One of the biggest chasms in Christianity is the idea that God superseded or overwrote the promises to his nation of Israel when He chose himself a people out of the gentiles.
Certainly, signs and wonders have always accompanied God’s dealing with the peoples of the earth. From protection during the Flood of our (common) ancestor Noah and his family, to the crossing of the Red Sea, to the entry into Canaan, His good will towards the people of Israel has always been spectacular, In more recent history, the formation of the nation “in a day” when no one thought it possible and the retaking of Jerusalem should be proof enough that God never left Israel. Well, if you believe God “likes us better” we should see the same miracles as Israel did. But what was the purpose of signs and miracles? What did Jesus tell the messengers to tell John the Baptist? Please note, I have quoted whole passages, to avoid the cherry picking temptation of using one verse…we always need to know context… Luke 22:7 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. It was proof of His claim of being Messiah. Strictly from the prophecies the people knew and were waiting for, as their sign of the time of the King. What are Christians….gentile Christians promised? 1 Corinthians: 2 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ. We do have indeed, promises of preparations for us. Not the land and prosperity of Israel, but a Spirit based wellness wholeness and eternal life. Peter’s address to the people on Pentecost, with the accompanying speaking in tongues, was to Jewish men. I truly think they thought it was the time of “latter rain.” They thought Jesus would return soon..even ignoring it seems His prediction of the destruction of the Temple. But that is a specific time for Israel, as seen in Joel FIRST they repent, and God pours out his Spirit on them (remember, in this age of Grace, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit the moment we believe.) It follows the pattern of the Old Testament, not the New. Joel 2:17Let the priests, the LORD'S ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, 'Where is their God?'" 18Then the LORD will be zealous for His land And will have pity on His people. 19The LORD will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied in full with them; And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.… The Latter Rain Joel 2:27-28 27"Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the LORD your God, And there is no other; And My people will never be put to shame. 28"It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. 29"Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.… Israel is expecting even more supernatural help…2 witnesses, one of whom is generally beleived to be Elijah, (and in Jewish Law, proceedings required 2 witnesses, so 2 witnesses in the time of the Wrath of God makes sense..not going to argue who the second one is!)144,000 called out preachers, 12,000 from each tribe (so despite what current wisdom teaches, that Jews aren’t related to the Jews from 2,000 years ago, and that ten tribes were lost, God knows who is a Jew and who is from each tribe!) and one more, an archangel, to help them in their time of distress This is the Jewish remnant that God keeps safe for 3 ½ years… Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. 4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. 6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. 8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? 9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. 11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. 13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. Jesus spoke about this time.. Matthew 24:1Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2“Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” 3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’a spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25See, I have told you ahead of time. And John Rev 11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. 2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. 3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. 6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And Malachi Malachi 4: …4"Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. 5"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 6"He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."… So what are we, then? Why the Age of Grace? People not raised in the Law and traditions, but willing to respond to the Spirit? Romans 11: 1I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3“Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”a ? 4And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”b 5So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. God chose to let Israel suffer punishment for rejecting the Messiah. As well, Paul tells us we are a sign to the Jews. To raise their jealousy, so they will seek God, We are branches grafted in, but the root and branches must ALL be whole. It is not two plans, it is one, the redemption of the whole human race. Now, if God gave us such good gifts through the Spirit, and the early miracles of Jesus Our Lord and the Apostles faded out within a generation, The Jews were dispersed from Israel and it was renamed Palestine, while we in our small enclaves all over the Middle East and Europe grew in strength, and have been preaching the Good News of salvation and eternal life for 2 millennia, but now have the proof, since 1948, that God never forgot His people Israel… Why do we believe we have to have miracles and supernatural signs in order to believe? I am not inferring that God does not work on our behalf. There are still healings and other miracles in the Church. But as Christ, while he was talking to Jewish men, was so firm on not chasing false messiahs and false prophets, why are we not using the scripture, getting firm in our knowledge, so we are not buffeted by every new thing that comes along? Angels preaching in the heavens occurs in the last 7 years..not now. We can certainly look at the increase in earthquakes, and the rise in deception and wars and immorality as clear indicators of the times we are in. It is time for prayer and repentance preaching the Word and living as holy (set apart) people of God. Christians worry that attempting to build a third Temple means the time of Jacob’s trouble are upon us. In the generational or placement in time sense, it is. But there is nothing to stop the still secular country of Israel from starting on the project, especially as they now have a firm friend in the form of the US. One theory is that Elijah will teach the people where the altar is supposed to be and how to worship properly. that would put the suspicion that the other Witness is Moses at the top of my list! As to why the US wouldn’t try to stop the coalition of Gog Magog (destroyed, by God, in view of the world) I recently read that we may take up the position of “friend of the commonwealth” of the United Kingdom, If the UK, the old British Empire, is part of the prophecies, as Tarshish,(merchants especially of metals) our hesitation and weak response makes sense, (we seem to be re aligning with our natural roots, in other words) Ezekiel 38:13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? Here’s the point, Instead of a world rocking rapture (when Paul says we are just a remnant…an event small enough to be lied about and covered up easily) the next event to come may be the Gog Magog war, If so, and then the Witnesses come to build rebuild or finish up the temple and establish worship, the deal of the antichrist may not be one of protecting Israel, but of begging her to lay down her weapons and treat with the world. Several times in Revelation it talks about those hiding in rocks, etc from the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb. God will not allow those who stand against Israel to remain deluded about His protection! So the Antichrist and the False prophet would be setting this up as a war, between God and man, with the promise we could finally overthrow God. Not just a wishy washy Babylon, but a militant and angry one. One that would think killing all non-believers was just fine. And rejoicing when the God given rights of the people of Israel are overthrown at the half way point. This scenario is just to make you THINK It is not some sort of special revelation to me from God. God will fulfill all prophecy and we who stay steady in the Word , in prayer, in preaching, will not be fooled by the sweeping horror caused by the Devil pushing for his banner to fly, and soon. God is not mocked, nationalism is in vogue, and we have no idea how much time will elapse until these next stunning events. But it will be about Israel and for Israel not for those blessed by salvation by grace. We are sealed, we are saved. Stop chasing the buzz of the supernatural, and start chasing your relationship with God. |
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