Quote:
Originally Posted by trettep
EVERYONE will eventually be Israelites.
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trettep,
I believe you may be missing something very important here. Read Romans 8:
Rom 8:18-23
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us [first-fruits]. For the earnest expectation of the creature [Israel] waiteth for the manifestation [in election] of the sons of God [the first-fruits].
For the creature [Israel] was made subject to vanity [the Law], not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope [new covenant resurrection],
because the creature itself [Israel herself] also shall be delivered [redeemed] from the bondage of corruption [the old covenant] into the glorious liberty [the new covenant] of the children of God [the first-fruits].
For we know that the whole creation [humanity] groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they [Israel-Humanity], but ourselves [the first-fruits] also, which have the firstfruits [down payment] of the [eschatological] Spirit, even we ourselves [the first-fruits] groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body
Jesus was God's redemptive agent
of and for His people Israel. Jesus was
THEIR Messiah, thus ALL Israel, from God's perspective, were
in Christ. Israel was God's chosen "
vine" [
Isa 5:7] – Jesus prophetically, redemptively and eschatologically was "
the true vine" [
Jn 15:1]; therefore Jesus was
True Israel, fulfilling in himself Israel's divine mandate [
Isa 49:3]. Jesus was
THE ELECT [Messiah] of
the elect [Israel] [
Isa 49:8-9]. Jesus WAS Israel's redeeming Messiah [
Mt 1:21; Lk 1:68],
thus ALL Israel was IN Christ, and in the Parousia ALL were delivered from the "
ungodliness of Jacob" having finally had their "
sins taken away" and so ALL Israel was set free [
Rom 11:26-27]. It was to ALL Israel that the prophetic promise was made of a new covenant [
Jer 31:31-34], and this redemptive promise of restoration WAS the "
hope of Israel" i.e.,
her resurrection [
Eze 37:1-14; Act 23:6; 24:15; 26:6-8]. It was THIS promise that Yahweh would make good through
the remnant elect on behalf of the greater whole. The first-fruit believers of the AD30-70 transitional period were the ones separated and dedicated [sanctified] by and to God as
the first-fruits offering of the greater gathering harvest of all Israel at "
the fullness of the times"
Eph 1:10.
Though rebellious enemies of the gospel, historic Israel were nonetheless elect and beloved on account of God's promises to the patriarchs, and ultimately in the mercy of God, accepted and redeemed:
Rom 11:15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
Or to paraphrase it: "
For if Israel's temporal hardening brings the reconciling of the world, what will Israel's acceptance by God be but resurrection life?"
And this is the crux of the matter –
the fulfillment of Israel's redemption brought about the world's reconciliation. And "world" in this context clearly DOES extend beyond the limits and borders of historic Israel. Paul's "
all Israel" is corporately inclusive and so likewise Paul's "
the world". Thus by virtue of Israel's redemption we have
all humanity in Christ, or as Paul states: "
…God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, NOT imputing their trespasses to them…"
2 Cor 5:19.
Those who seek to read Paul's "all Israel" as "the church only" plainly ignore the context made clear in
Rom 10:1; 11:1, 14, 28 and can only do so by reading into the text this bifurcation and could do well to consider the following:
When Paul and others spoke in terms of NOT ALL Israel being "Israel", "Jews" or "God's children" [
Rom 2:28-29; 9:6, 8; Rev 3:9] they were delineating the fact that historic Israel was not, and had not for some time, lived in accordance with her holy vocation and calling as Yahweh's priests to the world, i.e., being God's
light to the Gentiles, as was their mandate as kingdom priests [
Ex 19:5-6; Isa 42:1, 6; 43:10; 49:3-6; Zech 3:8]. It was THIS kingdom mandate – the
authority as witnesses to God, that was stripped from old covenant historic Israel and given
through Christ to the nation producing its fruits [
Mt 21:43-45] i.e., new covenant or true Israel, also known as "
the Israel of God" [
Gal 6:16]; none other than the 'Body of Christ' – the branches of the Vine. Historic Israel through her self-centred and self-righteous exclusiveness abdicated her God-given role as God's redemptive handiwork in the earth – it was THIS mandate and THIS role that those "
this generation" first-fruit saints
of faith inherited, in other words – THEY received and entered into the inheritance of kingdom rule and life [
Rom 5:17].
Further, in the
context then of the first-fruit believers those who Paul
specifically speaks of as "
in Christ" were those of faith,
called as priests unto God, brethren of Christ – those who are
saved to serve.
Essentially then, "the world" has been brought into Israel "in Christ" [
Eph 2:11-13]; "believers" are His priesthood [
1 Pet 2:9-10] to minister within Israel i.e., to "the world" His blessing and Presence – thus the 'fellowship of followers' are as the New Jerusalem in the new creation in this ageless age of righteousness [
2 Pet 3:13]. Active faith then is
the key to THE CALL, not the key to Heaven – "getting to heaven" was never the issue, but coming into the covenant call of priestly service.
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