Kingdom rejected part b
10. The story of Israel’s Rejection of Christ is continued in Acts.
Jesus had never said it won’t happen; He had just indicated its possible delay because of Israel’s attitude. So it will happen in God's time! (The Kingdom was postponed because Israel rejected her Messiah, but Jesus did not squash their Jewish expectation. Their hope for a literal Kingdom was deliberately left intact by Jesus). Israel still had six months to repent so a definite answer was not possible. The Father however knew all things and had established set times and seasons to fulfil His plan for Israel. The Kingdom, though delayed, will be restored to Israel. The fulfilment of Gods plan and the Second Coming are directly linked with the return of Israel to the land.
Then Jesus revealed the purpose of the present age before this earthly Kingdom comes: "But you shall receive power when the Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses to the ends of the earth" (v8). So, we are not looking to take over the world but to spread the Gospel. We are looking to Jesus to return as King of Kings; only then will the Millennial Kingdom be established. Christian involvement in politics and society is good, for the purpose of holding back evil to help the Gospel go forth (1Timothy 2:1-4). Our destiny is to be on earth - to rule and reign with Christ here (Revelation 20, 1 Cor 6:2,3; Matthew 19:28, Luke 22:28-30). We are in training for reigning.
Acts 1:6,7 also shows that the Kingdom prophecies are not fulfilled by the Church, as Amillennialists hold, for then Jesus would have told them that the Kingdom was at that time being restored to Israel through the Church (spiritual Israel). But He put it off to an unknown future time. In whatever way you interpret Jesus' words, they do not fit with Amillennialists theology. For if Jesus understood the restoration of the Kingdom in a literal sense, then according to an Amillennialists, He should have said 'never' instead of encouraging them in a false hope. If He interpreted it spiritually (as fulfilled in the Church), He would have said 'that time is now, as you go and preach. My Word.' But He implied a future fulfilment which could only be literal.
In ACTS 2 and 3, we see the preaching of the apostles to Israel. They had now been given the final Sign of Jonah (Christ’s resurrection after 3 days), and the outpoured Holy Spirit - if they rejected this final witness of the Spirit the nation would rejecting Christ (the unforgivable sin) and be cut off.
What really happened on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2)?
To interpret what God was doing, Peter (in v17-21) quoted Joel 2:28-32 (a prophecy of the outpouring of the Spirit and great signs and wonders in the time leading up to the Coming of the Messiah to establish the Messianic-Kingdom) saying: “this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” However the events of that day clearly did not bring a complete fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. By saying ‘this is that’ Peter was indicating that what was happening on that day was just a foretaste of what Joel had talked about. This problem can be solved if one recognises that the Kingdom was still being offered to Israel. This was God’s time to bring the nation of Israel into the New-Covenant (mediated by Christ, the prophet like unto Moses) on the anniversary of the Old Covenant at Sinai (mediated by Moses). But first, Israel had to receive Christ and His New-Covenant salvation by believing in Him and calling upon His Name (Joel 2:32). (The Holy-Spirit was poured out and there to help them repent and turn to Christ). Thus Peter called Israel to repent (of their rejection of Christ) so that they could receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38,39). If Israel had received Christ, she would have entered the New Covenant as a nation and possessed the Kingdom that same year.
But the leaders rejected Him and the prophecy was unfulfilled. God, however still gave the Spirit to the remnant of Israel who believed. So Peter rightly saw the day of Pentecost as the first stage in the fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy, that the Kingdom was being offered and that the outpouring of the Spirit was confirmation that God was ready to establish the Kingdom. However the complete fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy is delayed until the Second Coming because of Jewish unbelief.
In Acts 3:19-21, Peter told Israel that the offer was still on the table for
that generation if they repented of their rejection of Christ. He said to Israel:
“Repent and be converted, that (1) your sins may be blotted out, so that Times (‘Kairos’) of Refreshing may come from the Presence of the Lord, (these are spiritual blessings of the New-Covenant, originally meant for Israel to prepare her for life in the Messianic-Kingdom that was about to begin, but when the nation rejected the Messiah, this offer was still made to all individuals in the Church-Age) and that (2) He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom Heaven must receive until the Times (‘Chronos’ = Age) of the Restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”
The ‘Times of the Restoration of all things’ is the Messianic Kingdom, as predicted by all the prophets, in which Christ will restore the earth to its original state before the Fall, with satan and the curse removed, and Christ personally reigning as King from Jerusalem (a perfect Theocracy) and outpoured spiritual blessings - ‘the Times of Refreshing’.
This Kingdom can only be established on earth by Christ Himself when He returns from Heaven. Here Peter promises that Jesus will indeed return to establish the Kingdom in fulfilment of all the prophets, but that He will only do this in response to the national repentance of Israel. If they had repented at that time, Jesus would have returned that year, but their rejection of Christ continued. Peter goes on to say that Jesus is the promised ‘Prophet like unto Moses’ (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) whom they must obey (the Messiah). Like Moses, He has mediated a New Covenant and will lead them into the Promised Land (the Kingdom-Age) if they follow Him (v22). The prophecy says that if they reject Him, they shall be utterly destroyed (v23). Peter is warning them about what will happen if they reject Christ. God sent Him in fulfilment of all the prophets to first of all deal with sin, and if they will receive this New Covenant ministry He would also set up the Messianic Kingdom through Israel (v19-26).
ACTS 4 shows the leaders continuing in their opposition.
ACTS 7 - STEPHEN'S SPEECH Six months after the Cross, time has run out and Israel are cut off by God at Stephen’s speech (see the parable in Luke 13). Had they received ‘the prophet like Moses’, they would have entered the New Covenant and possessed the Kingdom. Israel’s leaders now had the Sign of Jonah and had rejected the Holy Spirit (Jesus had warned them of this in Matthew 12). They had every proof and every chance to repent. Their sin was a repeat of the sins of their fathers (only intensified) and so will be the consequences.
Stephen's whole speech is exactly what you would expect at a judicial cutting off of Israel - a clear expose of Israel's sin and revelation of the consequent judgement.
His Conclusion is 7:51-53 (c.f. Matthew 23:32-39):
“You stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!
You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One,
of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. As your fathers did, so do you."
So Stephen reveals Israel's sin throughout history as illustrations of their own sin (done in a subtle way - showing due respect for the fathers). In that generation, Israel's sin had come to fullness and so was ripe for judgement.So Stephen's speech to Israel is all about their UNBELIEF (their unrepentant rejection of Christ). They confirmed that they were hardened in this rejection by murdering Stephen - the first Christian martyr, just as they had killed Jesus. And so God finally cut them off. Stephen also predicts the postponement of the Kingdom as the consequence of their sin.
He gives examples of Israel's SIN and it’s CONSEQUENCE (the postponement of the Kingdom). These are foreshadowings of what is going on in AD 33.
1. Abraham (Acts 7:2-5) - sin delayed him entering the land (Kingdom) He remained in Haran for maybe 40 years until his father died. So natural attachments and traditions caused his entrance into the land to be postponed.
2. The Twelve Patriarchs (v5-8). Their sins resulted in bondage to a foreign power (Egypt).
3. Joseph (v9-16). A TYPE of CHRIST - 'killed' by his brothers (the first Coming of Christ). They did not know he was alive and exalted as lord but he revealed himself to his repentant brothers the second time (the Second Coming) and they then enter into blessing. Seven lean years (the Tribulation) will eat up the seven fat years of Christ’s ministry at his first Coming (AD 26-33). Israel will come to her Joseph in the Tribulation and eat of the grain (truth) laid up from the first seven years (Jesus is the Christ). See later comments on Daniel 9:24-27 (the key prophecy of these cancelled seven years and the Kingdom-Postponed) for more explanation of this. It was sufficiently enigmatic that it could not be understood fully until the Kingdom offer was rejected and so did not prejudice the offer. The Church age is in the gap between the two sets of seven years.
4. Moses (1) (v17-36). A TYPE OF CHRIST - v37.
As the prophet like unto Moses, Jesus would have brought them into the New Covenant (Pentecost) and into the Kingdom. Israel rejected Moses when he came to them the first time as their deliverer (v25). The result was a delay of 40 years with Moses absent.
5. Moses (2) (v38-43). When Moses led them out of Egypt, Israel rejected him and turned to idolatry. Their unbelief meant that that generation did not enter the promised land but was delayed in entering the land for 40 years.
6. David (v44-47) could not build the Temple - it was left to a future generation because he was guilty of murder. Solomon's Kingdom is a type of the Messianic Age where true worship will be established (symbolised by the Temple).
CONCLUSION: (v48-50). Even Solomon's Temple worship was not the ultimate, but a type of the true worship that Christ would bring, where man would be the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This was the New Covenant blessing for the Kingdom (Ezekiel 36). But in rejecting the SPIRIT, they were rejecting the Kingdom and it would be POSTPONED.
Putting these types together, we see Israel given a promise to POSSESS THE LAND (the KINGDOM) but because of UNBELIEF, there is a POSTPONEMENT, and the offer is made again to a later generation.
(1) Seven years of blessing (Joseph). But in which the King is rejected.
(2) 40 (Jubilee) years of delay in the wilderness of nations (Moses).
(3) Seven years of famine (Tribulation) (Joseph) In which the King is accepted.
So, Jesus Christ came offering the literal Kingdom to Israel. He died and rose again at the close of the 490th year of Daniel 9:24 (the Great Jubilee). Had they accepted Christ, He would have immediately established the Kingdom in AD 33 and Israel would have entered the New Covenant at PENTECOST. But instead Israel rejected Christ and so the promised Messianic Kingdom could not be established at that time. Israel was spiritually cut off later in October 33 (at the end of the Jubilee year), leading to her being removed from the land soon after (70). In place of the Messianic Kingdom God inserted the Mystery Kingdom (Church-Age) in which His Plan for the Gentiles could be manifested. After this He will move to fulfil His plan for Israel.
Thus the transition from the Age of Israel to the Age of the Church was effected in AD 33. At this point in Acts 7, the Church had begun but it was entirely Jewish. The official cutting off of Israel is the key moment, the turning point in Acts, the signal for the Gospel to go out to the rest of the world. “At that time a great persecution arose against the Church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:1). At this time the Church did not yet fully understand God’s programme for the Gentiles in this Age (Acts 1:8), but now Israel was cut off, God began to supernaturally lead them into new territory with the Gospel and they began to see the Mystery come to pass. In Acts 8, the Gospel went to Samaria (half-Jews) and in Acts 10 it went to the Gentiles for the first time.
God poured out the Spirit upon these ones as on the day of Pentecost without them having to become Jews by circumcision. In this way God signified that Israel had been cut off and He was doing a new thing in this Age, working through the Church (a New Man comprised of Jew and Gentile as equals) - not national Israel. Also in Acts 9, soon after Stephen’s death and connected with it (7:58) is Paul’s conversion, who is then called to be the apostle to the Gentiles and who was used by God to complete the revelation of the Mystery. Thus the Holy-Spirit led the apostles into all the (Church-Age) truth they were not ready to receive before (John 16:12,13).
In Acts 13:46-48, Paul says that Israel was given the first opportunity but because she rejected the Gospel, God was turning to the Gentiles.
This is confirmed in Acts 28:25-28: “When they (the Jews) did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” Some (following Bullinger) understand this speech as marking the final cutting off of Israel, but passages in Luke 13, 2Corinthians 3 and Romans 11 show that Israel was cut off before this time (AD62). Paul is simply saying that Israel have already been cut off and are under a judicial blindness as Isaiah had prophesied.
The fact that Israel rejected her Messiah is no grounds for anti-semitism today. All of us - the Gentiles as well as Israel, were responsible for the crucifixion of Christ; for it was our sin that took Him to the Cross, and so this is no excuse for anti-semitism. It is just that Israel’s rejection of her Christ is more significant as far as the Kingdom Programme is concerned. In fact, it was only the generation of Jesus day that was guilty of rejecting Him when He came. Moreover Israel’s rejection opened the door for the salvation of many Gentiles which was part of God’s purpose, so God worked it all for good (Romans 8:28).
11. THE CUTTING OFF OF ISRAEL IN ROMANS 11
Writing later (AD 57), Paul in the Book of Romans, speaks of Israel as having already been cut off, so that the Gentiles could come under God’s favour and enter into the New Covenant.
In Romans 9-11, Paul explains the present situation of Israel.
1. God has made promises to her that He will keep (9:1-5).
2. These promises are made and will be fulfilled to believing Israel, called the remnant, who have both the genes and the faith of Abraham (v6,27-29). This is illustrated in God’s choice of Isaac and Jacob to inherit the covenant (9:6-13). This means Israel has a guaranteed future.
3. God is just to judge those who reject Him, even if they are of Israel, and He is able to show mercy to those who believe, even if they are Gentiles (9:14-26).
4. The majority of Israel rejected Christ and the New Covenant (9:30-10:21) and so God could not fulfil His promises to the nation at that time. Instead He turned to the Gentiles as He had warned He would (10:19,20).
Romans 11:1,2: “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.”
God has not finished with Israel - the cutting off is not permanent. Israel is part of God’s Eternal Purpose, in which she has been sovereignly chosen by God, so she will stand. This is ensured by God’s Sovereign Grace in always preserving a remnant of true believers (the Israel of God, see v2-6). Even though the nation rejected Christ, and was judicially blinded (cut off), failing to obtain righteousness through the New Covenant (v7-10), yet there was a remnant that believed and obtained it (v7). The existence of this remnant confirms that God has not finished with Israel and that she has a future.
v11,12: “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall (lit: trespass), to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!” God is not finished with Israel. They have stumbled but have not fallen in such a way as not to rise again. While they are down, God has brought in the Church-Age for salvation to go to the Gentiles; but even this is part of God’s purpose in bringing the salvation of Israel, which in turn will bring great blessing to the world through the Messianic Kingdom. Paul’s motive in his ministry is to bring the Gentiles into such blessing that Israel will realise she has missed it and turn back to Christ (v13,14).
v15: “For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” National Israel has been cut off, allowing salvation to go to the world, but she will repent, come to faith in Christ and be accepted again and this will allow the world to move into the Messianic Age, through the Return of Christ. He will restore and regenerate the earth (Matthew 19:28), resurrect all remaining dead believers and bring spiritual revival to the nations. In every respect it will be ‘life from the dead’, not just for Israel. The blessing of the whole earth is tied up with Israel’s faith.
v16: “For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.” Her origins in Abraham (and his unconditional Covenant with God) are holy and this ensures her destiny. This ‘root and branches’ is the start of a picture of how God’s favour and blessing flows to mankind - THE OLIVE TREE.
Those who have tried to get to grips with the detailed symbolism of the Olive Tree in verses 16-25 will appreciate the difficulties. One important issue is knowing whether individuals or nations are being referred to. Another distinction that must be made is between temporary (unbelieving) branches and permanent, fruitful (believing) branches - both of which are seen in nature.
I aim to present an interpretation consistent with all the precise language used.The root is the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:1-3). From the root flows the nourishing sap (fatness) to the branches (v17) - God’s goodness, blessing and favour (v22). Those branches (people) who believe, draw upon the sap and produce good fruit (olives). Olive Oil was used for COMFORT, HEALING, ANOINTING and LIGHT, representing the ministry of the HOLY SPIRIT. The Olive Tree therefore represents God’s chosen and anointed witnesses to the world. However not all the branches are believers (v20-22), so inclusion is not simply based on an individual’s faith. In fact, inclusion firstly depends on national identity! (Of course, unbelieving fruitless branches will eventually be removed).
For 2000 years after Abraham the branches were those who were ‘in Abraham’, the seed of Abraham, the nation of Israel. They were ‘the natural branches’ because they were physically descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Being in the Olive Tree entitled them to partake of God’s covenant blessings (goodness) and to be part of God’s anointed witness (a light to the nations) so that the world would be blessed through Israel. So the Olive Tree was identified with Israel (Jeremiah 11:16; Hosea 14:6).
However not all the branches believed and drew upon the blessing of God that was available to them and so were fruitless. Thus, being in the Tree was for all of Israel, but not all of these partook of the blessings of salvation. When Israel (as a nation) was cut off for unbelief, the Gentile nations were grafted in (v17,19,24). As with Israel this does not mean that all the branches are believers, but that God’s favour has moved from Israel to the Gentile nations for the next 2000 years, for their salvation (v11).
As history verifies, the anointing shifted to the Gentile nations for the proclamation of God’s Word. However Paul warns the Gentiles that at the end of their time-period of grace that they (like Israel) will be cut off if they are in unbelief concerning Christ (v21,22). This in turn will lead to Israel being grafted back in again when she begins to turn from her unbelief (v23,24).
It is important to see that God’s actions of ‘cutting off’ and ‘grafting in’ are actions upon national entities. Thus Paul is saying that Israel as a nation has a future with God (not just individual Jews). Those branches in the Olive Tree who receive the sap and bear fruit are the individual believers. When Israel was cut off in AD 33 it was for unbelief. It follows that the remnant (those who believed in Christ) were not cut off (see v7). This was possible because their position was secured by being in Christ (Abraham’s Seed) rather than being of Israel. That is why v17 says: “and if some of the branches were broken off...” This verse proves that there was a CUTTING OFF of branches from the OLIVE TREE before Paul wrote Romans. Israel as a nation was cut off as God's anointed representative for rejecting Christ (this is Israel during the Church Age but not all Israel for all time). Believing Jews were put in Christ and received a great anointing (sap) at Pentecost. For the next few months they formed a purely Jewish Church. Then when Israel was cut off later that year (Acts 7) these were not cut off.
On the very day Israel was cut off, God grafted in the Gentile nations:
“and you (the Gentile nations) being a wild Olive Tree, were grafted in among them (the remnant of Israel)” (v17b).
Thus the Gentiles came under God’s special favour. Moreover, those Gentiles who believed in Christ could actually partake of the blessing of Abraham, the promise of the Holy Spirit: “and with them (the remnant of Israel) became a partaker of the root and fatness of the Olive Tree” (v17c) When a Gentile believes his position in the Olive Tree is secured because he is put into Christ (who is the physical Seed of Abraham) and given His righteousness (His standing in the Covenant) and thus becomes an inheritor of the promise: “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). “He redeemed us that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:14). Thus believing Gentiles become the spiritual seed of Abraham and inherit the blessings of the New Covenant (see also Romans 4).
Likewise when a Jew believes in Christ he is joined to the Olive Tree only by virtue of being in Christ: “But their minds were made dull (Israel’s cutting off and blindness happened before Paul wrote Corinthians) for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed (the nation is still cut off and blinded), because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2Corinthians 3:14-16, NIV). When a Jew believes, he is restored to the Tree and the New Covenant blessings but only because he is now in Christ (not because of his nationality). In Christ, the veil (separation) is removedautomatically, so that he can enjoy the fullness of the Spirit (v17,18). The end-result is that, at this time, believing Jews and Gentiles (forming the Church) have a position of complete equality in the Tree, because their position is only due to being in Christ. We still have a national identity but it is not a factor as far as our position in the Church is concerned.
Paul summarises this in Galatians 3:26-29: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
In Summary, in AD33, the nation of Israel was cut off and the Gentile Nations were grafted into the Olive Tree. So there has been a special favour upon the Gentile nations. However many of the branches (individuals) were temporary branches (unbelievers). Anyone (Jew or Gentile) who believes in Christ is a new-creation in Christ and becomes a permanent fruit bearing branch (in the Church, in Christ, John 15). Thus the Church has been God’s functioning witness. God’s grafting in and blessing of the Gentile nations however is not permanent. As God judged Israel, so He must also judges the Gentile nations, both for their unbelief and for their treatment of Israel: v18-22: A WARNING to the GENTILE NATIONS to beware of being in pride over Israel by saying that God has finished with them:
“Do not boast against the (natural) branches (Israel). But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.’ Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches (Israel), He may not spare you (Gentile nations) either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.” He warns of a future CUTTING OFF of the GENTILE NATIONS for their unbelief in Christ and their pride over Israel.
This shows that the branches that were grafted in were not just the believing Gentiles, for God would not cut off true believers. Therefore the branches grafted in at AD33 and who are in danger of being cut off must be the Gentile nations generally. As Israel had to be cut off before the Gentiles could be grafted in, so the Gentiles must be cut off before Israel can be grafted in again. Therefore this must happen before the Tribulation, for after the Rapture of the Church, Israel must become God’s representatives again during the Tribulation (the last 7 years of Daniel’s 490 years which were allocated to them before the Messianic Kingdom - see Daniel 9:24-27). I believe this cutting off of the Gentiles has already happened in 1933 at the end of a Gentile grace-period of exactly 1960 (lunar) years = 1900 solar years = 40 Jubilees from AD33 (a full explanation will have to wait for a later book on Bible Chronology).
This event led to World-War 2 and the present build-up to the Tribulation, and finally for the troubles and judgements upon the world in the Tribulation itself. It also allowed the rebirth of ISRAEL and her restoration to the Land in 1948, and the recapture of Jerusalem in 1967, which was the sign that the Times of the Gentiles (the Times of Gentile dominion of Israel which began in about 600 BC with the Babylonian Captivity - see Part 3 for more on this) had ended, according to Luke 21:24: “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Jesus says plainly that when Israel is a free nation and Jerusalem is back under permanent Jewish control, the times of the Gentiles will then be fulfilled. This happened in June 1967, signalling that we are now in the final phase of the Church Age! The period of spiritual favour to the Gentile nations (AD33-1933) was a special period within the Times of the Gentiles. Israel being cut off spiritually and the Gentile nations being grafted into God’s favour (in AD 33) led to an increase of political Gentile dominion over Israel, demonstrated by Jerusalem’s destruction by the Gentiles and the scattering of Israel to the nations in AD 70 (see Luke 21:20-24).
The ending of the Times of the Gentiles and the restoration of Israel’s dominion as demonstarted by her rebirth (1948) and sovereignty over Jerusalem (1967), indicates that the Gentiles must have been previously cut off from her place of favour (1933). As Israel’s spiritual cutting off led to a further loss of dominion for Israel, so the Gentile cutting off led to a loss of Gentile political dominion over Israel. As the Gentile ingrafting led to greater Gentile dominion over Israel, so her cutting off from favour (AD 1933) led to a decrease in Gentile dominion over Israel, which made possible the ending of the Times of the Gentiles in the rebirth of Israel and recapture of Jerusalem. Thus it was necessary that the Gentile nations were cut off according to Romans 11:22, before the Times of Gentile political dominion over Israel could be fulfilled (Luke 21:24).God’s spiritual action in 1933 released rearrangements to take place through World War 2, that ultimately led to the manifestation in 1948-the miraculous rebirth of Israel as a free nation.
Thus these events in the last century confirm that the Gentiles have been cut off just as Paul warned would happen, and that therefore we are now in a special period of time just before the Tribulation. Both the Gentile nations and Israel are now cut off (only the Church is grafted in), and the world is quickly moving toward the conditions and final judgements of the Tribulation. With Israel and the nations cut off, God is allowing the world to move towards its final condition in the Tribulation when it will be ripe for judgement. This includes moves towards a One-World Government, Economy and Religion. The growth of sin is also causing increasing the sorrows that Jesus described (Matthew 24:7), especially anti-Semitism (as shown in the Holocaust).
When the Church is raptured, the final restraint on evil will be removed and all these things will come to fullness in the Tribulation and then God will judge them. The Gentile nations have been cut off, but the true Church is of course still part of the Olive Tree as God’s anointed witness. The Church is present now to bring in a final world-wide harvest of souls before the Tribulation begins. After the Rapture, Jesus will SPEW OUT of His mouth the apostate anti-semitic Church that remains (Revelation 3:16) and graft Israel back in as His witness.
Next, Paul predicts that after the Gentile Nations are cut off, then ISRAEL(as a nation) will be GRAFTED back in: “And they (Israel) also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the Olive Tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own Olive Tree?”(v23-24). The cutting off of the Gentiles opens the way for Israel to be grafted back in, but this hasn’t happened yet because of her unbelief.
The next verse (v25) tells us when it will happen: “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part (it is not total or final) has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Israel will be cut off (blinded) until the harvest of the Church-Age is complete - which is the moment of RAPTURE. After the dramatic sign of the Rapture (confirming the Messiahship of Jesus), there will be a turning to Christ in Israel and God will graft Israel in again as God’s anointed witness for the Tribulation (with the Church removed God needs a witness in the earth).
This is confirmed by the sealing of 144,00 evangelists from the 12 tribes of Israel at the start of the Tribulation (which is the last seven years of the Age of Israel according to Daniel 9:24-27). Thus in the Tribulation, Israel is grafted in but the Gentiles are not, which is as it was before the Cross. In fact, as we shall see, the 7-year Tribulation is a rerun of the 7-year Presentation of Messiah to Israel (AD26-33), because they rejected Him the first time. But this time, by the end of the Tribulation the nation as a whole receives Jesus as Lord.
During the Tribulation, with their blindness lifted, Israel will increasingly come to see and believe in Jesus and at the end of the Tribulation, the whole nation will receive Jesus as her Messiah - leading to the Return of Christ for their salvation (both physical and spiritual): “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My Covenant with them, when I take away their sins” (v26,27). He delivers them from their enemies at the Battle of Armageddon and saves them from their sins through bringing the whole nation into the New Covenant for the Messianic Kingdom.
Thus, ‘all Israel will be saved’ summarises the complete restoration of the nation of Israel in the Kingdom. This is proof positive that God has not finished with Israel but will fulfil all His promises and covenants to her in the Millennium.Conclusion: “Concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance” (v28,29). God’s choosing and calling of Israel will not be revoked (taken away). The stewardship of Jerusalem and the Promised Land is given to her for all time. This is not because she is faithful but because God is faithful to His covenants. He will still fulfil His Purpose and Promise for Israel.
“For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you, they also may obtain mercy. For God has shut up all to disobedience (He cut Israel off for a time) that He might have mercy on all” (that full salvation might go to all the world - in the Church Age, v30-32). God will reveal the true Messiah to Israel and she will come back to God, even through the loving witness of the true Church.
THE ELIJAH PROPHECIES
This key of the Kingdom rejected and postponed enables us to understand the hard scriptures concerning John the Baptist and Elijah.
1. Elijah must come before the Messiah to prepare Israel.
“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me...Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of
2. But instead of Elijah, John was sent in his place. “He (John) will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke1:17). He had many similarities to Elijah in his dress and diet, his confrontational style of ministry, his being in the wilderness three and a half years calling Israel to repentance, preparing the way for a greater one to come (Elisha is a type of Christ).
3. John denied that he was Elijah. The Jews expected Elijah to come first
so they asked John if he was Elijah: “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Make straight the way of the LORD”’ (John 1:21-23). So John did notfulfil the Elijah prophecy - he was a prefigurement of the yet-to-come Elijah.
4. Jesus keeps John and Elijah distinct. “His disciples asked Him,
“Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognise him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them about John the Baptist” (Matthew 17:10-13, Mark 9:11-13).
Jesus divides the prophesied ministry of Elijah into two persons and phases:
(1) Elijah will come in the future to prepare Israel for the Kingdom.
(2) Elijah has come in the person of John, but Israel rejected both John and Jesus. So, although John is not Elijah, John fulfilled the ministry prophesied of Elijah but Israel rejected it.
5. The Jews were right to say Elijah must come just before Messiah comes to set up the Kingdom. So why did John come instead of Elijah in AD 33? God, in His foreknowledge, knew that Israel would reject her Messiah and that His Kingdom would be postponed. Then the prophecy of Elijah coming just before the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord (judgment for all the earth before the Kingdom) would not come to pass. So God sent John in his place, with the same spirit and power, to prepare the way. Then after the Church Age, Elijah himself will come and minister to Israel in the Tribulation (just before the Second Advent of Christ - the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord) and successfully prepare them for the Kingdom. This is how we know one of the two witnesses of Revelation 12 ministering in the Temple must be Elijah. Thus God will fulfil the Elijah prophecy literally as well as providing first century Israel with every opportunity to be ready for the Kingdom.
6. Matthew 11:9-14 “What did you go out to see? A prophet?
Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’ Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive (Messiah), he is Elijah who is to come.” If Israel was willing to receive MESSIAH and His KINGDOM, then John would have been Elijah himself, for God would have sent Elijah, and the Kingdom would have been established soon after, according to the Elijah prophecy.THE JUDGEMENTS ON THE TEMPLE and JERUSALEM in AD 70
give us some MAJOR PROOFS that JESUS must be the MESSIAH.1. Everything Jesus predicted about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the dispersal of Israel came to pass within 40 years.
If He was right about that, was He not also right about the cause - Israel’s rejection of Him as the true Messiah?2. What sin? Israel’s Temple was destroyed and she had to go into a 70 year captivity to Babylon for the sin of idolatry in 586 BC. Then in 70 AD the Temple was again destroyed and Israel went into captivity to all nations for 2000 years! The Jews know that only a terrible sin could cause God to abandon His Temple and allow it to be destroyed. What sin could possibly account for this? After Babylon, Israel repented of idolatry but it seems they did something even worse. What is worse than idolatry? None other than the rejection of Messiah- this was the only possible cause of their destruction.
3. Daniel’s 70 Weeks (Daniel 9:24-27) proves that Messiah must have been present 483 years after the command to rebuild Jerusalem (458 BC). It says that Messiah must come and die: “the Anointed One will be cut off but not for himself” (KJV) Another translation is: “the Anointed One will be cut off and have nothing” (NIV) or as the Living Bible puts it: “the Anointed One will be killed, His Kingdom still unrealised” It then predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans. The prophecy makes it clear that final Atonement for Israel’s sins had to be made before the 2nd Temple is destroyed. The destruction in AD 70 means Messiah came before then.
4. The Temple Records needed to establish the genealogy of the Messiah were destroyed with the Temple. No one can now prove that they qualify to be the Messiah.
5. Genesis 49:10: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.”
This predicts that two signs would happen soon after the Coming of Messiah (Shiloh):(1) The removal of Judah’s sceptre (tribal staff);
(2) The suppression of the Jewish judicial power.Even the Talmud said: “Woe unto us, for the sceptre has been taken from Judah and the Messiah has not appeared.”
6. Haggai 2:6-9 is prophecy that the Second Temple would see a greater glory (Presence of God) than even Solomon's Temple (2 Chronicles 5:14; 7:1-3) and that in it God would grant peace. “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of all Nations, and I will fill this Temple with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter Temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts.” This can only be true if God Himself in the Person of the Messiah Jesus was in this Temple and offered Himself on Mount Moriah as a sacrifice for us to have peace with God. Since this Temple is now destroyed, this prophecy cannot be fulfilled in any other way.
Malachi 3:1 confirms that the Lord Himself would come to the Second Temple:
“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me.And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His Temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in Whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts” (see also Psalm 118:26, Zechariah 11:13).The issue of Jesus is for Jews a painful historical wound, with much persecution being done ‘in His name’. Often the Church has been anti-semitic blaming the Jews for killing Jesus, forgetting that the Gentiles were part of it also, in fact it was all our sins that led Him to lay down His own life for us on the Cross. But Israel, with the help of the Spirit, will see that Jesus Himself was a righteous Jew who alone fulfilled all the requirements of Messiahship. The sins committed by some of His followers do not nullify His claims, any more than the sins of Israel do not nullify Abraham and Moses. Israel will discern the cause of her 2000-year dispersion, but that it has not been all bad. She will see that through Christ and the Gospel, the truth of the God of Israel has gone to all nations as never before (as the prophets predicted). They will see that God has even worked their disobedience for the salvation of Gentiles and they will praise God for His wonderful sovereign wisdom, just as Paul did (v33-36).Although the Nation of Israel didn't enter into the New Covenant, the believing Remnant of Israel did. National Israel was not cut off for another four months (until then the Church was all Jewish) When Israel didn't repent, God initiated His Mystery Plan. God still brought the Remnant of Jewish believers into the New Covenant at Pentecost - and they became the CHURCH. They came into the possession of spiritual blessings that were originally associated with the Messianic Kingdom (Joel 2), being ‘the powers of the Age to come’ (Hebrews 6:5).