Note to reader: I realize that there is not much shown or taught in the Bible concerning Israel's eschatology within the dispensational view, but I believe this view of what the Bible teachers, from whom I share these articles, believe concerning the saving of those Jews who believe in God but not yet in Christ. Of course these doctrines do not affect one's salvation, as they are not considered "essential doctrine" (teachings that relate to receiving salvation).
NC
While every believer will admit his imperfection in practice, he generally considers himself correct in doctrine; he may own that he is ignorant of a great deal of truth, but his conscience would not be at ease if he did not think that he held what was true. Hence it is more difficult to convince a saint of his error in doctrine, than of is defect in practice.
There cannot be correct practice with an assured conscience, but as there is correct doctrine. “The Truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:32). Once a believer is taught of the Spirit that he is heavenly as to his calling, he may fail much in being practically heavenly, but as he knows the doctrine of his calling, he finds out that there is strength given him according as he turns to the Lord Jesus to maintain his course as a heavenly saint.
In the first great point of doctrine the heavenly saints and earthly saints are together; the sins of both are washed away in the Blood of the Lamb (Num 15:25, 26; Act 22:16—NC): this one great truth is common to both, and to every saint since the foundation of the world. Now because this primary doctrine distinctly and unquestionably belongs to both, the tendency or snare is to conclude that it is the same with regard to doctrines. But in the very terms earthly and heavenly there is an immense distinction involved. The real difficulty lies in convincing believers of the fact that they are heavenly in the true sense of the term (Eph 2:6).
Christians acknowledge it in a general, objective way, because they know that heaven will eventually be their abode. But no one can see the heavenly position who does not see that the Lord Jesus being rejected from the earth; the saint, if united to Him now, must be united to Him in heaven where He is (Eph 2:6—NC). Moreover, the believer is on earth where He is not ruling (for He must come before He reigns), so that the portion of a saint now, if he were not in union with the Lord Jesus in heaven, would be infinitely worse than that of an earthly saint in the millennial kingdom (the millennial kingdom has only to do with its inhabitants—Israel, with the Christians ruling over this kingdom with Christ from heaven and on through eternity in the new earth - Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30; judgement in this sense is chastising and teaching Israel—NC).
The millennial saint will have the happy consciousness of Christ’s rule over everything. Satan will be bound and Christ will order everything morally as the sun rules the day materially. The Lord Jesus is now absent, but the saint is united to Him in heaven by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Eph 2:18); and as he belongs to a heavenly Christ he is on his way to heaven as his own place, even though he still be on the earth. The Lord Jesus being now rejected, a saint must either be connected with the world and the order of things here, or he is dissociated from Adamic, earthly man because in union with the Lord Jesus in heaven. There can be no middle ground.
The difference between this present time and the millennium is very distinct. The Lord Jesus is not reigning now, but He will reign here then. The saint is now joined to Him, and is one spirit with Him. If I am united to Christ, He is my life; “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Ro 8:2). I am not only redeemed, which is true of every saint of all time, but I am enjoying another life through the Holy Spirit: and this could not be without distinct and positive deliverance from the man if the flesh (“old man” – Ro 8:9) and of the earth, so that “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Here I have died, and my life is “hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). The future earthly kingdom saint will live here on earth (eventually the new earth—NC), but he is not united to the Lord Jesus, he is not dead to the flesh and the world; he is a man living in all the commandments and ordinances of the law blameless (Jer 31:33; Eze 36:27).
This then is a great difference, the heavenly saint has a standing of complete deliverance from the man in the flesh; while the millennial saint is through grace empowered by the Spirit to do what God requires of a man in the flesh. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people” (Heb 8:10). The heavenly saint is not below this in walk, but he is greatly beyond it in position; and if he is not, he is inferior to a millennial saint, because he is now where Christ is not reigning.
Again, the way into the holiest of all is now made manifest. We, the heavenly believers, have “boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh” (Heb 10:19, 20). The earthly saint, though cleansed form his sins by the Blood, cannot speak of being inside the veil, because his dispensation is connected with this earth. If we admit that our place as worshippers is inside the veil, we must admit there is a great difference between a heavenly and an earthly saint.
One more difference to be noticed: the saint united to the Lord Jesus in heaven, knowing deliverance in Him and worshipping in “the holiest of all” (Heb 9:3, 8), has a place in heaven prepared for him by Christ (Jhn 14:2, 3), which the earthly saint never could have. True, he can speak of knowing the Lord of heaven and earth, and eventually he will be in the new earth “wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2Pe 3:13), when all things are made new; but he cannot speak of having a place prepared for him in the Father’s house, and still less can he speak of being raised up “together with Christ,” and made to “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:5, 6).
Thus we see the difference in doctrine between the heavenly and the earthly saint. First, the connection with Christ is different, as the saints during His rejection being united to Him in heaven, a privilege not known by, nor granted to any other class of saints—neither to the Old Testaments saints, nor to the millennial saints. Secondly, the deliverance is different because the saints united to Him are in Him, and He is their Life (Co 3:4). Thirdly, the worship is different; the heavenly saint is in deliverance and inside the veil, seated “together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). Lastly, the saint at this time not only knows that the Lord Jesus has prepared a place for him in heaven, but he knows too that by the Spirit of God he is there, in the Lord Jesus through faith; whereas with regard to the millennial saint, his hope and position are simply earthly (even new earth—NC).
The kingdom saint will be able to enjoy everything here, because the power of evil will be restrained, and the Lord will reign as King over all. Hence it remains that the heavenly saints now on earth during the absence of the Lord Jesus should not be of it; but having received greater blessings, should walk here during His absence, studying only to be like Him whom men refused and to be unlike those who refused Him.
The snare is that because heavenly saints are forgiven their sins and have been relieved of the fear of judgment, they turn to the earth, and expect favors from God in connection with it; and when they do, they practically surrender the great truths which distinguish them from earthly saints—and they are necessarily low in practice because low in doctrine. The fail in testimony and are, according to the light and opportunity which they have not answered to, subjected to chastening, to child-training. He child-trains us “for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness” (Heb 12:10).
— James Butler Stoney (1814-1897)
MJS daily devotional for October 25
“Make your Father’s side of things your interest and concern, and your side will be fully ensured; but turn your eye to your own side, and, with much apparent effort and work, you will look for much and bring in little. This explains the small progress in many souls to this day, notwithstanding the amount of truth and light they have received. May the Lord Jesus in His Word be more simply the Object of our hearts in this evil day.
“Love really does not think of anyone but its Object until it is quite sure of its place with Him, and then when at rest about itself it studies the mind and heart of the Object (Love functions not according to the quality of its object, but according to its nature—Unknown). I find that the Lord Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me when I was in a most unattractive state; but He makes me suitable to Himself, and I am so assured of the permanency of His love and of my association with Him that my heart is free to study Him. The more I am in His company, the more I grow in the characteristics which answer to His mind and nature.” - James Butler Stoney (1814-1897)
NC
Heavenly and Earthly
While every believer will admit his imperfection in practice, he generally considers himself correct in doctrine; he may own that he is ignorant of a great deal of truth, but his conscience would not be at ease if he did not think that he held what was true. Hence it is more difficult to convince a saint of his error in doctrine, than of is defect in practice.
There cannot be correct practice with an assured conscience, but as there is correct doctrine. “The Truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:32). Once a believer is taught of the Spirit that he is heavenly as to his calling, he may fail much in being practically heavenly, but as he knows the doctrine of his calling, he finds out that there is strength given him according as he turns to the Lord Jesus to maintain his course as a heavenly saint.
In the first great point of doctrine the heavenly saints and earthly saints are together; the sins of both are washed away in the Blood of the Lamb (Num 15:25, 26; Act 22:16—NC): this one great truth is common to both, and to every saint since the foundation of the world. Now because this primary doctrine distinctly and unquestionably belongs to both, the tendency or snare is to conclude that it is the same with regard to doctrines. But in the very terms earthly and heavenly there is an immense distinction involved. The real difficulty lies in convincing believers of the fact that they are heavenly in the true sense of the term (Eph 2:6).
Christians acknowledge it in a general, objective way, because they know that heaven will eventually be their abode. But no one can see the heavenly position who does not see that the Lord Jesus being rejected from the earth; the saint, if united to Him now, must be united to Him in heaven where He is (Eph 2:6—NC). Moreover, the believer is on earth where He is not ruling (for He must come before He reigns), so that the portion of a saint now, if he were not in union with the Lord Jesus in heaven, would be infinitely worse than that of an earthly saint in the millennial kingdom (the millennial kingdom has only to do with its inhabitants—Israel, with the Christians ruling over this kingdom with Christ from heaven and on through eternity in the new earth - Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30; judgement in this sense is chastising and teaching Israel—NC).
The millennial saint will have the happy consciousness of Christ’s rule over everything. Satan will be bound and Christ will order everything morally as the sun rules the day materially. The Lord Jesus is now absent, but the saint is united to Him in heaven by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Eph 2:18); and as he belongs to a heavenly Christ he is on his way to heaven as his own place, even though he still be on the earth. The Lord Jesus being now rejected, a saint must either be connected with the world and the order of things here, or he is dissociated from Adamic, earthly man because in union with the Lord Jesus in heaven. There can be no middle ground.
The difference between this present time and the millennium is very distinct. The Lord Jesus is not reigning now, but He will reign here then. The saint is now joined to Him, and is one spirit with Him. If I am united to Christ, He is my life; “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Ro 8:2). I am not only redeemed, which is true of every saint of all time, but I am enjoying another life through the Holy Spirit: and this could not be without distinct and positive deliverance from the man if the flesh (“old man” – Ro 8:9) and of the earth, so that “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Here I have died, and my life is “hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). The future earthly kingdom saint will live here on earth (eventually the new earth—NC), but he is not united to the Lord Jesus, he is not dead to the flesh and the world; he is a man living in all the commandments and ordinances of the law blameless (Jer 31:33; Eze 36:27).
This then is a great difference, the heavenly saint has a standing of complete deliverance from the man in the flesh; while the millennial saint is through grace empowered by the Spirit to do what God requires of a man in the flesh. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people” (Heb 8:10). The heavenly saint is not below this in walk, but he is greatly beyond it in position; and if he is not, he is inferior to a millennial saint, because he is now where Christ is not reigning.
Again, the way into the holiest of all is now made manifest. We, the heavenly believers, have “boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh” (Heb 10:19, 20). The earthly saint, though cleansed form his sins by the Blood, cannot speak of being inside the veil, because his dispensation is connected with this earth. If we admit that our place as worshippers is inside the veil, we must admit there is a great difference between a heavenly and an earthly saint.
One more difference to be noticed: the saint united to the Lord Jesus in heaven, knowing deliverance in Him and worshipping in “the holiest of all” (Heb 9:3, 8), has a place in heaven prepared for him by Christ (Jhn 14:2, 3), which the earthly saint never could have. True, he can speak of knowing the Lord of heaven and earth, and eventually he will be in the new earth “wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2Pe 3:13), when all things are made new; but he cannot speak of having a place prepared for him in the Father’s house, and still less can he speak of being raised up “together with Christ,” and made to “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:5, 6).
Thus we see the difference in doctrine between the heavenly and the earthly saint. First, the connection with Christ is different, as the saints during His rejection being united to Him in heaven, a privilege not known by, nor granted to any other class of saints—neither to the Old Testaments saints, nor to the millennial saints. Secondly, the deliverance is different because the saints united to Him are in Him, and He is their Life (Co 3:4). Thirdly, the worship is different; the heavenly saint is in deliverance and inside the veil, seated “together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). Lastly, the saint at this time not only knows that the Lord Jesus has prepared a place for him in heaven, but he knows too that by the Spirit of God he is there, in the Lord Jesus through faith; whereas with regard to the millennial saint, his hope and position are simply earthly (even new earth—NC).
The kingdom saint will be able to enjoy everything here, because the power of evil will be restrained, and the Lord will reign as King over all. Hence it remains that the heavenly saints now on earth during the absence of the Lord Jesus should not be of it; but having received greater blessings, should walk here during His absence, studying only to be like Him whom men refused and to be unlike those who refused Him.
The snare is that because heavenly saints are forgiven their sins and have been relieved of the fear of judgment, they turn to the earth, and expect favors from God in connection with it; and when they do, they practically surrender the great truths which distinguish them from earthly saints—and they are necessarily low in practice because low in doctrine. The fail in testimony and are, according to the light and opportunity which they have not answered to, subjected to chastening, to child-training. He child-trains us “for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness” (Heb 12:10).
— James Butler Stoney (1814-1897)
MJS daily devotional for October 25
“Make your Father’s side of things your interest and concern, and your side will be fully ensured; but turn your eye to your own side, and, with much apparent effort and work, you will look for much and bring in little. This explains the small progress in many souls to this day, notwithstanding the amount of truth and light they have received. May the Lord Jesus in His Word be more simply the Object of our hearts in this evil day.
“Love really does not think of anyone but its Object until it is quite sure of its place with Him, and then when at rest about itself it studies the mind and heart of the Object (Love functions not according to the quality of its object, but according to its nature—Unknown). I find that the Lord Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me when I was in a most unattractive state; but He makes me suitable to Himself, and I am so assured of the permanency of His love and of my association with Him that my heart is free to study Him. The more I am in His company, the more I grow in the characteristics which answer to His mind and nature.” - James Butler Stoney (1814-1897)
