Sorry, Phipps, but you are totally and completely wrong about Israel and Christianity in the end times.
We, Christians are most certainly not Jews. We are grafted into their olive tree..which God will graft them in to again. We don’t take over the covenant but were graciously added to it.
Jesus came to the Jew first and they rejected Him so salvation was offered to the gentiles to make the Jew jealous. You can read it all in Romans 11..Israel is not cast away and are only in the state of unbelief until the fullness of the gentiles has come in.
Then, after the fullness has come in..then God will turn back once again on His chosen people. You see, God made that covenant with Abraham that He will be their God forever and He doesn’t go back on His promises..to think that God will leave His chosen people stranded and alone is a bad reflection on God. No matter what they did, when they played the harlot..God always wanted His people to come back to Him and now is no different.
Israel plays a part in end times prophecy, especially where they are in the ME. Zechariah talks about today’s hatred of the Jews pretty succinctly when he says...
Zechariah 12:2-3
Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.
Daniel also tells us in the last days that Israel will build another temple..as unbelievers and people who used to follow God...I would think that this would be reasonable to them, to build another temple and resume sacrifices to God. We know this will happen because Daniel tells us that in the middle of a treaty sacrifices will be abolished. So, what we can gather is that there is a treaty that will let them build a temple again..and that does make sense it today’s climate since where they will build it is on the Temple Mount. The Bible give directions to leave out the outer court since the gentiles have it in the plans for the new temple. The temple institute has everything needed for the temple..the only thing they don’t have is the red heifer which they will need for sacrifices. Once that is accomplished..watch out..they will be pushing hard for that new temple!
The anti will set up the abomination of desolation in that temple and he will come after the Jews..Jesus even tells them to flee when that happens. Not only will Jews be terrorized and killed, Christians, true Christians, will be martyred for God. Which is why all this will happen to Christians and Jews..we are all God’s people who show the world that there really is a God. The Jews, by still being a people, therefore reminding the world that there is a God and the Christians who have the way to God if only people will listen to us...
Sorry, Phipps, but you are totally and completely wrong about Israel and Christianity in the end times.
I know I'm not wrong and I'm not saying that arrogantly. Its just the truth.
To get a balanced view of what the Bible says about Israel in the New Testament/Covenant, you cannot dismiss entire parts that disagree with your doctrine. Jesus, Paul, Peter and other apostles and Bible writers make it clear that Israel in the New Covenant is global. It is not about physical ancestry. What is important is that people have faith and submit to Jesus. Whoever does that is part of the covenant people of God, irrespective of physical ancestry.
This is going to be another long response.
We, Christians are most certainly not Jews. We are grafted into their olive tree..which God will graft them in to again. We don’t take over the covenant but were graciously added to it.
You didn't understand Paul then. In
Romans 11:17-24, Paul speaks of the olive tree that represents Israel. The branches (Jews) were broken off because of unbelief and the wild olive shoots (Gentiles) were grafted in to share in the nourishment of the tree.
The natural branches (literal Jews) can be grafted back into the tree if they accept the conditions. God is no respecter of nations or individuals. All who turn to Him will be accepted.
Romans 10:12, "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him."
Galatians 3:26, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."
John 15:5-7, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."
The new Israel inherits God’s covenant promises. Those who have accepted Christ become the chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God (Compare
1 Peter 2:9-10 with
Exodus 19:5-6).
Jesus came to the Jew first and they rejected Him so salvation was offered to the gentiles to make the Jew jealous. You can read it all in Romans 11..Israel is not cast away and are only in the state of unbelief until the fullness of the gentiles has come in.
Salvation was not offered to Gentiles to make Jews jealous. The plan of salvation was made to save all mankind not just Jews. It was always in God's plans for Gentiles to hear the message and to be saved. God always planned that Gentiles join Israel.
What Paul was talking about in
Romans 11:13-14 was that Gentile believers who had been grafted into Israel were called to provoke Israel to exercise faith in their Messiah for their salvation. Paul mentions his own efforts to that effect, stating,
“if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.” Meaning all Jews will be saved in the same manner as all Gentiles: by faith in the crucified and risen Lord as Messiah.
Paul did not say
“and then all Israel will be saved,” as if to suggest a sequence of different dispensations. Remember that there is only one olive tree in Paul’s metaphor, meaning one Saviour, one people of God, and one way of salvation for all!
Of course Israel was not cast away. Israel still exists just not literally but spiritually according to the Word of God. In
Galatians 6:16 Paul calls Christians
“the Israel of God”. The Israel of the New Covenant has both Jews and Gentiles (they were grafted in). Its about the heart not ancestry. Read
2 Corinthians 3.
Then, after the fullness has come in..then God will turn back once again on His chosen people. You see, God made that covenant with Abraham that He will be their God forever and He doesn’t go back on His promises..to think that God will leave His chosen people stranded and alone is a bad reflection on God. No matter what they did, when they played the harlot..God always wanted His people to come back to Him and now is no different.
What do you mean by the fullness coming in? Where in the Bible does it talk about the fullness of the Gentiles coming in? Please show me.
As far as I know, if by the time probation closes people have not accepted Christ that will be it for them. Whatever heritage or nation they come from. Jews are not going to get preferential treatment from God. No one is.
Galatians 3:29, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."
What you're saying contradicts the Bible.
Israel plays a part in end times prophecy, especially where they are in the ME. Zechariah talks about today’s hatred of the Jews pretty succinctly when he says...
Zechariah 12:2-3
Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.
This is something I posted before but I am going to repost it.
All Israel Saved?
Since we've gone this far, we may as well go all the way! Only Jews will be saved. Furthermore, all Jews will be saved! Now after you pick yourself up off the floor, allow us to explain these bold statements.
We all know that we are saved under the new covenant, right? Notice the wording of the new covenant:
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah." Jeremiah 31:31, emphasis added.
And in the book of Hebrews, Paul expands on this concept:
"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. ... For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Hebrews 8:8, 10-12, emphasis added.
The new covenant is made
"with the house of Israel"! God never makes a salvation covenant with Gentiles. In fact, nowhere in Scripture do you find any saving covenant made with anyone but Israelites! So if you want to be saved, you must be born again, as a spiritual Jew. This is not to say that all Christians must now be circumcised and sacrifice lambs, but we must have the spiritual equivalent of these things-Jesus, the Lamb of God, and circumcision of the heart.
God does not have one method of salvation for Jews and a different brand for non-Jews. Everyone is saved the same way under the same program. By grace through faith. Paul used the analogy of an olive tree to explain that all Gentiles who are saved are grafted into the stock of Israel.
"And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root [supports] thee." Romans 11:17, 18.
The Christian religion is based on a Jewish manual called the Bible. (In light of this fact, it is extremely difficult to understand how any real Christian could be anti-Semitic.) Christianity is not a new religion, but rather the completion of the Jewish faith.
With this truth in mind, we can now better understand what Paul meant when he said,
"And so all Israel shall be saved." Romans 11:26. Some have taken this verse to mean that God will ultimately save all literal Jews. If this were true, it would contradict every principle of God's dealings with humans throughout history and Scripture. God is not a racist. In Jesus' eyes,
"There is neither Jew nor Greek." Galatians 3:28.
We are saved based on choices we make regarding God's provision, not on national status or physical citizenship. But if when Paul says that
"all Israel will be saved" he is speaking of spiritual Israel, and if we understand that we become a
"true Jew" only by a choice, then it all makes sense.
Daniel also tells us in the last days that Israel will build another temple..as unbelievers and people who used to follow God...I would think that this would be reasonable to them, to build another temple and resume sacrifices to God. We know this will happen because Daniel tells us that in the middle of a treaty sacrifices will be abolished. So, what we can gather is that there is a treaty that will let them build a temple again..and that does make sense it today’s climate since where they will build it is on the Temple Mount. The Bible give directions to leave out the outer court since the gentiles have it in the plans for the new temple. The temple institute has everything needed for the temple..the only thing they don’t have is the red heifer which they will need for sacrifices. Once that is accomplished..watch out..they will be pushing hard for that new temple!
The temple Daniel was talking about was the temple that was built after the first desolation when Babylon took Israel captive due to their abominations. That temple was destroyed by the Romans after Jesus' ascension to heaven as I told you.
After Jesus' death the earthly temple ceased to mean anything. When Jesus died on the cross the veil, or curtain, that separated the holy and most holy rooms of the temple/sanctuary was torn (
Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). His death symbolized the end of the need for the exclusive Levitical priesthood to mediate between man and God. Now Jesus would mediate between man and God.
1 Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus," That also meant that the sacrifices of animals as the means for sins to be forgiven was abolished because Jesus the lamb had died on the cross once and for all to save us all. That is what Daniel meant by sacrifices abolished. Does it make sense to you that Christians should back the building of another temple where sacrifices will be offered after Jesus the lamb died on the cross for our sins? Wouldn't that be denying Jesus' sacrifice for us?
The next temple we read about is the one in heaven. There is a temple is heaven as Paul writes about in the book of Hebrews. This temple is the real deal on which the earthly one was modelled on.
"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man…Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount" (
Hebrews 8:1-2, 5).
In the heavenly temple Jesus is the High Priest and our mediator. Meaning Jesus is pleading His blood in behalf of repentant sinners.
"Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25.
"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (
Hebrews 9:24).
I suggest you go to my forum
Heavenly Temple/Sanctuary and read about it and the book of Hebrews too. This is a very important subject in understanding the the work Jesus does in the heavenly temple/sanctuary and its just as important as His death on the cross for us.
The Zionist doctrine is not biblical. A newly built temple cannot, in any sense of the word, be called
"the temple of God." In fact, the erection of such a temple and the reintroduction of sacrificial rites would be blasphemy against the completed work and present priestly ministry of Christ in the heavenly temple/sanctuary.
In the book of Revelation we read about Jesus in the Temple and it is from the Temple that Jesus will come to save His people when He returns the second time.
The anti will set up the abomination of desolation in that temple and he will come after the Jews..Jesus even tells them to flee when that happens. Not only will Jews be terrorized and killed, Christians, true Christians, will be martyred for God. Which is why all this will happen to Christians and Jews..we are all God’s people who show the world that there really is a God. The Jews, by still being a people, therefore reminding the world that there is a God and the Christians who have the way to God if only people will listen to us...
As I told you Jesus was telling the apostles about the destruction of Jerusalem and when to flee. In fact Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple.
Mark 13:2, "And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” The destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple is also written of historically.
Now what Jesus said can also be applied to end time prophecy but as I've told you and its supported by scripture, God's true Church (Israel) will be persecuted. This Israel will be a people of all nations who as Paul puts it, "
if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." The New Covenant does not separate Jews and Gentiles.
The Jews are no longer a chosen people. Daniel prophesied it in
Daniel 9:24, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy."
The Jews did not anoint the most Holy and they were cut off. Jesus Himself told them in
Matthew 21:43-44 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." and Matthew 23:37–39, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, 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!’ ”
Jews have to come to Christ individually like the Gentiles. They are not all going to wake up one day and recognise Jesus as the Messiah. Some will and some won't just like the rest of the world.
The people who are going to remind the world there is a God are true Christians (Israel) and as I've repeatedly said, it doesn't matter what race or nation they are from.
"Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."
God chose Israel to bless the world and to be His witnesses and missionaries to the world. When Israel rejected Jesus, the church functionally continued where Israel left off. It became the new avenue through which God was to work to win the world. The mission continued even though the avenue changed. There was a new Israel, a more global Israel than that of the Old Covenant. This fulfilled Jesus’ statement that true Israel would be a people from all races and nations.
Matthew 8:10-12, "When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Luke13:28-29, "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God."
The church is the fulfilment and continuation of Israel through which God’s eternal purpose will be realised.
Ephesians 3:10-11, "to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,"
This is according to the Bible.