Saturday, 31 January 2015
Cessationism and Eschatology
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Israelology
Bible-prophecies which were about Israel were to be fulfilled in Israel and for Israel, not directly in Gentiles.
Any such Bible-prophecy which was about Levitical worship and related themes, MUST have been fulfilled WHILE the Old Covenant still stood - because God isn't into returning to a shadow.
(That would include prophecies about priests, Levites, altar, sacrifices, incense, Temple, mount Zion, pilgrimages to Jerusalem, feasts, new moons and sabbaths, etc).
The Apostles asserted that Israel's salvation had been presented to Israel in Israel through the Gospel, but not all Israel believed and received - which was an outcome which the Prophets had also foreseen.
Gentiles were later included in the Church. The Apostles validated this by citing Bible-prophecies which had nominated Gentiles specifically, not Israel.
They taught that believing Jews and Gentiles together comprised one new man, in fulfilment of a promise which God had given Abraham before Israel and the Law ever were, a promise which did not mention Israel.
But this long-promised outcome did not come about without due process: first believing Jews were saved in fulfilment of prophecies about Jews, then believing Gentiles were saved in fulfilment of prophecies about Gentiles.
There was no blurring or altering of identities in Bible-prophecy in order to prove that there had been the fulfilment of Bible-prophecy. Rather the Apostles adhered exactly to identities in Bible-prophecy in order to defend the Gospel and to validate the inclusion of Gentiles.
Amos 9:11,12
In defending the inclusion of Gentiles in the Church, the Apostle quoted both verses, not only verse 11.
Just because verse 12 was about Gentiles doesn't mean verse 11 was too.
There was sequence - first the house/tabernacle of David, then Gentiles.
The two verses were quoted to validate the inclusion of Gentiles in the Church after the promises concerning the house/tabernacle of David had already been fulfilled.
To the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.
Thursday, 22 January 2015
Prophecy and Covenant Theology
Marvellous Kindness in a Big City
Paul and Jesus on the Kingdom
Jesus explained that the Kingdom was at hand. He also said it had already come upon them. He said people were already taking the Kingdom.
On Dispensationalism
Obviously some things Jesus said were applicable only to Jews and only while they were still under the Old Covenant Law. Things like keeping the Law, going to the priests, and himself keeping the feasts etc.
Monday, 19 January 2015
Silver Chain
Sunday, 18 January 2015
The Term Israel in Prophecy
So I ask: If Jesus had instead ministered in some other random place - say in Spain - instead of in Israel, so long as the Church as we see it today was nonetheless successfully established, would that mean any detail in Bible-Prophecy hadn't been complied with?
They instinctively know it was necessary for Jesus to do what He did, in visible Israel rather than in any other random place - yet none of them dare admit that that detail had ever actually been prophesied. Because if they cited any prophecy about that, it would force a wider meaning for the term Israel than spiritual Israel alone. So they can't way whether that detail was ever actually prophesied in Scripture at all.
And yet Jesus' ministry in Israel is only about the biggest event in human history!
This makes the point that spiritualising every use of the term Israel in the Bible is not a valid hermeneutic.
There are numerous incidences in Bible-Prophecy where the term Israel meant visible Israel.
If that is not the case, then Christianity doesn't have a historical basis for its assertion that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the specifics of Messianic prophecy.
And since Israel doesn't always mean spiritual Israel, it means that any eschatology which is built on the mistaken idea that it does, needs to find an alternativ foundation in Scripture - or be adjusted, to say the least.
Saturday, 17 January 2015
Your Labour is Not in Vain
1 Corinthians 15:58
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Friday, 16 January 2015
Definition of Israel
Definition of Israel
Name the strongest Old Testament prophecy you know which meant Jesus had to minister in Israel to Israelis, and briefly explain why the prophecy meant that.
Amos 9
At that time David's tabernacle was in tatters - Judah was in captivity. But God promised to restore, to rebuild, to re-erect it.
And in restoring it, some among the nations would also begin seeking the God of Israel (I won't repeat my treatment of Edom v Gentiles here).
This desire which God had for David's house began to be outworked through Israel's repatriation to their land after captivity. Most of the statements in Amos 9 are about that repatriation.
And at that time many Gentiles did indeed begin seeking the God of Israel.
This repatriation set the stage for the culmination of God's restoration of David's tent - for Jesus the son of David came to repatriated Israel, bringing them true, eternal salvation.
And Gentiles next began seeking the Lord and getting saved too.
In fact in Christ both Gentiles and Jews become part of David's dynasty.
It's in our hearts at present - but at the consummation it will be visible.
So while there are statements in Amos 9 which extend beyond the physical and natural house of David, the restoration had to happen first among the physical descendants - and then Gentiles were grafted into Christ and made part of the same house.
And there are also many other statements in the chapter which referred not the spiritual house but directly to the repatriation of Jews from captivity.
Thus Christianity has a prophetic and historical basis - not just an allegorical basis.
David's Tabernacle
It was in tatters - Judah was in captivity. But God promised to restore, rebuild, re-erect it.
In restoring it, some among the nations would also begin seeking the Lord.
This desire of God's for David's house, began to be expressed in history through Israel's repatriation to their land after captivity. Most of this chapter is about that. At that time many Gentiles began seeking the God of Israel.
The fullest expression of this intention of God's towards David's house, came when Jesus the son of David provided true salvation for the Jews. And soon afterwards the Jewish apostles declared salvation among Gentiles also and they began seeking it and receiving it.
In Christ, Gentiles also became spiritual sons of Abraham - part of David's tabernacle.
But historically the salvation was offered in Israel and for Israelites first, in fulfilment of prophetic detail.
If God hadn't first done what He said He would do in Israel and for Israel, then He could not have done for Gentiles what He said He would do for them as well.
Now all people inherit the same spiritual blessings - we have the same spiritual identity (heavenly Jerusalem, mount Sion) - but that has become possible only because there was first the fulfilment in Israel of what had been promises to Israelis first of all.
Christianity has a prophetic and historical basis - not just an allegorical basis.
Thursday, 15 January 2015
On Post-Millennialism
Covenant
Romans 9
In proving that the prophetic Word of God had "not taken none effect" but that there had indeed been the fulfilment of God's promises - promises "pertaining" to his "brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites...and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came" - Paul explained that "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel".
It meant not all Israelites were true Israelites.
No mention in his argument yet of Gentiles.
He only said not all Israelites were true Israelites.
He said that, in order to assert that the seemingly limited fulfilment which they had seen and were seeing amongst Israelites, of those promises which pertained to them, was nonetheless the fulfilment of those promises for them.
This was because only believing Israelites among the Israelites were the true children of God.
Paul asserted all this before even mentioning Gentile believers!
He asserted that there had indeed been the fulfilment of God's promises pertaining to Israel, in Israel and amongst Israelites - in the experience of the believers among the Israelites.
Then, after justifying God's actions in that outcome of Israel's promises in the following verses, only after all that does Paul finally then add a comment about Gentile believers, when he added that the chosen vessels whom God called were "not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles".
And in proving the legitimacy of the Gentiles also experiencing that same promised-salvation which had been promised Israel and which had already been fulfilled in and for Israel and which believing Jews were already experiencing, Paul proceeded then to quote a prophecy which was about Gentiles specifically.
So the Church, the one new man, in which there is now neither Jew nor Greek, the heavenly Jerusalem, mount Sion, came into existence through that prophetic and now past-historical scheme.
Isaiah 66:19-21
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Apostolic Doctrine
"...the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children..." preached Paul (Acts 13:33).
He didn't explain that prophecies concerning Israel were not about Israel but were about the Church. That would hardly have been convincing to the teachers of the Law.
Rather he taught that there'd been the fulfilment in and for Israel of the very promises which were for them.
The fact that Paul explained that there was a true Israel within Israel did not mean that there wasn't a fulfilment in and for Israel - precisely the opposite - it explained how there was the fulfilment in and for Israel.
All that had to happen in history before Gentiles could then be included in salvation.
And in defending the later inclusion of Gentiles, the Apostles quoted prophecies which had nominated the Gentiles specifically.
They never blurred the identities and locations in prophecies in order to assert their case for Jesus, to defend the inclusion of the Gentiles, or to make any projections they made.
Their Gospel and their projections were based on the rock solid truth that God had done what He said He would do, for the people for whom He said He would do it, in the place He said He would do it, at the time He said He would do it, and in the manner He said He would do it.
Most of the main schemes of popular eschatology don't seem to maintain quite the same integrity of logic.
Covenants
But Jews had a first covenant. God made the new covenant with them.
But what's good about the New Covenant is that after it was received by Jews, next its provisions would also be for Gentiles.
One Tree
The trunk is God.
There were six categories of branches implied:
1. Natural branches still attached
2. Natural branches broken off
3. Unnatural branches still unattached
4. Unnatural branches grafted-in
5. Natural branches which had been broken off but were then grafted-in again
6. Unnatural branches which were grafted in but were at risk of becoming broken off.
I agree there is one new identity - the true spiritual Israel.
However that came about through the fulfilment in history of God's promises in and for Israel first.
New Covenant
And yes there are occasional incidences of Jesus ministering powerfully to non-Jews in the Gospel.
But He was clear about the distinction between the Old and New Covenants. He insisted that Jerusalem was the place where Samaritans ought to have worshiped. The Old Covenant was very Jerusalem-centric in its demands.
But then He also spoke of the hour when worship would no longer be required in any specific mountain but in spirit.
So when He finished making the New Covenant, it was a whole new program. The existence of the Gentile Church has no validity if Jesus never made that New Covenant.
He made it in Jerusalem. He made it with and for Jews. Only believing Jews received it. Then after all that was fulfilled and accomplished in and for Israel, Gentiles started getting saved too, also in accordance with the terms of the New Covenant.
Isaiah 60
Right Dividing Prophecy
Why Getting Fulfilled Prophecy Right Matters
History and Type
How Prophecy is Fulfilled
Analogy about Fulfilled Prophecy
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Hallelujah!
Israel & Gentiles
Were Gentile Christians called Jews?
The New Testament speaks of "...Jews by nature..." in contrast with those who were born Gentiles (Gal.2:15).
It's true that under the Old Covenant many Gentiles "...became Jews..." that is, converts to Judaism (Esther 8:17).
But under the New Covenant, Gentiles were not made converts to Judaism. The Christian life was sharply contrasted with the life of the Jews (Galatians 2:14).
"...he is a Jew, which is one inwardly..." didn't expand the definition of Jew to include a Gentile believer in Jesus - in the context of that discussion it actually limited the definition of Jew to only a smaller group from within natural-born Jews.
"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly...But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly" (Romans 2:29).
If we blur the parameters of the definitions Paul was using in that particular context, we lose the argument he was in the process of making.
Yes all believers in Jesus comprise a new, united entity - called the heavenly Jerusalem, mount Sion, the Church, the body of Christ (Heb.12:22).
But in explaining prophecy and its fulfilment, the New Testament writers always upheld the integrity of the distinction that existed in Bible-Prophecy between Israel and Gentiles.
The case for the Gospel was made by showing that there'd been the fulfilment in Israel of what had been promised to Israel.
What's it got to do with eschatology? Reading Old Testament prophecies about Israel, and overlooking the fact that they've already been fulfilled in Israel, could give someone some unfounded concepts of what must yet happen either in Israel or through the Church in future.
Dan.2:44
Daniel 2
More on Malachi 3:1-6
Israel & Gentiles in Prophecy
Saturday, 10 January 2015
Predictive Prophecy v Historical Type
Isaiah 60
A distinguishing between Gentile and Jews (verses 2,3)
Ancient modes of transport - camels and dromedaries (verse 6)
Nations which existed then but don't now
God's altar in physical Jerusalem
The house (Temple)
City walls and gates
Surrounding kings (not Prime Ministers or Presidents)
And in the historical context of all of this having already been fulfilled, Messiah was to come (61:1).
Friday, 9 January 2015
Daniel 2
Or it may seem like utopia should be achieved in this present world.
But remember that the vision of God's Kingdom in Daniel 2 was given to a Gentile king. A Gentile king living at that moment in history wasn't concerned with the details about how the Kingdom would all work out according to the Gospel scheme. All the king really needed to respond to was the truth that God would ultimately prove His supremacy.
But it was also written for us - but not necessarily to be the be-all and end-all of explanations regarding the Kingdom of God and how it will all work out according to the Gospel scheme. This vision has a more simple, overall message for us regarding the Kingdom. But if we're looking for more detailed explanations about the Kingdom and how it will all work out, those details are also given to us elsewhere in Scripture.
So the vision is not necessarily a basis for Dispensationalism or Post-Millennialism. The vision includes little enough detail not to rule out the Inaugurated Eschatology which the Lord and Apostles seemed to preach and teach.