Israel Is Here To Stay … Forever!

15 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by garybowers in Prophecy in General

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Passover, Then and Now … Life or Death!

Earlier this week, from sundown on Monday to sundown on Tuesday, Israel and Jews the world over celebrated Passover which is considered the greatest of all the Jewish Festivals. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, a seven-day extension of Pesach (Passover), will end this coming Tuesday. Passover was not only the first God-ordained Festival, it also heralded the renewal of God’s national destiny for Israel and Abraham’s descendants.

Passover is Israel and Israel is Passover. The two are inseparable. Before Passover, the Jews were a people but not a nation. They had lost their identity; they had no land of their own and little hope for a future. When God spared his people from judgment on the entire land of Egypt and by mighty miracles delivered them from 400 years of slavery, the nation of Israel was born. That was nearly 3,500 years ago. Two thousand years ago, a Passover of even greater (eternal) significance took place. A Passover that most of Israel missed because they could not see who Messiah would be and what he came to do.

(80,000 at the Western Wall To Receive Priestly Blessing During Passover This Week)

Despite the people’s disobedience which caused a 40-year delay and the passing of an entire generation, the Lord brought their descendants to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Just before Moses died and Joshua led the Hebrews into the Promised Land that would be called Israel (after Jacob whose name God changed to Israel), God through Moses told the people:

“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

“But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20).

God knew that his people would not listen to and faithfully follow him. In the very next chapter we read:

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘…After you are gone, these people will begin to worship foreign gods, the gods of the land where they are going. They will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will blaze forth against them. I will abandon them…’” (Deuteronomy 31:16-17).

Just a few decades after Moses, then Joshua died, that’s exactly what the Jews began to do. Yet God was patient with them. Off and on for some three hundred years the Lord delivered them (through judges) from surrounding enemies that God had allowed to defeat the Jews when they rebelled against him.

Then for a period of 120 years (1050 BC – 930 BC) during the reign of Israel’s first three kings—Saul, David, and Solomon, each of whom ruled for 40 years—Israel prospered like never before or since, especially during the 80 years of King David and King Solomon. In those glory days, Jerusalem was established as the eternal capital of Israel. That fact will never change … God will see to it.

Israel’s downfall began when Solomon, during the latter part of his reign, allowed his wives to set up and worship pagan gods. Upon his death, Israel split into two kingdoms and she was never the same after that. Slowly, surely, and sadly not only the people but the kings and even the priests of Israel and Judah began to abandon the Lord their God. The ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel fell in 722 BC to Assyria. Because there were a few kings of Judah (the southern kingdom) who restored worship of and devotion to the Lord, they were spared the same fate of the northern kingdom for another 136 years.

Just prior to the Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah was the primary prophet. He issued warning after warning for the people to turn back to the Lord; including the inevitable fall of Judah, destruction of the Temple, and exile to Babylon if they didn’t heed these warnings. Still, the Lord was merciful and set the length of their captivity at 70 years. Once again God was absolutely true to his Word. The prophetic promise of the people’s deliverance came to pass when some of the Jews began to return to Israel and the 2^nd Temple was built 70 years after Judah was crushed by the Babylonians in 586 BC.

A New Covenant

It was also through Jeremiah that another stunning prophecy came to Israel. One that was incomprehensible to the Jews, particularly after the temple and the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt and the Levitical sacrificial system reinstated in Israel. God had punished them severely for their idolatry and disobedience, but he had graciously returned them to their beloved land. Thus, they were incredulous that the Lord would even consider, let alone declare, a New Covenant to replace the Covenant of Law given through Moses. To confront their denial that such a covenant was necessary, the last prophet Malachi presented God’s reasons why something as drastically different as announced by Jeremiah (also Isaiah and Ezekiel) would be the basis for a new relationship between God and his people.

Listen to the Lord’s astoundingly strong statement to his people:

“How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and I will not accept your offerings” (Malachi 1:10).

Wow! That would have crushed me. At least I hope it would have (gotten my attention).

Instead, the people argued with God and disputed the validity of his indictments against them.

There is no indication, whatsoever, that God ever again accepted their rote, heartless offerings. In fact, until John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Messiah (Jesus), God did not speak at all to his people for another 400 years.

To this day Jews are still in denial that the Covenant of the Law could be, has been (which it has), or will be replaced with a New Covenant. This despite the utter destruction of Jerusalem and the 2^nd Temple in 70 AD, cessation of the sacrificial system, and dispersion of the Jews to the four corners of the earth where they would remain until the 20^th century.

(I would encourage you to read a trilogy of Eye of Prophecy articles, entitled: Where is the Temple? I, II, III. Posted 11-29, 12-6 & 12-13-14).

Under the Mosaic Law and the Levitical Sacrificial System, sacrifices for individual sins were offered daily and for the sins of the nation, annually (Yom Kippur). But no more. Not with the New Covenant. Not only would their sins be forgiven forever, the Lord would remember them no more. Unheard of! Inconceivable! Impossible!

Through what Scripture says and clearly infers, the people’s response was then and is to this very day: A better way? Maybe? Really? Not really. No way! Why would God do such a thing … to alter and actually annul the very foundation of the traditions given to us by God in the first place?

Here’s why. Read with me the amazing announcement of the New Covenant and the reason God would initiate this ground-breaking and life-changing agreement with his people; one that was unconditional … unlike the conditional Mosaic covenant that the people would not and could not keep.

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord. I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people … And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Now listen to the words of Jesus of Nazareth spoken just a short time before he was crucified on a cruel cross: “…This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20).

Three days later Jesus arose from the dead to eternally seal this covenant, to prove he was who he said he was (Messiah, Son of God), and to forever forgive and even forget the sins of Jew and Gentile alike, who would:

“…confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved … Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord who gives generously to all who call on him. For ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:9-13, last sentence quotes Joel 2:32).

The Old Covenant had been written on tablets of stone, commandments which could not save the people because they could not and would not keep them.

The New Covenant would be written on the hearts of all who believe and receive Jesus as Savior.

The New Covenant of Grace does not abolish the moral foundation of the Law (represented by the Ten Commandments). Rather it sets straight the bent notion that the Law could redeem (make right with God) anyone who at least tried to keep it; or even that the sacrificed blood of innocent animals could take away their sin and guilt permanently.

Concerning the limitations of the sacrificial component of the Mosaic Law, we read:

“The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshippers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared” (Hebrews 10:1-2).

And, “Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest (Jesus) offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time…” (Hebrews 10:11-12, parenthesis mine).

This new relationship with God requires a new (spiritual) birth, which is what generates eternal life from spiritual death (see John Chapter 3). This is what will make possible the national salvation of Israel which began with individual Jews in the first century, and with the physical restoration of Israel that began 70 years ago next month (May) when Israel was reborn as a sovereign nation. And fifty years ago this coming June when Israel reclaimed Jerusalem in the Six-Day War as the eternal capital of Israel.

(If you want to learn more about the potentially stunning significance of this year, 2017, please read Eye of Prophecy article, The Omega Generation, posted 2-15-14. Also, Jubilee and Messiah … They Go Together! Posted 1-23-16).

In the first century A.D., thousands throughout Israel believed Jesus was the Messiah. Tragically, most of the religious leaders and many people did not—despite the dozens of miracles they witnessed or heard of first hand. Even after Jesus arose from the dead, most did not believe in him. Then, just as Jesus predicted, Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans less than 40 years after he ascended back to heaven. This happened because God’s own people rejected Messiah, just as Jesus said would happen with these poignant words:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Matthew 23:37-39).

A New Beginning … A New Israel

God withdrew his protection of Israel. He would leave them to their own fate until the appointed time when the Lord would unilaterally initiate the completion (fulfillment) of his covenant with Abraham. Which was the sovereign possession of the Promised Land forever by the Jews.

That appointed time has come.

Despite 1,900 years of exile and persecution at the hands of many nations and peoples (even by Christians … with the vast majority Christian in name only, not true born-again believers), culminating in the unimaginable Holocaust perpetrated by a perverse man and his equally sadistic Third Reich, Israel is alive and well. According to the sure word of Biblical prophecy, the Jews will never again be uprooted from their Promised Land. They will never again be decimated, dominated, or defeated by Gentile nations.

I repeat with Biblical authority for emphasis: NEVER AGAIN.

Persecuted, yes. Attacked, also yes—by the Gog/Magog coalition in the first half and by the ten-nation confederation of Antichrist Nero in the second half of the Great Tribulation. But not destroyed.

Only those who oppose Israel will be soundly defeated and destroyed. That should be a cause for pause for peoples or nations that would seek to harm the pupil of God’s eye.

Presently, there are tens of thousands of Jews all over the world who have placed their trust and eternal destiny in Messiah Jesus (called Messianic Jews), and thank the Lord for them. But it won’t be until Jesus returns near the end of the Great Tribulation that the vast majority of Jews will reach out to him and say, Baruch haba beshem Adonai (blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord).

Despite our many individual and national faults, I love the United States of America. And I love Israel and the Jews. They are God’s special possession, chosen to give the world God’s awesome Word, including the Living Word of God, Messiah Jesus. With the Apostle Paul (once named Saul, once a devout Pharisee and defender of the Mosaic Law who was changed forever by a direct encounter with Jesus), I also say:

“Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God” (Romans 10:1-4).

Easter Sunday

Yesterday, Christians all over the world remembered the ultimate Passover (Good Friday).

Tomorrow we will celebrate Resurrection Day.

We’ll express our gratitude for so great a salvation purchased by the supreme sacrifice of our Passover Lamb, God’s own Son. We’ll rejoice that our sins are forgiven, and God will pass over (spare) us during the time of His final judgment of this earth. A judgment on those who have passively ignored or cultishly twisted the redemption that God has freely offered to them. And God’s final punishment for those who will aggressively make a final attempt (as has been done down through the ages) to disrupt, distort, despise, and defeat God’s two magnificent plans for the human race: (1) the perpetual physical possession of Israel by the descendants of Abraham. (2) The Kingdom of God on earth composed of both Jew and Gentile who have been redeemed spiritually by belief in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus.

The treacherous idea of Replacement Theology is once again rearing its ugly head, sadly, even in some Evangelical circles. They are those who believe that the Jews and Israel are irrelevant to God’s plan for the fast approaching last days, because they (erroneously but also arrogantly) think that the Church, not Israel, is the beneficiary of God’s promises to Israel.

There are so many Scriptural facts and principles to easily refute this fallacy; I’ll mention only one: Since when was the Church exiled to the four corners of the earth directly from Israel? Such an easy answer to this rhetorical question. Therefore, how can the Church be brought back to Israel? There is absolutely no way under God’s heaven that the Lord would simply ignore or forget or replace (with the Church) this promise that was made directly to Abraham and his descendants. Remember, we’re talking about the physical return of the Jews and the physical restoration of Israel, not about God’s 2^nd plan for mankind which is the New Covenant wherein Jew and Gentile alike are spiritually one in Christ.

I’m going to get a little blunt here: Frankly, these people, Christian or not, have little or no understanding of the hundreds of Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel, prophecies that have nothing whatsoever to do with the Church. In fact, it’s the true Church (body of Christ currently consisting of far more Gentiles than Jews—but that will change) that will benefit greatly from the final restoration of Israel and the ultimate salvation of the Jews. Not the other way around. If some may have taken offense at my suggestion that they are basically ignorant of Old Testament prophecy then let’s switch to the New Testament and see what they might say about the following passage.

Listen to the Apostle Paul’s dramatic description of what actually happened and why:

“Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery! Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it. I am saying all this especially for you Gentiles…” (Romans 11:11-13a).

Paul goes on: “For since their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who were dead! … For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.

“But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.

‘Well,’ you many say, ‘those branches were broken off to make room for me.’ Yes, but remember—those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’t spare you either…

“You, by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong” (Romans 11:15-21).

Paul then concludes by saying:

“I want you to understand this mystery … so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, ‘The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins’” (Romans 11:25-27, quoting Jeremiah 31, which as noted earlier in this article is the announcement of the New Covenant).

God’s Two Majestic Plans: (A) Abrahamic Covenant; (B) Mosaic Covenant Yielding To the New Covenant of Grace

The New Covenant of Grace has replaced the Covenant of the Law, but only that Covenant.

God’s Covenant with Abraham is independent of the Mosaic Covenant. Like the unconditional Covenant of Grace, the Lord’s covenant with the Jews giving them the land of Israel forever is totally unconditional, meaning that one day it would be fulfilled no matter what the Jews did or didn’t do.

“Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith” (Romans 4:13).

Paul further explains: “This is what I’m trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God’s promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise. Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised… (Galatians 3:17-19).

When the Apostle Paul uses Abraham and God’s covenant with him as a prototype example of faith as the only means of apprehending God’s salvation (given by God’s grace), the illustration is the principle of faith—in the once for all sacrificial atonement of Messiah Jesus—versus keeping the law as the way of salvation. Paul is NOT equating or attaching the essence or object of the Abrahamic Covenant itself (which is the ultimate inheritance of the Promised Land to Abraham’s physical descendants, the Jews) to or with the benefit of becoming a spiritual descendant of Abraham by one and only one means: Faith in, “…the coming of the child who was promised…” Galatians 3:19).

Do you see the difference? That is why there are hundreds of Old Testament prophecies that exclusively apply to the physical restoration of Israel, through return of Jews from all over the world to Israel. I have quoted dozens of these passages in prior Eye of Prophecy articles. It is from Jerusalem, Israel that the (our) Jewish Messiah Jesus will rule and reign forever.

Whereas, the spiritual descendants of Abraham are both Jew and Gentile who, like Abraham, have been counted as righteous because of our faith in the Promised Child. For Abraham, the first child of promise would be his son, Isaac; who would then be the progenitor of the final Child of Promise, Jesus of Nazareth.

But the spiritual inheritance that both Jew and Gentile will receive when Messiah returns is not Israel itself. Rather it is the awesome privilege of being sons and daughters in the family of God, join-heirs with Messiah Jesus in the Kingdom of God on earth and in the New Jerusalem for all eternity. With the earthly Jerusalem and the land of Israel home to succeeding generations of Jews forever.

Repeating for emphasis: The New Covenant of Grace replaced the Mosaic Covenant of the Law, not the Abrahamic Covenant. God’s covenant with his people through Moses was completely conditional, contingent on whether the people continued to keep that covenant. Not so with God’s unilateral covenant with Abraham. Thus, those of us who have been saved by the grace of God (both Jew and Gentile for there is only one salvation for all peoples) through simply accepting it as a free gift (God doing for us what we could not do for ourselves), have been given eternal life and will live with our Lord and the host of heaven forever.

The spiritual restoration of Israel began when thousands of Jews in the first century believed and received Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, both before and after he was crucified. However, because the vast majority including the religious and political leaders who represented the nation of Israel refused to acknowledge that Jesus was Messiah, God once again abandoned them by withdrawing his protection. The result: Roman conquest of Israel and Jerusalem, destruction of the Temple, mass dispersion of the Jews throughout the world, and finally the incomprehensible evil of the Holocaust.

But that is all behind God’s chosen people. In our lifetime, many have witnessed the miraculous rebirth of Israel as a nation (1948) and the return of millions of Jews to Israel. From less than 700,000 Jews in Israel in 1948 there are nearly 6.5 million Jews (75 % of the total population of Israel) in Israel today.

(Aliyah, Ingathering of Jews to Israel … Photo Shows Some of the First Jews to Return to Israel)

We have witnessed the extraordinary agricultural, economic, scientific, cultural, medical, and military growth of the only democracy in the Middle East. Along with that we have seen world-wide attention focused on Israel and surrounding countries like never before in history. This is far beyond mere coincidence. This, folks is the end-times unfolding of Biblical prophecies given thousands of years ago. This is what Scripture both states and implies. Which is:

AS ISRAEL GOES SO GOES THE WORLD

As God declared to Moses long ago, a promise that was delayed for thousands of years because God’s own people turned away from him; a promise, nevertheless, that the Lord would keep and fulfill unilaterally through his grace and mercy:

One day, “…the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom” (Deuteronomy 28:13).

This would happen…

“Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you from there and bring you back again. The Lord your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. Then he will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors! The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!” (Deuteronomy 30:4-6).

As already seen, this individual change of heart began with the New Covenant and will continue progressively until all of Israel is saved (changed forever).

Israel is alive and well!

God will fulfill his promise to Abraham. Not only to give the Promised Land in perpetuity to the Jews, but to also richly bless the Gentile nations from the land where Messiah himself will one day (soon) live and rule. We would do well as individuals and as a nation to support and defend Israel, both in word and deed. At least don’t harm her as do those who recklessly promote Replacement Theology. They do so by boycotting Israeli goods, supporting UN Resolutions against Israel, siding with her sworn enemies including Palestinians at the expense of Israel, falsely (with little or no real understanding of either ancient or modern history) claim that the Jews are illegally “occupying” Judea and Samaria (West Bank), and any number of other activities that are in direct contradiction of the Scriptures and history.

Here is an excerpt from an article written by Dr. Haim Shine (an observant Jew wounded while serving in the IDF) posted in Israel Hayom this past Monday on the eve of Passover Seder:

“One of the most chilling poems I have ever heard is the last Seder in the Warsaw Ghetto about a Jewish boy, one of the last who survived in the Ghetto, who sings his version of Ma Nishtana? (A four-question Passover poem recited around the Seder dinner table) and asks his father, ‘why is this night so long and more terrible than any nights before? And will there be any Jewish children left to ask the Ma Nishtana?’

“Tonight, on the 74^th anniversary of that bleak Seder in the Ghetto, my mother, who as a young girl stood humiliated and degraded at the Auschwitz-Birkenau train platform, will get to hear her great grandchildren sing Ma Nishtana? loud and clear in the independent State of Israel. No more dark nights, but rather a bright light of redemption and victory.

“Indeed, the fate of the Jews has changed beyond recognition. The State of Israel, which had risen like a phoenix from the ashes, is now a global military power, recognized and respected by many countries worldwide. Finally, after thousands of years, we are no longer slaves to the Pharaohs. We are now the masters of our own destiny.”

*Note: As I pray for the peace of Jerusalem, I also pray that many Jews like Dr. Shine will recognize that the true master of their destiny is none other than Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah).

A final excerpt from his article:

“The sense of freedom that has animated our souls since the Biblical exodus from Egypt is still alive and there isn’t a force in this world that could ever crush the spirit of our people. Against all odds, we are still alive and kicking, our heads held high, while great, tremendous empires have faded away…

“And here we are singing in Jerusalem. We lived to see our dreams become a reality…”

SONY DSC

(There’s Also Dancing in Jerusalem!)

Things to Ponder

Against impossible odds, the Jews have returned to Israel; Hebrew has been resurrected from a dead language; Israel is once again a sovereign nation among the family of nations on this earth. This has never happened to any other people or nation. There is one and only one reason for it: The sovereignty of the one and true living God. What the Lord says he will do, he does. What he says will happen, happens.

Recording and reviewing history without including the God of the Bible—a timeless book, past, present, future—is like pretending that a watch doesn’t have a watchmaker. Or that the watch was not created to measure and tell time. None of us looks constantly at our watch. We do so periodically, which is what the Bible does. It is not only the measure of universal divine truth, it is also a historical timeline of timely events integral to God’s prophetic plan.

True history is His Story … the Jewish Messiah Jesus, who is the very essence of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).

One day soon many more Jews, including Orthodox Rabbis, will embrace Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, when he returns in great glory and power to rescue Israel for the last time. First they will look on him whom they have pierced, and they will mourn. Then they will say, Baruch haba beshem Adonai. Blessed is He (Messiah Jesus) who comes in the name of the Lord (God the Father).

And they will rejoice.

Says Almighty God to Israel:

“Though you were once despised and hated, with no one traveling through you, I will make you beautiful forever, a joy to all generations. Powerful kings and mighty nations will satisfy your every need, as though you were a child nursing at the breast of a queen. You will know at last that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel … Violence will disappear from your land; the desolation and destruction of war will end. Salvation will surround you like city walls, and praise will be on the lips of all who enter there” (Isaiah 60:15-16 & 18).

Yes, Israel is alive and well. Through her nations have been blessed and these blessings will be multiplied exponentially during the Millennium and throughout all eternity.

Long live Israel!

Long live her great and glorious King!

The Cross and the Torn Curtain (Part I)

06 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by garybowers in Prophecy in General

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Jewish Temple, New Covenant

The Cross & The Curtain

Does anyone remember the Alfred Hitchcock movie, Torn Curtain? Or another movie, The Cross and the Switchblade, based on the book by the same name? It helps to be a Baby Boomer, but with today’s TV movie replays and DVD reproductions, you don’t have to be from the Boomer generation.

Torn Curtain was released in 1966, starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, two of my favorite actors. Basically, the plot was an American nuclear physicist pretending defection to East Germany, with the real objective of stealing a certain formula from East German scientists. It was set during the Cold War and the (then) existence of what was called the Iron Curtain, symbolically separating Western Democracy from Eastern Communism.

But also the actual Berlin Wall built by East Germany, whose politicians pretty much took their orders from the Easter Bloc leader, Communist Russia. Later this wall would be torn down through the effort of US President Ronald Reagan. The objective was to do whatever necessary to tear down the Curtain of separation between east and west, by undermining communism in both East Germany and Russia.

Eventually Communism collapsed in both East Germany and Russia … mission accomplished.

The Cross and the Switchblade film was released in 1970, starring Pat Boone as Pastor David Wilkerson (who wrote the book in 1962) and Erik Estrada. This riveting true story depicted the ministry of Pastor Wilkerson among New York City street gangs, to help them turn to Jesus Christ and give up their drugs and gang violence. It is an amazing example of the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So what do these movies and especially their titles have to do with today’s Eye of Prophecy article?

Answer: I’m adapting these movie titles (but also the idea behind them) to today’s article title to demonstrate the enormous juxtaposition impact the Cross of Christ had on the Jewish Mosaic Covenant (Old Testament or Old Covenant) in the first century; represented in large part by the inexplicable tearing of the Curtain (partition) that separated the Most Holy Place in the Jewish Temple from the rest of the Temple. As well as the 20^th and 21^st century continued significance of the New Covenant on the lives of people all over the world.

Millions of true Christian believers down through the ages and in today’s world, most of whom are Gentile but tens of thousands who are (Messianic) Jews, would in unison agree that the very heart of our life-changing faith, the cornerstone of our eternal destiny in heaven is the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Messiah Jesus. We fully understand that the reason Jesus came to this earth in a human body was to willingly die for our sins in order that God would forgive those transgressions—past, present, and future—and make us right with God. Then to give us the awesome privilege of direct access to the Lord while on this earth … the Holy of Holies which is God’s very presence.

We fully realize that the New Covenant promised by God through the prophet Jeremiah began with the Passion of the Christ in the hours before, during, and after his agonizing beating and his excruciating pain while hanging on the Cross.

As the song goes, “I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sins upon that Cross.”

In equal measure to our eternal joy and gratitude for what Jesus has done for all who believe in Him, we are saddened by so many—including millions of Jews—who still cling to the Mosaic Law or some man-made religious duties patterned after the Law of Moses as their ill-fated means to gain right standing with God. But they do so without the all-important Levitical sacrificial system that was mandated by God for (on-going, repeated) forgiveness, by covering their sin with the blood of innocent animals.

In the first century, many thousands of Jews believed in Jesus as their Messiah and individually accepted him as Lord and Savior. Tragically, many more did not, especially their religious and political leaders. Consequently, as a nation, they suffered the consequences of rejecting their own Messiah when the Romans ruthlessly conquered the uprising in Israel, destroyed Jerusalem, demolished Herod’s Temple, and scattered the Jews to the four corners of the earth. Not until 1948 did this exile begin to end, and not until 1967 did the Jews regain control of all Israel, including Jerusalem.

I’ve written extensively about the historical significance of the Temple’s destruction in the first century, particularly in the context of the immensely traumatic effect on the very heart and soul of the Jewish religion. If you haven’t, please read Eye of Prophecy articles, Where is the Temple? Part I, II, III (posted 11-29-14, 12-6-14, 12-13-14).

Although the literal question of where is the temple rhetorically begs the all too obvious answer (it’s gone), the query is designed to provoke thought and challenge the notion that Judaism (or any religion) can even exist without the God-ordained requirement of redemptive sacrifices. The Covenant of Law consisted of two equally crucial obligations: (1) Obedience to the moral and civil laws; (2) Sacrifices of innocent (animal) blood to atone for individual and national disobedience, i.e. intentional and inadvertent transgressions. Because no one, including the priests or even the High Priest, could or did keep God’s laws and commandments without fail.

The following (in italics) are a few excerpt paragraphs from Part III of those articles:

The intriguing question posed in this article and the past two Eye of Prophecy articles relating to the fate of the Jewish Temples is designed as a challenge to explain what happened to them and why. To stimulate reflection about the repercussions of such a devastating time of Jewish history. To investigate the staggering impact on the entire Jewish faith WHEN Solomon’s Temple, then (hundreds of years later) Herod’s Temple, was destroyed. But also Gentile participation in this history pertaining mostly to religious systems that, to varying degrees, were patterned after and around the Mosaic Laws.

(1) Solomon’s Temple: God removed his very presence from this magnificent Temple; therefore, from among his people. Some six years before King Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and tore down the Temple, Ezekiel witnessed God’s glory depart from the Temple. “Then the glory of the Lord moved out from the door of the Temple and hovered above the cherubim. And as I watched, the cherubim flew with their wheels to the east gate of the Lord’s Temple. And the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them” (Ezekiel 10:18-19). A short time later, “Then the glory of the Lord went up from the city and stopped above the mountain to the east” (Ezekiel 11:23).

(2) Herod’s (the 2^nd) Temple: When this temple was razed to the ground by the Roman Legions, the Mosaic Covenant Sacrificial System ceased to function as the ongoing source of redemption.

The loss of God’s glorious presence among his people followed by removal of sacrificial shedding of blood for atonement of sin dealt devastating blows to the heart of Judaism and the soul of the Jewish people. By and large, they have never recovered from this dual discipline; administered as a result of their continuous disobedience to God and denial of their Messiah sent by God to reconcile and restore them back to God. But one day (soon) all that will change!

They will recover and rejoice, because all of Israel will be saved … individually and nationally, physically and spiritually.

Concerning the Jewish Temples, the historical evidence is undeniable: Since the destruction of Solomon’s Temple, God’s Shekinah glory (his majestic presence) had been glaringly absent from the Temple. Then, the essence and substance of God’s forgiveness through the Atonement Sacrifices abruptly ceased with the loss of the 2^nd Temple. According to the Law of Moses—which to varying degrees is still practiced or at least recognized by millions of Jews the world over—without the God-ordained place and procedure for shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin … no acquittal for the penalty for sin.

Where, then, is the Temple?

The evidence is overwhelmingly clear: Ever since the loss of the Jewish Temple and the inability to continue the all-important sacrificial shedding of innocent (animal) blood, God’s people have been in mental, emotional, and spiritual denial over the dramatic dilemma of no longer keeping the daily, monthly, and especially the annual (Yom Kippur) sacrifices that included the scapegoat. Here is how I summarized it in the aforementioned series of: Where Is the Temple?

No Temple, no sacrificial offerings. No sacrifices, no atonement forgiveness of sins. No forgiveness, no redemption. No redemption, no right standing with God

(Depicts Impending Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple)

Amazing Events Connected to the Crucifixion of Messiah Jesus

Jesus predicted that the 2^nd Temple would be destroyed, which took place just forty years later. Here are his words:

“Some of his disciples began talking about the majestic stonework of the Temple and the memorial decorations on the walls. But Jesus said, ‘The time is coming when all these things will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!’” (Luke 21:5-6).

This amazing prophecy was fulfilled when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD. Immediately following Jesus’ announcement of the Temple’s destruction, he answered his disciple’s question about the signs of the last days; which included more details on what would happen when the (Roman) armies attacked Jerusalem. And, of course, many signs of the very last days, which after some 2000 years are upon us.

Although the obliteration of the Temple was the climatic event that put an end to the Levitical sacrificial system so vital to Judaism, there were other extraordinary things that occurred before, during, and after Jesus was crucified and then miraculously arose from the dead. Things that resulted in what was then and still is cause for the Jews to this very day to be (as is said in today’s jargon) “in denial.”

Read with me the astonishing account recorded in one of the four Gospels:

“Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit (died). At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people” (Matthew 27:50-53, italics for emphasis).

Before we more closely examine the phenomenal, inexplicable tearing of the beautiful but very strong inner Temple curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies), let’s do a little refresher on what else happened when the “earth shook” while Christ was on the Cross, and also while he was still in the tomb.

Here is the reaction of the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus and what they said:

“The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, ‘This man truly was the Son of God.’” (Verse 54).

Can you imagine that? If you have read or have known about the toughness of Roman soldiers and their loyalty to Caesar, then their response to (even) an earthquake—let alone their recognition of Jesus as the very Son of God—is historically unimaginable. These are the same soldiers that had mercilessly beaten him, maliciously mocked him as King of the Jews with a crown of thorns and a sign on the Cross, and ruthlessly nailed him to that Cross with long spikes through his wrists and feet.

Not only this execution squad of Roman soldiers, but also the incredible and less than courageous reaction of the Roman guards assigned to seal and guard Jesus’ tomb to prevent the bizarre (We don’t believe such a thing could happen but just in case) request of the Jewish leaders to Pontius Pilate that: “…you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he was raised from the dead! If that happens, we’ll be worse off than we were at first” (Matthew 27:64).

Pilate then issued the orders. “So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it” (Verse 66).

Then three days later another shaking of the earth took place which caused this second contingency of normally courageous but callous Roman soldiers to quake in their boots.

“Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint” (Matthew 28:2-4).

Even the hard-as-steel Roman soldiers were no match for an angel of God, and certainly no match for the divine supernatural resurrection of the Son of God. Moreover, they had no (truthful) explanation for such an event, nor is there any historical record whatsoever that they denied what they had seen and experienced.

So, what really took place? What was the real explanation of what had happened? Easy, but nevertheless, still a profound and powerful answer. Immediately after this staggering (the soldiers fell into a dead faint) spectacle, Mary Magdalene and another woman named Mary came on the scene. The angel who had nearly frightened the brave Roman soldiers to death said to them:

“Don’t be afraid … I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying” (Matthew 28:5-6, italics for emphasis).

Our Redeemer lives!

However, the Roman soldiers didn’t tell Pilate what had happened. Although it’s unlikely that Pontius Pilate really cared at all whether Jesus’ body would be or actually was “stolen” by the disciples, the soldiers didn’t want to take a chance that they could be executed for allowing this to happen. Which was the usual penalty for a Roman sentry who allowed prisoners to escape.

But this prisoner was dead! At least for three days! Surely the Roman officers would make an exception to executing soldiers who somehow (through no fault of their own) couldn’t prevent a dead man from leaving his grave? But the evidence is clear: The soldiers were too afraid; they didn’t know for sure what their fate would be.

Consequently they reported the event to the Jewish elders, not to Pilate.

And what did the elders do in response? About the most ludicrous thing they could do; but only because they, too, couldn’t think of anything else given the extraordinary evidence in front of them. Because they, themselves, had no reasonable rationalization or recourse to this inconceivable news that Jesus was no longer in the tomb.

Although they fully realized the absurd impossibility of the disciples “stealing” Jesus’ body under the watch of the Roman Guard, their only option was to bribe the Roman soldiers into saying, “…Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body. If the governor (Pilate) hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble. So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say…” (Matthew 28:13-15).

Neither Scripture nor secular history tells us whether Pilate ever followed up on the possibility that the “disciples had stolen the body.” Undoubtedly he did find out that Jesus was no longer in the grave, but chose to do nothing about it. Ether because he didn’t care or because he had no clue what to do about angels rolling away a huge tomb stone making cowards out of his men, ending with an executed man disappearing from a tomb protected by those soldiers. To guard a dead man’s tomb in the first place was a virtually unprecedented occurrence.

The Torn Curtain

Not only were the Jewish leaders in denial of the horrendous results of the 2^nd Temple’s destruction forty years after they called for the Roman crucifixion of Jesus—with no God-approved feasible alternative to the mandated sacrificial system given through Moses—they were equally in denial that the majestic Temple inner sanctuary curtain had been ripped in half when Jesus died on the Cross.

Because the Jewish religious leaders denied that Jesus had arisen from the dead by fabricating what is probably the most lame excuse of all time (the disciples had rolled away a huge tomb stone without awaking the Roman soldiers, some of whom wouldn’t have been asleep anyway under penalty of Roman execution themselves), they certainly would have suppressed any report that this some 40-60 foot high curtain with a four to six-inch thickness could have been inexplicably torn in half from top to bottom while Jesus hung on the Cross.

Jewish scholars and Rabbis, as well as Gentile critics of Scripture have pointed to the scarcity of secular or Judaic history to substantiate the Biblical account of the torn Temple curtain.

Question? Does a lack of secular or Jewish religious records mean that the Biblical account didn’t happen?

The answer is a resounding, “no!” Periodically, I have mentioned this in prior Eye of Prophecy articles. To wit: The Bible is much more than just a Book of Faith. It is, first and foremost, a historical account of all the events of God interacting with man throughout history, including the creation of the universe and man himself. It is a meticulous record of people, places, dates, events, and prophecies (many of which came to pass, including dozens of prophecies fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah). In fact, the Faith feature of the Bible is a direct result of the historical events that transpired. Not the least of which is the Apostle Paul’s (a former Jewish Pharisee who malevolently persecuted Christians until he met the risen Christ) condensation of the Gospel (Good News of Salvation) into an authentic historical event/record:

“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter … by more than 500 followers at one time….” (I Corinthians 15:3-6).

To out of hand dismiss individual books of the Bible and Scripture as a whole as a valid historical record flies in the face of existing evidence; that there are more full or partial manuscripts of the Bible (by far) than any other document. There are thousands more of these manuscripts (such as the Dead Sea Scrolls) than the nearest number of writings (Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey), which all scholars know to be a fictional account of the Trojan Wars. Homer’s books are what we would classify as historical novels.

Moreover, there have been no archeological discoveries that refute the authenticity of people, places, and events recorded in Scripture. Conversely, there have been and continue to be many archeological findings that confirm the Biblical record.

As I’ve said before (paraphrased): If someone is going to deny the historicity of Jesus or any New or Old Testament books, whose authors wrote alongside of other ancient historians, then why can’t and shouldn’t they deny the validity of such historians as Tacitus, Josephus, or even more modern historians such as Arnold Toynbee?

More Supernatural Events When Jesus Died

There were other mysterious occurrences that took place not recorded in Scripture, events that made it to the Jewish Talmud, or the writings of Josephus, and other Jewish sources; incidents reported to have taken place during or shortly after the death of Jesus, around 30 AD or so. As follows:

(1) The center lamp of the Temple Menorah went out on its own in an inexplicable manner, even though the priests would perform their duties by attending to the lampstand and making sure there was enough holy oil to keep each of the seven lamps burning at all times—which was required by the Mosaic Law. To the Jews, this became a sign that God’s presence was not there, or that his blessing had been withdrawn.

*Note: Actually, the Jews had been in denial (it happened, but what can we do about it?) that the Shekinah presence of God had been absent since God withdrew from Solomon’s Temple, as recorded by Ezekiel even before that Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians.

(2) The thread that no longer changed from crimson to white during the annual observance of Yom Kippur … Day of Atonement, at or shortly after the time of Christ on the earth. This thread that literally changed from red to white was a pre-New Covenant physical demonstration of what the prophet Isaiah had said would happen when God fulfilled his promise (through the new covenant):

“Come now, let’s settle this, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Jesus death on the cross was the final sacrifice for all time, belief in whom/which could pardon all sins forever … changing a person’s heart and conscience from crimson stained guilt to a beautifully pure cleansing white.

(3) The gates of Herod’s Temple would mysteriously open during the night, though they had been shut by the gatekeepers daily.

(4) The smoke from the altar sacrifices ceased to rise upward in a tight column, which it had done for hundreds of years even during strong winds.

All of these perplexing changes relating to the Temple and the Most Holy Place occurred after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and ascension back to heaven. The Talmudic tradition unmistakably presented these events as a harbinger of coming destruction which later took place in 70 AD, less than a generation after Jesus of Nazareth predicted the utter ruin of the Temple.

But it was the torn curtain of the Most Holy Place in the Temple, while Jesus still hung on the Cross, that most represented the advent of the New Covenant of Grace. A permanently new and better way to God that had replaced the Old Covenant, which was only a shadow or forerunner of redemption from sin and reconciliation with God. A removal of the barrier between a Holy God and sinful men.

As Alfred Edersheim wrote in his book, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, “That some great catastrophe, betokening the impending destruction of the Temple, had occurred in the Sanctuary about this very time (referring to when Christ died on the Cross and the passage of Matthew 27), is confirmed by not less than four mutually independent testimonies: those of Tacitus, of Josephus, of the Talmud, and of earliest Christian tradition. The most important of these are, of course, the Talmud and Josephus.”

With, however, reference to the torn curtain of the Temple, I would add that the most important and reliable source is Scripture itself as recorded by the Apostle Matthew. In that passage quoted earlier, Matthew also tells us that the sun was completely darkened from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm, the hour that Jesus died. That a great earthquake struck the area, and that many believers in Messiah Jesus were resurrected after Jesus first arose from the dead.

Whether Jewish religious leaders in the 1^st century or the 21^st century cast doubt (or actually deny) that the curtain was ripped in half when Jesus died on the cross, they acknowledge in their own writings the other incidents such as the Temple gates opening on their own at night. And, of course, no one can dispute the fact that the Temple was completely demolished by the Romans which ended the Jewish sacrificial system and all Temple activities altogether.

With a knee-jerk, but also ongoing, response to this solemn event in Jewish history mostly that of denial. Not that it occurred; rather that it fundamentally shook the foundation of Jewish worship and changed the very essence of atonement through the sacrificial requirements of the Levitical priesthood.

Yet, as so movingly conveyed by New Testament authors inspired by the same God, Son of God, and Holy Spirit that spoke to and through the Old Testament prophets, it was all part of God’s majestic plan of salvation to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile.

With virtually the entire book of Hebrews presenting a detailed contrast between the Mosaic Covenant of Law and the New Covenant of Grace. Between the flawed Old Testament priesthood and High Priest and the perfectly pure High Priest, Messiah Jesus.

We’ll conclude this week’s post with one of those passages, with more to follow in next week’s Part II article. Truths that explain the awesome benefits, advantages, and everlasting superiority of the new way God has provided to make people right with him.

“There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood last forever. Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin…” (Hebrews 7:23-26).

Jesus death on the Cross was incomparable. It was and remains:

The Greatest Sacrifice Ever Made, By the Highest Price Ever Paid.

Things to Ponder

In Scripture, as confirmed by historical events, we see transparent evidence that God often performs miracles and gives us signs of his divine sovereignty before, during, and after he initiates a Covenant with his chosen people, the Jews, but also with all of humanity.

Such as the radiate rainbow to Noah; the awesome plagues to deliver the Hebrews from Egypt then the powerful parting of the Red Sea; the Lord’s majestic appearance in the giving of the Mosaic Law on Mount Sinai and his glorious presence in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle and Temple; the mysterious Manna from heaven and the miraculous budding of Aaron’s staff; the inconceivable, but nevertheless Virgin Birth conception of Jesus of Nazareth, who is and will be the ultimate Messiah King descendant of David’s throne; the incredible miracles performed by Jesus; and the remarkable torn Temple Curtain … along with other supernatural events while Christ was on the cross.

With the greatest miracle of all: Resurrection of Messiah Jesus from the dead!

In our generation, the last day’s signs are distinctly discernible. The next divine supernatural event is just around the corner.

The Rapture!

Age of Grace (Part II)

31 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by garybowers in Devotional / Misc

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Legalism, New Covenant, Old Covenant, rituals

Grace versus Law

For parents out there who love their children, who would do just about anything to secure their child’s safety and freedom, what would you do if your twenty-one year old son ended up in a foreign prison of a totalitarian state for a first-time offense that he committed in a moment of youthful indiscretion? And even more heart-rending: a twelve-year prison sentence that should, by all rights, have been only a two-year penalty to fit the crime. Fill in the blanks with your answer(s) to such a tough question … such a difficult dilemma. Whatever your reaction, it’s likely that such emotions as embarrassment, sadness, disbelief, anxiety, and probably anguish would flood your mind and heart.

But what if, by what many might call a stroke of luck, government bureaucrats of that dictatorial country relented and reduced the sentence to five years? Then … what if, by what others would consider to be the grace of God, court officials in an act of unprecedented mercy commuted your son’s sentence by deporting him back to the United States, back to family and friends … back to you?!

Of course you would be thrilled and grateful for such an astonishing turn of events. But after all the preparations had been made for your son’s return home, what would be your response if you received a call from your son telling you that he preferred to remain in prison for the full twelve years? Because he didn’t think that his punishment (or the punishment for any crime) should be pardoned or forgiven. That he didn’t believe in mercy of any kind, particularly a gracious amnesty that would give him a second chance for a brand new start to life.

Now, take this illustration to another (lower) level: What if your son told you that after serving his full sentence, he intended to remain in this autocratic state that demanded complete capitulation, absolute adherence, and submissive surrender to its laws and leaders for the rest of his life? He wanted no part of the democratic freedom so cherished in the United States of America. That he preferred the idea of rule by force, of might makes right, of survival of the fittest and strongest. In short, rejection of the precept that every person has the God-given inalienable privilege to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. Moreover, if he ever felt like reclaiming his freedom in America, he would first need to earn that right of return by serving under this system of despotically overbearing regulations; heavy-handed even to those who managed to obey most of these suppressive laws in an oppressive country full of mindless, robot-like submission to domineering leaders who demanded perfect performance (obedience) from their subjects.

Perplexing? Incomprehensible? Shocking!

That’s exactly the Apostle Paul’s reaction to what had happened in some of the churches in Galatia. Especially the Jewish believers who, for all practical purpose, wanted to give back their heavenly citizenship rights, to give up their incredible freedom purchased with the life-blood of Jesus. Some had returned to the Law of Moses as a means to salvation; thereby, becoming imprisoned once again to the enslaving notion that human effort (good works) was the only way to merit a right relationship with God.

Paul’s greeting to the churches in Galatia begins with a solemn but joyful reminder of what Jesus had done for them: “Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen” (Galatians 1:4-5).

Then immediately Paul gets to the point of his grave concern over what had happened in the Church: “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News, but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). Who and what was twisting the truth of the Gospel? Why was Paul so upset that they were so soon turning away from God? The answer is found in the rest of the book of Galatians with a highlight summary found in the following verse:

“Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” (Galatians 2:16).

Should anyone think that (if the good things they do outweigh the bad) they might be an exception to this universal Divine truth, read again the last sentence of this verse: For NO ONE will ever be made right with God by obeying the law! (Upper case letters, italics, and exclamation point for added emphasis).

A few years later, Paul conveyed to the church at Ephesus this same crucial truth—God’s grace through the sacrificial atonement of God’s Son was the exclusive source of redemption, not the unattainable requirements of the Law of Moses. This time the context was both Jew and Gentile being united as one new person in Christ, but the emphasis was the same:

“For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations….” (Ephesians 2:14-15, italics for emphasis).

Fulfilling and (then) Ending the Law

Today, just as in Paul’s time, we see legalistic efforts to bend, shape, and contort the Grace of God into a massive maze of rulings and regulations and rituals that (1) cleverly contradict and deviously distort the very means of salvation; or (2) change the Holy Spirit led dynamics of living the Christian life with an inordinate impossible demand of keeping the Old Covenant as a means of staying saved or meriting God’s favor (Grace) for daily life and (hopeful) entrance to heaven at the time of death.

Religious requirements come in packages of all shapes and sizes. Including, but not limited to, organizational church-imposed and/or church-expected meritorious works through self-effort such as: Infant and adult baptism, church membership, mandatory tithes, completion of non-Biblical catechism curriculum, periodic sacrament observance, compulsory recital of prayers or excerpts from religious books, obligatory giving to the poor, forced observance of special holy days, requisite penance for transgressions, necessary hostility to those who believe differently (infidels), rote performance of required rituals, prescribed practice of non-Biblical church traditions, involuntary abstinence from certain foods and drinks, confirmed celibacy, and perfunctory performance of “righteous” deeds—most of which are dutifully defined by the ecclesiastical hierarchy of that religion that end up being nothing more than self-righteous exploits.

Over and over the apostle Paul tells us that the Grace of God not only saves us, but keeps us saved. That trying to keep the law to get saved or stay saved is not only impossible, but an affront to God. Oftentimes well-meaning Christians as well as not so well-meaning cults that are Christian in name only will twist and turn the words of Jesus to try to persuade their listeners that the Law of Moses, including the clerical priesthood, was never removed. Therefore, they contend that it is incumbent upon all who want to obtain and maintain a right standing with God and with their church to comply with the Law and regulatory church traditions in order to enter and remain in a “state of Grace.” Which means among other things that any unconfessed violations of the Law prior to one’s death could very well prevent that person from going to heaven. For example, that’s why Catholic priests administer last rites.

What exactly did Jesus mean when he said: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17, NASB). The Greek word for fulfill is pleroo (pronounced play-ro’-o) which means: to complete, to consummate, to carry into effect, to accomplish the purpose of (the Law). How does this profound statement of truth from Christ match up with the above quoted passage from Ephesians Chapter 2, in which Paul, in no uncertain terms declares that Christ ended the system of law with its commandments and regulations?

Who’s right; Jesus or Paul? Of course that’s a senseless question because they’re both right, even though they’re saying what appears to be (at face value) opposite things. There are many verses in Scripture that are completely stand-alone verses, such as John 3:16. However, there are other passages that must be compared, Scripture with Scripture (the whole counsel of God), and not quoted independently as a means to defend a viewpoint or position that is wrong to begin with because of the very fact that the verse is used out of context or because it (if not adequately clarified and understood) might seemingly contradict another passage. The Bible never negates itself; so if there are two or more passages which seem to do just that, then they must be carefully analyzed, compared, and explained together as a whole. All cults are based on a handful of verses that, when not correlated to other Scripture, will distort the main tenets of the Bible (especially salvation) and create a whole new religion, which Paul calls a false gospel.

Without a properly balanced examination of the seemingly paradoxical fact that Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses only to end the Law, three theological/spiritual errors will (many times have) result.

The misguided notion that God’s Grace—without an equal emphasis on and keeping of the Mosaic Law—is not enough to be born again (saved, redeemed).
The idea that we must continually keep the law to gain God’s favor after salvation.
That continuous good works (fulfilling the law) is necessary to keep God’s grace intact right up to the time of death, in order that one not lose or forfeit their salvation.

When Jesus said, “I came to fulfill the law,” the emphasis is on “I,” meaning Christ, himself. That it was He, and only He who could have fulfilled the law; which totally qualifies him as the only one who could make the once and for all sacrifice for our sins. He didn’t say or mean that he accomplished all points of the law in order that we, too, must strive to fulfill it. Just the opposite: He fulfilled it because we couldn’t. Christ said this to reinforce the fact that no human being could ever successfully keep the law either as a means of salvation or as a means to preserve that salvation. Once he achieved perfection with the law, there is no need for any of us to try or to keep trying to fulfill it ourselves, because we can’t … never could and never will. “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23).

Paul further reinforces what Jesus said and did: “For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God” (Romans 4:4). A commentary on that verse would be: Christ did all the work … now all we have to do is believe in him and what he did (before, during, and after the Cross).

In other words, Scripture tells us to stop focusing on (impossible or at least inconsistent) obedience to the law and focus on Jesus alone. Obedience will then come more naturally (actually supernaturally). For further clarification, notice that I, based on Scripture, didn’t say that we have no obligation to obey God’s moral and spiritual laws; rather the emphasis is how and why we obey the law. And it’s certainly not to earn salvation or merit God’s grace. Keep reading for more amplification.

What Christ is saying is that the law itself will never be abolished. “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and the other commandments will always be God’s principled standard of conduct, but which no one can or ever will keep. (Break one law and you break them all is what Scripture clearly teaches). Of course the Ten Commandments are still a moral compass that is every bit as applicable today as it was when the law was given. But what about the hundreds of years before the law was given, going at least back to the time of Abraham? How were those folks made right with God, when there was no law? (See Romans Chapter 4 for the answer to that question).

According to Jesus and Paul, one of the most grievous most damaging sins were those of the Pharisees, whom Jesus called sons of the devil, sons of hell, hypocrites; and certain Jews (both believers and unbelievers) who Paul accused of combining Law with Grace, Why? Because not only did they consider themselves righteous by virtue of keeping the law, but they were making others “sons of hell” by telling them that the only way to gain God’s favor and forgiveness was by keeping the law of Moses. That’s why they crucified Christ, because he said he was the Messiah; because he told them that He was the only Way, Truth, and Life and that no one could come to the Father except through him. That’s why they rejected him; because to them the Mosaic Law was the only way to God. How dare someone say differently!

Jesus warned the Jewish leaders, “Moses, himself, will condemn you” (John 5:45). That statement is utterly astonishing! How or why would Moses condemn anyone for keeping the law? Answer: Because they placed the law above the only way of true righteousness—faith in Christ (and before Jesus came, faith in the promise of his coming). That is why the only people that Jesus ever truly censured were the (self) righteous religious teachers of the law.

On the contrary, those who acknowledged their inherent sin nature and the iniquities this sin nature innately (naturally) produced, those who reached out to Jesus for physical and spiritual healing; experienced salvation through and from a Savior who loved them and who longed to save them from their sins … from eternal judgment apart from God.

What Actually Is Abolished? The Actual Purpose of the Law

What IS abolished is the keeping of the law or fulfillment of the law in order to be saved and to stay saved. In fact, that never existed in the first place … meaning salvation through the law. But neither is trying to live the Christian life ever successful or even recognized by the Lord through the self-effort of “fulfilling the law.” That’s why Paul told the believers in Galatia that they were “foolish.” (Galatians 3:1). He went on to challenge them, “Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the Law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? …why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” (Verses 2-3). Paul continues: “Why, then was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised….” (Galatians 3:19). The progenitor promised child was Abraham’s son, Isaac (not Ishmael); with Jesus Christ as the ultimate Child of Promise (to the whole world).

Therefore, Scripture is crystal clear that the law was temporary. It’s only purpose was to show just what sinners we are, so that we would stop trying to keep the law as a means of salvation or even as a means of trying to please God and keep in good standing with him after we’re saved.

Our good works are a RESULT of the free gift of salvation (God’s Grace). Not a requirement or the means of salvation. Our right standing with God is based on a RELATIONSHIP with him through his Son, Messiah Jesus. Not through any religion.

We can try all we want to satisfy the law or any rules and regulations that we impose on ourselves and others, and it will do us absolutely no good, whatsoever. In fact it only leads to total frustration and failure. Both secular humanism and clergy and laity alike in religious systems such as Mormonism, Catholicism, Jehovah Witnesses, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, but even some born-again Christians are constantly and in futility trying to: Work their way into or back into God’s favor.

Frankly, that’s an insult to God because it contradicts and replaces the only means of a right relationship with God … Jesus Christ. In fact, Paul tells us that when we make the law our main focus and falsely believe that keeping it will keep us in good standing with God, we are “crucifying Christ” all over again.

There’s more. Paul perceptively states: “But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law (Paul is referring to anyone who would say we were “guilty” if we discard the law). Would that mean that Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not! Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die” (Galatians 2:17-21, italics for emphasis).

Those who have a legalistic mindset, including some Christians, are those who live by a list of do(s) and don’t(s), including the law and other things they think must be followed. They (erroneously) believe that God’s favor is earned by good behavior. Conversely, true Christianity is expressed by those who love the Lord and live in gratitude for his free gift of grace and eternal life. By relying on the Holy Spirit who enables us, “…to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

To constantly tell or remind others that Christ came to fulfill the law but not to abolish it, without clarifying what that means or without explaining that both salvation and the Christian life, itself, is through grace and grace alone, is to confuse and mislead them. Cults do that all the time. They add to or subtract from the Bible. Or they take one or two verses and make an entire doctrine out of them, without comparing the passage with the whole counsel of Scripture.

It’s a deadly spiritual recipe … a mixture of Law and Grace.

Things to Ponder

If anyone was told that they would be granted a full pardon for their crimes (sins) against God, why would they want to stay in or return to the prison (of their sins)? Why would they throw away the key of Grace that opened the prison door of sin to set them free? How could they step back into a prison cell of a legalistic penal system that requires flawless performance and picture-perfect behavior in order to be released from a jail with four walls and a ceiling covered with do(s) and don’t(s) that no one could ever keep no matter how hard they try?

Stay tuned next week as we look at the third and final article on the Age of Grace.

Age of Grace (Part I)

24 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by garybowers in Devotional / Misc

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Messiah Jesus, New Covenant

The New Covenant … A Much Better Way

The Golden Age of Israel and its kings was nearing an end. Soon after Solomon’s reign ended in 930 BC, the Jewish nation had split into two kingdoms, with the northern kingdom falling first to the mighty Assyrian Empire in 722 BC. Despite ominous warnings of destruction from the mouth of the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, the southern kingdom would also succumb to an even greater empire, Babylon.

Jeremiah’s prophecies foretold the disaster that would befall Judah if she continued on her evil path of disobedience; of decadence that often exceeded the wickedness of the Gentile nations for whom Israel was to bear the torch of God’s light and share the eternal word of the Sovereign God of the Universe. Time and time again, Jeremiah (and other prophets) uttered words of warning such as: “Your wickedness will bring its own punishment. Your turning from me will shame you. You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to abandon the Lord your God and not to fear him. I, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!” (Jeremiah 2:19).

Yet like Isaiah, whose prophecies often spoke of the coming Messiah who would redeem, rescue, and then reestablish Israel as a beacon light to the nations; so, too, did Jeremiah offer hope and encouragement to God’s special possession, the Jews. But it came in the form of a most remarkable and unexpected prophecy; a promise that would forever change and ultimately replace the very foundation of their faith, of their individual and national relationship to Almighty God. This astounding prediction came just a few years before the 10-year series of Babylonian crusades against Judah, culminating in the ruthless defeat of Israel including the devastating destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple in 586 BC.

It was a promise that would be fulfilled in and accomplished by Messiah, himself. A promise that would divide time itself. One that would separate the Old from the New. One that would do what no one else could do but God himself: change stone into flesh … write God’s instructions of life, love, hope, and peace not just on stone tablets, but on the human heart. A promise that would produce so great a salvation unlike anything ever contemplated or even imagined. An unconditional gift that required nothing from those to whom the gift was given, except merely to believe it was true and receive the Gift-bearer, himself … none other than Messiah Jesus.

It would usher in a whole new epoch of mankind’s relationship to the Creator; an era that would see Divine righteousness imputed to Jew and Gentile alike, through God’s unconditional, unmerited, and unearned favor and mercy to the human race. It would be a new exciting incomparable: AGE OF GRACE.

Jeremiah vividly described how and through whom this New Covenant would be accomplished: “In those days and at that time I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. In that day Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this will be its name: ‘The Lord is Our Righteousness’” (Jeremiah 33:15-16).

Such a phenomenal plan! Such an astonishing agreement! How could such a thing be done—to eliminate the Old Covenant which required every person’s obedience to every one of God’s laws in order to achieve a right standing before God? Something which no one has ever been able to attain (on their own) or ever will achieve through self-effort. Jeremiah tells us that such a thing will be possible through, “a righteous descendant from King David.” Another prophet also explained how this would happen: “…my righteous servant (Messiah) will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins … because he exposed himself to death … He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels” (Isaiah 53:11-12).

A New Way … A New Covenant!

Less than a generation before Israel suffered (at that time) the greatest calamity ever experienced by a nation—indescribable personal torment and national distress, massive loss of life, and deportation of the survivors—here is what the prophet Jeremiah said God would do for Israel sometime after their return from Babylonian captivity:

“The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife, says the Lord. But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord. I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people … And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Undoubtedly, many who heard or read these words from Jeremiah recalled the written words of Moses who reminded his people just a short time before Joshua led the Hebrews into the Promised Land: “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Sinai” (Deuteronomy 5:2). Then in verses six through twenty-one of that same chapter, Moses repeated the Ten Commandments to the congregation of Israel.

Equally certain is that some Jews at that time, particularly those who still followed the Lord to some extent or another, must have been stunned at this prophecy. It was amazing enough for Jeremiah to predict complete Babylonian conquest of Israel, demolition of the Temple, then exiled captivity in Babylon for exactly seventy years (all of which came to pass). That alone was beyond belief, even though Judah’s kings, priests, and common people knew all too well what had befallen the northern kingdom of Israel over one hundred years earlier. In near or complete denial, they simply couldn’t or wouldn’t accept the reality of God allowing a foreign pagan nation to destroy the Temple in which God’s very presence dwelled. However, by this time, they were too far gone in their own worship of pagan gods to realize that God had left the Temple (see the Book of Ezekiel).

But even those who yielded to the reality of it all—beginning with King Nebuchadnezzar’s first campaign against Israel in 605 BC (at which time the prophet Daniel was taken prisoner and deported to Babylon)—couldn’t remotely fathom a completely NEW COVENANT initiated by God to replace the Covenant of the Law given to them through Moses. Using today’s vernacular, it must have blown them away.

Most Jews to this very day still haven’t conceptualized the mind-boggling reality that God, himself, would replace the Mosaic Law with another Covenant that would fundamentally dissolve the twofold requirements of the old way: (1) self-merited keeping of God’s regulations, commands, and decrees; (2) the ongoing sacrificial offerings of animals to cover their ongoing sins.

Those who have half-way acknowledged the truth of Jeremiah’s astounding prophecy, believe that this New Covenant is still a future event—one that will take place only when Messiah comes. With this misunderstanding a direct result of not knowing or accepting both the clearly stated and implied Old Testament predictions that Messiah would first arrive as a servant (God’s once and for all sacrificial Lamb of Salvation); then return as the Lion from the Tribe of Judah to set up the eternal Kingdom of God on the earth.

Out with the Old, In with the New

In previous and subsequent chapters, Jeremiah frequently and explicitly explains exactly why God’s patience had finally run out. For example, in Jeremiah’s prayer to God he states: “Our ancestors came and conquered it (the Promised Land) and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them” (Jeremiah 32:23).

A New Covenant would be made with Israel, one that would last forever. Why would God do something so drastic as to replace the Mosaic Covenant of Law which was the very foundation of Judaism? The answer is both sad and simple: Because the Jews deliberately chose not to obey and follow God. Although the Lord patiently waited for Israel to return to him over a period of several hundred years, they wouldn’t listen to the Lord their God.

Not only wouldn’t they obey, by this time in Israel’s history it was all too evident that they couldn’t keep the Law of Moses, not the way that really mattered to God. Literally, their heart was not in it.

Even those who somewhat consistently kept the Sabbath and observed the High Holy Days and Festivals and performed the necessary sacrificial offerings did so more out of ritual obligation that a deep heartfelt desire to please and honor the God of Israel. Consequently, their hearts became hard as stone. The prophet Isaiah appropriately accused the Israelites of paying lip service to God but refusing to honor him in/with their hearts. The Jews never came to terms with the real spirit of trusting and obeying God from a heart of gratitude instead of their superficial selfish (what’s in it for me) attitude.

Later, after the New Covenant was established, the Apostle Paul would reinforce what was already crystal clear through some 1500 hundred years of trying to keep the law. It simply couldn’t be done. The reason: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). The standard referred to by Paul was none other than the Mosaic Law in its’ entirety.

However, immediately following this profound universal exposure of man’s inherent sin nature and propensity to sin, Paul presents an incredible contrast, a wonderful God-initiated solution to what would otherwise be an unsolvable predicament: “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins” (Verse 24).

The Law of Moses was a perfect representation of God’s expectations of the human race, but it could not save those who tried to keep the laws because of man’s gross imperfections. Because human beings possess an innate desire to merit (God’s) favor by good works and ritual, almost robot-like observance of God’s or man-made requirements, God gave them plenty of time to prove whether they would or wouldn’t, could or couldn’t do just that. Finally, God would step in and intervene with a New Covenant, a New Way that would solve the problem of sin and the separation from God caused by sin.

And so, a New Covenant between God and man would be introduced by Messiah. A relationship between God and man which would enable each and every person who personally believes in and accepts the Messiah of this New Covenant to become his/her own priest with direct access at any time, any place to God’s very presence. A new changed heart of flesh to replace a heart of stone.

As the prophet Ezekiel wrote during the Babylonian captivity of his people to amplify Jeremiah’s words that God would write his instructions on the hearts of his people: “And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20, italics for emphasis).

For you see, God desires love and respect from a grateful, willing heart; not unlike parents who want their child to respond and relate to them because the child longs to, not because the child has to. Only with this kind of response would the Jews (and now Gentiles, too) truly be God’s people.

Exactly What Is Grace?

Several passages in Scripture offer a specified or implied definition of Grace, which is: God’s unmerited favor. Even a secular source such as Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary recognizes the Biblical standard when it defines grace as: “unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification.”

This New Covenant of Grace took effect when Messiah Jesus was crucified on the cross and arose from the dead. Jesus announced that he was the mediator of the New Covenant when shortly before his crucifixion he told his disciples: “…This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20). Then the Apostle Paul further attested to the advent of this tremendous New Covenant with these words to Timothy, “For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time” (I Timothy 2:5-6).

That “right time” was the first appearance of Messiah to his people and the whole world. “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

As indicated, the majority of today’s Jews, indeed, for most Jews down through the past sixteen or seventeen centuries, do not yet believe this New Covenant is in place. Because they refuse to accept Jesus Christ as Messiah. But not all! Both amazing and ironic is the fact that for many years after Messiah Jesus’s mission was accomplished and he returned to heaven in preparation for his glorious return, nearly all Christians were Jews. Thousands upon thousands recognized that Jeremiah’s prophecy of this New Covenant was fulfilled in Christ Jesus … that he, in fact, was the long-awaited Messiah. They staked their very lives on him, because of the indisputable evidence that he has arisen from the grave.

Slowly, but inevitably, those who placed their trust in Christ were mostly Gentiles, as many Jewish believers were exiled from Israel and/or gradually reverted back to Orthodox Judaism, mixing the Law of Moses with the Grace of God; thereby, leading new generations of Jews back to the old system of keeping the law as a basis for salvation. Yet this was done without the Levitical sacrificial system, which was abolished when the Roman Legions destroyed the Temple in 70 AD. They ended up in complete denial that the Levitical sacrificial system had been replaced once and for all by the prophesied redemptive death of the Son of God, the Son of David, and the Son of Man—all titles and positions held by Jesus Christ.

Even more disastrous was the formation of the Roman Catholic Church and Roman Catholicism, the Holy Roman Empire that replaced the secular Roman Empire of the first four centuries. This was not, I repeat not, the true church. (Please see Eye of Prophecy articles on the Woman and the Beast, Part I through VI under the category of Antichrist). Beginning in the 4^th century and carried out periodically to and beyond the Crusades, the Inquisitions, the Pogroms, the Holocaust, and other lesser known episodes during these Dark years, the Catholic Church persecuted and killed many Jews directly and by complicity. It’s no wonder that most Jews today want nothing to do with Jesus Christ, as they equate him with the horrors perpetrated on them by this organization that, itself, denies salvation exclusively through faith in God’s unmerited favor. Substituting Grace with a system of Church membership, baptism, and sacramental good works to achieve right standing with God.

God’s unique love for Israel (for salvation comes through the Jews) and his love for all peoples was unconditional. But this love turned out to be unrequited. The Jewish people broke the very covenant (time and again) that God gave them as the reasonable means of maintaining a right relationship with a holy God. God was willing to forgive their sins and trespasses if they followed the equally significant and mandatory need to offer animal sacrifices for those sins. All that was necessary was a genuine repentance (I’m sorry, Lord, for the wrong I’ve done) when those sacrifices were offered. But the people couldn’t and wouldn’t even do that. Their individual and collective heart was rock-hard, not a soft heart full of gratitude … willing to obey out of love and respect.

So, the Lord would replace the Mosaic Covenant of Law with a brand new Covenant of Grace which made it so much easier to gain and maintain a permanent pardon from and right standing with God. Keeping the Law of Moses could never be the means to salvation, for that was impossible to do in the first place. God would do for them (for us) what they could not do for themselves. He (not his unfaithful people) would provide and execute the ultimate, final sacrifice—God himself, through his Son, Messiah Jesus. This is the magnificent New Covenant of Grace … God’s free gift to the human race.

Modern-Day Rebirth of Israel and Resurgence of Grace

Listen to one of the most unlikely of Jews ever to yield to the New Covenant Gospel of Grace, the once diehard Jewish Pharisee, steeped in the Law of Moses, with a heart as hard as granite miraculously transformed into a heart of love and compassion for all unbelievers, especially for his own people.

“Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God” (Romans 10:1-4).

*Note: If someone else was able to, without sin, keep every commandment of God, able to fulfill every requirement necessary to achieve a right standing with God; furthermore, to die in the place of those sentenced to death because of terrible sins against God and people (all of us), wouldn’t you accept God’s pardon and receive Jesus as your substitute Savior if that’s all God wanted from you!?

Paul continues: “For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands. But faith’s way of getting right with God says …’The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.’ And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved” (Romans 10:5-10).

In the last 50 years or so, we have witnessed a phenomenal renaissance of the true Gospel of Christ reaching Jews all over the world; thousands of Jews responding to their Scriptures and recognizing that Jesus is truly their (the) Messiah. Though the greater numbers are still spiritually blind to the truth of God’s New Covenant of Grace, one day (very soon) all of Israel will believe in Christ. But only when they are on the brink of annihilation at the hands of a deadly coalition led by the Antichrist. Then, their partial blindness will give way to eyes fully opened to see, ears spiritually unplugged to hear, and hearts divinely softened to absorb the mighty love and power of Messiah Jesus.

It’s no mere coincidence that the miraculous rebirth of the nation of Israel, preceded by and followed even more substantially by return of millions of Jews to the Promised Land has given rise to an increasing number of spiritually reborn Jews throughout the world. Though the spiritual revival has not kept pace with the physical restitution, it will one day very soon catch up to the incredible rebirth of Israel. The spiritual restoration will match and exceed the physical rejuvenation of the land.

At that time the Age of Grace which is currently manifested as the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts and minds of Jews and Gentiles alike will become the magnificent Kingdom of God on this earth. (See last week’s Eye of Prophecy article, Kingdom of God).

The following passage summarizes the now and then of it all: “Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone” (Romans 11:28-31).

What Paul means by God imprisoning everyone in disobedience is that God will allow anyone to remain in their prison of disobedience if that’s want they want. He will not forcefully overturn a person’s deliberate decision to remain under sin’s lock and key by refusing to accept God’s provision and pardon to escape this imprisonment. Moreover, the only means of escaping the death sentence that sin imposes is recognition of God’s Mercy and acceptance of God’s Grace by believing in their heart and confessing with their mouth that Jesus is both Savior and Lord.

On that great and glorious Day of the Lord, the day when Christ Jesus will rescue Israel from certain extinction at the hands of insurmountable forces (the end of the Great Tribulation), all of Israel will see and believe and shout as their ancestors shouted when they hailed Messiah riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. “Baruch haba, beshem Adonai.” Blessed is he (Jesus) who comes in the name of the Lord (Father God).

Summary

No observant Jew in today’s world, nor even many secular Jews will dispute their Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament (Covenant). This includes prophecies of the Messiah and the advent of a New Covenant as predicted by Jeremiah. In fact, even many non-observant Jews passionately anticipate and embrace the coming of Messiah, to bring them hope for a prosperous future and protection from their enemies.

But the New Covenant is here! It arrived over two thousand years ago! How could anyone with an open mind, with any objectivity at all deny the historical fact that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. That he backed up this claim with incredible miracles, unmatched wisdom and teaching, unrivaled love and compassion by giving his very life for Israel and for the entire human race. Most of all … his astonishing resurrection from the dead.

All of these and more are a matter of historical record, based on eye-witness accounts. It’s as historically accurate and valid as any record of anyone who has ever lived or anything that has ever occurred. If one doesn’t believe the historicity of the Bible which has thousands more original manuscripts than any secular work in history, then no historical record is true—none whatsoever. Everything we’ve been told is a fable or a lie. Why should anyone believe that George Washington was our first United States President? Or any other documented historical event?

Furthermore, Jesus fulfilled all of the dozens of prophecies attributed to the Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures. I repeat for emphasis: ALL OF THEM.

Yes, my friend: Jesus (the New Covenant) is alive and well! And Jesus is the cornerstone of that Covenant. Listen to the words of the Apostle Peter who was asked by whose authority he made a crippled man walk. Said Peter to the religious leaders: “Let me clearly state to all of you and to all people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12).

Jesus gave us a New Way, a New Covenant, a New Hope. In fact, he IS the Way, the Covenant, and the Hope (of salvation and everlasting life). He is the express image of God. Through him God’s matchless Grace is freely given.

Things to Ponder

“You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors. But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles….” (Written by the Jewish Apostle Paul, formerly called Saul … Galatians 1:13-16).

Hopefully you’ll have the time to read the Book of Galatians in preparation for next week’s Eye of Prophecy article. But if not, read the article anyway!

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~ "For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus" (Rev.19:10)

Tag Archives: New Covenant

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Age of Grace (Part II)

Age of Grace (Part I)