Sunday 10/04/15
Series: The King and the Kingdom V
Message – The Setting aside of Israel & the Time of the Gentiles II
In our follow up teaching on the Good Heart – we’ve defined a few things about the seed that was sown in that good heart.
The seed is the Good New (or gospel message) of the King and His kingdom!
The good heart receives both the word AND the PURPOSE of the word.
The purpose of the message, seed or Good News is the rule & reign of Christ in the hearts of men. This is the current expression of the Kingdom of God in the earth today – and that is what we will be talking about before the end of the message today.
Establishing a Kingdom
How long has God been working to establish His kingdom?
Since the beginning of time!
You can see His efforts of establishing His rule in the earth through the loyalty of hearts dedicated to Him from the beginning.
Adam & Eve…Enoch…Noah…Job…Abram, Isaac, Jacob…Moses, Joshua….on through until Christ came!
The scriptures tell us that God has always been looking for loyal hearts.
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. ..” ~ 2Chorn. 16:9
Though God found loyal hearts in Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah & Job…..but when God found Abram, He found a man who He was able to know and who would command his children after him…..
“For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” ~ Gen. 18:19
Since this time, God’s intention with the kingdom was to establish it throughout the world – through the Jew’s who came to be known and called by the new name given to Jacob whom God loved…namely, Israel – which means strives with God.
This teaches us SO much it is hard to overstate and yet to focus on this would be to pull away from the direction we are headed in this message. Suffice it to say that God loved Jacob because he feared God, and yet would not let go of His promises because he valued them. God hated Esau because he treated things of great value as though they had none – and that sort of person, God cannot and will not use.
Who has believed our report?
Historically, Israel has not had nor maintained the heart and purpose of their forefathers. They have had hearts that easily wandered from God and clung with passion to the gods of other nations. This led them into captivity to other nations repetitively.
Eventually God allowed the Philistines to overcome Israel and steal the Ark of the Covenant and to this very day, it has never been found or recovered.
Following the removeal of the Ark of the Covenant, Israel lived in 400+ years of spiritual darkness until the time appointed by God for the Messiah, who came to His own under Roman rule, and they received Him not.
God has said of Israel, “ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND CONTRARY PEOPLE.” ~ Romans 10:21 (quoting from Isa. 65:2)
Jesus said, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I have longed to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing. See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘BLESSED is HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ “ Matt. 23:37-39
This last statement of Christ was a type of declaration of judgment. The word ‘see’ that Jesus employed here has many meanings, one of which is to know intuitively. So in effect Christ was saying that though they may see Him physically both then and upon the resurrection, though they may ‘see’ Him via the change He makes in the early converts to the Kingdom – they will still not “intuitively know Him”, because their eyes were now blinded.
Nevertheless, the gospel still needed to be preached to the lost sheep of the house of Israel BEFORE the world…when in mass they rejected it Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, turned to the Gentiles with the proclamation…
Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.” ~ Acts 13:46
That is what we are reading about in Romans and will finish reading this morning.
The turning away / setting aside of Israel
Rom 11:1-36,
(1) I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
(2) God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,
(3) “LORD, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS AND TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY SEEK MY LIFE”?
(4) But what does the divine response say to him? “I HAVE RESERVED FOR MYSELF SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.”
(5) Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
(6) And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
(7) What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
(8) Just as it is written: “GOD HAS GIVEN THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES THAT THEY SHOULD NOT SEE AND EARS THAT THEY SHOULD NOT HEAR, TO THIS VERY DAY.”
(9) And David says: “LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RECOMPENSE TO THEM.
(10) LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED, SO THAT THEY DO NOT SEE, AND BOW DOWN THEIR BACK ALWAYS.”
(11) I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.
(12) Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
(13) For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,
(14) if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.
(15) For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
(16) For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
(17) And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,
(18) do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
(19) You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”
(20) Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.
(21) For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.
(22) Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
(23) And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
(24) For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
(25) For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
(26) And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “THE DELIVERER WILL COME OUT OF ZION, AND HE WILL TURN AWAY UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB;
(27) FOR THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”
(28) Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
(29) For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
(30) For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,
(31) even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.
(32) For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
(33) Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
(34) “FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HAS BECOME HIS COUNSELOR?”
(35) “OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM AND IT SHALL BE REPAID TO HIM?”
(36) For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Listen what Paul said in verses 28-29– “For the sake of the fathers they are beloved.”
That is for the sake of the faith and testimony of the fathers and the promises God gave to them and their offspring they are beloved.
God gave both spiritual AND natural promises to Israel through the fathers.
The promise of eternal life through the seed – Isaac. Was a spiritual promise which is why Paul says,
Rom 9:6-11,
“ But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, (7) nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED.” (8) That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. (9) For this is the word of promise: “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.” (10) And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (11) (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls)”
Notice this is GOD’s work NOT ours. Remember where we read, “The gifts and CALLINGS of God are irrevocable”? In THAT verse it is talking about how Israel is still set apart for salvation because of God’s promise to the fathers. Here in the verse above, His call is equally irrevocable to those who are CHILDREN OF GOD BY FAITH.
Let’s consider this beloved state of Israel from God’s perspective. Does He hold them in this regard for their sakes… or for the sake of His great name? Let’s read,
Ezek. 36:22-28,
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. (23) And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. (24) For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. (25) Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. (26) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (27) I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (28) Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.”
One Kingdom – Two expressions
God promised a natural land and kingdom under very specific conditions to Israel several times in scripture. This kingdom has historically NEVER happened yet.
Now to stay in focus, let me ask you again….
What age are we in…what ‘time’ are we in?
“The time of the Gentiles”
What time follows?
“The Millennial Kingdom”
In the past I’ve stressed that God’s Kingdom is NOT a physical or natural kingdom but a spiritual one- yes?
BUT – the Millennial Kingdom will be BOTH and will be located in the area God promised to Israel through the fathers.
So, why have I stressed that?
Because many today follow the general teachings of Augustine and Luther and are therefore, in error concerning their doctrine of the nation of Israel and the Millennial Kingdom.
The three upper most dominant teachings of the Millennium are these…
- Premillennialism = is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the earth before the Millennium, a literal thousand-year golden age of peace. This return is referred to as the Second Coming.
- Amilliennialism – is the belief there will be NO physical kingdom only a divine rule in the hearts of men between the first and second coming of Christ. Often coupled with this doctrine is the doctrine of
- Postmillennial – is an misinterpretation of Revelation 20 and predicts Christ’s second coming as occurring after (Latin post-) the “Millennium“. This view sees the Millennium as a Golden Age in which Christian ethics prosper.
Postmillennialism – holds that Jesus Christ establishes His kingdom on earth through…
- His preaching and redemptive work in the first century
- By equipping his church with the gospel, empowering her by the Holy Spirit.
- Charging her with the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) to disciple all nations.
This view holds that eventually
- the vast majority of men living will be saved
- increasing gospel success will gradually produce a time in history prior to Christ’s return in which faith, righteousness, peace, and prosperity will prevail in the affairs of men and of nations.
- After an extensive era of such conditions Jesus Christ will return visibly, bodily, and gloriously, to end history with the general resurrection and the final judgment after which the eternal order follows. (In part, this is the position of many Word of Faith teachers and is often called “Kingdom Now” theology.)
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So the promised land IS to include…all of the land modern Israel currently possesses, plus…
- all of the land of the Palestinians (the West Bank and Gaza)
- some of Egypt and Syria
- all of Jordan
- some of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
So, Israel currently possesses only a fraction of the land God has promised.
Begging on Wednesday night we will cover the promises for a natural, physical possession of that land under some very special circumstances to demonstrate that this is a future event, not something accomplished in the past.
Blessings!
I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
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Blessings!
