2/25/79; Isr 247, 6/3/92
A. Israel in the Past.
1. Abraham is the father of the Jewish race, the pattern of salvation by faith in Christ, the key to the heritage of Israel. Gen 15:6, “Abraham believed in the Lord and it was credited to his account for righteousness.” The origin of the Jews is unique. Abraham became a Jew at age ninety-nine after cracking the maturity barrier. The sign of the new race is circumcision.
a. Abraham was an aristocrat of the third dynasty of Ur. As a believer, functioning under the faith-rest drill after salvation, he left Ur and moved to the land which in the future will belong to Israel forever, Heb 11:8-10.
b. Abraham was the pattern for Old Testament salvation, which is faith in Christ. Rom 4:1-5, 22-25.
c. At age ninety-nine, Abraham the Gentile was circumcised. At that moment, God created a new race—the Jew. Rom 4:9-21.
2. As a result of this pattern, there are two categories of Israel.
a. Racial Israel—those who have the genes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
b. Regenerate Israel—racial Jews who believe in Jesus Christ. They are God’s chosen people. They are both the racial and spiritual seed of Abraham, and therefore, the true Israel.
3. The foundation of racial Israel was regeneration, Rom 9:6-14. The dramatic principle of regeneration is noted in the contrast between Jew and Gentile in the first three generations. Abraham was a Jew and his brother Nahor, an unbeliever, was a Gentile. Isaac was a Jew and his half brother Ishmael was an unbeliever and a Gentile. Jacob was a Jew and his twin brother Esau was an unbeliever and a Gentile. This explains our Lord’s title: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Ex 3:6, 6:15-16, 4:5; Mt 22:32; Mk 12:26; Lk 20:37; Acts 3:13, 7:32.
4. While Abraham was the father of the Jewish race and the pattern of Old Testament salvation, it is Moses who is the father of the Jewish client nations. At the Exodus, Moses became the father of the first Jewish client nation to God. As a client nation, the Jews were the custodians of the written Canon, the guardians of the laws of divine establishment which resulted in the balance of freedom and authority, and had responsibility for evangelism, Bible teaching, the inculcation of doctrine, and missionary activity. The key to the client nation is its spiritual heritage which demands regeneration. Hence, the importance of the racial Jew becoming the regenerate Jew by the second birth in order to qualify as both the physical and spiritual seed of Abraham.
5. The spiritual heritage of Israel includes the unconditional promises from God gathered into four great covenants: the Abrahamic, the Palestinian, the Davidic, and the New Covenants. To qualify under the spiritual heritage of Israel every Jew had to have eternal life.
6. There are five Jewish client nations in the Old Testament dispensation of Israel.
a. The theocratic kingdom, Moses through Saul.
b. The united kingdom of Israel, Saul to Rehoboam.
c. The northern kingdom, Jeroboam to Hoshea (c. 930-721 B.C.)
d. The southern kingdom, Rehoboam to Zedekiah (c. 931-586 B.C.) From 586 to 516 B.C. the remnant of the southern kingdom were under the seventy years of the “Babylonian Captivity.” During this period, there were great ministries like that of Daniel and Ezekiel. In 538 B.C., the edict of Cyrus the Great allowed a small remnant of Jews to return to Israel to rebuild the Temple. They began in 536 B.C. However, the project was discontinued until 520 B.C., when under the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah, the rebuilding of the Temple was resumed. The Temple was completed in 516 B.C. In 458 B.C., Ezra returned and a “back to the Bible” movement was begun. In 445 B.C., Nehemiah returned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. In 432 B.C., Malachi prophesied, which ended the Old Testament canon.
e. Judea continued from 516 B.C. until August of 70 A.D. when Rome administered the fifth cycle of discipline, beginning the times of the Gentiles, Lk 21:20-24. Israel’s past failure resulted in the administration of the five cycles of discipline. The fifth cycle wiped out the Northern Kingdom in 721 BC, the Southern Kingdom in 586 BC, and Judea in 70 AD. The Jews were not wiped out at the beginning of the Church Age because of Paul. Only after His death did the fifth cycle wipe them out and the times of the Gentiles begin.
7. The dispensation of Israel was temporarily halted after the resurrection, ascension, and session of Christ, in order that a royal family might be elected for our Lord’s third category of royalty. The Jewish Age continues after the Church Age, but there is no Jewish client nation again until the Second Advent.
8. The past failure of the Jews in the big blot out (failure to recognize Christ as Messiah during the First Advent) does not hinder the Jews from continuing in history. There will always be Jews.
B. Jews in the Present.
1. Two things prepared the way for the Church Age: the cycles of discipline to Israel and the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.
a. The halting of the Jewish Age and the intercalation of the Church Age begins the present period of the Jews, which began on the day of Pentecost.
b. The Church Age is absolutely unique because of: the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the protocol plan of God, equality under election and predestination, the portfolio of invisible assets, the royal family of God, the royal priesthood and ambassadorship, the mystery doctrine, the indwelling of the Trinity, the availability of divine power, no prophesy, and invisible heroes.
c. Gal 3:26-29, “You are the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into [union with] Christ, you have clothed yourselves with Christ [you share what Christ has]. There is neither Jew nor Greek [racial distinctions], there is neither slave nor free man [cultural distinctions], there is neither male nor female [social distinctions]; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
2. As deity, Jesus Christ is royalty with a royal family consisting of the Father and Holy Spirit. As humanity, Jesus Christ is royalty as a descendant in the line of David. As the God-man, He is seated at the right hand of God the Father as the victor of the angelic conflict, having battlefield royalty with no royal family. Therefore, He needs a royal family for His third royal patent.
3. Therefore, the Jewish Age was halted and the Church Age was inserted into the Jewish Age, signified by the baptism of the Holy Spirit for every Church Age believer at the moment of salvation. The dispensation of Israel has not been completed, but will be completed in the Tribulation.
4. In the Church Age, both the Jew and Gentile become royal family at the moment of faith in Christ. If a Jew fails to believe in Christ, he gets certain discipline in time from the fifth cycle of discipline and from the lake of fire in eternity.
5. The times of the Gentiles began in 70 A.D. Although Jewish nations may form from time to time during this period, they can never be client nations to God. Therefore, all the collective advantages enjoyed by the Jews in the dispensation of Israel are set aside and replaced by the present advantage of the royal family.
6. So to have advantage now, a Jew must believe in Christ just as a Gentile must. Both Jew and Gentile are one in Christ, and the racial distinction between them is removed. The unconditional covenants do not belong to Church Age Jews who believe in Christ.
C. Future of the Jew.
1. Once the royal family is completed, the Rapture of the Church occurs.
2. The end of the Church Age causes the resumption of the Age of Israel. Although Israel will not be a client nation, the primary evangelists of the Tribulation will be the 144,000 Jews. The times of the Gentiles overlap the Tribulation, thus continuing until the Second Advent.
3. The Tribulation is not a separate dispensation, but the end of the Jewish Age.
4. Therefore, instead of a Jewish nation operating as a theocracy, individual Jews perform the responsibility of evangelism in the Tribulation.
5. Because of the elect of Israel, the Tribulation is shortened. The greatest evangelism of all time will occur in the Tribulation. When Christ returns at the Second Advent, the baptism of fire will occur. Unbelieving Jews are cast into fire as part of the baptism of fire. Then Jewish believers go into the Millennium as the client nation. Gentile believers become citizens of the millennial kingdom, while Gentile unbelievers are cast into fire.
6. It is Satan’s plan to destroy the Jew in history. Therefore, he is trying to kill all Jews before the Second Advent.
7. Anti-semitism is Satan’s master plan to frustrate the future of Israel. Fulfillment of the New Covenant means there will be a client nation and Jews in the Millennium and forever.
D. The Jewish Problem.
1. The Jewish problem must be related to dispensations as well as to the Satanic conspiracy.
2. God’s plan for the Jew is never hindered by Jewish failure.
3. In any dispensation, in order to become the spiritual seed of Abraham, the only thing any Jew has to do is to believe in Jesus Christ. When he does so, he receives the perfect righteousness of God, eternal life, and the heritage of any true Jew.
4. The Jew must follow the pattern of Abraham if he is to enter into any divine blessing.
5. True Jews are regenerate Jews. False Jews have the genes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but are involved in the big blot out of the First Advent.
6. The Jew has no advantages unless he believes in Christ.
7. Grace is never canceled by the failure of any Jew.
8. No believer should ever be guilty of anti-Semitism, which is destructive to both individuals and nations, Gen 12:3.