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The Seed Of Abraham, Israel, The Land And All That. It is our view that all of the promises which God made to the fathers are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In order to participate in those covenant promises one must be in Christ. The question is not are you Hebrew (a blood descendent of Abraham), French, Filipino or Zulu, but; are you born again and thus a "relative" of Jesus Christ? And so "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all" (Col. 3:11). One is either in Christ or outside of Christ, no other division matters. But can this be so? Is this point of view supported only by "proof-texting" or is this the organic message of the Bible as a whole?1 This will be the topic of discussion in our first chapter. The Seed When we open our Bible to Genesis 12:2-3, we read that God told Abram (later called Abraham) that He would make him a great nation and bless all the peoples of the earth through him. Later in 13:15 we read that God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants. God repeats much of the same thing in chapter 15 of Genesis as well. Then, in chapter 17 God puts it all together and says: I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God (Gen. 17:6-8). Clearly the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants was meant to be eternal. God made a point of telling Jacob the same thing (Gen. 48:4). He also alluded to the everlasting Abrahamic covenant in His dealings with the nation of Israel when they came out of Egypt before they entered Canaan (Lev. 24:8). David made mention of the everlasting covenant and the possession of Canaan during his days as king (1 Chron. 16:14-18), and Isaiah speaks of the everlasting covenant as well (Is. 55:3). Is there any reason we should not believe that the covenant God made with Abraham is everlasting? There were "procedural" changes, or changes in the administration of that covenant as God progressively revealed His purposes to His people: that much is evident from a casual reading of the Old Testament. Nonetheless, God's original covenant - in its essence - still stands today, and will stand forever (Acts 13:32-33, Eph. 3:11, Heb. 13:20-21). However God's intended fulfillment of the covenant promises may be much different than we expect In Genesis chapter 15, we read about the cutting of a covenant between God and Abram (we'll call him Abraham for the sake of convenience). We are told that Abraham took a three year old heifer, a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram and cut them down the middle. He then placed the pieces opposite each other in a row and waited. Now, normally both (or all) of the people involved in making the covenant would walk between the severed pieces and take an oath concerning the terms of the covenant that they were sealing. They would say, "May it be done to me as it is done to these if I do not fulfill the terms of the covenant" or something to that effect.2 Note, however, that Abraham never walks between the severed animals. Instead, God does, and not just once, but twice. The Bible says that "when the sun went down and it was dark ...there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces" (Gen. 15:17). We don't need to press the symbolism so far as to say that the smoking oven and the burning torch are specific references to the Father and the Son, or the Father and the Spirit or whomever. Yet, it is not going too far to say that by passing through the animals alone, God made it clear that He would uphold both ends of the covenant. Later on we will discuss the details of just how He did that. At this point it will suffice to say that God upheld God's end of the Covenant as God and Abraham's end of the covenant as Abraham - as Abraham's seed to be precise. In other words, the covenant (and its everlasting promises), did not depend on Abraham for its fulfillment but on God. God held all the cards, we might say. He said that the covenant was with Abraham and his seed forever, yet, when it came time to cut that covenant, Abraham did not take the self maledictory oath. God did and thus He maintained the privilege of defining the terms and parameters of the covenant relationship. The True Seed The covenant promises were made to Abraham and his seed as an everlasting covenant. There are Christians who say that those promises must be fulfilled in the blood descendants of Abraham. They say that any attempt to claim those promises for others makes God out to be a liar. They say that everlasting means everlasting no mater what angle you view it from. And they are right. The covenant promises are everlasting and they must be fulfilled in the seed of Abraham, in his blood-line. The problem is that all too many Christians don't recognize the blood descendant of Abraham when they see Him. This is unfortunate because a proper identification of Abraham's seed is critical - not only to a truly biblical eschatology, but to a right understanding of the Bible as a whole and to the Christian life. The fact of the matter is this: Jesus is the true Seed of Abraham. For instance, in Matthew 1:1 we read that Jesus is "the Son of Abraham." Luke 3:34 also points out that Jesus is a descendent of Abraham. The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that God gives help not to angels but to the seed of Abraham, meaning Jesus Christ (Heb. 2:16). Then, in no uncertain terms, Paul tells us that: "...to Abraham and to his Seed were the promises made. He does not say 'And to seeds' as of many, but as of one, 'And to your Seed,' who is Christ" (Gal. 3:16). What Paul says here is astounding. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he interprets the promise of an everlasting covenant with the seed of Abraham to mean that God had in mind only one Person, Jesus Christ. All of the hundreds of years of history, all of the thousands, even millions of blood descendants of Abraham had the sole purpose of bringing forth this one, singular Seed.3 Read it again: "To Abraham and to his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, 'And to seeds' as of many, but as of one, 'And to your Seed,' who is Christ." In other words, the covenant promises given to Abraham and his seed, were actually given to Abraham and his Seed, singular, and the promise really had nothing to do with anyone but Jesus Christ. "According to Paul's reading of history, then, Christ 'is the true Heir of the promise, of the universal inheritance, and He determines the fellow heirs.'"4 In fact, Paul repeats himself in order to make this clear. In Galatians 3:19 he says again that it was the Seed "to whom the promise was made." Thus in order to be numbered as an heir of Abraham and a claimant to the covenant promises, one must be a descendent of Jesus. The blood-line has been narrowed drastically - to a single Man. Thankfully, rather than leave us confused, Paul tells us who is part of the blood-line of Jesus Christ. In Galatians 3:26-29 we read: For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (emphasis added). "If you are Christ's then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise" meaning heirs "of all the things promised unto Abraham in and with Christ."5 And how, again, do we get into the blood-line of Jesus? "Through faith in Christ Jesus." Of course the blood-line is not one of biological inheritance, but one of shed blood. The blood-line we are talking about is the blood of Jesus shed for the remission of our sins (Matt. 26:28). "Throughout the whole vast earth the Lord recognizes one and only one, nation as His own, namely the nation of believers (1 Peter 2:9). These are Abraham's seed. These, too, are the heirs ...according to the promise which centers in Christ."6 In short, one cannot claim to be a descendent of Abraham unless that person is in Christ, a born again Believer. Which takes us back to the cutting of the covenant when God passed between the severed animals alone. In Jesus, God upheld Abraham's end of the covenant. Neither Abraham nor his descendants were able to perfectly obey the terms of the covenant. Had Abraham passed between halves of the animal bodies, he would have been liable: "may it be done to me..." Yet, one descendent of Abraham, the Seed to whom the promise pointed, and really with whom the covenant was made,7 was able to keep the terms of the covenant and so secure the blessings of the covenant.8 Jesus, the Seed of Abraham, the true Son and rep-resentative of Abraham , said "let it be done to Me as is done to these ...instead of Abraham and his seed" (Matt. 1:1, Gal. 3:16, Is. 53:5). As we said before, God held all the cards. He made a covenant with Abraham, but Abraham had to enter that covenant on God's terms: through Jesus Christ, the Son of God and true Seed of Abraham. Participation in the promises given to Abraham does not depend on ethnic descent from Abraham. We might even say that Abraham was an "innocent bystander" to the event in that it was to the Seed, Jesus Christ, "to whom the promise was made" (Gal. 3:19). Participation depends on being a "descendent" of one of those who made the covenant in the first place and that means God and His Son. Ethniticity was not and never shall be the issue but spiritual regeneration and faith. In the cutting of the covenant in Genesis 15 we actually see that the Father and the Son made an agreement among themselves to bless faithful Abraham and all who are his offspring by faith (Rom. 4:9-16). This was no mystery to Abraham. The Genesis account does not tell us specifically that he was told all of this by God, but Jesus and Paul do. Jesus said that Abraham "rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad" (Jn. 8:56). Paul tells us that the gospel was preached "beforehand" to Abraham (Gal. 3:8), and the book of Hebrews says that Abraham saw the promises "afar off and (was) assured of them" (Heb. 11:13). So, as we see, the unusual action by God (passing through the severed animals alone), does tell us something: from the beginning God intended to fulfill the covenant promises in a fashion that would not make sense to the human mind. He intended to uphold both ends of the agreement by narrowing the seed of Abraham to one Man, His own Son Jesus Christ. It is because we would not think of this ourselves that many Christians fail to see the fulfillment of all the covenant promises in Jesus (Acts 13:32-33, 2 Cor 1:20). This fulfillment of the covenant promise does make perfect sense to God however.9 "(O)nly those who are of faith are sons of Abraham" (Gal. 3:7)10, and that means that we who are in Christ are the true heirs of the Abrahamic promise. The Davidic Dynasty The promises of the covenant were not confined to Abraham. God told David that He would establish his throne forever and that his seed would endure forever (2 Sam. 7:13-16, Ps. 89:35-37). He told David that He would be the Father of David's seed and establish him in His house and His kingdom forever (1 Chron. 17:11-14). As we know from the history provided in the Old Testament, the Davidic dynasty was interrupted by the Babylonian overthrow of Judah and Jerusalem. In fact, a Davidic king did not rule in Israel at any time after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians to the birth of Christ. Zerubbabel, a descendent of David, acted as a governor (not a king), after the exile (Haggai 1:1, 2:2), and the Maccabees who ruled Judea from about 160 B.C. to 37 B.C. were of the tribe of Levi.11 Herod The Great was of Idumaean (Edomite) stock12 and his children who carried ethnic Jewish blood were related to the Maccabees.13 So, by the time of Jesus' birth it had been several hundred years since the last Davidic king had reigned in Israel. The True Davidic Dynasty Yet, all was not lost. According to Matthew 1:1, Jesus is the "Son of David." Luke 1:32 and 69 tell us that God gave Jesus "the throne of His father David" and that God through Jesus "raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house (dynasty) of His servant David." Jesus was recognized as the Son of David even in His own time by faithful Jews (Matt. 9:27). His followers took pains to make it known that Jesus fulfilled the promise of the Davidic dynasty (Acts 13:23, Rom. 1:3). Acts 5:31 says that God exalted Jesus to be "Prince and Savior" for Israel. Then, in Acts 15:15-18 we read the interpretation that James, brother of Jesus applies to Amos 9:11-12. James says that through Jesus Christ, God rebuilt the "tabernacle of David, which (had) fallen down." Clearly, Jesus Christ fulfilled the promise given to David that his dynasty would be like the sun before God "established forever like the moon" (Ps. 89:36-37). Jesus was at the same time the Seed of David and the Son of God (1 Chron. 17:11-14). In addition, Jesus said to His disciples, "I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My father bestowed on upon Me" (Luke 22:29). And the kingdom that He bestowed is none other than the promised Davidic kingdom that He fulfilled. Thus He said to the Apostles, "you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19:28b). Jesus meant that the Apostles would be the foundation for a new Israel and rule or judge the entire New Covenant age through their inspired, authoritative teaching (Eph. 2:20). They were that remnant of true Israel from whom the Church sprang. Acts 15:17 says that when the dynasty of David was re-established, it brought under its umbrella the "Gentiles who are called by " God's name (cf. Amos 9:12). In other words, the kingdom of David as fulfilled in David's Seed is not limited to ethnic Jews in the land of Palestine. Instead, the everlasting kingdom that God promised David is a world embracing kingdom made up of all races and nations. Therefore, we are "a kingdom" (Rev. 1:6), citizens of the Davidic dynasty in Jesus Christ. And this kingdom shall overcome the very gates of hell (Matt. 16:18), before Christ returns to earth (1 Cor. 15:24-28). The fulfillment of the Davidic dynasty does not come by physical nor political means (John 18:36, 1 Cor. 4:20), but is manifest in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). It is part of the inheritance of the elect to be delivered from the power of darkness into this Davidic "kingdom of the Son" (Col. 1:13). "The kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is the saving rule of God, exercised in fulfillment of all the promises of salvation in the Old Testament."14 A blessing that is not limited to ethnic Jews. Israel God also made specific covenant promises to Israel (as a corporate entity). In Exodus 19:5-6 we read: Now therefore if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The relationship between God and the people of Israel was such that He called them His firstborn son (Ex. 4:22-23). God "hovered" over His offspring, Israel, and cared for them like an eagle cares for its young (Deut. 32:11). Israel was called God's inheritance (Deut. 4:20), and a chosen people (7:6, 14:2, 1 King. 3:8, 1 Chron. 16:13, Ps. 105:6 and etc.). Because of their chosen status, the people of Israel could expect special favor from God - as long as they lived in obedience to Him (Deut. 28:1-14). At the same time, if they turned their backs on God, He promised to curse them (Deut. 28:15-68). Yet even the cursings were designed to turn Israel back to God (Deut. 30:1-8). As we know from the Old Testament, the nation of Israel continually turned its back on God and spent as much time outside of God's favor as within it. Time and again Israel failed to "Obey (God's) voice and keep (His) covenant." To the observer on the scene at the time it would seem as if Israel would never fully enjoy the special relationship with God that they had been offered. Then something spectacular happened. The True Israel In Matthew's account concerning the first years of Jesus life, we read that when Jesus and His parents returned from Egypt after fleeing Herod's revenge, the "exodus" of Jesus fulfilled a certain prophecy. In 2:15 of his book, Matthew says that Jesus was in Egypt "until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying,'Out of Egypt I called My son." Now if we turn back to Hosea 11:1 where this is originally found, we see that Hosea gives no indication that he is talking about anything other than the nation of Israel. Nonetheless, Matthew interprets the prophecy for us, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and he tells us that it was a prophecy about the Person Israel, Jesus Christ.15 In truth, the nation of Israel was a type of Christ that was fulfilled in the anti-type, Jesus, the true Son of God the true Israel and Christ. For this reason the nation of Israel was called the firstborn son of God (Ex. 4:22-23) and the Messiah was called Israel (Is. 49:1-6). This being so, we should expect to see that Jesus provides headship to a corporate entity as Israel was a corporate entity. This is in fact what the Bible tells us. The people of God are counted as the very body of Christ (Rom. 12:5, 1 Cor. 12:27, Eph. 4:4-16, 5:30-32, Col. 1:18, 2:19, Heb. 13:3), and so Jesus becomes the head of a corporate entity, something larger than the individual. Those who are part of the fulfillment of Israel (Jesus Christ), even take on the names that used to be reserved for the type. Hence we see that the true Jew is one who has placed faith in the fulfillment of Israel, Jesus Christ (Rom. 2:28-29), rather than one who claims the name based on ethnic origin or religious observance. Paul refers to a time when the Christians in Corinth "were Gentiles" making plain that they had become part of (true) Israel in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 12:2). He tells us that Mount Sinai (old Israel) "corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children - but the Jerusalem above is free which is the mother of us all" who are in the new Israel, Jesus Christ (Gal. 4:21-26). He says that those who are in Christ, (the Church), are the "Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16). Indeed, he "represents the Church of the living God to be one, founded on one covenant (which the law could not set aside), from Abraham to today."16 Writing to the Ephesian church Paul says that we were at one time "aliens to the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise" (Eph. 2:12). However, in Christ Jesus (who is the true Israel), "you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (vs. 13). In other words, by the blood of Christ we have become part of and "fellow citizens" of Israel (vs. 19). Jesus has created in Himself one new man, one new body, one new nation from Jew and Gentile (2:14-15). Through Jesus and only through Him, both Jew and Gentile are reconciled to God and made one body through the cross of Christ (2:16). With the coming of the anti-type, the type ceased to have any significance in the plan of God. The writer of the book of Hebrews speaks of the Church (the very Church we are a part of today), when he says that through Jesus a new covenant was established with Israel and the house of Judah (Heb. 8:7-13), thus applying the names Israel and Judah to those who have placed faith in Christ Jesus. Again, it was Jesus' "blood of the new covenant" (Matt. 26:28), that sealed that relationship for (new) Israel and (new) Judah in fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:31-43. The book of Hebrews also tells us that those who place faith in Christ become part of the heavenly (true) Jerusalem, the city of God, the general assembly and Church of the first born (Heb. 12:18-24). Those who are in Christ are now called the chosen people of God, the royal priesthood a holy nation His own special people (Col. 3:12, 1 Peter 2:9), rather than old ("ethnic") Israel (Ex. 19:6). Instead of an old unproductive vineyard (Is. 5:1-7), we are God's new vineyard in Christ, He being the true vine (Luke. 20:16, Jn. 15:1-6). Rather than a merely fleshly circumcision which was a type, in Christ we are the true circumcision (Jer. 9:25-26, Rom. 2:25-29, Phil. 3:2-3, Col. 2:11). Indeed, those who are in Christ are the Bride, having replaced the harlot of apostate (old), Israel (2 Cor. 11:2, Eph. 5:31-32, Ex. 34:15-16, Ezk. 16 and 23, etc.). Laws that were originally given to old Israel now apply to the Church. Paul enjoins children to obey their parents without a lengthy apologetic as to why Christian children are bound by the law of Israel (Eph. 6:1-3). He applies the law concerning oxen treading grain in old Israel to new Israel as well (and does so in a fashion that gives us insight on the "how" of applying the old testament law), saying that: "For our sakes, no doubt, this was written" (1 Cor. 9:9-10).17 This is not to say that we have replaced18 Israel in the covenant relationship. No indeed: we have been assimilated into true19 Israel20 and have become "fellow heirs of the same body" (Eph. 3:6), part of a new Israel, or new man (Eph. 2:14-18). As Paul says, not all who are called Israel are really Israel (Rom. 9:6-8). Jesus Himself said that those Jews who rejected Him were not "Abraham's children" but were children of the devil (John. 8:39-44). Those of old Israel who God foreknew were kept as a remnant, elected by grace to become the foundation of the new Israel in Jesus Christ (Rom. 11:2, 5). The Bible tells us that this remnant (those who accepted Jesus as the Messiah), numbered in the many thousands (Acts 21:20) and was a significant percentage of the Jewish nation then living. It was into this root of the olive tree (Jer. 11:16, Hos. 14:6), that we have been grafted (Rom. 11:24), and so have become Israel along with that first century remnant. The tree was not cut down, but (unbelieving) branches were broken off and new branches grafted in (Rom. 11:16-26). One is not true Israel by birth but by re-birth (John 3:3). Thus "Israel can never again be defined apart from Christ."21 The Tabernacle and the Temple God also pronounced covenant promises that had to do with the tabernacle and later the temple in Jerusalem. The tabernacle was a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things" (Heb. 8:5) and was the place that God "dwelt" among His people in the wilderness wandering (Ex. 40:34). After the land had been occupied the tabernacle remained at fixed locations: first at Shiloh, then at Nob and still later at Gibeon (Josh. 18:1, 1 Sam. 21:1, 1 Chron. 16:39), and was the place were God put His name (Deut. 14:24). When Solomon finished building the temple, he brought the tabernacle up to Jerusalem, perhaps as a memorial of God's past dealings with Israel (1 Kng 8:1-4). After Solomon built the temple, God said that it would be a place for His name forever, that His eyes and heart would be there perpetually (1 Kng. 8:13, 20, 9:3). This was contingent upon the continued covenant obedience of the Davidic kings (9:6-9). We know from the Old Testament the kings of Judah failed to walk with God and so the first temple was eventually destroyed (2 Chron. 36:17-19). A second temple was begun under the oversight of the priest and scribe Ezra (Ezra 3:2-11). Concerning this temple we do not read of the same promise from God to "place His name there forever." Nonetheless, 500 years passed by from the time that its foundation was laid to its removal by Herod the Great. This second temple was defiled by Antiochus Epiphanes in about 169 B.C.22 (Antiochus IV: he had swine's flesh sacrificed on the alter). Also, Pompey entered the Most Holy Place of the second temple in about 63 B.C. when he overthrew Jerusalem.23 It seems that God's special protection and favor did not rest on this second temple in its later years as it may have during its early years or as it did on the first temple before Israel apostatized. Herod's temple (the third temple), was built on the same site as the first and second temples.24 In fact the second temple was removed in order to make way for Herod's larger and more expensive edifice; but not before the materials for the new temple had been gathered in order to "ally the distrust of (Herod's) subjects."25 This temple, began in about 19 B.C., was the temple of Jesus day and "although the main structure was finished within 10 years ...work continued until A.D. 64."26 It was only six years after its completion that the Romans destroyed Herod's temple. In truth Herod's temple was something of a "false" temple, being built as it was by a hypocritical "worshiper" of God whose thinking was liberally salted with pagan ideas27 (see discussion on Mat. 24:15 in chapter 5 below). The tabernacle/temple was the place where those who feared God would go to sacrifice as a means of fellowship and to atone for sin (Lev. chapter 2-7, 1 Kng. 8:62-64, 2 Chron. 7:12). It was the place for cleansing (Lev. chapter 14, Mark. 1:44), and the place were prayers were offered to God (1 Kng. 8:29, 33, 38 and etc.). In short, the temple was a physical representation of God's presence, the holy place of worship and cleansing and of meeting with God. The True Tabernacle and Temple In John's gospel we read that the "word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). The Greek word translated here as "dwelt," is eskenosen (eskhnwsen28), and comes from the root word skene (skhnh), which means "tent" or "dwelling" and so carries the idea of a temporary abode. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament (LXX or Septuagint), this term was used of the tabernacle of God. Thus it seems that John is telling us that Jesus came and tabernacled among us: He was the tabernacle of God, the place for God's name and where God dwelt among His people. Jesus said these very things about Himself. He said that He and the Father were One (John. 10:30), and to see Him was to see the Father (14:9). Jesus said that rather than worship God at the temple, true worshipers must worship God in spirit and in truth (4:23-24): Jesus is the truth (14:6) and He provides the Spirit (16:7). We are told that Christ came as a High Priest, "with the greater and more perfect tabernacle" (Heb. 9:11). Jesus also declared that He is greater than the temple (Matt. 12:6), hence its fulfillment. He declared that He was the true temple, and that when destroyed He would be raised up in three days (John 2:19). Like the temple, Jesus is the house of God and the gateway to heaven (Gen. 28:12, 17, John 1:51). He is the place of cleansing and forgiveness (Matt. 8:1-4, 9:2), and the place were God's name and presence are (Matt. 1:23). Truly something greater than the temple had entered human history, and the end of the temple could not be long delayed. The temple and it sacrifices were a sign pointing to 'the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world' (John 1:29). When the Lamb appeared and atonement in fulfillment of the sign was accomplished, the significance of the sign was at an end. Fulfillment implies no disrespect for the sign, and Jesus showed no disrespect of the temple. ...Jesus' entire public ministry is actually a fulfillment of what the temple 29symbolized. Since Jesus is the true temple, we may expect that those who are in Jesus and part of His body are the temple of God as well. According to the Bible, this is in fact the case. Paul says that we are the temple of God both corporately (1 Cor 3:16), and individually (6:19). He says that the new (corporate), temple is capable of being defiled just as the old temple (the type) was capable of being defiled (2 Cor. 6:11-18). Paul says that in Christ, we grow "into a holy temple" (Eph. 2:21), and are thus a "dwelling place of God in the Spirit," replacing the old temple as a place for God's name to dwell (2:22). So then, those who have faith in Jesus Christ, the true temple of God, become the temple of God with Him. The Land When God called Abraham, one of the promises He made to him was that his descendants (see, "The True Seed" above), would inherit the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession (Gen. 13:15, 15:18-21, 17:8). This promise was reiterated to Isaac (26:3), and Jacob (28:13, 35:12), the twelve sons of Jacob (50:24-25, in this case by Jacob), and later to the nation of Israel - before and after entering the land (Ex. 3:17, Josh. 24:13). However, the continued possession of the land did depend on obedience to the covenant (Deut. 4:25ff, 28:64 etc.).30 God told Israel that if they obeyed Him they would be blessed in the land in every way. He said they would enjoy health, numerous off-spring, growing possessions of livestock, monetary wealth and leadership among the nations (Deut 28:1-14). These blessings were, in a sense, intrinsic to the land31 (Ex. 3:8, 13:5, Num. 13:27, Deut 1:25), with the blessings of the land experienced by the offspring of Abraham when they were in the land itself (Ex. 23:25-26, Jer. 42:10), the dwelling place of God (Num. 35:34). Yet the blessings associated with the land were gracious gifts from God (Deut. 7:7-8), that could and would be revoked if Israel turned away from God (Deut. 28:15ff). In short, the land provided peace and security and manifested continued blessing from God as long as the people remained in the land and were true to the covenant. Nevertheless, the children of Israel continually rebelled and refused to walk in the righteous ways of God. The result was the removal of the blessings associated with the land. Instead of peace, plenty and healthful vigor, they were continually dogged by war famine and plague - just as the Lord God had promised. Finally the children of Israel were vomited out by the land for their wickedness (Lev. 18:28). The ten northern tribes were overthrown and deported by the king of Assyria (2 Kng.17:6, 23-24), with Judah overthrown and deported years later by the Babylonians (2 Chron 36:17-21). The Jews were allowed to return the to the land under the Medo-Persian kings, but they never again experienced the blessings of the land to the extent they had formally. Indeed, for the returned exiles, the land of promise had contracted, so to speak, to the city of Jerusalem and the temple. The True Land When Paul tells us in the letter to the Galatians that Jesus is the true seed of Abraham, "the central phrase on which Paul's entire argument rests, 'And to your offspring' (Galatians 3:16), is found only in promises that contain the promise of the land."32 In other words, when Paul affirms that Jesus is the true Seed of Abraham, he does so with an eye toward making it clear that the land and its promised blessings are realized in Christ. As we can see from the land promises in the Old Testament, they depend on the offspring of Abraham actually residing in the land. Now, however, in Christ, the offspring do not reside in the land in order to receive the promise, but the land resides in the Offspring and He - the ultimate dwelling place of God 33 - is where the promised blessings are eternally experienced. Jesus provides the peace and security of the land (Phil. 4:6-7). He provides the abundant life of the land of promise (John 10:10). which is simply a promise of the blessings of covenant relationship (cf. Gen. 3:22-23). Jesus provides the health - the healing - that was formerly associated with the land (Luke 7:22). In Jesus is fulfilled the promise of leadership of nations (Matt: 28:19). In Him are found abundant possessions (Matt. 6:25-34, Mark 10:29-30), and treasures that will dazzle the eyes of even the most jaded miser (Matt. 6:19-21, 13:44-46, John 14:2-3). Also like the old land, the new land (Jesus Christ), will vomit out (dispossess), apostates who refuse to repent (Rev. 3:16). In Christ the entire world is transformed into the land of promise. There is no longer any geographical boundary to God's blessing nor His dispossession of the apostate. Once again, those who place faith in Jesus Christ may partake of the promises of the land. Because the type has been fulfilled in Jesus, the land based promises are given to those who are in Christ no matter where they reside. Thus, Paul says that the promises formerly associated with the land are in fact worldwide in their scope (Rom. 4:13),34 just as Jesus had expanded the inheritance to encompass the entire earth (Matt. 5:5). In a very specific application of this truth, Paul says that the "first commandment with promise" (children obey your parents), is not limited to Palestine, but in Christ - the true land - it is a promise with world-wide relevance (Eph. 6:1-3). More than simply partake of the promises, those who are in Christ are even considered the land in a sense. In Galatians 4:26-27 Paul applies Isaiah's prophecy concerning a restored Jerusalem to those who are in Christ. Paul says that the Jerusalem above is free and is the mother of all who have faith in Christ Jesus. He does not say that this is a future inheritance, but indicates "that the Jerusalem that is to come has already arrived."35 Indeed, "the gathering of all believers in Christ into the Church Paul sees as the fulfillment of the Isaianic prophecy."36 All The Promises Of God Are Yes In Jesus Christ The passages which are critical to understanding the fulfillment of the everlasting promises made to the old covenant patriarchs are Galatians 3:16 and 3:29. Although we did look at these passages at the beginning of this chapter, we will do well to close the chapter with a second look. In these verses we read: Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to your Seed,' who is Christ. And if you are Christ's then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." What we see is that the promises of the old covenant age find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, period. Paul declared this to the Jews in Antioch Pisidia when he told them "that the promise which was made to the fathers... God has fulfilled ...for us their children in that He has raised up Jesus" (Acts 13:32-33). The bottom line is that God's special favor does not rest on any person, race or nation outside of Jesus Christ. All of the promises to Abraham, Israel, David, et al, find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ and the only way to participate in the fulfillment of those promises is to place faith in Jesus Christ.37 This is the unequivocal message of the New Testament. Let us be more clear. Modern Jews and the modern nation of Israel have no claim whatsoever to the promises given to the old covenant patriarchs based on their "Jewishness." The only way that they may participate in the promises of Abraham (and etc.), is to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in this present age. This is true for all races, nations and people groups. After that it will be too late for all who have rejected Him, Jew or Gentile. Once the types were fulfilled in Jesus, those who rejected the fulfillment and chose to stay behind in old Israel were considered apostates. They had rejected the Messiah, and their time of special favor had come to an end. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans chapters 9 through 11. He begins by saying that "not all who are Israel are Israel" (Rom. 9:6).38 In other words, just because someone is a blood descendant of Abraham, that does not mean that they are part of true Israel (John 8:39-44). As we have seen, to be part of true Israel depends on faith in Jesus the Messiah not on ethnic origin. Thus "in rejecting the mass of contemporary Jews God has not cast off His people, but, acting only as He had frequently done in former ages, is fulfilling His promise to the kernel while shelling off the husk."39 Then in Romans 11:15 Paul says that the casting away of Israel made way for the "reconciling of the world" (cf. Col. 1:19-20). In other words, the temporary (partial), blindness that was placed on some of true Israel (Rom. 11:25, cf. 11:7 and 9:6-7), allowed for the breaking down of the wall between the Jews and the Gentiles, and God made one nation and one people of the two (Eph. 2:11-22). In God's providence this partial blindness and influx of the Gentiles came during the final (last) days of the special favor shown to the ethnic Jews (old Israel), and served to provoke the elect among the ethnic Jews to jealousy (Rom. 11:11). This jealously over the Gentiles being included in the covenant promise was used by God to bring in a great harvest of the ethnic Jews (Rev. 14:14-16, cf. Matt. 9:37-38, Luke 10:2, Acts 21:20). This was the final harvest out of old Israel at the end of the old covenant age. This was begun at the day of Pentecost when Jews from all over the Roman world heard the Gospel and responded. For in Acts 2:8-11 we read that: Parthinians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Lybia adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs - we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. This was in fulfillment of Isaiah 11:11 where we read: "It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea." What took place during the celebration of Pentecost as recorded in Acts chapter 2 was a preliminary fulfillment of this prophecy in that those who responded to the Gospel at that time later went back to where they came from and preached the word to their fellow Jews (Acts 8:4). This activity along with the work of the Apostle Paul, placed the Gospel before Jews all over the earth (Col. 1:6, 23). This appeal to the Jews was a necessary final event. When that had been done, when the remnant had been recovered (Is. 11:11), then the time of special favor for (old) Israel was over. Once that took place, the old age came to a thundering close in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (an event prophesied by Jesus and constantly on the minds of the New Testament writers). At that point the new age in Jesus Christ shone forth in its fullness. This was like "life from the dead" to the lost of the world (Rom. 11:15). In other words, when the age of special favor toward the ethnic Jews came to a close, the rest of mankind began to experience the grace of God in the message of salvation as it never had before. This in turn opened the door for the complete fulfillment of Isaiah 1140 - indeed it opened the door for the fulfillment of all of God's promises to those who are in Jesus Christ. In a one sense, until this harvest was complete and the old age came to an end, the preaching of the Gospel was directed primarily toward the Jews in that it was presented to the Jews first. Even Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, never failed to declare the Gospel to the Jews in whatever city he was in, always with some success (Acts 13:5-6, 14, 43, 46, 14:1-2, 16:13, 17:1-4, 10-12, 17, 18:4-5, 19, 19:8, 10, 22:1-ff, 28:17, 23-31). Meanwhile, the rest of the (leading) Apostles concentrated their efforts on evangelizing and winning the Jews to faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:8-9, Acts 2:41, 4:4, 5:14, 6:7, 8:1 ). In so doing they simply followed the lead of Jesus Himself (Matt. 10:5-6, 13:37, 15:24). This emphasis on Jewish evangelism created a difficulty in the minds of the Apostles and the early Church. Just how Jewish was the Church supposed to be? Jewish to the point that it excluded all except those who submitted to the Mosaic ritual (Acts 15:1)? And how did the Church fit into the great sweep of history: along side of Judaism or replacing it? Responding to the Jewish/Judaism problem was a major concern of all of the Church in the first century as they tried to sort out how the Church was related to Israel (Rom. 2:1-4:25, 7:1-25. 9:1-11:36, 1 Cor. 10:1-13, Galatians, Eph. 2:11-3:7, Phil. 3:1-21, Col. 2:1-23, 1 Thess. 1:6, 14-16, 1 Tim. 1:3-11, 4:1-4, Titus 1:10-16, Hebrews and etc.). Churches that we consider Gentile in character were actually quite Jewish in their outlook, regardless of their racial make up.41 This should be expected since the Gentiles were grafted into the root of Israel. Thus it was not a matter of the Church replacing Israel , as much as it was a matter of the Gentiles being assimilated into true Israel which had as its foundation the Remnant saved out of apostate Israel (Rom. 9:6, 11:2, 5, 17; this does not rule out replacing "Judaism" which became and continues to be false worship of God; thus Christianity became the true religion of Israel). As Christians "the Old Testament is (our) spiritual history. The promises and calling of God to Israel are (our) historical promises and calling (Gal. 3:29)."42 All of this had always been in the mind of God but was only revealed in shadowy types and obscure prophecies. Yet when the types and prophecies found their fulfillment in Jesus, the mystery was revealed (Rom. 16:25, Eph. 3:1-9, 19, Col. 1:25-29, 4:3), and the end of the old age was soon to follow (see chapter 2 below). The old age, the old creation, was passing away and all things were being made new (1 Cor. 7:26-31, 2 Cor. 5:17-21). Christians and their children now receive the blessings (and punishments) formerly reserved for old Israel (1 Cor. 7:14, 2 Cor. 1:20, Heb. 12:5-11). All of the promises and prophecies that were not fulfilled before the birth of Jesus are fulfilled in Jesus and so may be claimed by those who are in Him; the Church, made up of Jew and Gentile alike. There has been a transfer of conditional privilege,43 and it shall never be reversed. ____________________ 1. C. van der Waal, The Covenantal Gospel, (Neerlandia AB: Inheritance Publications, 1990). 2. D. Guthrie et al, The New Bible Commentary: Revised, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1953, 1970), 95; James Orr et al, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 4 vols., (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1939, 1956), "Covenant," II:727; 3. O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ Of The Covenants, (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1980), 10. As Robertson puts it: "The dismembered animals represent the curse that the covenant maker calls down on himself if he should violate the commitment which he has made." Guthrie, 1098. 4. Ronald K. Fung, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Epistle To The Galatians, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988), 156. 5. John Owen, The Works Of John Owen, 16 vols., (1850; Edinburgh: Banner Of Truth Trust, 1965),2:218. Owen goes on to say that "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are said to be 'heirs of the same promise,' (as we) Heb. xi.9. God had from the foundation of the world made a most excellent promise in Christ, containing a deliverance from all evil, and an engagement for the bestowing of all good things upon them." 6. William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Galatians and Ephesians, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979), 151. 7. Matthew Poole, A Commentary On The Holy Bible, 3 vols., (Mclean VA: Macdonald Publishing Co.,n.d.), 3:650. 8. Calvin, Institutes, IV:XIV:21 9. Oswald T. Allis, Prophecy and The Church, (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian And Reformed Publishing Co., 1945, 1947), 58 10. "Paul begins by asking his readers to recognize that the true children of Abraham are exclusively 'the men of faith' - those who are justified by faith in Christ and whose life is guided by the principle of faith." Fung, Galatians, 138. 11. 1 Maccabees 2:1 12. Peter Richardson, Herod: King Of The Jews And Friend Of The Romans, (Columbia SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1996), 54. 13. J.D. Douglas et al, New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers Inc., 1982), "Maccabees", 719-720. Also, Richardson, 46-51. 14. Vern S. Poythress, The Shadow Of Christ In The Law Of Moses, (Phillipsburg NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1991), 79. 15. David E. Holwerda, Jesus & Israel: One Covenant or Two?, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), chapter 2. See also, Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics, (Phillipsburg NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1977, 1984), 506. 16. Benjamin B. Warfield, The Works Of Benjamin B. Warfield, 10 vols., (1932; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991), IX:408. 17. A few weeks after I wrote this section I was skimming through a newly purchased book and ran across these words: "Laws passed by parliament in England are not binding on us here in the United States. So why are laws delivered to the Jews at Sinai binding on modern Americans? The reason is that, according to the New Testament, laws given to them were given to our "fathers" - the New Covenant is made with those whose fathers were brought out of Egypt. It is "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt" (Heb. 8:9). In the New Covenant, God writes His laws on the hearts of His people. These people, these new Covenant Christians, must be able to say that God delivered their fathers out of the land of Egypt. We are tempted to object, those of us who are Gentiles, because we think our physical fathers were nowhere near Egypt at that time. But the Bible teaches from the beginning to the end that physical descent considered on its own merits is worthless. We are linked with them through God's covenantal dealings with Israel, and not by physical ancestry." Douglas Wilson, Standing On The Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing, (Moscow ID: Canon Press, 1997), 54-55, italics in the original. 18. John Hagee has written a book that condemns what he calls "replacement theology." Apparently he believes that if he comes up with a snappy new term for a point of view that he disagrees with it will help book sales. Unfortunately it seems that he is correct. Nonetheless, even a cursory reading of his book proves once again that a large church does not a theologian make. Hagee marches out all of the usual bogey men to try and frighten his readers away from sound thinking (or from actually reading the Bible instead of the latest book with a nifty cover that has in its title the words, "last," "end," "late," "prophecy," or "temple secrets for fast and permanent weight loss" which has to do with the oxidation of fat). For instance, following Hal Lindsey's lead he accuses anyone who would dare call the Church "Israel" of Hitler-like anti-Semitism. He, of course, does not substantiate this claim. John Hagee, Final Dawn Over Jerusalem, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), 61, 96. 19. John Murray, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Epistle To The Romans, one volume edition, (Grand Rapids:Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1968), 2:9 20. "The Gentiles have been brought near, they have been brought into Israel. ...Paul does not teach that Israel has been abolished, he teaches that it has been greatly expanded." and etc. Douglas Wilson, Standing On The Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing, (Moscow ID: Canon Press, 1997), 53. 21. Holwerda, 36 22. 1 Maccabees 1:50-67. Flavius Josephus, "The Wars Of The Jews", The Works Of Josephus, trans., William Whiston, (Peabody MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987), I:I:2. Douglas "Antiochus," 53. Orr, "Antiochus", 1:159. 23. Josephus, The Antiquities Of The Jews, XIV:IV:4, Wars, I:VII:6. Douglas, "Temple," 1170. Orr, "Temple," 4:2936. 24. Josephus, Wars, I:XXI:1. Orr, "Temple," 4:2937 25. Orr, "Temple," 4:2937 26. Douglas, "Temple," 1170. 27. Richardson, Herod. 28. I apologize to the students of Greek who are reading this manuscript. My computer may have the capability to add the breathing and accent marks - but if it does I don't know how to get it to do so. 29. Holwerda, 69. 30. Holwerda, 88, 90. 31. By the time of Jesus the Jews had made the Land an idol, claiming that "only in Palestine does the Shechinah manifest itself" and that "to live in Palestine was equal to the observance of all the commandments" or that "he who dwells in Palestine is without sin." Alfred Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, (n.d.; Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), 3, 5. 32. Holwerda, 103. 33. Poythress, 71 ,72. 34. Robert Haldane, Romans: Geneva Series Of Commentaries, (1874; Edinburgh: The Banner Of Truth Trust, 1996), 175. 35. Fung, Galatians, 210. Also, Hendriksen, Galatians, 183, were Hendriksen writes: "(W)e might have expected Paul to mention 'the Jerusalem of the future.' but he cannot very well do this, for the church, as the sum total of all believers, here contrasted with carnal Israel, is being gathered even now..." 36. Fung, Galatians, 211. See also Hendriksen, Galatians, 185. 37. Calvin, Institutes, IV:I:3 38. "Here is the explanation of the mystery that the Jews, as a nation, had rejected the Messiah: they are not all true Israelites in the spiritual sense of the promise, who are Israelites after the flesh. ...The common election of the Israelitish nation does not prevent the Sovereign of infinite holiness from choosing for Himself, according to His secret council, whatever portion of that people He has determined to save." Haldane, Romans, 449. 39. Warfield, Works, II:52. Warfield also says that "we must not lose from sight the fact that the nation as such was rather the symbolical than the real people of God, and was His people at all, indeed, only so far as it was, ideally or actually, identified with the inner body of the really 'chosen' - that people whom Jehovah formed for Himself that they might set forth His praise Isa.. xliii.20, lxv.9, 15, 22), and who constituted the real people of His choice, the 'remnant of Jacob' (Isa. vi.13, Amos ix.8-10, Mal. iii.10; cf. I Kings xix.18, Isa. viii18)" 27. 40. John Calvin, Commentaries, 22 vols., (n.d.; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989), vol. VII, I:389. 41. E. Earl Ellis, The Old Testament in Early Christianity, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991), 121. 42. Fee and Stuart, 82. In addition, James Jordan has this to say: "First, the specific history of the Hebrews, from Abraham to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, is the central core of all human history during this time. God works many things into the psychology and consciousness of these people, and then all humanity is invited into this history, into this psychology and consciousness. This is clearly stated in Romans 11: All humanity is invited to be grafted into this "olive tree" history. Thus the 'Old Testament' history is our history, not the history of anyone outside of the Christian realm (thus not the history of the modern Jews, who were broken out of that "olive tree" until they repent). When we are plugged into this history, we leave behind our old [ethnic history], and this history becomes our[s]." James B. Jordan, Crisis, Opportunity and The Christian Future, (Niceville FL: Transfiguration Press, 1994), 9, italics and parenthesis in the original, brackets mine. 43. Charles D. Provan, The Church Is Israel Now, (Vallecito CA: Ross House Books, 1987). The End Was Near The Purpose Of This Study The Seed Of Abraham, Israel, The Land And All That The End Is Near The Sky Is Falling Prophetic Licence Survey of Matthew Chapter 24 |