Israel is special to God, there’s no doubt about it.  He has spoken blessing to Abraham’s descendents in generation after generation, even claiming that He will bless others who bless Israel, and curse those who curse her.  He loved Israel enough to marry her and make her His very own bride.  And even in her unfaithfulness to Him, He sent prophets like Hosea, to draw His bride back to Him.  He’s never given up on Israel, and He’s promised never to in the future.  He said in Isaiah 49:15-16, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.  Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.”  Israel is the apple of God’s eye.

Israel among the Nations

We all understand that Adonai is the God of all creation.  He created all nations, all tribes and clans, all people groups and language groups on the earth.  We also know that He loves all of us!  “For God so loved the world…”, John 3:16 tells us.  In fact, from the very first time that God began to separate a people out from among all mankind (Gen. 12), He did so with the ultimate salvation of all the people in mind.

“Now Adonai said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your family, from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation [Israel], and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 12:1-3)

So not only would Abraham’s seed be blessed, but “all families of the earth” would eventually be blessed in Abraham’s seed.  There’s much commentary that can be shared over the implications of this passage, but let it suffice to point out that God’s ultimate intention is that all peoples would eventually be blessed.  But yet, God continues to lavish love on this people that He has hand-picked from among all the nations to be His very own.

For instance, in Exodus 19, Adonai tells Israel—

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession (Segulah) among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex. 19:4-6)

A segulah is the treasure that is most precious to you.  For instance, you may have a safe full of jewels and gold, silver and diamonds, but among those various pieces of jewelry, perhaps there’s one piece that has sentimental value to you above all the others.  It’s not just valuable intrinsically, but it’s precious to you.  It’s the most special thing that you have.  That’s segulah.

God tells Israel that He owns all the world—all nations, tongues, peoples and tribes—but Israel is destined to be His segulah. 

There’s another example of Israel’s special status with Adonai found in Amos 3:2—

“You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

At first blush, this verse may not seem to indicate Israel’s special place with God, but it does.  God tells Israel that they are the only nation that He has “known” (Hb, yadati).  This word means to know in an intimate way.  God is telling Israel that He has never become intimate with any other nation.  He has chosen to reveal Himself to Israel alone, as a husband to a wife.  He has loved Israel, and provided and nurtured Israel.  He has protected Israel and cried over Israel.  He loves Israel.  It is in light of this that He will chastise Israel for her sins.

Consider walking down the street and you see children that are way out of line.  Let’s pretend that you don’t know these children.  They’re not being dangerous, but they’re acting rude.  You may wish that their parents would correct them, and perhaps you may say something to them yourselves, but they are not your children, so your input to them is limited.  But let’s say that you walk down the street and see your children acting rudely to others.  Now, that changes things a bit, wouldn’t you say?  If I see my son being rude to someone, I’m going to chastise him!  Haha!  My treatment of my own son is different than my treatment of a stranger’s son because of the relationship between my son and me.

This is what God is saying here in Amos.  Because Israel belongs to Him, He is going to deal with their iniquities.  The other nations may be doing the same iniquities!  But Israel belongs to Adonai!  “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will chastise you for all your iniquities”.

To the Jewish People First

The reason I’m pointing this out is because I want to discuss the particular importance of Israel in God’s divine plan.  Romans 1:16 speaks about the Gospel in this manner—

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes [ie.-all nations], to the Jew first and also to the Greek [non-Jew].”

The gospel is for everyone!  But it belongs distinctly to the Jewish people first.  Why?  Because God has chosen to reveal Himself to the Jewish people by entering into covenant with them.  He has given them the divine revelation found in the Torah.  He has corrected them through the ministry of His prophets.  He has promised them inheritance and a destiny to shine through them to the nations of the world.  They have looked forward to and anticipated the Messiah for generations!  And now that He has come, Paul says that the message belongs to them first!  They have suffered the persecution of the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans!  They have stood stalwart in the face of pressure to deny the one and only God.  They have maintained the oracles of God for all the world to know!  And even now, they are serving God’s sovereign purpose.  By the partial blindness that has come upon Israel in this present time, the gospel has been sent out among the nations for their salvation!  We often forget, as gentiles, that Israel’s partial blindness is God’s gracious gift to us!  If Israel had received the Messiah wholeheartedly at His first coming, then the Messianic Age would have been inaugurated and the time of salvation for the nations would have been short-circuited.  But in God’s graciousness, “a partial blindness has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom. 11:25).

Paul understood this mystery of Israel’s blindness, yet He maintained that the gospel should be preached to the Jewish people first wherever he went.  Consider Paul’s work throughout the book of Acts—

• “When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of god in the synagogue of the Jews” (Acts. 13:5)
• “…but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia.  And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down…so Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said…” (Acts 13:14, 16)
• “The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.  And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you.  Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.  For so the Lord has commanded us [Israel], saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (Acts 13:44-47)

Often times, you’ll hear it said from preachers and commentators that from this time in Acts 13, Paul turned his attention to the Gentiles.  The idea is that Paul had presented the gospel to the Jewish people first, but since they rejected it, now He was going to spend his ministry among the gentiles.  But 4 verses later, in the next passage, we read this:

“But they shook off the dust from their feet against them [those that rejected them in the passage above] and went to Iconium…Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.” (Acts 13:51; 14:1)

Look at that!  The very next city, they went to the synagogue first again!!  This is because Paul’s declaration of turning to the gentiles was specific to the town of Antioch Pisidia.  It was not an overall change of direction in Paul’s ministry. 

• “Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.  And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures.” (Acts 17:1-2)
• “The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.  Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:10-11)
• “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city was full of idols.  So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.” (Acts 17:16-17)
• “After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.  And he found a Jew named Aquila…and he went to see them…And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 18:1-2, 4)
• “And when they [the Jews of Corinth in the passage above] opposed and reviled him [Paul], he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads!  I am innocent.  From now on I will go to the Gentiles!…and he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” (Acts 18:6,11)

Once again, this was specific to the town of Corinth.  As soon as Paul left Corinth, he went to Ephesus, where we read—

• “And they came to Ephesus, and he left them [Pricilla and Aquila] there, but he himself [Paul] went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.” (Acts 18:19)
• “And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the Kingdom of God.” (Acts. 19:8)

This is Paul—the Apostle to the Gentiles, the one held to be God’s special messenger to the nations—and he was!  But the Biblical evidence is undeniable—Paul recognized the fact that the gospel belonged to the Jewish people first.  The Messiah is the King of the Jews!  He’s a Jewish Messiah, with a Jewish gospel, spoken in a Jewish context to a Jewish audience.  The message of the Gospel is Jewish through and through.  And did you pick up on the fact that the initial gentiles in each town that were hearing the gospel were already in the Jewish synagogues?  That’s right—they were already seeking the God of Israel!  Paul brought them a message of inclusion with Israel and the word started to spread!

Grafted In

With this context of Paul’s heart to reach his fellow Jewish people first, we’re now better equipped to look at Paul’s teaching found in Romans 11 concerning the perpetual place of the Jewish people in God’s plan.  So let’s break down that passage.

As establishing in chapter 10 that the acceptance of Jesus by the nations and the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish people was prophesied in the Scriptures long before his day, Paul begins chapter 11 with the question—

                “I ask then, has God rejected His people?” (Rom 11:1)

Paul’s answer is adamant—no way!  He proves this by declaring that he himself if Jewish, so obviously God hasn’t rejected the Jews (vs.1).  Then he goes on to remind the reader of Elijah’s experience after being chased by Jezebel.  Elijah complained to God that he alone was serving God, that all Israel had gone into idolatry.  But God explained to Elijah that He had preserved a righteous remnant of 7000 men who had not bowed to idolatry!  Paul links that remnant with the present one (in his day), claiming that God had likewise preserved a righteous believing remnant in Paul’s own generation! (vss. 2-5)

Paul asks another question: “So what then?”—ie. “So what’s happening [with Israel]?” (vs. 7).  He answers that Israel as a whole had failed to obtain righteousness.  Then he clarifies that the remnant among Israel has obtained it, but the rest of Israel was hardened to the message.  Then he quotes two passages from the prophets about Israel being unable to see the truth right before them (vss. 7-10).

Paul now asks a 3^rd question: “So, did they [Israel] stumble in order that they might fall [permanently]?” (vs. 11).  His answer is just as adamant as before—No Way!!  His justification is that Israel’s failure to believe in Jesus has caused salvation to be sent to the nations!  And to thwart the idea that this blindness is a permanent state, as some assume, Paul uses a very Hebraic argument, called a heavy and light argument.  It goes like this:  if “A” is true (and it is), then how much more true is “B”.  We see this argument all through the book of Hebrews—“If the angels are great…if Moses is great…how much more great is Jesus!”  “If the old covenant was weighty in God’s eyes, how much more weighty is the New Covenant?”  Here in Romans 11, Paul says, “If their trespass is riches for the world, and if their failure is riches for the nations, how much more will their full inclusion be!” (vs. 12).

Think about that.  Right now, the Body of Messiah all across this world is experiencing the blessings of the God of Israel.  We have received these blessings because the news was sent to us as a result of Israel’s rejection of Jesus.  Their rejection has brought this great treasure to us all!  But have you ever considered the implications of what Paul is saying here?  He’s saying that if their rejection has brought us the blessings from Adonai, how much better will it be when Israel’s eyes are opened to the gospel!!  Better for who?  For all of us!!  This in itself should be inspiration for us to pray for Israel’s blindness to be removed!  We should desire our older brother Israel’s return to Adonai, the God of Israel.

Paul repeats this statement again in verse 15—

“For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”

As good as it is in the Body of Christ right now, Paul is saying it’s like we’re in a state of deadness—hobbled if you will to God’s desires for us.  But when Israel recognized Jesus as their salvation, then the whole Body of Messiah will experience a resurrection of sorts!  It’ll be like we just woke up and realized we were dead all this time!  Needless to say, when Israel arises, everything will change!

An Insightful Metaphor

Paul now begins to present a metaphor that we must understand!  He begins—

“If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump; and if the root is holy, so are the branches” (vs. 16).

When presenting a grain offering (unleavened bread) to Adonai, the Torah instructs us that the bread is to be eaten by the Levites.  But a memorial portion is to be placed on the Altar.  When this memorial portion is placed on the Altar, it becomes holy (or set apart) to God, to be used for no common purpose.  However, not only does the memorial portion become holy, but the entire lump becomes holy.  The Israelite can no longer take the dough back to his home and eat it—it becomes set apart for the Levites.

Paul’s then rephrases the same concept—if the root of a plant is holy, so are the branches, for they come from the root.  The picture is the same—the memorial portion causes the whole lump of dough to be holy; likewise, the root causes the whole plant to become holy.  In Paul’s metaphor, the root/firstfruit portion is Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (vs. 28).  Try to follow this—Abraham was a righteous man and a friend of God.  Because of that, God made a promise to Abraham that He would become the “Father of many nations”.  Abraham’s descendents would become a great nation and eventually all of the nations of the world would be considered blessed through these descendents of Abraham.  It all started with Abraham!  That makes Abraham the root of the tree! [Now we can always argue that God is the ultimate root of the tree—and He is!—but that’s not Paul’s argument here.  God obviously had redemption for all mankind in mind before Abraham.  But the choosing of a people from among all nations so that all nations could be blessed through that set apart people, that began with Abraham.]  Abraham is holy, set apart, in God’s eyes.  And since Abraham (the root/firstfruit portion) is holy, then so too are his descendents holy (the branches/dough lump).  This is what he’s arguing here.  Now the rest of the metaphor falls in place.

“But if some of the branches [descendents of Abraham] were broken off, and you [Gentiles], although a wild olive branch, were grafted in among the others [the Remnant] and now share in the nourishing root (richness) of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches [descendents of Abraham].  If you are, remember it is not you [Gentiles] who support the root [Abraham and his covenant], but the root that supports you!” (vss. 17-18)

Paul is urging the Gentiles not to take a position of superiority over the non-believing branches [exactly like the early Catholic Fathers did!], but to keep in mind that the only reason the Gentiles are even in the Vine is because God promised to bless all the nations through Abraham’s seed.  What good does it do the Gentile branches to become arrogant when they’re not in Abraham’s Covenant because of their righteousness at all?  They’re in the Vine by the grace of God, just like the Jewish branches!  It’s Abraham’s Covenant concerning his descendents that gives room for the gentiles to be included.  So as Paul says, it’s not the Gentiles who are supporting Abraham’s Covenant, but Abraham’s Covenant is supporting the Gentiles!  So don’t be arrogant against the non-believing branches that exist also as a result of Abraham’s Covenant.

Paul continues by anticipating an arrogant statement made by a Gentile—

“Branches were broken off so that I may be grafted in.  That’s true”, Paul says, “They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith [the opposite of unbelief].  So do not become proud, but fear [sober up!].  For if God did not spare the natural branches [descendents of Abraham], neither will he spare you.  Take note of the kindness and severity of God:  severity toward those who have fallen [non-believing Jews], but God’s kindness to you [believing Gentiles], provided you continue in His kindness.  Otherwise you too will be cut off.  And even they [non-believing Jews], if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again!  For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree [this is difficult to do], how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree!” (vss. 19-24).

Paul now shares a “mystery” with his gentile readers, ‘lest they be wise in their own sight’ (aka—arrogant):

                “A partial blindness has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (vs. 25).

What does that mean, a “partial blindness”?  It means that not all of Israel is blind!  Remember? There’s a remnant that does see!  So God is saying something incredible here!  Israel does not have a full blindness.  In other words, it’s not like God has turned His face from Israel and is only working with the nations right now.  On the contrary, God has only partially blinded Israel.  That means that until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, not only will Israel not see on a national scale, but it also means that there will always be a believing remnant in Israel!!  Israel is only partially blinded until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.  Have you ever considered that there is no other nation on the earth that has this kind of promise—that there will always be a righteous remnant among them!  If there were a time, or a generation, when Israel had no believers in Yeshua, then “full blindness” would be on Israel.  But God has not done that.  There has been a righteous remnant among Israel since the days of our Master Himself!  And there will always be a righteous remnant among Israel!  If you’re a missionary, that’s like a hook in your jaw!  You’ve got a promise from God that there will be a remnant that will hear the message and believe in every generation!  And guess what, the principle that the gospel belongs first to the Jewish people and then to the Gentiles still applies—in every generation!

Paul completes his mystery by stating that when the fullness of the Gentiles has come it, then all Israel will be saved!  The partial blindness will be removed, and Israel will see and recognize Yeshua as the promised Messiah!  And as Paul said earlier, when that happens, it will be like resurrection has happened to the Body of Messiah! 

Beloved Enemies

Paul completes his arguments by laying out the existing place of the non-believing Jewish people in God’s eternal plan.  Concerning the gospel, Paul says, the non-believing Jewish people are enemies of God “for the sake of the Gentiles” (vs. 28).  What’s that mean?  It means that they have rejected Jesus as the Messiah in order that the Gentiles might come into the faith!  It for the sake of the Gentiles that this has happened and they became temporarily resistant to God.

But regarding their place in the election, or choosing, of God, they are beloved “for the sake of their forefathers”.  This recaps what Paul had just shared in his metaphor.  Israel is beloved of God as a fulfillment of His promises to Abraham.  And even if they’re non-believing, they’re still beloved of God!!  Paul justifies this idea by saying, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable!” (vs. 29).  When’s the last time you heard that verse in context?  Paul’s referring to Israel’s inheritance (gifts) and destiny (calling) to be a light to the nations!  That inheritance promised to the descendents of Abraham, and Israel’s destiny to be a light to the nations is irrevocable!!  Even if they are currently in a state of unbelief, God will be faithful to His promise and cause Israel to come to full faith and live out their divine calling!!

Summary

Israel, the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are special to God.  He set them aside for the purpose of blessing the nations through them.  He declared to them in Exodus 19 that He would make them to become a Royal Priesthood—representatives of the God of Israel to all the nations of the world!  However, when God approached Israel with the light of the Gospel, they corporately rejected the message of Yeshua.  But God utilized a believing remnant among the nation to take the message to the world, and this message has been spread throughout the globe!  This rejection of the Gospel message by the majority of the Jewish people, however, is temporary and will be removed.  But even though Israel’s eyes are temporarily blinded, it’s only a partial blindness—because in every generation, Adonai has preserved a righteous remnant among His chosen people.  This should sober us to our responsibility to present the message of the Gospel in every generation to the Jewish people as a priority!  It’s fascinating that in our day, the Jewish people in Israel are beginning to open up to the message of the Gospel more and more!  The Messianic Jewish community is growing strong in Israel, with people coming to faith in Messiah every day!! 

With the fairly recent return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, it seems that Adonai is making preparations to close up this age and inaugurate the Messianic Age.  If that’s so, then we can expect a revival among the Jewish people that will eclipse any revival we’ve seen so far in the world!  Jewish people will start recognizing that Yeshua is the long awaiting Messiah, and they will mourn because of Him (Zech. 12).  But when their eyes are open to the Gospel, and they are grafted back into their Vine, it will bring a surge of life and blessing to the whole Body of Messiah!  At that time, Israel will once again take their place as God’s priesthood and take the light of the Gospel to the nations, fulfilling their divine calling, because it’s irrevocable!

But what about the Gentiles?!

I’m a gentile.  My family is mixture of mankind with prominent elements of Irish—hence the last name “Daugherty”.  So what place do I, and most of you reading this, have in God’s plan?  As my Kentucky lingo would have me say—we’re right smack dab in the middle of it!!  Haha!

God has always intended the salvation of all His children!!  The way He went about that was by separating a people group from among all the people groups, declaring them His divine priesthood, teaching them His Torah (righteous instructions), and telling them to share it with the rest of their human brothers and sisters!  That’s what Israel is!  It’s their destiny!  But the ultimate goal of their calling is our salvation!  But look at what Paul says in his final remarks of Romans 11—

“For just as you [Gentiles]were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their [Israel] disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy!” (vss 30-31)

How is it that the Jewish people will receive mercy “by the mercy shown to you”?  Well, this can happen in 2 ways—1) By our acceptance of the God of Israel, and our conforming to the instructions in God’s Torah, we will cause the Jewish people to see that the nations are putting their trust in the God of Israel.  This will cause a certain element of jealousy, realizing that we are experiencing blessings that they are being left out of for the time.  2)Just as Israel’s destiny is to be a light to the nations, we Gentiles are grafted into this same Abrahamic Vine and we are made partakers in that very same destiny!!  We have the responsibility to take the gospel to the nations, but we must remember our responsibility to present the gospel to the Jewish people as a priority!  There are Jewish people not only in the land of Israel, but in virtually every nation on the planet!  When we do our missionary work among these nations, we should, like Paul, seek out the Jewish community there and present the gospel to them!  In this way, the mercy shown to us will enable us to present the Gospel’s mercy to them!

Paul completes his thoughts by stating:

                “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all” (vs. 32).

God, in His wisdom and knowledge has created a scene where the nations depend upon the Jewish people, and the Jewish people depend upon the nations!  And all of us together depend upon the mercy of the God of Israel!

I will spend more time in a later writing upon the place of Gentiles in relation to the Jewish people in the Body of Messiah, but I want to point out here that we Gentiles have been grafted into the Vine along with the Jewish people.  We are made partakers of the Abrahamic Covenant and we are fellow heirs with the Jewish people in all the covenants of the Promise.

“Remember that you were at one time separated from Messiah, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah…So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints [Israel’s believing remnant] and members of the household of God.” (Eph. 2:12-13, 19)

This falls in line with Paul’s metaphor, doesn’t it?  We are grafted in to the Vine of Abraham’s descendents.  We are “heirs of Abraham” by virtue of our faith.  So we have now received citizenship with the “saints” [“holy ones”, or “set apart/chosen” ones—this is a reference to the believing remnant of Israel].

As Gentiles, we have no reason to feel like 2^nd class citizens, or as “unchosen” citizens.  On the contrary, from eternity past, Adonai the God of Israel, has chosen us from among the nations to graft us into His Vine.  In His mercy, He has made us full-fledged members of the Covenants of Israel.  But heeding Paul’s instruction to us in Romans 11, we should not attempt to whitewash Israel’s destiny in the world.  Rather, we should uphold Israel’s destiny in the world and join in that calling with our believing Jewish brothers!  As a new unified man, consisting of Jews and Gentiles, we have the right and the responsibility to carry out the divine destiny in our day.

So let’s get busy!

John

I hope to be able to challenge you in understanding our position in God’s Kingdom in the present time.  Perhaps by the time you finish this article, you’ll have a new perspective on this interplay between the future, restored Kingdom of God and the present reality of the Kingdom of God in our lives now.

In order to do that, let’s establish what the Apostles say about both of these aspects of the Kingdom of God.

Kingdom of God is a Future Reality

We find evidence in the Scripture that the Kingdom of God is a future reality that we are striving to inherit.  It’s our hope to be allowed to enter into the Kingdom of God that is being prepared for us.  Perhaps one of the most famous of these passages is Yeshua’s own words in Matthew 25 concerning the time of His return when He divides the sheep and the goats—

“And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty…” (Mt. 25:33-35)

We see here that the Kingdom of God is an inheritance being prepared for those that, in this age, do the good works that we are destined to do.  This idea of our future admittance into the World-to-Come being the inheritance of the Kingdom of God is also readily seen by another comment from Yeshua in Matthew 8.

“When Jesus heard this [the Centurion’s faith], He marveled and said to those who followed Him, ‘Truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.  I tell you, many will come from the east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, while the sons of the Kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mt. 8:10-12)

We see here that the Kingdom of God is looked forward to, as a time when those from among the nations [like the Centurion] will sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Also notice here that a reference is made concerning the “sons of the Kingdom” being thrown out.  This is a reference to unbelieving Israelites!  This shows the consistent understanding that the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Israel.  Some Israelis will not be allowed admittance to the restored Kingdom of Israel in the World-to-Come, while many from among the nations that believe will be granted access.

[Don’t be thrown by the term “Kingdom of Heaven” as opposed to “Kingdom of God”.  They are one and the same.  Matthew consistently uses the euphemism “Kingdom of Heaven” in order to keep from saying “God”, as was a custom among many in his day.  Luke doesn’t seem to have any need for the circumlocution, so He consistently uses “Kingdom of God”.  There are many parallel passages between Matthew’s gospel and Luke’s gospel, where Matthew uses “Kingdom of Heaven” and Luke uses “Kingdom of God”.]

Notice these verses that speak of entering a future Kingdom:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.” (Mt. 7:21)

“I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine [at the Passover] until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s Kingdom.” (Mt. 26:29)

“…envy, drunkenness, orgies, and thing like these.  I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” (Gal. 5:21)

“For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.” (Eph. 5:5)

“This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering…” (2 Thess. 1:5)

“The Lord will rescue me [Paul] from every evil deed and bring me safely into His Heavenly Kingdom.  To Him be the glory forever and ever.  Amen.” (2 Tim 4:18)

From these verses we can see that they all anticipate a future reality of the Kingdom of God in a way that we are not presently experiencing.  But we should look at one other passage before we leave this point.  We’ve looked at it earlier in our Kingdom study, but we’ll do so again briefly here.

“As they heard these things, He [Jesus] proceeded to tell a parable, because He was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the Kingdom of God was to appear immediately.  He said therefore, ‘A nobleman went into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom and then return.  Calling ten of His servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’  But His citizens hated Him and sent a delegation after Him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’  When He returned, having received the Kingdom, He ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to Him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business.” (Luke 19:11-15)

We generally call this the Parable of the Talents (from Matthew’s account), but here in Luke the money is weighed out in minas—about 3-months salary (per mina)!  The nobleman in this story is Jesus Himself.  He was going to leave to go to a “far country to receive for Himself a Kingdom”.  When He did receive the Kingdom, He would return.  This motif of the owner leaving to a far country reoccurs in Jesus’ parables often.  They speak of His leaving to go “where they cannot go”.  It’s a reference to His ascension into the heavenly realms where He will receive dominion and authority at the hands of His Father (Dan. 7).  We will look at this in a little bit.  He was telling this parable in order to set the proper expectation for His disciples.  They were expecting the Kingdom of God to be established immediately, so he told this parable in order to teach them that He would be leaving for a while.  And while He was gone, they were to carry on His business pursuits for Him!  When He returned (with the Kingdom), He would reward His servants according to their works while He was away.

There is much that could be said concerning this parable, but we’ll revisit this along with some of the other “Kingdom parables” later in our study.  For now, realize that Yeshua is teaching that His Kingdom has a future aspect to it that was not available in the days of His apostles.  But the Kingdom would come in force at His return to His home. 

So once again, the Kingdom of God is seen as a future reality.  However, the Kingdom of God is also seen as a present reality in the Apostolic Scriptures!

Kingdom of God is a Present Reality

One day Yeshua healed a man that was blind and mute and full of demons.  When the people around Him saw that, they began saying, “Can this be the Son of David [ie- the Messiah]?”  When the Pharisees heard this, they were flustered and made the claim that Yeshua was casting these demons out by the power of Satan, not God.  Yeshua told the Pharisees that if Satan is casting his own demons out, then his kingdom wouldn’t be able to stand very long.  He then makes this statement to the Pharisees—

“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.  How can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods [cast out his demons], unless He first binds the strong man?  When He does, He may plunder his house.” (Matt. 12:28-29)

Jesus was saying to the Pharisees that the reason He was able to cast out demons by the Spirit of God was because He had already bound the strong man—Satan.  And if that’s the case, the Kingdom of God has come!  This is not a future hope statement here!  He’s saying that the Kingdom of God is present and working through Him!

A similar remark is made in Luke 17—

“Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, He answered them, ‘The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There’, for behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20-21)

Here, Yeshua is telling the Pharisees that their idea of a Messiah gathering an army in the desert and leading a revolt against the Romans is not going to happen.  They won’t be able to say, “Look, the Kingdom of God is here because we have the mighty Messianic warrior!”  Rather, He tells them that the Kingdom of God was already in their very midst!  The implication is that He, the King that shall rule from the Throne of David, was standing in front of them, but they did not recognize Him.  “The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you”.  That’s another present-reality verse.

Of course, Paul chimes in with present expressions of the Kingdom as well.  In the book of Colossians, he says—

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:13)

According to this passage, we are currently in the Kingdom of God!  But how can this be if the Kingdom of God is something that we inherit at the return of Messiah?  And we’ve spend countless pages showing evidence that the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Israel.  That the Throne that Yeshua will sit in is none other than the Throne of David.  And it’s this Kingdom of the Throne of David that will “be established and increase forever” (Isa. 9:6-7; Luke 1:26-35).  But how does this Kingdom of Israel mesh with the idea of being transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the “Kingdom of His beloved Son”?  The two concepts seem disconnected.  Where’s the answer here?

It’s at this point that I would like to make a challenging point.  It’s a matter that can be deduced from the Scripture with relative ease, yet it will take some patience for you to hear me out.  I’m going to show you, without rehashing all the lessons we’ve worked through so far (you can go back and read them if you’d like), that the Kingdom of God is a future reality.  I would also like to point out that the New Covenant is a future reality.  The restoration of the Kingdom of Israel (the Kingdom of God) is a future event that will occur at the return of Jesus Christ to this earth.  At that time, the New Covenant will be poured out upon the House of Israel and the House of Judah.  According to the prophets, these are future events that will take place.

But I’d also like to show that even though these are future events, we believers in Messiah have been given a “foretaste” of these future events even now!  Even though the New Covenant will not ultimately be fulfilled until the return of Messiah, we who are in Messiah now, are in that future New Covenant already.  And we’re also in that future Kingdom of God at this present time.  I’d like to explain how that is possible, using the Scripture to do so.

Once I’ve explained this, I believe you’ll see how the Kingdom of God can at the same time be the restored Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of His Son that’s in opposition to the kingdom of darkness.  It will make sense how the New Covenant can be future and present simultaneously.

So let’s get started—

The Restoration of David’s Kingdom is linked to the New Covenant

In Acts chapter 1, just before Messiah’s Ascension, the apostles ask Yeshua a question:  “Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?”  Now I’ve heard countless preachers claim that these guys just didn’t get it! Somehow, these men that walked and learned from Jesus for the last several years, and who were getting ready in just moments to be sent out among the nations as representatives of Jesus, apparently “don’t get it?”  Well, I think that’s quite arrogant.  Perhaps these men knew more about what they were talking about than many of our modern day preachers, two thousand years removed from their time and culture?

Notice Jesus’ response to them.  He didn’t say, “Man, how long is it going to take you guys to understand the message of the gospel I’m getting ready to send you out with?”  No.  Rather, He said, “It is not for you to experience the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (vss. 7-8).  Far from chastising them for a lack of understanding, Jesus simply said that it wasn’t their destiny to experience the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel.  Their destiny/mission was to be His witnesses to the nations!  But the restoration of Israel’s Kingdom is a reality!  It’s a time that’s fixed by our heavenly Father’s authority! 

We spent many chapters discussing the promises of the restoration of the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Israel, and it was divided into two kingdoms—the House of Israel and the House of Judah.  Both of these two kingdoms were scattered among the nations in exile, with only the House of Judah being returned to the Land.  But page after page of the prophetic writings prophesied that these two kingdoms would be reunited again under the righteous rule and reign of “One Shepherd”, or “One King”.  This hope of the restoration of all things was the expectation that the apostles were asking about in Acts 1.  They wouldn’t experience this restoration in their lifetime, but the restoration is still coming!

This future restoration of the Kingdom of God occurs when the two Houses of Israel are reunited once again.  This reunification would not only be marked by One Leader again, but would also be marked by the pouring out of the New Covenant!  Let’s briefly look at some of these passages showing just that.  I will add comments throughout the passages in brackets.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares Adonai, when I will sow the House of Israel and the House of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of animals.  [This “sowing” of the House of Israel with man and beast hearkens back to Hosea’s prophesies in chapter 2, where He speaks about a “covenant” with the animals and abolishing war—we call this time the Millennium, or the Messianic Age.  At that time God said He would remove idolatry once and for all and renew His marriage with Israel.  This is what the marriage feast of the Lamb is all about in the book of the Revelation.]  And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord.  In those days they shall no longer say: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’.  But everyone shall die for his own sin.  Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

“Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah.  [Notice that this promise of the New Covenant is given in conjunction with Israel’s promised return to the land.]  Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—My covenant that they broke, though I was their Husband, declares the Lord.  But this is the covenant [agreement] that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:  I will put My Torah within them, and I will write it on their hearts.  And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.  For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”  (Jer. 31:27-34)

Ezekiel also addresses the New Covenant, this time of Israel’s regathering from among the nations when God’s Spirit is poured out within us!  2 Corinthians 3:3 links the writing upon our hearts (from Jer. 31) by the Spirit of God with the replacement of hearts of stone with new hearts of flesh (found in Ezekiel 11 and 36).  It says, “And you show that you are a letter from Messiah delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor 3:3).

“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone’.  Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:  I will gather you from among the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel’.  And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.  And I will give them one heart, and a new Spirit will I put within them.  [Notice here that the New Covenant occurs when Israel is gathered back into the land—just like Jeremiah 31 showed.]  I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and obey them.  And they shall by My people, and I will be their God.” (Eze. 11:16-20)

“I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My commandments.  [Once again, this New Covenant inner work will occur when Israel is reunited in the land again.]  You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” (Eze. 36:24-28)

“Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from among the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.  And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.  And one King shall be king over them all, and they shall no longer be two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.  [This is the reunified Kingdom of Israel being spoken of here!  When this regathering/reunification takes place, Israel will obey God’s commandments and enter an everlasting covenant with Him.]  They shall not defile themselves anymore with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions.  But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.  My servant David shall be king over them [David means “the Beloved”.  This is a title for Jesus.  He is God’s Beloved Servant.], and they shall all have one Shepherd.  They shall walk in My rules and be careful to obey My statutes.  They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived.  They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David My servant shall be their prince forever.  I will make a covenant of peace with them.  It shall be an everlasting covenant with them [This ‘everlasting’ covenant is the New Covenant].  And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.  My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (Eze. 37:21-27)

We can see in these passages that the time of the Spirit being poured out into Israel is at the time of their reunification.  At this time, Israel will have God’s Torah written on their new hearts of flesh, and they will become obedient to God’s Torah!  This New Covenant occurs at the yet future regathering of Israel from among the nations!

This reunited Kingdom/New Covenant is a future reality in the Age-to-Come

Not only does Ezekiel speak about outpouring of God’s Spirit in conjunction with the regathering of Israel from among the nations, but He also says that this occur when God raises Israel from their graves!

“Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O My people.  And I will bring you into the land of Israel.  And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O My people.  [This is a reference to resurrection.  Some point out that this could be mere metaphorical language, considering the image of the dry bones in the valley that Ezekiel was just shown in a vision.  But God mentions bringing Israel up from their graves four times here!  I believe that this goes beyond the metaphorical language, and that God is declaring His intent to actually resurrect them from their graves at their regathering from among the nations.  This sits very well with the apostolic teaching that at the return of Messiah, He will send his angels to gather “His elect”, a designation for Israel, from the four directions of the earth, and simultaneously open the graves of those who have put their faith in His work!  We’ll look at some of these passages next.]  And I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.  Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” (Eze. 37:12-14)

We will now see that in the book of Deuteronomy, God declares that His return would accompany this regathering from the nations and the circumcising of Israel’s hearts.

“And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon you—the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations wherever Adonai your God has driven you.  When you shall return to Adonai your God, and obey His voice according to all that I command you this day—you and your children—with all your heart, and with all your soul, at that time Adonai your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion on your, and will return and gather you from all the nations wherever Adonai your God has scattered you.  [So when Israel, that is scattered among all the nations begins to turn back to the Torah, God will ‘return and gather them’ from among those nations.]  If any of you are driven out to the outmost parts of heaven, from there will Adonai your God gather you, and from there will he fetch you.  And Adonai your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers.  [This language is VERY similar to the language Yeshua uses to describe His own return when He gathers the exiles from the nations.]  And Adonai your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live.  And Adonai your God will put all these curses upon your enemies, and on them that hate you, which persecuted you.  And you shall return and obey the voice of Adonai, and do all His commandments which I command you this day.” (Dt. 30:1-8)

Now compare what’s said here in Deuteronomy to how Yeshua describes His own future return to the earth and the gathering of the “elect”.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the land mourn [the hebrew and greek words for ‘land’ and ‘earth’ are the same words.  This seems to be a reference to the tribes of the Land—as in Israel—that will be mourning.  Zechariah speaks about this mourning as they recognize Yeshua as the Messiah.  It’s a good thing!]  and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Mt. 24:29-31)

Look at how the gospel of Mark describes this gathering of the exiles—

“And then shall he send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” (Mk 13:27)

Yeshua’s description of His gathering of the exiles matches Deuteronomy’s description.  And what is it that sets the stage for this “return and regathering” from God?  It’s when God’s Elect begins to keep God’s Torah among the nations that we’re scattered in.  When that happens, God “will return and gather us” from the nations and circumcise our hearts!  That’s New Covenant language!  But you say, “Wait!  I’ve ALREADY got a circumcised heart!”  Right!  But remember we’re discussing how this Kingdom of God/New Covenant is a future reality AND a present reality simultaneously!  Hold on!

“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples.  This siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah.  On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples.  All who lift it will surely hurt themselves.  And all the nations of the earth will gather against it…on that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves[cf. Obadiah 1:18, Isaiah 10:17-18]…And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a Spirit of grace and cries for mercy, so that, when they look on Me, on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over Him, as one weeps over a firstborn. [This mourning over the ‘Pierced One’—Yeshua—will occur at Messiah’s return.  At this time, the Spirit of Grace will be poured out upon the House of David.  This falls in line with the idea that at Yeshua’s return, God will circumcise the heart of Israel.  This is a picture of the New Covenant occurring at the time of Yeshua’s return.]”  (Zech 12:2-3,6,10)

I could go on and on showing that the time of the pouring of the Spirit out on Israel will occur at a future time, when they recognize Yeshua as the Messiah.  At that time, Yeshua will gather His exiles from among the nations and the two houses of Israel will be reunited under One King/One Head, which is Yeshua!  So the New Covenant Outpouring, the Reunited Kingdom of Israel, and the Regathering from among the nations is a future reality reserved for the beginning of the Messianic Age, or as some would call it, the Millennium.

This makes sense why Yeshua told Pilate that “My Kingdom is not of this world (age)” (John 18:36).

So if these events are future, and reserved to the Age-to-Come, how is it that we as New Covenant believers are experiencing these things now, in this age?  Let’s take a look at 1 Corinthians 15 to find that answer.

The Path to the Age-to-Come is Death/Resurrection

There’s a passage of Scripture that most Christians are familiar with.  It gives us comfort with a promise from God.  It also tells us an important truth about God’s Kingdom.

“I tell you this, brothers:  flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Behold! I tell you a mystery.  We shall not all sleep [die] but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

Death is swallowed up in victory.  O Death, where is your victory?  O Death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:50-55)

No one can enter God’s Kingdom (obviously in the future here) in their mortal bodies!  Paul was telling us about the glorified bodies we’ll receive in order to reinforce this truth.  Flesh and blood simply can’t enter the Kingdom of God.  So how do we enter it?  We first must die (unless we’re a part of that last remnant that will be living).  Dying and being resurrected is the doorway into the Age-to-Come!  There are many who have died at the present, but they haven’t been resurrected.  When Yeshua returns and we are resurrected, that will be the time of the inauguration of the Restored Kingdom of God in the earth.  With this truth in mind, this is where things begin to get interesting!

Yeshua Himself has ALREADY died and been resurrected!  So He has, in essence, already entered the Age to Come, because He will never die again!  So Yeshua is not awaiting some future day to begin His reign over the Kingdom of God, He is reigning as King over the Kingdom right now!  We’ll see that the Scripture is abundantly clear on this fact.

When Yeshua was standing before the High Priest on the night before His crucifixion, the High Priest demanded that Yeshua tell them if He was indeed the Messiah.  Yeshua’s answer seems cryptic to us, but to the High Priest, it was evidently clear what Yeshua was saying.  His reaction to Yeshua’s statement betrays His full understanding of Yeshua’s words.  Let’s look at that exchange—

“But Yeshua remained silent.  And the High Priest said to Him, ‘I adjure you by the Living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.’  Yeshua said to him, ‘You have said so.  But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’  Then the High Priest tore His robes and said, ‘He has uttered blasphemy.  What further witnesses do we need?  You have now heard His blasphemy.’”  (Matt. 26:63-65)

Notice that the High Priest asked Yeshua if He was the Son of God, but Yeshua responded by calling Himself the Son of Man, which caused the High Priest to lay an accusation of blasphemy against Yeshua.  Now to many of us this doesn’t make sense.  We’ve been taught that ‘Son of God’ was a title that spoke of Yeshua’s divinity, while ‘Son of Man’ referred to His humanity.  But ironically, the opposite is true.  The title “Son of God” comes from a promise to David that his descendents would rule over Israel.  God said to David—

“And when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom…I will be to him a father, and he shall be to Me a son.”  (2 Sam. 7:12,14)

This is why the High Priest asks if Yeshua is “the Messiah, the Son of God”.  This was also the response of Peter when Yeshua asked him, “Who do you say that I am?”  “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!”

But the title of Son of Man (though it certainly can be used—and often is—of the fact that one is a son of Adam—hence human), it also carried a divine essence to the title.  Why?

In Ezekiel chapter one, the prophets received a vision of the God of Israel, full of cherubim, living creatures, wheels inside of wheels, all surrounding a Throne.  But upon the throne was “the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it”! (Ez. 1:26)  Upon this Throne in the Heavenlies was a human-like figure!  That was incredible to the Sages!  Who IS this being?  He’s given divine qualities, yet looks human?  Another place this being is seen is in Daniel 7, the passage that Yeshua was quoting from in His response to the High Priest.

“I saw in the night visions, and behold!  One like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before Him.  And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him:  His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”  (Dan. 7:13-14)

Here, we see this “Son of Man” receiving the rulership of the Kingdom of God.  All nations, peoples, and languages would serve this Son of Man—this God-Man!  Many of the Sages were taken with this revelation.  Who was this ‘Son of Man’?  Some speculated that it was one and the same with the Messiah, giving the Messiah a divine quality.  Others didn’t agree.

But to the High Priest, Yeshua declared that He WAS this Son of Man that would “be coming on the clouds of Heaven”.  He was identifying Himself with this God-Man that would rule over the Kingdom of God.  This would make Yeshua the superior over the High Priest.  You can now understand the High Priest’s charge of blasphemy!  Yeshua was claiming to be Divine!

But Yeshua also alluded to another passage about this mystical being.  Not only did Yeshua say that he would come in the clouds of heaven, He also said that He would be “seated at the right hand of Power (a 1^st Century title for God)”.  This allusion came from Psalms 110—

“Adonai said to My Lord, Sit You at My right hand, until I make Your enemies your footstool…Adonai has sworn, and will not repent, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’”  (Psa. 110:1,4)

Once again, we have a being identified as “David’s Lord”, that is being granted an eternal priesthood after Melchizedek’s Order, that will sit at the right hand of God and rule till all His enemies are humbled.  This has long been seen as a messianic psalm.  Yeshua said that it refers to Him.  So capture the full message of what Yeshua is saying to the High Priest.  Yeshua is essentially saying, “I am the Son of Man that will sit at the right hand of God, and be given the rulership of the Kingdom of God over all peoples, nations and languages.  And when I am seated, God will begin to subdue My enemies under My feet.”  This HAD to sting the High Priest!  What if Yeshua was right?!  Haha!

We know He certainly WAS right!  Now, notice in the Daniel passage, that Yeshua is not leaving from the Ancient of Days and coming to the earth to establish His Kingdom.  No!  He’s “coming to the Ancient of Days” in the clouds of Heaven.  Let’s put the two parts of this scene together.

“And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:9)

That’s one side of the scene.  The other side is in Daniel 7 when these clouds carry Yeshua right up to the Ancient of Days to receive a “dominion, glory and a Kingdom”!  Remember Yeshua’s parable to the apostles, ‘because they thought the Kingdom of God should immediately appear’?  He told them that the Owner left the Vineyard for a while ‘to another country to receive a Kingdom’!  That’s exactly what he did.  Yeshua ascended into Heaven, was ushered before the Ancient of Days, and was given the rulership of the Kingdom of God, being seated at the right hand of God.  That’s where He is right now!

How do we know this is what happened?  Check out all these verses declaring that Yeshua is currently at the right hand of God—

“But he (Steven) being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Yeshua standing on the right hand of God.  And said, ‘Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.’” (Acts 7:55-56)

“Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High…”  (Heb. 1:3)

“But this man [Yeshua] after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool.”  (Heb. 10:12-13)

“Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.”  (1 Peter 3:22)

“But now is Messiah risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept [died]…Then the end, when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.  For He must reign, till he has put all enemies under His feet.  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”  (1 Cor. 15:20, 24-26)

Wow!  Yeshua is reigning at the right hand of God NOW over the everything!  And He WILL reign until all rule and authority and power is put down.  The point I want to make in all of this is:  Yeshua has already begun the rule of the Kingdom of God, even though the Kingdom of God is a future reality that flesh and blood cannot enter!  Since He’s already died and resurrected, He’s already in the Age-to-Come.  He’s passed through the door of death/resurrection, and is now in His eternal position as the King of the Kingdom of God.  As we read in Isaiah 9, and repeated in Luke, “upon His shoulder shall be the government…and the increase of His government and peace shall see no end, upon the Throne of David, and upon His Kingdom…”

He’s not the only one to pass through Death/Resurrection

But He’s not the only one to pass through the door of death and resurrection.  Scripture teaches us that when Messiah died, we who have put our trust in His offering, died with Him, and have consequently been resurrected with Him!

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Messiah Yeshua were baptized into His death?  We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (resurrection life).” (Rom 6:3-4)

“In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Messiah, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” (Col. 2:11-12)

“If then you have been raised with Messiah, seek the things that are above, where Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Messiah in God.” (Col. 3:1-3)

“I have been crucified with Messiah.  It is no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal 2:20)

This idea is imperative for believers to understand!  When Messiah died, so did we!  What’s that mean?  It means that the penalty for our sins—our death—has been paid in full!  That makes us free!!  Since all our sins have been atoned for—past, present and future sins—in the offering up of Messiah, then there remains no more condemnation for those in Messiah! (Rom. 8:1)

And with the same power that God raised Messiah from the dead (Holy Spirit), He has now made us alive by that same Spirit!  So our inner man is already experiencing the eternal life that we will have forever!  In fact, not only are we considered resurrected with Messiah, we’re also considered “ascended” with Him and “seated at God’s right hand” with Him too!

“Even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive [resurrection] together with Messiah—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up [ascension] with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places [at the right hand of God] in Messiah Yeshua, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace toward us in Messiah Yeshua.” (Eph. 2:5-7)

So you see, not only has Yeshua begun His reign over the Age-to-Come, but we are reigning as well!  In fact, Paul’s attitude toward this present Age was that He was dead to it!

“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, by Whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Gal. 6:14)

Paul made mention in 1 Corinthians that the present world is “passing away” (1 Cor. 2:6; 7:31).  The Apostle John said the same thing—comparing this present age to ‘darkness’ that was passing away, and saying that the ‘true light’ (Age to Come) was already shining (1 John 2:8, 17).

The writer of Hebrews gives a stiff warning in chapter 6 about someone who turns their back on Yeshua after having “tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the power of the Age to Come” (Heb. 6:5).  Why would he say this?  Because we’re already tasting what ultimately awaits us at the inauguration of the Age to Come.  When Yeshua returns, gathering His people from among the nations, He will pour out upon us in fullness what we are simply tasting now.  Currently, we are experiencing in our inner man the power of the New Covenant that will not be poured out fully until the return of Messiah!  “What?” you say.  This is clearly taught in the Apostolic Scriptures.  I’ll show you some verses—

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Rom. 8:22-23)

The work of God that we have experienced so far is restricted to our inner man.  But that’s not all we can expect!  We’re looking forward to the day when Yeshua returns and our bodies are changed into glorified entities!  Until then, we have been given the firstfruits of the Spirit to preserve us to the “Day of Redemption”(Eph. 4:30).

“It is God Who establishes us with you in Messiah, and has anointed us, and Who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts [our inner man] as a guarantee [or a ‘down payment’].” (2 Cor. 1:21-22)

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed [our physical body], we have a building from God [a glorified body], a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly house, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.  For while we are still in this tent [earthly body], we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life!  He Who has prepared us for this very thing is God, Who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee [down payment].” (2 Cor. 5:1-5)

You see, we miss this understanding if we’re unfamiliar with the promises made to our forefathers in the Scripture!  There’s an ultimate work of the New Covenant that is yet to come.  A work that we are just tasting now.  But when Messiah comes, we will put on immortality and be able to handle the fullness of the Spirit of God!  That will occur at the inauguration of the Age to Come!  And it’s at that time—the Age to Come—when the fullness of the Kingdom of God, the fullness of the New Covenant, and the regathering of the people of God from every nation will become a reality!

THIS is how we, as believers in Yeshua the Messiah, can see the Kingdom of God/New Covenant as a future reality, yet experience it now in this age.  Now doesn’t that make sense?

Haha!  I thought so.

Till next time—Shalom!

John D

That’s a loaded question! In short, yes!  Let me explain how.  Contrary to mainstream understanding of the issue, Christianity is Jewish! In fact, we are one of the oldest sects of Judaism still in existence today!

The early followers of Yeshua (Jesus) were mostly Jewish for several decades.  And according to Paul, the early believers understood God’s work through the gospel as fulfilling the ancient promises to the Jewish people.  ”Now I say that Jesus the Messiah was a minister of the circumcision (Jewish people) for the truth of God, TO CONFIRM THE PROMISES MADE UNTO THE FATHERS” (Rom 15:8).  Jesus, as the perfect sacrifice that atones for sin, made it possible for the blessings of God’s Law (both temporal and eternal) to come upon the believing Israeli remnant.  That was (and is) the gospel to the Jewish people that was to be preached first!  But the gospel didn’t just stop with the Jewish people.  God has opened the doors wide open and commanded His remnant to preach His gospel to the gentile nations as well.  In fact, Gentiles are to be welcomed INTO Israel with open arms!  We, who WERE foreigners not included in the Commonwealth of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the Promise–we are now “no longer foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints (‘holy ones’–believing Israeli remnant)” (Eph 2:12,19).

According to Romans 11, Gentiles are grafted into the Vine of Israel.  So the believing Jewish people and the believing Gentile people are made one in Messiah, and the ancient promises will come upon this believing remnant from among Israel and the nations!

So yes, the promises are for “Christians”, not because we REPLACE Israel in any way, but because we ARE Israel–both Jews and Gentiles in Messiah!

Last night, Tamerlan and Dzhokar killed a police officer, took his car, robbed a 7/11 corner mart, and hijacked another vehicle.  Being chased by the police, the brothers threw explosives out of the car toward the police in the chase. 

The older brother, Tamerlan, has been shot and killed, but the manhunt continues for Dzhokar even now.

What’s caught my attention is the public perception of 19 year old Dzhokar.  According to Dzhokar’s father, he was “a true angel”.  Acquaintences of Dzhokar can’t believe that he would be capable of such actions because, in their words, he was “normal”, and “people just loved him”.

When I listened to these accounts, a Scripture came to my mind.  In 1 Samuel 16:7, the God of Israel was speaking to the prophet about the next king of Israel.  Samuel was visiting the home of Jesse, and was looking at the oldest son of Jesse as a possible king.  However, God hadn’t chosen Jesse’s oldest, but rather Jesse’s youngest–David.  In this verse, God gave us an insight about Himself–

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look upon his appearance, or upon the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.  For the Lord sees not as man sees:  man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

We have to keep in mind that though those around us, and we ourselves, may look normal outwardly, God knows what we are inwardly.  God looks upon our hearts, and judges us according to His view.

Fortunately for those who have put their trust in Messiah, the view that God has of us is the resurrection life of His Spirit within us that draws us ever closer to the character of Jesus the Messiah.  For us, though there may be some dark areas in our hearts that we attempt to hide, God’s Spirit is constantly at work to purify us from these sins that easily trip us up and He always shining the light of God’s Word within our hearts!

Thank you Abba for that–that’s grace!

Remember back in grade school when your biggest worries were being invited to the dance, or whether or not you’d be rejected if you asked somebody out?  OK, maybe some of you were more studious than others, and you worried over midterm and finals!  You thought that you were living in the crucible of life at that time, remember that?

But now that we have mortgages, car payments, insurance and utilities, we see things different in retrospect.  We watch the news and see wars and rumors of wars.  We hear about the economy and wonder about our jobs, or if we’ll ever find a job!  The bills continue to increase and the income seems to dwindle.

And what about our families?  Fathers are having to spend more time at work to cover the work of those that were laid off.  Mothers are either working full time jobs themselves, or are homeschooling their children all day long.  Time becomes a precious commodity that we get way too little of.

All of these things bring pressure—stress!  Our worries today seem to eclipse our worries of yesterday.  Things we struggled over 5 years ago would seem easy compared to the loads we carry now.  But why?  Why do we seem to find ourselves in these situations?  Doesn’t God know what’s going on in our lives?  Does He care?  Does anybody else care?

Count it all Joy

James instructs us to count it all joy when we go through these various kinds of trials.  He says that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness.  But most of us aren’t undergoing persecution in prison for our faith, nor are we being beaten in the streets because of our faith in Yeshua.  Our faith isn’t being tested is it?  Of course it is!

We oftentimes miss the correlation between our everyday pressures and our faith, but it’s there right in front of us!  One of the hallmarks of our faith is our staunch belief that Yeshua is the King of the Kingdom of God—that God has given Him all authority, dominion and power.  But when we go through the constant pressures of life—joblessness, financial ruin, or just never getting a break!—we are being tempted to question that very rule of Yeshua.  Our flesh, the World, the spirits of darkness all combine efforts to tell us that God doesn’t care, that He’s concerned with everybody else, but not us.  Mentally we know better, but sometimes it’s hard to translate that mental understanding into real life!  That’s our trial.

But James tells us that if we’ll allow the trial to do its work in us, then we’ll become “perfect and complete”, lacking nothing.  That means that the trial will mature us, and refine us.  When we’re going through tough times, we have to remember that God is in charge.  He is concerned about us and He is working things out for our good.  We may have an internal struggle to believe that, but we must struggle and rest in the understanding that God is in control.

Just Keep Going!

Last weekend, my son, my father-in-law and I were working at my house.  We were doing some concrete work and my son and I had the pleasant task of shoveling a few tons of sand from one place to another.  Tractors couldn’t reach the area, so we were forced to tackle this task with a shovel each.  As we were going, my son was overwhelmed a bit at the task before us.  He kept trying to figure out another way to move this sand without this manual labor I was insisting on.  (As they should have said, laziness is the mother of invention!  Haha!)

After a few complaints from my son, I began to tell him about the value of endurance.  Just keep going and before you know it, it’ll be over.  I told him to find a rhythm and go with it.  Pretty soon, he was shoveling like a mad man!  He just kept going and going and going—like the energizer bunny!  Haha!  And before long, the whole pile was moved and in its new position.

So what happened?  Did he get infused with power that he didn’t have before?  No.  He had the ability to do that work all along.  He had it in him to move that insurmountable pile of sand from one place to another.  All he needed to do was make up his mind that he was going to keep going.  To find a rhythm in the pressure.  Sure his lungs were still burning and his muscles turning sore, but he decided to keep going even if it was uncomfortable, and he made his Daddy awfully proud that day!!

The Dross must go

In Isaiah chapter 1, God is speaking to Israel about their waywardness.  He says—

“How the faithful city has become unchaste, she who was full of justice!  Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.  Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water.” (Isa. 1:21-22)

You can hear the lament in Adonai’s voice as He weeps over Israel’s backslidings.  They once were righteous and faithful, but now they’ve become mixed with sin.  He uses a metaphor, stating that their “silver has become dross”.  What’s this mean?

In the Biblical days, when one found gold or silver in the ground, it was rarely ever pure straight out of the ground, so the precious metal had to be refined.  This refining happened by heating up the precious metal to unbelievable temperatures.  As the metal boiled, the impurities would begin to float to the surface.  These impurities were then skimmed off of the surface and removed from the gold or silver.  These impurities are called “the dross”.  Once this was done, you’d think the process was over, right?  But no—it was heated up even hotter!  When this happened, more dross would come to the surface.  Time and time again, the precious metal would be heated up, and cleaned off, heated up and cleaned off, on and on it would go, until no visible dross would come to the surface.  The gold or silver was then considered pure.

Here in Isaiah, God is telling Israel that their silver has become mixed with impurities.  They’re no longer pure in devotion for Him.  His other metaphor backs up this understanding—He says their wine has become mixed with water.  In other words, it’s no longer pure.

God tells Israel in just a few verses later that He was going to purify them like a refiner purifies precious metal!

“I will turn My hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.” (Isa. 1:25)

An alloy is a mixed metal.  God is saying that I’m going to purify you Israel.  And how is He going to do that?  By turning His hand against them.  Now does that mean that God no longer loves Israel, or that He is turning His back on them?  Of course not!  The result of this purifying is in the next verse where God says,

                “Afterward you shall be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City!” (vs 26)

God’s work in Israel would appear to be against them for a time.  He would allow outside forces to come in and oppress Israel, using these forces as a tool to cause Israel’s heart to turn back to Him.  When Israel called out to God, He would be right there!  From Israel’s perspective, things are really tough!  Things are looking really bad!  And where is God during all this?  But from God’s perspective, He’s right there.  He’s in control!  He’s adding logs to the fire to refine His precious silver!

Jesus is a Refiner’s Fire

But wasn’t that back then?  We are pure in God’s eyes now, right?

Scripture certainly teaches that we have a position of righteousness in the eyes of God because of the work of Yeshua (Jesus) for us.  But the Scripture also tells us that Jesus Himself would be a refiner’s fire!  In the writings of Malachi, God introduces us to John the Baptist in Malachi 3:1, following quickly with an introduction concerning Jesus.  John would come as the Messenger and prepare the way for the Lord.  And then the Lord would come suddenly to His temple.  Then Malachi asks the question:

“But who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears?  For He is like a refiner’s fire and like a fuller’s soap.  He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.” (Malachi 3:2-3)

We find here that Jesus is a refiner’s fire.  How so?  When we come to faith in Jesus and enter into His covenant, we are immediately thrust into a warfare that’s been waging for ages!  We are given a new spirit, and we suddenly become at odds with the world around us.  We’re suddenly in war with our own selfish desires!  And the enemy of our souls begins an assault on us.  During our earthly journeys, our responsibility is to become a disciple of Yeshua the Messiah.  We are to conform our lives and thought patterns to His ways of thinking.  Well this isn’t always easy!  He is utterly selfless, and unfortunately, we’re not!  We think quite well of ourselves.  Even those who claim to hate themselves, think well of themselves.  How do we know?  Because they still do what they WANT to do, instead of what He SAYS to do. 

Fortunately for us, God doesn’t leave us to ourselves in this warfare.  He helps us out.  How, you ask?  Haha!  He throws another log on the fire!!  He turns up the heat in our lives.  Things get harder and harder.  People say things they shouldn’t say to us.  Our workload becomes overwhelming.  Our finances are suddenly….gone!  It gets bad.

But, in the middle of these trials that we find ourselves in, if we can just stop ourselves, take some time and recognize that God is in control, then our dross will be removed!  That’s what He’s after.  He wants us to trust Him.  That doesn’t mean to stop persevering—we have to keep going, but internally we are in an attitude of trusting Him while we’re walking through the tough times!

The Revealing of Jesus Christ

Peter chimes in our discussion of refining in 1 Peter 1.  It says—

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ!” (1 Pet. 1:6-7)

Peter says that our faith is more precious than fire-tested gold!  And He says that the authenticity of that faith is tested so that we may be found praiseworthy at the revelation of Jesus Christ!  Obviously in the context of 1 Peter 1, the term “revelation of Jesus Christ” is referring to the return of Jesus when we will undergo our judgment by Him.  But I want to take a look at another aspect of the revealing of Jesus Christ.

Paul says in Galatians 4:19—

“My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!”

This is a reference to Messiah being conceived inside of us, maturing inside of us until He is able to be revealed through us!  Now obviously this is metaphorical talk, but it’s a concept that can help us understand God’s goal in us.

Earlier in Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, he said—

“For I am crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

The life that you are living as a believer is no longer your life.  Messiah desires to live His life through you.  He’s been conceived inside of you.  Now, you must learn to decrease, so that He has room to increase.  This is why Paul speaks of dying to ourselves (our own selfishness) and submitting to the will of God.  But this takes suffering!  Even Jesus, when He was in the Garden of Gethsemene, suffered immensely!  As the book of Hebrews says about Yeshua,

“Although He was a son, he learned obedience through what He suffered.  And being made perfect (mature), he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” (Heb. 5:8-9)

If Jesus learned obedience through suffering, how do we learn obedience?  That’s right—through suffering!  As the trials of life crowd in around us, God is using these pressures to force us to trust entirely upon Him!

If your life is becoming pressured to the point of exploding, look to God!  So often when we find ourselves in trials, we look elsewhere!  We start criticizing our spouses or our children—even if just internally.  We get angry at the person who said something inappropriate to us, and we hold that grudge with everything we have.  We look at our employers or co-workers and judge them because of their lifestyles.  But the wood’s on the fire because God wants us to look to Him!!  He wants us to trust Him.  To put it in His hands and just persevere!

Your spouse is not your answer!  Your children are not your answer!  Your pastor, your friends, your boss—none of them are your answer!  GOD is your answer!  Trust Him!  And when you do, you’ll find that even though the fire may still be hot, suddenly it’s not as bad as it was.  You have sudden strength that you didn’t know you had.  Before long, your pile of sand will be moved and your trial will be over.

“We rejoice in our sufferings, know that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Rom. 5:3-5)

 The Knesset is basically the Israeli version of Congress (or Parliament).  There are 120 members of the Knesset.  These members are voted on by the Israeli public.  Now unlike the American scene where we have two major parties, Israel has LOTS of political parties, and even their larger parties don’t dominate the Israeli political scene like Democrats/Republicans do in the US.  In fact, the most numbers of seats that any single party in Israel has ever held was 56 seats, not even the majority. 

Israelis actually don’t vote for individual candidates, but rather, they vote for parties.  So imagine going to an election poll and instead of voting for individual candidates, your votes was cast for an individual party (ie. Republican/Democrat/Libertarian/Green, etc.).  The number of votes that each party receives determines the number of seats that each party receives in the Knesset.  And just like American parties, Israeli parties vary in the political spectrum from left-leaning, to center, to right-leaning parties.

This year, the largest number of seats was awarded to the Likud party.  That’s the party that Benjamin Netanyahu belongs to.  The next two largest parties are lead by Yair Lapid (19 seats) and Naphtali Bennet (12 seats).

So at this point, Mr Netanyahu must reach out to Mr. Lapid and Mr. Bennet in order to form a government that will have the majority of seats in the Knesset.  This is called a coalition-government, and you’ll hear that term a lot in Israeli politics.  If the largest party (which the Prime Minister comes from) can reach out to other parties and form a strong relationship with them, then the government becomes strong.  If however, the parties are not working well together and continue to quarrel, then the government basically falls apart, and new elections have to be held to vote for a new government.

So in the next few weeks, you’re going to see lots of articles (if you follow Israeli politics) about the Prime Minister reaching out to form his coalition government.  In order to form stronger relationships, he’ll have to give key positions to men from these other two parties.

One interesting development in this last week’s election was that Mr. Lapid’s party is left-center leaning, and Mr. Bennet’s party is orthodox (though not Heredi, or ultra-orthodox).  This will hopefully have a softening effect in the government’s position toward Messianic Jews.  The Heredi have historically taken a very strong position against Messianic Jews, denying them citizenship, even if they’re fully jewish!  Based upon their belief in Yeshua (Jesus), the Heredi use their considerable power to pressure the government to deny these Jews their citizenship, and even revoke citizenship from Messianic Jews that have been in the Land for many, many years.

 Perhaps this new government will begin a time a softening toward Messianic Jews, which would allow more freedom to share the gospel in the Land.  So this should be a point of prayer for all of us.  Pray that Bibi’s (Mr. Netanyahu’s) new coalition government will move away from the hardline approach to Messianic Jews in the Land, and those seeking entrance into the Land.

Shalom!

This is one of the most well-known passages in our Gospels.  It’s the passage that every missionary organization speaks about and uses to inspire people to action.  In fact, it is these words that our Master left us with before His ascension to the Heavenlies!  It reminds us of Jacob’s last words to his sons before He left to sleep with his fathers.  He wanted to leave them with very important, weighty words that they would take with them throughout their generations.  And here in Matthew, Jesus is doing the same.  This is His last chance to speak into the lives of His disciples in such a tangible way.  What would he say to us?  Would He speak to us of the value and character of love?  Would He give us final eschatological instructions before the rough times come?  No.  Rather He spoke to us of a very Jewish concept—the institution of discipleship.

Throughout the last 2000 years, we in the Christian Church have extended the message of the Gospel into much of the known world.  We’ve traveled into the farthest reaches of the globe to share a message about Jesus of Nazareth to the various tribes and clans that we know of.  We’ve gone in groups of two or three.  Some of our forefathers even carried the message alone.  We’ve held services in stadiums with tens of thousands of eager ears listening to the words of a preacher.  By the millions people, have heard the message, believed the message and given their hearts to this Rabbi from Israel.  Often times, in the wake of these events, you’ll hear the cry of lament that we don’t have the resources to properly disciple these many new converts.  These converts have had an internal change, yet they are left to themselves and more often than not, the world’s pressures pull them right back into the same lifestyle that they were formally living.

We feel the need for discipleship.  After all, Jesus didn’t tell us to go and make converts; He told us to make disciples!  But unfortunately, to many of us, making disciples means leading converts through a 12-week course on the elementary principles of our faith.  We look at Jesus’ teachings on love and forgiveness.  We talk about the necessity of reading our Bibles and spending personal time in prayer every day.  We touch on subjects like the life of the Spirit vs. legalism, the fruit of the Spirit vs. the works of the flesh, love of God vs. love of the world, etc.  And these are all important and necessary subjects to talk about with new believers, but is it quite fulfilling Jesus’ intent to make disciples?  I don’t think so.

You see, discipleship is an institution specific to the Jewish culture.  It was designed by Jews and passed down by Jews.  Outside of a Jewish context, it loses most of its sense.  But when we look at Jewish discipleship as it was understood within the context of Jesus’ first century setting, we’ll begin to understand just what Jesus was demanding that we do among the nations.  So let’s do that—let’s look at discipleship from its original Jewish perspective.

History of Discipleship

From the days of Moses, Israel has held a tendency to stray from God’s ways and turn to the imaginations of their own hearts.  Over and over again, we read in the Scripture about Israel committing idolatry and being oppressed by and enemy for chastisement.  The Prophets were sent to call the people to repentance.  And there were times when Israel responded in heart-felt obedience, but too often that return was short lived.  Eventually this stubbornness on Israel’s behalf gave way to exile among the nations.  The northern tribes, the House of Israel, was exiled under the hand of the Assyrians; the southern 2 tribes, the House of Judah, was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon.

The captivity of the House of Judah was not as resolute as the exile of the northern tribes.  Judah’s captivity, according to the prophet Jeremiah, was to last 70 years, in order to give the land time to catch up on its sabbatical years.  Many of our stories are connected to this time of captivity.

• Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abidnego were among these exiles, living in the King’s court, refusing to eat his food.  It was in Babylon that Daniel interpreted the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar concerning the upcoming world powers.  Toward the end of this allotted exile, the Medo-Persian forces conquered Babylon and Daniel befriended the new king.
• We know Darius, a Median King, as the king who regrettably had to throw Daniel into the lion’s den, and then ran out the next morning to see if he was sparred.
• Cyrus, a king of Persia, gave the decree that Israel could return from Babylon to their ancestral land and rebuild their city.
• Later on we read the story of Esther, who through God’s providence married yet another King of Persia—Xerxes.

But we also know of Nehemiah, Zechariah, Ezra and Haggai. These men, under the governorship of Zerubabel, lead a zealous remnant to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple on a quest to restore the Divine Presence of God back in the Land and among His people.  The stories from our books of Nehemiah and Ezra are touching accounts of this revival among the remnant of Judah.  Faced with enemies all around, they would build the walls of the Holy City holding trowels in one hand and a sword in the other!  Ezra discovered a copy of the Torah and read it to all the people, who, when they heard it, prostrated themselves and wept.

Among this generation of men grew a leadership that came to be known as the Men of the Great Assembly.  This leadership assembly recognized that the exile of Israel wasn’t a result of a weak military strategy, or faulty foreign policy; but rather, it was a result of forsaking the commandments of God’s Law.  In their newly restored state, they understood that God’s protection would be a result of righteous living, and they sought a means to cultivate that among Israel.  In the Mishnah, an early rabbinical work, we find this statement in the section called the Sayings of the Fathers:

“Moses received the Torah [God’s Law] at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua transmitted it to the elders, and the elders transmitted it to the prophets, and the prophets transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly.  The Men of the Great Assembly used to say three things:  Be diligent in justice, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah.” (m. Avot 1:1)

These Shepherds of Israel developed this 3-winged approach to thwart any future exiles.  The first instruction was to “be diligent in justice”.  Injustice is a major concern of Adonai in the Scriptures.  He speaks about justice all throughout the Torah and the prophets.  This was one of Adonai’s chief complaints against Israel—their judges were taking bribes and making self-serving decisions!  The elders of the Great Assembly instructed that this had to stop!  The judges of Israel should be diligent to investigate matters and judge righteously among the people.

Another instruction was to “make a fence around the Torah”.  Originally, this instruction was given with good intention.  Rather than seeing how close we can get to transgression without stepping over the line, let’s make boundaries that will serve as a buffer so that we don’t break the commandments of God’s Torah.  So when God’s Torah says not to work on Shabbat, the rabbis developed a list explaining what work was.  When God’s Torah instructed the priesthood in its level of holiness in the Temple, the rabbis began to apply these same standards to all Jewish people.  Eventually, this heaped up an insurmountable weight of extra manmade commandments that made the instructions of the Torah burdensome.  It was these manmade doctrines that Jesus so often criticized in His teachings and berated the Pharisaical leadership for.  But originally, the intent was to stay far away from breaking God’s Laws and hence head off another exile.

Raise up many Disciples

According to some traditions, the Men of the Great Assembly, under the leadership of Ezra, designed the synagogue system that we find in the Gospels.  This would explain why we don’t have synagogues in the Hebrew Scriptures (often called the Old Testament), but they’re everywhere in the Gospels!  The word synagogue is a Greek word.  In Hebrew, it’s called the Beit Midrash—the House of Study.  It was a place where people could come to hear the Torah read and teachers would explain its meaning.  Back in Ezra’s day, the farmers from outlying areas would travel to the cities to barter and trade.  According to tradition, Ezra designed a Scripture rotation where the Torah was read on Tuesdays, Thursdays and on the Sabbath.  On the Sabbath, Israel would gather in their local Beit Midrash (synagogue) and they would hear the Law and the Prophets read to them.

Ezra and the Men of the Great Assembly believed that in order for Israel to live righteously as defined by God’s Law, they would have to know God’s Law.  And if they were to understand God’s Law, they would need teachers.  And in order to raise up teachers, those teachers would first have to be disciples!

So the Sages and rabbis of Israel began to take men under their arms and make them into disciples, or students.  All of the great Sages had disciples.  History tells us that Hillel, one of the most famous Sages of Judaism, was said to have 70 disciples.  Yochanon ben Zachai, one of Hillel’s disciples, had 5 main disciples.  Rabbi Akiva, also had 5 main disciples, but also is described as having thousands who followed him to learn Torah.  As you know, our Rabbi Yeshua HaNatzerim [Jesus of Nazareth] raised up 12 main disciples, but also had thousands (and maybe tens of thousands) that followed Him to hear His teachings on the Torah!

The idea was that a disciple was to become just like his teacher.  In Luke 6:40, our Rabbi Jesus said, “Every disciple, after he has been fully trained, will be like his Teacher.”  This is the essence of Jewish Discipleship.  Discipleship is the art of imitation!!  When the disciple was fully trained, he became the teacher himself.  He then passed on the teaching to disciples of his own, who in turn, when fully trained, became teachers and raised up disciples of their own.  It was far more involved than just learning some elementary principles in the faith.  The Jewish disciple strove to become just like his teacher.  There was no accusation of plagiarism in a disciple toward his Master; in fact, quite the opposite was true.  A true disciple was expected to be able to repeat his Master’s teachings word for word!

Here’s how it worked.  In the days of Jesus, all young boys were taught the Torah and the Prophets beginning at age 5; meaning that at age 5, they began to memorize the Torah and the Prophets!  Every day they would rehearse the Scriptures until it came to them by rote.  At the age of 12, after 7 years of memorizing the Bible, boys were apprenticed to craftsmen.  Some became carpenters, some stone masons and others farmers; but those that were exceptional in their studies of the Scripture were apprenticed to a Sage.  His trade was to become a Rabbi.  He would leave his home and move in with the Sage.  He studied everything about him!  Not just his thoughts on the Scripture, but He studied the Sage’s marriage, his business affairs, the way he judged certain cases—everything!  It’s the belief of the Sage that the Torah affects every aspect of life, so the disciple is learning to imitate his Master’s disciplined life in order to mimic it in every regard!  This is Biblical discipleship.

To a disciple, his Master is more than just a teacher.  In fact, a disciple’s Master was regarded more highly than his own father.  This is because an earthly father brought you into this world in which we live, but the Sage was able to usher you into the World-to-Come, or Paradise.  The Sage became the new Father of the disciple, hence we find in the rabbinic writings references to the “House of Hillel”, or the “House of Shammai”.  The Sage was seen as a Father, and his disciples were his well-trained sons.  It’s not that the disciple’s family was abandoned, but his family loyalties took second place to his Master.  This sentiment is echoed in the words of our Master, Jesus:

“If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yea even his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” (Lk. 14:26)

The language of “hate” employed in this verse is not hatred like we generally think of it.  Jesus is using a Hebraic idiom that demonstrates comparative language.  In other words, the love for the Master must be so great, that all familial love (usually our strongest love) must look like hatred in comparison.  Each and every one of us is called to this radical practice of discipleship!  We can’t be disciples of Jesus because our family has a strong Christian tradition.  And we can’t be disciples of Jesus because of cultural pressures.  We can only be a disciple of Jesus if we’re willing to abandon all other affections to second place, setting Jesus the Messiah squarely in the preeminent role of our lives!

The absolute dedication and loyalty that disciples held for their Master is unmirrored in any of our modern institutions of study or in our culture at large.  Imagine if, rather than just hanging out in school and having a good time, you began to emulate your professor.  You memorized his lectures and quoted him at every possible moment.  You followed him to and from his home and often invited yourself to eat with him.  You began to dress and act like him.  You sought to absorb every possible nuance of his behavior.  This may be obsessive, but it’s also discipleship!  The greatest Sages produced carbon copies of themselves!  “Every disciple, fully trained, will be like his Master” (Lk 6:40).[i]

In the book King of the Jews, produced by First Fruits of Zion, they mention four main imperatives of a disciple.

To memorize their Teacher’s Words

The Sages of Jesus’ day didn’t write books like our modern teachers do.  There were no “student manuals” for their disciples to read.  To this ancient world, the only written materials were the Scriptures.  The teachings of the Sages were transmitted orally from generation to generation.  Disciples studied by memorizing their Master’s teachings.  Through constant repetition, disciples memorized their Master’s teaching word for word.  We often think of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount one great time, but it’s far more likely that Jesus taught these same ideas over and over again.  He would teach the subject matter of the Sermon on the Mount in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Capernaum, the Decapolis, etc.  Peter, James, John and Matthew would have heard these sermons over and over again!  This is why we may find a particular sermon mentioned in one location in one gospel, and that same subject matter is placed in a different setting in another gospel.  The sermon was given in both locations!  It was this repetition that allowed the disciples to memorize the Rabbi’s message.  Around campfires at night, students would practice rehearsing these teachings to their Master, receiving further instruction and clarification at that time.  This is where we find the Twelve often asking Jesus later, “what did you mean by…?”  This was their private instruction time.

The Gospels that we have weren’t written until the later part of the first century.  This means that the parables and teachings of Jesus weren’t written down for the first several decades of the Messianic Church!  In these early decades, the Apostles would have been sharing the teachings of Jesus with the early believers over and over again.  Since the Gospels and the Book of Acts mostly mention Peter, James and John, we often forget about the other 8 that were also busy teaching in those early days.  These Apostles were busy making disciples of the early believers by teaching them verbally the messages that Jesus had taught them.  Imagine the convenience we would have if we memorized Jesus’ teachings.  Not only would we know them much better, but even if we didn’t have a Bible, we could share His teachings with as many people as possible by rote!

To learn their Teacher’s Traditions and Interpretations

The disciple learned how his Teacher kept the commandments and interpreted the Scriptures.  How does the Teacher was His hands?  Keep the Sabbath?  Fast, pray, give charity, say the blessing over food, etc.?  We find the Apostles covering much of this material in the Gospels.  The disciples transmitted to us our Rabbi’s teaching on prayer, charity, fasting, washings, etc.!  What a wealth we have passed down to us!

The disciple also wanted to know how His Teacher interpreted passages of Scripture.  What meanings did He draw out?  What parables did He use?  How did He explain a certain verse or understand a certain concept?  Details like this were not dismissed as trivial—they were vital to understanding and embodying the Master!

As disciples, we should know what Jesus’ stance was on as many subjects as possible.  And not for trivial sake, but so that we can observe those teachings!  We want to be just like Jesus in His stances on various ideas—to properly represent Him in every area of our lives!

To imitate their Teacher’s Actions

The disciple’s chief aim was to be a perfect reflection of His Teacher.  He wanted to act, to speak and conduct himself the same way in which His Master conducted Himself.  Which sandal did he put on first?  What did He do first in the morning?  What did He eat?  Where did He go?  How did He get there?  This is radical, obsessive discipleship!

To raise up Disciples

A disciple, when fully trained, raised up his own disciples.  He created a new generation of students and transmitted to them the words, traditions, interpretations, teachings, actions and behaviors of His Master.  The goal of discipleship was to pass the torch of Torah from generation to generation.

Though Jesus had many disciples, He only chose 12 core disciples, who would be entrusted with the responsibility to transmit His teachings to future generations.  These twelve were to go and “make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that He had commanded them” (Mt. 28:19-20).

Disciples of Yeshua HaNatzerim

There is one essential difference between our discipleship to Yeshua (Jesus) and the discipleship of the Sages.  We find that in Matthew 23:8-10–

“Do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.  Do not call anyone on earth your Father; for One is your Father, He Who is in Heaven.  Do not be called Leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Messiah.”

What is Yeshua talking about here?  Is He simply abolishing titles?  Should our leaders not be called “rabbi”, “teacher” or “leader”?  Is it OK to call them “Pastor”, or “Reverend”?  In the context of Jewish discipleship that we’ve been considering, this should ring in our ears now.  Jesus is telling the twelve that they are not, when they become fully trained, to raise up disciples unto themselves.  He didn’t want to see the parting of the ways between the eventual discipleship schools that would emerge.  Peter was not to raise up His disciples and teach them His own ways.  No, Jesus was declaring that they had no need to do such things because they only have one Rabbi, Teacher and Leader—God!  In fact, this division among early believers in Corinth, claiming to be followers of Peter or Paul, Apollos or Jesus (in opposition to the others) was said to be a sign of carnality!  Jesus sent His Apostles out to make more disciples for Himself!!

The disciples of Jesus are never to assume the role of Master, because unlike the Sages, Jesus is still alive!!  Sometimes we think, “Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful to walk with Jesus and hear Him teach.  Wouldn’t it be great to have been there and see the miracles and sit around the campfire with Him?”  But He’s not dead!  We Christians tend to be resurrectionists in our theology, but practical agnostics!  We act like Jesus died, was buried, was resurrected and then superglued to the Throne!  Someday, we think, God will cut Him loose and He’ll become active again.  Haha!  But that’s wrong thinking.  He’s alive and well, not just theologically—but practically!  Look at what Jesus says in Revelation 3:20-22—

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with Him, and he with Me.  The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with Me on My Throne, as I also conquered and sat down with My Father on His Throne.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches!!”

Jesus is knocking on the door of believers!!  Jesus’ call to discipleship is still going forward!  He wasn’t done when He called the Twelve—He’s calling you!  Two-thousand years removed from the time and culture of the Great Commission hasn’t changed the mission at all!  We are still to become rabid, obsessive disciples of Jesus the Messiah!  We are still expected to learn His teachings and traditions, to imitate His actions and raise up more disciples for Him!

One of the greatest needs in our day is for teachers who will not be afraid to unearth the practices of our Master and then do them!  Our modern teachers talk a good game, but they often try to teach before they do.  This is not imitating the Master.  Jesus didn’t just talk about the Commandments, He kept them.  He didn’t just speak of forgiveness—He forgave!  He didn’t just condemn gossip—He only spoke righteously.  We must do the same.

If, in our study of the Scripture, we find things that are uncomfortable for us, will we justify our existing actions, or will we submit to the will of our King and imitate Him?  If His word flies in the face of our theology and doctrine, which will we serve?  Will we allow Him the freedom and right to shake in our lives what can be shaken?  Or will we be like the rich, young ruler who turns away sorrowful because He couldn’t let go?

Jesus still calls you to discipleship.  Not to a 10-week course in Bible 101, or to a Wednesday night class.  He doesn’t even call you to a church or denomination.  He calls you to Himself!  “Follow Me”, He says.  Take the yoke of His Kingdom, submit to His will—obey Him.  That’s the call of discipleship being presented to you.

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.  Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’.  Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.  So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Lk. 14:26-33)

These are pretty tough words, but they fit right into Jewish discipleship.  The prospective disciple must be willing to leave all that he has and begin a new life following his Rabbi.  Here, our Rabbi Jesus does not lay out before us all the possible scenarios of our lives and ask us to peruse over them and make a decision.  No!  The decision being presented is to decide to follow Him regardless of all the possible scenarios of life!  The decision is hard.  There are Christians that have been in church their whole lives that have never become disciples.  But what a life they are missing!  The excitement of following a resurrected Rabbi that expects everything from us, but promises us more!  The more we submit to Him, the more He trusts us with.  There is no limit to His reign within and around us!  There is no better life in all of eternity!  We only have to be willing.

But this restored Kingdom of Israel wasn’t only on Paul’s mind.  We’ll now look at the anticipation that surrounded the birth of our King, and the context behind those expectations.

Born to Rule over David’s Kingdom

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder:  and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the Throne of David, and upon His [David’s] Kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.  The zeal of Adonai T’vaot will perform this.” (Isa. 9:6-7)

Most of us are familiar with these two verses from Isaiah.  We hear them every year around Christmas time, but many of us haven’t taken the time to slow down and listen to what we’re saying.  So let’s do that! 

Isaiah is proclaiming that God is going to “give us” a son—a child.  And this child would carry the weight of the government upon His shoulder.  This may sound strange to us, but in the Ancient Near East, a king often wore a large sash over his shoulder that singled him out as the ruler.  Isaiah was saying that there’s a new king that’s going to be born!  This King would be an amazing counselor/teacher.  In fact, He would be identified as God Himself—El Gabor, the God of Might.  The phrase “everlasting Father” also is easily translated as the “Father of Eternity”, or the “author of time itself”.  Isaiah states that this new Son would be the Prince of Peace, or the Ruler that brings Wholeness.

Not only would this son carry the government upon His shoulders, but Isaiah also says that His government would grow or increase forever,  and that He would “establish it [His Kingdom] with judgment and justice from now even forever”.  The term “forever” is an interesting word in Hebrew.  The word is “l’olam” and it literally means “to the horizon”.  This word is translated as both eternity and the universe.  The idea is that the subject of conversation extends as far as one can see.  So if we’re talking about time, it means forever because one can never reach the horizon.  So it never ends.  If we’re discussing land (or any spacial concept), it means universe for the same reason that one can never reach the horizon, hence it just keeps going and going.  Notice how Isaiah covers both concepts of time and space.  He mentions time when he says “from henceforth [now] even forever”, and he covers space when he says that there will be “no end to the increase of his government and peace”.  So this Son’s Kingdom will continue throughout eternity, AND it will increase in size throughout the universe! 

So what government is Isaiah talking about here?  Is this a new allegorical theme he’s introducing?  Perhaps this is an esoteric kingdom in the heavens that’s above all earthly kingdoms?  No!  Isaiah makes it clear exactly which kingdom this Son will rule–He will sit upon the Throne of David!!  It is David’s Kingdom that is going to last forever and fill up the earth!  This is the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of David.  If you grasp this Hebraic concept, the Apostolic Scriptures will open up to you in a whole new way!  You’ll see that God’s plan is consistent throughout the whole of the Scriptures without having to twist His Scriptures by hermeneutical nonsense.  Jesus’ declarations concerning the Kingdom of God will make more sense.  His parables about the Kingdom will fall into place.  When we attempt to contrive a difference between God’s Israel-centered plan in the Torah and prophets, and the heavenly-centered kingdom in the Apostles’ Writings, we’re left scratching our heads, wondering when God changed His mind.  But let me assure you, God NEVER changed His mind!  His promises are consistent from those made to Abraham to those fulfilled in the last generation.  God is the same, with the same message, yesterday, today and forever!

So let’s look at the expectations of those around Jesus at His birth.  Many of them were moved by the Spirit of God and spoke blessings over “the child”.  Let’s consider what the Holy Spirit revealed about the mind of God concerning this Son that was coming on the scene.

Angels and Blessings

Another aspect of Messiah’s Kingdom is the fulfillment of Abraham’s Covenant.  This is not a revised Abrahamic Covenant that’s being fulfilled, but rather, the original promises of innumerable descendents and possession of the Land of Canaan that Messiah’s Kingdom is meant to make tangible!

Our first passage is the record of the angel Gabriel as He delivered the message to Mary that she was to give birth to a very special child.  Notice that His message to her is taken right out of the Isaiah 9 passage that we just looked at.

“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the House of David [descendent of David]; and the virgin’s name was Mary [Miriam in Hebrew].  And the angel came in unto her, and said, ‘Hail, you that are highly favored, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women’.  And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.  And the angel said unto her, ‘Fear not, Mary: for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call His name Jesus [Yeshua in Hebrew, meaning salvation].  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the Throne of His father David:  and He shall reign over the House of Jacob [Israel, remember that ‘Israel’ is Jacob’s other name] for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.  Then said Mary unto the angel, ‘How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?’  And the angel answered and said unto her, ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore also that thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.’” (Luke 1:26-35)

Here we see that God was not starting something entirely new with the Messiah, but was rather bringing about the fulfillment of ancient promises given to Israel.  This declaration of God concerning this birth of our Messiah through His angel Gabriel was that Jesus would rule and reign on the Throne of David over the House of Israel!  Gabriel was declaring that the son promised in Isaiah 9 that would rule on the Throne of David in an ever growing Kingdom was none other than Jesus the Messiah!  Whatever our ideas are concerning the Kingdom of God, we must begin here.  Jesus is the King over Israel.  His Throne is the Throne of David.  The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Israel.

In our Luke passage, as soon as Mary heard the announcement from Gabriel, she went to her cousin’s home, Elizabeth, who was going to give birth to John the Baptist.  As soon as Elizabeth saw Mary, the child in her womb jumped for joy,and in response, Mary blessed God.  Check out the last two lines of her blessing:

“He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;

As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.” (Luke 1:54-55)

Just a few verses later, Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, prophesied by the inspiration of the Spirit:

“And his father Zachariah was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying—‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a Horn of Salvation for us in the House of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His Holy Prophets, which have been since the world began.  That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our Fathers, and to remember His Holy Covenant—the Oath which He swore to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us—that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life!” (Luke 1:67-75)

It’s obvious that both Mary and Zachariah expected the new child to bring about the fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!  They expected Messiah to deliver them from their oppressors so that they could serve God in freedom!  But were these two under a delusion?  Were they perhaps filled with eschatological misunderstanding?  Perhaps their hopes in Messiah were misplaced?  We often hear talk like this from our modern teachers that claim the believers in the first century had a difficult time letting go of the “old” ideas, and embracing the “new”.   These first century believers, they claim, had nationalistic ideas that had to be eventually overcome by the “universal gospel”.  The enemies to be defeated were not Romans, but rather sin!  But this is not what Zachariah is talking about!  Zachariah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, spoke about God raising up a “Horn of Salvation”.  A “horn” speaks of a king [think back to Daniel’s visions of beasts with horns, where the angelic interpretations interpret the horns as kings].  Zachariah foresaw a “King [Horn] of Deliverance” that would be raised up in the House of David!  This means that David’s Dynasty would be resurrected, as a Son of David took the throne once again.  This “king” would deliver Israel from “those that hate her”.  Israel would be free to serve God without fear!

But Zachariah, under the Spirit’s influence, didn’t end there.  He continues by turning his attention to John the Baptist:

“And you, child, shall be called the Prophet of the Highest: for you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the Dayspring from on High [another title for Messiah] has visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:76-79)

The Forgiveness of Sins is the Key!!

A familiar passage of Scripture concerning John the Baptist is found in Luke 3—

“…the word of God came unto John the son of Zachariah in the wilderness.  And He came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth.  And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” (Luke 3:2-6)

So John the Baptist was faithful to his calling as described by his father Zachariah.  He preached to give knowledge of salvation unto the people of Israel by the remission of their sins.  But what did it mean for John to “prepare the way for the Lord” by baptizing people in the Jordan?  We get a glimpse of this in verses 15-17:

“And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Messiah or not; John answered, saying to them all, ‘I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I is coming.  And the latchets of His shoes I am not worthy to unloose:  He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:  Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner (storeroom); but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable.” (Luke 3:15-17)

I’ve been raised all my life in circles that begged God for the baptism of fire!  But consider what’s being spoken about in this passage.  John is saying that the Messiah is coming for Judgment!  And there will be two baptisms—one of the Holy Spirit, and the other of fire!  John utilizes the common picture of an ancient near east threshing floor.  At the time of harvest, the grain was taken to the mill and beaten on the stone there.  This beating would loosen the individual grains of wheat from the stalk.  Once the grain was released, it was time to separate the chaff (parts of wheat that weren’t grain) from the grain.  To do this, one man uses a large fan that he waves to produce a flow of air.  Another man uses a shovel of sorts to throw the grain straight up into the air.  As the grain falls, the kernels, being heavier than the chaff, fall straight down.  But the chaff, being lighter, is carried to the side by the air flow from the fan.  In this way, the grain and the chaff are separated.  The grain is then taken away and stored; and the chaff is burned away.

John is saying that the Messiah is going to do this to His people!  He’s going to cause a division in Israel.  Those that are grain will be gathered and protected; those that are chaff will be burned!  So John’s message to the people was to repent!!  Stop sinning and obey God’s commandments, because the King is coming for Judgment!

John’s ministry is taken from Isaiah 40.  You can imagine God speaking directly to John in this passage, giving him his instruction for ministry.

“Comfort you, Comfort you My people, says Adonai.  Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare [better translated “hardship” or “struggle” here] is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.  The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low:  and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain [smooth]; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see together; for the mouth of Adonai has spoken it.” (Isa. 40:1-5)

God is telling John to declare to Jerusalem that the time for her hardship is over; that God is pardoning her of her sins!  Remember it was Israel’s sins that brought the curse upon them, resulting in oppression and exile, this time under the hand of the Romans.  So God tells John to prepare a road for the Messiah.  Make the crooked places straight, and level out the mountains and valleys!  What’s He saying?!  In hebrew, the word for righteousness is “tzedakah”, and it means “straight”!  The concept of sin is one of “crookedness”.  So God is telling John to make the crooked places (sinful places) straight, or righteous!  John’s job is to preach repentance!  Turn from your sinful practices and make yourselves ready because the King is coming for Judgment, and you don’t want to be caught unprepared!

This is also what John’s father, Zachariah was seeing as John’s purpose, as he was moved by the Holy Spirit.  But this “spiritual” work wasn’t a replacement of the hope for national deliverance!  Zachariah, under the inspiration of God, foresaw that this work of dealing with sin was the prerequisite for the final deliverance of Israel from her enemies!  In other words, while Zachariah held to the hope of deliverance from the Romans, He recognized that the preparatory work of His son and the work of Messiah to follow, were necessary in order to bring the covenants of Abraham and David to fruition.  After all, if Israel lived under oppression, with most of their numbers still in exile [most of Israel in the days of Jesus still lived among the nations], the cause of that was Israel’s sin!  The only way to find deliverance was for the curse to be broken; and the only way the curse could be broken was to deal with Israel’s sin problem!  Something must be done to deal with Israel’s sins!

This concept of the forgiveness of sins being the key that triggers the fulfillment of Abraham’s Covenant can also be seen in Micah chapter 7.  Let’s look at that before we go on.

“According to the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvelous things.  The nations shall see and be confounded at all their [Israel’s] might:  they [the nations] shall lay their land upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.  They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth:  they shall be afraid of Adonai our God, and shall fear because of you [Israel].  Who is a God like You, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?  He retains not His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.  He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.  You will perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn unto our Fathers from the days of old.” (Micah 7:15-20)

Here, Micah is prophesying of the future regathering that we’ve discussed earlier in this study.  God’s future regathering of Israel from among all nations would mimic His earlier withdrawal of the nation from Egypt, though eclipsing the Egyptian Exodus in magnitude (Jer. 23).  This regathering would be the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham and Jacob, given to them while they sojourned.  But sandwiched within this promise of full restoration is the recognition that God will deal with the sin of Israel that caused the exile among the nations in the first place!  Micah not only recalled God’s faithful forgiveness and merciful nature, but He predicted a definite act of God wherein God would “subdue [their] iniquities” and “cast all their sins into the depths of the sea”!  The close association of this attack on sin to the fulfillment of Abraham’s promise is undeniable.

Of course, this idea of “casting Israel’s sins into the depths of the sea” is analogous to Jeremiah’s promise concerning the New Covenant, where God said He would “forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more”! (Jer. 31:34)  Jeremiah’s passage is also closely associated with the future regathering of Israel from among the nations, fulfilling Abraham’s covenant (Jer. 31:8-14).

We find in these prophecies that the forgiveness of Israel’s sins triggers the regathering from among the nations, fulfilling Abraham’s Covenant.  But how are Israel’s sins pardoned? 

The Heart of the Gospel

In order to answer the question concerning how Israel’s sins are pardoned, I’d like to take a survey of a section of Isaiah’s prophecies.  Isaiah was a phenomenal seer with extraordinary insight into God’s plan.  Though I’d love to quote Isaiah at length for this answer, we’ll just look at the highlights of what appears to be the apex of Isaiah’s vision.  I encourage you, in your own studies, to read chapters 51-53 on your own to catch all that Isaiah is saying.  While you do so, remember that in the Hebrew, there are no chapters or verses; so this should be read as one continuous insight!

“For Adonai shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Adonai; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody (Isa. 51:3)…Therefore the redeemed of Adonai shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head:  they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.  I, even I, am He that comforts you (vss. 11-12)…The captive exile hastens that he may be released, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.  But I am Adonai your God, that divides the sea, whose waves roared:  Adonai of Armies is His name!  And I have put My words in your [Israel’s] mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, You are My people!  Awake!  Awake! Stand up Jerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of Adonai the cup of His wrath; you has drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out (vss. 14-17)…Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, and drunken, but not with wine:  Thus says Adonai, and your God that pleads the cause of His people, ‘Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of My fury; you shall no more drink it again.  But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict you; which have said to your soul, Get down, that we may go over [walk on your backs]; and you have laid your body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over (vss. 21-23)…”

This is speaking, of course, of Israel’s restoration when the time of her captivity is over and she is returned to the land again.  At this time, the cup of wrath that Israel had drunk, which is the curse of disobedience to God’s Torah, culminating in exile among the nations (Lev. 26/Dt. 28), will be taken away.  The idea of these curses being placed upon Israel’s persecutors matches this same prophecy of the restoration found in Dt. 30—

“And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among the nations, wherever Adonai your God has driven you, and you shall return unto Adonai your God, and shall obey His voice according to all that I command you this day [the Torah]—you and your children—with all your heart, and with all your soul; that then Adonai your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will return and gather you from all the nations, wherever Adonai your God has scattered you…And Adonai your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.  And Adonai your God will put all these curses upon your enemies, and on them that hate you, which persecuted you.  And you shall return and obey the voice of Adonai, and do all His commandments which I command you this day.” (Dt. 30: 1-8)

As you can see, there is great consistency in the prophecies concerning this return of Israel to the Land of their Fathers.  Throughout the prophets, the return to the land is accompanied with the internal work of the Spirit of God, whether that’s worded as a circumcised heart (Dt. 30), a new heart (Eze. 36), or the Torah written on the heart (Jer. 31), etc.  At this future time, the nations who have gathered against Israel, and specifically Jerusalem, will come under the wrath of Adonai, as prophesied in Zechariah 12 & 14, and the passages we’ve just looked at (Dt. 30/Isa. 51). 

Back to Isaiah!

“Awake! Awake!  Put on strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city:  for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.  Shake yourself from the dust; arise and be seated, O Jerusalem:  loose yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive daughter of Zion (Isa. 52:1-2)…How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that proclaims peace; that brings good tidings of good things, that proclaims salvation; that says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’  Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when Adonai shall bring again Zion! [from captivity]  Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem:  for Adonai has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem.  Adonai has revealed His Holy Arm in the eyes of the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God! (vss. 7-10)…”

Those proclaiming peace and salvation here are those that are declaring to Zion that God’s wrath has departed, and now good things are coming upon Israel!  In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul refers to this as the message of reconciliation, where we are declaring to mankind that God has already forgiven their sins, they need only believe!  But in our Isaiah passage, this is a message given to Zion [Jerusalem].  God is saying that He has “redeemed Jerusalem”, and He’s done so by revealing His Holy Arm!  This “Arm of the Lord” is His Servant that He’s going to send.  He now begins to unveil this Servant in more detail—

“Behold, My servant shall deal prudently.  He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.  As many were astonished at you; His visage [body] was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men:  So shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him:  for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider (vss. 13-15)…”

I think Barnes’ Notes on the Bible says it best—“Many would be struck dumb with amazement at his appearance; and, in like manner, many would be struck dumb with veneration or respect.  He would be regarded on the one hand as having scarce the form of a man; on the other, even kings would be silent before him from profound reverence and awe.” (http://bible.cc/isaiah/52-15.htm)

Picking up with the next verse—

“Who has believed our report?  And to whom is the Arm of Adonai revealed?  For He [the Arm of Adonai, the Messiah] shall grow up before Him [Adonai] as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:  He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:  and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not (Isa. 53:1-3)…”

Isaiah is saying, “God, who’s gonna believe this?  Who’s gonna recognize Your Arm when He comes?”  Rather than coming as a great oak of might, Adonai’s Arm would come as a tender plant, even one growing from dry ground!!  He won’t appear strong and mighty, as the messianic expectation of Messiah was, but would rather come looking weak and lowly.  Isaiah says that He’ll have no beauty—meaning that He won’t come in the beautiful radiance that one would expect of God’s Great King.  He would possess no comeliness.  This word is the Hebrew word chadar—translated in the Scripture as honor, glory, majesty, excellency, beauty!  Messiah wouldn’t possess any of these give aways!  He would not come declaring His Kingship to the world.  He would wear no royal robes, nor diadems.  There would be no pomp and splendor accompanying Him, which would be assumed.  Rather, He would be despised and rejected.  His life would be full of sorrow and grief. We [Israel] would not recognize Him [esteem Him] when he came.  Yet, His work would go on!

“Surely He has bore our griefs,and carried our sorrows: yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastening that brought us peace [with God] was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed (vss. 4-5)…All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Adonai has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth:  He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is quiet, so he opened not His mouth (vss. 6-7)…”

Isaiah is crying out to His Israeli brethren here!  “Yes, he’s a man of sorrow and griefs, but it’s OUR sorrow and OUR grief that He’s carrying!  The punishment that will be inflicted upon the Arm of the Lord will be for OUR transgressions and iniquities.  The chastening that we were meant to endure [the curse of the Torah for disobedience] was put upon Him—He became the curse for us!  By Him enduring this punishment, He has healed us from our sickness [though certainly applied to physical healing, this passage is actually speaking of Israel’s sin sickness].  Isaiah is now revealing the answer to our question—how is Israel’s iniquity going to be pardoned?  This Arm of Adonai, the Servant, would come in humility and would bear the sin of Israel, taking the punishment that was due to Israel upon Himself! 

This is how God has promised to “forgive our iniquities, and remember our sins no more (Jer. 31)!”  This New Covenant would be possible because God would send His Servant to take Israel’s punishment upon Himself!  In this way, God has still punished the sin, making Himself just, but He is also able to show mercy upon His people whom He loves!  As Isaiah continues—

“It pleased Adonai to bruise Him [His Servant]; He has put Him to grief:  when you [Israel] shall make His soul [the Servant’s soul] an offering for sin…”(vs. 10)

Here, Isaiah is saying that Adonai’s Arm would serve as an offering for sin, given by Israel!  In other words, Israel would slay this Servant and the death of the Servant would remove Israel’s sin!!  What grace!! 

So by the sin offering of Messiah, Israel’s sins would be removed and thrown into the depths of the sea.  They would be purified by Messiah’s blood and the curse of the Law would be broken off of them—meaning that their exile would be over!  Now, those bearing “good news” [the gospel] could declare to Israel that God has made atonement for their sins, and by placing their faith in God’s offering for sin [the Messiah], they can enter into God’s New Covenant.  In this New Covenant, or New Agreement, the hardened heart would be removed from Israel, and a new soft heart would replace it.  This new heart would have the Torah written upon it, and Israel would finally obey God’s Torah from the love in their hearts!!  That’s what God wanted all along!  This circumcision of Israel’s heart, and the subsequent obedience to the Torah, would eventually trigger the return to the land, fulfilling Abraham’s covenant promises.

As we find in Deuteronomy 30, Israel will hear this message and their hearts will be circumcised while among the nations.  Though the New Covenant was inaugurated with the shedding of Messiah’s blood, the gospel must be preached throughout the nations, first to the Jewish people and also to the gentiles.  In our next 2 chapters, we’ll talk about this period of time that we’re in, between Messiah’s atonement for sin and His return to bring final salvation/deliverance of Israel from among the nations.

“So Messiah was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear the second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation [deliverance] to those who are waiting for Him.” (Heb. 9:28)

Gospel to the Jew First

You’ll notice that in my writing thus far, I’ve not spent a lot of time focusing on the outreach to the gentiles.  I’ve done this purposefully because I want to demonstrate that the gospel as presented in the Scripture is a very Jewish message.  The New Covenant is made between God and the “House of Israel/House of Judah” (Jer. 31).  Though gentile believers in Messiah certainly understand that we are in the New Covenant, we often miss the fact that this covenant we’ve been granted permission to enter is an agreement between God and the descendents of Abraham.  Yes, God ALWAYS had the salvation of the nations in mind, even as He spoke with Abraham; but God sovereignly chose to reveal Himself through His love relationship with the Children of Jacob.

In order to better understand our Scripture, we need a paradigm change.  The gospel has a universal proclamation, but it’s message and context is thoroughly Jewish!  The ultimate intent was always to extend the call to the nations, but Adonai chose to conceive and develop the message in the context of His relationship with Israel.  In other words, He’s put Israel on display to the nations!  He’s redeemed them from Egypt with a great redemption.  He’s given them His Torah so they’d know how to live righteously with Him.  He’s displayed Israel’s promises of atonement and forgiveness of sin.  He’s promised to restore the Covenants of Abraham and David to Israel in the New Covenant through that atonement.  Then, He actually came and performed these promises of atonement to Israel!  This is a thoroughly Jewish gospel!

Now, as prophesied and anticipated, the nations have been invited into these very Jewish covenants as well.  And NOT as second-class citizens; but as full-fledged heirs WITH Israel!

“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the Uncircumcision” by what is called “the Circumcision”, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Messiah, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Messiah Jesus you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.” (Eph. 2:11-13)

“When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Messiah, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.  This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Messiah Jesus through the gospel.” (Eph. 3:4-6)

Gentiles are grafted into Israel’s Vine (Romans 11).  We are NOT grafted into a new vine, consisting of grafted gentile branches and grafted Jewish branches; but rather, the gentiles have joined WITH Israel!  God didn’t change the gospel from a Jewish message to a universal message, but rather opened the Jewish message to a universal audience!

What does this mean for us?  We must see our faith in its Jewish context in order to understand it more fully.  When we do, we see that the gospel declaration goes much farther than the removal of sins and the promise of a place in the World-to-Come; but the gospel includes the declaration of the restored Kingdom of God!  And what is that message of the Kingdom?  That the atonement provided by Jesus’ blood has removed the curse from Israel, and when Israel, that is scattered among the nations, recognizes Jesus as Messiah and believes, then God will regather Israel (and all those “grafted into Israel”) from among the nations.  He will rule and reign from the Throne of David over all the earth.  THAT’S the gospel of the Kingdom that must be preached throughout the nations before the end will come! (Mt. 24:14)

Till next time—Shalom!

John

Most evangelical Christians know and love this verse.  This was, of course, spoken to Abraham by Adonai, and it serves as an incredible promise.  But what does this verse mean for us?  Are we, as Christians, expected to support the nation of Israel in all that they do?  And specifically concerning the recent activity in Gaza, should we support Israel’s actions there?  I believe the answer to that is a resounding “Yes”!  There’s a few reasons why I believe that we, as Christians, should support Israel’s actions in Gaza.

1)      Israel has the right to defend itself.

Many Christians are confused when it comes to self defense because of our Master’s teaching in Matthew 5: 38-39, which says, “You have heard that it has been said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’: but I say unto you, that you resist no evil: but whosoever shall strike you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also”.  But Jesus wasn’t talking about self-defense here; He was talking about vengeance.  There’s a difference.  Self defense is when you’re being attacked, and you fight back to protect your life, or the life of others.  Vengeance is when someone has attacked you, but now, no longer in danger, you plan to retaliate in a premeditated fashion.  But consider this verse in God’s instruction to us—“If a thief be found breaking in, and be smitten so that he dies, there shall no blood be shed for him. [In other words, the person who killed the thief will not be punished like a murderer would]  But if the sun is risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him.” (Ex. 22:2-3)  This means that self-defense is permissible; but the homeowner is not allowed to take vengeance upon the man at a later time (ie. After the sun comes up, assuming that robberies usually take place at night).  Self-defense is clearly permitted here.  And how many of us, if we witnessed someone attacking our spouse or children, wouldn’t attempt to stop the attack?  Of course we would!

Israel is doing the same thing now.  Israel has been attacked constantly with rocket fire from Gaza.  Thousands of rockets have been fired as far into Israel as the Gazan terrorists can get.  Thankfully, most of these rockets miss their targets.  But in the last few weeks, the Gazan terrorists have increased the amount of rocket fire exponentially.  Probability says that many of these are going to hit their targets.  And these rockets aren’t just firing at tanks; they’re being shot at schools and stores, homes and synagogues. 

Up till now, Israel has shown extraordinary self restraint in the face of these attacks.  Israel knows that the terrorist regimes of the Middle East are looking for any excuse they can get to justify another full-fledged attack on Israel.  So day after day, they fire upon Israel and Israel hasn’t been retaliating.  But as Ecclesiastes 3:8 says, there’s a “time of war, and a time of peace”. 

2)      Israel has the responsibility to protect its citizens

Not only does Israel have the right to self-defense, but as a civil power, Israel’s government is responsible to protect those under its care.  The Scripture refers to the Israel’s leaders as ‘shepherds’ and ‘fathers’, referring to their need to watch out for danger and protect their own.  The citizens in the south of Israel have every right to expect that their leadership will protect them from this constant barrage of rockets at their children as well.  We, as believers, should support that role of Israel to “defend the weak” (Psa. 82:3).

3)      Gazans need to be freed from terrorist tyranny.

Not everyone in Gaza is a terrorist!  Gaza is certainly taken advantage of by the terrorist regimes of the Middle East as a back door into Israel, but the citizens of Gaza are trying to make a living, raise their children and survive!  Yes, we hear about the training of youth for war and preparations to die as martyrs, but this just underscores my point.  It’s not the Gazans who are the enemy; the enemy is the terrorist organizations that have saturated Gaza and constantly stirs up trouble.  They don’t care about the civilian casualties; but simply exploit them in a propaganda campaign.  These terrorist organizations need to be removed from Israel so that Gaza can settle down, and this is precisely what Israel is attempting to do.

Israel has determined Hamas, the existing ruling authority in Gaza, to be a terrorist organization—and they’re right!  Hamas does not care for Gaza; they only exist for the destruction of Israel.  So Israel is targeting strategic Hamas sites.  And Israel has sent leaflets telling the people of Gaza to steer clear of Hamas hot spots.  If Israel can cripple the terrorist organization, Hamas, then perhaps Gaza can rebuild with a better future.

As Christians, we need to pray for Israel’s protection as they attempt to surgically remove the terrorist regime from Gaza.  We should also pray for the protection of Gazan citizens, and that perhaps God will open a door for the Gospel in Gaza.  Our support of Israel in her hard times is extremely important.  So until we can go home to our homeland, under the hand of our Messiah, pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Shalom!

But I want to challenge that idea in our walk through the Apostolic Scriptures, specifically concerning the Kingdom of God.  It is my conviction that the teachings of Jesus and His apostles did not replace the earlier teachings from the Law (Torah) and the prophets, but that they rather complimented them.  The Scriptures are a continuum from Genesis to Revelation, revealing to us progressively the nature and work of God’s salvation in Jesus the Messiah.  What was promised and foreshadowed in the Torah and the Prophets became clear and revealed in the teaching of Jesus and His apostles.  There is no contradiction between the two; but rather, they work as a whole to display the glory of Adonai.

In the next few chapters, we’re going to explore some of the passages from the Apostles’ writings that demonstrate this very thing.  They will all concern the Kingdom of God and how the apostles understood that kingdom from their very rich context in the Hebrew Scriptures that we’ve just surveyed.  The first passage we’re going to explore is from a sermon that the Apostle Paul preached while in Antioch Pisidia.  He was in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and the reading of the Torah and the prophets had just occurred.  Paul, being a guest, was asked to speak to the community.  He began by rehearsing some of the history of the salvation revealed in the history of Israel, then moved on to the declaration that Jesus is the Messiah and that He had come.  In our passage, Paul begins to declare the gospel from a few passages in the Psalms and prophets.

Promise of the Fathers

“And we declare unto you glad tidings [the gospel], how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers, God has fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he has raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my Son, this day have I begotten you’.  And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He said on this wise, ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David’.  Wherefore He said also in another Psalm, ‘You shall not suffer your Holy One to see corruption’.  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: but He, Whom God raised again, saw no corruption.  Be it know unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and that by Him, all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the Law (Torah) of Moses.” (Acts 13:32-39)

Our passage begins with Paul’s declaration that the gospel [glad tidings] was the proclamation that God had fulfilled the promise made to the Fathers by raising Jesus from the dead.  But what WAS the promise made to the Fathers?  We’ve looked at that in our study.  The Fathers are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob [or Israel].  God had promised Abraham that He would become the “father of many nations”.  Abraham would have an innumerable number of descendants, and those children would possess the Land of Canaan forever.  The ultimate promise made to Abraham over and over was that all families of the earth would be blessed, or accepted, through Abraham’s seed.

Paul uses this covenant of Abraham as the basis of the gospel.  In Paul’s mind, the promise that all people would be accepted by God through Abraham’s seed was the gospel itself!

“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen [gentiles] through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all nations be blessed’”. (Galatians 3:8)

In fact, Paul declares that the reason Messiah came as a servant was so that the promises made unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could come to pass.

“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the Circumcision [Jews] for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the Fathers.” (Romans 15:8)

Later in the book of Acts, Paul claimed that He was imprisoned for preaching the fulfillment of the promises made to the Fathers.

“And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our Fathers”. (Acts 26:6)

To say that Paul considered Abraham’s covenant to be foundational to the gospel would be an understatement.  Just read Galatians!  But is the promise made to the Fathers just about gentiles coming into the fold?  Absolutely not!  Abraham’s promise was two part—1) Abraham would be the father of many nations, and 2)these heirs of Abraham would possess the Land of Canaan!

But wasn’t Israel already living in the land of Canaan?  Wasn’t that part of the covenant fulfilled?  A remnant of Israel was certainly living in the Land of Israel, but it wasn’t the fulfilling of Abraham’s covenant by a long shot!  Consider the context that Paul is in here in this passage.  Paul is preaching in a synagogue to the “stock of Abraham” (vs 26).  But where is he?  Antioch Pisidia.  He’s not in the land, and neither are these Jews to whom he’s preaching.  In fact, only a small portion of the Jewish people lived in Israel during the first century.  If you remember in our study thus far, the House of Israel, that was taken captive by the Assyrians over 700 years earlier, never returned from exile.  And the House of Judah, that was taken captive into Babylon, only had a small remnant return.  Most of the Jews in Paul’s day still lived in Babylon.  It was the hope of Jews worldwide that the Messiah would come, overthrow the oppression of the Romans and begin regathering the exiles from among the nations.

But why did God send the exiles among the nations?  If you remember in our study, Israel was given the Land of Canaan as a perpetual possession.  But according to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, if Israel was disobedient and did not keep the Torah, then the curse of the Torahwas that they would undergo judgment in the form of hard times, sickness, disease, oppression and eventually exile.

“But if you will not hearken unto Me, and will not do all these commandments; and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhor My judgments, so that you will not do all my commandments, but that you break my Covenant…And I will scatter you among the nations, and will draw out a sword after you:  and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste”. (Lev. 26:14-15,33)

Israel’s disobedience to God’s Torah is the reason that they are in exile.  They’re NOT under oppression because the Romans were stronger than they.  They’re NOT in exile because it was too hard to make it back to Canaan.  They are in exile simply because they had come under the curse of the Law, which was exile among the nations!

But God had promised in these very passages, that if Israel would repent and begin once again to obey God’s Torah, then He would gather their exiles from among the nations and return them to the Land of Canaan, thereby fulfilling Abraham’s Covenant!

“If they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against Me, and [confess] that they have also walked contrary unto Me; and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the Land”. (Lev. 26:40-42)

So, Israel was in exile among the nations because of sin.  In fact, the cycle of possession and dispossession of the Land had been perpetual because of the propensity to sin.  God had promised in the New Covenant and in the Covenant to King David that there would come a time when Israel would be regathered from among the nations and they would never be removed again!  But how is that possible?  If Israel, as all mankind, has a propensity to sin, then how can the promise be made that they would never be removed from the Land again?  The answer is actually quite simple.  Before Israel can possess the Land of Canaan never to be removed again, the issue of sin must be dealt with.  And the promise in the New Covenant says exactly this!

“This shall be the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel; after those days, says Adonai, I will put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know Adonai’; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says Adonai:  for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”. (Jer. 31:33-34)

The incredible promise of the New Covenant is that Adonai promises to forgive Israel’s sin once and for all.  In fact, He’ll never remember them again!!  What a promise!  So now let’s consider the implications of this.  If Israel’s sins are removed, then the Torah no longer condemns her.  The Torah only condemns sin.  But if Israel is considered sinless (made so by faith in Jesus’ atonement), then the curse of the Law is broken off of Israel!  Israel can now expect to see God make good on the promise to gather the exiles from among the nations back to the Land, fulfilling Abraham’s Covenant!

The Good News of the Kingdom is that God, in Christ, has reconciled the world (beginning with Israel) unto Himself.  All those who put their trust in the atonement of Jesus are now considered righteous in the eyes of God, and the curse of the Law is broken from off of them.  This was the message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5) that the Apostles took to the nations.  The Gospel to the Jew was that your Messiah has come and He’s made atonement for the sins of Israel for all who put their faith in Him.  The Gospel to the Gentile is the same—God has fulfilled His promise to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and you are invited into this New Covenant as well.  By doing so, you will become partakers of the Covenants of the Promise (Eph. 2) and you will be heirs of Abraham’s promises (Galatians 3 & 4)!

David’s Covenant Fulfilled

“And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He said on this wise, ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David’”. (Acts 13:34)

So what are the “sure mercies of David”?  Remember in our study that David was promised a Kingdom that would never end.  David’s Dynasty would be forever.

“He shall build a House for My Name, and I will establish the Throne of His Kingdom forever”. (2 Sam. 7:13)

When the House of Judah went into judgment, the last of the Davidic kings died.  The prophets picture a metaphor of a large tree being cut down (Isa. 11), or of a large Sukkah falling into disrepair (Amos 9).  However, the promises throughout the prophets that we’ve been looking at recently tell us that a time would come when God would raise up, once again, a King from the line of David.  Isaiah 11:1 says it this way—

“And there shall come forth a sprout out of the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his [Jesse] roots”.

Jesse was David’s father.  David’s Dynasty had been chopped down by the captivity and there was no king for a long time.  But though the tree was chopped down, it wasn’t dead.  From the roots of that tree, a new Branch began to grow.  This is speaking about Jesus, the Son of David!

In our last study, we looked at Ezekiel’s prophecies concerning the future time of redemption when all of Israel (gentiles included!) would be regathered from among the nations.  Chapter 37 declares that the two houses of Israel would become one house again, the Kingdom being reunited, and that David would rule over them.

“And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd:  they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them.  And they shall dwell in the Land that I have given to Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and My servant David shall be their Prince forever.” (Eze. 37:24-25)

The promise that David would always have a son on His throne was the kindness that God showed to David.  God was touched by David’s heart to build Him a House, and in response God made this eternal promise to David.  But in the light of the severe judgment inflicted upon the House of David by the Exile, this promise looked like it was faltering.  However, God sent prophet after prophet promising David that his house would arise again.  And when this future Son of David came and reunited the two Houses of Israel, then David, or rather David’s House, would rule forever!  This promise was the “sure [firm] mercies [lovingkindnesses] of David”.  God would be merciful to David and restore his throne.

In our Acts 13 passage, Paul brings up Psalm 2 where the declaration was made of Messiah, “You are My Son”.  This calls us back to the covenant of David where God declares that David’s son would be God’s Son (2 Sam 7:14).  But let’s look more closely to a phrase found in David’s promise—

“And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish His Kingdom”. (2 Sam. 7:12)

The Hebrew word translated “set up” here means “to arise” [Strong’s #6965].  In this passage, Paul understood this term to refer not just to the raising up of a son to sit on David’s Throne, but more specifically to the resurrection of Messiah!  In other words, God was telling David, “When you’ve passed on, I will resurrect one of your sons to be king, and I will establish His Kingdom”.  But Paul isn’t alone in this understanding.  In fact, he may well have gotten this revelation from Peter.  In chapter 2 of Acts, Peter says the same thing—

“Men and brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David, that is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.  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 Messiah to sit on his throne; He [David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Messiah, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.  This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses.” (Acts 2:29-32)

Peter is saying that when David got the promise that God would “set up”, or raise up, his son to sit on his throne, it was revealed to David that this was spoken about the future Messiah.  Furthermore, when David wrote Psalm 16, Peter believed that he was prophesying of Messiah again when he said, “For you will not leave my soul in the grave; neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption” (Psa 16:10).  To Peter it was obvious that David wasn’t really talking about himself, for David’s tomb was there in Jerusalem even to Peter’s day.  David was speaking about another “David” Who would come and sit on the Throne.  Understanding this, we can see that when Ezekiel speaks of “David” being Prince forever, He also was speaking of the ultimate David, the Son of David from David’s loins, that would reign forever!

After saying the same things about Jesus that Peter had earlier, Paul declares to the Antioch synagogue that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is preached to them.  In other words, the removal of sins that’s prophesied in the New Covenant is available by trusting in Messiah’s atonement.  And if they hear this message and believe, they will be justified from all things [meaning all sins], from which they couldn’t be justified by the Law of Moses. 

Justification through the Law of Moses

So what does this mean?  The Law of Moses (the Torah) doesn’t justify anybody.  The Torah (God’s instruction in righteousness) was given to describe the righteous love life.  If you love your neighbor, you won’t steal from him.  If you love your neighbor, you won’t bear false witness about him, or commit adultery with his wife, or covet his things.  Love, pure and unabated, is the essence of the Law and the Prophets (Gal 5:14).  So the Torah sets the bar on what love is.

The problem is that we’re tainted with sin.  In fact, tainted is not a good word—we’re saturated with sin.  Even our best intentions are often self-serving.  We don’t naturally think of others over ourselves, and self-centerness is the essence of sin.  So when we’re weighed against the standard of the Torah, we stand condemned every time.  This is not because the Torah is faulty.  The Torah is just fine—doing its job as God created it to do…flawlessly.  It’s WE who are faulty.  WE are sinful.  WE are selfish.  We are rebellious.  WE are stubborn.  So we’re condemned by the Torah and the curse of the Torah has come upon us.  The Torah cannot justify us, and still be right before God.  The standard of righteousness cannot be bent down to allow unrighteous men to pass.  The Torah MUST be unwavering in its standard.

Isn’t it interesting that many of us have believed that God’s answer to justifying us was to remove the obstacle of the Torah.  It goes like this:  The Torah is God’s standard.  We don’t meet the standard, so God removes, or lowers the bar so that we can be justified.  That’s the idea behind the teaching that the Torah is passed away.  We no longer have to keep God’s commandments, this erroneous doctrine declares.  It was too burdensome, so God removed it.  THAT is false teaching!!

The New Covenant declares that the “Torah would be written on our hearts”, and that God would “cause us to walk in His statutes, keep His judgments, and do them” (Jer. 31:31-34; Eze. 36:24-27).  God didn’t remove or lower the standard of righteousness—the Torah stands firm!  So how is it that we’re not still condemned by the Torah?  That’s the gospel.  Our sins have been removed by the atonement of Messiah.  We are justified [made righteous] in Jesus.

So, do we have to keep the Torah?  Once again, that’s exactly what God said the New Covenant would look like!  He would write it on our hearts and we would walk in obedience to His commandments!  When we humble our uncircumcised hearts, and begin to obey His Torah, then we that are exiled among the nations will be gathered to meet Him at His return.  Think back over our study of the prophets.  Over and over God painted the picture of Israel repenting and times of refreshing being poured out upon them.  Obedience would be their trademark.  Abraham’s Covenant and David’s Covenant were built upon these promises of a future people who wouldn’t just say they were God’s people, but their obedience proved it!

Next time, we’ll look at some more passages from the Apostolic Scriptures that anticipate the fulfilling of these ancient covenants in Messiah.  Till then—Shalom!