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Great program today Scott. Important interviews and questions raised. Thanks for bringing on these guests.
When a Jew Rules the World…
I don’t think it’s appropriate to call the Messiah “a Jew,” since he’s the Son of God, not merely “some Jew.” Then again, we may be discussing a “different Jesus” altogether. The true Lord, Jesus Christ, and the leader of the future Jewish kingdom are two different persons. They are not the same. We have to ask, Which are we rooting for? Moreover, are we expecting a natural rule or a supernatural rule? Are we, as Christians, awaiting the kingdom of Mammon or the Kingdom of Heaven?
Noelle,
Heb 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
Re 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
Re 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Re 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Let me see…The word “Jew” is from the word “Judah.” Y’shua is of the lineage of David who is of the tribe of Judah. This Messiah is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah in the last book in the Bible, which also says that He will rule 1000 years on earth…after this the new heavens and earth will come to be. The kingdom of heaven is not only something spiritual. It comes to earth for 1000 years in a very physical sense. The physical is not mammon and there is no kingdom of mammon called such in the Bible. And we are to be faithful in our using mammon while on this earth lest we forfeit the kingdom of heaven.
Lu 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?
2Pe 3:11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
We are to be careful not to twist the meaning of scripture so that we think that we can disobey YHWH’s commandments (the error of the lawless is rampant now) but still rule with Messiah in the kingdom of heaven when it comes to earth for 1000 years. Least in the kingdom is not a good thing. Great in the kingdom is. Some will undoubtedly refuse to do the will of the Father and continue to break His law willfully. These will not like to hear what Messiah has to say.
Mt 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mt 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but /only/ the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’
23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’
1Jo 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
The real Messiah comes physically to rule for 1000 years and us with Him if we are found faithful to Him and His Father. There will be many tares that seem to be wheat, but these will be cast into the fire because they were lawless and caused others to break YHWH’s law.
Mt 13:36 Then He dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached Him and said, “Explain the parable of the weeds in the field to us.”
37 He replied: “The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;
38 the field is the world; and the good seed–these are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and
39 the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 Therefore just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather from His kingdom everything that causes sin and those guilty of lawlessness.
42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Anyone who has ears should listen!
Just thought you would like to know about the Biblical version of the Kingdom of Heaven and the resurrected Jewish man, who is also YHWH in the Flesh, who will be on that throne.
Shalom
Bo,
Jesus Christ is from the tribe of Judah, to be sure, but the title of Richardson’s book diminishes the fact that Jesus, the second person of the Holy Trinity, came to be the Messiah of all peoples, Jews and Gentiles alike. Jesus is not going to reign as the greatest Jew. He will reign as the King of Kings. The Davidic throne is only a placeholder, for the Messiah is both the son of David and greater than David. He is the God of the Jews, not merely an anointed Jew. The author admits that his title is provocative. I would go a step further: it is evocative. It is evocative of a strain of fanatical philo-Semitism which places far too much emphasis on the Jewish manhood of the Messiah, almost to the detriment of the theological concept unique to Christianity that he is God Almighty and that his Kingdom will be spiritual. The Kingdom of Heaven is not the kingdom of the Talmud’s naturalistic aspirations, in which the Jew becomes God and subdues the nations as tributaries. No, that does not describe the Kingdom of my Christ. So, we have to be careful. Thanks.
Noelle,
There are all kinds of titles of books, and sermons for that matter, that are provocative, but as the saying goes, “You cannot judge a book by it’s cover.” I have not read the book, and probably won’t. The fact remains that the manhood of Y’shua is completely necessary and ultimately important. His reigning for 1000 years on earth as a resurrected man, and us resurrected with Him, in no way diminishes His being YHWH.
For sure, Judaism is in much need of returning to the scriptural version of Messiah and the same can be said of Christianity. The box that we have placed Him in is not big enough or accurate enough as can be seen in my post above. Judaism sees Him as just a man. Christianity sees Him mostly as only a loving god (to the detriment of His justice) that hands out positions in His coming kingdom by arbitrary and capricious fiat instead of by merit.
For sure, salvation is by grace, but even that salvation can be jeopardized by our false notions of grace. There will be many that say “Lord, lord” that do not inherit the kingdom of heaven. A lifestyle of willful sin that is not repented of can ultimately be judged as “Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” It matters not if one was once born again. We must be born again to enter the kingdom, but it is evident that some, if not many, decide to die again rather than to die to self.
Jude 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Shalom
Bo,
That is all well and good, but we have to be wary of these teachers who corral Evangelicals into blind support for Israel, claiming that to be on the side of the Zionists is the duty of every Christian.
Their preaching is suspicious. Theirs seems to be an agenda which has very little to do with things spiritual. It is more political. We must remember that the Zionists are awaiting their future despot of the earth, not the Lord Jesus Christ. Why, then, are we promoting an irredentist ideology which is totally alien to the Christian faith, instead of exposing the errors of the Jewish rejection of God?
The Messiah of the Gospels came to redeem his people from sin and death, not to give a nation material power. Have we lost sight of this?
I’ll conclude with that. God bless.
Noelle, maybe you should call in to the Line of Fire radio show and present your qualms about this issue. I think others might benefit from you airing your views so that both sides of this issue can be presented side-by-side and evaluated (hopefully) fairly.
Noelle,
The promise of YHWH is that he will physically regather Israel to the land after the root of Jesse (Y’shua) comes. The root of Jesse has come and Jews are coming back to the land. It does not seem possible for Him to bring them back to the land without a governmental structure. Though it is not the kingdom of heaven in the land, it is Israel being regathered. Though some of the Jewish people and “Christian Zionists” are much into the physical government, it does not change the fulfilling of prophecy of the people being regathered. If YHWH can use pagan kings, like Cyrus, to get Jerusalem rebuilt, He can certainly use our current flawed governments to accomplish His purposes this time. And I am not discounting the resurrection of all the saints at Messiah’s second coming being gathered and taken to the land to rule and reign with Messiah.
Isaiah 11
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Shalom
I am a Zionist. And I await the Lord Jesus Christ.
Benjamin,
I guess you are the good kind of Zionist instead of the the kind that Noelle knows.
Shalom
Thanks Bo,
I should clarify that I am a Christian Zionist, since there are different types which come at Zionism from different perspectives. I meant to write more in post 9, but my energy level vanished and I had to lay down. I have not been feeling well. But I am glad to try and interact on this topic as I can.
Benjamin,
May you find health and healing through our blessed Lord.
B’shem Yeshua
Noelle,
Joel Richardson doesn’t consider Jesus as “merely some Jew.” However, Jesus IS a Jew, and that fact shouldn’t bother anyone, although it does.
This is what Mr. Richardson writes on his acknowledgments page:
“First and highest thanks must go, of course, to Jesus of Nazareth, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and the longing of my heart.”
He also writes:
“Bluntly stated, as the title of this book reminds us, if the Gospel that one preaches does not culminate with a Jewish man ruling the world, then it is not the Gospel of the New Testament. The Gospel today has been reduced to a simplified formula whereby one might “get saved,” but it has been fundamentally detached from the coming kingdom that we are saved unto….My hope is that this book will help Christians to better understand the Gospel in its actual Jewish context. Perhaps you yourself are Jewish and do not believe that Jesus (Yeshua) is the Messiah, but have stumbled upon or have been given this book. I promise that if you read it through, you will find much more that you agree with than you could have imagined.”
Unless you’ve read the book, I don’t think you have an informed opinion. Read the book, then come back here and comment on it.
“we have to be wary of these teachers who corral Evangelicals into blind support for Israel, claiming that to be on the side of the Zionists is the duty of every Christian.”
The above is what would be termed “political Zionism”, and is not to be confused with “Christian Zionism”.
To quote from Paul Wilkinson’s book ‘Understanding Christian Zionism’:
The Encyclopaedia Judaica incorrectly defines Christian Zionism as “the active support of Christians” for Zionism. As we have seen, Christian Zionism is not the “Christianisation” of Zionism, nor a reaction to it, but is firmly grounded in traditional evangelicalism. A further critically important point is made by Merrill Simon, a Jewish Zionist, who observes that
“… many Jews have been guilty of failing to make distinctions between Christian groups. To them, a non-Jew is a non-Jew; all Christians are to be lumped together. They tend to see no difference between Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and the liberal Protestant Church.”
It is not with Israel and the Jewish people that Christian Zionism is primarily concerned, but with the God of Israel and the Jewish Scriptures. As Walter Riggans explains, “a biblical Zionism is about God before it is about Israel.” Christian Zionists teach that the survival of the Jews and the re-establishment of the Jewish State authenticate the Bible and vindicate God’s plan of salvation. They also assert that by detaching herself from her Jewish roots, the church has been blinded to God’s purposes, and love, for Israel. As Scofield wrote, “It is the Jew’s Bible I hold in my hand, and it is God’s Bible back of that, and it is the Christian’s Bible, because God has sent it to us through the Jew.” In the words of Lewis Sperry Chafer,
“The love of God is toward Israel…. So the Spirit-filled believer will learn to rejoice in the great prophecies and purposes of God for that people with whom He is in everlasting covenant, and for whom He has an everlasting love.”
Christian Zionism also ensures that the Lord Jesus Christ is seen as “the crown and the shining star of all prophecy,” and “the King of Scripture.”
-Paul Wilkinson
(Understanding Christian Zionism, p.39)
Let me revisit this for a moment with a final thought:
Ask yourselves, is it possible that Zionists have been using certain verses in the Bible to coerce Christians into supporting their politics and vision for the world?
As Christians, we should be suspicious of an entity founded upon an explicit rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Messiah himself was to restore the Kingdom of Israel, and it was not for us to know the times and seasons of the Father’s design, or the precise nature of that restoration.
Evangelical Christianity is being used as a vehicle for Zionism, especially in American politics. We have to be very careful. Christ said, if it were possible even the elect would be deceived.
Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.
Noelle,
“As Christians, we should be suspicious of an entity founded upon an explicit rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
-While the nation Israel does indeed currently reject the Lord Jesus Christ, it was prophesied in Scripture by God that Israel would be regathered to the Land of Israel first in ‘Unbelief’. So whenever you feel that they should be regathered, it must be in unbelief for Scripture to be accurate. Here are some of the passages regarding Israel’s regathering in unbelief.
Ezek. 20:33-38; 22:17-22; 36:22-24; 37:1- 14; Isa. 11:11-12; Zeph. 2:1-2; Ezek. 38-39
I’ll go ahead and include one here, but please look up the rest.
Ezekiel 36:22-24
22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Notice that God says that He would regathering them, not because of there faith and love for Him, but because of His great name. To put an end to the profaning of His great name. And Scripture teaches that this will take place before the Great Tribulation.
Also, a common mistake in the Church today is to believe that every reference to the ‘elect’ is about the church. Not all are. The reference you gave, “We have to be very careful. Christ said, if it were possible even the elect would be deceived” is not a reference to the church but to Israel. The passage is Matthew 24:24
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
The context of the ‘elect’ is Israel according to Jesus. Look at verse 16,
Matthew 24:16
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
-Jesus is talking about Israel. Again in verse 22, the context is Israel.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
And once more in verse 31 is Israel called the elect.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
All of these are in conjunction with ‘Judaea’ found back in verse 16.
Romans 11 also touches on Israels national election:
Romans 11:25-29
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
In verse 28 they are called the elect. The drive here by Paul is that God’s election of Israel is without repentance.
So yes, while Israel is currently in a state of rejection of the Messiah, God explicitly foretold it would happen this way.
I hope some of this helps.
Grace and peace,