Biblical Zionism XIII
Grafted into
the Holy Root
Biblical
faith begins with believing that the Bible is a God breathed book. That means God gave every Word of the Bible
to different men over a span of thousands of years that were written down by
those men. Therefore, the Bible is inspired
by God, inerrant, and preserved by God.
Secondly, faith comes by reading and understanding
what God has recorded in the Bible. “So
then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans
10:17). Biblical faith is anchored to
the facts revealed in the Bible
about God and His promises. Therefore, Biblical
faith is dependent upon properly understanding (interpreting) what the Bible
says. If the facts of the Bible are incorrectly
interpreted, faith will be corrupted to the degree of that
misinterpretation.
Therefore,
the chain of transference of the teaching of the facts of God’s Word is
absolutely critical to the continuum of faith transference. These facts
are called “doctrine” in the Bible and the science of this process in called theology. This studying, learning, and then teaching
process called discipleship is laborious.
God’s Word says, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of
double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine” (II Timothy
5:17). Most people do not see coming to
church as necessary work that involves them in the detailed learning of the
intricate details of the facts revealed in the Word of God.
Satan’s “wiles” seek to minimize the intricacies of
detailed interpretation, instruction, and teaching of the Word of God. After all, detailed interpretation, instruction,
and teaching of the Word of God is difficult.
It is difficult to ascertain exacting interpretation and it is difficult
to ensure people have accurately comprehended what has been taught, even when
it is taught accurately. Teaching
accurately does not presume accurate understanding of what has been
taught.
In Romans 11:12, Paul says if the incomprehensible spiritual wealth of
all that connects to salvation is offered to “whosoever . . . of the
world” and the “diminishing,” or the failure and respective loss of this all to
Jews, we can expect a greater revelation of God’s spiritual blessings when the
“fullness,” or full restoration, of Israel takes place at the end of the
Tribulation and the beginning of the Kingdom Age. At the
beginning of the Kingdom Age, there will not be one lost person still living in
this “world.” The nation of Israel that
begins the Kingdom Age under Christ’s rule will be made up of nothing but “born
again” Jews in the fulfillment of the Palestinian and Davidic at this moment in
history. It is into this new pure
national Israel that the new Melchizedecan Priesthood of all Church Age
believers will be grafted to share
Christ’s Kingdom Age rule.
The word “root” of Romans 11:16-18 is defined in
Romans 15:12 to be Jesus. Jesus is the Promised One, “the Seed,” of the
Abrahamic Covenant and the basis of God’s offering of the gift of salvation offered
solely of grace received solely through faith.
God’s purpose in setting aside the Mosaic Covenant and the corruptions
of the Levitical Priesthood is to return the Jews back to seeing salvation
purely of grace through faith in the promised Messiah as detailed in the
Abrahamic Covenant. The Levitical priesthood
had added the conditions of the Mosaic Covenant.
“22
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them {backslidden Jews} which fell, severity;
but toward thee, goodness, {now begins a
warning} if thou continue in his
goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief,
shall be graffed in {to Jesus}: for God is able to graff them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by
nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much
more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their
own olive tree” (Romans 11:22-24)?
The olive
tree is not just a type of Israel. The olive tree is a type of the new creation
of cultivated spirituality out of
what was normally wild and not very productive.
The olive tree portrays the potential for spiritual life after the fall
into sin and God’s curse on His first creation.
The “husbandman” knows what is necessary to restore what is fallen and
to get the most spiritual fruit from what He has created.
The olive tree is by nature wild and produces very
inadequate fruit and often none as it ages.
The oldest olive trees in Israel are those enclosed in the Garden of Gethsemane. The cultivated olive tree is one that is pruned. Then branches from young trees bearing fruit
are grafted into the root/trunk to produce a large harvest.
The nation of Israel was chosen and cultivated to be
God’s cultivated olive tree. Obviously,
God expects a cultivated tree, to which He provides all spiritual sustenance, to
produce spiritual fruit and a godly testimony to God’s glory. When Israel ceased to ensure that even her
own sons and daughters were trusting in the grace of God’s promise in the
Abrahamic Covenant for their salvation, God started pruning again. God was not going to graft in more non-productive
olive branches. So, God began to graft in
saved Gentile branches that were bearing fruit.
The wild olive branches are young, new Gentile believers. Do we somehow think that God will be content
with the wild branches grafted in to the root, which is Jesus, if we do not produce
the fruit of His glory? That is the
warning of Romans 11:22-24. The warning contextually
connects with what has already been said in Romans 10:17-21.
“17 So then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, Have
they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their
words unto the ends of the world. 19 But I say, Did not Israel know?
First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no
people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. 20 But
Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was
made manifest unto them that asked not after me. 21 But to Israel he
saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
gainsaying people” (Romans 10:17-21).
The emphasis of Romans 10:17 is that someone must be
responsible for teaching/preaching “the word of God.” The point of the text is that every believer is responsible to tell
as many as will listen of the wonders of God’s grace in the gift of
salvation. By the time of Christ, most
of the Jews in Israel just looked down their noses with contempt upon the lost
and especially upon the Gentiles. The
priesthood of Israel in most part looked upon the uneducated Jews with the same
kind of contempt. The average Jew did
not have the depth of understanding afforded the priesthood that was received
through the rabbinical schools. The Pharisaical
term for these common Jews without rabbinical education was the word “sinner.”
In most part, these self-righteous hypocrites isolated
themselves from the very people they were called of God to teach. They frequently complained that Jesus
regularly ate with “publicans and sinners” – uneducated, common people.
“30
But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying,
Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31 And Jesus
answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they
that are sick. 32 I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:30-32).
Jesus was trying to minister people who needed what He
offered. The self-righteous Pharisees
saw themselves without need of Christ and His gift of a New Creation in the
gift of salvation. The self-righteous
are the most difficult of people in need of repentance for it is their hypocritical
self-righteousness that made them “children of hell” (Matthew 23:15) and their
proselytes “twofold more the child of hell.”
Therefore, the point of Romans 11:25-36 is do not
forget your message and your mission – the kind of righteousness necessary to
enter God’s presence in glory cannot be achieved. God-kind righteousness must be received. The very best of man-kind-righteousness comes
far “short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
This was the great failure of the priesthood of Israel. They added the conditions of the Mosaic Covenant
to the gift of grace salvation in the Abrahamic Covenant thereby completely corrupting
the doctrine of salvation. The Mosaic
Covenant was for the already redeemed and was sanctificational in its purpose,
not salvational.
This corruption has been repeated in Replacement
Theology (Covenant Theology) in every form.
They profess salvation by grace through faith but add the necessity of
keeping the Law (Sacraments, good works, and Moralism) to receive salvation and to keep
salvation. Salvation is a gift of
God-kind righteousness (justification) given by grace and receive solely by
faith apart from any person’s works or sacraments. Anything other than this fact is a corruption
of faith and a corruption of the doctrine of salvation. Those who accept the falsehood of grace plus
works/sacraments will remain in their lost estate believing they have something
they do not have.
“25 For I would
not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye
should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to
Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so
all Israel shall be saved {through the 144,000 saved seal Jews who will return
to earth from heaven in glorified bodies during the last half of the
Tribulation along with the two great witnesses; Revelation 11:3}: as it is
written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer {second coming of Christ Jesus}, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I
shall take away their sins {national
Israel’s Mosaic Covenant national curse to restore them nationally to the place
of blessing}. 28 As concerning the gospel, they are (Christ rejecting Jews} enemies for your
sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’
sakes {they are to be viewed as actively hostile against the message of the
Gospel. This does not mean they should
not be evangelized}. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance. 30 For as ye in times past have not believed
God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31 Even so
have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may
obtain mercy. 32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief,
that he might have mercy upon all. 33 O 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 hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be
recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and
through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for
ever. Amen” (Romans 11:25-36).
We are given six chapters of
Scripture that give us the primary details of the Palestinian
Covenant:
Leviticus
chapter twenty-five
Deuteronomy
chapters twenty-eight through thirty
Jeremiah
chapters thirty and thirty-one
The Palestinian Covenant is really nothing
more than the details of prophecy regarding the fulfillment of the land promises (or real estate promises) of God to Abraham in the Abrahamic
Covenant. Therefore, the Palestinian
Covenant is not a covenant separate from the Abrahamic Covenant, but merely
details how God will fulfill those land
promises to Abraham and national Israel in the last days before the
establishment of the Kingdom Age on earth.
This restoration will take place during the time of “Jacob’s trouble” or
the seven yearlong Tribulation. The
complete fulfillment of the Palestinian Covenant will not take place until the
second coming of Christ. This is one
aspect of the meaning of the word “fullness” in Romans 11:12.
The second aspect of the meaning of
the word “fullness” in Romans 11:12 is found in the fulfillment of the Davidic
Covenant. This is fulfilled in the
second coming of Christ as Prophet, High Priest, and King of Israel during the
Kingdom Age. The Kingship of Jesus in the Davidic Covenant
is always spoken of as being on earth. Therefore, the premise of Progressive
Dispensationalism, Covenant Theology, and Reformed Theology that Jesus is
reigning on the throne of King David in heaven presently and that the Kingdom
of Christ is a spiritual kingdom is a
false premise. Jesus reigns wherever
He is because He is Lord. However, He is
not now reigning over the Kingdom on Earth because has not yet been
established. It will not be established
until the purging of the nations at His second coming. The Kingdom is defined as a Israeli worldwide
empire with Jesus ruling the world from Jerusalem through His new priesthood of
all faithful believer-priests from the Church Age.
Jesus’
present position in heaven is that of the High Priest of the Church. His priesthood
is comprised of every “born again” believer alive on planet earth at any given
time during the Church Age. Jesus is
working as High Priest to keep His Bride (the Church) pure throughout the
Church. If Jesus had established His
Church as one large conglomerate, like was the nation of Israel, the defilement
of any aspect of the Church would defile the whole. Therefore, God has divided the Church during
the Church Age into thousands upon thousands of local churches. Local churches that become defiled lose their
“candlestick.” Which was the warning of
Christ to the local church at Ephesus because they had “left their first love”
(Revelation 2:4-5). This is exemplified
by the seven epistles of Christ to seven local churches in Revelation chapters
two and three. It is through the
teaching and preaching ministry of local churches that Jesus strives to keep
His Bride pure. Therefore. the seven
epistles of Christ in Revelations chapters two and three are addressed to the
“angels,” or pastors/leaders of those local churches.
Although
there are numerous texts that speak of the Davidic Covenant, the text that gives us the most details is II Samuel
7:8-17.
“8 Now therefore
so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I
took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my
people, over Israel: 9 And I was with
thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy
sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men
that are in the earth. 10 Moreover I will appoint a place for my
people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their
own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them
any more, as beforetime, 11 And as since the
time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have
caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he
will make thee an house. 12 And when thy days
be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy
bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build an
house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14 I will be his
father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him
with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 15 But my mercy
shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put
away before thee. 16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be
established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
17 According to all these words, and according to all
this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David” (II Samuel 7:8-17).
From
this statement in Romans 11:12, Paul makes a statement that reflects God’s
ongoing burden for the Jewish people to repent and be “born again.” God still wants to see Jews saved.
“13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the
apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14 If by any means I
may provoke to emulation {stimulate to jealousy;
Romans 12:11} them which are my flesh, and might save some of them” (Romans 11:13-14).
The Jewish people were
not to be treated with distain or subjected to prejudicial brutalities as many
so-called Christians of the
Reformation have proclaimed. Both Roman
Catholicism and almost all the Reformers were horribly anti-Semitic and
persecuted Jews unmercifully. Although a
Jewish soul is not preferred by God over a Gentile soul today, true Christians
should have the same love and burden for Jews as they do for any other
ethnicity. Martin Luther was horribly
Anti-Semitic.
“Accordingly,
it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to
seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from
the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is: First, that their synagogues be burned down,
and that all who are able toss sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone
could also throw in some hellfire. . . Second, that all their books-- their
prayer books, their Talmudic writings, also the entire Bible-- be taken from
them, not leaving them one leaf, and that these be preserved for those who may
be converted. . . Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God,
to give thanks, to pray, and to teach publicly among us and in our country. . .
Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing. For
we cannot with a good conscience listen to this or tolerate it. . .”[1]
Hitler
and the Nazis of the Third Reich merely became Luther’s executioners. This was all due to Luther’s Theonomic world
view. The Nazi cross became Hitler’s
symbol of Luther’s Theonomic world view.
“Through
his sermons and his magnificent translations of the Bible, Luther created the
modern German language, aroused in the people not only a new Protestant vision
of Christianity by a fervent German nationalism and taught them, at least in
religion, the supremacy of the individual conscience. But tragically for them, Luther’s siding with
the princes in the peasant rising, which he had largely inspired, and his
passion for political autocracy ensured a mindless and provincial political
absolutism which reduced the vast majority of the German people to poverty, to
a horrible torpor and a demeaning subservience.
Even worse perhaps, it helped to perpetuate and indeed to sharpen the
hopeless divisions not only between classes but also between the various
dynastic and political groupings of the German people. It doomed for centuries the possibility of
the unification of Germany.”[2]
The
Jews claimed to have a corner on God’s blessings. To some degree they were correct. The history of God’s blessings in the world
from the time of the calling of Abraham is primarily through the nation of
Israel. Salvation in the incarnation,
virgin birth, death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah would come through
Israel. Christ said, “for salvation is
of the Jews” (John 4:22).
However, after the beginning of the Church
Age, the Jews now had no preferred status with God and would not again have
such standing until the ending of the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24) at
the beginning of the Kingdom age. This
was Peter’s message to the Gentile household of Cornelius, a justified Gentile proselyte to Judaism.
“34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a
truth I perceive that God is no
respecter of persons: 35 But in every nation {whosoever} he that feareth him, and
worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. 36 The word which God
sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord
of all:) 37 That word, I say, ye know, which was published
throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John
preached; 38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil; for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all
things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: 40
Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; 41 Not to
all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who
did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he
commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained
of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. 43 To him give all
the prophets witness, that through his
name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts
10:34-43).
[1] Martin Luther; On the Jews and Their Lies; 1543 A.D., http://www.nobeliefs.com/luther.htm;
Whole book available on line at: http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/documents/luther-jews.htm
[2] William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich : A History of Nazi Germany, http://www.nobeliefs.com/luther.htm
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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.
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