The Daily Word of Righteousness

One New Man, #9

For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: (Hebrews 8:8)

4. In what way are the Christians to become members of Israel?

The Christians are to become members of Israel by recognizing that the new covenant is made only with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not with the Gentile nations (Jeremiah 31:31).

In order to partake of Christ we must become part of Israel, part of the one Seed of Abraham. There only is the one Olive Tree, Christ. The two olive trees of Revelation, Chapter 11, do not represent a Jewish Church and a Gentile Church but rather a double portion of the Spirit of God poured on Christ and His Body, His Church.

There is no such thing as a "Gentile Church." The Gentile Church is the creation of Gentile religionists.

In Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. There is only the one new Man. This is so obviously scriptural that it appears to be a waste of time to discuss it further.

5. At what point and in what manner will the Christian Church and the land and people of Israel converge?

It is our point of view that the pressures of the future will result in the convergence of a devout remnant of Christians and a devout remnant of Jews, in fulfillment of the type of Jacob being reconciled to his son and Gentile daughter-in-law during the worldwide famine of those days.

The greatest convergence will occur when Christ and His warrior-saints (Jewish and Gentile) appear, descend to the Mount of Olives, and bring the spiritual Life of God to the people and land of Israel.

The nation of Israel will behold Him whom they pierced and will mourn for Him as a man mourns over the mistreatment or loss of his firstborn son (Zechariah 12:10).

6. In what way will the nations of the earth come up to Jerusalem and keep the feast of Tabernacles? Will the Egyptians, the English, and the Chinese come up to Jerusalem each year and dwell in booths for a week, meditating on the God of Israel?

No, the nations will not dwell in booths; for the dwelling in booths is a shadow of the spiritual reality in Christ. Rather the nations of the saved will receive of the Life of Christ that then will be abiding eternally in the saints so the nations also may have a portion of the Father and the Son in themselves.

Many nations will be saved from destruction and will have the opportunity to enter the worship of God through Christ.

And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. (Zechariah 2:11)

The nations of the saved will keep the feast of Tabernacles by coming up to Jerusalem and receiving in themselves the Presence of God. God in Christ will make the nations of the saved part of His Tabernacle, although not to the same extent as is true of the elect, the firstborn, the Israel of God. The Israel of God, consisting of the elect Jews and Gentiles, is God's firstborn—the firstfruits to God of the nations of the earth.

James, a Jew, the brother of the Lord, exclaims:

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)

"A kind of firstfruits of his creatures"!

To be continued.