The Daily Word of Righteousness

Jerusalem, #2

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. (Jeremiah 16:14,15)

The passages that speak of the return of the Jews to the land of Israel will be fulfilled literally. To attempt to spiritualize them so they depict a revival among Gentile believers is to introduce chaos into any attempt to derive a straightforward, coherent interpretation of the Scriptures.

Even though the prophecies concerning the Messianic Kingdom are hidden among the earthly statements of the Old Testament Scriptures, the Scriptures still mean what they say. Israel has been scattered among the nations and Israel will be brought back to the land in preparation for the accession of Christ, the Son of God, to the Throne of David in Jerusalem. There will be a convergence of spiritual Israel and physical Israel.

The current attempts to destroy or weaken the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the return of the race of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the land of promise proceed from Satan.

Satan is not afraid of the Christian churches in their present worldly, fleshly, self-seeking condition. But Satan is mortally terrified at the prospect of the return of Israel to the land; for Satan knows the Scriptures. He understands that the return of Israel to the land is one of the signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. The coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth will destroy the rule of Satan and his angels over the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ will return to rule the nations.

Whoever would rule the world must do so from what is called today the Temple Mount. There is an important Muslim shrine located there at the present time.

Keeping these facts in mind we must consider the teaching of the Apostle Paul. Paul taught in several places that being born of Jewish parents does not make a person a member of God's Israel. What is born of the flesh is flesh and can neither see nor enter the Kingdom of God until it is born again.

Being a member of true Israel, of the Seed to whom the land of Abraham has been given forever, is by promise. Every member of true Israel is an elect person, having been known of God from the creation of the world. Jacob was known and approved of God before he was born. One cannot become a member of true Israel, of the Seed of Abraham, by being born of Jewish parents. One must be elected to the Seed, to the Divine Olive Tree. Participation in the Messianic Kingdom always is by promise, never by physical birth.

In Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. There only is the one Israel, the one Body of Christ. The inheritance is by calling. It is by grace, by the foreknowledge of God.

To be continued.