Israel's right to the Promised Land
Last Call Ministries
I want to take you through a 1989 article sent to me called "Who is the new Israel". It was sent to me to present a facet of a discussion based on a teaching called "TYPOLOGY AND THE NEW ISRAEL", the premise being that Israel has lost its rights as God’s Chosen, yet there are some points left out of the thesis written by Dr. John W. Morris
pastor of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Indianna.
I sincerely have taken an objective look at his examples. I am one who will not take a position based on the attitude, "Well that’s just the way it is" I rather look deep into the matter and maintain the position that I do not know all things. I’m sure that you would have that approach as well.
I do have issues with this article since there are many scriptural points either left out by the author by accident or on purpose, I’m not really sure. What I do know is this man has a limited understanding of the scripture. I consider myself expert on this discussion, second to none in understanding. This may be a bold statement, but I have seen Jesus. There is an inherent danger and perversion of God’s word in the popular thinking that "It’s all over for Israel and they have no right to exist" Rather than take my word for it though, read it for yourself but Ask Jesus for the truth. If you are sincere, truth is what you’ll have.
What I have chosen to do is highlight points of the article and place in Italics my comments and references of the scripture that have been left out so to, at the very least bring fullness to the idea presented in the Bible.
I have chosen to take issue with the meat and potatoes of John Morris’ argument.
All Non-Italic text is a word for word rendition of Dr. Morris’ argument. I have also placed a link to his article should you wish compare it side by side with my conclusions.http://www.antiochian.org/Orthodox_Church_Who_What_Where_Why/Who_Is_The_New_Israel.htm
Below is area of the article by Dr. Morris with my comments in Italics.
TYPOLOGY AND THE NEW ISRAEL
According to the typological method, God’s promises to Abraham and his descendents were fulfilled through Christ and His Church. One Orthodox scholar has written: "In Christ, then, the covenant with Israel was fulfilled, transformed, and transcended. After the coming of the Messiah—the Incarnation of God the Son—only those who are ‘built into Christ’ are counted among the people of God. In Christ, the old Israel is superseded by the Christian Church, the new Israel, the body of Christ; the old covenant is completed in the new covenant in and through Jesus Christ" (George Cronk, The Message of the Bible; St. Vladimir Seminary Press; 1982, p. 80).
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This is a true statement. All the promises concerning Israel apply to the Holy Spirit filled Christian who is the true Israel of God. [There are also Christians who are Christians by title only and not by spiritual birth, therefore they are not the Israel of God either]
Yet Paul points out in Romans 11:1 "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid." Paul further explains, "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, "There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes [Abraham, Isaac and Jacob etc.]. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." –[Romans 11: 25-29] -- Folks, that is Paul talking, I hope you are taking notice. Paul is saying that Israel is blessed because God promised it to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David etc. even though they are enemies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus has not forsaken Israel.
The Book of Revelations points out that during the Tribulation period, which is also the Seventieth-week of the book of Daniel [Chapter 9:24-27] that 12,000 actual Jews from each tribe shall become the instruments that Jesus chooses to preach the everlasting Gospel to a dying world. "And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." –[Revelation 7:4] In the fourteenth chapter of Revelation we see Jesus spiritually walking with the 144,000 Jews who are without fault before the throne of God. "These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins [Spiritually, just like the Bride of Christ]. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb."-[Revelation 14:4] therefore these fleshly Jews become also part of the spiritual Israel of God because they too awaken to the Gospel and therefore also bear out Paul’s point.
This interpretation of the covenant with Abraham and his descendents as fulfilled through Christ and His Church is firmly grounded in the witness of the New Testament. In the parable of the Vineyard Owner, our Lord uses the unfaithful tenants of a vineyard to illustrate this point. The owner, representing God, sent his servants, representing the prophets, and finally his son and heir, representing Christ, to collect his rent. The tenants, who represent the Jews, ignored the request for the rent and killed both the servants and the son of the owner of the vineyard. At the end of the parable our Lord said, "Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others" (Mark 12:1-9). In other words, those who faithfully believe in Him will inherit the status that Israel had before it rejected the Messiah.
--Again, a true and factual statement except that the vinedressers were the Jewish religious leaders of the day and the vineyard was the Jewish people. The fact that the apostles began teaching the Jewish people right there in Israel supports this idea. Yet we also must consider more of the Lord’s words for the total picture. Here is a case in point: Jesus speaking to the Jewish leaders of the day said, "Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar [only the priests would be in this area]. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation [they did with the Roman destruction- 70 AD]. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth,
till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." –[Matthew 23:31-39]-- Here in these verses you can see Jesus predicting the destruction of Jerusalem for their continual generational rejection of his ways and ultimately himself when he came the first time, yet again Jesus says to the Jewish people, your house is left desolate until YOU SHALL SAY blessed is he who comes in the name [authority] of the Lord. The comment illustrates that there would come a time when the Jewish people WOULD SAY Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. This event will happen just before his final return and is recorded in the Book of Revelation. By the very essence of the Lord’s comment we can discern that a generation of the Jewish nation would exist in Jerusalem, which was the thrust of my point, therefore it alludes to her present day existence. This is also Described in Daniel 9:24-27,
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
Here again we see the prediction of the Destruction of Jerusalem after Jesus would be crucified and then the prediction of a confirming of the Covenant [the Jesus Covenant] for one week of years, which is last 7 years promised to the Jewish people occurring at the end of generational mankind. At this period of time in the middle of that last week is when the abomination of desolation described in Daniel and referred to by Jesus himself will occur. Jesus references this event in association with his return at the end of the tribulation. The abomination of desolation is when the antichrist walks into the holy of holies in the Jewish temple [yet to be built] on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem showing himself to be above God Almighty. The point to be construed here is that the nation would have to exist in the last days for a Jewish Temple to be built on what the Jews call "Temple Mount". Certainly the Moslems will not have the notion in them to say, "Gee wouldn’t be nice to build the Jews a temple next to the Dome of the Rock Mosque?" [Yes, Ezekiel and Revelations declare this to happen as well.]
The covenant mentioned in Daniel is the Holy Jesus Christ Covenant. The total years appointed as spoken by Gabriel is 70 weeks of years determined upon the Jewish People and the Holy City. Sixty-two of those weeks transpired at the crucifixion. At that point, just like a stopwatch, the seventy-weeks was paused for the influx of the gentiles into the kingdom of God. The last eight weeks of years began ticking off with the recovery of the old city of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah refers to the kingdom of Judah as figs [Jeremiah 24:5]. Jesus predicts the emergence of Israel as a nation reborn with the parable of the fig tree and its tender sprouts in relationship to the events of the end times with Israel being the key sign [Matthew 24:32].
Again I must add that Israel’s government is foolish and contrary to the Lord, yet in the very same fashion that the kings of Judah after David were allowed to rule because of a promise given to David, so too because of the promise to Abraham, the nation exists today by the hand of Jesus Christ and in fact would also be a young nation by human standards in relationship to his final return.
Saint Paul wrote, "Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham . . . if you are Christ’s then you are of Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:7-9). Indeed, Saint Paul called the body of believers "the Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16). Saint Peter illustrated this point by applying terms used to describe Israel in the Old Testament when he wrote, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people" (I Peter 2:9).
– Paul’s comments here are true and I am in total agreement, however I believe we have already proved through the scripture that Jesus has reserved a remnant of the Jewish nation for himself, even as Paul previously cites. Why? Simply, because God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. Also Israel is God’s witness to the unbelieving world. Jesus is going to pour out his Holy Spirit on the Jewish nation and they will be his instruments, not in the Law of Moses mind you, rather in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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What I find interesting about
Dr. Morris’ reference of Peter is the stunning truth that Peter’s ministry was directly focused on the Jew as Paul so aptly points out, "But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision [Gentile] was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision [Jew] was unto Peter; (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:) And when James, Cephas [Peter], and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. –[Galatians 2:7-9]This proves that God had not forsaken the Jews rather he wants them to come to the knowledge of truth and be saved; yet a promise given is a promise given. Since God blesses the just and the unjust, therefore wouldn’t it be true that if God gave something to someone whether they are saved or not, wouldn’t it be right for that one to whom it was promised that they should have the promise until God says enough?
Make no bones about it, two thirds of the present generation of Israel will perish in war and captivity, simply because they have forsaken the Holy one of Israel, Jesus Christ, but the other third is reserved unto life eternal and he who touches that third touches the apple of God’s eye.
As a side note the idea that Peter was sent to the circumcision or Jew also proves that he could not have been the first POPE in Rome among the gentiles since Peter’ ministry was, according to Paul focused toward the Jew alone.
Thus, according to the New Testament, the standard against which all doctrine and Biblical interpretations must be tested, God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendents has been fulfilled through Christ and His followers, not through a secular state, for Christ said, "My Kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).
–There is no relationship to this mans conclusions and when Jesus said, "My Kingdom is not of this world". Jesus was merely saying that this world is the limited fallen creation and a kingdom solely based on that is limited in scope and power where as the Kingdom of Heaven is the seat of all power and all authority. That being said, there is going to be a kingdom of God on earth and Jesus will personally rule and reign in this kingdom from the New Jerusalem on earth.
I believe I have presented enough evidence to indicate that Jesus said Israel would be a nation in the last days of mankind and under a fiery attack both politically and spiritually. Jesus will put down all who come against Israel. The fact that Jesus said his kingdom was not of this world in no way negates the fact that he promised Israel an inheritance and the very fact that Israel exists is a testament that God is real. Besides my beginning reference by Paul refutes this mans conclusion and this general popular belief in the world today. We must rightly divide the word of truth and that by the Holy Ghost. Who shall we listen to here, a Dr. of Theology or the Apostle Paul? Better yet, anything Jesus says supercedes any and all things that anyone says including Paul.
It is true that there are some Old Testament prophecies that speak of a restoration of Israel following the destruction of Israel by Assyria and of Judah by Babylon. For example, Isaiah wrote, "It shall come to pass that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left" (Isaiah 11:11). Jeremiah prophesied, "For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers" (Jeremiah 16:15). Micah said, "I will surely gather the remnant of Israel" (Micah 12:12).
Indeed, God did restore Israel. The book of Ezra tells how Cyrus, the King of Persia who had conquered Babylon, allowed the Jews to return from exile and to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. Significantly the beginning of Ezra states that the events recorded are in fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah (Ezra 1:1). Thus the Old Testament prophecies cited in support of the modern state of Israel were fulfilled long ago when the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity. –
Either this man has an unbridled hatred for Jews [a Demonic influence as revealed in Revelation 12] or he has a lack of knowledge concerning the scripture. We must rightly divide the word of truth. Here is what the good doctor neglected to point out:
"Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." –[Zechariah 12:2-3]
"I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land." –[Joel 3:2]
We need to pay close attention to the time frame described here. First, when in history have all the nations of the earth come against Judah and Jerusalem? There is no historical record that points to a fulfillment of this event, therefore it is an event of the future. Also, when considering the so-called ‘Roadmap for Peace’, the final disposition or parting of the disputed land clearly has Gaza and Samaria given up in the plan therefore leaving only the area known in times past as the kingdom of "Judah" left for Israel. [This also means that the Golan Heights is gone as well and perhaps could infer that this moment of time reflects the midst of an assault on the tiny Jewish nation, at a point when any land that would have been considered the northern kingdom is also gone.] As you can see this parting of the land is in direct opposition to God’s plan. Jerusalem is already an international ‘Bone of Contention’ so the climate is right. Also in the Book of Revelation where does Jesus battle the nations of the earth? In the Valley of Armageddon [Also the valley of Decision,
valley of Jehoshaphat] located hmm, in Israel.This certainly details a present day application of the scripture and soon after this peace plan the middle east invasion will occur, which is merely the powder keg to the all out destruction of the entire earth as detailed in Revelations.
"After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them." - [Ezekiel 38:8]
Israel of the end times is a nation gather out of many people. Historically, Israel was delivered of Egypt by God through Moses, then the northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria and finally Judah was conquered by Babylon. Judah returned from captivity but was yet part of Persia then Greece, than Rome and subsequently destroyed and the Jews dispersed worldwide. Now we see the nation once more gathered out of "many people" as the scripture declares moving toward a peace plan.
The very fact that Israel gives up land for peace, according to God is the sin or trespass spoken of in Ezekiel 39:26 and is also why the Lord allows all the Moslem nations plus Russia to invade the middle east and ultimately Israel. [Read Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39] This event is like a wake up call for Israel since the Lord says they are polluting his holy name, which is Jesus Christ, the name forsaken by the Jewish nation. Yet Paul points out that God has reserved a remnant of the Jews for himself here in these end times. Also the very fact that the nations that join the initial attack against Israel are today in fact all Moslem nations, which carry an ideological hatred for the Jewish nation, clearly showing that the climate is today. This not coincidence, nor has this event yet happened in recorded history.
One other important point is simply that since God promised Abraham a generational inheritance for his offspring, any attempt to negate this fact is a demonic attempt to negate the truth of God’s word. If one can deny Israel’s right to exist than one could then say God’s word is not true and therefore there would be a chain reaction leading to the denial of Jesus Christ being the only path to salvation, which is why the attempt to exterminate the nation will fail.
Even though God has Promised Israel an inheritance, this will be reconciled at the end with all believers [Jews and Gentiles] in Jesus Christ as the true Israel of God inherits all the promises of position and authority in the Lords kingdom when he returns to establish it at the end of the tribulation.
The article by John W. Morris weakly attempts to portray that God has forsaken the Jewish people even if the Jewish people, like many so-called Christians have forsaken God. His conclusions are laden with half-truths, a consorted attempt to manipulate the scripture. I have tried to give you a well-rounded explanation with all the details, not just some of them.
My conclusions are based on complete biblical fact, history, current events and prophecy. Today’s climate is exactly as Jesus said it would be just before he catches his saints away to heaven before the Great Tribulation. Yes, Israel still rejects the true Messiah Jesus and most of the generations of Israel since Jesus will miss out on heaven, yet as soon as the fullness of the gentiles has come to Jesus [any moment now], the spiritual blindness of Israel will be healed, as a significant number of Jews of this final generation will embrace Jesus Christ as their savior.
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Zechariah 13:6 |
And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. |
Amen!
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