It Has Been A Long Time Since Old Covenant Israel Was the Chosen People
Exodus 19: 5-6 says "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 7: 6
“Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.” Isaiah 19: 25
But look at Exodus 19: 5-6. It says “If” Old Covenant Israel obeys God, then it will be a peculiar treasure above all people. The chosen people status was conditional, not unconditional, based upon the physical DNA from Abraham.
God did promise Abraham in Genesis 17: 4, 7-8 that Abraham would be the father of many nations. Genesis 17: 10-14 might seem to say that the covenant of circumcision means that so long as the males of Old Covenant Israel are circumcised, then Old Covenant Israel will be the chosen people, and Genesis 17: 4, 7-8 might be seen to be an unconditional promise that Old Covenant Israel will always be the chosen people of God because of their bloodline. But scripture has to be interpreted by scripture, not by man-made theologies. “For precept must be upon precept...line upon line...here a little, and there a little.” Isaiah 28: 10
That there is no longer a chosen people based only on their flesh, on their physical DNA. is found in the teachings of Paul in Romans 2: 23-24, 28-29, Romans 9: 6-8, Galatians 3: 3, 16, 26-29, if you have ears to hear and eyes to see it. The implications of these texts are not spelled out in detail, leaving room for the literalists and those who deal in the letter to convince many that the chosen people by the physical blood line is still in effect.
Statements of Jesus Christ himself also imply that the people of the Old Covenant are no longer the chosen people (Exodus 19: 5-6). such as John 3: 3, and John 3: 5, that everyone must be born again of the Spirit to be in the kingdom of God, and Matthew 23:38, that the Old Covenant house is desolate, meaning it is spiritually desolate and that the Spirit and Christ are not in it.
Hebrews 10: 9 says "He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second."
“For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7. Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Romans 9: 6-8
Exodus 19: 5-6 says “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
Then, under the New Covenant, Peter tells us in I Peter 2: 5, 9 “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ........But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”
In I Peter 2: 9 Peter is quoting Exodus 19: 5-6 and applying it to Christians. Who are “ye” in I Peter 2: 5 and in I Peter 2: 9? “Ye” cannot be Old Covenant Israel. Those of Old Covenant Israel in Romans 11: 17-20 who did not accept Jesus Christ and were not born again were cut off. A remnant of Old Covenant Israel in Romans 11: 1-5 did accept Christ and became the beginning of the New Covenant.
That multitude of Old Covenant Israel, who rejected Christ, continued on claiming still to be the chosen people, in Talmudic Judaism. Since those in Talmudic Judaism reject Christ in an explicit way, they are of the spirit of anti-Christ (I John 4: 3).
What do we call those of Old Covenant Israel who remain in unbelief? Their spiritual condition is not different from others who reject Jesus Christ. Their spiritual state is that of the natural man of I Corinthians 2: 14, who does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. They are the unbelievers, the unsaved, and the earth dwellers (Luke 21: 35, Revelation 6:10, Revelation 11:10, Revelation 12: 12, Revelation 13: 8, Revelation 13: 12, Revelation 13: 14, Revelation 14: 6) in the sense that they do not sit with Jesus Christ in heavely places as do the elect that are physiclly still on earth. Revelation 13: 6 is relevant since it mentions those that dwell in heaven, which is those physically on earth who spiritually sit with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2: 6). And so Revelation 14: 3, on the 144,000,is also relevant, as a remnant, being redeemed from the earth, that is, they are raised up above the earth dwellers to sit with Christ metaphorically on Mount Zion.
"Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever." Malachi 1: 4.
Edom is trying to rebuild its chosen status, "they shall build, but I will throw down."
."For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.
12. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible." Malachi 1: 11-12.
"Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. 4. And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
5. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
6. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
7. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
8. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
9. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law." Malachi 2: 3-9.
Malachi starts by talking about Edom. Then Malachi talks about Old Covenant Israel.
In Genesis 25: 25-34 Edom-Esau gave up his birthright to Jacob, but in Malachi 1: 4 Edom-Esau is trying to regain that lost birthright, which God opposes. Then in Malachi 2, the apostasy of Old Covenant Israel is described.
In Isaiah 50: 1 God put away Old Covenant Israel, and in Jeremiah 3:8 God put away Israel, and the implication is that Judah is also put away. for the same apostasy. Then, in Jeremiah 18: 1-6 God remade Old Covenant Israel. Old Covenant Israel follows Edom-Esau in trying to get back its status as the chosen people.
Those claiming still to be the chosen people of God of the Old Covenant, can enter into New Covenant Israel. Remember that Jeremiah 18: 1-6 teaches that God remade Old Covenant Israel, and I Peter 2: 5 says “ye,” meaning born again Christians, are now built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.
Those claiming to still be the chosen people under the Old Covenant can join that spiritual house. “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.” Romns 11: 23
Were they, as those claiming still to be the multitude of Old Covenant Israel, to come to believe and be born again in Christ, they would not have that more exclusive status as the chosen people based upon their physical bloodline.
But - John Darby, C.I. Scofield and Lewis S. Chafer teach something different about Old Covenant Israel, something which becomes another Gospel (II Corinthians 11: 4, Galatians 1: 6-9) and teaching another Gospel, they teach another Jesus.
John Darby said that the "Church has sought to settle itself here, but it has no place on the
earth... [Though] making a most constructive parenthesis, it forms no part of the regular order of God's earthly plans, but is merely an interruption of them to give a fuller character and meaning to them..."
John. N. Darby, 'The Character of Office in The Present Dispensation'
Collected Writings., Eccl. I, Vol. I, p. 94.
"Them" are all physical Israel, or Old Covenant Israel. The church, for Darby exists to "give fuller character and meaning to all physical Israel." Darby thought that the purpose of the Christian church, the ekklesia as a meeting, assembly or congregation of Israel reborn in Christ, made into The Body of Christ like the Catholic capital C Church, was to honor all physical Israel.
http://anothervoicerev184.blogspot.c...-of-jesus.html
"Return of Jesus Christ, The Rapture of the Church and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, By Lewis Sperry Chafer 1871-1952."
Chafer says "The nation Israel, God's chosen earthly people, to whom at least five-sixths of the Bible is addressed and with whom the great covenants are made (Rom 9:4-5) -- which covenants secure to that nation a land, a nation, a throne, a King, and a kingdom -- are now scattered throughout all the nations of the earth (Deut 4:26-28; Deut 28:63-68; Jer 16:13), and are to remain scattered until they (a remnant; ed.) are gathered into their own land (Deut 30:3-6; Isa 11:11-12; Isa 14:1-3; Isa 60:1-22; Jer 23:6-8; Jer 32:37-44; Jer 33:7-9; Eze 37:21-25; Mic 4:6-8) under the reign of Christ Jesus at His return."
Lewis S. Chafer refers to physical Israel as God's earthy chosen people. And early dispensationalists talk about the church as being only a "parenthesis" within dispensations.
"Israel is an eternal nation, heir to an eternal land, with an eternal kingdom, on which David rules from an eternal throne so that in eternity, '...never the twain, Israel and church, shall meet." Lewis S. Chafer, Systematic Theology (Dallas, Dallas Seminary Press, 1975), Vol. 4. pp. 315-323..
The teaching of Christian Zionism that God now has two peoples, Old Covenant Israel, or physical Israel, and the Church, does not stand.
"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." John 10: 16
"For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Romans 12: 4-5
"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;" Ephesians 4: 4
Exodus 19: 5-6 says "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 7: 6
“Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.” Isaiah 19: 25
But look at Exodus 19: 5-6. It says “If” Old Covenant Israel obeys God, then it will be a peculiar treasure above all people. The chosen people status was conditional, not unconditional, based upon the physical DNA from Abraham.
God did promise Abraham in Genesis 17: 4, 7-8 that Abraham would be the father of many nations. Genesis 17: 10-14 might seem to say that the covenant of circumcision means that so long as the males of Old Covenant Israel are circumcised, then Old Covenant Israel will be the chosen people, and Genesis 17: 4, 7-8 might be seen to be an unconditional promise that Old Covenant Israel will always be the chosen people of God because of their bloodline. But scripture has to be interpreted by scripture, not by man-made theologies. “For precept must be upon precept...line upon line...here a little, and there a little.” Isaiah 28: 10
That there is no longer a chosen people based only on their flesh, on their physical DNA. is found in the teachings of Paul in Romans 2: 23-24, 28-29, Romans 9: 6-8, Galatians 3: 3, 16, 26-29, if you have ears to hear and eyes to see it. The implications of these texts are not spelled out in detail, leaving room for the literalists and those who deal in the letter to convince many that the chosen people by the physical blood line is still in effect.
Statements of Jesus Christ himself also imply that the people of the Old Covenant are no longer the chosen people (Exodus 19: 5-6). such as John 3: 3, and John 3: 5, that everyone must be born again of the Spirit to be in the kingdom of God, and Matthew 23:38, that the Old Covenant house is desolate, meaning it is spiritually desolate and that the Spirit and Christ are not in it.
Hebrews 10: 9 says "He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second."
“For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7. Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Romans 9: 6-8
Exodus 19: 5-6 says “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
Then, under the New Covenant, Peter tells us in I Peter 2: 5, 9 “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ........But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”
In I Peter 2: 9 Peter is quoting Exodus 19: 5-6 and applying it to Christians. Who are “ye” in I Peter 2: 5 and in I Peter 2: 9? “Ye” cannot be Old Covenant Israel. Those of Old Covenant Israel in Romans 11: 17-20 who did not accept Jesus Christ and were not born again were cut off. A remnant of Old Covenant Israel in Romans 11: 1-5 did accept Christ and became the beginning of the New Covenant.
That multitude of Old Covenant Israel, who rejected Christ, continued on claiming still to be the chosen people, in Talmudic Judaism. Since those in Talmudic Judaism reject Christ in an explicit way, they are of the spirit of anti-Christ (I John 4: 3).
What do we call those of Old Covenant Israel who remain in unbelief? Their spiritual condition is not different from others who reject Jesus Christ. Their spiritual state is that of the natural man of I Corinthians 2: 14, who does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. They are the unbelievers, the unsaved, and the earth dwellers (Luke 21: 35, Revelation 6:10, Revelation 11:10, Revelation 12: 12, Revelation 13: 8, Revelation 13: 12, Revelation 13: 14, Revelation 14: 6) in the sense that they do not sit with Jesus Christ in heavely places as do the elect that are physiclly still on earth. Revelation 13: 6 is relevant since it mentions those that dwell in heaven, which is those physically on earth who spiritually sit with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2: 6). And so Revelation 14: 3, on the 144,000,is also relevant, as a remnant, being redeemed from the earth, that is, they are raised up above the earth dwellers to sit with Christ metaphorically on Mount Zion.
"Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever." Malachi 1: 4.
Edom is trying to rebuild its chosen status, "they shall build, but I will throw down."
."For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.
12. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible." Malachi 1: 11-12.
"Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. 4. And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
5. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
6. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
7. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
8. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
9. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law." Malachi 2: 3-9.
Malachi starts by talking about Edom. Then Malachi talks about Old Covenant Israel.
In Genesis 25: 25-34 Edom-Esau gave up his birthright to Jacob, but in Malachi 1: 4 Edom-Esau is trying to regain that lost birthright, which God opposes. Then in Malachi 2, the apostasy of Old Covenant Israel is described.
In Isaiah 50: 1 God put away Old Covenant Israel, and in Jeremiah 3:8 God put away Israel, and the implication is that Judah is also put away. for the same apostasy. Then, in Jeremiah 18: 1-6 God remade Old Covenant Israel. Old Covenant Israel follows Edom-Esau in trying to get back its status as the chosen people.
Those claiming still to be the chosen people of God of the Old Covenant, can enter into New Covenant Israel. Remember that Jeremiah 18: 1-6 teaches that God remade Old Covenant Israel, and I Peter 2: 5 says “ye,” meaning born again Christians, are now built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.
Those claiming to still be the chosen people under the Old Covenant can join that spiritual house. “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.” Romns 11: 23
Were they, as those claiming still to be the multitude of Old Covenant Israel, to come to believe and be born again in Christ, they would not have that more exclusive status as the chosen people based upon their physical bloodline.
But - John Darby, C.I. Scofield and Lewis S. Chafer teach something different about Old Covenant Israel, something which becomes another Gospel (II Corinthians 11: 4, Galatians 1: 6-9) and teaching another Gospel, they teach another Jesus.
John Darby said that the "Church has sought to settle itself here, but it has no place on the
earth... [Though] making a most constructive parenthesis, it forms no part of the regular order of God's earthly plans, but is merely an interruption of them to give a fuller character and meaning to them..."
John. N. Darby, 'The Character of Office in The Present Dispensation'
Collected Writings., Eccl. I, Vol. I, p. 94.
"Them" are all physical Israel, or Old Covenant Israel. The church, for Darby exists to "give fuller character and meaning to all physical Israel." Darby thought that the purpose of the Christian church, the ekklesia as a meeting, assembly or congregation of Israel reborn in Christ, made into The Body of Christ like the Catholic capital C Church, was to honor all physical Israel.
http://anothervoicerev184.blogspot.c...-of-jesus.html
"Return of Jesus Christ, The Rapture of the Church and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, By Lewis Sperry Chafer 1871-1952."
Chafer says "The nation Israel, God's chosen earthly people, to whom at least five-sixths of the Bible is addressed and with whom the great covenants are made (Rom 9:4-5) -- which covenants secure to that nation a land, a nation, a throne, a King, and a kingdom -- are now scattered throughout all the nations of the earth (Deut 4:26-28; Deut 28:63-68; Jer 16:13), and are to remain scattered until they (a remnant; ed.) are gathered into their own land (Deut 30:3-6; Isa 11:11-12; Isa 14:1-3; Isa 60:1-22; Jer 23:6-8; Jer 32:37-44; Jer 33:7-9; Eze 37:21-25; Mic 4:6-8) under the reign of Christ Jesus at His return."
Lewis S. Chafer refers to physical Israel as God's earthy chosen people. And early dispensationalists talk about the church as being only a "parenthesis" within dispensations.
"Israel is an eternal nation, heir to an eternal land, with an eternal kingdom, on which David rules from an eternal throne so that in eternity, '...never the twain, Israel and church, shall meet." Lewis S. Chafer, Systematic Theology (Dallas, Dallas Seminary Press, 1975), Vol. 4. pp. 315-323..
The teaching of Christian Zionism that God now has two peoples, Old Covenant Israel, or physical Israel, and the Church, does not stand.
"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." John 10: 16
"For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Romans 12: 4-5
"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;" Ephesians 4: 4