The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Church and the World, #5

And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:16)

The oneness of Jews and Gentiles in the Church of Christ is taught clearly in the Scriptures.

The new covenant is made with the house of Israel and only with the house of Israel. We Gentiles must become, through Christ, part of the one Seed of Abraham or we cannot inherit the promises of God.

Nothing we teach is meant to imply that the physical land and people of Israel have not had, and do not continue to have, a special place in the purposes of God. The Jews by race assuredly do continue to have a special place in the purposes of God, and this will become increasingly clear as time goes on. The Kingdom of God is always to the Jew first.

The Kingdom of God consists, first of all, of the Church, which is the royal priesthood; then of those saved peoples whom the Church will govern and whom it will serve in a priestly function, bringing the knowledge, blessing, and Presence of the Lord to them.

Several passages of the Book of Isaiah have to do with the Servant of the Lord, Christ—Head and Body. During the coming age the Lord's royal priesthood, Christ and His Body, will deliver, rule, teach, and bless the nations of saved peoples of the earth.

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3)

Isaiah 2:3 is not a picture of the Body of Christ making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to seek the Lord. In that day the Lord's elect already will "ever be with the Lord." Neither is it a prophecy of the nations of the earth coming to the physical Jews to learn the Torah.

Isaiah 2:3 portrays the coming of the nations of saved peoples of the earth to Jerusalem, to the center of government of the whole earth. There Christ and His Body will be ruling, and there the nations will find God.

We who believe in Christ already have come to Mount Zion and are Mount Zion. We stand with Christ on Mount Zion.

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, (Hebrews 12:22)

The pilgrimage of the nations of the saved to "the house of the God of Jacob" will take place on this earth. The casting of Satan and his angels out of the heavenlies, and the ascension of the saints to the spiritual thrones that govern the earth, will create a peaceful, godly atmosphere on the earth. The nations then will desire to "beat their swords into plowshares."

The nations of the saved of their own choice will decide to "go up to the mountain of the Lord."

To be continued.