11:4 KJV) For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
(James 4:2 KJV) Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
(Gal 6:7 KJV) Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
(Gal 6:8 KJV) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. “THE DEVIL IS SLY, HE TEACHES US LIES, OR HE TAKES A SUPPOSED TRUTH AND MAKES IT AN EXTREME.. we need to be aware of his acts everywhere.. THE DEVIL IF HE CANNOT REACH US DIRECTLY WILL SEND A FALSE PERSONS NEXT TO DO IT AS WELL.. (Mat 10:17 KJV) But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;”
Please note: Research into the Hebrew Roots & Messianic movements constitutes research into Judaism as well as the occult. We fully respect each persons right to believe or utilize what resources they choose. We however, see a clear distinction in believing the Messiah has come versus utilizing resources which still await His coming. That is how and why we must evaluate all to Christ and the New Testament as well as the Tenach. We do not wish to edit or criticize Judaism, but recognize it as distinct from our Christian beliefs, just as many in Judaism also see a distinction and separateness from our beliefs, and we jointly have mutual respect for our differences and each other.
There is also a false growing movement within Christianity, which contends that Christians need “to return to their Hebrew Roots.” The Hebrew Roots & Messianic movements distortions
The leaders of this movement purport to be teaching believers the “Hebrew Roots of Christianity” through the study of the Jewish foundational teachings. Having been enjoined to study “Hebrew Roots”, it is only reasonable that one must take a close look at the teachings of the Messianic and Hebrew Roots movements, as well as the Hebrew faith itself.
“This movement is not only a cult but a racist movement, it is still a demonic attempt by Jews to promote their own self importance, their own past now false customs, false religion on others, and people who do this may be sincere but they are not followers of Jesus Christ but of the devil still.. this is undeniable”
We are reminded rather in Colossians 2:6-9: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”
Is the Hebrew Roots, as some might suggest, merely the study of the Old Testament, which Christians already study in light of the New Testament?
What do the Hebrew foundational teachings expound with regard to the New Testament, the Messiah, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Persons or Manifestations of God, the Bible and the character of God?
To embrace the Hebrew Roots theology without a full review and understanding of its teachings, would be blindness on our part and lead to ignoring the many warnings we find in the Word of God.
2 Timothy 3:13-17: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them: And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be throughly furnished unto all good works.”
In James 3: 17,18 we are reminded: ” But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
Scripture tells us in Matthew 12:37: ” For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
John 3:20-21 “…For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
James 3:13-16: “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
Do we indeed have to become Jewish in thought and custom in order to fully understand the Word of God and be pleasing before Him?
” No, Not at all, the Holy Spirit is the one who teaches us, duides us in all truth and if he does nto help you allof your study is vain anyway..”
Galatians 3:26-29 “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. “
What of the divine inspiration of the Bible? The Scripture is sufficient in itself and considered the inerrant Word of God.
Many Hebrew Roots and Sacred Name advocates are falsely decrying that the name, ‘Jesus Christ’, is invalid, mistranslated or unacceptable for whatever reason. One has to ask which Name do these people wish us to use if not the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Which of the numerous “only Sacred Name,” are we to use?
Would changing the name of our Savior and embracing another name become the rejection of Jesus Christ and His salvation? It is imperative that we understand the significance of the Sacred Name issue, for
Scripture tells us in John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Part of the Antichrist’s plan next of changing times and dates that we understand as the truth and he is using the Jews still also to do this still too.
Ephesians 5:17: “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
Now is the time to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. “Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.” 2Corinthians 6:2
Even the Jewish people have to become personaly Christians now and to accept Jesus, not their past religions, as Jesus being their sole master, lord, savior, forsaken all of the others now too. http://www.seekgod.ca/embraceintro.htm
Summary (John 8:39 KJV) They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham…. (John 8:42 KJV) Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
(Rev 2:9 KJV) I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
(Rom 2:28 KJV) For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Apostle Peter identifies not Jews, not Gentiles, but the Christians in I Peter 2:9-10 when he writes of Christians “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, the people of God…” note an nation too.. AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD
It is absurd for any Jewish or any other persons to make any further “promised land” claim without accepting Jesus as their personal Lord and personal Savior firstly too. In the Old Testament, in Genesis, a specific land was promised to Abraham’s seed. Next Galatians 3:26-29 in the New Testament identifies Abraham’s seed as those who are Christ’s, whether Jew or Gentile. In other words: Christians. Firstly Jesus Christ alone is the inital heir of all things and he will claim all of it and all of it’s occupants too. It is the Christians who will next co-rule with Jesus, and the 12 originally Jewish apostles included who were all Christians now too.(2 Tim 2:12 KJV) If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (Rev 20:6 KJV) Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
For those who still wrongfully might like to claim that the land was solely promised to “Israel,” . Galatians 6:16 identifies Christians as the “Israel of God.” Although Abraham received covenant promises concerning his seed, the promise was not to Abraham’s “seeds”… It is only in Christ we inherit these redemptive promises. Indeed, the books of Daniel (Old Testament) and Revelation (New Testament) clearly state Christ’s preeminence, as well as the messages of Galatians and Hebrews, and that the kingdoms of this world shall rather next become the joint heirs, under the rule, the property of all of Jesus and all of God’s people; that is the Christians. Revelation 2:26 adds that overcomers (who have the testimony of Jesus) will be given “power over the nations.” In other words, Christians will have power over all the nations, will possess all the land, including the physical nation of Israel and all Arab nations. Eventually, Peter says there will be new heavens and a new earth. This is completion of God’s promise to Abraham’s seed fulfilled. The people of God, His people forever, are those of faith in Christ Jesus. The same are Abraham’s seed. The same heirs do finally inherit the promise given Abraham. and Romans 8:9-10, says “Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His.”
The book of Hebrews also makes it clear that the Mosaic provisions of the Levitical priesthood, the sacrifices and the law were only temporary – “he takes away the first [covenant], that he may establish the second.” (10:9). Earlier in chapter (8:13) the writer had said “In that he said a new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.” How can anyone diagree with these Scriptures and now lie and even teaching that Israel and its Old Covenant shadows are to be restored? The book of Hebrews is devoted to teaching otherwise. It is also still a heresy for any of the Judaizers to exalt any of the corruptible Jewish flesh when God’s Word says that if a Jew (or Gentile) does not have God’s Spirit, he is not of God too? The Jews clearly now are not of Christ because they clearly don’t have His Holy Spirit. The Jews are still rather of Antichrist because they do mostly all despise God’s and his doctrines. Thus the Jews next are going to hell because they are not even born again. The New Testament clearly says all of this too. Only the born again in Christ Jews, the cut off natural jewish branches that they were, they will be grafted back again into the olive tree and comprise, with the Gentiles the Church of God Romans 11 (vv.13-21). All Jews do have to be born again in Christ to be readopted into the family of God.
Psalm 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. 7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. 10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
(Rom 4:14 KJV) For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, 17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
(Rom 8:17 KJV) And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
(Gal 3:29 KJV) And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
(Titus 3:7 KJV) That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
(Heb 1:14 KJV) Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
(Heb 6:17 KJV) Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
(Heb 11:9 KJV) By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
(James 2:5 KJV) Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
(1 Pet 3:7 KJV) Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. “Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” Heb 13:13-14
Our final destination, even the related personal rewards for our service to Jesus Christ the Messiah are not here on earth but in the heavenly Jerusalem.
(Heb 11:8 KJV) By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
My tabernacle also shall be with them; Indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people” Ezekiel 37:27
God promised the seed of Abraham with the promise land. Seed is a singular term that includes all the children of God in the New Testament now as well. The ultimate fullfillment of this promised land it is the Heavenly Jerusalem and not the earthly one..
” “In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Gen. 15:18). Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Genesis 50:24) In context: (Genesis 50:23-25)
The entitlement of any one past specific indwelling group religious to territory in the Middle East called the “Holy Land” cannot be supported by Scripture. In fact, the land promises specific to Israel in the Old Testament were also fulfilled.and
I draw your attention to some Scriptures which plainly state that God has fulfilled all that He promised Abraham concerning the land. Now the fulfillment. In Deut.1:7,8 Moses said to the children of Israel — “Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in all the plains, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in the south and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river the river Euphrates. Behold I have set the land before you; go In and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.”
After the death of Moses, the same promise was given to Joshua. Then shortly before Joshua died, he said — “And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed It, and dwelt therein. . . There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass” (Josh. 21:43,45).
In Nehemiah chapter 9 we have the same statement. Verses 7 and 8, “Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees and gavest him the name of Abraham; and foundest his heart faithful before thee …. and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give It I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous.” And verse 24 says —”So the children went in and possessed the land.”
Now turn to Jeremiah, Chapter 32 verse 21 … “And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror. And hast given them this land which thou didst swear to give to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey; and they came in, and possessed it.”
In the face of all this, how can it be said that Genesis 15:18 has never been fulfilled? We can believe that God certainly did fulfil all that He promised concerning the land. God keeps his part of the promise.
Possession of the land was also conditional.
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. (Deut.8:1) But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. (2Ch 7:19-20)
Did God know Israel would brake his covenant?
When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their forefathers, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. (Deut. 31:20)
Scripture also says the (land belongs to God) and was not a permanent entitlement to anyone. “‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.”‘ (Lev. 25:23 NIV) The Bible says that they were only “tenants”. As tenants there were in the land or God’s property for a fixed period of time. This arrangement is usually under the terms of a lease or some similar legal Covenant or agreement. (See Deut.8:1; 2Ch 7:19-20) To teach or imply otherwise is nothing less than to compromise the Bible and the Gospel itself.
A heavenly inheritance has been the expectation of Abraham and the people of God in all ages. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith Abraham, even though he was past age and Sarah herself was barren was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. “(Hebrews 12:8-16 NIV)
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” (Hebrews 11:13-16)
The Gospel offers eternal life in heaven to Jews and Gentiles alike as a free gift in Jesus Christ. Eternal life in heaven is not earned or deserved, nor is it based upon ethnic descent or natural birth. And there is also now no special divine favor for inheritance upon any member of any religious group to the earthly land of Palestine whether Jew or Gentile or Muslim. (Lev. 25:23)
The Apostle Paul, to the Circumcision, in Rome says nothing about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel in the land of Palestine. Instead, Paul persuades his Jewish readers to consider themselves dead to the old but alive to the new. (Romans 6:5) He fixes their hope upon the resurrection.
“No New Testament Apostle writer expounds on, or foresees a regathering of ethnic Israel in the land, as did the prophets of the Old Testament after the destruction of the first temple in 586 B.C. Moreover, the land promises of the Old Covenant are consistently and deliberately expanded in the New Testament to show the universal dominion of Jesus, (Psalm 2:7-8) who reigns from heaven upon the throne of David, inviting all the nations through the Gospel of Grace to partake of his universal and everlasting dominion. The promsied land issue regarding the “Middle East” and Palestine doctrine is both contrary to the teaching of the New Testament and a violation of the Gospel mandate.
Under that old covenant earthly blessings were promised to an earthly people, including national existence and the possession of the land of Canaan. Those blessings, moreover (and it is important to observe this) were made to depend upon express conditions, to be faithfully observed by that people, and were to be forfeited if those conditions were not observed. But that covenant, the Lord declares, “they brake.” And now, through Jeremiah, He proclaims the great fact that He will make, in a time then future, “a new covenant,” which was to be of a different sort. The Epistle to the Hebrews explains fully this prophecy of Jeremiah concerning the new covenant, the prophecy itself being quoted in full in Heb. 8:7-13, and in part in 10:15-17. It is the “everlasting covenant,” secured by the blood of Jesus Christ (Heb. 13: 20). It is established with a heavenly people, those who are “come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem, . . . and to the church of the first born (ones) who are written (i.e. enrolled) in heaven” (Ch. 12:22, 23). It is “a better covenant established upon better promises” (Ch. 8:6)”
We have already seen that, by the covenant of Sinai, God offered them the highest of all blessings, but upon the express condition of obedience; the terms being, “If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My Covenant” (Ex. 19:5,6). To this they all agreed, saying, “All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do” (v. 8). And this pledge of obedience was twice repeated by them after the ten commandments had been spoken to them (Ex. 24:3 and 7). Nevertheless, that covenant was broken by them within forty days through the idolatry of the golden calf (“Which My covenant they brake,” Jer. 31:32).
Now the matter of the past national destruction of Israel by the Romans inluded that there was to be no recovery. And in this, the prophecy of Moses is in full accord with that of Jesus Christ, recorded in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. For Moses said: “God will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land wither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even to the other” (Deut. 28:63,64). This, according to this prophecy, was to be the end of their history as a nation.
And now the law has been superseded by the gospel, with its “better hope.” The economy of the law, with all its shadows – people, land, city, temple, priesthood, sacrifices- has been set aside, and forever.
Being a member of Israel in the Old Testament was dependent upon faith and obedience to God. When the Israelites obeyed God, God loved them. But when the Israelites turned from him, He hated them, stripping them of their Israelite status. After centuries of Israelite rebellion against God, culminating in their rejection of Jesus the Messiah, the titles, attributes and blessings of Israel were transferred to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and to no one else, regardless of Abrahamic descent.”
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. (Deut.8:1) But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. (2Ch 7:19-20)
“The “nation of Israel” today knows it does not yet have all the land that they have believed that they are intitled to. The promise to them was from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Seems to me that if they want all the land they think they are intitled to they would next wrongfully to go to war and take it from some other countried around them. The the river Euphrates goes right into Iraq, so they would go a conquer Jordan, Kawait, etc.”It requires big time war over there even to get the temple built. “
“As to why Paul was persecuted by the Jews far more than anyone else. (2 Cor 11:22-29). James and Peter enjoyed relative peace with the Jews for a period of time. There was a great persecution recorded in the book of Acts, but then it subsides. What stopped it? The conversion of Paul, the death of Herod (Acts 12), the removal of Pontius Pilate as governor, and the end of the reign of Caligula. All these things happened in a fairly short period of time. Then we see the rise of Claudius as Emperor. Claudius was somewhat enamored towards Christianity. He even wanted it recognized as an official Roman religion. However, Paul continued to suffer at the hands of the Judiazers. Why did they go after Paul but not James and Peter? It had to have been the fact that he was preaching to the Gentiles only Christ and Him crucified. He did not teach them that they had to keep the Sabbath, circumcision, etc. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (I Cor 2:2)”
http://newjerusalemministriesboards.com/showthread.php?t=726&page=2
And the whole House of Israel including the gentiles were reunited with the House of Judah under one leader, Jesus Christ our Messiah (Jeremiah 3:18; Ezekiel 37:15-28;Hosea 1:11). And the whole house of Israel was now next present on the day of Pentecost when this happened. (Acts 2:36 KJV) Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
These first believers, converts were mainly Jews from the whole house of Israel now too
All of the believers in the Messiah Jesus Christ have the status of being a first-born family (Hebrews 12:22-23) which is not based upon genealogy (I Chronicles 5:1).
Let me remind you of the undeniable fact for false personal, nationalistic, selfish reasons, many of the Jews, judaizers do even today still lie and twist the word of God to suit their nationalistic, self centered too empire aims and they do wrongfully persecute still the christians workers. Being an apostle serving jesus CVhrist in the church was, is also not an easy task.
(Acts 9:15 KJV) But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:16 For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.
(2 Th 3:3 KJV) But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.4 And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. 5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. 6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
(2 Th 3:13 KJV) But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. 14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
(Mat 19:29 KJV) And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
(Gal 6:4 KJV) But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
(1 Cor 2:3 KJV) And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
(2 Tim 4:16 KJV) At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. 17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
(2 Tim 4:10 KJV) For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
The slanderous accusing, depressing, afflictions, persecuting spirits that the apostle Paul suffered was came even from the Jews and the so called Christian brethren too.. False teachers had prejudiced his brethren against him. They had made false charges against him to destroy his influence among the churches which he had raised up. Many Christians today who do God’s work suffer the same demons too.
“He Apostle Paul too often he could not count upon the sympathy and support of even his own brethren in the faith. The unconverted Jews who had so closely followed upon his track had not been slow to circulate the most unfavorable reports . . . both personally and by letter concerning him and his work, and some, even of the apostles and elders, had received these reports as truth, making no attempt to contradict them and manifesting no desire to harmonize with him.” . The Jews continued to spread evil reports, and invented lying accusations; but saddest of all, some of his brethren had believed the lying reports. This must have pained Paul to his very soul. “Yet in the midst of discouragement, the apostle was not in despair.” Paul kept his ear tuned to the One that spoke to him on the way to Damascus. No matter what men did to him, it sank into insignificance when he thought of what Jesus had done for him. He pressed on.”
(Gal 6:12 KJV) As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh 14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
“Do you know what a Judaiser is? It is a Christian Jew, who had accepted Christ as the Messiah, but still kept the Jewish rites. When they came into a Christian church, they told the people that if they would keep the Jewish ceremonies, more of the Jews would be converted. They advised that if the Gentile converts, who did not keep the ceremonies and were not circumcised were kept out, they would have many more Jewish converts—more than enough to make up for the loss of the Gentile converts. In this way they tore down the work that Paul had built up. “They visited every church which he had organized, creating division.” The Judiasers never stopped, and they are still busily at their work in our churches today.” they are often even the Messianic Jews too.
“There was still a small group even inthe Church that hated Paul. They had a list of accusations that they used against him whenever possible. “They stubbornly resisted all efforts of Paul for the purification of the church; they displayed a most bitter spirit, and were bold in denunciation of Paul.” Their first accusation was that Paul preached the gospel with a “mercenary motive.” In other words, the accusation was that he was preaching the gospel to make money. Maybe they contrived that since he preached to large crowds of people, everyone would know him, and he could sell lots of tents. Next they accused him of “craft in preaching the gospel and dealing with the churches.” I Thirdly, “They charged him with receiving personal advantage from the means contributed by the brethren for various benevolent purposes.” The next accusation came from the opposite extreme. Some said Paul was not an apostle because he did not demand support from the churches.” “Unfortunately, the relationship between Paul and the believers in Corinth could never be what it could have been. The dissension and evil surmising had ruined what could have been. However, Paul freely forgave them, and prayed for them. Paul bore the weight of all the churches. They were always on his mind. “The pressure was sometimes so great that he could scarcely endure it. Outward dangers and inward fears had harassed him beyond his own power to bear. False teachers had prejudiced his brethren against him. They had made false charges against him to destroy his influence among the churches which he had raised up. But amid all his persecutions and discouragements, he could rejoice in the consolation which he found in Christ.” Apostle Paul still in spite of all of this he never gave up, he continued with his eyes fixed on God, God’s people, God’s work he prayed for his enemies, showed love to all, and there is no record that he had done one wrong in his response too. Paul was a human being, with feelings like ours, but even in the most discouraging circumstances, he put his eyes on and his faith in Christ.(Phil 4:13 KJV) I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 14 Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.
1 Corinthians 9:19–23: “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more; and unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; and to them that are under the law, as are under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (be not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law; to the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof .
“THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD “For the better part of three chapters, the apostle Paul has been defending the doctrine of justification by faith alone against the attacks of a group of Jews known as the Judiazers. The Judiazers insisted upon the keeping of the laws of circumcision and the laws of Moses as a necessary prerequisite if one is to become the beneficiary of salvation, thereby instituting a salvation by works. Such a view of God’s sole, final personal salvation of each one of us not only goes contrary to the truth of grace, but those who seek salvation in any other way than through faith in Jesus Christ will in reality still even remain a condemned sinner within their own personal prison cell of sin and go to Hell unsaved, personally unredeemed.. There is no doubt of this now too.
As Paul brings to a close chapter three, he does so by presenting the fact that down through history, the only true covenant people of God have been those who embraced by faith the Abrahamic promises as fulfilled in Christ. And every person who turns to faith in Christ becomes partakers within this covenant family.
Whether it be under the Old Covenant or the New Covenant, God’s covenant family consists of Jews and Gentiles alike who place their faith in the redeeming work of God’s only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we will see in today’s study, this family of the redeemed make up the true commonwealth of Israel.
(Gal 3:26-29 KJV) “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. {27} For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. {28} There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. {29} And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
According to this passage, we see that the true descendants of Abraham (or the true Israel of God) are those who are spiritually descended from Abraham through faith in Christ, no matter what their ethnic background is.
In the twenty-sixth verse, we see that God’s true covenant family is made up everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.
(Gal 3:26 KJV) “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
This is an extremely important passage because there are some who would falsely even now argue that there are two peoples of God; one group consisting of the physical descendants of Abraham prior to the redemptive work of Christ, along with those physical descendants of Abraham under a future dispensation called the Millennial Kingdom, and the second group consisting of Jew and Gentile alike under what is called the dispensation of grace. This some what popular theology is called dispensationalism. It is unbiblical still.
As we will see in this study, God has had only one true covenant people which has always been made up of the spiritual descendants of Abraham whether Jew or Gentile. In the Old Testament, the majority of these spiritual descendants were ethnic Jews, while under the New Covenant, the majority of these spiritual descendants were Gentiles.
As we will see later, under both Testaments both Jews and Gentiles were included in the true covenant family of God.
It is through faith and faith alone that introduces one into the covenant family of God.
(John 1:12 KJV) “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
The true covenant family of God includes only such individuals who trust in Christ. This is an important truth because the Jewish people of Jesus’ day and many even today wrongly concluded that since they had Abraham as their father, that they were somehow automatically guaranteed acceptance into God’s covenant community or family.
But as Jesus so sternly points out to those Jews who claimed to be the children of God, physical descent from Abraham alone does not make one a true descendant of Abraham or a child of God.
(John 8:37-41 KJV) “I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. {38} I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. {39} They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. {40} But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. {41} Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” Here we have the physical descendants of Abraham claiming their ancestry as proof positive that they were the true children of God. But rather than God being their true father, Jesus rebukes them by saying that they are descended from the devil.
(John 8:44 KJV) “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” These Jews were born into Israel nationally, but they were not born into the true Israel spiritually. Spiritual birth is necessary for anyone to claim God as their father.
The reason why most of the physical Jews of Jesus’ day were not part of the true Israel of God was because they lacked faith.
As we see in verse twenty-seven, everyone who has placed their faith in the finished work of Christ has been placed into the body of Christ and has put on Christ.
(Gal 3:27 KJV) “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Though water baptism is an ordinance of God which is to be obeyed by all who believe, it is not water baptism that Paul has in view here. The baptism of which Paul refers to in this passage is the spiritual baptism whereby every believer is placed by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ.
(Rom 6:3-5 KJV) “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? {4} Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. {5} For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:” In some great and mysterious way which transcends time and space, the person who places his trust in Jesus Christ has been crucified, buried, and resurrected with His Savior.
Paul says in Galatians 2:20,…
(Gal 2:20 KJV) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Paul goes on to say that those who “have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
This putting on of Christ is sign of the believer’s sonship and identifies himself with the true covenant people of God. It is being spiritually baptized into Jesus Christ, not physical circumcision that identifies the believer as a true child of God.
And as Paul points out in verse twenty-eight, there is no partiality with God when it comes to who belongs to His covenant community. There has never been a time in redemptive history when God loved the nation of Israel at the exclusion of the other nations of the world.
God did set His redemptive love upon national Israel as a whole but He did so in order to channel His love to the world.
(Gal 3:28 KJV) “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” In Jesus Christ there are no social, economic, gender, or national distinctions placed upon those who make up this redeemed community called the church of Jesus Christ, the true Israel of God.
In the closing of this letter Paul addresses this mixed multitude of believing Jews and Gentiles as the Israel of God.
(Gal 6:16 KJV) “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and (even) upon the Israel of God.” It matters not if you are born Jew or Gentile, it matters not if you are born free or under the awful oppression of slavery, it matters not if you are born a boy or a girl, it matters not you are black or white or whether you have blue eyes or brown eyes. What matters is this: are you born of God?
(John 1:13 KJV) “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Jesus said in the third chapter of the gospel of John, “Marvel not that I said unto you, you must be born again.”
As we have seen numerous times throughout our study in the book of Galatians, it is those who put their faith in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ who are justified and made a partaker of God’s family.
Listen to the logic of Paul’s argument in our text:
(1) You are made a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. (v.26)
(2) Those who have placed their faith in Christ have been placed into the body of Christ and have therefore put on Christ. (v.27)
(3) This gospel is not offered to one particular class or race of people. (v.28)
(4) Therefore, everyone without distinction or prejudice who places their trust in Christ is one in Christ. (v.28)
(5) If you are in Christ, then you are the true descendant of Abraham, the true Israel of God, and heirs according to the promise given 2,500 years earlier to Abraham.
(Gal 3:29 KJV) “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” The true promised descendants of Abraham are not the physical Jews but those who are spiritual Jews through faith in the true Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ.
(Gal 3:16 KJV) “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” I do not mean to imply by these statements that God did not call out physical Israel as a nation and make to them promises. In fact, all of the promises that God made to Abraham regarding ethnic Israel did come to pass.
1. God promised to Abraham that his descendants would become a great and mighty nation. Did God fulfill this promise? Absolutely! Any overview of the nation of Israel’s history, especially under David and Solomon, would reveal that they became a mighty and powerful nation..
2. God promised to Abraham that his descendants would become in number as the dust of the earth. Did that happen? Yes.
(2 Chr 1:9 KJV) “Now, O LORD God, let thy promise unto David my father be established: for thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.” 3. God promised to Abraham that this nation would grow in number as the stars of heaven. Did God fulfill this promise to Abraham? Of course He did!
(1 Chr 27:23 KJV) “But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the LORD had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens.” 4. God promised Abraham that he would possess the land of Palestine and more! Did the children of Israel inherit all the land that God promised to give unto them? Yes they did! Again I will allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves.
(Josh 11:23 KJV) “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.” (Josh 21:41-45 KJV) “All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs. {42} These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them: thus were all these cities. {43} And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. {44} And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. {45} There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.” (1 Ki 4:20-21 KJV) “Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry. {21} And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.” God fulfilled all of His earthly promises to Israel nationally. But as we turn to the New Testament, we discover something more regarding these Abrahamic promises. We discover that they far exceed the promises to one man, one nation and one land. We see that they are fulfilled in the ultimate sense in the ministry and work of Jesus Christ.
The physical nation of Israel was a “type” or “foreshadowing” of the redemption that Jesus Christ would bring throughout all the nations of the world. Jesus is the true Seed of Abraham.
(Gal 3:16 KJV) “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Rom 4:13 KJV) “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” The nation of Israel in the Old Testament was to be a light unto the Gentile nations of the world. It is through Jesus Christ ,the true Seed of Abraham, that this light is breaking forth into the world.
We see in these passages that the true Israel of God will not only inherit a small portion of land called Palestine, but as coheirs with Christ they will inherit all the earth.
(Mat 5:5 KJV) “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” It is likely that the culmination of these promises are seen in the New heavens and New earth at the end of this age.
(2 Pet 3:13 KJV) “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” It is in this newly renovated heaven and earth that the believer will dwell in his resurrected and glorified body for all eternity. As one writer put it, “it will be paradise restored.” This world still awaits that day of consummation when the curse of sin will be finally and completely removed.
(Rom 8:22-23 KJV) “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. {23} And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” That the true Israel of God is not made up of the physical descendants of Abraham is clearly seen in the following texts: (Rom. 2:28-29; Eph. 2:11-19; Rom. 11:11-24)
(ALL ISRAEL IS NOT TRUE ISRAEL).
(Rom 2:28-29 KJV) “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: {29} But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”
The context of this passage is clear to see. There were those who were of Jewish descendant who wrongly assumed that since they were Jews by birth and had the covenant seal of circumcision that automatically made them a true Jew.
But as Paul so keenly points out, their physical Jewish descent does not make anyone a true Jew. For Paul, a true Jew is one who has experienced the inward birth which comes from God and one who has been circumcised in the heart by the Spirit.
A true Jew is anyone who has been made a partaker of the new life found in Christ. This includes physical Jews and Gentiles alike. The true Israel of God is made up of true believers from out of all the ages. This is seen in the book of Ephesians as well.
(Eph 2:11-19 KJV) “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; {12} That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: {13} But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. {14} For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; {15} Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; {16} And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: {17} And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. {18} For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. {19} Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;”
Several important truths regarding who is the true Israel of God is brought out in this passage:
In verses twelve and thirteen we discover five things that were not true of the Gentiles prior to their faith in Christ but that are now true because of their faith in Christ.
(1) They were separated from Christ.
(2) They were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel. They were not part of God’s covenant people.
(3) They were strangers to the covenants and promises of God. As of yet, the promises to Abraham did not belong to them.
(4) They were without hope.
(5) They were without God in this world.
In other words, they were not part of true Israel.
These five descriptions of the hopeless state of the Gentiles in their unbelief stand or fall together. All five were true of them prior to salvation and therefore all five are no longer true of them after salvation.
(1) Every Gentile Christian is now in Christ.
(2) Every Gentile Christian is now included in the commonwealth of Israel, the true Israel of God.
(3) Every Gentile Christian is now partaker of the covenants and promises of God.
(4) Every Gentile Christian is now with hope in this world.
(5) Every Gentile Christian now belongs to God’s covenant family.
In Ephesians 2:13-16, we see that through the blood of Jesus Christ, God has made one covenant community out of both believing Jews and believing Gentiles, and has formed these two people groups into one people.
According to verse nineteen, believing Jews and believing Gentiles are fellow citizens within the household of God.
In verse twenty we see that these two groups of people are built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. As the chief cornerstone, Jesus unites Jew and Gentile into one building in which God dwells through the Holy Spirit.
Any system of theology which denies the essential unity of both the Old and New Testament saints is a critically flawed system. There are those who teach that the church is an interruption or parenthesis in God’s plan for Israel.
Nothing could be further from the truth. As we have seen this morning, the church is the fulfillment of God’s plan for Israel. Beginning with Abraham, God’s purpose in raising up this nation called Israel was never intended to bless Israel at the exclusion of the other nations of the world, but that through Israel as a nation, the blessing of redemption would spread into the world.
It is through the work and ministry of Christ that we see these covenant promises to Abraham coming to fruition.
We see the essential unity of the covenant people of God from all the ages in Paul’s explanation of the good olive tree in Romans 11:11-24. I will not take the time to read this text in i’s entirety but I will point out the basic teachings of this text:
(1) It is clear that because of national Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ that salvation has come to the Gentiles. (11:11-12)
(2) The branches that were removed from this good olive tree were unbelieving Jews.
(Rom 11:17 KJV) “And if some of the branches be broken off (physical Jews), and thou, being a wild olive tree (believing Gentiles) , wert grafted in among them (believing Jews) , and with them (believing Jews) partakes of the root and fatness of the olive tree;” (3) The good branches that remain are those physical Jews who believe the gospel. (17-18)
(4) The wild branches which are grafted into this good olive tree are believing Gentiles.
(5) If the physical Jews who were broken off because of unbelief will turn to faith in Jesus Christ, they too will be grafted back into this one good olive tree.
Unbelieving Jews are removed from this good olive tree because of unbelief. Believing Gentiles are grafted into this one good olive tree with those physical Jews who did believe the gospel, leaving only one true olive tree made up of believing Jew and Gentile alike, the true Israel of God.
There are not two covenant peoples of God, one Israel and the other the church. There has been and will always continue to be only one true people of God made up of those who place their faith in the covenant promises of God whether they be Jew of Gentile.
The Gentile who believes the gospel will sit down in eternity with believing Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Solomon. Every saint of every age has been made one in Christ.
Dr. O. Palmer Robertson in his wonderful book entitled, “The Christ of the Covenants” made this important observation regarding the fact that even in the Old Testament era any Gentile could become a true Jew by professing the faith of Abraham.
“What is interesting is that the Old Testament revealed in part essentially the same truth as taught in Romans eleven. Though often overlooked, it is plain from the beginning of the chosen nation of Israel’s history that an Israelite could not be defined simply as a person ethnically descended from Abraham… Throughout Israelite history, any Gentile could become a full-fledged “Jew” by professing the faith of Abraham. At the same time, any one of Abraham’s descendants could be declared not a part of the covenant nation of Israel by the violation of the covenant.”
(Lev 19:33-34 KJV) “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. {34} But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” Two of the most classic examples of Gentiles becoming full-fledged Jews are Rahab the harlot, and a Moabite by the name of Ruth.
What is fascinating regarding the inclusion of these two Gentile women into the Jewish family is that Jesus Christ was descended from the line of these two women.
The nation of Israel always included a mixed multitude who were not physically descended from Abraham but who were embraced as true Jews because they believed the covenant promises that God made to Abraham.
In fact, it is more probable than not that by the time Jesus came as a babe in Bethlehem that there was no one who could claim a pure Jewish descent ( their linage consisted only of pure Jewish origin).
Many within the Jewish nation often intermarried with those from the surrounding nations, not to mention marriage to the mixed multitude of Gentiles who became part of that covenant community through faith prior to the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
In other words, no one could lay claim to a pure ethnic Jewish linage. Having said all of this, I am not saying nor is any reformed theologian saying that the church has become the political entity called national Israel. The church is not national political Israel, but the true church is the true Israel of God. The church is the true covenant family of God.
In other words, I am not equating true Israel with national Israel.
As long as national Israel lives in unbelief in Jesus Christ, they live in a state of apostasy and are not to be regarded as part of God’s covenant family. As we have already seen, Jesus instructed the unbelieving Jews of his day that they were not of the true seed of Abraham because of unbelief, but they were of the seed of the devil.
The true Israel of God is made up of believers whether they be Jew or Gentile from out of every time period within God’s redemptive history. There is only one true people of God made up of all who believe the gospel. These and these alone are the true descendants of Abraham and coheirs of the promises of God.
(Gal 3:29 KJV) “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” It is through Jesus Christ and His church, which is made up of Old Testament Christians and New Testament Christians, that the covenant promises of God made to Abraham now some 4,500 later are finding there ultimate fulfillment.
Faithful is God who has promised!” http://www.faithbiblechurch.org/transcripts/galatians/3_26-29.htm
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. (Deut.8:1) But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. (2Ch 7:19-20)
“The promises (of the Abrahamic Covenant) were spoken to Abraham and his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to his seeds” (meaning all of his sons which would include Ishmael), meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Messiah jesus Christ (who was born of the Tribe of Judah, one of the twelve tribes originating from Jacob).
The Abrahamic Covenant which states the boundaries of Eretz Israel in Genesis 15:18-19 was passed onto Jacob who’s name was changed to “Israel” by God in Genesis 32:28. Jacob’s twelve sons and their descendants also inherit the Land.
If you read Jeremiah and Hosea, God only divorced the house of Israel (10 tribes). He did NOT divorce the house of Judah or the “2 southern tribes”. Secondly, the New Covenant is about the restoration of both tribes and also all of the gentiles..
Jer 31:31, “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a NEW COVENANT with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL and with the HOUSE OF JUDAH. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the LORD. “This is the covenant I will make with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my TORAH in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Notice God promised to preserve the HOUSE OF JUDAH. and he did this in Jesus Christ.
1 Kings 11:34-36 says, “But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon?s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who OBSERVED my COMMANDS and STATUES. I will take the kingdom from his son?s hands and give you TEN tribes. I will give ONE tribe to his son so that David my servant may ALWAYS have a lamp before me in JERUSALEM, the city where I chose to put my Name.
God called the “House of Israel” the scattered people.
Ezek 36:19. “And I SCATTERED THEM AMONG THE HEATHEN, and THEY WERE DISPERSED THROUGH THE COUNTRIES: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.”
The whole point of the NEW COVENANT was also to one day to restore Israel. The restoration of Israel was to bring the 10 tribes (lost sheep of Israel) back together with the (2 tribes of Judah). This was fulfilled with Jesus death. The two sticks in Ezekiel 37 was the CROSS that restored both houses of Israel.
Ezek 37-19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which [is] in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, [even] with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
Hosea 1:10 says, “In the place where it was said to them (House of Israel), ‘You are not my people (rejection by God),’ they will be called ‘sons of the living Elohim,”
Jesus Christ came firstly for the lost sheep of the HOUSE OF ISRAEL: but next for all people too.
Matthew 15:24 states, “I am not sent BUT unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,”
Matthew 18:11 further says, “For the Son of Adam (Messiah) has come to save what was lost,”
James even wrote a book to the lost sheep of Israel. “….To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings,” which included all of the lost from God jews..
Even Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus Christ died on the tree to redeem and reunite both houses of Israel (John 11:49-52).
Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection made possible the restoration of Israel and all of the people to God if they accept the death of Jesus Christ for their sins
When a husband divorces his wife, and his wife goes and whoredom to another husband as we see in 1 Kings chap 10 &11, he cannot re-marry her. So if the Torah is correct, God can not re-marry the house of Israel unless he dies first. Then he can re-marry her (house of Israel) again. This is the only way according to the Torah, one can be release from the law of divorce and marriage Deut 24:1-4.
Suppose a man marries a woman and consummates the marriage but later finds her displeasing, because he has found her offensive in some respect. He writes her a divorce document, gives it to her and sends her away from his house. She leaves his house, goes and becomes another man?s wife; but the second husband dislikes her and writes her a get, gives it to her and sends her away from his house; or the second husband whom she married dies. In such a case her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again as his wife, because she is now defiled. It would be detestable to ADONAI, and you are not to bring about sin in the land ADONAI your God is giving you as your inheritance.?
Now read the beginning of Romans chap 7. Verse 1-4 talks about a divorce. The reason why Paul is taking about divorce is because God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ had divorced (house of Israel) in Hosea because they were whore (idolaters of other Gods (kings chap 11 & 12). (Hosea 1:8). Notice again in Romans verse 2, to be released from marriage your husband must die. This is why God also had to come down as man (1Tim 3:16) and die. This was the only way He could remarry and restore the both houses of the 12 tribes and all of the gentiles too. This is the future spiritual event called the wedding supper.
The Messiah’s jesus Christ role as the Great Shepherd (John 10:14) is best pictured in the redemption, restoration and regathering of Ephraim with Judah and all of the gentiles now too.
Secondly, the whole House of Israel including the gentiles were reunited with the House of Judah under one leader, Jesus Christ our Messiah (Jeremiah 3:18; Ezekiel 37:15-28;Hosea 1:11). And the whole house of Israel was now next present on the day of Pentecost when this happened. (Acts 2:36 KJV) Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
These first believers, converts were mainly Jews from the whole house of Israel now too
All of the believers in the Messiah Jesus Christ have the status of being a first-born family (Hebrews 12:22-23) which is not based upon genealogy (I Chronicles 5:1).
Let me remind you Jesus the undeniable fact for false personal, nationalistic, selfish reasons, many of the Jews, judiazers do even today still lie and twist the word of God to suit their nationalistic empire aims.
It is this whole body, the church that one futrure day will receive the spiritual (Heb chap 11) and the physical (Gen chap 15) land. Galatians 3:29 says, “If you belong to Messiah (Christ), then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Abrahamic Covenant),”.
(Acts 4:8 KJV) Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, 9 “If we this day are judged for a good deed [done] to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 “let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 “This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
The only thing for sure about the promised land here on earh that Jesus ever mentioned, promised was the meek inheriting the earth.
Divine sovereignty is the way out of the tangled mess that is the Arab-Israeli conflict, but attempting to bring this about by human means will turn out to be a costly error. Rather than a sincere attempt to acknowledge God as sovereign over all, most of the “players” in the Middle East peace process see this proposal merely as a symbolic gesture to diffuse a potentially explosive situation. God, however, repeatedly declares that the only way to resolve the contention over Jerusalem is the return of Jesus Christ to establish His just rule over it and all the earth:
» The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! . . . The Lord is at Your right hand; he shall execute kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the nations, he shall fill the places with dead bodies, he shall execute the heads of many countries. (Psalm 110:1-2, 5-6)
» O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. (Isaiah 40:9-10)
» “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. . . .” (Jeremiah 33:14-16)
» Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. . . The LORD also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the LORD will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, and no aliens shall ever pass through her again. (Joel 3:14, 16-17)
» Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall see disaster no more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak. The LORD your God is in your midst, the Mighty One, will save. . . .” (Zephaniah 3:14-17)
» “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. . . . It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” . . . Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. . . . Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. . . . Thus the LORD my God will come. . . . And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. . . . The people shall dwell in [Jerusalem]; and no longer shall there be utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. (Zechariah 12:2, 9; 14:1-5, 9, 11)
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You will never find real peace, happiness, joy, rest till you lay down all, your body, soul, spirit at the sacrifice altar to God.
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What the Bible says AGAIN about Israel and the Church, one in history and prophecy
(Mat 23:37 KJV) O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. (Romans 10:1-2)
“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
-Jude 1:3-4 “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” -Gal 1:6-10
Let them firstly look at their own scriptures..
Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. (Joshua 1,6)
(Deu 4:23 KJV) Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. 24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. 25 When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you. 28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; 31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
(Deu 28:1 KJV) And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
(Deu 28:15 KJV) But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:…. (Deu 28:33 KJV) The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:.. (Deu 28:48 KJV) Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee… (Deu 28:52 KJV) And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee… (Deu 28:63 KJV) And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it… (Deu 28:66 KJV) And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: So Joshua took the entire land, just as the LORD had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war. (Joshua 11,23)
You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers… You made their sons as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land that you told their fathers to enter and possess. (Nehemiah 9,22-23)
So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled. (Joshua 21,43-45)
Now who can falsely say that God’s promises to Israel have not yet been fulfilled? http://www.christianzionism.org/BibleSays/Sizer01.asp
“Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” -Eph 1:15-21
Unanswered Questions? Or is the answer undeniable, too obvious?
Why is there such a close relationship today between the Christian Right, the American political establishment and the State of Israel? Why after 40 years, does Israel continue to occupy territory in Lebanon (the Sheba Farms), Syria (the Golan Heights) and Palestine (the West Bank) while Syria has been pressured to withdraw from Lebanon? Why is Israel allowed to retain nuclear weapons while Iran is threatened with a pre-emptive attack for aspiring to obtain nuclear technology? And how have Britain and America become the focus of so much hate in the Arab world and the target for Islamic terrorism – despite out commitment to the rule of international law, democracy and human rights?
Christian Zionism is undoubtedly a dominant force shaping US foreign policy in the Middle East.
The Pew Research Centre recently discovered that 60% of evangelicals said they supported the state of Israel, and 32% cited their religious beliefs as the primary reason for such support. But does the Bible support the Sate of Israel existence today?
Discovering what the Bible actually, truly now has to say about the relationship between Israel and the Church, in history and prophecy, more then just an academic exercise.
Did the coming of Jesus, his death and resurrection and the founding of the Church, fulfill or postpone the past biblical prophecies concerning Israel? Is the Church central to God’s purposes on earth, or merely a temporary side show?
Covenantalism or Dispensationalism? Covenantalists tend to see the coming of Jesus as the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel while dispensationalists tend to see it as the postponement of those promises.
Covenantalists believe the Bible teaches that God has one ‘chosen people’ called out from among the nations. Dispensationalists believe the Bible teaches that God has two separate and distinct peoples – the Church and Israel.
If Covenantalists emphasize the continuity within God’s progressive revelation, Dispensationalists emphasize the discontinuity, distinguishing seven ‘dispensations’ in biblical history when God has tested mankind in a different way, and each time they have failed.
Covenantalists tend to regard promises relating to the Land, Jerusalem and the temple as annulled or fulfilled in the Church. Dispensationalists tend to see them as still in force and either being, or about to be, fulfilled in Israel today.
Covenantalists tend to be neutral or positive about the future before the return of Jesus being either amillennial or postmillennial. Dispensationalists tend to be premillennial and pessimistic about the future.
I believe the dispensational framework has been artificially imposed on the Scriptures creating divisions that are not there and ignoring those that are there.
Judaism is a religious system. Israel is a sovereign nation. Zionism is a political system. These three are not synonymous.
I respect Judaism, repudiate anti-Semitism, encourage interfaith dialogue and defend Israel’s right to exist within borders recognised by the international community and agreed with her neighbours. But like many Jews, I disagree with a political system which gives preference to expatriate Jews born elsewhere in the world, while denying the same rights to the Arab Palestinians born in the country itself. Jimmy Carter is not alone in describing the Zionism practiced by the present government of Israel as a form of apartheid.
The apostle Peter, preaching after Pentecost, and citing Moses, similarly warned those who rejected Jesus, “Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.” (Acts 3:23). Covenantalists believe there has only ever been one people of God – whether under the old or new covenant – and one way to God – by Jesus, grace alone and through faith alone.
Most of the Jews even today and the Judaizers have refused God plan through the ages , that of Jesus being the messiah and they continue on with their own earthly, fleshly replacement, earthly goals, plans.
Yes, we must read the Bible literally. We must also read the Bible contextually. We must read the Bible progressively. The Holy Spirit inspired the Bible, and he needs to teach it to us, not some mere man or women, and Jesus is still the center of all prophecies, and not mankind or the Jews. (Rev 19:10 KJV) And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Even the Apostles didn’t always do this straight away. They brought their Jewish presuppositions with them which sometimes falsely colored their hopes and expectations.
We too need the same illuminating work of the Holy Spirit as we read the Bible, to see the harmony and progression in God’s purposes. But to do that we need to pray and ask God to teach us and to also still read the Bible ourselves now.. not wrongfully let someone else supposedly read and interpret the Bible for us.
(2 Tim 2:15 KJV) Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
It is also this still important to rightfully also distinguishes, properly interpreting the valid prophetic and apocalyptic scriptures since prophetic messages often differs from the apocalyptic messages. Sometimes Biblical books contain both the prophetic and the apocalyptic. The Book of Revelation is one example Prophetic and apocalyptic literature like Revelation should be interpreted in harmony with the teachings of the entire Bible
Now there are two basic errors ultra-literalists make regarding the prophetic and apocalyptic literature: First, they ignore the historical setting of the passages and the way in which they have already been fulfilled. Second, they read back into the passages contemporary events and develop novel ways to interpret them as if they were speaking of present day readers. This heresy is not new.
Jesus and the apostles tell us quite plainly that some parts of the Hebrew Scriptures have been fulfilled, annulled or superseded. The question is therefore not whether the promises of the Old Testament should be understood literally or allegorically. It is instead a question of whether they should be understood in terms of Old Covenant ‘shadow’ or in terms of New Covenant ‘reality’.
When Christian writers forcefully interpret contemporary events in the light of prophecy, they run into errors and difficulties. For example, – Hal Lindsey insisted that Russia’s place in history was predicted in the Bible but as Russia power declined, Lindsey switched his emphasis to Islamic Fundamentalism -Traditionally some have held the view ‘Babylon the Great’ (Revelation 14:8 and 17:5), variously interpreted as the Roman Empire, the Vatican, and the European Community. – but too many now switched their Biblical interpretations, emphasis to Iraq, Babylon being rebuilt before the final battle of Armageddon and who knows what to next?
The superficial appeal of these kind of interpretations are mostly short-lived as the wreckage of previous false Prophetic claims do now testify evidentially.
For ultra-literalists, too often the biblical text seems to need a little false personal adding to the word of God, ‘enhancing’ to make their interpretation more obvious. Ultra-literalists have perpetuated the false principle of ‘enhancing’ the text to reinforce their own mostly false interpretations. While the ultra-literalists Dispensationalist Bible Scholars claim to provide ‘consistent interpretation’, they nonetheless reach very different conclusions, meaning they rarely agree with each other, and even contradict each other mostly still.
Continued.. read these References
For the Love of Zion (the Bible tells them so) (Seminar 1/5), by Dr. Stephen Sizer Why is there such a close relationship today between the Christian Right, the American political establishment and the State of Israel? Why after 40 years, does Israel continue to occupy territory in Lebanon (the Sheba Farms), Syria (the Golan Heights) and Palestine (the West Bank) while Syria has been pressured to withdraw from Lebanon? Why is Israel allowed to retain nuclear weapons while Iran is threatened with a pre-emptive attack for aspiring to obtain nuclear technology? And how have Britain and America become the focus of so much hate in the Arab world and the target for Islamic terrorism – despite out commitment to the rule of international law, democracy and human rights? The answers to these questions remain inexplicable unless we factor in what is now probably the most influential and controversial movement amongst Christians today – Christian Zionism. Full Article Here http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/zcs1.pdf
Israel and the Church: Who are God’s Chosen People? (Seminar 2/5), by Dr. Stephen Sizer How often have you heard the Jewish people described as God’s ‘chosen people’? Probably so often that you have never even questioned it. It is so ingrained that to deny it is often seen as evidence of anti-Semitism. As is the assumption that God blesses and curses nations on the basis of how they treat Israel – which is sometimes used as a threat. This view goes back to Genesis 12:3. Jerry Falwell, for example, says God is blessing America because ‘America has been kind to the Jew.’1 He claims that God ‘will bless those who bless the Jews and curse whoever curses the Jews.’2 That is why Christians United or Israel conducts ‘a Night to Honor Israel’3 in as many cities as possible so that God will continue to bless America and Canada.
It may surprise you to discover that the New Testament never uses the term ‘chosen’ to describe the Jewish people. It is only used of those who follow Jesus. Does that mean God has two separate ‘chosen people’? Some like to think so. They are usually called ‘dispensationalists’ and this is a popular viewpoint among evangelicals in the United States.
In this chapter we will begin by looking at the evidence for two ‘chosen people’ and then tackle the ‘blessing and cursing’ issue. Then we will examine the term ‘Israel’ in the Old and New Testament. We shall then consider some of the biblical imagery God uses to describe his relationship to his people such as the analogy of the vine and the vineyard. We also need to define what we mean by words like ‘Jew’, ‘chosen’ and ‘children of God’. Full Article Here http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/zcs2.pdf
The Promised Land – From the Nile to the Euphrates? (Seminar 3/5), by Dr. Stephen Sizer In this chapter we will consider what the Bible has to say about the significance and purposes of the Promised Land as well its geographical extent. Then we will look at whether the land was intended as an ‘everlasting possession’ of the Jewish people or whether they were only temporary residents. Then we will examine the terms under which they were allowed to return after the exile, and whether the kingdom was nationalistic or universal. Finally we must consider what Jesus and the apostles have to say about all this. Full Article Here http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/zcs3.pdf
Battle for Jerusalem: The Eternal Capital of the Jews? (Seminar 4/5), by Dr. Stephen Sizer Many evangelicals, especially in America, accept unthinkingly the Zionist mantra that Jerusalem is the undivided, eternal and exclusive capital of the State of Israel. However, Jerusalem existed before the time of the Israelites. Today, Jerusalem lies at the heart of three world faiths – Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Israelis regard it as their capital. Palestinians do so also. Attempts to reach agreement in the wider Arab-Israeli conflict have partly stumbled over the contested status of Jerusalem. Jewish Zionists and their Christian supporters are strongly opposed to joint sovereignty or the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. It seems time is on their side. The annexation of the Old City, the aggressive and illegal settlement programme, the systematic demolition of many Arab homes and the construction of the Separation Barrier have all created ‘facts on the ground’ in Jerusalem. Christian and Jewish Zionists also claim a higher mandate for this agenda – the Word of God. Full Article Here http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/zcs4.pdf
The Coming Last Day’s Temple – Ready to Rebuild? (Seminar 5/5), by Dr. Stephen Sizer Just 500 metres by 300 metres, the Temple Mount, or Haram Al Sharif as it is called in Arabic, is probably the most disputed plot of land on earth. Hal Lindsey claims, ‘I believe the fate of the world will be determined by an ancient feud over 35 acres of land.’ Many Christians share the belief that the Islamic shrines must be destroyed and that a Jewish Temple must and will be rebuilt – very soon. But this won’t be a museum replica of the one king Solomon built or be just another attraction for pilgrims to the Holy Land. No, this Temple will be built for one purpose and one purpose only – for bloody animal sacrifices, and lots of them. In this chapter we want to explore the case for rebuilding the Jewish Temple; consider whether the Bible predicts such an event; and if so, where and how it might be built. We will then look at what the New Testament has to say on the subject and some of the implications for Christianity should the Jewish Temple be rebuilt. Finally, we will reveal that the Temple is actually under construction (but don’t peep). http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/zcs5.pdf
do see also http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/zcs6.pdf Overture to Armageddon: Want to be Left Behind?
Christian Zionists of the Dispensationalist variety tend to make absolute claims for their interpretation of key biblical texts. What serious students of the Bible have long known, however, is that there are different ways of reading the same texts. This is particularly true of the more difficult passages of scripture related to the Second Coming of Christ. Click on the article title to go directly to the full article, or on the author’s name to go to a summary/lead-in
| Article Title |
Author |
| An Alternative Evangelical Reading of Scripture |
Burge, Gary M, PhD |
| The Land in the New Testament |
Devenish, David |
| Distinction Between Israel and the Church |
Gerstner, John |
| Christ is Coming? Christ is Here! |
Moody, Stan |
| The Meaning of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12) |
Sizer, Stephen |
| For the Love of Zion: The Bible tells them so. (Seminar 1/5) |
Sizer, Stephen |
| Israel and the Church: Who are God’s chosen people? (Seminar 2/5) |
Sizer, Stephen |
| The Promised Land: From the Nile to the Euphrates? (Seminar 3/5) |
Sizer, Stephen |
| Battle for Jerusalem: The Eternal Capital of the Jews? (Seminar 4/5) |
Sizer, Stephen |
| The Coming Last Day’s Temple: Ready to Rebuild? (Seminar 5/5) |
Sizer, Stephen |
| The Rapture? (I Thessalonians 4: 15-18) |
Swire, Father Daniel |
| The Use of Scripture in Christian Zionism: a critical examination |
Tilling, Chris |
| Christian Approaches to the State of Israel |
Wilson, John M. |
Summaries The Land in the New Testament, by David Devenish What does the New Testament teach about the land of Israel? Answer: absolutely nothing. There are no references to the importance of the land or of Jerusalem as a ‘holy city’. Some would say that this is simply an argument from silence and that there are sufficient promises in the Old Testament to establish the land as belonging to the Jewish people without the need for New Testament confirmation. However, not only is there silence about the land but the whole tenor of the New Testament message and revelation of God’s saving purpose amongst His people points in a different direction. To a Samaritan, despised by the Jews, Jesus makes special places of worship (including Jerusalem) a redundant concept (John 4:21). When marveling at the faith of a Gentile centurion, Jesus applied to the gathering in of Gentile peoples from all over the world the Old Testament promises of the bringing of God’s people from the east and west into the promised blessings alongside Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Matt. 8:11).
An Alternative Evangelical Reading of Scripture, By Gary M Burge, PhD In Genesis 12, 15 and 17 God promises the Holy Land to Abraham and his descendents. To Christian Zionists this promise of land inheritance was permanent and unconditional. And it is as true in Biblical times as it is today. This means that for Christian Zionists, the covenant of Abraham continues to be in play today . And as Christians this forces them to have what we call a “two covenant” theology: one covenant for the Jews and one for Christians operates in the church. In a word, the work of Christ does not replace or supplant the Jewish covenant. Reformed theologians (like myself) believe that something decisive happened in Christ. His covenant affected not simply the covenant of Moses – making a new and timeless form of salvation – but it also affected every Jewish covenant, including Abraham’s covenant. Christ fulfills the expectations of Jewish covenant life and renews the people of God rooted in the OT and Judaism. Thus Jesus is a new temple, the new Israel, there are 12 tribes/apostles, etc.
The Dispensational Distinction Between Israel and the Church, by John Gerstner Perhaps the central doctrine of dispensationalism is the distinction between Israel and the church. Dispensationalism sees Israel as an earthly people with earthly promises, and the church as a heavenly people with heavenly promises. Membership in Israel is by natural birth.15 One enters the church by supernatural birth. Dispensationalists view Israel and the church as having distinct eternal destinies. Israel will receive an eternal earthly Kingdom, and the church an eternal heavenly Kingdom. Darby, the father of dispensationalism, stated the distinction in the clearest of terms: “The Jewish nation is never to enter the church.”16 Ryrie considers this the most important dispensational distinction, and approves the statement that… “the basic promise of Dispensationalism is two purposes of God expressed in the formation of two peoples who maintain their distinction throughout eternity.”17 In contrast, Christian theology has always maintained the essential continuity of Israel and the church. The elect of all the ages are seen as one people, with one Savior, one destiny. This continuity can be shown by examining a few Old Testament prophesies with their fulfillment. Dispensationalists admit that if the church can be shown to be fulfilling promises made to Israel their system is doomed. If the church is fulfilling Israel’s promises as contained in the new covenant or anywhere in the Scriptures, then [dispensational] premillennialism is condemned.18
Christ is Coming? Christ is here!, by Stan Moody, PhD, To properly study Christian Zionism, it is critical to examine certain presuppositions. Universally accepted among Evangelicals is the dogma that Christ’s so-called Second Coming will be personal, corporeal and visible. Once we begin from that premise, there is no alternative than to ask, “Where?” and “When?” The “How” and “Why” become subordinate. Thus, all our time is spent on the timing and locus of the event rather than on its nature. Even efforts to counter the extremism of Christian Zionism emanate from the assumption that Jesus has to return at some concrete/specific, cataclysmic moment in human history to rescue the world from the weight of its own sin. An inconvenient truth is that this was the mission of the First Advent. Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:11 NIV). For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-13 NASV).
The Meaning of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12), by Dr. Stephen Sizer We must begin our consideration of the Abrahamic Covenant not in Genesis 12 but Genesis 2. The covenant began with Gods creation of a paradise, represented in the garden. This was the place where people could receive all of God’s blessings and commune in fellowship with Him. This is where the image of land begins in the Bible. This land of paradise was lost in the Fall but a foretaste of heaven is reflected in the imagery of the promise made to Abraham. The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. (Genesis 12:1) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers”. Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:1-8)
The Rapture? (I Thessalonians 4: 15-18), by Father Daniel Swire The doctrine of a “Rapture” does not originate in the book of the Revelation. The word “rapture” is not actually found anywhere in any English translations of the Bible. It comes from the Latina word, rapere, which is is usually translated “caught up” in the English translations of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Here is what we read in I Thessalonians 4: 15-18: For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)
The use of Scripture in Christian Zionism: a critical examination, by Chris Tilling In the next few posts I shall discuss the handling of Scripture in Christian Zionism (CZ). I will suggest it is marked by a proof-texting mentality that not only misunderstands the nature of biblical prophecy, but also displays a naïve and inconsistent hermeneutic. In a later post in this series I’ll also suggest why this subject isn’t merely a theological curiosity – and something best left alone – but impacts world politics. In fact, I suggest it also negatively distracts discipleship to Jesus and thus needs to be challenged. And the use of Scripture in Christian Zionism gets right to the heart of the problem, hence the focus of this small series.
Christian Approaches to the State of Israel, by John M Wilson Jews have an ongoing role in the furthering of God’s ultimate redemptive purposes. But no matter what standard or position one adopts, Christians must not be blind to Joseph Klausner’s objection that Christianity has sought to remove the national and political aspects of the prophetic hope (The Messianic Idea in Israel, p. 10). God works through the sacred and the secular. . . .[I]f God can call a pagan Persian named Cyrus ‘his anointed’ (Isa. 45:1), and another pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, ‘my servant’ (Jer. 25:9), and accomplish his holy purposes among the nations through both, who can say what plans God may yet have in store for those who from of old have been his people? (ibid, p. 268). Real estate theology is, at best, precarious theology. . . .For centuries Jews suffered discrimination and victimization at the hands of Christians whose theological convictions seemed to permit [encourage] such unjust activity. . . .Therefore, we conclude, as long as Arabs and Jews argue from nonnegotiable theological absolutes, human beings can offer little hope for peace
There actually is no Biblical promised prophecy, a promised second return of the Jews to Israel in the Old Testament or next in the whole Bible now too. after Israel’s, Jews second dispersion from Israel by the Romans in 70 ad.. . Not even one New testament Bible verse even for even the Jewish return in 1948.. Do now try prove me wrong..
It is unbelievable, undeniable that the professing Christian people who do not know the Bible can be so easily deceived, led astray too by many others, pastors and Jewish persons, Zionists included.. And had most people most Christians read the Bible for themselves they would have known the whole truth and would not have been so easily misled by others.
Ten Old testament Biblical Prophecies for certainty Fulfilled Today regarding the Jews
There will come another antichrist still that will kick the Jews out of Israel, disperse them as well, and persecute them again
(Luke 12:53 KJV) The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Firstly any one who looks at the subject of prophecy, a real genuine Bible student knows that too many Jews ,who can only use the old testament, and there is almost no new testament substantiation for it, still the Jews, and many others have wrongfully now Distorted Biblical Prophecy Interpretation after the time of Jesus Christ to suit their false Jewish’s ends, a Jewish purpose, for they like Judas they betray Jesus Christ by these acts for Jesus next made it clear the second Jewish Kingdom of God was not in this world.. (John 18:36 KJV) Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
These 10 Bible prophecies fulfilled at least, there are more too, though had said that Israel would become a country, that it would be destroyed, that the Jews would be scattered worldwide and persecuted, that the Jews would have a worldwide impact, and that they would next return to these prophecies were fulfilled in the old Testament times
1. The Jews would have their own country
Bible passage: Genesis 15:18 (Gen 15:18 KJV) In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: Fulfilled: 1400 BC In Genesis 15:18, the Bible said the descendants of Abraham (Abram) would have their own country, between Egypt and the Euphrates. This prophecy has been fulfilled . About 3400 years ago, the Jews first established Israel. Then, about 2900 years ago, Israel divided into two kingdoms, called Judah and Israel. Both kingdoms were later conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates…”
The Jews , Christian who lie that this prophecies was also refullfilled in 1948 need to be remind that they do not have the land from from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: and there was no second promised return made by Jesus or the Apostles
2. Jacob saw a vision of Israel’s future
Bible passage: (Gen 28:10 KJV) And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
Written: perhaps 1400 BC Fulfilled: Throughout history In Genesis 28:10-15, the Bible says that Jacob, who lived about 4000 years ago, received a vision from God about the future of his descendants (the Jews). The vision accurately foretold the future of the Jews. Here is our summary of Jacob’s vision: The Jews would have Israel as their own country. This was fulfilled about 3400 years ago when the Jews first established Israel. The Jews would be scattered worldwide. This was fulfilled when the Jews were forced out of Israel more than 2500 years ago by the Assyrians and Babylonians and again about 1900 years ago by the Romans. The Jews and the seed, the Arabs, and the Christians would have a worldwide impact. Jews have had a tremendous worldwide impact in science, art, literature, economics, music and theology. The worldwide spread of Christianity began about 2000 years ago by a group of Jews who were followers of Jesus.
Here is Genesis 28:10-15 Jacob … had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
3. God will clearly save the Jews, their seeds, and destroy their enemies but this was a conditional promise still
Bible passage: Jeremiah 30:11 I am with you and will save you,’ declares the Lord. `Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’ Written: sometime from 626 to about 586 BC
Fulfilled: Throughout history
In Jeremiah 30:11, the prophet Jeremiah said the enemies of Israel will be destroyed but that the Jews will never perish. History has many examples of how nations have tried to destroy Israel and the Jews: In about 721 BC (about 2700 years ago), Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel. They tortured, killed and exiled many Jews. In 586 BC (about 2600 years ago), Babylon destroyed the southern kingdom of Judah. They killed and exiled many Jews. In 70 AD (about 1900 years ago), the Romans killed an estimated 1.1 million Jews and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. In 135 AD, the Romans killed an estimated 580,000 Jews and exiled many others. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis killed an estimated 6 million Jews. The Nazi plan, called the “final solution,” was to kill all Jews. Since then, millions of Jews worldwide have returned to their ancient homeland. Today, Israel again is a vibrant, independent country. But, the empires of the Nazis, Romans, Babylonians and Assyrians have vanished. Today, we can judge with our own eyes as to whether Jeremiah was correct when he said, 2600 years ago, that the enemies of the Jews would be destroyed, but that the Jews would be preserved.
4. The Jews and their seeds too, would continually, always next face many disasters and difficulties
Bible passage: (Deu 31:16 KJV) And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
Written: perhaps 1400 BC Fulfilled: Throughout history
In Deuteronomy 31:16-17, the Bible said that the Jews would face many difficulties if they turned away from God. And, according to the Bible, many people in ancient Israel did at times turn away from God and worship the false gods of pagan Gentiles. This prophecy of persecution has been fulfilled many times. During the past 1900 years in Europe, for example, Jews were often heavily taxed, robbed of their possessions, stripped of their civil rights, forced into ghettos, tortured and slaughtered. Government leaders and church leaders at times banished the Jews from living in Spain, England, France, Belgium and Italy. During the Crusades, Jewish villages were often destroyed and men, women and children were burned alive. Those centuries of persecutions culminated with the Holocaust of the 1930s and 1940s, when the Nazis killed an estimated 6 million Jews. When Israel reclaimed independence in 1948, the surrounding countries invaded and tried to destroy the tiny nation.
5. The Jews would be scattered worldwide
Bible passage: Deuteronomy 28:64 Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods–gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Bible passage: Genesis 12:2-3 Written: perhaps 1400 BC “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Fulfilled: Throughout history In Genesis 12:2-3, and in Genesis 28:10-15, the Bible said that the descendants of Abraham and the descendants of Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, would be a blessing for people worldwide. Jacob is the father of the 12 Tribes of Israel (the Jews)but also is the same father of the Arabs and the Christians too..
6. The Jews , their seeds included, would have a worldwide impact
Bible passage: Genesis 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”Written: perhaps 1400 BC Fulfilled: Throughout history In Genesis 12:2-3, and in Genesis 28:10-15, the Bible said that the descendants of Abraham and the descendants of Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, would be a blessing for people worldwide. Jacob is the father of the 12 Tribes of Israel (the Jews), the Arabs, and the Christians too
7. Israel would be partitioned by other nations
Written: perhaps 1400 BC Fulfilled: 721 BC, 586 BC, 70 AD, 135 AD
In Deuteronomy 28:64, the Bible said the Jews would be scattered worldwide. This prophecy has certainly been fulfilled. Take a look at the explanation of the Jewish “Diaspora,” which means “scattering,” from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition: “… by 70 A.D. Jewish communities existed in Babylonia, Syria, Egypt, Cyrene, Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome. Jews followed the Romans into Europe and from Persia and Babylonia spread as far east as China. In modern times, Jews have migrated to the Americas, South Africa, and Australia. The Jewish population of Central and Eastern Europe, until World War II the largest in the world, was decimated in the Holocaust. Despite the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, the vast majority of the Jewish people remain scattered in the Diaspora, notably in North America, Russia, and Ukraine.” This will remain so until the return of Jesus Christ.. Bible passage: Joel 3:2 Written: about 400 BC I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. (NOTE: “Jehoshaphat” means “the Lord judges.”)
Fulfilled: 1900s In Joel 3:2, the prophet said that the nations of the world will be judged for having scattered the people of Israel and for having “divided up” (or “parted” or “partitioned”) the land of Israel. Christian scholars believe that this is a prophecy that will be further fulfilled during the End Times. But, portions of the prophecy already have been fulfilled. The Jews have been scattered to nations throughout the world, and the nations of the world have divided up the land of Israel.
In addition on November 29, 1947, when the United Nations General Assembly approved a motion to partition the land, which at that time was called “Palestine.” The partition plan divided the land into two separate states, one for Jewish people and another for Arab people. Today, that partitioning is interlocked with many political problems as the Jews seek to reclaim the land promised to them in the Bible (see Genesis 15:18, Genesis 28:10-17 and Genesis 35:9-12), and the Arabs seek to create a homeland for “Palestinians” – Arabs who have lived in that land for many generations.
But God is not against this Palestinian Partition.. (Psa 133:1 KJV) A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity !2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. (Gen 16:12 KJV) And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. (Gen 16:10 KJV) And the angel of the LORD said unto her,( Hagar) I will multiply thy seed ( Arabs) exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
8. Israel would be restored and repopulated
Bible passage: Ezekiel 36:8-10 “`But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will multiply the number of people upon you, even the whole house of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
Written: between 593-571 BC
Fulfilled: 2600 years ago In Ezekiel 36:8-10, the prophet Ezekiel said that the Jews would return, rebuild and repopulate their fallen cities. Ezekiel, according to the Bible, lived about 2600 years ago during the time of the Babylonian Captivity, when many Jews, including Ezekiel, were taken as captives to Babylon. After the Babylonian Captivity ended, many Jews left Babylon and returned to their homeland. There is no New testament Biblical prediction of a second return after their Biblically predicted expulsion from Israel by the Romans though.
9. Jesus’ own life was foreshadowed by the prophet Isaiah
Bible passage: Isaiah 42:1-9 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. … In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. … “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” Written: perhaps between 701-681 BC Fulfilled: About 2000 years ago
In Isaiah 42:1-9, the prophet Isaiah speaks of a Jewish servant of God who will be a light to the Gentiles (non-Jews) and bring justice to the world. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of this promise. Jesus’ teachings govern the lives of Christians throughout the world. There are an estimated 2 billion Christians worldwide. More people follow the teachings of Jesus than those of any other person in history.
10. Jesus said His words would never be forgotten
Bible passage: ” Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
Luke 21:335 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, 6 As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 7 And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? 8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. 9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. 10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: 11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. 12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. 13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony. 14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: 15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. 16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. 17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. 18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish. 19 In your patience possess ye your souls. 20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. 22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. 24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. 29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; 30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. 31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. 33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. 34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Written: about 30 AD
Partially Fulfilled: At this very moment In Luke 21:33, Jesus said that regardless of what happens to the world, His words will never be forgotten. Here we are 2000 years later and the words of Jesus are all around us: There are 2 billion Christians worldwide and the Bible is most circulated book in the world. Of all the people who have ever lived, can you think of a single person who could have made this claim more effectively than Jesus – that his words would never be forgotten?
Now read the whole Bible, the New testament included, for yourself, do not even believe what others do say now the Bible says, for many have false, hidden agendas and do twist the truths now, Jews and false Christians included.
It should be of note, interest to all Bible students, that the Christian Church, the bride of Christ, the final Jew/fish seed, was not mentioned directly in the old testament but only in the new testament. All persons thus, Arab, Jewish, gentile can only go to heaven to be with God, can be saved from their sins thus too, by Jesus Christ alone.
About the Zionism, Zionists, Jews, Israel- Historical introduction
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has nearly doubled construction this 2008 year in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank in violation of a US-backed peace plan, Israel’s Peace Now movement said .
The 2 Jewish dispersions by the gentiles were both predicted beforehand. One was predicted by the prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament, and one by Jesus Christ himself in the New Testament. It is important to note that in the first prediction about the dispersions of Israel from their promised land there was a God given promise of their return. It is important to note that in the second prediction about the dispersions of Israel from their promised land there was no God given promise of their return. There actually is no Biblical promised prophecy, promised second return of the Jews to Israel in the Old Testament or in the whole Bible now too. after their second dispersion from Israel by the Romans in 70 ad.. . Not even one Bible verse even for the Jewish return in 1948.. Do try prove me wrong..
It is unbelievable, undeniable that the professing Christian people who do not know the Bible can be so easily deceived, led astray too by many others, pastors and Jewish persons, Zionists included.. And had most people most Christians read the Bible for themselves they would have known the whole truth and would not have been so easily misled by others.
Often we hear Zionists claim to the promised land if Israel today and supposedly justified from the Bible, based on isolated verses or those in the Old Testament, not many frOm the New Testament for sure.. Any honest persons reading the Bible should admit that it was not the gentiles, But God himself had on two occasions in history now removed the Jews from the land of Israel, and like most of the other nations of world Israel now too Israel itself is not perfect and does not fully follow after God as it firstly has been commanded to do so too. They also should read their own Bible as to the reasons they were dispelled the first time..
Jer 34:8 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them: Jer 34:9 Every man should let his Hebrew slaves, male and female, go free, so that no one should make a slave of a Jew, his brother. Jer 34:10 And all the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant that everyone would let his manservant and his maidservant go free, so that none should make bondmen of them any more; they obeyed, and let them go. Jer 34:11 But afterward they turned around and caused the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free to return [to their former masters] and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. Jer 34:12 Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Jer 34:13 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, Jer 34:14 At the end of seven years you shall let every man his brother who is a Hebrew go free who has sold himself {or} has been sold to you and has served you six years; but your fathers did not listen to {and} obey Me or incline their ear [submitting and consenting to Me]. Jer 34:15 And you recently turned around {and} repented, doing what was right in My sight by proclaiming liberty each one to his neighbor [who was his bond servant]; and you made a covenant {or} pledge before Me in the house which is called by My Name. Jer 34:16 But then you turned around and defiled My name; each of you caused to return to you your servants, male and female, whom you had set free as they might desire; and you brought them into subjection again to be your slaves. Jer 34:17 Therefore thus says the Lord: You have not listened to Me {and} obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty each one to his brother and neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you liberty–to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, says the Lord; and I will make you to be tossed to and fro {and} to be a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth! Jer 34:18 And the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not kept the terms of the covenant {or} solemn pledge which they had made before Me, I will make them [like] the [sacrificial] calf which they cut in two and then passed between its separated parts [solemnizing their pledge to Me]–I will make those men the calf! Jer 34:19 The princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf, Jer 34:20 I will give them into the hands of their enemies and into the hands of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth. Jer 34:21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hands of their enemies and into the hands of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army which has withdrawn from you. Jer 34:22 Behold, I will command, says the Lord, and cause them [the Chaldeans] to return to this city; and they shall fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.
Jer 35:13 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction and listen to My words {and} obey them? says the Lord.
Jer 35:14 The command which Jonadab son of Rechab gave to his sons not to drink wine, has been carried out {and} established [as a custom for more than two hundred years]. To this day they drink no wine, but they have obeyed their father’s command. But I, even I, have persistently spoken to you, but you have not listened to {and} obeyed Me.
Jer 35:15 I have sent also to you all My servants the prophets earnestly {and} persistently, saying, Return now every man from his evil way and amend your doings and go not after other gods to serve them; and then you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers. But you did not submit {and} consent to Me or listen to {and} obey Me.
Jer 35:16 Since the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab have fulfilled {and} established the command of their father which he commanded them, but these people have not listened to and obeyed Me,
Jer 35:17 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not listened, and I have called to them, but they have not answered.
In reality the first God promised restoration of the remnant of Israel had been met.. The aspiration of returning to their homeland was first held by Jews exiled to Babylon some 2,500 years ago – a hope which subsequently became the reality. (”By the water of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.” Psalms 137:1). And the full promised by God restoration of the remnant of Israel and of the Gentile has been already priory fulfilled, the latter one fulfilled by God in Jesus Christ on Pentecost , in Jerusalem, as witnessed, as stated in the books of Acts before the 70 AD dispersion.. which most of the Jews wrongfully reject even till today and next wanted to have their own Jewish only state..
The fact the full promised return it had all had happened on Pentecost, a feast holiday to commemorate also the freeing of the slaves is very significant too. Pentecost is derived one of the three Pilgrimage Festivals required in the Law of Moses. A Jewish holy day celebrated on the sixth of Sivan to celebrate Moses receiving the Ten Commandments and it also now commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Book of Acts, ”According to the Pentateuchal legislation contained in Leviticus, a Jubilee year is the year that follows immediately seven successive Sabbatic years (the Sabbatic year being the seventh year of a seven-year cycle). Accordingly, the Jubilee year takes place at the end of seven times seven years, i.e. at the end of every forty-nine years, or the fiftieth. Hence, the institution of the Jubilee-year system is but an extension or the working out of the Sabbatic-year legislation, viz. that as at the end of every six years there succeeds a Sabbatic year, so at the end of each seven Sabbatic years there succeeds a Jubilee year. Arguing from the analogous Pentecostal system, it is evident that the actual year in which the Jubilee occurs is not the last of the seventh Sabbatic cycle (i.e. the forty-ninth year), but the year following, namely, the fiftieth. Hence, at the end of each forty-eight years there occur two consecutive fallow years, viz. the forty-ninth, or the Sabbatic year of the seventh Sabbatic cycle and the fiftieth, or the Jubilee year.” http://www.piney.com/Jubilee.html
In Acts 15:14-18, James confirms, interprets the prophecy of Amos 9 that describes the rebuilding of David’s tabernacle as finding its fulfillment in the calling out of Gentiles and the progressive formation of the Christian Church Even in Revelation 2:17, John (quoting Jesus) promises to overcomers (i.e., the Church) a “new name” that “no one knows except the one who receives it.” This is a clear reference to the prophecy in Isa. 62:2 (“And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will designate”) and 65:15 (“but My servants will be called by another name”) about Israel’s future kingly status and restoration to Yahweh, both of which are now applied to individuals within the church.
..the New Testament fiurthermore provides us all with an expanded definition of what constitutes an “Israelite” or a “Jew”. Or perhaps we might say that the NT provides us with a “Christified” perspective on the people of God. Ethnicity is no longer the primary concern. Having Abraham’s blood in one’s veins is not the primary consideration, but rather having Abraham’s faith in one’s heart. Jesus is the true “seed” of Abraham to whom the promise was given. But if anyone is “in Christ” by faith, he or she is the “seed” of Abraham and thus an heir according to the promise.
Revelation 3:9 is especially instructive. Here Jesus promises the Church in Philadelphia that he “will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie – behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you.” There are two important points to make.First, he refers to people who “say they are Jews and are not, but lie” (for an almost identical statement, see Rev. 2:9). Clearly, in one sense, these people are Jews, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who met regularly in the synagogue to worship. Yet, in another sense, i.e., inwardly and spiritually, they are not Jews, having rejected Jesus and now persecuted and slandered his people. Indeed, their gatherings at synagogue are energized by Satan himself.
But if they are false Jews, who, then, are the true Jews? If they are a synagogue of Satan, who, then, constitutes a synagogue of God? John does not provide an explicit answer, but the implication seems clear. Ladd explains: “true Jews are the people of the Messiah.
Apostle Paul says the same thing very clearly: ‘For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal’ (Rom. 2:28-29). That this ‘Judaism of the heart’ is not to be limited to believing Jews but includes believing gentiles is clear from Paul’s words to the Philippians: ‘For we are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 3:3). We must conclude, then, that John makes a real distinction between literal Israel – the Jews – and spiritual Israel – the church” (43-44).
Revelation 7:15 speaks of the saints in God’s heavenly “temple” and of God “spreading his tabernacle over them.” This is a clear allusion to Ezek. 37:26-28, a passage that in its OT context is a prophecy of Israel’s restoration. There God says, “I will establish my sanctuary in the midst of them forever. And my tabernacle will be over them . . . when my sanctuary is in the midst of them forever.“ God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Isa. 25:8; Rev. 7:17).
Once again some Jewish persons are waiting for a promised return here but they are greatly mistaken, for this return is the promised return to Jesus Christ the messiah, and it includes the Church, composed of Jews and gentiles now. This promised restoration of the remnant of Israel, and of the gentile has been fulfilled by God in Jesus Christ ..
(Rev 3:12 KJV) Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
(Rev 21:2 KJV) And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
(Rev 21:10 KJV) And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
As per the next full supposed re-gathering of the twelve tribes of Israel note this had occurred in Pentecost, in the book of Acts where all of the tribes of Israel were represented, present thus. (Acts 2:2 KJV) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
(Acts 2:36 KJV) Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
(Acts 16:31 KJV) And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
(Acts 16:32 KJV) And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
(Acts 20:20 KJV) And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house,
But most Jews who tend to reject Jesus Christ as their Messiah, and evangelicals too, tend not to agree with this and they are waiting for rather a supposedly soley Jewish messiah, not a Jewish -gentile messiah of Jesus Christ, so next they will be deceived and disappointed by the false counterfeit messiah, the anti Christ, (Rev 13:18 KJV) Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
and the same anti Christ who falsely will restore the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, restore the sacrifices in the temple,
(Rev 14:9 KJV) And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
(Rev 14:10 KJV) The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
(Rev 14:11 KJV) And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
There are numerous passages in the NT where OT prophecies concerning Israel’s regathering and restoration that are next applied to the Church, indicating that the latter is the “true Israel” comprised of both believing Jews and believing Gentiles in whom the promises will be fulfilled. Or, to put it in other terms, the Church does not replace Israel but takes up and perpetuates in itself the believing remnant within the nation as a whole.
The “true Israel” of God, which in the OT was comprised of all ethnic Jews who were circumcised in heart, finds its NT expression in the Church, now comprised of all believing ethnic Jews and all believing ethnic Gentiles. Or, to use Paul’s imagery from Romans 11, the one Olive Tree = True Israel = the Church in which are both natural (Jewish) branches and unnatural (Gentile) branches, but in all cases “believing branches
Jesus taught that his resurrection was the raising of the True Temple of Israel. He has replaced the priesthood, sacrifices, and sanctuary of Israel by fulfilling them in his own glorious priestly ministry and by offering, once and for all, his sacrifice for the world, that is, for both Jew and Gentile. Believers from all nations are now being built up through him into this Third Temple, the church that Jesus promised to build.
Simon Peter spoke of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus in conjunction with the final judgment and the punishment of sinners. Instructively, this same Simon Peter, the Apostle to the Circumcision, says nothing about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel in the land of Palestine. Instead, as his readers contemplate the promise of Jesus’ Second Coming, he fixes their hope upon the new heavens and the new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
The entitlement of any one ethnic or religious group to territory in the Middle East called the “Holy Land” cannot be supported by the new testament or Old tesatment Scriptures. In fact, the land promises specific to Israel in the Old Testament were fulfilled under Joshua. The New Testament speaks clearly and prophetically about the destruction of the second temple in A.D. 70. No New Testament writer foresees a regathering of ethnic Israel in the land, as did the prophets of the Old Testament after the destruction of the first temple in 586 B.C. Moreover, the land promises of the Old Covenant are consistently and deliberately expanded in the New Testament to show the universal dominion of Jesus, who reigns from heaven upon the throne of David, inviting all the nations through the Gospel of Grace to partake of his universal and everlasting dominion.
and why were the Jews dispelled from Israel the second Time? Because also due their false hope of having a Jewish state separate of Jesus Christ.
God has promised to restore His Jewish people to Israel – Jer 29:14 and this promised has been fulfilled after the Babylonian exile and return now too. Yet some evangelicals, Zionists falsely believe there are here, were simultaneous prophecies of a latter day restoration of Israel solely, alone… fullfilled in 1948 a. To be fulfilled in the last days, supposedly our modern times, just before the Lord Jesus Christ finally returns b. That includes the return of Jews to Palestine and the establishment of Israel as an independent state in May, 1948, was a fulfillment of such prophecies.
Yes next the Jewish people again as warned by God, and prophesied by Jesus, predicted too were dispersed worldwide by the Romans and God himself. At the heart of many of the political commitments in question are two fatally flawed propositions. First, some are teaching that God’s alleged favor toward Israel today is based upon ethnic descent rather than upon the grace of Christ alone, as proclaimed in the Gospel. Second, others are teaching that the Bible’s promises concerning the land are fulfilled in a special political region or “Holy Land,” perpetually set apart by God for one ethnic group alone. As a result of these false claims, large segments of the evangelical community, our fellow citizens, and our government are being misled with regard to the Bible’s teachings regarding the people of God, the land of Israel, and the impartiality of the Gospel.
God, the Creator of all mankind, is merciful and takes no pleasure in punishing sinners. Yet God is also holy and just and must punish sin. Therefore, to satisfy both his justice and his mercy, God has appointed one way of salvation for all, whether Jew or Gentile, in Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, came into the world to save sinners. In his death upon the cross, Jesus was the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, of Jew and of Gentile alike. The death of Jesus forever fulfilled and eternally ended the sacrifices of the Jewish temple. All who would worship God, whether Jew or Gentile, must now come to him in spirit and truth through Jesus Christ alone. The worship of God is no longer identified with any specific earthly sanctuary. He receives worship only through Jesus Christ, the eternal and heavenly Temple.
To as many as receive and rest upon Christ alone through faith alone, to Jews and Gentiles alike, God gives eternal life in his heavenly inheritance.
Bad Christian theology regarding the “Holy Land” contributed to the tragic cruelty of the Crusades in the Middle Ages. Lamentably, bad Christian theology is today attributing to secular Israel a divine mandate to conquer and hold Palestine, with the consequence that the Palestinian people are marginalized and regarded as virtual “Canaanites.” This doctrine is both contrary to the teaching of the New Testament and a violation of the Gospel mandate. In addition, this theology puts those Christians who are urging the violent seizure and occupation of Palestinian land in moral jeopardy of their own bloodguiltiness. Are we as Christians not called to pray for and work for peace, warning both parties to this conflict that those who live by the sword will die by the sword? Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring both temporal reconciliation and the hope of an eternal and heavenly inheritance to the Israeli and the Palestinian. Only through Jesus Christ can anyone know peace on earth.
The present secular state of Israel, however, is not an authentic or prophetic realization of the Messianic kingdom of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, a day should not be anticipated in which Christ’s kingdom will manifest Jewish distinctives, whether by its location in “the land,” by its constituency, or by its ceremonial institutions and practices. Instead, this present age will come to a climactic conclusion with the arrival of the final, eternal phase of the kingdom of the Messiah. At that time, all eyes, even of those who pierced him, will see the King in his glory. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. http://www.bible-researcher.com/openletter.html
I must point our that the same false dispensationalists, Zionists who reject these truths in the Bible are the same persons who today tend to deny the Holy Spirit, they reject that God’s gifted men and Holy spirit gifts exist today because they are not spirit filled, led by the Holy Spirit in reality.
http://www.ccel.org/contrib/exec_outlines/end/end_07.htm
“You are not to go to the left or to the right unless you hear a voice ( of the Holy Sprit) saying this is the way walk there in”.. Many of us have not learned as to how to hear this voice .
“Zionism is a Modern international political movement that originally supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine (Hebrew: Eretz Yisra’el, “the Land of Israel”), and continues primarily as support for the modern state of Israel.[1] Although its origins are earlier, the movement was formally established by the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century. Zionism is based in part upon religious tradition linking the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, where the concept of Jewish nationhood first evolved somewhere between 1200 BCE and the late Second Temple era (i.e. up to 70 CE),[4][5] Zionism can be distinguished from Territorialism, a Jewish nationalist movement calling for a Jewish homeland not necessarily in Palestine. During the early history of Zionism, a number of proposals were made for settling Jews outside of Europe, but ultimately all of these were rejected or failed. The debate over these proposals helped to define the nature and focus of the Zionist movement. Since the first century CE most Jews have lived in exile, although there has been a constant presence of Jews in the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel). According to Judaism, Eretz Israel, or Zion, is a land promised to the Jews by God according to the Bible. Following the 2nd century Bar Kokhba revolt, Jews were expelled from Palestine to form the Jewish diaspora. In the nineteenth century a current in Judaism supporting a return grew in popularity. Even before 1897, which is generally seen as the year in which practical Zionism started, Jews immigrated to Palestine, the pre-Zionist Aliyah.[10] Jewish immigration to Palestine started in earnest in 1882. The so-called First Aliyah saw the arrival of about 30,000 Jews over twenty years. Most immigrants came from Russia, where anti-semitism was rampant. They founded a number of agricultural settlements with financial support from Jewish philanthropists in Western Europe. The Second Aliyah started in 1904. Further Aliyahs followed between the two World Wars, fueled in the 1930s by Nazi persecution. In the 1890s Theodor Herzl infused Zionism with a new and practical urgency. He brought the World Zionist Organization into being and, together with Nathan Birnbaum, planned its First Congress at Basel in 1897.[13] This current in Zionism is known as political Zionism because it aimed at reaching a political agreement with the Power ruling Palestine. Up to 1917 this was the Ottoman Empire, and then until 1948 it was Britain on behalf of the League of Nations. The WZO also supported small scale settlement in Palestine. Lobbying by Chaim Weizmann (cultural Zionists) and others culminated in the Balfour Declaration of 1917 by the British government. This declaration endorsed the creation of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine. In 1922, the League of nations endorsed the declaration in the Mandate it gave to Britain: Palestinian Arabs resisted Zionist migration. There were riots in 1920, 1921 and 1929, sometimes accompanied by massacres of Jews. Britain supported Jewish immigration in principle, but in reaction to Arab violence imposed restrictions on Jewish immigration. The subsequent growth in Jewish migration led to the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine which in turn led the British to establish the Peel Commission to investigate the situation. The commission (which did not examine the situation of Jews in Europe) called for a two-state solution and compulsory transfer of populations. This solution was rejected by the British and instead the White Paper of 1939 proposed an end to Jewish immigration by 1944, with a further 75,000 to be admitted by then. In principle, the British stuck to this policy until the end of the Mandate. After WWII and the Holocaust, support for Zionism increased, especially among Jewish Holocaust survivors. The British were attacked in Palestine by Zionist groups because of their restrictions on Jewish immigration, the best known attack being the 1946 King David Hotel bombing. Unable to resolve the conflict, the British referred the issue to the newly created United Nations. In 1947, the UNSCOP recommended the partition of western Palestine into a Jewish state, an Arab state and a UN-controlled territory (Corpus separatum) around Jerusalem.[15] This partition plan was adopted on November 29th, 1947 with UN GA Resolution 181, 33 votes in favor, 13 against, and 10 abstentions. The vote itself, which required a two-third majority, was a very dramatic affair and led to celebrations in the streets of Jewish cities.[16] The Arab states rejected the UN decision, demanding a single state with an Arab majority. violence immediately exploded in Palestine between Jews and Arabs. On 14 May 1948, at the end of the British mandate, the Jewish Agency, led by Ben-Gurion declared the creation of the State of Israel and the same day, the armies of four[17] Arab countries invaded Israel. During the following eight months, Israel forces defended the Jewish partition and conquered portions of the Arab partition, enlarging its portion to 78 percent of mandatory Palestine. The conflict led to an exodus of about 711,000 Arab Palestinians [18], of whom about 46.000 were internally displaced persons in Israel. The war ended with the 1949 Armistice Agreements, which included new cease-fire lines, the so-called Green line. After the war the Arabs continued to reject Israel’s right to exist and demanded that it retreat to the 1947 partition lines. They sustained this demand until 1967 when the rest of western Palestine was conquered by Israel during the Six-Day War, after which Arab states demanded that Israel retreat to the 1949 cease fire line, the only “borders” currently recognized by the international community. These borders are commonly referred as the “pre-1967 borders” or the “green line”. The border with Egypt was legalized in the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, and the border with Jordan in the 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. After the creation of the State of Israel the WZO continued to exist as an organisation dedicated to assisting and encouraging Jews to migrate to Israel, as well as providing political support for Israel. In addition to Jewish Zionism, there was always a small number of Christian Zionists that existed from the early days of the Zionist movement.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism
“Over 400 years of independence under the Davidic dynasty ended in 586 BCE when the country was conquered by the Babylonians, who destroyed the Temple and exiled most of the people. However, before the century was over the Jews returned, rebuilt the Temple and restored Jewish life in the Land. For the next centuries, they knew varying degrees of self-rule under Persian (538-333 BCE) and Hellenistic (322-142 BCE) overlordship, independence under the Hasmonean dynasty (142-63 BCE) and then increasingly oppressive domination by the Romans beginning in 63 BCE. When the Jews were prevented from carrying out their traditional religious way of life, they launched a series of uprisings, which climaxed in the revolt of 66 CE. After four years of fighting, Rome put down the Jewish Revolt and burned the Temple to the ground. Many thousands of Jews were killed, sold into slavery and dispersed to countries near and far. The only remnant of the entire Temple compound was the Western Wall, which became a place of pilgrimage and worship for Jews, and remains so to the present time. In 132 CE, another Jewish revolt, which restored Jewish sovereignty for three years, was cruelly suppressed, claiming thousands of lives. To stamp out the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, the Romans renamed the country Palaestina. The small Jewish community which remained in the Land gradually recovered. Institutional and communal life was reconstructed to meet the new situation without the unifying framework of the state and the Temple. Priests were replaced by rabbis, and in the absence of a central place of worship, the synagogue became the nucleus of each of the scattered communities. Between 636 and 1096, the Jewish community in the Land diminished considerable and lost some of its organizational and religious cohesiveness, ” http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/State/ZIONISM-+Background.htm
God leads us in many ways, through his word, through people, but God will confirm his will for us still too. I have had often had to learn spiritual truths the hard way, by trying to do my own thing and failing at it, and Jesus reminding me that I could do nothing without him. Now I pray before I do anything and I await his instructions, if God does not lead me, or tells me not to do something, I tend not to do it. I had bought a pair summer shorts recently and I wanted to get matching T-shirt to it too.. I had tried a few stores but was unable to get the matching color that I had wanted. So I prayed about it and God told me not to look for it. I have learned he will deal with it his way and in his time. So I went along with my normal agendas. I had to go the drug store to get my medicine renewed so I did so. I was surprised to find the matching T-shirt, in the color I had wanted on sale at half price too in the drug store. After I pray I have come to learn to expect God will answer the prayer, I do not have to do it in my own strength.
It also now seems that unresolved problems tend to make us seek God. How to draw closer to God. You have wanted God to speak to you for a long time. You have wanted to talk to God and get answers back. This is an opportunity for you to have a dialogue with God. God too wants to communicate with you. You might have been in church, a crusade, in your room, or outside under the stars. You felt God’s call, but you didn’t know exactly what God wanted you to do. You knew you were going to do something special, but you didn’t know what it was. Now you can also find out God’s plan for you, and others too and the literature is all free too. It teaches you how to hear God’s voice. God will teach you many things you need to know. Valid spiritual tools to help you make conscious contact with God: Praise, Prayer, Humbleness, Obedience, the Bible. Get yourself ready where God speaks to you
God is these days speaking to us not just through the words in the Bible. Many of us have at times sensed that something is wrong in the church and because of the continual deficiencies in our knowledge of scripture, deficiencies in our walk with God, deficiencies in our being able to hear the voice of God, and the fear of man we have suppressed or put aside these things, yet in our hearts these nudges of the Holy Spirit keep coming back time and again. So we have at times felt things, we have at times sensed things, but we have not necessarily known that now God has been speaking and guiding us. When we have sought help from a preacher or teacher we too often next have in time realized in some measure that what they tend speak not from a personal knowledge of God, from the leading of God but instead speak from the stale corn of other people books, tapes, and notes or their own views. And yet with these sweeping -general explanations these things we have known never really go away — for the Holy Spirit still speaks to men and what we have already seen and heard of Him we do still believe God still speaks to men, and confers upon those that love Him and are obedient His tokens of His affection — true gifts and true ministry. Next that Word becoming flesh (in us), a personal reality in many of our life experience, that can be “seen” and “handled” by those some of those called out persons that are around us.
There actually is no Biblical promised prophecy, a promised second return of the Jews to Israel in the Old Testament or next in the whole Bible now too. after Israel’s, Jews second dispersion from Israel by the Romans in 70 ad.. . Not even one New testament Bible verse even for even the Jewish return in 1948.. Do now try prove me wrong..
Not one verse next can be or was quoted in rebuttal but the dispensantionalist poster next slandered, lied about, abused the Pentecostals Christians as being supposedly false to try to uphold his own false beliefs.. why would I be surprised when this is a very typical immoral brethren apporach?
The liars, distorters, demonic persons have to all face the fact there is still not one New Testament verse supporting any separate Israel conversion dispensation, or any actual appropriate Israel claim to the Holy Land, all something they are unwilling to do.. Sad. They only can claim they are Biblical.. using inappopriate old testament Bible verses and their distortions too… but no new testament ones.
The dispensational, Brethren Gospel too often now is not the one of our Lord Jesus Christ
The too common abusive silent treatment Verbal abuse is always unacceptable too. Control freaks too do see More about Control freaks. Fears
Then came the devil…
(Mat 4:1 KJV) Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Hey I have often said that if the devil and his evil sprits cannot lead you personally astray, away from God, he will next send a real person your way, even a false professing Christian, the false brother or sister, a dispensationalist even at that .. to try to do that.. the devil does not give up nor do his followers still too.
Some people say that there is nothing more worse than the anger of a scorned woman..
or try the bad acts of a false professing Christian when they are openly exposed by me, I stepped on his false ego, his sore toes ehh.. and next they become so really openly mean, verbally aggressive, insulting, slanderous! I know firstahnd for just recently I had one dispensationalist person make even a dozen negative internet bashing posts about me in just one short period ,even trying to bait me to go to his bad site and continue his fight as well.. and he still openly says he wants to lead others into new godly truths.. dream on..
(Luke 6:39 KJV) And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?
the poster he needs real positive pastoral help himself, but clearly and wrongfully he still will not take it.
Jesus said you can tell what they are like by their own fruits..
(Mat 7:18 KJV) A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
(Micah 7:13 KJV) Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
(Gal 5:22 KJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
(Eph 5:9 KJV) (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
(James 3:18 KJV) And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
(Song 6:11 KJV) I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.
(Mat 21:34 KJV) And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
(Phil 1:11 KJV) Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
If more Christians actually would read their Bible themselves now they would have said the same thing too.
The Land in the New Testament by David Devenish
What does the New Testament teach about the land of Israel? Answer: absolutely nothing. There are no references to the importance of the land or of Jerusalem as a ‘holy city’. Some would say that this is simply an argument from silence and that there are sufficient promises in the Old Testament to establish the land as belonging to the Jewish people without the need for New Testament confirmation. However, not only is there silence about the land but the whole tenor of the New Testament message and revelation of God’s saving purpose amongst His people points in a different direction.
To a Samaritan, despised by the Jews, Jesus makes special places of worship (including Jerusalem) a redundant concept (John 4:21). When marvelling at the faith of a Gentile centurion, Jesus applied to the gathering in of Gentile peoples from all over the world the Old Testament promises of the bringing of God’s people from the east and west into the promised blessings alongside Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Matt. 8:11).
The promise of the restoration of David’s tabernacle is applied by James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, to the reception of the gospel by the Gentiles. This confirmed they are full participants in the people of God without needing to fulfil the outward requirements of the law (Acts 15:15-19). The promised future blessing of fruitfulness for an Israel coming out of exile is applied by Paul to the new people of God, both Jew and Gentile, who receive the Messiah and the promises of faith (Gal. 4:27).
The Old Testament form of worship, including the whole sacrificial system in the temple, is merely a shadow and thus declared obsolete. In the same book, written to scattered Jewish Christians, the writer declared triumphantly, ‘You have come to mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God’ (Heb. 12:22) without any hint that they should also await an earthly Zion. So far as the specific promises of the land itself are concerned, the New Testament enlarges them to the whole world! Abraham is described as heir, not of a small strip of land but the world (Rom. 4:13)! The meek shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5).
This is the glory of the mystery of God’s ways revealed in the New Testament. God had chosen Abraham and his descendants, the people of Israel, to be God’s special people as the bearers of His blessing to all the nations of the earth. Israel had failed to carry this blessing. (One prophet even ran away revolted at the prospect of Nineveh repenting and being blessed!) But Old Testament prophecy looked forward to the coming of a Messiah who would fulfil all the promises to Israel.
The Messiah himself and His dreadful death on a cross became the means by which ‘all men’ (spoken in the context of Greeks seeking Jesus) would be drawn to Him. This Messiah was vindicated primarily by His resurrection from the dead but also by the early fulfilment of His prophecy that the temple would be destroyed.
The mystery of God’s ways revealed to the apostles and prophets, and emphasised by Paul in his letter to the Romans, the Galatians and in particular the Ephesians, was that now the only basis for salvation and being part of the people of God was through faith in this Messiah. The result was that there is now ‘one new man in Christ’, composed of both Jews and Gentiles, eventually from all the nations of the world, incorporated into the people of God and heirs together of all the promises to Israel. Like Isaac, we are all children of promise (Gal. 4:28). The Gentiles who believe are heirs together with believing Israel (eg Rom. 2:28-29, 3:30) and thus receive the promise through Christ.
As N T Wright puts it, ‘The land no longer functioned as the key symbol of the geographical identity of the people of God, and that for obvious reasons: if the new community consisted of Jew, Greek, Barbarian alike, there was no sense in which one piece of territory could possess more significance than another. At no point in this early period do we find Christians eager to define or defend a “holy land”. Jesus and the church together are the new temple; the world I suggest is the new land.’ (NT Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, SPCK, 1992).
THE BLESSING OF THE WHOLE WORLD
This does not devalue the Jews, rather it means that we believing Gentiles are incorporated into the same promises as believing Jews, enlarged so that, for example, the temple becomes the dwelling place of God by His Spirit wherever Christians are gathered. Similarly, the promise of the land is not abrogated but enlarged to encompass the blessing of the whole world which will eventually, after Jesus returns, result in the inheritance not of one small land but of a renewed earth for which all creation is longing.
But what about the promise of the ‘everlasting possession of the land of Canaan’ (Gen. 17:8)? Again we must read this Scripture in its context. In the same chapter, not only is the promise of the land described as ‘everlasting’ but so is the covenant of circumcision (v13) and are the promises to Isaac (v19). In the New Testament, circumcision is no longer necessary to define the people of God because that is determined by how we respond to Christ in faith. Circumcision of the flesh is now nothing; it is circumcision of the heart by the Spirit that counts (Rom. 2:29). The lesser is enfolded in the greater, the ‘type’ into the ‘anti-type’, the ’shadow’ into the ‘fullness’. Similarly, the promise to Isaac is described by Paul as being applied to Gentiles as well as Jews who believe in Christ, and thus both are children of promise. Unbelieving Jerusalem in this same section is described as children of Hagar (Gal. 4:25). The promises remain but their fulfilment is for those who receive the promise of the Messiah. It is therefore not at all surprising that in the New Testament the land is now included in the greater promise to bless the whole earth.
Furthermore the promise of the land, even in Old Testament terms, was not unconditional. Deuteronomy chapters 4 and 28 make it clear that if the Jewish people were to rebel against the Lord and embrace idolatry then they would be exiled from the land. There was in Deuteronomy a promise of return to the land but this was to follow a return to the Lord. It is clear from the New Testament that a return to the Lord involves an acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah and King. In considering this, John Stott makes the following points:
The Old Testament promises about the Jews’ return to the land are [accompanied] by promises of the Jews’ return to the Lord. It is hard to see how the secular, unbelieving state of Israel can possibly be a fulfilment of those prophecies.
The Old Testament promises about the land are nowhere repeated in the New Testament. The prophecy of Romans 11 is a prophecy that many, many Jews will turn to Christ, but the land is not mentioned nor is Israel mentioned as a political entity.
The Old Testament promises according to the apostles are fulfilled in Christ and in the international community of Christ. The New Testament authors apply the promise of Abraham’s seed to Jesus Christ. And they apply to Jesus Christ the promise of the land and all the land which is inherited, the land flowing with milk and honey, because it is in him that our hunger is satisfied and our thirst quenched. A return to Jewish nationalism would seem incompatible with this New Testament perspective of the international community of Jesus.
Jesus the Reconciler (Colossians 1: 19-20)
Dispensationally-driven Christian Zionists believe that the modern state of Israel is the centerpiece of God’s redemptive purposes. This contradicts traditional Christian teaching which has Jesus as Reconciler at the center of God’s purposes. To suggest otherwise is to violate the clear teaching of the New Testament.
Jesus ministered in a time much like our own time, when that which divides people is more pronounced than that which brings them together. There were at that time divisions within the Jewish community between Pharisees and Sadducees, between Zealots and those who lived a monastic existence in the desert. There were even stronger divisions between Jews and everyone else: They had nothing to do with Samaritans. Gentiles were “unclean.” And most among them hated the Romans.
What Jesus did, in this divisive atmosphere, was bring people together. He deliberately chose as his disciples those within the Jewish community who would otherwise have had nothing to do with each other. He embraced “untouchables” and in other ways challenged the exclusivism which raised religious and social barriers between Jew and Gentile, Jew and Samaritan, Jew and Roman. Nowhere do we hear him speaking about one purpose of God for Jews and another for what would become a largely Gentile church. He included all in one ministry of grace and reconciliation.
The apostle Paul, speaking as a Jew who had himself once exhibited a fierce exclusivism but had now found peace with God and his neighbors through Christ, wrote this about this central purpose of Christ:
He is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups (Jews and Gentiles) into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us … through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Eph. 2: 14)
So then you (Gentiles) are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord… (Eph. 3:19-21)
Jesus defined his ministry and purpose in terms of reconciliation. In him we learn that God’s highest purpose is to bring together what we in our sinful divisiveness make separate. In light of this it is inconceivable that a religiously exclusive nation-state, which has come to be characterized by the building of a literal “dividing wall of hostility,” can be at the centerpiece of God’s redemptive plan.
That Israel is a viable nation-state, which like any other nation-state can be the source of either bane or blessing to its citizens, its neighbors and the world, is not in question here. What is in question is the place given to Israel by those who wish to put it at the center of God’s redemptive purposes. For this there is no biblical justification, certainly not in light of the revelation we have received in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, reconciliation; bringing enemies together as friends; is seen to be God’s overriding concern:
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross . . . Colossians 1:19-20
http://www.christianzionism.org/BibleSays/Devenish01.asp
The Dispensational Distinction Between Israel and the Church by John Gerstner
Perhaps the central doctrine of dispensationalism is the distinction between Israel and the church. Dispensationalism sees Israel as an earthly people with earthly promises, and the church as a heavenly people with heavenly promises. Membership in Israel is by natural birth.15 One enters the church by supernatural birth. Dispensationalists view Israel and the church as having distinct eternal destinies. Israel will receive an eternal earthly Kingdom, and the church an eternal heavenly Kingdom.
Darby, the father of dispensationalism, stated the distinction in the clearest of terms: “The Jewish nation is never to enter the church.”16
Ryrie considers this the most important dispensational distinction, and approves the statement that… “the basic promise of Dispensationalism is two purposes of God expressed in the formation of two peoples who maintain their distinction throughout eternity.”17
In contrast, Christian theology has always maintained the essential continuity of Israel and the church. The elect of all the ages are seen as one people, with one Savior, one destiny. This continuity can be shown by examining a few Old Testament prophesies with their fulfillment. Dispensationalists admit that if the church can be shown to be fulfilling promises made to Israel their system is doomed. If the church is fulfilling Israel’s promises as contained in the new covenant or anywhere in the Scriptures, then [dispensational] premillennialism is condemned.18
Promise to Israel – “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’ -Hosea 1:10
Fulfillment the church – “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.” -Romans :22-26
Promise to Israel – “Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’” -Hosea 2:23
Fulfillment in the church – “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” – 1 Peter 2:9-10
Promise to Israel – “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old;” -Amos 9:11
Fulfillment in the church – Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. “And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: ‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the LORD who does all these things.’ “Known to God from eternity are all His works. -Acts 15:14-18 In the same manner there are many Old Testament passages referring to Israel that are in the New Testament applied directly to the church.
Spoken to Israel – “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.” -Joel 2:28-32
Applied to the church – When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place…”But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on my maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.’ -Acts 2:1,16-21
Spoken to Israel – ‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” -Exodus 19:6
Applied to the church – “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” -1 Peter 2:9
Spoken to Israel – “My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” -Ezekiel 37:27
Applied to the church – “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” -2 Cor 6:16
Spoken to Israel – “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” -Lev 19:2
Applied to the church – “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” -1 Peter 1:15-16
Spoken to Israel – “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah–” -Jer 31:31
Applied to the church – “Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” -Luke 22:20
http://www.christianzionism.org/BibleSays/Gerstner01.asp
Sadly it seems if you talk about healing, the Holy Spirit, Marriage, Jesus, Israel, Jews, Prophecy etc., we also tend to get the emotional, demonic opposition to our presenting the truth. Despite our best hints some persons do too often turn from the Christian ideal and cheapen the quality of discourse even for everyone else. They are the Liars, Bullies, Bashers, Abusers too. It seems we have too many of them still in this world.
ABOUT THOSE PEOPLE IN DENIAL WHO CANNOT ADMIT ANY JEWISH WRONG DOINGS, SINS AS WELL NOW THEY ARE IN A FALSE DENIAL STILL TOO
Not just in Churches, amongst the police, politicians, civil and public servants, but I have seem so many lying people who really do delude themselves too often about their self importance and the positive role they are functioning in. When a person NOW cannot see what they are doing now is simply so wrong they themselves do now need real professional help too cause one tends to eventually believe next ones lies as being the truth, and they can no no longer differentiate their own lies from reality, the truth. Narcissistic, selfish, self centered Disorders leads these persons to dwell in self-absorption, fantasy, illusion, where she or he has exaggerated claims to talents, importance, or specialness, manifesting evidence of a need for constant admiration from others, a lack of empathy for all others, persistent in this too, have rigid personality traits and coping styles, clearly inflexible, do show a hypersensitivity to any criticism , defeat or negative realities thus they rather are pathological in denial by the their falsity, contrived replacement of the truths which they still must face eventually . These SEVERE NOW PERSONALITY disorders are generally personally ongoing AND leading to more impaired social and/or occupational functioning and can make it difficult to pinpoint a clear dividing line between their pathology and their so called normality. Most of these people with their personality disorders may not perceive that there is anything wrong with their behavior, VIEWS and thus they are not motivated to change it. It is important to note that these personality disorders are considered to have their onset in late adolescence or early adulthood and they alone are responsible for it too.
Denial, it is very very common when many an individual, even amongst so called professionals, even in pastors now included, are openly confronted with their own wrong doings, that they resort to a false denial. When confronted with the truth the denier they often respond with a similar personal counter attack remark as ”you are crazy”. “I reject your reality… and substitute my own.” Their false denial, diversion, distortion does not change the negative reality about themselves still though. Sadly it is a negative natural human tendency to devolve into denial.” It’s not just a moral compass that’s lacking, but the ability to honest, or to stand apart. Denial often comes out of a false pride, a fear of being openly exposed as being wrong. Denial is a false convenient escape, excuse for inaction for persons now facing a situation that requires a decision or action that conflicts with his or her established past policy. Denial too often can be further disastrous upon themselves and others.. for denial is not seeing data at all or seeing it and coming to an erroneous conclusion within oneself. One’s false denial is often based on a false assumption of one’s past great success and often precedes their own severe personal failure next due to a personal disconnect with real life. Illustrated fully by the story of the Emperor with new clothes.
Denial (also called abnegation) is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence, a mechanism of the immature mind that conflicts with the ability to learn from and cope with reality. The subject may now deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether (simple denial), admit the fact but deny its seriousness (minimization) or admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility (transference). The concept of denial is particularly related to the denial of one’s addiction to alcohol for example, or to one slandering others, abusing them stealing, lying.. their denial or their minimization of their own wrong doings is the essential part of what enables them next to to continue his or her behavior in the face of evidence that, to an outsider, that is overwhelming. “The American Heart Association cites denial as a principal reason that treatment of a heart attack is delayed. Because the symptoms are so varied, and often have other potential explanations, the opportunity exists for the patient to deny the emergency, often with fatal consequences. It is common for patients to delay mammograms or other tests because of a fear of cancer, even though this is clearly maladaptive.” Types of Denial include now the Denial of fact: This form of denial is where someone avoids a fact by lying. This lying can take the form of an outright falsehood (commission), leaving out certain details in order to tailor a story (omission), This form of denial involves avoiding personal responsibility by blaming, minimizing or justifying. Denial of responsibility: Denial of impact: avoiding thinking about or understanding the harms their behavior have caused to themselves or others. Denial of awareness: they do not admit any previous awareness of the negative reality. Denial of cycle: Denial of cycle is where a person avoids looking at their decisions leading up to an event or does not consider their pattern of decision making and how harmful behavior is repeated. Denial of denial: This latter form of denial typically overlaps with all of the other forms of denial, but involves more self-delusion. People in a false denial are really nuts, delusional..
There are tools and practices that we can implement to overcome the psychological trap of denial. Public exposure and prosecution of the guilty is one of the best approach serving everyone’s best interest too. It is a clearly established fact with good basis as to why our leaders, politicians, police, military, public and civil servants TOO NOW are always to be exemplary are even personally are to held to a higher standard, accountability in reality.
Do see also
http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/zcs2.pdf http://postedat.wordpress.com/2008/08/02/zionism-zionists/ https://anyonecare.wordpress.com/2008/11/01/the-centraility-of-the-cross-of-jesus-christ/ https://anyonecare.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/israel-and-palestine/ http://witnessed.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/john-hagee%e2%80%99s-israel-heresy/ https://anyonecare.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/the-2-promised-returns /
– the dispensationalist reality
http://postedat.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/dispensationalist-plymouth-brethren/ http://postedat.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/dispensationalists-it-seems-to-compensate-for-their-often-rejections/
http://mccainvrsobama.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/even-as-to-the-promised-land/
Missing the point? 