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By Michael F. Blume
© Copyright 2004
For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places.
—Ephesians 6:12
The basic tenet of
Kingdom Eschatology is the proposition that the New Covenant Gospel of
Jesus Christ and its Church Age is the greatest, and therefore the
last, major work on planet earth, and will remain so for the ages to
come. Ephesians chapters 2 and 3 explicitly state that the
dispensation of the grace of God is intended to combine Jews and
Gentiles into one body. This would therefore leave no further
reasoning for the Dispensationalist’s teaching that says a specific
race of people—the Jews—will be given another gospel plan of salvation
after the "Church Age" has “ended.” We stress in our burden of
conviction for prophetic truth, the blessedness of salvation for the
Jews and Gentiles, both! We have concern for seeing all Israel come to
know the love of God through Christ. Though this is true, Kingdom Eschatologists have come under attack by many Dispensational teachers who
have used various methods to try to discredit our teachings. In this
article I will point out some of the more severe ones that have been
used in an attempt to say that Kingdom Eschatology, and those who teach it, are
racists and anti-Semitic.
The scripture I quoted above
indicates that Christians are not to war against people of any flesh.
Kingdom Eschatologists follow that rule by fighting demonic forces and
doctrines that are contrary, but we would never think to attack a
"race" of people regardless of their beliefs or their nationality.
Racism is clearly an ungodly spirit of hatred of which we do not want
a part.
Some teachers of Kingdom Eschatology expose the Cabala and its unholy book, the Zohar, as a
wicked work of the enemy of our souls. And critics have used that to
insist that we preach a message of racism against the Jews. Taking a
stance against such evils in the world, however, is not promoting a
racist "Jewish" conspiracy, as some Dispensationalists have claimed,
but, if anything, is instead a stance against a "cabalistic"
conspiracy of which the world is falling prey.
It's a plain fact that some
stars in Hollywood are playing with Cabala. One of these is pop singer
Madonna. She is now the author of several children's books that
feature her Cabalistic religious beliefs. There are other big-name
big-buck people involved in this heresy as well, including
Britney Spears, Naomi Campbell,
Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand,
Roseanne Barr, Demi Moore, Nicolas Cage, Lisa Marie, and Mick Jagger
and his wife Jerry Hall. These represent just a few of those who
are now pumping Cabalistic
teachings. Though this "religion"
happens to carry a “Jewish” label, it is actually Babylonian mysticism
that indoctrinated the captive Jews of Daniel's day. Preaching against
this does not mean that Jews by virtue of their nationality are evil or
wicked, but rather it means that we are coming against a system of
mystical teachings that attacks the biblical foundation of truth and
thereby attacks those to whom the Word of God can set free. This means
that those who have taken verbal stand against the Cabala have taken a
stand for both Gentiles and Jews!
I know of Jewish Christians who
hate the Cabala and its teachings, which helps to show that it's not a
Jewish issue, but a Cabalistic one. One of these is a Jewish woman who
started attending a local church I once pastored after seeing my teachings on
Kingdom Eschatology. She knew, before attending, all about the Cabala
and that it was evil. Let our critics please not confuse hating the
Cabala with hating Jews because that is NOT what we teach, nor what we
stand for.
We have also been labeled as
teaching "REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY." This is a misnomer because Kingdom Eschatology does not teach that the Church replaced Israel, but that
Natural Israel foreshadowed the Church, and the Church is the real and
true "Israel" that God had in mind before the world was created. There
is no thought of "replacement" in saying the Church is the TRUE ISRAEL
of God, but only the thought of the Natural Israel being in the
similar position of other foreshadowing elements of the Church during
Old Testament times. An example of what I mean by this is the
sacrifices of the Old Testament were foreshadows of the true sacrifice
of Jesus Christ on the cross. So we do not teach a “replacement,” but
rather a completion of God’s plan.
Probably the most popular attack
that has been waged against these teachings has come in Futurists'
misrepresentation of our teachings about the New Israel of God being
the Church of Jesus Christ. Many Dispensationalists have vaguely
followed our thoughts on the New Israel of God and misrepresented them
by saying we promote racism through our conclusions. This is just NOT
TRUE! Teaching that the Church is the True Israel is simply believing
that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ONLY GOSPEL that will ever be
given to bring salvation to man. This belief stings the face of those
who are Judaizers since it smacks at their future return to Temples
and animal sacrifices. We are actually a group of believers who
believe that the True Israel is comprised of both born-again Jews and
Gentiles, and we teach that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be the
only way that either of these can ever be saved. This shows that if
there is any discrimination here, it is not between our teachings and
the Jewish people, but rather is between the teachings of
Dispensationalism and what the Bible says about the Gospel of Jesus
Christ! (See Galatians 1:6-9)
While Futurists declare that
Paul never said that we, as Gentiles, are part of the New Israel, I
declare that the Bible says he definitely did!
Paul wrote to the Gentile
Christians of Galatia and contrasted their heritage to that of the
Jews'. Toward the end of Galatians chapter 3, Paul used the pronoun
"WE," referring to the Jews, and said that they had a "schoolmaster"
to lead them to Christ. This Schoolmaster, Paul said, was the Law. He
went on to say that these Natural Israelites were "lords and heirs",
but stood in the position as if they were children who were still in
school awaiting their entry into this lordship. That was God's will
for them before Law ended and Christ arrived. Graduation day came
when Christ came to take them out from beneath their Schoolmaster—the
Law—and into the lordship He prepared for all Israel to enjoy!
The narrative continues in
Galatians 4 by Paul using the pronoun, "You," referring to the
Galatian Gentiles, who were servants before Christ came, and
performed "service" to false gods. They did this while the Jews, under
the Law, were students under law's tutors and governors, or their
schoolmasters. So, for all practical purposes, as far as lordship is
concerned, the Jews were no different than the Gentile "servants,"
though they were lords while they were in the schooling of Mosaic Law.
The Galatians were Gentile
Christians, and Paul spoke of them being the children of Abraham,
because he said they came through "Promise," and were therefore
counted for "the seed." He also said that those who came through
natural fleshly lineage were not included in this, but had to come
through the same promise—Jesus! (Galatians 4:22-31) Paul calls these
believers in Jesus "brethren" and included them in the category of the
true Children of Abraham, which is equivalent to saying, "The True
Israel." The Jews after the flesh, Paul said, are Natural Israel. Now
let us look at what Paul wrote chapter 6 of Galatians. Notice what he
says about those who are the “Israel of God!”
Galatians 6:16
(16) And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and
upon the Israel of God.
Consider that very carefully.
Paul clearly said in Chapter 4 that the true children of Abraham
(True Israel) are the children of faith, which, of course, would be a
reference to those who make up the Church of Jesus Christ! He included
Galatian Gentiles, his brethren, in that description as well. Now in
chapter 6 we read about the "Israel of God." Wouldn’t you think Paul’s
reference in chapter 6 had his thoughts of 4:28 in mind? After all,
these passages are both in the same book! Not only that, but Paul
gives us a second witness of this same principle and thought in his
writings found in Romans 9.
Romans 9:6-9
(6) Not as though
the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel: (7) Neither, because they are the seed of
Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be
called. (8) That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these
are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are
counted for the seed. (9) For this is the word of promise, At this
time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
Not everyone who is a “natural
Israelite” is a “true Israelite!” Some, of course, were. But these
were naturally born Israelites who, like Paul, were born an Israelite
through the flesh, but went on to be born-again Jewish believers in
Jesus the Messiah!
We Kingdom Eschatologists love
Paul! He blew Dispensational Futurism out of the water with his words
and his writings…and he was also a Jew! Was Paul an "anti-Semite" just
because he said the very things that Kingdom Eschatologists teach? Was
he a racist because he included the believers in Christ in the True
Israel, in the seed of Promise, or in the Seed of faith? We don’t
think so, because this is exactly what Kingdom Eschatology teaches.
If we are wrong, then so was Paul! Now look in Romans 4 at what Paul
said concerning the identity of the True Israel.
Romans 4:13-17
(13) For the promise, that he should be
the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through
the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
(14) For if they which are of the law
be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
(15) Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no
transgression. (16) Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by
grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to
that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the
faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (17) (As it is
written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom
he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those
things which be not as though they were.
Paul said that anyone who walks
in the steps of the faith that Abraham walked, are Abraham's children.
Would one not think that this means that they are, therefore, the True
Israel of God? The answer to this of course is a resounding “Yes!”
This is also the reason that Paul said Abraham had “many nations”
spring from him! The Hebrew word "nations" actually means "non-Jewish
gentile people"! The Church is made up of such people from all nations
of the world! So "all nations" have come from Abraham!
No Kingdom Eschatologist teaches
that the middle wall of partition was broken down to allow Gentiles
into the Kingdom, and thereby to keep the Jews out. However, what we
teach is that the exact faith that we have toward Christ is what most
of the Jews of Christ's day rejected. But this did not have to be the
case, because Paul also said, “And they also
[Natural Jews], if they abide not
still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them
in again.” (Romans 11:23)
Kingdom Eschatology agrees with
Paul. But herein lies the racism that is found in the critics of our
teachings! I will now explain what I mean by this.
Futurist teachers of
Dispensationalism believe that God has blinded every single Jew since
the days of the Early Church. They say this blinding will continue
until the Gentiles are all in the Church and the rapture takes place.
However, God never said He was going to blind an entire "race" or all
of its descendants because of the sins of the first century generation
who rejected the New Covenant and crucified the Lord Jesus! Futurism
says differently! They say that God blinded an entire race. Talk about
racist! This is not what the Bible says. It actually says that
blindness “in part” happened only to the First Century generation of
Jews. (See Romans 11:25) This what Kingdom Eschatology teaches!
Besides, if Kingdom Eschatology was racist against Jewish people, we
would most certainly not want to call it "Apostolic," since all of the
Apostles of the Bible were Jewish! But since we understand that the
Church is comprised of both Jew and Gentile, and our teachings on
prophecy propose that Jews and Gentiles both are granted access into
the Church, we gladly label our teaching Kingdom Eschatology.”
Where the Futurist teachers of
Dispensationalism err is in their lack of understanding who the New
Covenant Gospel of Jesus Christ has been offered to in order to gain
members in the true Church. They criticize us from their platform of
misinterpretation, but that should not deter our message of biblical
truth! We Kingdom Eschatologists must keep proclaiming these truths even
in the face of adversity and accusation. We must remember to pray for
those who oppose us, for our battle is not against any race of people,
but is against those systems that oppose them! We fight not against
any people of any flesh or blood. Praise God!
Michael F. Blume works with RDTW and is Assistant Pastor in Bible Truth Church, El Campo, TX.
His website address is:
www.mikeblume.com
RDTW
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