Study Tools
Articles
"The Church Age"and "Israel"By GARRETT PAUL PARRISH
www.BibleProphecyFulfilled.org
“THE
CHURCH
AGE”AND “ISRAEL”
When
we are in a mall, we can look at the directory and decipher where we
are by
finding the large arrow that says, “YOU
ARE HERE.”
Similarly, with the Bible we should be able
to see this same arrow pointing to where we are in God’s
layout and blue prints
for us. Where are
we in relationship to
the vertical heights and levels, as well as the longitudinal and
latitudinal
expanse of God‘s layout?
The details of
God’s blue prints, the Bible, reveal all the dimensions of
time and space in
regard to the plan of God.
As far
as the vertical goes, Ephesians
2:6 says that God “hath raised us up
together, and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This is our location in
the Spirit. The
heights are unlimited in Christ!
In Ephesians 1:3 , we’re
told further
about the all important issue of location, location, location,
“Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ:” We are
citizens of the Jerusalem which is above,
we are come,
not will come, to this heavenly
Jerusalem.
(Gal.4:26, Heb.12:22, Phil.3:20, Mt.5:14,
Ps.87)
For
the longitudinal and latitudinal
boarders of the layout/kingdom/house, there are none.
It’s no longer kept within the boarders of a
tiny Middle Eastern nation. “For the
earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Is.11:9) The first century Apostles
and disciples went
out from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, unto the
uttermost parts of the
earth. (Acts 1:8)
IT WAS NO
MORE IN JERUSALEM, or this mountain that God was to
be worshipped, but
in all the earth worshippers could now worship in
Spirit and in
truth.. (Jn.4:21-24) Yes, it was for the Jew
first, but now all
that worship him in spirit and in truth are become true Jews. (Rom.2:28,29)
This
expanse of the kingdom has NO
END! “Of
the increase
of His government / kingdom and
peace, there shall be NO
END!” (
Is.9:7) No
“end times” here.
It is an everlasting
covenant. (Heb.13:20) Neither do we see a shrinking,
“darker
and darker” kingdom, but an increasing,
expanding kingdom of
light. By the way, it is literally impossible to put a “last
days” in “everlasting”.
And no, it’s not
“replacement theology”, but
rather expansionist theology! The Church was begun with
Jews only and
expanded to include all true Jews.
(Rom.2:28,29)
A Gentile Church has not replaced a Jewish
nation. The Church
includes all races
and ethnicities, including Old Testament Jews who began it. (Col. 3:11) This should put to rest
the accusation of “replacement
theology.” The
church in the
wilderness has simply transformed. (Acts 7:38) It was always a faith
based covenant
community. Esau,
Rehab, Ruth, and many
Persian converts (Esther 8:17), reveal that it was
not a race based
covenant. Not all
in the genealogy and
nation were of the true Israel. Many
who
were of the same physical seed of Abraham were, before God, not
actually
members of His covenant people. (Rom.9:6-8) The tribes of
Israel, which pierced
Him, are no longer with us. (Rev.1:7) All
genealogies and records of
them were destroyed in 70 A.D. by the sovereignty of God, who was
establishing
the New Covenant, based solely upon the faith of
Abraham. Faith that
was now to be directed toward the
seed of Abraham, Christ. (Mt.3:9,
Rom.4:3,11, Gal 3:16) In
that
sovereign act of destroying the Old Covenant system and temple, in
order to
manifest the New Covenant temple
of the Body of
Christ, those genealogies were destroyed. (Heb.9:8)
All hope or reliance
upon a natural seed receiving favor from God, was destroyed in the
destruction
of the physical temple. Also,
all hope
of any other future Jewish messiah, other than Jesus, was expelled as
well. This due to
the fact that the Messiah was
foretold of, throughout the Old Testament scriptures, as descending
from the tribe
of Judah. With
all genealogies and
records destroyed, the Messiah could not be a future Messiah, but had
to be one
in Israel’s past or present in 70 A.D.
In
the Church, all are included within one
Olive Tree, not divided into two separate trees. None are left out. Jew, Greek, bond, free,
male and female, all
become one in Christ Jesus. When
Jew, or
Gentile, shall turn from unbelief, they are grafted into the tree of
life,
which is Christ. (Rom.11:23,
10:11,12, Gal.3:28) What
is lacking
within this Covenant? How
does Jesus’
blood fall short of creating a perfect Covenant?
Who is left out and not included in this
covenant? Does God have a back up covenant, because this new one allows
for
some peoples to slip through the cracks and is therefore not perfect,
but is
actually somewhat faulty?
“Does
God have a wife in physical
Israel, and a Bride in the Church?”
This is what is being taught today by those who
lay the charge of
anti- Semitism towards those who don’t embrace their heresy. “I will
show you THE BRIDE, THE LAMBS WIFE.”
(Rev.21:9) Could it be spelled
out any clearer than this? The
Bride and the wife
are the same person! Do
we have a
misunderstanding in our culture about one man and one women being the
appropriate definition of marriage?
Perhaps this confusion begins in the Church. Is not this
God’s plan throughout scripture
for marriage? Is
God a two timer? Or, is
He faithful to one spouse? (Mt.19:4-6,
2 Cor.11:2, Rom.7:4)
Is the
Church just shacking up (another problem in the culture) with Christ? Is Jesus the
king over two kingdoms? Is
His the Kingdoms,
and
the power, and the glory, forever?
“But
what about the land promises in
Genesis?” “For
all the land which
thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to THY SEED forever.”
(Gen.13:15) “Now
to Abraham
and his SEED were the promises
made. He saith NOT,
And to SEEDS,
as of many; but as of one, And to THY SEED,
which is Christ.”
(Gal.3:16)
Christ is the promised land! This is not an anti-Semitic
position, only those with an anti-Christ
position interpret it as such. Galatians 3:16 should
be as elementary as
John 3:16! The
elementary
foundations of the faith have been replaced in this
dual covenant
misunderstanding! The
Biblical
blueprints have been replaced, and the building
process has been brought
to a halt. “If
the foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
(Ps.11:3) What can the righteous do,
but lay the proper
foundation? And
this, only after first
plowing up the fallow ground of the old foundation and moving it out of
the
way! The true
foundation is that of the Apostles
teaching (Acts 2:42, Eph.2:20).
How did they teach? They
extracted from the Old Covenant law, the Psalms, and from the Prophets,
revealing Jesus (Mt.16:16-19) in them!
It’s really that simple.
In Acts
13:1, there were certain prophets
and teachers working together.
If
the prophets are not working with teachers, you have a recipe for
disaster. If the
prophets are working with misguided
teachers and teachings, you have the same recipe. Nothing grieves me
more than
to see true prophets, working with the wrong teachers.
I only know of a couple prophets who are
completely free from the poisons of pre-millennialism.
Most continue to look for a physical kingdom
in the Middle East, telling us to keep our eyes on Israel, to see
God’s time
table etc… The
scriptures would correct
us to keep our eyes upon Jesus,
the true Israel and
promised land. (Heb.12:2) All other distractions
would have us blinded
and deafened to what God is doing and saying to the Churches. The
Apostles
teaching has been replaced with Adam’s
longing for a physical
kingdom/utopia. A
physical utopia which
Lot, the Pharisees, and the pre-Holy Spirit disciples, all sought. (Lk.17:20-22,
Jn.18:36, Acts 1:6, Heb.12:18 ) We ought not to pursue with
Adam’s desire,
lest we face the same purging fire.
Today, we have replaced the foundation
of the Apostles
teaching. We have
not extracted anything
from the scriptures, but rather have injected them with an insane
“end times”
eschatology, which ministers nothing but death!
Returning to the Old
Covenant will always bring
back the law and the ministry of death.
This death is what deadens a living
relationship with God and men. (Rom.8:6,
2 Cor.3:7) It’s
all the same, the Old
Israel, the Old Jerusalem, the Old
Temple, the Old
Covenant, the Old Wineskins,
the Old Bottles, the Old
Garments, the Old Man/Adam, the Old
Creation, and
the Old Age.
They are all
the same thing!
“But
no, it’s talking about the physical
land forever. The
land is within an
everlasting covenant.”
“ My covenant,…an
everlasting
covenant…all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting
possession;” (Gen.17:7,8) “An
everlasting covenant…my
sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be
their God, and
they shall be my people.”
(Ezekiel
37:26,27) Has
this been fulfilled
yet? With the dual
covenant layout, it
has not. They will
say, that this is
referring to a time in the future when the Jews come back into the land
and all
Israel is saved etc.. This
very
passage from Ezekiel 37:23,26,27 is quoted in 2
Cor.6:16-18. If
an Old Testament passage is quoted in the
New Testament, that is the fulfillment of that passage.
Back to New Testament 101, did Jesus fulfill
the Old Covenant Law to the last jot and tittle?
(Mt.5:17,18)
Yes, He is therefore the foundation upon
which the New Testament is built. The building/Church/City/ is erected
upon the
foundation of Jesus fulfilling the requirements of the law and the
prophets.
The covenant with Abraham has transformed. Jesus fulfills the covenant
as
Abraham’s seed, not seeds as in physical
descendants of
Abraham. Sometimes,
I can’t believe that
I’m having to explain this basic foundational truth. But, the blindness
to this simple
truth is SO prevailing over the
eyes of today’s Bible Prophecy
teachers and their students. We
must
understand that the New Covenant was no small transformation for the
faith
descendants of Abraham. Yes,
they had a
nation and ethnicity, but never was it based simply on the physical
seeds. Paul makes
this abundantly clear. “For
they are NOT all
Israel, which are of Israel.”
(Rom.9:6)
As I mentioned at the beginning, Esau, Rehab,
Ruth and many
others make this point
very clear. It was
Abrahams faith
alone that pleased God!
Romans
chapter four is very repetitive concerning this point. (Gen.15:6,
Rom.4:3,11, Mt.3:9)
“But
what about the land of sand over in
the middle east? It’s
a covenant
forever, right?”
The carnal mind,
and it’s (Adam’s) longing for a physical utopia
will not let go of this. It
takes some serious pulling down of
strongholds. God
nearly had to kill me
to break me free from the thinking that had become so ingrained within
me on
these matters. That
is, the doctrine
pre-millennialism. What
I refer to now
as the pre-millennial plague that has struck the Evangelical Church. I
also
refer to it as the “carnal concept of a kingdom.” (Acts 1:6,
Jn.18:36) As
mentioned above, Lot, the Pharisees, and
pre-Holy Spirit disciples, were all blinded to the real kingdom, that
comes not
by the natural eye. (Lk17:20-22,
Jn.3:3, 1 Cor.2:14, Heb.11:10) The land, as I mentioned
above, was part of
an everlasting covenant.
THIS COVENANT
UNDERWENT A TRANSFORMTION from
being an outward school master of the law (Gal.3:24),
to an inward
teacher of it, a teacher who has fulfilled it, that is, the indwelling
Spirit
of Christ. (Jer.31:33,34) This is why Paul says,
“For he is NOT
A JEW
{Today‘s
“Judaism” is a complete hybrid religion,
nothing to do with ancient and true Biblical Judaism.
Rev.2:9, 3:9 }, which is one outwardly;
neither is
that circumcision, which is
outward in the flesh: But he is a
Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision
is
that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the
letter; whose praise
is not of men (outward), but of God.” (Rom.2:28,
29) Circumcision was included in the covenant made
with Abraham, which
was an everlasting
covenant.
Back
in Genesis 17:7-10, we see that the
land was part of this everlasting covenant, but so to was circumcision. Did circumcision undergo a serious
transformation
after the cross? Romans
2:28,29, says that it did.
It was
now no longer an outward thing, but an inward
circumcision of the heart,
and ears. (Acts 7:51)
CIRCUMCISION UNDERWENT A
TRANSFORMATION “For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availed anything,
nor
uncircumcision, but a new creature.” (Gal.6:15) It now took place
inwardly, which was
invisible to the physical eye, but seen with the spiritual eye. So to, does it take a
spiritual eye to see
that the land that was promised as an everlasting POSSESSION,
was now a
field of land.
A field of land with
which God
gave all
that He had , his own
Son,
to BUY it, and take
POSESSION of
it! (Mt.13:43,
Jn.3:16, Ps.24:1) Men and women, who are
made from the land/dust,
are this POSSESSION! THE LAND PROMISES, THAT PROMISED
LAND,UNDERWENT A
TRANSFORMATION! This is the land with which
God’s heart beats
for. We must pull
our heads out of the middle
eastern sand, and remove the foundation
of sand, and see
that modern day Israel has nothing to do with Biblical Old Covenant
Israel. The
temple, the city,
and the land/nation were only a type!
Mt.12:6/Col.1:24-The temple
of His body, the
Church, Mt.5:14/Gal.4:26/Hb.12:22-The New Jerusalem.
Gal.6:16/Mt.21:43/1 Pet.2:9-The New Nation. Many Christians
are lost in the types
and shadows.
(Col.2:17)
Living in these shadows
creates
a serious case of myopia. Shadows
occur due to an absence of light.
“The light of THE
BODY (So too, for the Body of
Christ) is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy (the)
WHOLE
BODY (of Christ) shall be full
of light. But
if thine eye be evil (seeing
the evil report), thy (the) WHOLE
BODY (of Christ)
shall be full of darkness.
If
therefore the light that is in thee (corporately)
be darkness,
how great is that darkness.”
(Mt.6:22,23) Those
living in such shadows might
be described as shady characters
when it comes to the exegesis of
the scriptures.
“But Old Covenant Israel never came into
the full possession of all the physical land promised to them. Therefore, Israel today
needs to seize
surrounding countries and fulfill
Bible
Prophecy.” This is often taught by
today’s pre-millennial popes of prophecy.
But, what does the Bible say concerning this? “AND
THE LORD
GAVE UNTO ISRAEL ALL THE LAND WHICH HE SWARE TO GIVE UNTO THEIR
FATHERS; AND
THEY POSSESSED IT, AND DWELT THEREIN.
AND THE LORD GAVE THEM REST ROUND ABOUT, ACCORDING
TO ALL THAT HE
SWARE UNTO THEIR FATHERS:…THERE FAILED
NOT OUGHT OF ANY GOOD
THING WHICH THE LORD HAS SPOKEN UNTO THE HOUSE OF
ISRAEL; ALL
CAME TO PASS.” (Joshua
21:43-45) “No,
we need to see this come to pass in our
day with a physical Israel.”
This is an
argument with something that God said has already
come to pass!
“But
Romans 11 says that the Jews
will be re-gathered back into the land of Israel.” There is not a
hint of anything to do
with LAND
in Romans
chapter 11!
The timing of the
context of the chapter has to do with Paul’s day, not ours. “Even
so then at this present
time…” (Rm.11:5) Timing
is everything, when relating to Bible Prophecy.
The key prophetic point in this chapter is in verse
25 and 26,
when it states that “blindness in
part is happened to Israel,
until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
And so all Israel shall be saved…”
The question is then, when
and how is “all Israel” saved?
Also, who is included in “all
Israel.” Paul
begins by classifying himself as “an
Israelite…of the TRIBE
of Benjamin.”
(Rm.11:1)
Simply put, the eye’s of the TRIBES
would
be opened at the
time of Jesus’ coming in the clouds of judgment upon them.
“Behold, He
cometh with clouds; and every eye shall SEE {“SEE” is the Greek word “Optomai”:
Not mere
mechanical vision, but to discern
clearly, experience, perceive
and understand, such as “I
see now.”}
him, and they
which
pierced Him (They
in the first century) and all
kindreds of the land (“Land,”
not Kosmos or globe) shall wail (Mourn
in repentance) because of Him. Even so Amen. Zechariah
12:10,11 is the
reference from where this is quoted from.
It continues, and says that they “shall
mourn for Him, as one that
mourns for his firstborn. In
that day
shall there be great mourning IN JERUSALEM.” Location, location,
location. Jerusalem
is the epicenter for
eschatology, which is the last days of the Old
Covenant system’s
headquarters. At the city’s destruction, the lights would be
turned on for Old
Covenant Jews to SEE that Jesus
was the messiah, because He had
prophesied of this very event. Again,
it
was “they that pierced him”,
that is, they in the first
century would see His coming in
the clouds of judgment. Even
THE VERY LEADER OF THE TRIBES (Caiaphas)
WOULD “SEE”
and understand that Jesus was the Messiah who was on
the right hand of
power , coming in the clouds of judgment. {“Clouds” of
Judgment: Is.19:1, Ez.32:7-9, 30:3}
“Jesus
saith unto him,
(Caiaphas the high priest) nevertheless I
say UNTO YOU, Hereafter shall YE
SEE the Son of Man
sitting on the right hand of power, and COMING IN
THE CLOUDS of
heaven. (Mt.26:64)
The TRIBES
would mourn in repentance according to Rev.1:7 and
Zech.12:10,11. They
had not heeded the word’s of Jesus,
firstly, to believe on Him as the messiah, and secondly, to flee from
the
city. (Lk.21:22,21) Therefore, they would have
to experience a
death bed conversion, nevertheless ALL
ISRAEL WAS SAVED.
“ALL”
in a corporate
since, never means every last individual.
“America is a Christian nation,”
“India is a Hindu nation“, “China shall
be saved“, “The nations of them which are
saved” (Rev.21:24),
these are all examples of nations as a whole, not with the idea of
including
every last individual. Even the futurist view says that 2/3rds of
Israel will
be torched, with only 1/3 being saved.
So ALL Israel being
saved is a complete and
whole amount. ALL
/ WHOSOEVER called
upon the name of the Lord, Jew and Gentile, was saved. (Rm.10:11-13) “For
God hath concluded them (Jew
and Gentile) ALL in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon ALL. (Rm.11:32) ALL that would be included would
consist of Jews and
Gentiles. The harvest
and fullness
of both, would take place at the end of the Old Covenant age.
(Mt.13:39) Both
are grafted into one Olive
tree/Israel, not two. They become one in the Israel
of God, “that
He might have mercy upon ALL.” (Rm.11:32,Gal.6:16,Eph.2:14) All who are saved are of
the true
Israel. This one
true nation under God (1Pet.2:9,
Mt.21:43) does have some illegal immigrants.
“They are not ALL
ISRAEL
, which are of Israel.” (Rom.9:6)
All true Israel would be “CALLED,
not of the “Jews”
only, but also of Gentiles?”
(Rom.9:24)
That is, “the gifts and CALLING
of God are without repentance.” (Rom.11:29)
“Not of works, but
of Him that CALLETH.” (Rom.9:11)
By the
way “the fullness of the
Gentiles” (Rm.11:25)
seems to be connected with the “times
of the Gentiles” in Lk.21:24.
It says, “And they (Old
Covenant Jews, particularly those
living in Jerusalem) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and
shall be led
away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of
the
Gentiles, until THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES
be fulfilled.” Again, timing
has everything to do
with Bible Prophecy. When
is “THE
TIMES” of the Gentiles, and how
long does it last? In
Luke 21 in the “Olivet
Discourse” (parallel to Mt.24,
and Mk13), Jesus
says, seven verses after referring to “THE
TIMES OF THE GENTILES”,
that “This generation shall
not pass away, till all be
fulfilled.” (Lk.21:32) The phrase “This
Generation”
is used a few verses before Matthew’s Olivet
Discourse in Mt.23:36.
It states that “All these
things shall
come upon this generation.”
The phrase is used about seventeen times in the New
Testament, such as,
“this adulterous
and sinful generation”,
“This
wicked generation”
, “whereunto
shall I liken this generation”,
“…Ninevaeh shall rise in
judgment with this generation.”
“…blood …shed from the foundation of
the world, may be required of this
generation.”(Mk.8:38,
Mt.12:45, Mt.11:16, Mt.12:41, Lk.11:50.)
This is a very abbreviated list.
For a full list of the phrase “This
generation” go to the article,
“Are we living in the last
days?” Not
one time does Jesus
ever use this phrase for any other generation,
except for the one
present in the first century! He only uses it in reference to the generation
to whom He was speaking! The single word “generation”
(“Genea”) is used
thirty something times in the New Testament.
Not one time is it referring to a race, as many teachers
try to say,
without mentioning a single scripture to support their claim. They do so in an attempt
to twist out of this
most devastating evidence against the pre-millennial view. Therefore, Lk.21:32
tells us WHEN the
times of the Gentiles would be
fulfilled. (Lk.21:24)
Before that generation passed
away!
HOW LONG was Jerusalem trodden
down
of the Gentiles? Most
Bible’s have a
cross reference here to Rev.11:2.
It says that the
“holy city”/Jerusalem shall they tread under
foot FORTY AND TWO MONTHS.”
How long? Forty
and two
months, or the three and a half years. This is something, which
is very well
documented as being the time of the Jewish-Roman war. (From the middle
of 66
A.D to 70 A.D.) Trodden
down (Lk.21:24),
tread under
foot (Rev.11:2) , for
nearly 2000 years? No,
for forty two
months, or three and a half years! If you guessed that 1967 was the end
of this
treading down, just remove the 19 and you are just
about spot on. The
Gentiles had their time, “the times
of the gentiles” in
trampling under foot Jerusalem. There
may by a deeper meaning here as well.
The Gentiles had ruled the world through Pagan Empires
from the
beginning, according to Daniel 2. There was a
disruption of this Gentile
rule. It was a
brief (very brief) snap
shot or foreshadowing, of the “Son of
David’s” reign.
Solomon ,the type, put down all opposing
Gentile forces. The true “Son of David”,
the “stone cut out without
hands”, who is Christ, brought His kingdom to
break all Gentile kingdoms to
pieces. (Dan.2:34,35) He would establish the
Mountain of His
Kingdom (Gal.4:22-26, Heb.12:22, Mt.5:14), which was
the Jewish
Messiah’s kingdom, whose citizen’s were true Jews (Rm.2:28,29,
Rev.2:9, 3:9)
in the expanded Israel of God! No
longer
were Pagan Gentiles going to rule the world, but true Jews, who were
born a new
in the New Jerusalem, would exercise His dominion.
Since the stone hit the Roman Empire (The
feet) ,and broke it to pieces, the nations obtaining God’s Most
Favored
Nation trading status, have
always
been those most faithful to the Kingship of Jesus. In this trade
relationship,
the favored nation gives up their own power, and riches, and
wisdom, and
strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing, righteousness, filthy
rags, and
sins as scarlet. They
in turn,
receive His power, riches, wisdom, and strength, and honor,
and glory, and
blessing, and righteousness, and the making of their sins to become
white as
snow. Truly, The Great exchange takes
place. (Rev.5:12, 2
Cor.5:21, Is.1:18) “The kingdoms of this world (Kosmos, Globe) are
become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and
ever.”
(Rev.11:15) Only
those with a preterist
/ past fulfillment view can stand upon the reality of this
verse. One who
holds a futurist view cannot stand upon it, along with the rest of the
promises
in Revelation. Promises
such as, “they
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony; and
they loved not their lives unto the death.”
They cannot stand upon this verse, because they
don’t believe the preceding
verse has yet been fulfilled. “NOW
IS COME salvation, and
strength, and THE KINGDOM of
our God, AND THE POWER OF HIS CHRIST:
for THE ACCUSER of
our brethren IS CAST DOWN, which
accused them before our God day
and night.” (Rev.12:10) The view in which one
reads Revelation, as
either past fulfillment, or yet a future fulfillment, determines what
one is
willing to stand upon in faith, or not!
In the case of not (The futurist view)
one stands upon
nothing, but only continues in the sickness of hope deferred (Prov.13:12),
waiting for the by and by, pie in the sky goodbye, the rapture. BIBLE
PROPHECY
MATTERS!
Is
Jesus the soon and coming king?
Or, is He “the only Potentate, the King
of kings, and Lord of lords”?
(1 Tim.6:15)
The Reformers understood this, as we sing
their songs at Christmas. I’ve
heard
radio teachers literally say, that we need to change those songs,
because Jesus
is NOT now King
of kings. Tim Lahaye considers such
a notion to be heresy. Maybe
the
Reformers saw something that these teachers haven’t seen. Maybe that’s why
the Reformers changed
civilization, and we can’t change dung!
This, because we’ve been taught an evil report,
and are functioning in
forfeit and self fulfilling prophecy, not true Bible
Prophecy! The
New Testament consists of somewhere
between one third and one half of it’s writings addressing
Bible Prophecy. If
it’s misunderstood, as it is in our day,
then you have up to one half of the New Testament filed in the wrong
filing
cabinet, causing much confusion. The
confusion then taints one’s lenses in how one interprets the
remaining half of
the New Testament. Bible Prophecy matters!
As I
mentioned previously, the position I
am taking is often accused of being “replacement
theology”, which is
anti-Semitic. I
don’t believe that the
Church has replaced Israel, but that the Church is
Israel! (Gal.6:16,
1 Pet.2:9, Acts 7:38) Meditate
on that for a while, and the lights may
turn on for you. A
Gentile church
did not replace a Jewish nation and people. The Church began with no
one but Jews! It
then expanded it’s boarders to make
all peoples into true Jews. (Rev.2:9, 3:9) The name “Israel”
means governed by
God, literally “He will rule as God.”
Jesus fulfills all the types
in the Old Testament. Therefore,
Jesus
fulfills this rule as God.
The
increase of God’s Government / Kingdom would, through the
Messiah, increase and
expand the rule of God from a type, in a tiny nation in the Middle
East, to
cover the earth. (Is.9:7,
11:9,
Ps.24:1) The
Gospel went first to
Jews. The Church began with Jews, and the New Covenant includes Jews. (Col.3:10,11,
Gal.3:28) How
is this anti-Semitic?
By the
way, who is really anti-Semitic when
it comes to eschatology? Is
it not those
who pay to fly Jews to Israel so that they can be destroyed in a future
inevitable holocaust? This
is according
to their own misunderstanding of Bible Prophecy and Zechariah
13:8. If
they had the Spirit of Christ on this
matter they would be warning Jews to flee from Israel, as Jesus did in
His day
prior to the destruction of Jerusalem!
(Luke
21:20,21) Thankfully,
such an
inevitable holocaust is not to be unleashed in Israel according to
Bible Prophecy. However,
the question is are the children of
this insane eschatology going to come out of the stands and onto the
field and
help to fulfill “Bible Prophecy”?
John
Hagee, the chief accuser of the “replacement
theology” “heresy” , is
a perfect example of doing this very thing today.
He is no longer on the welcoming committee to
the coming of the Lord, but is the head of the organizing committee. He’s making sure
that Armageddon is on
schedule and would kill us all if he were not restrained. To start
with, he
thinks that a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem is something that the Bible
foretells. Many other top Christian leaders are assisting
“The Temple Mount
Faithful”, to insure that a temple is rebuilt in order to
fulfill “Bible Prophecy”.
Can you say BOOM ? This Pastor of Disaster
and self proclaimed
foreign policy expert has come under some criticism lately from
Christian and
none Christian articles. “John Hagee wants war with
Iran, and he wants it
now”, was the title of a recent critical article on
“Pastor Strangelove”,
as another article describes him. The invoking of war,
in order
to see the kingdom established, is rooted in the carnal concept
of a kingdom. “If
my kingdom were of this world, then
would my servants fight… (Jn.18:36) In regard to
Hagee’s heresy accusation
towards us, perhaps we should send him an “H” (heresy)
bomb charge right
back. Consider some
of the following
quotes by the “H man”
himself:
“EVERYONE
else, whether
Buddhist or Bahi’a, NEEDS TO
BELIEVE IN JESUS, BUT NOT THE JEWS.
Jews already have a covenant with God
that has never been replaced with Christianity.” (Contrasting
John 14:6, 1
Jn.2:23, Romans 10:12,13, Jn.3:36, Acts 15:11, 4:12)
“The
Jews were not rejecting Jesus as
Messiah, IT WAS JESUS WHO WAS REFUSING TO
BE THE MESSIAH TO THE JEWS.”
(Contrasting Mt.23:37,
Jn.1:11,
Jn.3:16)
“LET
US PUT AN END TO THE
CHRISTIAN CHATTER THAT “ALL JEWS ARE LOST,
AND CAN’T BE IN THE WILL OF GOD UNTIL THEY
CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY…There
are a certain number of Jews in relationship with
God right now through
divine election.” (In relationship without
Jesus?-Jn.14:6, 1
Jn.2:22,23)
“I
believe that every Gentile person can
only come to God through the cross of Christ.
I believe that EVERY JEWISH
PERSON WHO LIVES IN THE LIGHT OF
THE TORAH, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD, HAS A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND
WILL COME
TO REDEMPTION.”
(Romans
3:20,Gal..3:24, 2:21, He’s saying that
one may come to redemption without
Jesus, the meaning and fulfillment of every jot, tittle, and syllable
of the
Torah.)
“TRYING
TO CONVERT JEWS IS A
WASTE OF TIME”
(Romans
1:16, Mark 16:15, John 3:16, Mt.28:19- ALL
nations/ethnos:
nations, ethnicities, cultures.)
Speaking
concerning his latest book “In
Defense of Israel”, Hagee states the following:
“IT SCRIPTURALLY
PROVES…THAT JESUS DID NOT COME TO EARTH TO BE THE
MESSIAH…IT WILL PROVE...JESUS
REFUSED BY WORD AND DEED TO CLAIM TO BE THE MESSIAH…”
(John
4:25,26 states otherwise, “…I know that Messias
cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will tell us all
things. Jesus saith
unto her, I
that speak unto thee am He.”
Maybe we should also look at the 569 times that the New
Testament uses
the word Christ/Messiah in
regard to Jesus.) One
first century Jew saw this revelation by
going beyond his own flesh, something John Hagee needs to do. “…Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living
God… for FLESH and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father
which is in heaven.” (Mt.16:16, 17)
Jesus did not correct Peter on the revelation of His
Messiahship, but
rather affirmed Peter’s confession of it.
“THE
(JEWISH) PEOPLE
WANTED HIM TO BE THEIR MESSIAH, BUT HE ABSOLUTELY REFUSED. THE JEWS
WERE NOT
REJECTING JESUS AS MESSIAH, IT WAS JESUS WHO WAS REFUSING TO BE THE
MESSIAH TO
THE JEWS.” (John
1:11, Mt.10:6, 15:24, 23:37, Rm.1:16)
~John Hagee
I
contacted Jews for Jesus about
these statements and got this response from Mrs. Marty Walker
their
Chief Correspondent. “We
agree that
Pastor Hagee’s ideas are unbiblical and dangerous to our
Jewish people.”
She also referred me to a few articles
written by David Bickner confronting Mr. Hagee. You can find them at:
http://jewsforjesus.org/publications/newsletter/2007 02/01 ,
http://jewsforjesus.org/realtime/21/waronevangelism ,
http://jewsforjesus.org/realtime/36/know
Hagee’s
heresy is in direct opposition to the
New Testament scriptures. Could
you
imagine him saying these things to Paul and the other Apostles in the
first
century? Yet, there
is hardly an
evangelical pulpit, or media ministry that would not welcome John Hagee
with
arms wide open. Virtually
no one would
dare challenge him on these matters, because he’s a
patronized member of the
Christian media inner circle.
To
stray from the foundation of the
Apostles teaching has resulted in some catastrophic results with this
people
group (Modern day “Jews.”)
Of course,
the inquisition’s carnal concept of a kingdom resulted
in fighting with
physical swords against those who don’t convert. The Crusaders did much of
the same. (Jn.18:36)
The pre-millennial concept of this carnal
kingdom has resulted in not “wasting
their time” in evangelizing
this people group (Contrary to Mt.28:19, Mk.16:15),
because it’s not
there time yet.
Oh, the severity
of misinterpreting timing in Bible Prophecy. Many believe that the
church must first be
raptured, at which point God will again begin to work with the nation
and
people of Israel. I
have friends that have
informed me as to how the leader of our country’s largest
non-denominational
denomination, believes as does Mr. Hagee, that it is a waste of time
and resources
to evangelize Jews. This
is, according
to Hagee, because it’s not yet their time
to believe in Jesus. Yet,
the scriptures say to the contrary, “For
I am not ashamed of THE GOSPEL of
Christ: for it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; TO
THE JEW FIRST,
and also to the Greek.” (Rom.1:16)
“Preach THE GOSPEL TO
ALL creation.” (Mk.16:15)
For he saith, I have
heard
thee in A TIME ACCEPTED, and in
the day of salvation have I
succoured thee: behold, NOW
IS THE
ACCEPTED TIME; behold, NOW IS
THE DAY OF SALVATION. (2
Cor.6:2) Others
continue in this same time warp and
say that many Jews are coming to Christ today, because it’s
that time
when God will rapture His Church any minute now, and the time when He
is
beginning to deal with Jews once again. Perhaps we should back out and
see the
big picture here. Maybe,
because of
certain faithful witness’ in the church, particularly groups
like Jews for
Jesus, the gospel is bearing fruit after a few decades of
plowing and
planting the word of God. The
word of
God will always bear fruit. By
the way,
this is much more of a successful approach toward winning a people
group, than
is the other options that the Church has taken.
One of those approaches was to kill this people group in
the name of
Christ. Another, as
we’ve just looked
at, is to forget about them and say that it’s a waste of
time, because it’s not
yet their time.
I
think that the only replacement theology
that this generation of preachers, such as John
Hagee, has to be
concerned with is the replacement of their theology. As well as the replacement
of
themselves by Samuels, Calebs, and Joshua’s! There
will be a replacement by
leaders who will lead God’s people in an Eschatological
Reformation, which
in turn will transform the nations.
Leaders that will reject this return to the bondage of spiritual
Egypt, physical Jerusalem (Rev.11:8,
Gal4:24-26) , and that
corrupt old system run by that corrupt OLD
man Adam. Adam
functions in everything that is OLD. The OLD
Temple, City,
Nation, and
Covenant. Christ,
the NEW
man, functions
in all things that have become NEW. The NEW Temple, City,
Nation, and Covenant.
An everlasting covenant, with no last
days!
We
are being taught today, that where we
are in God’s layout is in a place referred to as “The
Church Age”. The
Church, they say, was a mystery to
the prophets, and not really foreseen by them.
It is an age of Grace unknown within the Old Testament
scriptures. It’s really just
a parenthesis (A parenthesis
longer than the entire span of the Old Covenant.) in the plan of God,
to where
God will soon remove his Church and begin in relationship again with
His Old
Covenant people. The
New Testament
scriptures say otherwise. Acts
3:24 states
that, “Yea, and ALL THE PROPHETS from
Samuel and those that
follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these
days. Ye
are the children of the
prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying
unto
Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindred’s of the earth
be blessed.” Blessed
in the New Covenant through
Abrahams seed, which is Christ! (Gal.3:16) We read the same thing in Acts
15:14-19. “God
at the first did visit the
Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. AND
TO THIS AGREE THE
WORDS OF THE PROPHETS; as it is written, After this
I will return, and
will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I
will
build again the
ruins thereof, and I
will set it up: That
the residue of men
might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles,
upon whom my
name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his
works from the
beginning of the world. Wherefore
my
sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the
Gentiles are
turned to God:” Acts 26:22,23 continues
to extract from the Old
Testament scriptures concerning the New Testament Church. “I
continue unto this day, witnessing both
to small and great, SAYING NONE OTHER THINGS THAN
THOSE WHICH THE
PROPHETS AND MOSES DID SAY SHOULD COME: That
Christ should
suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead,
and
should shew light UNTO THE PEOPLE, AND TO THE
GENTILES.”
Ephesians
3:21 uses the words “CHURCH”
and “AGE.” But
how does it use them? “Unto
Him
be glory in THE CHURCH by
Christ Jesus THROUGHOUT ALL AGES, AGE (AION) WITHOUT END.
Amen.”
Clearly
here, The Church Age has no end, it‘s without
end! The
reason for this is because, the perfect
covenant, lacking nothing and excluding no one, is an everlasting
covenant! (Heb.13:20) Again, you
cannot force any “last” anything
into this Covenant. So,
where are we in
the layout of God’s plan?
We
are right here in the everlasting
covenant. If we
don’t know where we are, then we are
being misdirected and experiencing confusion. Neither do we know where
we’re
going, as we are walking around in circles looking for the
exit door
(rapture) of the mall.
Here’s a rhema for the Body
of Christ, Your not going
anywhere! Your
not going to “fly
away, Oh Glory”. “I
pray not that
thou shouldest take them out of the world…”
(Jn.17:15)
We are put here
for a reason. To be
made
unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth.” (Rev.5:10,
Rev.2:26, 27) Kings
need to be made/trained
up and matured in order to rule responsibly.
This takes much diligence, preparation and testing. We did not sign up to
simply go to heaven one
day when we die, and get our donkey’s kicked here and now in
the meantime! We
are to exercise authority over the
nations! Matthew
28:18-20, Ps.
2-Rev.2:26, 27.
It’s not about some
day in the future, rather it’s about the nasty here
and now! We’re
staying put, deal with it! Get
out of bed, get a job, go to school, be
responsible and pursue excellence!
And
begin to set long term goals, because you are going no where! You
especially
won’t go anywhere without long term goals.
The Churches in America today have the goals of one
who’s on death
row. That is, short
term goals. Long
term goals cannot be obtained
with an unsound mind, influenced from unsound
doctrine,
whispering in the back of one’s mind telling them that at any
minute now their
going to disappear. This mindset is consistent with many living in
insane
asylums. This is
why Bible Prophecy
matters! What you
believe about the
future, even sub-consciously, effects what you do, or don’t
do, and how you do
it! This hippie,
lazy, flakey mentality,
disguised as being spiritually minded and ready to fly out of here,
won’t cut
with what the Spirit is saying to the Churches today!
Responsibility, faithfulness, and overcoming
is the word for this hour! “And
he/she that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end (Not
the end of
the world, but rather enduring through trials and testings), TO
HIM/HER will
I give power over the nations: And HE/SHE shall
rule them with a
rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to
shivers: even
as I received of my Father.”
(Rev.2:26,27)
“But
I thought we were in the last stage
of the “Church Age”, about ready for a
“Hale bopp” experience.
After all the doctrine of imminence tells
us to be ready at all times.” (Rev.1:1,3) In the first century, the
time for the
events within the book of Revelation to unfold was “at
hand/Gk.-eggus”.
Did the word eggus change its meaning
over the centuries? Was
it not “at hand”
in the first century? The contradiction with this misunderstanding is
enormous. If on one
hand, all readers of
Revelation, including those in the first century, are to be expecting
the
imminent coming of Christ, then how could they in the first century,
because
according to their own theory, Jesus isn’t coming until the
time of the seventh
age within the church age, that is the Church in
Laodicea. With this
understanding, why don’t we just live out our Christian lives
like the Church
in Laodicia and fulfill “Bible Prophecy”?
After all it’s predetermined and inevitable. This misunderstanding is
based upon the
belief that each of the seven churches in Revelation represents an age,
within
the “Church age”.
In this faulty
theory, it is the seventh age, represented by the Church in Laodicea,
which is
the last age within the “Church Age.”
“The Church Age” is then
ended by the coming of Jesus. According
to their own theory here, all ages
within the “Church Age”, could
not then expect the imminent coming of
Jesus. In reality,
there were seven literal
Churches in Revelation, which did see Jesus coming in the
clouds of judgment
upon that wicked generation.
Our
position is often accused of not taking the scriptures literally. Who is doing so with the
seven churches in
Revelation? It is
the dark side doing
so. The darker and
darker, worse and
worse murmurers, whose bones will be bleached in the wilderness. They’ll become
dryer and dryer in the
dispensational desert, without the water of the Spirit to bring life to
themselves or their hearers. We are in the last days of
pre-millennialism! In 200 years, when historians read the current
pre-millennial Bible Prophecy books, we will see who’s
word’s will stand,
theirs or ours? I
can read “Bible
Prophecy” books from five years ago, that would embarrass
anyone who didn’t
have a seared conscience on the matter, as today’s
“Bible Prophecy” writers
have.
In
conclusion, the time and space of God’s
layout must be understood, because if we don’t know where
we are, how
then can we know where we’re going? Equally important is, how
far are we to go
horizontally, and how far are we to go vertically? The directory of
God’s
layout plan says to us, “YOU ARE
HERE” in the everlasting
covenant. The
dimensions of God’s
layout have no boundaries, horizontally, covering the earth and the
fullness
there of. It
has no limits vertically.
(Eph.1:3, 2:6)
The leaven
of the kingdom expands horizontally, and raises the
standard vertically.
Mt.13:33-Says that the kingdom of HEAVEN
is like leaven, NOT
the kingdom of darkness is like leaven.
Once again, the Bizarrow gospel gets it backwards.
The
blue prints of God call for the
building of His Church to be upon the foundation of the Apostles and
Prophets. This is
the foundation of the
revelation of Jesus as The Messiah (Mt.16:16-19), as
revealed within the
scriptures (Lk.24:32,44-48).
Once
again, the Apostle’s teaching must be this foundation. It takes every word of God
revealing Christ,
and His body, which is His Church, His building and temple. It is His bride, not His
concubine. It’s His
own body, which He nourishes and cherishes. He does not have two
corporate
bodies. He is not a polygamist with another babe on the side. We are
not
currently shaking up with Christ! (Rom.7:4, 2 Cor.11:2,
Rev.21:1-3) This
foundational truth has been thrown aside and replaced
with the “Church
Age” misunderstanding.
Any building,
upon any other foundation, such as pre-millennialism, will end in a
catastrophic collapse. And
how great is
the fall of such a house built upon the dispensational sand of the
Middle East. If a
structure is off by a sixteenth of an inch,
sometimes it can suffer disastrous results.
The dispensational, pre-millennial blue prints are off by
thousands of
miles, literally!
It’s in the
wrong hemisphere, and off by two millennia as to the timing of the
fulfillment
of the prophetic events it forecasts. It has created, like never
before, an
abundance of self assured madness amongst so many propagating pastors
and
teachers. They are
pastors of world wide
disasters. Who’s
mind’s and heart’s have
been defiled, and are under the dark delusion that they have ,with
their
eschatology, some inside track to soon coming world events. They
profess out of their own hearts
and follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
(Ez.13:2,3) Their
gloom and doom has made the heart
of the righteous sad, whom God has not made sad. (Ez.13:22) They feed
only themselves
(Ez.34:10), and their own sci-fi
fancies, inspired
by testosterone induced images
of burning
nukes (strange fire) and other high tech
weaponry, spiritual
porn. They peddle their
smut through books
and video’s never satisfying the eye’s of the
natural man. Pastor’s
who carry themselves as
foreign policy and geo-political experts, but are really only Pastors
who carry
the blue prints for disaster!
By GARRETT PAUL PARRISH
www.BibleProphecyFulfilled.org