Israel and The Church - One Destiny or Two? (1988)

[00:00:00] The following message, entitled Israel and the Church one destiny or two, was given by Lance Lambert at the Christian Friends of Israel International Teaching Seminar on Wednesday evening, May 4, 1988. [00:00:15] I say then did they the jewish people, stumble, that they might fall? [00:00:21] God forbid that by their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy. [00:00:30] Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness. [00:00:41] But I speak to you that our Gentiles inasmuch then, as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry. If by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are my flesh, and may save some of them. For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what will the receiving of them be but life from the dead? And if the first fruit is holy, so is the lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou be being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree, glory not over the branches. But if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee thou wilt say then branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in well by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. [00:01:52] Be not high minded, but fear. [00:01:56] For if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee. Behold then the goodness and severity of God toward them that fell severity, but toward thee gods goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shall be cut off, and they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again. [00:02:25] For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and was grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these which are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? [00:02:42] For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel until the fulness of the gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved, even as it is written there shall come out of Zion the deliverer he shall turn away ungodly from Jacob. And this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins, as touching the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers sake, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as ye in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, even so have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now obtain mercy. For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor, or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again, for of him and through him and unto him are all things to him be the glory forever. [00:04:30] Amen. [00:04:33] The subject that I have been asked to speak upon this evening is Israel and the church one destiny or two? [00:04:47] This is a controversial subject. Even amongst those who love Israel. [00:04:58] We are not dealing with those who have no time for Israel. They dont bother their heads about whether there is a destiny for Israel. [00:05:07] But amongst those who love Israel and pray for Israel, and long for the purpose of God to be fulfilled for Israel. There is a certain amount of very real controversy over this subject. [00:05:24] Everyone who knows their bible in some measure will agree that the final destiny of both Israel and the Church of God is God himself. [00:05:40] We read that, of course, in that marvelous passage in one corinthians and chapter 5015. I'll just refresh your minds with it. Verse 24 then cometh the end, when he that is Jesus shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the father, when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. Verse 28 and when all things have been subjected unto him that is Jesus, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all. So upon the matter of the final destiny of both the church and Israel, we have no problem. It is over the meanwhile that we have all our problem, and there are a whole variety of interpretations, schools of interpretation as to what God is going to do in the meanwhile. [00:06:53] I almost wish that I didn't have to speak on this subject this evening for this very reason. [00:07:01] But it is in my estimation of the greatest importance, importance that we all recognize that Israel is called a mystery in the New Testament. [00:07:16] Now, it is very interesting what is called a mystery. There are very few subjects or matters that are called mysteries. In the New Testament. There is the mystery of godliness. This you will find in one Timothy, chapter three, and verse 16, speaking of the word made flesh, God incarnate. [00:07:44] This is described as the mystery of godliness. And I defy anyone who has not been given revelation by the Holy Spirit to understand the incarnation. [00:07:59] It does not make sense to the natural mind, to the academic mind, to the religious mind. [00:08:07] It comes only by revelation. I dont believe you can ever trap this matter in a creed. [00:08:14] All we know is that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, but it has to be revealed to us. [00:08:28] There is the mystery also of the gospel. In romans 16, from verse 25 to the end of the letter, it speaks of the mystery of the gospel. Now, those of us who are called upon to preach know if there is any spiritual measure in us at all, that we can preach till we're blue in the face. But unless the Holy Spirit reveals the truth of what we are preaching to somebody, they cannot be saved. [00:09:04] People can be brought up through Sunday school, through church, become church members, take communion, have water sprinkled on them or pushed underwater or whatever else. And they will never understand the gospel until the Holy Spirit reveals it. But in that moment that the light of God pierces through the darkness, even of our religious or christianized minds, in that moment, we understand the gospel. [00:09:37] The church is called a mystery. In Colossians chapter one and verse 26 and 27, we are told the riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you. And in. It is, in the plural, Christ in you and you and you and you and you. Christ in you. All the hope of glory. [00:09:58] In Ephesians chapter three, from verse four to six, again we read the mystery of the body of Christ. This mystery, which has been hid from ages and generations, and the the apostle Paul says is now revealed unto us. What a hash we've made of the church. [00:10:21] We have organized it, institutionalized it, traditionalized it, reduced it to a human club. We have done every single thing to the church because we have considered it to be something like a human society, and the results have been catastrophic. [00:10:39] When revelation was given of this mystery to the early church, they turned the world upside down just by their very meeting together, by their worship, by their praise, by their union with God in the messiah. They turned the whole known world upside down. But the moment we reduced it to an institution, we became like every other human institution, crystallized, traditionalized, organized. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with organization in itself. It's the origin of the organization that concerns me. Does it come from the spirit of God, or does it come from our own human intellect and organizing ability? But I mustn't stop here. The fact of the matter is the church, which is the body of the Lord Jesus, is referred to as a mystery, and Israel is called a mystery. The apostle Paul in Romans eleven and verse 25 says, I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this, this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits. [00:11:51] Now this explains an awful lot to me. [00:11:56] I speak to some Christians who cannot see this matter of Israel. However much they study the word, however much they try to understand it, it is totally beyond them. [00:12:13] Now, the word mystery in the New Testament is used in a very special way. It doesn't mean something that is beyond us intellectually or beyond us academically. In other words, it is a kind of, we speak of something as being mysterious. In other words, we think it's beyond us. It's no good me trying to understand it, my little mind, that we must leave that to the theologians. They are the only ones who can understand that kind of mystery. But that's not the way the New Testament uses this word. It takes it from the secret mystery cults of greek religion. And the word was used of a secret into which only the initiated are brought. It is a secret revealed only to the initiated. In other words, these secrets of God, these mysteries of God are the birthright of everyone who is born of God. If you're born of the spirit of God, you are an initiate. You have been initiated, you have been brought into the kingdom of God. And your are the mysteries of the kingdom. [00:13:33] They belong to you. They belong to me. If we're only humble enough, if we're only ready to ask God for wisdom, then he can pour into our beings, into our spirits light in which we shall see light. [00:13:50] Therefore, I believe that this matter of Israel is something that has to be revealed by the spirit of God. [00:14:00] But once the Holy Spirit begins to reveal the mystery of Israel to our hearts, it is something we see with the eye of our heart, and it is something which grips us. It doesnt divide us, it doesnt make us eccentric, it doesnt make us lunatics of which there are so many in the christian world. [00:14:26] It brings us into the heart of everything. [00:14:30] It brings us into the place where we can serve God, where we can become involved with God in the fulfillment of his purpose. Concerning this particular secret, I would like to spend a few moments with you considering the beginning and the end of the Bible. [00:15:03] The beginning and the end of the Bible. I remember the first day God began to show me this thing. It so blew my mind that the first three chapters of Genesis and the last three chapters of Revelation are like an introduction and a conclusion which absolutely fit together. It is even more remarkable when you consider that the book of Revelation was contested in church circles till nearly the fourth century. And its position as the last book of the 66 books of the Bible was never recognized until the fourth century. At times it was attached to Luke. At times it was attached to acts. It was attached to other things. But finally it came as God intended it to be, the last of the 66 books of the Bible. [00:16:01] Then we find that these first three chapters and last three chapters gel together so that you had the beginning of a matter and the end of a matter. [00:16:11] It can't be coincidence, it can't be an accident. [00:16:16] Even more remarkable, if we take the first two chapters and the last two chapters of the Bible, we have no mention of sin, we have no mention of the fall, we have no mention of Satan, and we have the beginning of the matter and the end of the matter. [00:16:38] Ive noted down just a few of these things. I can only very quickly do it because of time. You understand that. But listen to this. [00:16:45] In the first three chapters, we have heaven and earth. And if anyone wants these verses, ill give them to you afterwards. [00:16:52] In the first three chapters, we have heaven and earth. In the last three chapters, we have a new heaven and a new earth. In the first three chapters, we have paradise lost. In the last three chapters, we have paradise regained. In the first three chapters, Satan enters. In the chapter three of Genesis, verse one. In the last three chapters, Satan is cast out. In revelation 20 and verse ten. In the first three chapters, earth is cursed. In the last three chapters, no more curse. In the first three chapters, we have Adam and Eve, only two human beings. In the last three chapters, the two have become a multitude of people, a redeemed people. In the first three chapters, we have a garden. In the last three chapters, we have a city. The garden has become a city, a garden city, but nevertheless a city. In the first three chapters, we have the tree of life. In the last three chapters, we have the tree of life. In the first chapters, we have the river of life. In the last three chapters, we have the river of life. In the first three chapters, we have God walking in the midst once a day at a certain time. In the last three chapters, we have God dwelling in the midst, no more to go out forever. In the first three chapters, we have earthly marriage for time only till death parts Adam and Eve. In the last three chapters, we have a heavenly marriage between the lamb and the wife of the lamb forever. [00:18:26] In the first three chapters, we find three materials. These three materials are only discovered if we follow the course of the river. If we follow the river, in its foreheads, we find these three materials. Here they are, gold, onyx and bedellium. Now, I wish I could spend time on this, but in the last three chapters, we have only three materials, gold, precious stone and pearl. And the city is produced out of those, only those three materials. The three materials are hidden in the first three chapters, but they're found as you follow this great living river. [00:19:13] But you've got to find them, they've got to be mined, they've got to be discovered, they've got to be worked upon. But in the last three chapters, it has become a city. Have you ever heard of a city produced out of gold and precious stone and pearl? Have you ever heard of a bride produced out of precious stone, pearl and gold? I mean, it's one thing to wear the things this bride, this city is produced out of them. In the first three chapters, we have pain, sorrow and death. In the last three chapters, the glorious words, no more pain, mourning or death. In the first three chapters, time is ushered in. In the last three chapters, eternity is ushered in. In the first three chapters, in the very first verses of Genesis one, we have a picture of the spirit of God brooding. And it is such an amazing word that is used. He's hovering like a great bird, like an eagle. He cannot find a home, he cannot find a nest, he cannot find a dwelling place. He is brooding over something which is chaotic and without form. In the last three chapters, we find the Holy Spirit says, and the bride say, come. [00:20:45] In other words, somewhere along the line between Genesis one and revelation 22, the Holy Spirit has finally found a dwelling place on the earth. We know, of course, as believers where that dwelling place was. It was the Lord Jesus. [00:21:05] When the Holy spirit, not only was he born of the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit came upon him, that then the heavens opened and God said, like father, like son. [00:21:17] And the same thing happened when God saved that hundred and 20. [00:21:23] And the Holy Spirit came upon them all, and they became the dwelling place of God hidden body. [00:21:31] Now, my dear friends, I just gave you just that little sort of bird's eye view of the whole Bible because I find the most extraordinary thing here. I want you to note that this cannot be coincidence. [00:21:47] The Bible begins with two people and ends with a city. [00:21:54] It begins with a human marriage and ends with a divine marriage. [00:22:01] There is no mention in the first three chapters of a special nation or a special people. [00:22:10] Only Adam and Eve. [00:22:15] When we come to the end of the Bible, we have a new Jerusalem, the city of, of God, the wife of the Lamb. And we find a most extraordinary thing. We find that the twelve gates are emblazoned with the names of the twelve patriarchs, the twelve fathers of the House of Israel. [00:22:43] And we find that on the foundations, on the twelve foundations of this city are emblazoned the names of the twelve apostles. [00:22:57] Now, my dear friends, that cannot be coincidence. [00:23:03] I was asked to speak upon whether the church in Israel have one destiny or two. There may well be very much that God is going to do distinctly with both these peoples right through time and even, as far as I know, in the millennium. But it is perfectly clear to me that their destiny lies together. In the end, they are intertwined, brought together in a wedding, wedded together in the Messiah, in God, forever. And that's where the Bible ends. Now, some people look upon marriage as the end of all joy and life, and other people look upon marriage as the beginning of joy and life. It's a question of how you look at it. It is very interesting to me that the Bible ends with a marriage. We are told nothing else. We don't know what we're going to do in eternity. We don't know how we're going to dress in eternity. We don't know what we're going to eat in eternity. We don't know how we're going to travel in eternity. We don't even know what the odd objectives of God are in eternity to come. All we know is this, that at the end of the Bible there is a divine marriage. It is as if God says, at last, at last I have fulfilled my purpose. I have brought my son and a people redeemed from the whole earth together. [00:24:30] Now they go out into eternity, fulfill whatever the purposes of God are for the ages to come. [00:24:43] Now, my dear friends, I find that quite remarkable. [00:24:50] I don't know about anybody else, but I find it quite remarkable. It's never left me from the day I first saw it. It has followed me all the way through. And then I consider that marvelous letter to the Hebrews. Not to the Gentiles, but to the Hebrews. And this is what it says. Having gone through all those great men and women of faith, one after the other, most of them jewish, most of them the seed of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. It then says this in verse 13. [00:25:28] And these all having had witness, borne to them through their faith, received not the promise. God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect or complete or mature or full grown. [00:25:52] Now, if I begin to look at it, at least in this way, some things begin to make sense to me. Now I realize it doesn't make sense to everybody. I know there are different understandings of this whole matter. But let me take you a step further. Having given you that bird's eye view of the whole, that's how the Bible begins. That's how the Bible ends. Now there must be very real reason I have to write now and again a book. Poor books, but nevertheless I have to write books. And I know that an introduction and a conclusion are very, very important. [00:26:32] It's no good having a marvelous book if the beginning is no good and the end is no good, because many wicked people turn to the end of a book and read the last part before they start. [00:26:44] And if they don't think it's much good at the end, they don't think, they decide not to read the thing. [00:26:50] So the beginning and the end of a book is very, very important. [00:26:54] And I believe this is exactly why in the word of God, in the 66 books that make up the Bible, God has been so careful about the beginning and the end. We have the beginning of a matter and the end of the matter. [00:27:11] I would like to say a few words about God's purpose in choosing Israel. [00:27:16] From my perspective, God chose Abraham with a special people in view and an especial purpose and aim that in Abraham and in his seed, all the families of the earth should finally be blessed. [00:27:46] That nation, the jewish nation, was to be, in my estimation, supremely a vessel of salvation to the ends of the earth. [00:28:01] It was intended to be a vessel of light, a burning torch to the nations of the earth. [00:28:12] God did not create the jewish people merely to be insular, merely to be elite, merely to be special. [00:28:25] He chose them that they might become the means by which the knowledge of himself might come to the ends of the earth. The light of his truth might be communicated to the ends of the earth. [00:28:46] His salvation might come to all peoples, all kindreds and tongues and nations. Furthermore, the purpose of God in choosing this special people was that it might be the means by by which the messiah would be given to both them and to mankind. [00:29:16] As I see it, this was the special purpose of God in choosing the jewish people and remains so to this day. [00:29:30] This was his purpose. This was why we had all the kashrut laws. This is why we had all the other laws. To make this people singular, to make them almost isolated, to separate them from all other nations, to keep them, as it were, sanctified to God so that he might fulfill his purpose through them. [00:29:58] I have to watch the time tonight, but just in passing, and I know it's only in passing, it may cause more problems than solve them. But I believe that this is the sign of Jonah. [00:30:15] Jesus spoke of the sign of Jonah. [00:30:19] Jonah was a remarkable man, a good man, a godly man, an anointed servant of God. [00:30:27] But like many believers, Jonah was in Surah. [00:30:34] He had no time for anybody beyond the boundaries of the promised land. He had no time for anybody beyond the chosen nation. [00:30:46] And one day, in his quiet time, God said to Jonah the most incredible thing he had ever heard, go to Nineveh. [00:31:00] Now, if he'd said, go to Thebes or Ramses, it would have been a little better. If he had said to go to somewhere in Persia, it would have been a little better, say, to go to Nineveh. That was touching the bottom as far as Jonah was concerned. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrians, the most cruel people in the whole of antiquity, known for their wickedness, known for their bestiality, known for their savagery, known for the way they murdered whole tribes and nations in the most dreadful manner. [00:31:37] He couldn't believe it, but he was quite sure it was the Lord. So he fled down to Yaffo, and he bought a ticket on a boat going as far as possible in the opposite direction. Well, I dont have to tell you the whole story, do I? You all know it. Many of you from Sunday school, I imagine. [00:31:57] God prepared a fish and a great storm, and gods prepared fish with the prepared storm, brought Jonah to a new position altogether inside the fish. [00:32:16] And there the most remarkable thing happened. Jonah, who was a real Bible student in his own way, remembered the prayer that Solomon had prayed. [00:32:27] He remembered that he said, if in anywhere on the earth or wherever, anyone who sinned and disobeyed the law will turn towards the place where I have caused my name to dwell, that is the temple in Jerusalem, I will hear and forgive and will draw him back. [00:32:49] How Jonah found the right direction in the belly of the fish remains a mystery to me, which I shall one day personally ask Jonah if I get the opportunity. But the fact is that somehow, by faith, he got the right direction in the fish, prayed in the direction of the temple in Jerusalem. And God caused that great fish to have a coughing fit. And he coughed Jonah up. Now, my dear friends, you know the whole story. Jonah went to Nineveh. This time, his heart was in the message. The message, of course, was judgment, and his heart was very much in it. He felt that was exactly what Nineveh deserved. He gave himself 100% to that ministry. And then, to his utter amazement, something happened in Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrians, that had never happened in Israel. The whole people repented from the king right down to the humblest servant in the homes. They put on sackcloth, they threw ashes on their heads. They even took. Took their pet dogs and their pet cats and dressed them in sackcloth. Thats what it says. The donkeys, the camels, everything they dressed. Hed never seen anything like it. And then he thought, oh, my goodness, I hope gods not taken in by this. [00:34:15] And God forgave them, and he deferred judgment for a whole generation. Well, you know the story. Jonah went out in a deep sulk, like so many believers, when they find their cherished concepts have suddenly received an almighty blow. [00:34:35] We found we can't face it. He went out. He had no idea that God knew the Assyrian. [00:34:46] He had no idea that God was a Quaker with the streets of Nineveh, that he knew exactly how many children under the age of two there were in Nineveh. 120,000. And that he even cared for the domestic animals within the homes of Nineveh. For the Lord said to him, jonah, you have had mercy on this good, which grew up in one day and died within 24 hours. [00:35:16] And you thought I should judge this city where there are 120,000 toddlers that cannot tell their left hand from their right, and all the domestic animals. It was the biggest shock Jonah ever had that God knew the streets of Jerusalem. He understood that God knew the streets of Bethlehem. He fully understood that God knew the towns and villages of Judea and Samaria, the Galilee and so on. He understood that. That God knew all the people, even the domestic animals in the households in Israel. This he understood. But that God should unknow the Assyrians by name. [00:35:55] This was beyond him. [00:35:58] Now, if I had been Jonah, I would have finished the book a little differently, because I would have said at the end of it. And Jonah understood and repented and turned to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. But Jonah was a really great man because he left his biography so that all of us could judge him forever. After he left it right at the point where it was most dramatic, he had obviously learned the lesson or the story would never have been told. Now Jesus said, only one sign shall be given to this Genoa, the sign of Jomah. [00:36:39] In other words, the people had somehow rather lost sight of the purpose of God in their election. [00:36:51] And he, like Jonah, would be three days and three nights in the grave. [00:37:00] But when he arose, he would become the savior not only of Israel, but of the world. [00:37:11] Now, my beloved brothers and sisters, dear family of God, this glorious purpose of God for the jewish people has been fulfilled not through their success, but through their fall. [00:37:34] It is the fathomless mercy of God that he took the fall of the jewish people, the loss of the jewish people, and made it the riches of the world, the riches of the Gentiles. He took the casting away of the jewish people and made it the reconciliation of an innumerable multitude from every kindred tongue, nation and people in the globe. [00:38:11] Dear child of God, I believe that this is so important for our understanding. [00:38:22] This is exactly what the apostle Paul, in my estimation, was talking about in this parenthesis that we have in his roman letter from chapter nine to chapter eleven. Some christian theologians, I won't stay with this. They look upon this as the wandering of a genius mind. They say, well, you know, the apostle Paul went to an ordered kind of sea from chapter one to chapter eight, and then went on from chapter twelve to chapter 16. But he let his mind wander from chapter nine to chapter eleven. Very interesting, what he said. But it's not so important because the real theme of Romans is chapter one to chapter eight and from chapter twelve to chapter 16. [00:39:07] In other words, those wonderful words. [00:39:10] I therefore beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your spiritually intelligent worship. Refers to the first eight chapters, not the first eleven chapters. [00:39:27] Other people tell us that these three chapters are a marvellous parenthesis, all to do with election and predestination. It is the predestination, they say, of the church. It is the predestination of the believer only. It has nothing to do with the jewish people. They altogether ignore the fact that the basis of this whole thing is the jewish people. [00:39:53] But it is quite clear, if we look at these three chapters, that it is precisely what I've been talking about that the apostle Paul gives to us. [00:40:06] He speaks of their fall. Its a problem to him. He said, did God trip them up, that they might fall? [00:40:14] God forbid. He says, I cannot accept it. But by their fall, salvation has come to the Gentiles. [00:40:25] He then speaks of their loss. [00:40:29] He speaks of their being cast away. He speaks of their being enemies of the gospel and in the same breath says they are still elect. [00:40:44] Remember that. That's where so many christian leaders and theologians have gone wrong. In the very same breath he says they are still elect as touching the election. They are loved of God because of the fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. [00:41:06] Now, dear friends, it seems to me that this good tree that he speaks of, will you please notice there's only one tree here in this romans eleven. I have friends of mine who say there are two trees, two olive trees, they say, because they're thinking of Zechariah. Chapter, they say there are two olive trees. But as I have read and reread and reread this chapter, I cannot see anything but one tree. And it is perfectly clear to me. This one tree has roots. It has branches. And the branches in the tree are called either natural branches or wild branches. [00:41:49] Those are the only branches in this tree and the root holds the whole. Now this is very important, at least to me. What is the tree? The tree, it seemed to me, of the elect people of God right the way through. [00:42:07] All in this tree are there by the grace of God, through God given faith. [00:42:17] Unbelief means you're cut out from the tree. [00:42:22] Faith living faith, gifted you by God means you're in the tree. But no one is there simply because of some ritual or because of some other. They're there by the grace of God through the gift of saith. Now if you follow this through from romans nine right the way through, you will see that I'm following closely this context because the apostle Paul speaks of Abraham as the father of all those who believe. [00:42:57] Now if this is true, we come to one or two other extraordinary things. We find another quite remarkable phrase. It speaks of the fullness of the gentiles coming in. [00:43:15] What does it mean? [00:43:17] I would not. Brethren, says the apostle Paul, have you ignorant of this mystery lest you be wise in your own conceits that are hardening in part hath befallen Israel until the fullness of the gentiles be. Come in, come in. [00:43:33] Clearly the good olive tree on one side, not destroyed, laid on one side because of unbelief. [00:43:44] Then we read these wonderful words. If you, being a wild olive branch, can be grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree. [00:44:05] Well I dont know if you follow me in what im saying. [00:44:11] I really am just seeking to say gods purpose for the jewish people has been fulfilled through their fall and not by their success. [00:44:27] That light of his has gone to the ends of the earth and has become the possession of innumerable people all down through the last 2000 years. That salvation of God through the messiah that was given to the jewish people through his death, his burial, his resurrection has become the experience of countless multitudes from all over this world. [00:45:05] Now that leads me to say something else. If youre still with me and youre not going to stone me, and that really is that the great divide took place on the person of Jesus. [00:45:28] How did the early church understand themselves? [00:45:35] They were all jewish. I suppose I don't have to prove that to all of you here. I think most of you know that for the first decade or two there wasn't a Gentile, not even a samaritan in the early church. It was all jewish. [00:45:52] All the apostles were jewish. All those marvelous men with greek names, they were all jewish. Philip and Silas and Barnabas and Apollos. And so we can go on and on. They were all jewish. How did they view themselves? Did they view themselves as something distinct from Israel? Did they view themselves as something different to Israel or did they view themselves as the real Israel? I have no doubt about it at all that the early church saw themselves as the real Israel. And that is why we have the problem that so many christian theologians, I think, have not been able to fathom or understand. [00:46:41] We have all these prophecies in the New Testament which the early church took from the Old Testament said were fulfilled in this and that and the other. Therefore, many people say the church has supplanted Israel. [00:46:59] But there is no doubt in my mind that if we could only go back for 2000 years and go into one of the early church meetings in Jerusalem or, or wherever in this area of Judea or Samaria, we were to sit down with them and say, now tell us, do you consider yourselves to be something new altogether? Well, they would say, yes, we are the new men. Well then you are different from Israel. No, they would say, not at all. We are really the real Israel in us has been fulfilled all the promises. [00:47:31] Now I know that this may be a problem to some, but let me just, if youll give me a moment, just let me go on for one further point and try at least to explain something more. Consider just for a moment, will you, if you're all still with me, and alive and awake. Consider just for one moment what would have happened if Jesus had been accepted as king and not rejected. [00:48:00] Consider supposing Jesus had been completely and absolutely recognized and accepted by the high priest and by the whole hierarchy, the establishment in the nation, right the way down to the people. [00:48:24] He would still have died because he was the lamb foreordained to die. But he would have died by only gentile hands. [00:48:37] Because the Romans, once they knew that a king had appeared and that the whole nation recognized him as the king. And furthermore, as a very special king, as the messianic king, they would not have brooked his presence. [00:48:54] He would have been crucified. [00:48:57] And then when he was crucified, the whole nation would have mourned. [00:49:03] But on the third day, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob would have raised up Jesus, the king of the Jews, raised him up from the dead and caused him to be seen by many in the nation. [00:49:22] Then he would have ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high. And what would have happened? He would have said to them, go out and make disciples of all nations. What kind of disciples would they have made? What would the disciples have been called? Everywhere they made disciples, they would have been called Jews. [00:49:43] Obviously, they would have been Jews. The whole question of the law and the keeping of the law would have had to have been sorted out. But if Jerusalem still stood, it would have been the most amazing thing. This gospel of a crucified, buried and risen Messiah and king would have gone out to the ends of the earth. And salvation would have been preached in his name, beginning at Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. And all over the earth there would have been men and women who, through that jewish messiah, through that king of the Jews, would have come to taste the salvation of God, would have been born of God. The spirit of God would have come to dwell within them. The law of God would have been written on their hearts. [00:50:29] Now, this is all speculation, but, I mean, I want you just to understand it didn't happen that way. But in the fathomless mercy of God, it was the fall of the jewish people that he used to bring about the fulfillment of his purpose for the nations. [00:50:57] We have to say that it was not until the period of Constantine in the fourth century that the final alienation took place, place between the Christian and the jew. It had begun earlier, but it was then that the final breach was made deliberately by the church to completely sever all its connection with the jewish people. The church became a gentile affair. The huge multitude of wild olive branches grafted into it took over. They forgot their root. They forgot their, the natural branches that had been laid on one side. And they understood that they were the church and they were the fulfillment of everything. And God had no further purpose whatsoever. For the jewish people. They were under the judgment of God. They were under the wrath of God. [00:52:03] But in fact, one elect people became two elect peoples, one saved and one unsaved, one in the heavenlies and one on earth, one outside of the Messiah and one in the Messiah. [00:52:27] Both these peoples have the same origin. Both have the same God and father. [00:52:36] Both of them have been given the same revelation. [00:52:40] Both believe in a messiah. [00:52:44] One, the true church, that he has come and will come again, and the other that he is still yet to come. [00:52:54] Both these peoples believe in a kingdom to come, a kingdom of God in which righteousness and mercy will meet each other. [00:53:08] And both believe that the glory of God, the knowledge of the glory of God, will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. [00:53:19] Now I must finish, because this has been such a marvelous evening. I dont want to take away at all for one single moment from the wonderful time of worship Weve had. [00:53:36] Are there two destinies or one present? God is dealing with the jewish people, and with Israel in particular, in a quite distinctive way, quite differently from the way he is dealing with the church, the true church, the body of the Lord Jesus. But somewhere, somehow, these two elect peoples are going to meet, and when they meet, it will be in the person of the Messiah. [00:54:19] And when that happens, in my estimation, it will be like a spiritual nuclear explosion. [00:54:35] The jewish people's destiny is for forever bound up with the Messiah. [00:54:42] They will be saved by the work of the Messiah, and their destiny is bound up with the Messiah. [00:54:54] And the destiny of the church cannot be understood apart from the Messiah. [00:55:03] It is in the Messiah, through the Messiah, with the messiah. [00:55:09] Can these two peoples be separate in the end? [00:55:19] Now, my dear friends, what this simply means is, if youre a child of God and youre born of the spirit of God, you are not some second class citizen, some inferior person whom God has saved as an afterthought because the jewish people fail. [00:55:45] You will one day sit down in the kingdom with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. [00:55:53] You have become, by the grace of God alone, a partaker in the commonwealth of Israel. [00:56:03] I want to say one last thing. [00:56:08] In my estimation, and I don't believe it's radical or unbalanced. In my estimation, the purpose of God for the true church cannot be fulfilled without the jewish people. [00:56:27] Until God does something in the jewish people and the natural branches are grafted back into their own olive tree. The purpose of God for the nations and the purpose of God for this earth and the purpose of God concerning a new heaven and a new earth cannot be fulfilled. [00:56:53] That lends an urgency, as I see it, to our whole prayer for this nation. We are not praying that they be converted in a way that means that they become non Jews. [00:57:08] We are not praying that they be converted in such a way that they become angry Anglicans or Catholics or Pentecostals or Baptists or whatever else. [00:57:19] We are praying to God that the natural branches may be grafted back into their own olive tree, that God will receive them again. [00:57:31] Receiving them not at all. Meaning that he has never been found amongst them in the last 2000 years, that he has completely rejected, that he has forsaken them. Never, never, never. God has been present with the jewish people all through the last 2000 years of their bloodshed and suffering. [00:57:55] But he is going to receive them again, whatever that means. [00:58:03] And that receiving of them is going to result in resurrection, life and power being manifested through the whole redeemed community. [00:58:19] He is going to bring them to fullness. [00:58:25] And if their fall was the riches of the Gentiles and their loss the riches of the world, what will their fullness be but even more riches? My dear friends, this is fuel for prayer. [00:58:45] This is why Satan is seeking to destroy this nation. This is why he's seeking to undermine it, not only by military means, but by economic means, even by moral means, to try and destroy this nation. This is the call to you, dear people who have been saved by the grace of God, to stand in the gap and plead for this nation that God will fulfill his purposes concerning them. [00:59:19] Now I may be wrong in what ive said this night. I have no doubt that I shall receive a number of letters, a number of pamphlets and a number of books. I always do. After ever having stuck my neck out like this. People feel I need further enlightenment or further instruction or whatever else I stand before God. All I can say is this. This is as I see it tonight. [00:59:46] I can tell you one thing with all my heart. I belong to this people. [00:59:52] I've been saved by the grace of God. [00:59:55] I know something within my bones tells me that some major fulfillment is not too far away. [01:00:08] And I want to say one last thing more surely than I stand here tonight. God is going to fulfill his purpose concerning this people, whatever that means. [01:00:26] Whether the way ive seen it and communicated to you tonight is exactly what he will do. Or whether ive only seen him part. And theres much more that has to be done, or whether im almost completely wrong and the Lord is going to do it some other way. Hes going to do it, and I shall be the first to rejoice. [01:00:48] Thank God we are at the end of an invincible movement of the spirit of God which began in the very beginning. [01:01:02] It began when the spirit of the Lord brooded upon a formless, chaotic waste. [01:01:11] We are at the end. What a privilege. [01:01:17] What a privilege to be witnesses of the dealings of God with this people and with the church. [01:01:29] May he hasten it in his own time.