ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH; RESTORED AS ONE!

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH ARE AT PRESENT DEEPLY DIVIDED.
BUT THE TWO ARE DESTINED TO BE RESTORED AS ONE SINGLE ELECT AND CHOSEN PEOPLE.
MOSES AND THE APOSTLE PETER BOTH SPOKE OF THIS. (See Exodus 19:6 and 1Pet.2:9)
THEY ARE TO BECOME "A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS AND A HOLY NATION".

The question of the Church and its relationship with Israel and the royal Jewish House of Judah is a prickly issue. In fact the whole subject of Israel and the Church has been problematic since the days of the early Church. Peter and Paul both wrestled with the matter. Both led the way in seeing the Gospel of Christ preached beyond Israel's borders. And the Day of Pentecost in that epic crucifixion year saw the Holy Spirit outpouring come down in a glorious flooding rain. The Holy Spirit overflowed out of Israel and into the heathen nations.

Within 200 years Gentiles outnumbered Jewish Christians. Soon the only real connection the Church had with her Hebrew roots was in her Jewish Messiah. In 325 A.D. the Church accepted the invitation of the Roman Caesar Constantine. Many decided to "go up" to Nicaea and allow the pagan Roman leader to officiate for them in the matter of the Arian heresy. Then it was all over. The Church has never been the same since that time.

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
ACCORDING TO EVANGELICAL DISPENSATIONAL THEOLOGY.

Dispensationalists are a body of popular theologians who are now dominating the evangelical camp. They are a group of religious thinkers in a category we might label as "splitters". Dispensationalists try to solve theological problems by dividing up the covenant people of God and putting them into boxes. They do this in many ways. They have found it expedient to separate the Rapture from the Resurrection of the righteous dead. We describe that "chop-off and hide the Resurrection" caper this article.

In crafting their end-time theology dispensationalists are very keen to separate Israel from the Church. And they have forced that mode of thinking and that mindset upon Bible reading Christians in the west. This has paved the way for them to fashion and sell a comfortable eschatology that middle of the road Christians want to hear. Their end-time fantasies are of a Jewish nation being abandoned and 'Left Behind'. Meanwhile, they, as members of the established evangelical church, dodge the end-time trials and the end-time witness and escape seven years early.

This early rapture is a bad rap for the evangelical Congregation of Christ. Bible believing Christians are misbehaving badly here. They are not searching the scriptures in Berean fashion to see if what they are hearing is true. And they are baulking at the essential 5th seal bridal witness. They are shunning the essential blood covenant commitment that former saints and saints overseas have gladly embraced. The Western Evangelical Church is like a Runaway Bride. She is bolting away from full nuptial commitment. Like a concubine awaiting her sugar-daddy to do everything for her she awaits the glory train. She has been told that it will be coming seven years before the end of the age to pick her up. Her bags are packed. And so she sits, awaiting her passage to the mansions.

Is material reward all the Western Church wants in her covenant with Messiah?
Is she just a material girl?

Pray God that is not the case.

We are exhorted to be expectant of Christ's Second Coming. It could happen in our lifetime, and for most of us it probably will. But that does not mean that an isolated Rapture, (jerked free of its Resurrection moorings), is imminent. But that is precisely what the Biblical Christians has been told. Many evangelicals now believe that they could be raptured out "anytime now".

But how can that be? There are hundreds of millions of people in many sections of the world who have not heard the Gospel, even once. The Bible League reports that 200 million Christian converts in Africa do not even have a Bible.

How about our own spiritual state?
Are our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace?
Do we have the oil for the lamps against the coming night?
Is the Church a pure and uncompromising bride without spot or blemish?
Does she have the white raiment, even the wedding garments of righteousness and purity?
Does she have eye salve for her partial blindness so she can see?
Does she have gold refined in the fire?
Can we really leave with all this unfinished covenant business all around us?

While the prospective Bride of Christ admits that there are some serious blood covenant issues that must be addressed before the consummation she has been kept in the dark about this. She has no idea that it will be her witness that will be called for. Israel and the western nations are in a period of relative peace and have their national sovereignty right now. This is the Pax Americana period of history and has been since the atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Bretton Woods agreement was signed. Our national flags fly at the masthead. But not after they sign their sovereignty away in a seven year covenant or treaty with a coming world leader. The prophet Daniel brings us this vital and information in Daniel 9:27. This ushers Israel and Western Christendom into the 70th Week of Daniel.

The Church, the prospective Bride of Messiah, has probably heard or read of Jesus telling His disciples about these coming trials. She knows that some group of saints will eventually be going up to witness before kings and rulers. This is laid out in Matthew 24 in the Olivet Discourse. But she does not believe that this refers to her. Rather, she has been led to believe that these vital end-time responsibilities will be taken on by "other people" notably "The Jews".

Will "144,000 flaming Jewish evangelists", (all of them brand new Christians), really finish the Great Commission while western Christians escape the trials or miss out on the privilege? Will they be bringing in the "final witness" of the saints while we carve ham and clink glasses at a special private party, a "Pre-70th Week Church only" Marriage Supper of the Lamb?

Dear saints,
Are the Elect brought into the heavenly realms in separate dispensational glory trains?
Is this like our God, the Holy One of Israel, to do this sort of thing?
And is there one scaric of evidence from the Holy Scriptures to support such a notion?

This is so sad to have to report. The evangelical congregation have allowed themselves to be pushed "out of the loop" here. Their hired churchmen have shrewdly concocted a "cut and run" theology and proceeded to sell it to the Christian masses. We see a slew of books, videos, and movies based on the Pre-Tribulation Rapture lore. The yearly profit for the sale of this latter day church sponsored indulgence is huge. It numbers in the billions of dollars.

Bible believing Christian people and their church leaders are taking the easy way out here. They are passive in the covenant. But they are very active in the ways of this world. The bottom line is this. They are neglecting their responsibilities before God. They are planning to skip the final leg of the relay race of the saints.

Why? Is it because it seems dangerous or unpleasant? They are also planning to abandon their Jewish brothers and sisters as well. Their Pre-Tribulation Rapture will be taking them out seven years before the end of this age. Oh yes. They believe that the Glory Train will be leaving seven years early.

But will it?
See this little play.

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
ACCORDING TO REFORMED THEOLOGY

Reformed Theology (lumpers) are not much better in their Israelology. They are quite correct in their insistence upon a single Covenant. But unfortunately in the absence of a viable Scripturally based Israelology doctrine in their seminaries they are all too often inclined to slip-slide into Augustine and Origen's Replacement Theology which says that the Church has replaced (and displaced) Israel, forever.

This Replacement Theology is dripping with Jewish blood. It has thrown up a series of murderous anti-Semitic histories. And it has gone on for 1700 years. The church has not renounced this docrine. Nor has it apologized for this long history of church sponsored antisemitism.

Replacement Theology is also linked to Dominion Theology. This is a church-state jingoism that says that the Church in league with her military and merchant champions is destined to take over the world. History has witnessed the church sponsored Crusades, the Spanish Inquisitions and the Pogroms of eastern Europe. Anti-Semitic elements have also energized much of the latter day raging of nations both of right wing nationalism and left wing socialism. This bloody doctrine of Replacement Theology has installed itself in western Christendom Amazingly it is still there, even as the pagan gargoyles are still perched on the church roof of the old cathedrals. No one seems to notice. It needs to be taken down! It needs to be renounced ASAP!

But as we have stated, Reformed theology gets one thing very right. The God of Israel in the Holy Scriptures always speaks of one Elect. And He draws one Chosen People to Himself. The fact that we cannot conceive of Jews someday belonging in the Church with us is our problem, not God's. Because He is going to do this! See Zech. 12:7-13:1)

THE CHURCH AND ISRAEL
DESTINED TO BE UNITED IN MESSIAH.

The two sticks become one. (Ezek37)
Image from Batya Wootten's book.

The latter days, the final seven years of this age, will see a great End-Time Revival occurring. at the very same time many will fall away from the faith they once claimed in a Great Apostasy. Both will be happening concurrently. In those days, (among the saints God has called), the great hidden secrets of God will be unveiled. And all the mysteries of Israel and the Church will unfold. We shall see a remnant Israel and a remnant Church knit together as one in Messiah. At that time the two houses will become one remnant Elect. The partial blindness of Jewish Israel will end. They will "see" and recognize their true Messiah, even as the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in. The royal Jewish House of Judah will be saved just as Zechariah foretold And yes, they will be reunited with the Church.

The Church will also have her eyesight healed. After she has repented and taken her proper bridal responsibility to the blood covenant her partial blindness will end, just as it did over in the royal Jewish house. The true Church will be persecuted by the false church in those coming times. But she will enter into a serendipity of great joy, even in the midst of tribulation. In those days she will look into the mirror of God's Word and see herself as she really is, part of the cross-linked Congregation and Commonwealth of Israel. No longer will she be part of the harlot religious consort beholden to European princes or the plaything of merchants or other champions of "the people". Gomer will have at last discovered her Beloved, her Ishi. And the mirror of God's Word will reveal the true Church to be as she will be in those days, the woman of wonder John saw in Revelation 12.

The true Christian Bride of Christ will have her eyes opened to wonders in those times. She will see and know and experience her spiritual identity and her national political identity in Israel's Messiah. In those days she will know and understand what the Gospel of the Kingdom really means. No longer will she be content to be a state church or a merchant church. She will recognize her true Christian identity in Israel's Messiah and remember that she belongs to "His Congregation", the Congregation of Israel. From a Kingdom or political perspective she will see that she is a fellow citizen with the saints with a passport to the Celestial City, the New Jerusalem.

The partial blindness of the Church to her identity in Israel (Eph.2:12-13 & Gal; 3:29) is real. It is just as real as the partial blindness of the Jews regarding the identity of their Messiah. This partial blindness of Israel involves us as Christians too. Because we cannot yet "see" that we are in Israel through the atoning blood of Messiah. This is referred to by our Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:12-13. And he refers to the partial blindness in Romans 11. This partial blindness will be healed. At long last the Church will see herself as part of a fully regathered and restored Commonwealth of Israel. The middle wall of partition will be broken down. The spell will be broken. Messiah's blood of atonement brings the "at-one-ment" to heal the Breach of Jeroboam. This will be a great and glorious wonder. Messiah will re-unite both estranged houses of Israel and restore the broken fellowship.

The end-time drama will see the 2900 year old family feud end. The Jews will be saved. (Zech. 12:7-13:1) And the lost ten tribes will be found. They will look upon this with wonderment, even as our patriarch Joseph laid out places for all his ten brothers according to their birth order. The two estranged houses of Israel will be reconciled in Messiah. And in Him they will be cross-linked together as a single Elect. They will become the "royal priesthood and holy nation" that Moses and the Apostle Peter both spoke about. (Exodus 19:6, 1Peter 2:9)

All these mysteries will surely unfold in times to come. The vital blood covenant dealings YHVH-God has determined will all occur right on schedule during the end-time drama. And as that future 70th Week of Daniel unfolds the Fall Feasts of Israel will erupt into holy history right smack dab on their assigned Hebrew calendar dates. And so the final three Feasts of the Lord will come into their New Covenant fulfillment as waypoints into and out of the final seven years of this age. Our Messiah will surely come to establish His Millennial Kingdom. And upon His return world history will be changed forever.

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH.
THE ABSENCE OF A BIBLICALLY BASED ISRAELOLOGY IN THE SEMINARIES.
JEWISH ISRAEL REMAINS ALIENATED BY BOTH REFORMED CHURCHES AND EVANGELICAL CHURCHES.

The subject of Israelology is a sorely neglected one in seminaries if it is studied at all. It is not developed Biblically by either Dispensationalist or Reformed theologians. Both have elements of the truth. There is one Elect, and this is where the reformed churches are quite correct. But in the absence of a true and correct theology of Israel a Replacement Theology has risen where not a few say that the Church has replaced Israel and Israel has been pushed aside forever.

This is very wrong. It has led to some terrible histories involving antiSemitism in the Church. So yes, the Church is indeed grafted in to Israel and has her true ultimate identity among the houses of Joseph and Benjamin and the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.

But there are some real dangers here if we do not handle this truth correctly. Our Apostle Paul warns us against boasting against the branches and against the Hebrew roots of our faith in Christ. The Commonwealth of Israel involves two olive trees. These were described by the prophet Zechariah as two witnesses. This is also symbolized in the two Sabbath Candles.

THE TWO WITNESSES

"Candles at the Wall" by Jewish artist Eizen.
Click here to go to the Israeli Poster Center.

The two witnesses are showcased in the two Shabbat candles.
And two candles are presented on our dining tables in Christendom.
The theme of 'two witnesses' is seen in both Old and New Testaments.

And as the two olive trees both drip the oil into the golden bowl we see that in Messiah there are two anointings on earth. One is a political anointing involving the Throne of David the Kingdom. The other is a priestly anointing involving the High Priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a dual anointing here even though the two are administered as a single dispensation under one Messiah. We see these two anointings in the oil dripping from two olive trees in Zechariah 4. Nevertheless the two are in complete and total unity. Messiah upholds and oversees them both. These are the dual offices of High Priest and King of Salem, (Prince of Peace) that are seen in the Order of Melchizedek.

Click here to see the article
on Messiah's dual offices in
the Order of Melchizedek.

The meeting of Abraham with Melchizedek and
the impartation of a double anointing as both
High Priest and King of Salem, (Prince of Peace).

Right now the two houses are disjointed and dysfunctional. They are far from being united. For 2900 years, since the Breach of Jeroboam, we have seen two estranged and partially blind houses of Israel. Here below is a picture of that epic breakup of Israel into two kingdoms that happened after the death of Solomon.

This woodcut illustration is by
Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld (1794-1872

The great and terrible divorce of Israel into two kingdoms.
Woodcut illustration by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld. (1794-1872)

The Church, being made up of many elements of the lost ten tribes of Israel, is inclined to crusade in the flesh or make pilgrimages in the spirit towards the Holy Land of their fathers. The West is drawn to the things of Israel, as are converts to Messiah from all over the world. But our heavily Romanized Christian religion is beholden to the princes and merchants of this world. So even born-again Christians are blind to the fact that when a person is saved he or she become a new creation and takes on a new identity and citizenship in the Commonwealth of Israel. This is scripturally very well documented in Ephesians 2:12-13 and in Galatians 3:29. But the message here in these Bible passages has been a taboo subject under the European kings and princes as well as under the present day merchant powers.

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH;
AND A FAMILY FEUD

So the dispensationalists with all their splitting and compartmentalizing of the Covenant Congregation of God continue to align themselves along the fault lines of this ancient falling out of the lost tribes of Israel and the Jewish tribe of Judah. This family feud goes back to Jeroboam. And insofar as they recognize and acknowledge the royal Jewish house of Judah with their emphasis on God' righteous rule and His law the Evangelical communion has no theology or eschatology that will reconcile Israel with the Church. They emphasis the anointing of the Church for God's mercy and grace. And they are are right to do this. But in their discounting of the importance of God's Law and His Torah and His righteous rule they are missing the mark. And as we see, this declension of the Church into easy-believism and greasy grace sees the Church tip-toeing into antinomian lawlessness. God's intent is not only to take the Gospel of Grace to the end of the earth and bring in the Gentiles. But He also has every intention of restoring the nation of Israel. This is showcased all through the Holy Scriptures.

And how will the Old Covenant God made with the nation of Israel at Sinai be restored?
He will restore the old Covenant by bringing in the New Covenant. (See Jer. 31:31-33)
The national (old) covenant God made with Israel as a nation failed.
But it will be restored by the personal (new) covenant He makes with individuals.

Evangelicals and Jews pretend to like each other and support each other. There is a lot of hoopla by evangelicals over the support of Israel. But when it gets right down to it the Church and the present Juidaic/Levitical priesthood of Jewish Israel still believe that their own specific anointing is "the one and only". They sit down at the table together and say nice things about each other. But for the sake of peace each group quietly discounts the belief of the other without bringing it up as an issue. This is fine for now. But much better fellowship lies ahead. And the day will come when all of Joseph's brothers will be reunited in true fellowship in Messiah.

Yes Israel and the Church are in a family feud right now. But thank God the spat will not last forever. Each party thinks they "have it all". The orthodox Jewish religion discounts Christians as "lawless" or "non-Torah-observant". The Dispensationalist Christians, for all their talk of supporting Israel, know that the jews must receive Christ as Messiah They seem to think that nothing will change and that the Jewish nation will never be saved.

There is a cause for some concern here. The evangelical Christian family, (it would seem), are secretly running short of patience with the Jewish nation. Proof of this can be found in their eschatology. They slam shut the door on their dispensational "Age of Grace" seven years early. Then they proceed to lay out an end-time scenario that sees them raptured out before the Great Tribulation and before the national salvation of the Jews. Oh yes, evangelicals are talking quite fondly nowadays about their imminent departure and of being raptured "outta here!".

So what then is to become of their yet to be saved Jewish brethren over in the royal house of Judah?
Well they tell us that the Jewish nation will be "Left Behind"!

Dear saints, we ask the question.
Is this an end-time theology of abandonment?

THE BREACH OF JEROBOAM.
DESTINED TO BE HEALED!

But both known Israel in the Jewish quarter and unknown Israel in western Christendom have inclinations that point to their true calling and anointing. And this can only come to pass if they are born again and receive the indwelling Messiah. The Jewish House of Judah with their emphasis on God's righteous rule is on the right pathway. And the Church with their message of God's mercy and grace in the Gospel are also on the right pathway. Both of them are in God's heart and plan for salvation, sanctification, and glorification as a remnant Elect at the end of this age. But only in Messiah will this all be accomplished.

So how will this terrible split, the Breach of Jeroboam, be healed? The answer is simple. Messiah will do personally. He will do it in the coming great End-Time Revival as we come into the final seven years of this age. This great and epic future restoration will happen when the fullness of the Gentiles is being brought in and the Jewish nation repents and is saved. (Zech 12:7-13:1. And so all Israel will be saved under Messiah and restored as a nation/priesthood. The two are destined to come into unity as a cross-linked royal priesthood and a holy nation. Moses and the Apostle Peter both spoke about this. (1Peter 2:9) Then "all Israel" will be saved as a people and and all Israel will be restored nationally. Both jobs will be done and wrapped up by Messiah when He returns at the end of this age. Here are some articles that may provide some further understanding. One single Elect and chosen people. http://endtimepilgrim.org/elect.htm The Breach of Jeroboam http://endtimepilgrim.org/jeroboam.htm The Commonwealth of Israel http://endtimepilgrim.org/coi.htm The two witnesses http://endtimepilgrim.org/twowit.htm

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH ARE AT PRESENT DEEPLY DIVIDED. BUT THE TWO ARE DESTINED TO BE RESTORED AS ONE SINGLE ELECT AND CHOSEN PEOPLE. MOSES AND THE APOSTLE PETER BOTH SPOKE OF THIS. (See Exodus 19:6 and 1Pet.2:9) THEY ARE TO BECOME "A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS AND A HOLY NATION".

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO EVANGELICAL DISPENSATIONAL THEOLOGY.

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO REFORMED THEOLOGY

THE CHURCH AND ISRAEL DESTINED TO BE UNITED IN MESSIAH.

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH. THE ABSENCE OF A BIBLICALLY BASED ISRAELOLOGY IN THE SEMINARIES. JEWISH ISRAEL REMAINS ALIENATED BY BOTH REFORMED CHURCHES AND EVANGELICAL CHURCHES.

ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH; AND A FAMILY FEUD