Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Israel irrelevant to the End Times
I am attaching a collection of scriptures that I pulled together to help people understand that the current nation of Israel is entirely irrelevant to any discussion of “end times.”
The first scriptures are from the OT and teach that ancestry was never the determining factor in identifying the people of God. The promise to Abraham was to those who were circumcised whether they were biological descendants or not. Even circumcision could not overcome an absence of faith. This teaching is indistinguishable from our teaching on baptism. Males were circ’d on the eighth day. Our children are baptized as infants. Circ was the “covenant” just as baptism is today. But, those who later turn away lose out.The NT quotes say the same thing, perhaps with even greater clarity. “It is not the children of the flesh, but the children of the promise.” “He is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical.” “He is a Jew who is one inwardly...” “ If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring.” “You are fellow citizens.” “There is one body.” Etc.
If the temple were rebuilt and the OT sacrifices reinstituted, it would be an abomination. Christ has been sacrificed once for all. There is no need of other sacrifices. To return to the OT system is to deny Christ.“Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second. 8 For he finds fault with them when he says: "The days will come, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” Heb 8:6-8
The outward city of Jerusalem was only a symbol of the spiritual people of God. Not every resident of the city was a child of God. Still, the city was a symbol. The name, Jerusalem, continues to be used – in some contexts - as a symbol of the people of God in the NT. It is about the people of God, not about the geography.
Rev. Rokke's Scripture references are on our web site. here
