Israel and the 144,000 Part One
January 11, 2024Israel and the 144,000 part one can it happen in 2024?
One of the great misconceptions within Christianity today, is the belief that the Jews are still God’s pre-eminent people, who will gloriously take the gospel to the ends of the earth, leading to the conversion of the world. This recent dispensationalist error has permeated seminaries, and as a consequence has corrupted entire denominations.
Yet there is not one scintilla not one skerrick of evidence to support the teaching in the New Testament, on the contrary there is overwhelming proof against it. For example after the Jewish rejection of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul identifies spiritual Israel in the following terms,
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
If we are Christ’s, meaning if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, despite the Jewish rejection, then we are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. In other words because of our relationship with Jesus, we are spiritual Jews, and spiritual descendants of Abraham. Paul says this in Romans 2:28-29, For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
In this verse the Apostle Paul declares, it is not the man’s appearance or actions which demonstrates true spirituality, nor if a man has been circumcised, but it is the response of each ones heart to please God which counts, and as such God views them as spiritual Jews.
In Romans Chapter 9, Paul leaves no room for doubt, by writing to the church at Rome in the middle of the first century,
6But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham;
In Romans 9, Paul tells us that just because the Word of God has had no effect upon Israel, the fruition of which was the Jewish rejection of Jesus Christ, it does not mean the promises of God are made of none effect.
Paul declares, since the crucifixion, a person’s hereditary DNA has no relevance as far as salvation is concerned. Just because a person is an Israelite it does mean they are a true Israelite or converted Israelite, but only those who have accepted Jesus Christ are the children of promise now. Followers of Jesus, are spiritual Jews – they are spiritual descendants of Abraham. Paul restates this same truth in Galatians 6:14-16
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
15For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. 16And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. Here the Apostle Paul tells us, there is no boasting in an individual’s ancestory, but only as much as a person boasts of what Jesus Christ has achieved for them. He distinguishes between circumcision and non-circumcision?
That is between being a Jew and a non-Jew, by stating it has no relevance at all. It is only as we become a new creation in Christ, or as Jesus described it as being born again, that God views it with any merit!
To read the entire transcript go to http://theorchardmelbourne.org.au
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