Never Both At Once

[blessedhope]

History shows us that after the cross, major signs began to appear in the Temple indicating the obsolescence of its ritual. First, the veil was torn, opening the way to the Holy of Holies. Then, one of the seven lamps of the Menorah refused to stay lit. The main entrance door kept opening by itself. The ribbon attached to the scapegoat’s horn no longer turned from red to white at the moment of its death as it always had before. And there were others. Finally, Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed, leaving only the now largely Gentile Church as God’s witness on Earth from that time until ours. But soon, when the full number of Gentiles has come in, (Romans 11:25) the Lord will once again turn His attention fully on Israel.

“When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel,” declares the Sovereign LORD (Ezek 39:27-29).

Many scholars have come to believe that God’s approach to man is either through Israel or the Church, never both at once. Shortly after the Church was born, Israel disappeared as a nation. Will the reverse also be true? As the nation Israel is born again to become God’s witness in the world’s final days, will the Church disappear? If the end of the Church Age is a mirror image of the beginning, that’s exactly what will happen, and in fact that seems to have been the conclusion of the Council at Jerusalem.
The crucifixion of the Messiah had caused the 490 year period God gave to Israel to prepare for the Kingdom Age (Daniel 9:24-27) to pause seven years short of its fulfillment. Into this pause God inserted the Church. When the full number of Gentiles has come in, the Church will be whisked off to our heavenly home. Then Israel will be restored to its covenant relationship with God for its final seven years of preparation. The reappearance of Israel in 1948 was a sign that the time for the Church was growing short. For though we are temporarily in this world, it is not our destiny to be of this world.

Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (Phil. 3:20-21).

 

[bbyrd009]

Your kingdom comes, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven

 

[Jay Ross]

In Exodus 20:4-6 God foretold that the iniquities of the fathers' continuous idolatrous worship would be visited upon the children and the children's children during the third and the fourth (age) of the existence of Israel. In Daniel 9:24, God gave Israel a period of grace of 490 years to repent of their idolatrous sinning before the visitation of their iniquities would be visited upon their descendants. Because they would not repent of heir idolatrous behaviour, God then allowed the little horn of Daniel 8 to come and destroy the Temple and to scatter the nation of Israel to the four corners of the earth.

Also embedded in the Daniel 9:24 prophecy, after the 490 years had passed, God also said that he would instigate the following: -

Daniel 9:24b
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.

The Jerusalem Temple was destroyed because the yearly sin sacrifice was no longer applicable for the forgiveness of Israel's sins. A new means of reconciliation for iniquity had by this time been established and the ability for a person to gain everlasting righteousness was now possible.

Paul wrote that we "Christians" are a royal priesthood, and that we will be grafted into the vine of Israel, and that they too will be redeemed and will renew with the lord, their covenant that they had rebelled against at Mt. Sinai, which was for them to be a kingdom of priest and a holy people unto the Lord.

During the Millennium Age, Israel will adhere to the terms of the foundational truth that will come down from Heaven that Jesus is the Son of God and their messiah, the same belief system as we "Christians" have. We will each compliment each other in the Everlasting Kingdom that God is going to establish in our near future.

Both Jew and Gentile believer, will have the same foundational understanding and will be priests unto the Lord shepherding the harvest that is to come.