Born Again series: The Two Israels

 In the NT Jesus introduces us to the concept of 2 Israels (Mat 19.28).

This is as a result of his Born Again teaching (John 3).

Hence, Paul later distinguishes between the Born-again, immortal Israel of God, Gal 6.16) and the mortal national, ethnic Israel of the flesh (1Cor 10:18a).

So that now Jewish-Christians along with Gentile-Christians are called the true circumcision (Phil 3.13) because they have believed, repented, i.e., have been born again.

This Born Again Israel now stands in sharp contrast to present-day unbelieving, therefore unrepentant, not Born Again nation of Israel.

Including both non-religious and religious Jew who remains bound to the physical, literal circumcision of the flesh (Gal 6.13).

This explains why Paul devotes most of his letters to matters related to the OC Law of Moses as opposed to the NC Law of Christ.

In other words, the Law of Moses is represented by the circumcision of the flesh and not of the spirit, as we shall see.

Circumcision: gateway to Torah-keeping

First and foremost circumcision of the flesh was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant, i.e., God's promise to Abram that he would inherit the land and as a result, become the father all the nations of the world: Gen 17:13-14; Ex 12.48.

Hence, God changes Abram's name to Abraham, aka the father of many nations.

Later, under the Mosaic covenant, circumcision becomes the gateway for Torah-keeping (Acts 15.5).

Hence, the various OT warnings re: the uncircumcised not being able to enter into the promises of the KOG: Isa 52.1; Ezek 44.9.

The point being that if you were not circumcised you would be cut off from the land promise, i.e., no good news for you!

Replacement Theology

As a result of the NT revelation re: the 2 Israels concept is sometimes seen through the prism of what's known as replacement theology.

Now there is a right and a wrong way to talk about the concept.

Wrongly defined as the Church fully and permanently replacing national-ethnic Israel of the flesh.

Rightly defined as the new olive tree of God, the international, Born Again Israel of God if you will, made up of both Jew/Gentile: Romans 11.

This means there will be a saved remnant of ethnic/national “Israel of the flesh,” as Jesus says in Mat 19.28.

BTW just like there will be survivors from every other nation in the world, Ezek 36.36; Zech 14.16; cp. Isa 19.20f.

OT vs NT Israel

So when reading the OT we must carefully distinguish between prophecies pertaining to national/ethnic Israel and the spiritual, born again Israel of God (aka the Church).

National/ethnic Israel of the flesh

For example, Paul in Rom 9:

• v. 26 applies Hosea 1:10;

• v. 28 applies Isa 10:22–23;

• v. 29 applies Isa 1:9.

Romans 11.

• v. 8 applies Deut. 29:4; Isa 29:10 to national Israel.

• v. 10 applies Psalm 69:22–23;

• v 15: “the dead coming back to life" in the Valley of dry bones in Ezek. 37, not a reference to the resurrection of the dead!

• v. 27 applies Isaiah 27:9; 59:20–21.

Other applications:

• Isa. 65.17-25 the mortal nation of Israel in the KOG;

• Ezekiel 36f., re: Israel and reestablishment of modified Torah(?) and the Millennium Temple.

National/ethnic Israel of the flesh becomes part of the rest of the remnant nations in the KOG:

• Isa 19.18f. triple alliance with former enemy-states like Egypt, Assyria; aka the New United KOG Nations!

Born Again, spiritual Israel

Again Paul in Rom 9:

• vv. 6-7 applies Gen 21.12;

• v. 9 applies Gen 18:14;

• vv. 12-13 applies Gen 25:23; Mal 1:2–3;

Other applications:

• OT “the elect/saints” language applied Matt 24.22-31.

Born Again Israel of God, 1 Pet. 2:9-10:

“You (the church) are a chosen people (quoting Isa. 43:20), a royal priesthood, a holy nation (quoting Exodus 19:6), a people belonging to God (Deut. 7:6), that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (quoting Isaiah 43:21). Once you were not a people of God, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (Hosea 2:23).

What the Future holds.

The Born Again Israel of God/the Church will govern the remnant nations at the paligenesia [Age to come/KOG on earth] including national, ethnic Israel of the flesh: Mathew 19.28!

Born Again series: The Parable of the Sower

 Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?" Mark 4:13, NLT

Shema!

•     “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Mar 4.9, 23;
•       10 times on the lips of Jesus throughout the Gospels!

1. What is the seed?

The seed is called by various names which will end up meaning the same thing:

·       "the word,” 

·       “the word of God,"

·       "the word of the Kingdom,” i.e., the Gospel or good news.

NOTE the word of God is not the Bible, aka the scriptures!

 

2. What is the Kingdom? A Gospel of Peace

·       Dan. 2:44; Isa. 2:4; 11.6-9.

Repent and believe: Mar 1.14-15.

The Kingdom is always near but not here!

·       Ezekiel 30.3; Zeph. 1.14 writing in the 7th c. BC;

·       Joel 1.15, 9th – 5th c. BC;

·       Obadiah 15.15, 5th c. BC.

 

3. Born Again Now!

·       Rebirth by the seed = the word, 1 Pet 1.22-23;

·       Produce fruit now! Mat 3.8; 7.16;

·       Become children of God now! Jam 1.18.

 

4. You Choose: Different paths!

·       Rocks, thorns, Luke 8:13-14

·       Satan seeks to take away the seed: Luke 8:11-12; cp. 2Thess 2.10;

·       Choose the right path! Luke 8.15; cp. Col 2.7.

The Born Again process:

·       Hear and understand the word about the KOG: Eph. 1.13.

·       Act by repenting, changing your lifestyle/worldview: Mar 1.15.

·       Plant the seed deep in your heart/mind and bear fruit: Luke 13.19

·       Obedience of faith then comes by baptism: Acts 2.38.

·       Be led by the spirit-seed, renewing your heart/mind every day: Eph. 4.23.

·       Preach the Gospel-seed to all the nations: Mat 28.19.

3 Days and 3 Nights

The NT says Jesus was raised from the dead:

• on “the third day" (8x, Mark 9:31; 10:34, Luke 9:22; 13:32; 18:33; 24:7, 46; 1Cor 15:4).

• "in three days" (3x, Mark 15:29, John 2:19-20).

• "after three days" (once, Mark 8:31).

• and once Jesus said that he would be raised from the dead after 3 days and 3 nights (Mat 12.40).

But note that for Matthew the phrases "in 3 days" (Mat 26.61; 27.40) "after 3 days" (Mat 27.63) and "3 days, 3 nights" (Mat 12.40) mean the same thing!

So there are two biblical methods being employed here:

• The Hebrew way of counting time and

• Hebrew idioms.

When counting days, the Bible generally uses inclusive counting.

This means you include as day 1 the day you start counting.

For example:

• Genesis 42:17 says Joseph imprisoned his brothers for 3 days and released them on the third day, i.e., before the completion of a full 3 days.

• 2 Chronicles 10:5 the king says: Come back after 3 days.

Yet, v. 12b says the people reported back “on the third day just as the king had ordered."

NOTE: when in actuality the king had said after 3 days not on the third day.

• Esther 4:16 tells Mordecai to fast for 3 days, “and afterward go to the king" but then Esther 5:1 says she went to the king on the third day.

• Genesis 17:12 says that a child is to be circumcised at 8 days old.

But Luke 1:59 says Jesus was circumcised "on the 8th day." 

And Luke 2:21 uses the expression: 

"When 8 days were accomplished."

The Jewish Encyclopedia, Volume 4, page 475.

"Circumcision takes place on the eighth day, even though of the first day only a few minutes remained after the birth of the child, these being counted as one day."

In Luke 13:32 Jesus uses this method of counting inclusively when he says that he will keep on casting out demons and healing people “today, tomorrow and the third day.”

If we apply this method of counting to his resurrection it would look something like this:

Friday crucifixion (today), the Sabbath (tomorrow) and Sunday (the third day).

As we see in Luke 24.21 on the first day of the week, i.e., Sunday afternoon, the men walking on the road to Emmaus said it was "the third day since all this took place.”

That is, the crucifixion.

So counting backwards we have:

In Luke 24:21 the men were despondent because they knew that God, in OT prophecies like Hos 6:2, had promised to restore "Israel” (represented by the Messiah) “on the third day."

They were also expectant because God had performed many miracles on the third day:

• Exo 19:11 YHWH says to Moses:

”Be ready, because on the third day I will intervene with a miracle.”

• Gen 22.4 on the third day Abram was told to kill Isaac; Heb 11.19 adds that this was a type of the resurrection.

• John 2:1 On the third day Jesus performed his first sign-miracle at the wedding in Cana.

(See also 2 Kings 20:5, Est 5:1).

This was well-known by Paul when he writes in 1Cor 15.

3 For I handed down to you as of first importance what

I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

So the phrase 3 days and 3 nights is understood as a Hebrew idiom, i.e., a way of speaking and not to be taken literally, as a 72 hr period.

Because any part of a day is taken as the entire 24-hour period; which obviously would include the day time plus night time.

Thus, Mat 12:40 describes the same period of time as the other verses, i.e., the third day, Sunday, resurrection day.

This firmly places the crucifixion on Friday.

carlos@thehumanjesus.org

Born Again series: The Kingdom of God (handout)

                                         How do you get born again: John 3:1-5

1.    What is it?

·       Jesus’ purpose statement: Mar 1.14-15; Lu 4.43;

·       The promise of God to Abram, Gen. 12.1-4;

·       “It’s all about the Land,” Tom Cox;

·       The same promise of Jesus: Mat 19.27-29[1];

·       OT context, Dan 2:44; cp. 7:14, 18, 22, 27;

·       Always “near” never here: Mt. 3:2; 4:17; 6.10; 10.7; Mk. 1:15; 11.10; Lk. 10:9, 11; 11.2; 17.20; 19.11; 21:31;

·       The 3Rs  = Restore, Regenerate, Rebirth, Mat 19.28;

 

2.    Who are you ruling over?

·       The Widescreen Gospel: Gal 3.8, 29;

·       The “surviving [remnant] nations”: Isa 19.16-24; Ezek. 36.36; Zech. 14.16;

 

3.    Where will the Kingdom be?

·       Mount Zion, Jerusalem: Ps 2.6;

·       “On [not over, from heaven] the Earth: Mat 5.5; Rev 5.10;

 

4.    When will the Kingdom Come?

·       First, “no one knows…only the Father”: Mar 13.32; Acts 1.7;

·       In the OT “On that day” code word for the day of the Lord God, in the NT the day of the lord Messiah = his parousia;

·       Aka “the end of the age”: Mat 13.39; 24.3;

·       Immediately after the Great Tribulation: Mat 24.29.

 

 

carlos@thehumanjesus.org

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[1] Compare: Christian triple honor, 1Pe 1.7. Thus, “the kingdom of Christ and God”: Eph. 5.5; Rev 11.15; cp. Jesus = David, Mar 11.9-10.

Calvin Vs Calvinism

 Following are quotes from Calvin's commentaries where he clearly does not hold to the L of the so-called TULIP, aka 5 points of Calvinism.

On Isaiah 53:6
We see that here none are excepted for the Prophet includes all.
The whole human race would have perished, if Christ had not brought relief.

Every one hath turned to his own way.
By adding the term every one, he descends from a universal statement, in which he included all, to a special statement, that every individual may consider in his own mind if it be so.

On Isa 53.12
Yet I approve of the ordinary reading, that he alone bore the punishment of many, because on him was laid the guilt of the whole world.
It is evident from other passages, and especially from the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, that “many” sometimes denotes “all.”

On Luke 2.10 Which shall be to all the people
Now let it be understood, that this joy was common to all people, because, it was indiscriminately offered to all.
For God had promised Christ, not to one person or to another, but to the whole seed of Abraham.
God invites all indiscriminately to salvation through the Gospel, but the ingratitude of the world is the reason why this grace, which is equally offered to all....the same message has reference to the whole human race.

On Col. 1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
This redemption was procured through the blood of Christ, for by the sacrifice of his death, all the sins of the world have been expiated.

On Col 1:20 Both upon earth and in heaven.
If you are inclined to understand this as referring merely to rational creatures, it will mean, men and angels. There were, it is true, no absurdity in extending it all without exception.

On Mark 14:24 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
By the word many he means not a part of the world only, but the whole human race.

On John 1:29 Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
And when he says the sin of the world, he extends this favour indiscriminately to the whole human race, that the Jews might not think that he had been sent to them alone.
But hence we infer that the whole world is involved in the same condemnation; and that as all men without exception are guilty of unrighteousness before God, they need to be reconciled to him.

On John 3.16-17
He shows himself to be reconciled to the whole world, when he invites all men without exception to the faith of Christ, which is nothing else than an entrance into life.
Let us remember, on the other hand, that while life is promised universally to all who believe in Christ, still faith is not common to all. For Christ is made known and held out to the view of all.

On Gal 5.12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
So far as men are concerned, I admit the force of this argument; for it is the will of God that we should seek the salvation of all men without exception, as Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world.

On 1Tim 2.4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.
By this he assuredly means nothing more than that the way of salvation was not shut against any order of men; that, on the contrary, he had manifested his mercy in such a way, that he would have none debarred from it.

On 2 Peter 3:9 But the Lord is not slack, or, delays not.
The Lord defers his coming that he might invite ALL MANKIND to repentance.
And as to the duration of the whole world, we must think exactly the same as of the life of every individual; for God by prolonging time to each, sustains him that he may repent.
In the like manner he does not hasten the end of the world, in order to give TO ALL time to repent.
Not willing that any should perish.
So wonderful is his love towards mankind, that he would have them all to be saved, and is of his own self prepared to bestow salvation on the lost.
But the order is to be noticed, that God is ready to receive all to repentance, so that none may perish.

On Jude 1:4
Christ is denied, when they who had been redeemed by his blood, become again the vassals of the Devil, and thus render void as far as they can that incomparable price.

On Rom 5.10
But restoration to favor is unknown to us, until we attain it by faith.

On Rom 5.18
He makes this favor common to all, because it is propounded to all, and not because it is in reality extended to all; for though Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world, and is offered through God’s benignity indiscriminately to all, yet all do not receive him.

(See also Institutes 3.1.1; Eternal Predestination of God, 9.5 and commentaries on Isa. 53:12; Rom. 5:15; Col. 1:15).​