Biblical Zionism XII
Grafted into
the Holy Root
1. That this
new priesthood of evangelists could lead both Jews and all other ethnicities (“whosoever”
of Romans 10:13) to salvation “by grace through faith” in the “finished” work
of redemption in the death, burial, and resurrection/glorification of Jesus
Christ.
2. So that
the nation of Israel would be provoked to “jealousy” and repent, turning to
faith themselves one day in Jesus as the Christ. This will happen during the last half of the
Tribulation through the miraculous witnessing of the two witnesses and the
144,000 sealed Jews who all will preach Jesus as the Messiah and redemption “by
grace through faith” in Him.
This is all
important because, during the Church Age, national Israel is set aside and exists in the very place
to which they have backslid. Although
still God’s chosen people, they are presently viewed by God as common sinners like everyone else in the
world and need to get saved the same way any Gentile needs to be saved.
“6 And the apostles and elders
came together for to consider of this matter. (The age-old argument that
salvation is gifted through faith but maintained through ‘works.’) 7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose
up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while
ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the
word of the gospel, and believe. 8 And God,
which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even
as he did unto us; 9 And put no difference between us {Jews} and them {Gentiles}, purifying their {Gentiles’} hearts by faith” (Acts 15:6-9).
“12
For there is no difference between the
Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call
upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved” (Romans 10:12-13).
From this contextual continuity, we can
transition into the statement of Romans 11:12, “Now if the fall {paraptoma
or backsliding; same as the second use of “fall” in verse 11}
of them {national Israel} be
the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them {national Israel} the riches {full
spiritual wealth} of the Gentiles; how much more their {national Israel’s} fullness {referring to the restoration and salvation
of national Israel during the Tribulation time}?”
When the priesthood of national Israel side-slipped
away from maintaining the faith-way
of salvation and the blessings of God, the riches of God’s grace were extended
into every ethnicity in the world through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
by those sent into the world through the Great Commission.
The very notion of Ecumenicism is a compromise of the believer’s
responsibility to maintain the purity of the Gospel by any type of acceptance
of the corruption of the gift of salvation offered solely by grace and received
solely through faith.
The “riches of the Gentiles” does
not refer to material wealth or material blessings. The phrase refers to the “riches of grace” in
the new priesthood of all believers of the Church Age. Election
primarily refers to God choosing a priesthood. First the Levitical Priesthood under the
Mosaic Covenant. They failed to maintain
a Gospel of the gift of salvation out of God’s pure grace received purely by
faith alone. Because the Levitical
Priesthood refused to repent, even to the degree they were willing to crucify
the very Messiah promised in the Abrahamic Covenant, God elected a new Melchizedecan
Priesthood of all Church Age believers “born again” of the Spirit and baptized with
the Spirit into the New Creation “in Christ.”
God’s election of a new Melchizedecan Priesthood is corporate and
vocational election. This corporate and vocational election
of the Church as this new Melchizedecan Priesthood is the substance of the epistle to the Ephesians. The following texts refer to the Church corporately.
“3 Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us
{the Church corporately} with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According
as he hath chosen us {the Church corporately} in him before
the foundation of the world, that we
{the Church corporately} should be
holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us {the
Church corporately} unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us {the Church corporately}
accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we {the Church corporately}
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 8
Wherein he hath abounded toward us {the Church corporately} in all wisdom
and prudence; 9 Having made known unto us {the Church corporately}
the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself: 10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he
might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven,
and which are on earth; even in him: 11 In whom {Jesus as the ‘firstborn’
of the New Genesis} also we {the Church corporately} have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we {the Church corporately} should be to the praise of his glory, who
first trusted in Christ. 13
In whom ye {Gentiles} also trusted,
after that ye {Gentiles} heard the
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye{Gentiles}
believed, ye {Gentiles} were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14
Which is the earnest of our {the Church corporately} inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory”
(Ephesians 1:3-14).
Clearly, from Ephesians 1:3 where
Paul says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us {the Church corporately} with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,” we can see that the
“riches of the Gentiles” of Romans 11:12 refers to eternal and heavenly blessings, not temporal earthly blessings.
The word “heavenly” in Ephesians 1:3 is “literally the heavenlies . . .
the word signifies that which is heavenly in contradistinction to that which is
earthy.”[1] The intent here is the emphasis on a change
in the realm or place of where the blessings from God upon a believer’s
faithfulness exist. These are not
material blessings (real estate). These heavenly
blessings are much more valuable blessings than silver, gold, or real estate
because they are eternal in nature. This
presents to all true Christians a radical change in the way we view life and
live our lives.
These spiritual blessings are to be viewed as treasures that are being laid in store in “the heavenlies” as
opposed to the treasures of this world. “19 Lay
not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew
6:19-21).
The reality of this eternal faith-view
of God’s blessings is a manifestation that a believer genuinely understands the
differences between the Mosaic Covenant under the Dispensation of the Law and
the New Covenant under the Dispensation of Grace.
Christ taught this when He taught the blessing and curse aspects of the New Covenant in Matthew chapters five,
six, and seven and in Luke chapter six.
In Matthew 5:3-12 and Luke 6:2-23, we are given the conditions for God’s
blessings. In Luke 6:24-26 Christ
pronounces four conditions for God’s curse upon the lifestyle practices of
believers in the four uses of the word “woe.”
Matthew 5:21, 27, 33, 38, and 43 each begins with the words “ye have
heard” referring to what had been taught regarding the necessities for God’s
blessings under the Mosaic Covenant. These man-made
interpretations of the Law merely reflected the “letter” of the Law, but not
its “spirit.” In Matthew 5:22, 28,
32, 34, 39, and 44 Christ gives the “spirit” of the Law and establishes God’s
original intent in the conditions for His blessings in obedience “from the
heart” (Romans 6:17 and Ephesians 6:6).
To make Romans chapter eleven and Ephesians chapters one through three mean
that God has replaced national Israel with the Church, as does Covenant
Theology, is a complete misrepresentation of the text.
God is replacing the Levitical Priesthood with the Melchizedecan Priesthood. Earthly and temporal blessings are directed
towards the physical seed descendants
of Abraham. Heavenly and eternal
blessings are directed toward the faith
in the Seed descendants of Abraham (those of the “the regeneration,” Galatians
3:16).
Paul is clearly
referring to the Church corporately in Ephesians chapter one and this is the
contextual continuity that continues into chapters two and three of the
epistle. Although all these truths
extend to individuals, the focus of these texts are upon those individuals as
they are a new spiritual construct “in Christ” corporately as the Church and
“body” of Christ that forms the eternal and living “temple” of God (Ephesians 4:20-22). This “body”
of Christ is the “new creation” or “the regeneration” that unfolds in time to
the final eternal state in the New Heaven/Earth. Christ is eternally the “head” of that “body”
and the indwelling Spirit is eternally the heart
of that “body, which brings all those in “the regeneration” into perfect union and into perfect, eternal fellowship (unity; Ephesians 4:1-6) with
the Father.
“4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
love wherewith he loved us, 5
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by
grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7
That in the ages to come he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10
For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 11
Wherefore remember, that ye being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which
is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12 That at
that time ye were without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 But now
in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and
hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making
peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby: 17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off {Gentiles}, and to them that were nigh {Jews}. 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto
the Father. 19 Now therefore ye
{Church Age believers, therefore the
Church} are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the
saints{‘born again’ Jews}, and of the
household of God {true Israel}; 20
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets {all Jews}, Jesus Christ {a Jew} himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an
holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together
for an habitation of God through the Spirit’ (Ephesians 2:4-22).
In
Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul explains this previous hidden “mystery” regarding God’s
spiritual blessings upon salvation offered to the Gentile nations (“whosoever,”
Romans 10:13) and the new ministry of the evangelism of all ethnicities through
the priesthood of all Church Age believers.
Gentile believers from the Church Age would be grafted in to true Israel at the beginning of the Kingdom Age as
Israel’s new ruling priesthood directly under the headship of their High Priest
Jesus Christ.
This “dispensation {stewardship}
of the grace” and the fact that Paul “should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ” is the pattern for, and expectation of, all
believers in the Church Age and is what defines the “perfecting {maturing; equipping} of the saints, for
the work of the ministry” in Ephesians 4:12, which is available to all Church
Age believer-priests through union
with Christ and in unity with the
Father (Ephesians 4:1-6).
“1
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2
If ye have heard of the dispensation {stewardship} of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: 3
How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in
few words, 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge
in the mystery of Christ) 5 Which in other ages was not made known
unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit; 6 That the
Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his
promise in Christ by the gospel: 7 Whereof I was made a
minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the
effectual working of his power. 8 Unto me, who am less than the
least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ; 9 And to make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid
in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10 To the intent
that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be
known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11 According to the
eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 12 In
whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. 13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my
tribulations for you, which is your glory” (Ephesians 3:1-13).
In Ephesians 3:8, Paul refers to this great and previously
mysterious blessing of preaching to Gentile ethnicities “the unsearchable
riches of Christ.” The word “riches” in
Ephesians 3:8 is from the Greek word ploutos (ploo'-tos), which means abundant
or complete/full wealth. The word
from which “unsearchable” is translated means beyond finding out or beyond
comprehension. Again, this is spiritual,
heavenly wealth that is beyond comprehension this side of eternity.
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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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