And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4)
It appears the teaching of the secret "rapture" is a device intended to make the Christian redemption like the other religions of the world—an escape to Paradise in the spirit realm. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is not an escape to Paradise in the spirit realm. It is the return of God and of Paradise to the earth and the removal of sin and death and the effects of sin and death from the saved peoples of the earth.
In the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus spoke concerning His return to the earth. Nowhere in the New Testament writings is there a reference to Christ's returns, or comings (plural). There is not one reference to two second comings. In Matthew, Jesus stated that His coming (singular) would not be a secret and that it would take place after the great tribulation (Matthew 24:29).
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:29,30)
The return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth will coincide with the outpouring of God's wrath on the ungodly.
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: (II Thessalonians 1:7,8)
This is the time when one will be taken and the other left.
Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. (Matthew 24:40,41)
Jesus' second coming will be preceded by the universal signs mentioned by the Prophet Joel.
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. (Joel 2:30,31)
The trumpet of the Lord will sound and Christ's elect will be gathered together to Him.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven [of the heavens] to the other. (Matthew 24:31)
Every eye shall behold Him, as stated in the Book of Revelation.
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Two Israels - Two Kingdoms - Two Second Comings, #7
Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: (Romans 11;20)
We Gentiles have become inflated with pride. We need to realize we have been grafted into the holy root of Israel. Indeed, we are not a special "spiritual kingdom" that is exempt from the laws of righteousness.
We have been added to Israel just as Asenath was added to Joseph. Now we no longer are Gentiles but an inseparable part of true Israel and heirs of the Messianic Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, the one true Kingdom that, according to the Prophets, is destined to rule the nations of the earth forever. This is the Kingdom from Heaven, the new Jerusalem.
If, as the Scripture teaches, the new Jerusalem is the Wife of the Lamb, the Christian Church, where is the so-called natural kingdom of Israel on the new earth? Why is it not described in the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation?
The promises in the Book of Isaiah concerning the glorification of Zion and Israel are speaking of the Glory of Christ in an Israel that has been born again in Christ.
It is written that after the full number of Gentiles has been received into the true Israel, God will turn again to physical Israel. When God turns again to the Jews, which may be beginning already, they will finally be born again. They will become members of the Body of Christ, which is the Kingdom of God.
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. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Romans 11:25-27)
The Kingdom of God is the rule of God in Christ in the saints over the nations of saved peoples of the earth. The saints (holy ones) are the members of the Body of Christ, the one true Israel of God.
Two Second Comings?
The Christian churches of our day are not prospering spiritually and therefore are not presenting a testimony strong enough to effect the moral reformation of our national governments. The reason is, we of the churches are not obeying the written Word of God (Joshua 1:8). The believers are hearing "rapture, rapture, rapture, prosperity, faith, you can have everything you desire." Since these are not scriptural emphases, the believers are not being fed the living Bread and the churches are dying spiritually.
Of all the errors of current Christian theology, one of the most weakening, in terms of the spiritual vigor of the believers, may be the teaching that there will be a special, secret coming of Christ prior to His actual, prophesied coming to establish His Kingdom on the earth.
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
We Gentiles have become inflated with pride. We need to realize we have been grafted into the holy root of Israel. Indeed, we are not a special "spiritual kingdom" that is exempt from the laws of righteousness.
We have been added to Israel just as Asenath was added to Joseph. Now we no longer are Gentiles but an inseparable part of true Israel and heirs of the Messianic Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, the one true Kingdom that, according to the Prophets, is destined to rule the nations of the earth forever. This is the Kingdom from Heaven, the new Jerusalem.
If, as the Scripture teaches, the new Jerusalem is the Wife of the Lamb, the Christian Church, where is the so-called natural kingdom of Israel on the new earth? Why is it not described in the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation?
The promises in the Book of Isaiah concerning the glorification of Zion and Israel are speaking of the Glory of Christ in an Israel that has been born again in Christ.
It is written that after the full number of Gentiles has been received into the true Israel, God will turn again to physical Israel. When God turns again to the Jews, which may be beginning already, they will finally be born again. They will become members of the Body of Christ, which is the Kingdom of God.
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. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Romans 11:25-27)
The Kingdom of God is the rule of God in Christ in the saints over the nations of saved peoples of the earth. The saints (holy ones) are the members of the Body of Christ, the one true Israel of God.
Two Second Comings?
The Christian churches of our day are not prospering spiritually and therefore are not presenting a testimony strong enough to effect the moral reformation of our national governments. The reason is, we of the churches are not obeying the written Word of God (Joshua 1:8). The believers are hearing "rapture, rapture, rapture, prosperity, faith, you can have everything you desire." Since these are not scriptural emphases, the believers are not being fed the living Bread and the churches are dying spiritually.
Of all the errors of current Christian theology, one of the most weakening, in terms of the spiritual vigor of the believers, may be the teaching that there will be a special, secret coming of Christ prior to His actual, prophesied coming to establish His Kingdom on the earth.
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Friday, September 04, 2009
Two Israels - Two Kingdoms - Two Second Comings, #6
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (Galatians 3:19)
The Christian salvation is not a special "Dispensation" of Divine favor to the Gentiles. In fact, no Gentile can come under the new covenant until he or she, by being joined spiritually to Christ, becomes a member of "the house of Israel" (Hebrews 8:10).
There is no such thing as a Gentile church, a Gentile kingdom, a Gentile bride. Upon marrying Joseph, Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah the Egyptian, became an Israelite. Asenath did not retain her identity as a Gentile. If she had, Manasseh and Ephraim would have been considered half Israelite and half Egyptian.
We lose our identity as Gentiles the moment we become part of Christ. In fact, we become part of the only true Seed of Abraham. There is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ. (Galatians 3:28)
When Christ came He came to the Jews. Salvation is of the Jews. The spiritual and only Kingdom of God, of Heaven, is of the Jews. Christ is the Son of David and will be crowned King on the throne of David in the city of Jerusalem.
Jesus Christ is Christ, the King of the Kingdom of Israel, which is the Kingdom of God. There is no other Kingdom of God, no other Kingdom of Heaven—at least not according to the Scriptures.
In order for a physical Jew to become part of the one Seed of Abraham and thus enter God's Kingdom, he must be born again. There is no separate kingdom reserved for the Jew who has not been born again, who is not a part of the one Body of Christ, the one Kingdom of God, the one Vine, the one holy city, the one new Jerusalem, the one Wife of the Lamb. God's elect are one—one true Olive Tree.
The writers of the New Testament were Jews, with the exception of Luke. The Scriptures, Old Testament and New, are Jewish. Christ was raised in a Jewish household. Upon Christ are based all the fulfillments of the promises of God, for Christ is the only promised Seed of Abraham.
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. (Galatians 3:16)
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)
Will Christ, the Son of David, rule over a "Gentile Bride" in Heaven and an "Israelite Bride" on the earth in spite of all the Apostle Paul taught to the contrary? Given the convergence of the spiritual and physical realms in the Day of the Lord, and given the fact that Heaven will come to earth in the new Jerusalem, how can anyone conceive of a future in which God has one kingdom in the spirit realm and another in the physical realm?
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Christian salvation is not a special "Dispensation" of Divine favor to the Gentiles. In fact, no Gentile can come under the new covenant until he or she, by being joined spiritually to Christ, becomes a member of "the house of Israel" (Hebrews 8:10).
There is no such thing as a Gentile church, a Gentile kingdom, a Gentile bride. Upon marrying Joseph, Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah the Egyptian, became an Israelite. Asenath did not retain her identity as a Gentile. If she had, Manasseh and Ephraim would have been considered half Israelite and half Egyptian.
We lose our identity as Gentiles the moment we become part of Christ. In fact, we become part of the only true Seed of Abraham. There is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ. (Galatians 3:28)
When Christ came He came to the Jews. Salvation is of the Jews. The spiritual and only Kingdom of God, of Heaven, is of the Jews. Christ is the Son of David and will be crowned King on the throne of David in the city of Jerusalem.
Jesus Christ is Christ, the King of the Kingdom of Israel, which is the Kingdom of God. There is no other Kingdom of God, no other Kingdom of Heaven—at least not according to the Scriptures.
In order for a physical Jew to become part of the one Seed of Abraham and thus enter God's Kingdom, he must be born again. There is no separate kingdom reserved for the Jew who has not been born again, who is not a part of the one Body of Christ, the one Kingdom of God, the one Vine, the one holy city, the one new Jerusalem, the one Wife of the Lamb. God's elect are one—one true Olive Tree.
The writers of the New Testament were Jews, with the exception of Luke. The Scriptures, Old Testament and New, are Jewish. Christ was raised in a Jewish household. Upon Christ are based all the fulfillments of the promises of God, for Christ is the only promised Seed of Abraham.
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. (Galatians 3:16)
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)
Will Christ, the Son of David, rule over a "Gentile Bride" in Heaven and an "Israelite Bride" on the earth in spite of all the Apostle Paul taught to the contrary? Given the convergence of the spiritual and physical realms in the Day of the Lord, and given the fact that Heaven will come to earth in the new Jerusalem, how can anyone conceive of a future in which God has one kingdom in the spirit realm and another in the physical realm?
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Two Israels - Two Kingdoms - Two Second Comings, #5
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:11-14)
Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.
Live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
Redeem us from all iniquity.
Purify a people for Himself who desire to do good.
Does this sound like today's preaching of the grace of God? If not, why not?
The teaching that God does not require a change in how the Christian converts are living, but is asking only that they make a profession of Christ and attend church as the condition for eternal residence in Paradise, is incorrect. We are blind guides when we leave people with the idea that such is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
One could study carefully the New Testament writings and never find the doctrine (except in passages lifted out of their contexts) that God does not require righteous and holy living on the part of the believers in Christ, that righteous and holy living is not a critical aspect of eternal life.
Dispensationalism teaches there are two kingdoms—a spiritual kingdom of Christians (primarily Gentile), and a natural kingdom made up of those who are Jewish by race. The idea seems to be that the kingdom of Gentile Christians does not require righteous living while the natural kingdom is composed of Jews by physical birth who are obligated to keep the Law of Moses.
However there are not two kingdoms, a spiritual Gentile kingdom and a natural Jewish kingdom. There is only the one Kingdom of God.
The Hebrew Prophets revealed the coming of but one Kingdom. John the Baptist, Christ, and the Apostles preached only one Kingdom. There is no scriptural basis for the teaching of two kingdoms.
Matthew uses the expression, "the kingdom of heaven." The other writers refer to the same kingdom as "the kingdom of God." That only one kingdom is meant is demonstrated by the fact that the parables Matthew applies to the Kingdom of Heaven, such as the sowing of the grain of mustard seed, are applied by Mark and Luke to the Kingdom of God.
There only is one Kingdom of God, of Heaven. It is the Kingdom announced by the Hebrew Prophets. The Prophets did not speak to physical Israel but to us, Jews and Gentiles, who have received Christ (I Peter 1:12). The Lord Jesus Christ is the only true Seed of Abraham. Physical Israel never did and never will inherit the Messianic promises—the promises pertaining to the one Kingdom of God.
When God turns again to the people of the land of Israel, as the Scriptures declare He will, the physical people will be born again of the Spirit of God and inherit the one Kingdom of God.
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.
Live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
Redeem us from all iniquity.
Purify a people for Himself who desire to do good.
Does this sound like today's preaching of the grace of God? If not, why not?
The teaching that God does not require a change in how the Christian converts are living, but is asking only that they make a profession of Christ and attend church as the condition for eternal residence in Paradise, is incorrect. We are blind guides when we leave people with the idea that such is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
One could study carefully the New Testament writings and never find the doctrine (except in passages lifted out of their contexts) that God does not require righteous and holy living on the part of the believers in Christ, that righteous and holy living is not a critical aspect of eternal life.
Dispensationalism teaches there are two kingdoms—a spiritual kingdom of Christians (primarily Gentile), and a natural kingdom made up of those who are Jewish by race. The idea seems to be that the kingdom of Gentile Christians does not require righteous living while the natural kingdom is composed of Jews by physical birth who are obligated to keep the Law of Moses.
However there are not two kingdoms, a spiritual Gentile kingdom and a natural Jewish kingdom. There is only the one Kingdom of God.
The Hebrew Prophets revealed the coming of but one Kingdom. John the Baptist, Christ, and the Apostles preached only one Kingdom. There is no scriptural basis for the teaching of two kingdoms.
Matthew uses the expression, "the kingdom of heaven." The other writers refer to the same kingdom as "the kingdom of God." That only one kingdom is meant is demonstrated by the fact that the parables Matthew applies to the Kingdom of Heaven, such as the sowing of the grain of mustard seed, are applied by Mark and Luke to the Kingdom of God.
There only is one Kingdom of God, of Heaven. It is the Kingdom announced by the Hebrew Prophets. The Prophets did not speak to physical Israel but to us, Jews and Gentiles, who have received Christ (I Peter 1:12). The Lord Jesus Christ is the only true Seed of Abraham. Physical Israel never did and never will inherit the Messianic promises—the promises pertaining to the one Kingdom of God.
When God turns again to the people of the land of Israel, as the Scriptures declare He will, the physical people will be born again of the Spirit of God and inherit the one Kingdom of God.
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Two Israels - Two Kingdoms - Two Second Comings, #4
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:14,15)
Two Kingdoms?
The doctrine of the pre-tribulation ascension ("rapture") of the believers in Christ came as a "revelation" in the last century. In order to give this doctrine respectability (according to our understanding of what took place) it was included as part of a system of biblical interpretation termed "Dispensationalism." Dispensationalism is destructive of sound, defensible interpretation of the Scriptures and is one of the reasons for the spiritually impoverished condition of the Christian churches of our day.
Dispensationalism teaches that God, from time to time, changes His way of dealing with men. Our position is that God never changes nor does His eternal purpose vary. God always has desired that people please Him by faith, that they practice justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
History has been witnessing a progressive unfolding of God's eternal plan in Christ, not a series of starts and stops, fits and jerks due to God's inability to understand human nature. Christ was crucified, and we were chosen in Him, from the creation of the world. In the mind of God, and therefore in reality, all has been finished from the beginning. The new Jerusalem has been completed already.
Dispensationalism teaches that God's ways with the Christian Church are a special "mystery"; that God now is dealing with people differently from what has been true in the past. The God of the Hebrew Prophets no longer requires righteous, holy, obedient behavior—especially from Gentiles who profess belief in Christ. The Furnace of Israel has decided that people cannot obey His laws. Therefore He has issued a new covenant of "grace." The new covenant of grace acts as an eternal amnesty for everyone who chooses to believe God is willing to receive him into Paradise apart from a radical change in his personality and behavior. No new creation is necessary for entrance into the Kingdom of God.
Whether intentionally or not, Dispensationalism, as it is applied by numerous Christian teachers and preachers of our day, has given the impression that God does not require righteous living on the part of Christian believers as He has of every previous generation of people.
It is said that Christians are exempt from the Kingdom principle of sowing and reaping. Belief in Christ is the Christian's "ticket to Heaven." As a result, the main business in life of the Christian is not to be growing in godly living but persuading other people to accept the free ride to Paradise.
We are not implying that believers should not be sincerely interested in the salvation of the souls of men. We should be. However, the perpetual repetition of this obligation (that every believer is to persuade as many people as possible to accept the free ride to Paradise), in place of feeding God's sheep, is not always of God but may come from a human desire to gain members. When they are not continually fed the Word of God, believers do not grow in Christ, in the ability to distinguish between good and evil and to choose the good and resist the evil.
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Two Kingdoms?
The doctrine of the pre-tribulation ascension ("rapture") of the believers in Christ came as a "revelation" in the last century. In order to give this doctrine respectability (according to our understanding of what took place) it was included as part of a system of biblical interpretation termed "Dispensationalism." Dispensationalism is destructive of sound, defensible interpretation of the Scriptures and is one of the reasons for the spiritually impoverished condition of the Christian churches of our day.
Dispensationalism teaches that God, from time to time, changes His way of dealing with men. Our position is that God never changes nor does His eternal purpose vary. God always has desired that people please Him by faith, that they practice justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
History has been witnessing a progressive unfolding of God's eternal plan in Christ, not a series of starts and stops, fits and jerks due to God's inability to understand human nature. Christ was crucified, and we were chosen in Him, from the creation of the world. In the mind of God, and therefore in reality, all has been finished from the beginning. The new Jerusalem has been completed already.
Dispensationalism teaches that God's ways with the Christian Church are a special "mystery"; that God now is dealing with people differently from what has been true in the past. The God of the Hebrew Prophets no longer requires righteous, holy, obedient behavior—especially from Gentiles who profess belief in Christ. The Furnace of Israel has decided that people cannot obey His laws. Therefore He has issued a new covenant of "grace." The new covenant of grace acts as an eternal amnesty for everyone who chooses to believe God is willing to receive him into Paradise apart from a radical change in his personality and behavior. No new creation is necessary for entrance into the Kingdom of God.
Whether intentionally or not, Dispensationalism, as it is applied by numerous Christian teachers and preachers of our day, has given the impression that God does not require righteous living on the part of Christian believers as He has of every previous generation of people.
It is said that Christians are exempt from the Kingdom principle of sowing and reaping. Belief in Christ is the Christian's "ticket to Heaven." As a result, the main business in life of the Christian is not to be growing in godly living but persuading other people to accept the free ride to Paradise.
We are not implying that believers should not be sincerely interested in the salvation of the souls of men. We should be. However, the perpetual repetition of this obligation (that every believer is to persuade as many people as possible to accept the free ride to Paradise), in place of feeding God's sheep, is not always of God but may come from a human desire to gain members. When they are not continually fed the Word of God, believers do not grow in Christ, in the ability to distinguish between good and evil and to choose the good and resist the evil.
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Two Israels - Two Kingdoms - Two Second Comings, #3
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (Ephesians 2:19)
The "saints" (above) refers to the Jewish saints, for the first Christians were Jews. The original Body of Christ was made up of Jews. It was difficult for the early Christians to accept the fact that God desired to add Gentiles to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today we Gentiles may find it difficult to accept the fact that God desires to add Jews to the Church of the Lord Jesus. But the truth is, it is we Gentiles who have been added to the Jewish saints, to the Jewish Christians, to the household of God. It is not true that Jewish believers are added to a Gentile Church.
The doctrine of a special Gentile Church is not included in the thinking and teaching of the Apostle Paul—himself a Jew.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (Ephesians 2:20)
Of which building is Christ the chief Cornerstone? He is the chief Cornerstone of the eternal Temple of God. Then who are the other stones of the Temple? The Jews who receive their Christ and we Gentiles who have been added to the one Body.
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)
There is but one Temple of God, one habitation of God. It is the Body of Christ, the Wife of the Lamb, the new Jerusalem. Every person who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ is part of the eternal Tabernacle of God.
In the last days the Tabernacle of God will descend from the new heaven and be established forever on the new earth. The nations of saved peoples will walk in the light of it.
My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen [nations] shall know I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. (Ezekiel 37:27,28)
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)
We have stated that the Scriptures are one seamless robe of Christ. God's work is one from Adam and Eve to the coming down to earth of the new Jerusalem. From time to time God has increased His demands on men and also has given the means (grace) by which His demands can be met. Each new era is based on, and flows out as a fruit from, the previous era. The program of development will continue until the new Jerusalem governs the nations of the earth.
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The "saints" (above) refers to the Jewish saints, for the first Christians were Jews. The original Body of Christ was made up of Jews. It was difficult for the early Christians to accept the fact that God desired to add Gentiles to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today we Gentiles may find it difficult to accept the fact that God desires to add Jews to the Church of the Lord Jesus. But the truth is, it is we Gentiles who have been added to the Jewish saints, to the Jewish Christians, to the household of God. It is not true that Jewish believers are added to a Gentile Church.
The doctrine of a special Gentile Church is not included in the thinking and teaching of the Apostle Paul—himself a Jew.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (Ephesians 2:20)
Of which building is Christ the chief Cornerstone? He is the chief Cornerstone of the eternal Temple of God. Then who are the other stones of the Temple? The Jews who receive their Christ and we Gentiles who have been added to the one Body.
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)
There is but one Temple of God, one habitation of God. It is the Body of Christ, the Wife of the Lamb, the new Jerusalem. Every person who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ is part of the eternal Tabernacle of God.
In the last days the Tabernacle of God will descend from the new heaven and be established forever on the new earth. The nations of saved peoples will walk in the light of it.
My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen [nations] shall know I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. (Ezekiel 37:27,28)
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)
We have stated that the Scriptures are one seamless robe of Christ. God's work is one from Adam and Eve to the coming down to earth of the new Jerusalem. From time to time God has increased His demands on men and also has given the means (grace) by which His demands can be met. Each new era is based on, and flows out as a fruit from, the previous era. The program of development will continue until the new Jerusalem governs the nations of the earth.
To be continued.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Trumpet Ministries Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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