World Empire Final Destination 2 Identity1

World Empire – Final Destination WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATON PART 2: IDENTITY D Massive, 2012 Spotlight, on How Mys...

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World Empire – Final Destination WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATON PART 2: IDENTITY

D Massive, 2012 Spotlight, on How Mystery Babylon is Fueling the Creation of a Twenty First Century, One World Government!

IDENTITY (Part 2)

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WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATON PART 2: IDENTITY

This report is the property of Rema Marketing and is considered to be strictly for reading only. With receipt of this report, the recipient acknowledges and agrees that written permissions must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this report, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles. A publication of Rema Marketing. ©2012, All rights reserved.

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WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATON PART 2: IDENTITY

WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION PART 2: IDENTITY As of today, Judaism is divided on the issue of "Who is a Jew?" via descent. Orthodox Judaism stands unequivocally behind Judaism's almost 2000 year old law of matrilineal descent. Conservative Judaism has stayed loyal to the traditional matrilineal descent law, but, compared to Orthodoxy, is more open in its acceptance of potential converts, more sensitive in its approach to intermarried Jews, and more active in its outreach to intermarried families. Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism have expanded their definition of a Jew from one with a Jewish mother to also include one with a Jewish father. How does one of the most fascinating and controversial debates about Judaism relate to the coming of a one world government and the role that Israel will play in its future and prophetical role.

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TRUE AND FALSE JEWS

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COVENANT THEOLOGY

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A HISTORY OF ISRAEL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

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PROPHECIES AND PROMISES CONCERING THE LAND OF ISRAEL

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WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATON PART 2: IDENTITY

WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION PART 2: IDENTITY

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1. TRUE AND FALSE JEWS Before we can engage with the issue of covenants and prophecies, it is important to understand that there is a particular teaching circulating today, which insists that the majority of Jews are not actually descended from Abraham - they are not Jews by blood. Clearly this view has great importance for a book of this nature, so it is to this we turn first. It will be a short analysis, but I will include the most salient points. THE JEWISH QUESTION There are, for want of a better term, true Jews in this world and in the land of modern Israel. By the word ‘true’ I mean they can trace their ancient, generational lineage back through Jacob, to the person of Abraham - their ‘father’. However, it may surprise you to know that a number of writers claim that there is another type of Jew in the world, and in modern day Israel. 66 They have been called false Jews. These writers claim that these false Jews are Jews not by race, but are Jews because in history past their ancestors converted to Judaism. This view focuses particularly upon the ‘Ashkenazi Jews’, who are said to have come originally from a geographical location called Khazaria; an ancient land between the Black and Caspian Seas. 67 Today this land is mainly in Georgia, but also extends into Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Hungary and Romania. Khazaria, as one can appreciate, is 800 miles north of Israel, and unrelated to it historically. Because Ashkenazi Jews make up about 80% of world Jewry, then if they are all false, this creates a huge question mark over Jewish rights to the land of Israel.

Professor H Graetz who was actually an Ashkenazi Jew, was a leading authority on Jewish history. In his monumental three volume work ‘The History of the Jews’, he affirms the above position. He argues that in 740AD the Khazarian people were vulnerable to attacks from Muslims on the one hand and Christians on the other. The Khazarian King, King Bulan, decided that his entire population should convert to Judaism in order that they would not be conquered by either of these two religions. Further, the Khazars were a lewd and sensual people and through a newly founded law, they permitted that only Jews were allowed to ascend to the throne in their land thereafter. 68 As this country grew in stature and recognition, a rumour started which claimed that these people were actually the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. At that time the Khazarians spoke a regular Asiatic language, but when King Bulan recognised the need for a written record of their speech, he adopted the phonetics of Hebrew that he WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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had found in The Talmud, (an important Rabbinic Jewish text), into their language. Today that language is called ‘Yiddish’. Indeed many Jews from Eastern Europe regard themselves as ‘Yiddish’. Another leading Jewish academic who has researched this field is Arthur Koestler, making similar claims to those here. If what Graetz and others claim is true, then it means that many, many Jews today have no claim to the ancient promises of the land of Israel at all, because their lineage is not from Abraham whatsoever. Indeed, even DNA tests have been carried out which attempt to prove that these Jews are false and thus not of that ancient pedigree. ANALYSIS With such controversial claims it is not surprising to find an alternative view to this. One would expect there to be, because the ‘false Jews’ argument is potentially so destructive. One work I have sourced, which is fully cross referenced with the Encyclopaedia Judaica, gives a different opinion: ‘As for Ashkenazim being Khazars, for one thing there were Jews on the Rhine (who came with the Romans) long before there was a Khazaria and even before many Germanic tribes settled there. In fact, the word Ashkenaz means Germany in Hebrew... there were very large Jewish communities in Northern and Eastern Europe before the Khazar-Jews arrived there, and that these (with perhaps a tiny percentage of Khazar-Jews) are the ancestors of the Askhenazim. Thus, these Jews are clearly descended from the Jews of the Bible… The first Jews to reach Germany were merchants who went there in the wake of the Roman legions, and settled in the Roman-founded Rhine towns. The earliest detailed record of a Jewish community in Germany, referring to Cologne, is found in imperial decrees issued in 321 and 331 C.E’. 69

Genetic DNA evidence of Jewish priests, the Cohanim who served in the Temple, has also been examined, through Jews whose surname is Cohen. Those with the surname of Cohen are derived from the original Cohanim. ‘The large number of Cohanim among present-day Jews and the fact that they have a common genetic lineage traceable to Israel at the time of the Temple, demonstrates that modern Jews come from a population pool derived from Israel and not from the Khazars’. 70

‘A Resource for Turkic and Jewish history in Russia and Ukraine’, is also a useful organisation because it focuses on matters pertaining to Khazaria - ‘Khazar studies’ - including new archaeological discoveries from that region. 71 The site essentially defends the conventional view, but also recognises that there was some degree of conversion to Judaism amongst the Khazar people. The article, “Jewish Genetics: Abstracts and Summaries” reads: ‘At the present time, it is known that Eastern European Jews have a significant Eastern Mediterranean element which manifests itself in a close relationship with Kurdish, Armenian, Palestinian Arab, Lebanese, Syrian, and Anatolian Turkish peoples. This is why the Y-DNA haplogroups J and E, which are typical of the Middle East, are so common among them. At the same time, there are traces of European (including Western Slavic) and Khazar ancestry among European Jews. The main ethnic element of Ashkenazim (German and Eastern European Jews), Sephardim (Spanish and Portuguese Jews), Mizrakhim (Middle Eastern Jews), Juhurim (Mountain Jews of the Caucasus), Italqim (Italian Jews), and most other modern Jewish populations of the world is Israelite’. 72

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The article then goes on to concede that further studies need to be done. Similarly in the book by Jon Entine, ‘Abraham’s Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People’, a comparable result is given. He believes that after 1993 when DNA studies had progressed far enough to test Y chromosomes, there was for the first time: ‘Powerful DNA evidence that Jews from around the world share a common Near and Middle Eastern ancestry almost untouched by conversion… This was the first concrete evidence that today’s Ashkenazi Jews were not mostly converts’. 73

Interestingly the studies also found that a common ancient chromosome marker for Levites, was missing from many of those who had been tested from around the world; they were shown to have numerous lineages. The evidence showed that they had not maintained a distinctive male line like the Cohanim had done. ‘While close to 60 percent of those who claim to be Jewish priests can confirm they are part of an unbroken DNA line to a common ancestor thousands of years ago, only a few percent of Levites can’. 74 Entine suggests that the reason for this may have been because the laws to do with succession to the role of Levite were less strict compared with the Cohanim. He also suggests that there might have been some Jewish Khazarian converts, probably from among royalty and nobility, which could account for this. This suggestion may well explain the evidence found in the chromosomes. However, even though such comments are conceded by Entine, the overall weight of evidence means that he believes that the mass conversion of Khazars to Judaism is weakened, and so Jewish conversion will be true only for some people. The historian David Livingstone, a Muslim convert, also concedes that the mass conversion theory is incorrect, which is a significant admission, bearing in mind his personal belief system. 75 Finally, Messianic Jewish writer, Lance Lambert, provides a helpful comment with regard to Jewish lineages. He states that the Yemenite Jews can be traced back to at least 900BC. 76 CONCLUSION The debate about this continues, with new material being presented from both sides. However I believe there is more reason to support an Israelite, Middle East origin for the Ashkenazi Jews than not. Many Jews from Palestine lived in Khazaria before King Bulan chose the Jewish religion. There were true Jews, those descended from Abraham in these places, before any of the historical events referred to began - their ancestry is still found in today’s Jewry. Moreover, there are other Jewish groups outside of the proposed Khazars, who have Semitic and Israelite origins as well, as I have detailed. Many Christians are not aware of this teaching and have simply thought that just because someone claims to be a Jew, then that means they are a Jew of an ancient lineage - from Abraham. Balance and thoughtfulness with regard to this area of study is needed. Moreover, to be accurate, a Jew is someone who is descended from the ‘house of Judah’, which was comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin from the time of the Babylonian exile. As that is so, another complexity emerges within this area of consideration. True Jews are those from ‘the house of Judah’, who in turn are also descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jewish issues concerning the land of Israel are always complex and this is just another aspect of that. In the coming chapters I will argue that God has a special plan with regard to the Jews – the salvation of the Jewish remnant. In closing I believe it is important to state that there are those within Jewry who have very important roles in our world - positions of global influence. This is a significant point which has high implications later on in the reports.

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2. COVENANT THEOLOGY Having accepted the viability of many Jews in the world who can trace their ancestry back to Abraham, we are now able to look at the important theme of Covenant Theology. Before we begin it is important to understand the following terms. Torah. This word refers to the Law of the Old Testament which is found in the first five books of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures. The word ‘Law’ often makes us think in terms of court rooms, judiciaries and the like. It is important to note that the biblical understanding of the word ‘Law’ is more coloured than that. Torah also means ‘instruction’, to ‘point out’ or ‘show’ a person the way he or she should live. The Torah or Law is from God and is for the enrichment of one’s life. Torah is also in a fundamental relationship with The Prophets of the Old Testament. The Torah and Prophets together are essentially regarded as the Old Testament; although there are other books which are part of that. The Jews call the Old Testament the Tanakh.

Covenant. A covenant in the Bible is an ‘agreement’ between God and humankind. A covenant could be expressed in the following way: God agreed to protect and bless the Jews if they kept His Law and were faithful to Him. As we shall see, covenants are plentiful in the Old Testament. Abraham - father of the Jews. The Jews rightly believe that they are the physical descendants from Abraham, passages such as Genesis 12v2-3 and Acts 3v25 demonstrate this. Other examples could be John 8v31f. In other words, the Jews believe that Abraham is their ‘father’. TORAH AND LAW Many Christians today have some level of misunderstanding with reference to the Law of God and the Covenants in the Old Testament. Many seem to believe that because the ‘New Covenant’ in Christ has come, Luke 22v20, the Law and all other Covenants have ended. An example of this is that in The Church today I often hear the catchphrase: ‘I am no longer under Law, I am under grace’, based on Romans 6v14. My concerns are with what people mean by ‘Law’ when they use a statement such as this. As we read above, the word ‘Law’ is more coloured and has a wider meaning than some have believed. If the Torah provides ‘instruction’ and direction for a person, with regard to their life before God, then surely we need to incorporate aspects of the ‘Law’ into our lives, rather than not! How can a person no longer need ‘instruction’ for living? The fact is, all the New Testament writers regarded the Torah as good; it was a misapplication of the Law that they had a problem with. And it was precisely a misapplication of the Law that Paul had in mind when he wrote the verse quoted above; not the Law in its entirety! Any negativity Paul had about the Law was toward people who thought they needed to keep it in a legalistic way, so they could receive salvation - for example through personal good works. Further, his concerns were also about certain Jewish teachers who tried to persuade Gentiles that they would receive salvation if they adopted certain elements of the Law; ones which were meant only for Jews and their Jewish identity. This is a theme within the book of Galatians. Jesus came to fulfil all the Law and the Prophets (the Tanakh), not to abolish them, Matthew 5v17. To express it another way - Jesus came to correctly interpret the entire Law and the Prophets. ‘…Attention WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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to and faith in the Messiah is the goal and purpose toward which Torah aims…’ 77 It is a relationship with Jesus that enables the Torah to have true meaning in our lives. Jesus properly interprets for us the Law, the Prophets and the Covenants, in fact the Old Testament in its entirety. As that is so, we need a better understanding of the Law compared with the view detailed above. Unless we do this we will not appreciate it rightly. If Jesus has fulfilled and interpreted the entire Old Testament correctly, which includes its Law and Covenants, then they must still have meaning today.

An example of what I mean can be understood by observing certain aspects of the Law. We are to: (i) show reverence for the house of worship, Leviticus 19v30, (ii) learn God’s word and teach it, Deuteronomy 6v7, (iii) say grace at meal times (the text actually says after meals), Deuteronomy 8v10 and (iv) pay wages to an employee as soon as the job is done, Deuteronomy 24v15. 78 Clearly all these things are still important. It would be wrong to say that these ethical expectations have ended because of the New Covenant in Jesus. Without the Law we would also have an incomplete understanding of the nature of sin. It is important to understand that many details within the Law were pertinent only to God’s covenant with Israel. But this is because there are many aspects to the Law which are specifically to do with Jewish identity. Clearly, when the Law teaches certain truths with reference to Jewish identity, then those truths are not relevant to Gentiles, an example being ‘circumcision’. Nevertheless, when we remove those elements, there are many teachings within the Law that have purposes for all people, Jew and Gentile alike, especially ethical and moral beliefs. The confusion people have about the Law is because they have failed to recognise these subtleties within it. ‘There is not one instance where Jesus or Paul attacked the Law or any of its ordinances, but in every case they supported the Law as the Word of God’. 79

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COVENANTS AND THEIR CONTINUATION With that written, we can now turn to the theme of Covenants, which the Law often directly relates to. As was the case with some Christians’ views about the Law ending because Christ has come, so a similar view is held by them about Covenants. Many believe that because Jesus has come with his New Covenant it logically means that the old covenants within the Old Testament no longer have any importance today. They understand the term ‘old’ to mean something more akin to ‘abolished’ or ‘ended’, because the New Covenant in Christ has superseded them completely. But as we shall see, it is not quite as straightforward as this. A significant way in which I can demonstrate this will be by thinking about the ‘everlasting’ covenants in the Old Testament, to which I will turn in a moment. But first, the following observation needs to be made. If the New Covenant in Christ supersedes all other covenants, and the Law with which it is associated, then why does the New Covenant involve having the Torah or Law written on Christian believers’ hearts, Jeremiah 31v31-34 and Hebrews 10v15f? Clearly a relationship with Jesus under the New Covenant provides a proper understanding of God’s Torah and Covenants from the Old Testament. Thus a proper outworking of the Law can occur in our lifestyles through faith in Christ. To be accurate, what the New Covenant replaces is the need to use the blood of animals for the forgiveness of sins, the priestly system as described in the Old Testament, how these related to the Temple and the rites and rituals they involved. In other words it replaces the Mosaic covenant - Moses’ covenant made at Mount Sinai – although many of its ethical commands are still important. This is what the book of Hebrews teaches. To insist that the scriptures teach a complete abolishment of all Old Testament covenants is to fall into a similar trap of misunderstanding that I have described with regard to the Law. In reality there are 5 covenants - Noah’s, Abraham’s, Moses’, David’s and the New Covenant under Messiah Jesus, the ‘Messianic Covenant’. As far as my understanding of the New Testament is concerned, the only covenant which has ended and been superseded is the Mosaic one; all others remain, something the New Testament also bears witness to. (It is worth noting that there is one other Old Testament Covenant, which was made specifically with Phinehas, an Aaronic priest, in Numbers 25v10-13). Further, Jesus came to earth and lived under the Law of Moses and its covenant, and as that Son of God he was perfectly obedient to all the commands it contained, Galatians 4v4 and Hebrews 2v14-18. He was obedient to death, even death on a cross, Philippians 2v8. It was because he met the demands of Moses’ Law and covenant, that Jesus is said to have met the standards of God’s Law - the standards that we, in our sinfulness, could not meet. In so doing, faith in Jesus opens up a new dimension of relationship with God. The reference above, Galatians 4, states in v5 that because of what Jesus did we ‘receive the full rights of sons’. By being adopted to be sons of God we have a special relationship with the Father through Jesus. Out from this foundation other important New Testament doctrines also emerge. The miracle of Jesus and his life is that as God the Son incarnate, The Lamb, he became the actual sacrifice himself, using his own blood to turn away sin; he also became our priest and permanently intercedes for us based upon his finished work on the cross. The New Covenant was better because Jesus was a better sacrifice compared to the Old Testament sacrifices. 80 Indeed he was the permanent sacrifice, once for all and forever!

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EVERLASTING COVENANTS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT – NOAHIC AND DAVIDIC I have just demonstrated that both the Law and certain Old Testament Covenants still have relevance to the New Testament and the New Covenant in Christ. I shall now extend the argument. The following covenants are ‘everlasting’, and because of that term it gives further evidence that the New Covenant has not ended them and that these covenants still have meaning today. The three main everlasting covenants are: (i) The covenant to Noah (Noahic), (ii) the one made to David (Davidic) and (iii) the covenant to Abraham (Abrahamic). Abraham’s covenant is particularly important and relevant to this book, because it is directly associated to the physical land of Israel. First, the everlasting covenant with Noah was that God would never flood the earth again and destroy humankind, with a rainbow as a sign of that promise, Genesis 9v9-17. This covenant was also to do with re-establishing God’s creative order after the judgment of The Flood. Second, the everlasting covenant made with King David was that from David’s family line, the Messiah would come, who would be King over all, 2 Samuel 7v5-16 and Psalm 89v34-37 (this passage uses the actual word ‘covenant’). Jesus, being a future member of David’s line, fulfilled this covenant when he came to earth, Matthew 1v1, for he was Messiah and King. When he returns, he will reign as that Messiah King forever, Revelation 19, particularly v15, compared with Psalm 2. In so doing, when Jesus returns he will then fulfil this everlasting Davidic covenant completely and forever, with an actual physical reign on the earth during The Millennium. I am not aware of any evangelical who believes that the everlasting covenant made to Noah, when God promised never to flood the earth again, has ended because Jesus has come with his New Covenant. Likewise I am not aware of anyone suggesting that the everlasting covenant made to King David and fulfilled in Jesus, has come to an end for similar reasons. Every evangelical believes that the Noahic covenant still exists, and that Jesus will still be the Messiah King upon his return, and thus fulfil David’s covenant completely. This proves that they believe that these two covenants are everlasting, just as the scriptures teach. So, the New Covenant of Jesus has not abolished or ended these two former covenants. THE EVERLASTING COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM - ABRAHAMIC However, when Abraham’s covenant is considered, there is a shift in thinking. Because his covenant is so tied to the land of Israel, then this shift has created a significant theological position about the modern return of the Jews to Israel - one that argues that the Jews no longer have any rights to the land. The argument presented by these bible teachers is that the covenant to Abraham is not everlasting with regard to the land of Israel itself. They believe that this land covenant has ended, because Jesus has come with his New Covenant. The political tensions in the land of Israel today are also concerns raised within this school of thought – not surprisingly. One of the most recent teachers examining this area of Christian theology is Anglican Vicar Stephen Sizer. His less academic writing “Zion’s Christian Soldiers? The Bible, Israel and the Church”, proves that this area is an ongoing issue for the Church to engage with. It is a critical area of study, because if the land covenant to the Jews has ended, then it will have massive implications for the Jews and modern Israel today within Church thinking. All study pertaining to the land, in my opinion, stands or falls on the issue of this covenant. ‘And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are – northward, southward, eastward and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever…’’ And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you

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and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.”’ Genesis 13v14-17, 17v7-9, NKJV.

In a number of passages in Genesis, examples being 13v14-17, 15v17-18, 17v6-9, 22v15-18, we are taught that God made a covenant with Abraham and it involved the promise of the land of Canaan, which later became Israel. Further, it was to Abraham’s lineage, the Jews, that this land was given. In some of the verses, particularly from those above, Genesis 13 and 17, the covenant is described as everlasting. This covenant, which was directly linked to the land of Israel, was in fact to be an everlasting possession forever. It was then reinforced through Abraham’s son Isaac, Genesis 25v3-4, and later through Jacob, Genesis 35v12. Indeed Deuteronomy echoes this in 1v8 and even the Psalmist agrees with the everlasting nature of it, Psalm 105v7-11. Abraham is at the centre of civilisation - there is an international dimension to this man’s lineage, Genesis 12v3, 15v5. The Jews also rightly believe that Abraham was their father through whom their nation was created, 12v2. So there is also a national dimension to his lineage as well! Logically, based on these verses and others, and the ‘everlasting’ terminology used within them, the Jews believe they still have rights to the land of Israel. Earlier I wrote with regard to the two other everlasting covenants, that no evangelical teaches that the New Covenant has ended them. But ironically, when it comes to Abraham and his everlasting covenant and the land to the Jews, many teachers teach the opposite. For me this is inconsistent. Either the promise of everlasting is for all three covenants, or it is not for any of them. If Jesus’ New Covenant supersedes all other Old Testament covenants, then the Noahic and the Davidic covenants should also no longer apply, as well as Abraham’s. The fact remains that the only requirement the Jews were to make from their side of the Abrahamic covenant was circumcision, Genesis 17v14. It was this act which released the covenant into being. Indeed the book often cited to discredit the belief that other covenants can exist alongside Jesus’ New Covenant, is the book of Hebrews. But remarkably Hebrews 6v17, which is a narrative about Abraham and his covenant, reads: ‘Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath,’ NIV. (My emphasis).

At the birth of Christ, both Mary and Zechariah prophesied about Abraham’s covenant and that it had been remembered. In Mary’s case the covenant was to Abraham’s seed ‘forever’, Luke 1v46-55, 72-73. Galatians and Abraham’s covenant ‘Consider Abraham: “He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand then, that those who believe are children (sons) of Abraham... If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise’. Galatians 3v6-7, 29, NIV.

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Part of the argument with regard to the ending of the land covenant, relates to the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians contains some special teaching about who the true descendants of Abraham are. Galatians clearly teaches that the true sons of Abraham are only those who have faith in Messiah Jesus, as the verses above make clear. The Jews may be Abraham’s physical descendants, but to be a true son of Abraham one must also believe in Jesus; that is the mark of true spiritual sonship. Of course this is great news for any person who converts to Christ - each believer becomes a spiritual son of Abraham and of his ‘seed’. The New Testament clearly teaches that all people, including Jews, have to believe in Jesus for salvation. Being a member of the Jewish race does not give a Jew advantage over a Gentile. A Jew is not saved because he is a Jew - one is not saved because of their race, but because of faith in Messiah Jesus. It is the circumcision of the heart that matters, Romans 2v28-29. Romans 4v11-12 also makes similar insights, and Matthew 21v33-45 teaches that the Jews and their leaders will not receive the kingdom of God if they reject Christ – they simply cannot rely on their Jewish heritage. It is setting Christ apart as Lord in one’s heart, which releases true sonship. This is true circumcision. Indeed the mystery now revealed is that there is ‘one man’ in Christ. Through Jesus’ work on the cross the barrier between Jew and Gentile has been removed - they are ‘one man’ together in Christ, Ephesians 2v15. This truth is a statement about the failure of The Enemy and a sign of the victory of the cross and resurrection! Whenever we see the true Church in existence, especially of Jew and Gentile together in Christ, it is a proclamation of the resurrection victory of Jesus. However, many teachers take this argument about true sonship and then extend it to include the land covenant. They teach that because being a son or child of Abraham is about faith and spirituality in Messiah, then being a physical descendant of Abraham no longer carries any real significance. It is now all about faith in Jesus, and the value of physical descent has been overridden by the New Covenant. As that is so, being a Jew and physically descended from Abraham no longer gives the Jews any prerogatives to the land. Because being a true child of Abraham is about trust, and is no longer to do with being a member of the Jewish race, then the covenant to the Jews about the land no longer stands it has become obsolete. I have already shown that Abraham’s everlasting covenant is not necessarily ended by the New Covenant in Christ, but do these very important details about true sonship imply that the land covenant has ended as well? Just because one is a spiritual son or child of Abraham by trusting Christ, it does not necessarily follow that the land covenant has ended for those who are Abraham’s physical descendants. It does not logically mean that Jewish unbelief in Jesus cancels out the land promised to them. Why should a covenant made upon the spiritual level necessarily cancel out the one made on the physical level? I suggest that the covenant through Abraham operates on two levels, albeit closely related, but not mutually exclusive. The Messianic Jewish scholar, David Stern, in his book ‘Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospel’, makes a helpful point when he writes: ‘by the logic of Galatians 3v15-17, which says that the later covenant does not alter an earlier one, the promise of the Land made to the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) is altered neither by the coming of the New Covenant nor by the supposed abrogation of the Mosaic one’. 81 Here are the verses Stern refers to: ‘Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established… The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise,’ Galatians 3v15, 17, NIV.

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Similarly Lance Lambert in his book ‘The Uniqueness of Israel’, writes, with regard to this verse: ‘The point which he was making so emphatically was that the giving of the law could not invalidate the covenant and the promise which had been made some 400 years earlier. By the same token, therefore, if the land of Canaan has been promised to Abraham’s descendants ‘for ever’, as an ‘everlasting possession’ to a ‘thousand generations’, then the coming of Messiah has in no way set aside that covenant, nor added any new conditions to it. The promises within it stand forever and the person and work of the Messiah, Jesus, are the basis both of their being made and of their fulfilment’. 82

When Peter spoke to the Jews in Acts 3v25, he still referred to them as ‘sons of the prophets and of the covenant…’ He spoke these words to the unbelieving Jews after the New Covenant had already been introduced. Clearly then, the Jewish Peter still regarded the Jews as under a covenant with God; a covenant which stems back to the time of Genesis and Abraham. We know it stems back to this time because Genesis 22v18 is the verse Peter goes on to quote in the next part of Acts 3v25. Moreover, with regard to the belief that Abraham’s land covenant has ended because Jesus brought in a New Covenant, it needs to be noted that nowhere does the New Testament actually state that the land covenant has finished. In fact, neither does the book of Galatians, this being a case in point. So, we must conclude that the covenant is everlasting, and this word means what it says; the covenant of the land to the Jews is still intact. On a natural level many may not like this; after all it has serious implications for the land of Israel today and all the tensions there. Stern concludes for us by writing: ‘although the Arabs do not have the right to the Land, they do have rights in the Land’. 83 I suggest that as this ought to be the case, it is absolutely pitiful that things are the way they are in and around Israel today with regard to the plight of many Palestinians. I will briefly explore this area of concern later. GALATIANS AND THE ‘JUDAISERS’ Before I end this chapter, I think it is worthwhile making some additional insights with regard to the book of Galatians, because it has a bearing upon certain teachings that are appearing in The Church today. One of the main emphases in Galatians is to make sure that Gentile believers do not think they can receive salvation by doing certain practices that were only meant for the Jews, for example ‘circumcision’. As commented on previously, those aspects of the Law are not necessary for a Gentile believer in Christ. To insist on such things is to make the Gentile more ‘Jew-like’ - to judaise the Gentile. This is fundamentally wrong, because those aspects of the Torah/Law do not apply to them. Further, the book of Galatians wants to ensure that we understand that a strict obedience to all of God’s laws will not save us. To live a life of obeying laws and acting perfectly in one’s own strength, will not save anyone. ‘Legalism’ does not save. Salvation comes through having faith in Jesus alone. It is out from that faith in Jesus, through a relationship with him, that obedience to God’s Law then makes sense. It is always faith in Jesus first, and then a holy lifestyle flowing out through that relationship with him, thereafter. There is a movement within The Church today, called the Hebraic Roots Movement, which urges The Church to get back to appreciating its Jewish or Hebraic (Hebrew) background or ‘roots’. Clearly there is WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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nothing wrong with understanding Judaism, the Jewishness of Jesus and the New Testament writers. Without it one cannot understand who Jesus was, let alone what the New Testament really means. Studying Judaism based solely upon the Bible is good and proper. Nevertheless modern day Hebraic Roots organisations need to be careful about how far they promote ‘Judaism’ and ‘Jewishness’ in the Gentile Church. If they are not careful they could end up judaising Gentile Christians, by making them believe that they need to adopt certain Jewish ideas and beliefs to their faith. 84 I have heard of Churches adopting Jewish dances as part of their worship and calling the Pastor ‘Rabbi’. I am concerned when I hear about these things because I do not believe they are necessary for Christians, and it could be moving towards something that is very wrong. If so, this would be the opposite of what Paul taught in Galatians. I am aware of a situation where some Gentile Christians gave the impression, whether they realised it or not, that they needed to be more ‘Jewish’ in their Christian faith. It seemed as though they thought they would get closer to God by doing so. They had been judaised to some extent. Their belief was simply unbiblical and not what the book of Galatians teaches. Often the problem with teaching from the Hebraic Roots groups is its subtlety, and then its perception by others. What many do not realise is that there are some within the Hebraic Roots Movement who have become so Jewish in their thinking that they subtly use Jewish books which are not in the Bible. Examples would be the Talmud, the Midrash, the Halakah and the Haggada. Some of these teachers’ methodologies, on analysis, are subtly based upon interpretive methods found in these other writings. 85 The Bible is authoritative and it alone is the Word of God. It is our source for a proper understanding of Judaism and a correct interpretation of Christianity in the light of its Judaist background. We need to examine modern, contemporary teaching in the light of the scriptures - to act like ‘The Bereans’. The Bereans were a group of people in the 1st century, who thoroughly checked the apostle Paul’s teaching, before accepting it, Acts 17v11. We need to be equally discerning in the Christian market today. fact remains that the true children or sons of Abraham are the ones who trust Jesus; slipping into a judaised faith is not required. We must never return to Old Testament Mosaic covenant Judaism, for Christ has fulfilled this on the cross. Jesus fulfils Judaism – its meaning is in him – Judaism’s truest form is fulfilled and found in Christ alone. Galatians 3v28 reads: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus,’ NKJV. CONCLUSION With these things in mind, we can now be sure that the everlasting covenant to Abraham about the land to the Jews has not been superseded nor ended. The exile to Babylon that Judah experienced in the 6th century BC was a temporary feature, because they had broken the Mosaic covenant. But the return of the Jews in recent times to the land of Israel has occurred because the everlasting covenant of Abraham still remains. Indeed I have also shown that other aspects of the Law or Torah still have value today. As that is so, we can now look at the Old and New Testament prophecies or promises about the land of Israel, and see if they support this land covenant belief. If there is consistency within the Bible’s teaching, then we ought to find that the prophecies about the land are supportive of the belief of the everlasting land covenant, which I have just examined. As you will read, there is indeed a great deal of consistency.

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EXCURSUS: ISRAEL

Earlier I quoted David Stern who wrote that the Arabs ‘do not have the right to the Land, they do have rights in the Land’. I am willing to admit that such a statement is controversial, it seems as though anything to do with Israel or the Jews always is. What support can I give for this statement?

In my defence it is very important to note that the Jews were called Palestinians until 1948. This fact can be further demonstrated by noting that the Palestinian Brigade, in the British Army in World War II, was comprised entirely of Jews. 86 To put it simply, the term Palestinian has nothing to do with nationality, religion or ethnic background, but it merely refers to the geographical location of where one lived, that is all. In fact the word Palestine comes from the word ‘Palaestina’, which was a word probably based on the people group known as the Philistines, the ancient enemy of the Israelites. The word Palaestina was deliberately created by the Romans in an attempt to minimalise Jewish identification to the land of Israel, and to mock them. They created this word after they crushed the Jews under their leader Shimon ba Kokhba in 132-135AD. Likewise Jerusalem was renamed by the Romans as ‘Aelia Capitolina’. 87 These are the true origins of the word Palestine and Palestinian, a word that refers simply to a geographical area, not an actual people group. Palestine and Palestinian, therefore, is not an Arabic word. 88

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The Jews have been the only people group that has always had an ongoing presence in that land, even since their exile from it in AD70. Yes, the Jews were scattered across the face of the earth at that time, becoming The Diaspora, a dispersed people, but a minority still clung on to the land and stayed there all that time. No group on earth has a history in that land as much as the Jews do, or given such clear promises by God about that land either, as repeated Old Testament passages make very clear. The Jews for thousands of years expressed their attachment to, and their longing for the city, by exclaiming every Passover: ‘Next year in Jerusalem’! The city has been the capital of only one people and that is the Jewish people. Jerusalem is the City of David, Solomon, the great Prophets and Sages of the Bible, and the city that Jesus himself prayed for and recognised as Jewish. Even the Hebrew Patriarch Abraham, four thousand years ago, travelled to Moriah and the city of Salem to worship God. It is from this divine encounter that the city took its name. The reality is that historically the Jews have more claims to Jerusalem than the French have to Paris, the Germans to Berlin, or the British to London. Many people will argue that Israel took control of Palestinian land in 1948, and in particular invaded their territories in 1967. But it is worth noting that when Israel formed in 1948, it did not take over a sovereign country called ‘Palestine’. That land was under Turkish control until World War I and under British control until 1948. 89 The argument often voiced because of this is: if the land is to go back under anyone’s control it should be to either of these countries, not to the ‘Palestinians’, because they never had sovereignty over the land. When the Turks ruled the land for 400 years, Jerusalem was nothing more than a back water provincial town. It was no one else’s capital and remained neglected and broken down. In contrast, the great Israelite kings and many psalmists wrote magnificent eulogies about the city three thousand years ago. Because the term ‘Palestinian’ did not refer solely to Arabs, but was used with reference to the Jews living in that geographical area as well, terms like the ‘occupied territories’, with regard to land associated with the 1967 War, cloud these facts. As that is so maybe American-Israeli journalist David Dolan’s term is more balanced - ‘disputed territories’. 90 Many people, including the media, seem to be unaware of, or do not report, these details here. Danny Ayalon, writing in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has made some interesting remarks in this regard. Admittedly WSJ is Jewish owned, but it is not common to find such bold statements within the world of journalism with respect to Israel: ‘...little appears to be truly understood about Israel’s rights to what are generally called the “occupied territories” but what really are “disputed territories”. That’s because the land now known as the West Bank cannot be considered “occupied” in the legal sense of the word as it had not attained recognised sovereignty before Israel’s conquest. Contrary to some beliefs there has never been a Palestinian state, and no other nation has ever established Jerusalem as its capital despite it being under Islamic control for hundreds of years’. 91 My emphasis.

The article from the Sword Magazine (formerly Prophecy Today) of September 2010 will also prove to be of value here. 92 Besides, the oft quoted UN Resolution 242 which many interpret to mean that Israel should return everything captured from so-called Palestinian land, actually does not mean this at all. ‘The resolution calls for “peace within secure and recognised boundaries”, but nowhere does it mention where those boundaries should be... Lord Caradon, the British U.N. Ambassador at the time and the resolution’s main drafter who introduced it to the Council, said in 1974 unequivocally that, “it would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of June 4, 1967, because those positions were undesirable and artificial”’. 93

It is also pertinent to note that a Palestinian desire for a nation for their people, that is Nationalism, did not arise until very recently. This nationalism has arisen, as far as I can determine, as a response to the failed attempts by the Palestinian authorities to remove the Jews from the land of Israel.

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Over many years, various agreements have been attempted in order to solve the Palestinian-Israeli crisis, one of the latest being the ‘Roadmap for Peace’. Many people seem to be unaware that in private talks, former Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, offered Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, 97% of the West Bank for a Palestinian state and reportedly opened the door for a ‘symbolic’ return of thousands of refugees. His proposals were far more generous than those of Ehud Barak at the failed Camp David summit of July 2000. Once again, the Palestinians said ‘No’! 94

The organisation ‘Myths and Facts’ is devoted to promoting democracy, freedom and human rights, and analyses matters pertaining to American interests, particularly in the Middle East. Eli E. Hertz, President of this organisation at the time of writing, often writes highly researched articles and one of his more recent additions is called ‘Jerusalem’. It provides some very interesting facts about Jerusalem and its relationship to the Palestinians. The full length document can be found under this endnote. 95 96 In it he writes: ‘Jerusalem was never an Arab city; Jews have held a majority in Jerusalem since 1870… In 1880, Jews constituted 52 percent of the Old City population in ‘East Jerusalem’ and were still inhabiting 42 percent of the Old City in 1914. In 1948, there were 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem, with 60,000 Arabs. A joint Jordanian-Israeli census reported that 67.7 percent of the city’s population in 1961 was Jewish. A 1967 aerial photo reveals the truth about the area called ‘East Jerusalem’: it was no more than an overcrowded walled city with a few scattered neighbourhoods surrounded by villages. Prior to unification, Jordanian-controlled ‘East Jerusalem’ was a mere 6 square kilometres, compared to 38 square kilometres on the Jewish side’.

The fact remains that the ‘Mandate for Palestine’ unanimously voted upon by the League of Nations in 1922, laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in western Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. It has never been altered or repealed by international law since. All these facts need to be born in mind when thinking through this complex area. I am not defending Israeli policies or their treatment of the Palestinians – I am simply providing some historical facts with regard to Israel and its formation. Claims of racism and apartheid from Israel and certain Zionists towards the Palestinians cannot ultimately be disproved – there will always be examples. One simply cannot dismiss every story we hear because of a pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian bias. The situation is too complex for that and errors are made on both sides - each Palestinian and Israeli has their own story. However, it may aid the reader’s analysis by noting that within Israel, in its hospitals, classrooms, voting booths, the Knesset and in many other places, one can find both ‘Jewish and Arab doctors, patients, professors, students, voters, and parliamentarians mixing together’. 97 I will refer to this area of concern again later, and try to make some balanced remarks; whilst holding to the belief of the Jewish rights to the land of Israel. WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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3. A HISTORY OF ISRAEL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT It is essential that we understand the overall rise and fall of Israel in Old Testament history. It is surprising how many people have a limited understanding with regard to this area of teaching. The following is not an exhaustive treatment by any means, but I believe it is sufficient for our purposes.

We then move into the time of 1 and 2 Samuel. These two books describe the history about how the monarchy, the Kings, came about. The books inform us of the prophet called Samuel, who tried to ensure that the original covenants were observed by the kings. Because of this he was effectively as important as Moses in his own context. The two books of Samuel look at the rise of King Saul, then King David, and the second book finishes with the end of David’s reign - approximately 970BC. In essence 2 Samuel teaches us that King David was a king who lived by God’s rule, and ruled Israel through God’s leading. David was not perfect, he made many mistakes, but even so, God decided to make an everlasting covenant with and through him. This covenant focussed on the promise that one day the Messiah would come from David’s lineage, and fulfil perfectly what it means to be King. Christ fulfilled this, and will do so physically, when he returns for his “Second Coming”. The books that follow 1 and 2 Samuel are 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. These books detail the rise and fall, and the successes of the different kings, thereafter, from God’s perspective. One of the most important kings was Solomon whose reign began after David’s death. It was Solomon who built a magnificent Temple to the Lord, the ‘First Temple’. The date for its construction was approximately 960BC. 1 Kings 2v13 onwards teaches us about the period of Solomon’s reign, including his awful spiritual downfall - 1 Kings 11 and beyond.

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One very important fact about Israelite history is that the Kingdom of Israel finally split into two parts, due to internal rivalries between King Rehoboam and King Jeroboam I, 1 Kings 12 onwards. This division occurred in approximately 930BC. The two parts were called - the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah).

Israel, the northern kingdom, was represented by ten of the original tribes - (i) Benjamin, (ii) Levi, (iii) Reuben, (iv) Dan, (v) Naphtali, (vi) Gad, (vii) Asher, (viii) Issachar, (ix) Zebulun and (x) Ephraim/Manasseh. (Ephraim and Manasseh came from Joseph and were often regarded as one tribe together). The Southern Kingdom, Judah, was represented by two of those original tribes - (xi) Judah and (xii) Simeon; although in time the tribe of Benjamin became part of this kingdom. Jerusalem also became its capital. The Southern Kingdom also honoured the dynasty of King David, whereas Israel, the Northern Kingdom was less devoted to his dynastic line. The books then continue, detailing the different kings from God’s perspective once again. It is worth noting that the tribe of Dan sinned in Judges 18v30; they worshipped the idols of other gods. There is also a tradition that the Antichrist will come from the lineage of this tribe. 98 These facts may account for why Dan is not mentioned in the book of Revelation where the 12 tribes are listed, see Revelation 7. As I stated above, the tribe Ephraim/Manasseh were originally from Joseph. Because of Dan’s sin, in order to preserve 12 tribes in Revelation 7, Dan is replaced with Manasseh. Thus the tribe of Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim) are separated out in Revelation 7 so that the numbers of tribes add up to 12. Various prophets, individuals who could speak out God’s word, were raised up by the LORD to proclaim his prophetic message to both of these kingdoms. They warned, predicted and had insight into various aspects of the kingdoms, and with regard to the kings who ruled them. For example, Hosea prophesied for Israel (the northern kingdom) from about 750BC onwards, whereas Isaiah prophesied for both Judah (the southern kingdom) being the theme of Isaiah 38-55. Prophecies about the ‘fall’ of each kingdom were eventually made; that they would go into exile (be removed from their land and go into another nation’s country), if they did not stop sinning. EXILE AND PROPHECY The northern kingdom (Israel) was the first to go into exile at approximately 722BC. They were exiled into Assyria, as 2 Kings 17 details. In the district known as Samaria, the Assyrians who moved there, came into the land and blended the worship of their Babylonian gods with the teachings of the Old Testament, v24-41. They became known as The Samaritans. 99 Because of their beliefs the Jews ending up having great disrespect for them. Such was still the case in Jesus’ day, an example being John 4, where Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well. Eventually the Southern Kingdom (Judah) also fell, due to sin. King Zedekiah refused to worship the LORD, 2 Kings 24v18, and this became the final event that caused the exile to come, as God had forewarned through the prophets. This happened at approximately 600BC, although the most common date given for this exile is 586BC onwards, when Judah ceased to be an independent kingdom. The result of this exile was that many Jews, including the most skilled, ended up living in Babylon; the worst place Judah could have wished for. But even though the prophets warned of the up and coming exiles, they also prophesied that the people would return back to the land of Judah. Isaiah prophesied this, so did Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Other WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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prophets also said the same. Later on these prophecies came true - they did return to their land. If you look at the books of Nehemiah and Ezra, we read that the Jews did go back to the land once again and they (along with some help) rebuilt the ‘Second Jewish Temple’ in Jerusalem, probably between 536 and 516BC. But, the return to the land was not as glorious as the prophets had predicted; many, many Jews stayed on in Babylon, having decided not to return. FAST FORWARD - YET ANOTHER EXILE: THE 1ST CENTURY Amazingly another Jewish exile occurred, along with the destruction of the Second Temple in AD70, under Roman Emperor Vespasian - although by this time the Temple had been incorporated within King Herod’s Temple - since 20BC. Vespasian had two sons - Titus and Domitian. Under the orders of Vespasian, it was Titus and his armies which caused the Temple to finally fall. Jesus in fact predicted its destruction in Matthew 24v1-2, and the exile of the Jews which followed these events was far worse than that of the Babylonian exile period, many years before. In AD70 thousands were killed and the Jews were scattered out from Judea, which was synonymous with the name Israel and equivalent to the ancient kingdom of Judah at that time. Many of them left and went to the region once known as Babylonia; a geographical area where they still had a significant presence, as they had done so for centuries, since the 6th century BC exile. Many others gradually spread out across the face of the earth. These Jews became ‘The Diaspora’, The Dispersed - although a few still remained in Israel. In fact when one looks at the Old Testament prophecies, they do refer to an exile far more severe than the one experienced at Babylon. Many verses inform us that the Jews would be exiled to places far across the world, something that did not happen in the 6th century BC. So the Jews have experienced two exiles from their land in history! INTERPRETING PROPHECY Prophecy is an amazing gift from the Lord. Often when we read a prophecy in the Bible, not only does it refer to the time (or near to the time) in which it was written, but it can also refer to a time period much later on. We read of this sort of effect occurring even with prophecies about Jesus. For example, Isaiah 9v1-2 reads: ‘...Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali... by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death... a light has shined,’ NKJV.

This prophecy was fulfilled in Isaiah’s time, when God crushed the Assyrian army in 701BC, Isaiah 37v36-38. Those in Zebulun and the surrounding area figuratively experienced a great light coming upon them, through the removal of the Assyrian army; suddenly they were free from them. But through the Holy Spirit, Matthew believed that this prophecy was fulfilled further and more completely in the person called Jesus. Matthew 4v15-16 teaches that Jesus was the ultimate fulfilment of this verse from Isaiah; he was the truest great light to come to Zebulun. So Matthew believed that these verses were true about Jesus even though they were written 750 years before he was born! So, one could argue that the prophecy has had two fulfilments in history - two ‘peaks’ in time when it came true. Other examples of this very thing happening are: Matthew 2v14-15 a fulfilment of Hosea 11v1; Matthew 2v17-18 a fulfilment WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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of Jeremiah 31v15; Matthew 1v1 a fulfilment of Isaiah 9v2-7; Matthew 1v23 a fulfilment of Isaiah 7v14 and so on. This type of prophetic outworking is a very regular feature throughout all the books of the New Testament, particularly in the gospels. Many, many times the Holy Spirit caused the writer of a New Testament book to believe that Jesus, or some other person or incident, was the fulfilment of an ancient prophecy or prophecies, even if a fulfilment of a given prophecy had already occurred in history past. Prophecy is like mountains and valleys. When looking at a number of mountain peaks from a distance, it is impossible to tell how far apart one mountain is from another mountain. The length of the valley between them is hard to determine, and maybe unknown. Sometimes prophecy is like looking at two or more ‘peaks’ of history, without realising the length of the valley between them. There is a fulfilment of a prophecy at peak one, but then there is a huge time gap, the valley in between, before a second fulfilment - the second peak - occurs. As history is said to repeat itself, so can prophecy in some sense. In other words, further fulfilments of a prophecy can occur, well beyond the time of the prophet. This belief is sometimes called ‘prophetic telescoping’. It has been suggested that in the various crises of history, we always see something of the end times in advance. The crises in history are a way of seeing the eschatological foreshadowed. 100 I believe we can observe the same phenomenon with regard to the land of Israel, as we have done with the Matthew 24 and Revelation material earlier. Whenever prophecies like the ones we are to look at have been fulfilled in history, we are seeing in advance something of those later events before they actually happen. It is like we are seeing a rehearsal of elements of them, beforehand. We know today that Israel has been re-formed. On May 15th 1948, modern Israel began! Today 6 million Jews live in the land of Israel. What we need to think about is whether this is a fulfilment of Bible prophecy or not. Was the re-formation of Israel in 1948 a deeper fulfilment of ancient prophecies - that is a greater fulfilment of those prophecies compared with Nehemiah’s time? Other questions could be were the prophecies about a return to the land, only fulfilled in approximately 536BC, when they came back from exile from Babylon? Or are these prophecies of a return to the land also about the reformation of modern Israel in 1948 as well? In other words are we observing ‘prophetic telescoping’ with regard to the modern land of Israel? Do the prophecies honour the Covenant Theology we looked at earlier, and agree that the land covenant is everlasting to the Jewish race? These are huge questions...

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4.

PROPHECIES AND PROMISES CONCERNING THE LAND OF ISRAEL

THE MAIN OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES ISAIAH 43V5-6 ‘Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, “Give them up!” and to the south, “do not hold them back”. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth…’ NIV.

It is clear that the above prophecy was partly fulfilled at the time of the exile in Babylon because the LORD brought many Jews back from that region, which was in the north and the east. But in 536BC nobody came back from the south or the west, because that is not where Babylon was. Neither did they come back from the ends of the earth! There were not any Jews in these locations. As I alluded to earlier, many Jews did not return in 536BC; they decided to stay in Babylon. The scholar Etienne Nodet in her book which analyses the origins of Judaism, writes that: ‘by any hypothesis, only a small Jewish minority returned from exile’, one estimate being of about 42,000 persons. 101 As that is so the numbers returning were nowhere near as grand as those described in the verse above.

However, from the beginning of the 20th century and from 1948 onwards, the Jews did come back from Russia (and other places in the north), they did come back from Australia (in the south), they also came back from China in the East and from Europe and America in the West! They came back from the ‘ends of the earth’ to Israel. And it was in large numbers too, which is in keeping with the spirit of the verse. Today those making ‘aliyah’, those returning or making an ‘ascent’ back to Israel, is growing. If we take scripture literally, which is often the crux of the matter, I can personally believe that this is a deeper fulfilment of the above prophecy, another ‘peak’ of it in history. Is it not possible that this relates to the Jews of recent times, after having been in exile for over 1900 years, since AD70? WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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ISAIAH 61V4 ‘And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations’. NKJV.

If you read the complete passage from Isaiah 61, you will note that the Spirit of the LORD is upon Isaiah, causing him to preach good news, v1. The coming of Jesus was a deeper fulfilment of this - Luke 4v18. But there is a very physical dimension to this passage too. It refers to a time when people will receive beauty instead of ashes, and it has a land theme to it, such as feeding flocks and having vinedressers. The time in Babylon could hardly be viewed as ‘desolations of many generations’. It was only short compared to this - about 70 years in length altogether. However if this prophecy refers to the time between AD70 and 1948, then that is, biblically speaking, at least 45 generations. That sounds more in keeping with ‘desolations of many generations’. Indeed it is in modern Israel that cities have been rebuilt, as described in our verses. Messianic Jew, David Stern, in his book the ‘Messianic Jewish Manifesto’ believes that one day God’s Law and Word will come forth from Zion and Jerusalem, quoting Isaiah 2v3, and when it does it will be in fulfilment of the promises made about the Land. 102 With Israel now in existence, it is possible for this to occur when Messiah Jesus comes again; albeit this was fulfilled significantly with the coming of Jesus in the 1st century. Comments could also be made about Isaiah 11, because v12 details the gathering of the people from the four corners of the earth. JEREMIAH 31V7-9 ‘This is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard and say, “O LORD save your people, the remnant of Israel”. See, I will bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the ends (or uttermost parts) of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labour; a great throng will return. They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son”’. NIV.

Certain aspects of this prophecy came true then when the Jews returned from Babylon. But, once again, the phrase is ‘ends (or uttermost parts) of the earth’. The passage also details women in labour, weeping, praying, blind and lame. I wrote earlier that the return to Babylon was not as glorious as the prophets had prophesied. However, these descriptions describe exactly the responses of the Jews as they made their way back to what became Israel after the Second World War. 103 In 1948, and since that time, many Jews have acted in the ways described in our verses as they returned to Israel. Perhaps the gloriousness the prophets spoke of was not wrong? Maybe it was fulfilled through modern day Israel, instead of Judah at the time of Babylon? Further, Messianic Jewish writer Lance Lambert also provides an amazing fact. He states that 43,000 Yemeni Jews suddenly one day, in 1948, without any warning, left Yemen and went back to Israel. They were asked ‘why’? They said ‘the time had come for them to go home to Israel’. The Iraqi Jewish community in 1950, all 113,000 of them, did the same! 104 AMOS 9V14-15 ‘I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them’. NIV.

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Judah was uprooted from her land in 586BC. Again Judea experienced it in AD70. But this verse refers to Israel never being uprooted. As that is so it must be referring to after AD70, because before that time Israel was uprooted twice! The passage must refer to a future time when Israel would not be uprooted again, and that has to be 1948 onwards. Indeed modern Israel has fulfilled the agricultural and building promises described in these verses. OTHER RELEVANT OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGES In Leviticus 25v47-49, there is a precedent and a law for redeeming the land. We also read of this in the book of Ruth 4v1, 9, 10, 13-22, when Boaz married Ruth. Likewise, when Judah was in distress she believed she could count on God to be her Redeemer, which included the redeeming of the land. Jeremiah 30-31 also has themes of restoration to the land, and graphic descriptions about returning from the ‘ends of the earth’. This is also interwoven with the promise of the New Covenant, which is fulfilled in Jesus. But, even so, the theme of the land is very present in these scriptures. Ezekiel 36-37 refers to a time when Israel will be restored. Chapter 37 is the most famous, what with its dry bones suddenly coming together with life. It seems to me that Israel has been re-formed, but she does not yet believe on Messiah; she has no ‘life’. But, a day is coming when certain Jews, the remnant of the Jews, will believe; they shall be blown upon by the Spirit of the Lord and live. (The issue of the remnant of the Jews from Romans 9-11, shall be analysed shortly). The passage goes on to describe her children’s children dwelling in the land forever, 37v25. Zephaniah 3v14-16, 20 details a time when God will restore the Jews’ captivity before their eyes and there will be no more evil. Once again this seems to be a passage about the future, because it has not occurred this literally in history so far. I suspect it will come true when Messiah returns to Israel. Zechariah 9v9-10 refers to a time when Messiah will ride upon the colt of a donkey. We know this was fulfilled in Jesus’ time. But, the passage then flows into a description of Messiah’s dominion to the ends of the earth. Once again this must be future because Jesus has not yet done this. Moreover the rule described will be through the Messiah reigning from Jerusalem, Israel. Zechariah 12-14 also has great relevance too. Micah 4v6-7 describes a remnant of believing Jews, whom God will make strong. The Lord will then reign forever from Mount Zion. Isaiah 66v7-9 refers to a nation being born in a day. Modern Israel was certainly a nation born in just one day because on May 14th 1948, the Jews declared independence for Israel as a united and sovereign nation. During that same day, the United States issued a statement recognising Israel’s sovereignty. And, only hours beforehand, a United Nations mandate expired. This ended British control of the land. Literally during a 24-hour span of time, foreign control of the land of Israel had formally ceased, Israel had declared its independence, and its independence was acknowledged by other nations. Modern Israel was literally born in a single day! Surely God’s hand has been at work making prophecy come true. SUMMARY It is only in recent history that the Jews have come from the north, the south, the east, the west and the ends of the earth, back to the land of Israel! It seems to me that we are witnessing prophecy in the making; prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes. God is honouring that ancient promise made to the Jews of Abraham’s lineage; Israel is indeed an everlasting possession. The everlasting covenant theology is still intact and the prophecies we have looked at have demonstrated this to be so.

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THE MAIN NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES Does the New Testament give any support to the idea of a re-formed Israel, especially in the light of the evidence from the Old Testament and that everlasting land promise made to Abraham? One would expect it to, if the Old Testament teaching is to be believed. Although the evidence is less, there does seem to be support from certain passages. I suggest that the reason why it is less is because in the minds of the New Testament writers, there was a direct correlation between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In other words, they required no more evidence because the Old Testament had already proven the case. MATTHEW 23V37-39 ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”’ NKJV.

Jesus told us that the Jews will not see him again until they say ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’, see also Luke 13v34-35. When the Jews say these words about Jesus, they will be fulfilling Zechariah 12v10-13v1, which refers to a time when the house of David will look upon the one whom they have pierced. When will that happen? According to the context of Zechariah, it is approximate to the time of the ‘Day of the LORD’, Zechariah 14. It is then that this special Jewish phrase, ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’ will make sense. According to Zechariah 12v11, it will be a national mourning and lamenting for Messiah, and that means that the Jews must be gathered together for this. Where will that be? The obvious choice would be modern Israel, although a partial fulfilment of it occurred in the 1st century too. ACTS 1V6-7 ‘Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom (self rule) to Israel?” And he said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority.” NKJV.

The context of this passage is very important. Jesus had just been crucified, he had then been raised from the dead, and then he appeared to his disciples. At the end of Luke, in 24v49, Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem until they received what the Father had promised them, which was the gift or the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as Acts 1v4-5, 2v4 makes clear. It seems to me that because Jesus was in resurrection power, and because he was Messiah, having demonstrated this irrefutably through his resurrection, it seemed logical to his disciples that now was the time for him to restore self rule to Israel. After all, the Jewish expectation was that the Messiah was to free Israel from the hands of foreign rule. (You will notice that I have used the term ‘self rule’ as oppose to ‘kingdom’. In Arndt and Gingrich’s Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament, it teaches that the word normally translated as ‘kingdom’ is better understood as ‘self rule’ in this passage). But what was Jesus’ response to this belief? He did not correct it! Jesus did not say they were wrong about believing that Israel would be ruled by its own government once again. What he effectively implied was - they had the timing wrong. The restoration of Israel was not yet, that is, not in the 1st century; not immediately after his resurrection, whilst Judea was under Roman rule. 105 Of course this must have surprised them immensely because with Jesus now in resurrection power, restoring Israel seemed the most obvious thing for him to do next. But it was not - they had to wait. When WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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Jesus was asked this question about Israel’s self rule, he could have refuted it and told his followers that their belief was wrong. But he did not. This tells me that Jesus also believed in a future Israel which would one day rule itself. Further, in Acts 1v11-12, when Jesus ascended back to heaven from Jerusalem, the angel said that Jesus would come back in a similar manner. In Zechariah 14v4 (and Acts 1v11-12) we are told that Messiah will come to earth and appear at the Mount of Olives, which is in Jerusalem. Obviously a restored Israel means that these places will be in existence for Jesus to return to when he comes! And when he does return he will then reign as Messiah King. Reader, that is the Israel we should really be excited about, because it will be an Israel under his perfect Kingship! Modern Israel today, is after all, very secular indeed. It is not the perfect Messianic State, not by any means. Romans 9-11 These three chapters are taken from Paul’s most notable book, letter or epistle - Romans. ‘Romans’ is a masterpiece. It gives us a brilliant understanding of the gospel from the Jewish perspective and teaches us some of the most important doctrine and truths that The Church believes. I find it amazing that in a book so devoted to explaining the gospel Paul finds space for the question about the Jews and what will happen to them. Indeed not just a small space of 5 verses for example, but actually 3 whole chapters – 80 verses! Three out of sixteen chapters, 19% of the book, focuses on this Jewish question. Clearly the issue of the Jews is utterly central to, and pivotal upon, the outworking of the gospel in history. It would, however, be theologically wrong to ignore the fact that the Romans 9-11 passage also continues with the theme found in the rest of the letter; it is not separate to it. Righteousness, holiness, justification, and union with Christ are all themes in the book and chapters 9-11 are part of that. Indeed these chapters enforce such teaching, but from the perspective of Israel’s final salvation. Admittedly the passage is quite complex to explain. There is rhetoric about election, predestination, olive trees, branches and roots. Paul can be hard to understand. It is likely that Deuteronomy 32 is at the heart of Paul’s thinking. Deuteronomy 32 includes themes like: God’s election and care for Israel, Israel’s rebellion, God’s judgment upon them and ultimately God’s final deliverance and vindication of his own people, v36-43. In fact Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32v21 in Romans 10v19 about how God would stir up jealousy in Israel, in the Jewish people, through blessing the Gentiles. For further reading the Word Biblical Commentary by Professor James Dunn for this entire passage, is an excellent treatment. ‘I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins”. As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable’. Romans 11v25-29, NIV.

Paul, when he wrote Romans, had a significant issue to deal with. Lots of Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians at the Church in Rome, thought that because many Jews had rejected Jesus as the Messiah, God had done away with and rejected them irretrievably. Because of this the Gentiles had become arrogant and presumptuous, thinking that they had ‘replaced’ the Jews or Israel. The Olive Tree illustration that I am now going to detail, shows the special and proper relationship that the Jewish and Gentile Christians have together and how God is working, and will work, within the Jewish people. Any budding gardener will know that shoots can be grafted into a plant. In other words, a shoot can be inserted into another plant of a similar species, so that the shoot can use that other plant’s nutrients and sap, in order that it can grow and become strong. Similarly this is the relationship that Paul refers to WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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between Judaism and Christianity through the Olive Tree illustration, Romans 11v11 onwards. The Gentile believers are a wild olive shoot grafted into the Jewish Olive Tree, 11v17. Because of this it means that they are absolutely dependent upon the Jewish root for their well-being and life. This is clearly seen in 11v17 which refers to the wild olive shoot sharing in the nourishing sap of the tree and its root. The Gentile faith is dependent upon true Judaism. The Jewish faith based on the Old Testament scriptures, contains many of the core beliefs and teachings that Gentile Christians believe in. That is true whether one lived in the first century or today. Judaism has the patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The patriarchs are ‘the root’ of the tree, 11v18. They are its root because from Abraham and his Covenant, Judaism was initiated and grew up into the Olive Tree. One could argue that ultimately God is the deepest root of all, because he birthed Judaism. Alternatively maybe God is the ‘soil and nutrients’ from which Judaism grew, after its planting. To put it simply, ‘the church cannot be in relationship with the God of Israel without at the same time seeing herself as somehow also related to the historical Israel of God’! My emphasis. 106 God has not done away with the Jews; they are still in his plans. Yes because of unbelief, unbelieving Jews, the natural branches, have been broken off from the Olive Tree, 11v17. Likewise, unbelief on the Gentile part could also break off their (wild) branches, 11v21. But because of God’s election of the Jews, even though they are enemies of the gospel at this time, 11v28, they will one day respond in a significant way. This is because of the promises originally made to the patriarchs (the root). The Jews were God’s in the past, they still are in the present, and will be in the future. Indeed a quick glance at Revelation 21v12-14 clearly shows that The Church, at the end, will be comprised of believing Jews and Gentiles. This is also Paul’s hope through the teaching we have studied. He believes that one day ‘all Israel will be saved’, 11v26. Abraham is included in the patriarchs, and therefore so is his ‘land covenant’. According to the text God’s gifts and call are irrevocable, v29. This one verse alone surely includes the Jewish rights to the land, and that they remain intact. ‘ALL’ ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED A great deal of discussion has occurred with reference to the word ‘all’. Does it mean every Jew that ever lived? Does it mean the Jews alive at the return of Messiah? I think the answer is found in 11v5. There is an elected, chosen ‘remnant’ - a ‘group of Jews from within the Jews’, who will one day believe in Jesus as Messiah! David Stern, an internationally renowned Messianic Jewish scholar, has made an excellent comment about this in his Jewish New Testament Commentary. He remarks that the word ‘all’ does not mean every single individual; it may mean the ‘essential part’ - interestingly even ‘smaller than a majority’. 107 Time will tell. I hope the numbers of those saved will be large, of course! As Paul wrote, not all ‘Israel’ is ‘Israel’, Romans 9v6-8, 27, 29. True Israel are the Jews who believe upon Messiah Jesus. This is where the teaching from Galatians and its covenant theology is now so important. As we learnt before, the true sons of Abraham are those who believe in Messiah; Jew and Gentile like. One cannot be saved simply by belonging to the race of Jews. Belief in Messiah is what counts for salvation, even if the land covenant is still in force for the Jews who are physically descended from Abraham. God has a plan for the Jews; but that plan is for God to honour his own Name, to prove that he is not a liar with reference to the promises he made to that race, including their land. So, God will save all the remnant of the Jews; God will save ‘all’ the Jews of that group. This is what all Israel will be saved means. To express it another way - the ‘fullness’ of the Jews shall come in and be saved. God has not done away with them, their calling and gifts are irrevocable, 11v29! God is sovereign and his paths are beyond tracing out, 11v33. He has not replaced Israel or the Jews with The Church, in the sense that he finished with the Jews; he has a plan for them! 108 109 God has sealed those twelve WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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tribes of Israel, Revelation 7; the remnant. His plans for them shall not fail, they shall be preserved and will call upon Messiah Jesus and be saved. Of course there have always been remnants of believing Jews throughout Israelite history, as there are today, and so shall it be when Jesus returns. The Old Testament often has the theme of the remnant. For example the story of Elijah and the Baal prophets, 1 Kings 18, describes God’s remnant which had not bowed the knee and worshipped Baal, v18. Isaiah 11v9-11 is another example, and most relevantly this may be behind Paul’s thinking in Romans 9v29, along with Isaiah 1v9, 10v22-23. In Zechariah 13v89, we read of a group of Jews, a third in fact, who seem to be the believing Jewish remnant during the end times, when Messiah Jesus comes, at the Day of the LORD, 14v1. The details above should not be interpreted to mean that sometimes terms used about ‘Israel’ in the Old Testament are not used for ‘The Church’ in the New Testament. For example, the Church is called a ‘spiritual house’, ‘a holy nation, a royal priesthood’ offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, in 1 Peter 2v4-5, 9. The Church is also called God’s ‘house’, Hebrews 3v6. But even though such Jewish terms are applied to The Church, the clear teaching of the New Testament on this matter cannot be understood to mean that The Church has replaced Israel and God has no plan for the Jews. Believing Jews and Gentiles together are the ‘Israel of God’, Galatians 6v16. The wonder of this teaching is that the only reason why Gentiles have heard the gospel and have been able to respond to Jesus at all, is because in God’s plan he allowed Israel (the Jews) to be hardened against the gospel in the first place, v26! We would be hell-bound if that had not happened, without any way of finding salvation. So, Gentiles, we are blessed indeed! As Reverend Ted Pike insightfully writes: ‘Perhaps those Jews who have been chosen to believe on Him are even now existing, reserved until the Second Coming of Christ, when out of Great Tribulation they will at last look on Him whom their forbears pierced, and realise their true Messiah. If this were so, it only serves to emphasise not only the importance of a fervent and balanced witness to the Jews, but also the necessity of kindness toward those who might well become our fellowheirs of salvation’. 110

ROMANS 9-11 - AN END TIMES CONTEXT? Does Romans 9-11 have an end times eschatology within its teaching? Clearly the passage had great relevance to Paul’s own time; he wrote it for the 1st century Roman Church, 11v5! The fact is whenever we see a Jew respond to Messiah Jesus, this passage comes true, whether that was in Paul’s day, or at any point in history thereafter. However I do believe that there is an overriding end times future aspect to this passage. Romans 11v15 refers to a time when there will be ‘life from the dead’ for the Jews. This phrase refers to the resurrection of believers which is clearly a future end times event when Jesus returns. This is our first piece of evidence about the passage having an end times perspective within it. More convincingly Paul quotes Isaiah 59v20-21 and Isaiah 27v9a in Romans 11v26. Professor James Dunn wrote, with regard to Paul quoting these two verses from Isaiah, that Paul picks up on ‘the faith and hope cherished by many Jews... that in the last days the dispersed of Israel would return to the promised land and those who had fallen into error would be restored to righteousness’. (My emphasis). 111 Similarly New Testament scholar, Ben Witherington III, also gives support and essentially argues this position. 112 But the final piece of information which really convinces me is as follows. In 11v25 Paul writes that the partial hardening of Israel or the Jews will continue until the ‘full number of the Gentiles has come in’. The ‘fullness of the Gentiles’ means that there is a specific number of Gentiles who will be saved during earth’s history. The potential time in which these Gentiles can be saved will continue until Jesus returns WORLD EMPIRE – FINAL DESTINATION A PRODUCTION OF REMA MARKETING AND WWW.GLOBALREPORT2010.COM ©2012, All rights reserved

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again. We know this because the gospel will go out to all nations until the time of Christ’s return, Matthew 24v14. Obviously within the whole world until that time, there are lots of Gentiles who will yet be saved! So, the potential salvation of the Gentiles will continue up until Jesus returns, for it is only then that their ‘fullness’ or ‘full number’ will be complete. It is then the Jewish hardening against the gospel will end, at which point they will respond to Jesus as Messiah. It is then ‘all’ Israel (the remnant of the Jews) will be saved, 11v26. So, this passage will have its main fulfilment prior to the return of Jesus. Indeed when Paul wrote this passage its fulfilment was still future, as the verb in Romans 10v1 makes clear. Romans 9-11 does not refer to the actual land of Israel. But when we recall that in Zechariah’s prophecy many Jews will be living in a restored Judah, at the time of the Day of the LORD, and will ‘...look on me, the one they have pierced’, then this is the context where Romans 9-11 has its best potential fulfilment. Zechariah also uses the word remnant as well; the themes of the two passages fit together very well. 113 It may be helpful to include the following quotation from David Stern, with reference to the remnant, and how it fits into the present state of affairs with regard to modern Israel. ‘The present State of Israel is obviously not the Messianic state, but it appears to be a phase of tikkun-ha’olam. Joseph Shulam, using the Tanakh’s principle of the ‘faithful remnant’, has taught that God protects the State of Israel for the sake of its Messianic Jews, who constitute the present-day remnant of Israel’. 114

What we have read is miraculous, or at least it will be. One of the most stubborn and resistant people on earth, with regard to the acceptance of Jesus as Messiah, will believe on him. God is sovereign and he shall save his elect remnant, for the sake and honour of his Name, as they repent and believe on his Son. 115 The Jews must not boast either. God will save a remnant from within them out of his merciful grace; just as he does with the Gentiles. It is always of grace, never about personal or corporate merit before God! With that written, I think we need to be careful about the term: ‘The Jews are God’s Chosen People’. I remark on this because the problem with this term is that it conveys the belief that the Jews are chosen for salvation irrespective of their choice about Christ as Saviour. If we are to be accurate then perhaps I should create another phrase: ‘a remnant from within Jewry are God’s chosen people, through a repentant response to Messiah Jesus’. It is wordy but it does convey my meaning. CONCLUSION No other group of people in history has been uprooted from their land twice, and been brought back again to it twice! No other people group has been exiled to another land, and then later to the ends of the earth, and then returned to their land, not to mention the 1900 years time period in between! No other people group has been given promises with regard to a land, the land of Israel in this case, like the Jews have. Indeed equally amazing is the language of Hebrew. It ceased to be a spoken language at least 2000 years ago, because Aramaic took over. But now it is in use again. Until recently it was only a sacred language used in liturgy and prayer; akin to Latin in the Orthodox Churches. But, when Israel re-formed in 1948, the nation decided to speak Hebrew again, with Hebrew words being invented for modern day items and modern day living. Never before in history has a language that was disused, been reborn as a common everyday speaking language, after centuries of neglect. Theologian and scholar Dr William Campbell wrote: ‘We dare not insist that everything that happens in this world is directly caused by God, but it would be naive to suggest it is merely an accident of history that the historical people of God, the Jewish race, should continue to exist alongside Christianity’. 116

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As we have learnt, the everlasting covenant promise of the land to the Jews of Abraham’s lineage still holds true. The Old Testament prophets also prophesied about a return to the land, and I have demonstrated that the New Testament supports these things. Salvation is only through belief in Messiah Jesus; it is only by believing upon him that one becomes a true son of Abraham. Throughout history it is this belief which has been the characteristic of the faithful remnants of believers, and it shall be this belief which causes the final end times remnant of the Jews to be saved. Indeed it is worth noting that since many Jews have returned to Israel, Jewish scholars are writing ‘favourable assessments of his (Jesus’) ministry’. Indeed one Rabbi said: ‘if when the Messiah comes it turns out to be Jesus of Nazareth, I cannot think of a single Jewish objection’. 117 As you will recall Dispensationalism is very supportive of the Jews and their rights to the land of Israel. I believe I have argued that the restoration of the Jews to Israel is a prophetic fulfilment of the Scriptures independent to Dispensational teaching. I find it virtually impossible to believe that modern Israel and the return of Jews to that land have nothing to do with an ancient biblical land covenant and land prophecies whatsoever. Classical pre-millennialism, which is the position I hold to, can incorporate these beliefs into itself. Indeed in a later chapter I will demonstrate that belief in the restoration of the Jews to Israel was taught earlier than the time when Dispensationalism first arose, which is a reassuring fact in itself, and supportive of my teaching. Before the reader assumes that the above is my complete position on Israel and the Jews, I assure you that it is not! There are some very false beliefs which some Jews hold to, such as Cabbalism, which relate to Mystery Babylon and the end times Beasts, which will be explored in the coming chapters.

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