GOD'S IDEA OF FAMILY

GOD’S IDEA OF FAMILY (Jews and Gentiles as one new man in Christ)

                It has always been God’s plan that Jews and Gentiles would become one family in Yeshua. From the very beginning, when God made eternal covenants with Abraham God told him that through Abraham’s seed, all of the nations of the earth would be blessed.

                And if we go to Romans 11 we find that same theme being carried out, when Paul explains to us that we didn’t replace the Jews, rather we become Abraham’s seed through Yeshua. We are grafted in to the seed line of faith into the tree that is God’s people when we are born again in Yeshua.

                Paul then goes on to explain that God still has an eternal plan for the Jews based upon irrevocable promises in which all Israel will be saved. And Both Zechariah 12: 10 and Revelation 1:7 speak of the salvation of the Jews when it says:

                “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a first-born.”

                This scenario is prefigured for us in the story of Joseph and his brothers when they finally recognized him in Egypt.

                Likewise it says in Revelation 1:7: “Behold, He is coming with clouds and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

                The parallels between Zech. 12:10 and Rev. 1:7 are undeniable. So we were taught wrongly when we were told that God rejected Israel for crucifying Christ. It is true that some of the branches were temporarily broken off so that the Gentiles could be grafted in, but God is able to graft them back in as well when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (Study Romans chapter 11 and Eph. Ch. 2 carefully)

                The truth is Christianity has been on a long detour away from God’s stated purposes. It happened when in the 4^thcentury Christianity divorced the Jews and went off to marry the Pagans. The result was the Dark Ages and the reign of the great whore of Babylon which we see throughout the pages of history and that will finally meet its end in Revelation 17 just prior to Christ’s return.

                Since then the family has been divided and the Jews, Like Joseph’s brothers can no longer recognize Yeshua because He has been made to look pagan/Egyptian rather than Jewish. Herein is one of God’s purposes for raising up the Messianic Jewish family in these last days. On one hand they must remind the church of its Judeo/Christian roots and on the other hand, the must again make Yeshua look Jewish so that the Jews can once again recognize Him.

                Unfortunately the reformation, as great as it was, did not continue on into the full truth of God’s eternal plans. Each denomination was formed around its chosen reformer and they each stopped growing with the reformer’s death and they set their doctrines in cement rather than pressing on in the spirit of the reformer.

                For this reason, the most diabolical parts of pagan Christianity stayed on the books. The changing of times and laws, the changing of the calendar, the rejection and ignorance of the significance of God’s appointed times, (the Feast Days and Sabbaths) and even god’s Moral Law was lost to the church.

                So now today, as we approach the end of time and the coming tribulation, we see large portions of Protestantism falling back to the pagan whore from which they once escaped at the cost of their lives. And that pagan whore of Babylon, true to form, is now conspiring with the powers of the antichrist to form a global government over which they will rule.

                And we see their threefold platform taking shape right before our eyes, as the globalists in using the Pope of Rome are now forming a global conglomerate religion of “Equal gods.” But they are also forming a global economy with soon coming global money. This global finance will be strictly monitored by massive computer systems and bio/electronic implants so that, like the Bible says, no one will be able to buy or sell unless he has the Mark of the Beast.

                And the third leg of their global platform will be, as the Bible describes it, a political leg in which all of the sovereignties of the nations will be surrendered to one central global government… and I think that anyone with a pulse can see these things forming right before our eyes today. We are awash in an ever strengthening flood of the spirit of antichrist.

                As such we can expect and see the marked rise in anti-Semitism and Anti-Christianity and it looks distasteful and scary to us, but in fact it is going to force us back into God’s eternal plan. Through persecution and war and fearful events Jews and Christians will be forced back into one family… equally hated by all… equally persecuted… equally loved of God.

                On this point I must add that much of the church today teaches completely different paths for Jews and Gentiles that would separate us rather than unite us. In my view they have created a pre-trib rapture in which the church disappears while the Jews go through the tribulation. As such then the four Gospels don’t really apply to the church, but only to the Jews. I can’t accept that. Jesus was warning us not to take the Mark of the Beast.

                In my writing I often try to paint with broad strokes so that we can see the bigger picture. So often we get lost in the details, in petty arguments about points of doctrine most of which will be swallowed up in reality at the coming of these events. So for that reason I am not going to be dogmatic here, but only to paint a picture of God’s purposes as I see them throughout the whole of scripture.

                I want you to understand why I became a Messianic Jew. It is because I see this unity of Jewish and Gentile Christians as being the ultimate climax of God’s plan for His chosen people… His Remnant if you will. It is brought together in the fact that they both keep the Commandments of God… and they hold to the testimony of Jesus. As such Christians will no longer be claiming that the Law was done away and neither will Jews deny Yeshua as the world’s Messiah.

                As this Remnant is formed in the world, we can also see those that are falling away to become a part of the antichrist system. We see on one hand, Jews ultimately rejecting Jesus and we see “Christians ultimately rejecting the authority of God’s Word and His Law. WE also see a growing anti-Semitism among those who are falling away, because they are still clinging to a 4^th century idea of divorce from the Jews and this view is forcing them back into bed with the Pagan religions of the world.

                The final deciding factor will be the Mark of the Beast. Upon that one test the people of God will stand or fall. It is not just a Sabbath issue. It is a matter of whom you have chosen as your King. Who do you serve and obey? Who do you consider worthy of your worship and obedience?

                The Gospel of the Kingdom is the final message to go to the world and a Kingdom has a King. It is not a democracy. We don’t pick and choose our own path to God. We don’t continue to sin against Him presuming that He will forgive our rebellion forever. Disobedience of a King is treason. It means that you have chosen another king. You will leave His kingdom to join with and serve another.

                Isn’t it amazing that at this very point in history false grace would infiltrate the church, telling people that it doesn’t matter who you obey or what you do? “God is love. He understands. He will forgive… so it doesn’t matter.” But such a god could never be a king because along with love a king must also provide justice and judgment and law and order. That is the nature of kings and kingdoms.

                It is my ever growing belief that every living person will have to pass this test of fidelity before the rapture… and we have virtual proof of it when Paul says in 2 Thess. 2:3, 4 that the day of the Lord and our gathering together to Him will not come unless there first come a falling away and the man of sin revealed.

                Now, of course this falling away and revealing of Christ has happened to every generation. People in every age have had to make tough choices and often under the threat of severe persecution. But the Books of Daniel and Revelation tell us of a final end time birth, a time of great tribulation such as has not occurred since there was a nation. It is a final formation of God’s Remnant people according to His Jew/Gentile Remnant pattern as one new man in Christ. It is God’s fulfillment to Abraham and to David and to the Church. It is not a conditional promise, but rather one that is based upon His own name, for since God could not find anyone equal with which to swear, He swore by His own name. (Heb. 6:13)

                “By Myself I have sworn” declares the Lord, “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED, BECAUSE YOU HAVE OBEYED MY VOICE.” Gen 22:16-18.

                And again in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews Paul says that God swore again saying:

                “In the same way, God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. “Heb. 6:17-20.

                In God’s great plan for our salvation we cannot separate God’s eternal Old Testament promises and covenants from His New Testament fulfillments. Neither can we separate ourselves from the people to whom these promises and covenants were made. God never intended for us to divorce the Jews or to replace them. We were to be grafted in to the one family in through one Seed and that is Yeshua. And as a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, He came before the Laws given to the Jewish race so that all of us, both Jew and Gentile can be included in the one family in Christ Jesus.

                And while the temporary sacrifices of animals has been replaced by the One True Lamb of God; this does not do away with the eternal laws of God but writes them on our hearts rather than on stone. In this progressive revelation of His plan of salvation He is changing us from servants to sons. And He is calling us to be not conformed to this world, but to be transformed into His image from glory to glory.

                I am not saying by this that we all have to become Messianic Jews. God knows that even most Messianic Jews don’t understand this picture fully. But we need to grow in our understanding of these grand purposes of God so that we will not fall away from the faith when Jews and Christians are singled out for destruction by antichrist forces. We must understand and we belong to God’s eternal purposes and those purposes include Jews and Gentiles as one new man in Christ.

                In our very day, God has once again verified His plans for us in the Revelation 12 sign. IN my understanding the male child who is caught up to heaven is Yeshua. The woman who gave birth to the male child is the Jewish nation and therefore the remnant of her seed who both keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus can only be the remnant of both Jews and grafted in Gentiles whom the dragon will pursue and persecute in these last days.

                This sign, having been revealed in our time speaks volumes. It, along with the blood moons of 2014 and 15, all falling on God’s appointed Feast Days along with the total eclipse during the Feast of Trumpets all serve to wake up and to warn the church and the nations that we are now entering into that period of time called the beginning of sorrows and the great tribulation. It is warning the church to pay attention to the fall feasts. During the coming period of time the Feat of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles will be precisely fulfilled, leading to the second coming of Christ and the beginning of His earthly millennial reign. Then we will beat our swords into plowshares and we will study war no more and we will live and reign with Christ for 1000 years. Rev 20:4.

                We serve a great God and Savior and so, whether you agree totally with this proposed scenario, or not. Give Him your praise and worship today. All of our best laid scenarios will be swallowed up by reality. Yeshua is our ultimate reality.