The following article I wrote some time ago, but it is essential for understanding God's relationship to Israel, the Gentiles and the Church and who today are the chosen people. Therefore, it adds significant light to the truth about replacement theology. This article will be followed by Part 2.
God has a controversy with Zion, which includes both Houses of Israel and the House of Esau; however, few know anything about it. The primary culprit that has caused all the confusion about prophecy regarding Israel and the Church is dispensationalism propagated by the pretribulationists. The Bible does not teach dispensationalism, but three distinct epochs or ages within a progressive revelation setting. Pretribulationism is guilty of dividing God's plan for the ages into two divisions as well as the "elect" into several groups. Up until the late 1700's, the Church (Judah Church, not Catholicism, which perpetuated replacement theology) knew no such division of the Scriptures. As I have mentioned several times, God has always had one elect people in the earth. In the O.T. era, it was the good figs of Israel who were obedient to God. In the N.T. era, the good figs of Israel came out of the old economy of physical Israel and were grafted into the spiritual tribe of Judah, which the Lord Jesus is the head and chief Prince; therefore, the good figs of Israel established the Judah Church (the first converts to the Church were Jews); then as time progressed, the believers among the Gentiles were grafted into the Fig Tree (the Lord Jesus). Jesus is also the Olive Tree Paul mentions in Romans 11 for He is the light of the world. As a result, the Judah Church, and the same as the One New Man, is composed of saved Jews and Gentiles in Christ Jesus. The good figs of Israel (both Jews and Gentiles who are grafted into Christ by spiritual birth become spiritual Israel or the Israel of God) are the inheritors of the promises to Abraham and are the Bride of Christ who will reign with Jesus in the coming kingdom.
You won't find this truth in pretribulation books because they have no revelation of it. Scholarship is not revelation!
I hope you will stay with this series on replacement theology for when finished you will understand the truth about Zionist Israel and the Church. What is about to happen in the Middle East with a Palestinian State in the land of Israel is God completing the judgment of both Jacob and Esau's sins. Esau despised his birthright and sold it for a bowl of pottage. He also gave up his dominion rule. Both were serious sins in the eyes of God. Jacob, on the other hand, was guilty of stealing the birthright from Esau by lying to his father Isaac. He also took the dominion mandate from Esau illegally. When Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau before his death, he prophesied that one day Esau would lift the yoke off his neck from his brother Jacob and rule for a season. We are in that season; therefore, the Palestinian State must come to pass, but it will be short lived.
The Jews or the House of Judah conquered the House of Esau in about 126 B.C. and forced Judaism upon them - circumcision and obedience to the Law. Consequently, modern Israel is Esau. The 1925 Jewish Encyclopedia plainly says modern Jewry is Esau. Therefore, for God to complete his judgment upon Jacob and Esau, He must judge both secular states - Israel and Esau.
Very few realize that God is using the United States to create the conditions for his judgment of the Jews and the Palestinians. The thing about the land is not understood. The land of Israel belongs to God as does the whole earth. When the Gentile nations interfere in the land it is a violation of God's real estate not the Jews as they were legally evicted by God who used the Romans as His evictors (See Matthew 22:1-14). The Jews are not back in the land legally, but their presence there is fitting into God's end time plan to destroy the secular Zionist state that rejects Jesus and to save the surviving remnant - more of the good figs. The Parable of the Fig Tree is completely misunderstood by the pretribulationists, and I myself at one time taught the Fig Tree as the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the Abrahamic Covenant (It is the fulfillment of Jeremiah 24 - the bad figs). I regret that I mislead the saints because I based my understanding on "second-hand knowledge," what I read of all the pretribulation so-called scholars. This is what I try to share about revelation knowledge. Such does not come easy, but there is a price to pay to have the revelation of the Word. God is not dispensing revelation to just anybody, only those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Are you one of those who is hungry and thirsty for the Word of God? If you are, the Holy Spirit will give you the revelation of the Word for He is the author and the one who inspired it ( 2 Tim. 3:16).
THE LORD HAS A CONTROVERSY WITH ZION- Part I
Isaiah 34:4-8
The following article is from Koenig International News website (www.watch.org) regarding the prophetic significance of President Bush’s visit to Israel. It is cast in the typical Traditional Dispensational setting, which may have other prophetic implications than the article implies. The numbers 40 and 11 in biblical numerology (not occult numerology) represent respectively “a period of complete testing” and “judgment in the sense of the breaking down of natural order.” While the author of the article seems to equate Bush as the culprit in dividing the land of Israel, he absolves the leaders and government of Israel. PM Olmert and his predecessor are complicit in implementing the Bush Road Map, and so the “onus” is also on the Israeli state if God is judging anyone or any nation for bringing about a two-nation state within the borders of Israel proper.
I’ve known Bill Koenig for several years and we have traded many emails on a number of prophetic issues. He has written a book, “Eye to Eye,” in which he allegedly proves each time the United States takes some action against the Zionist state or the land of Israel, God slams the U.S. with corresponding judgments, particularly bizarre weather. However, there may be another reason besides American’s own sins that correlate what is happening in Israel and the United States and it is referred to as the “Controversy of Zion.”
Read the article first and then I will offer an opposing commentary:
[Note from Bill:
The following is from Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries, Puyallup, Washington. There is an incredible biblical connection to President Bush's arrival date in Israel and a 3400 year old event.
President Bush has come to Israel on a very significant date to divide the land!
If you look at the Hebrew Calendar Tuesday - Wednesday, Jan 8-9, 2008, sunset to sunset, was a New Moon, which is very significant on the biblical calendar. It was the date of Shevat 1. The first day of the 11th month. The New Moon is always sanctified or set apart. But look at the biblical significance of it not only being just the first of any particular month, but what happened on this very day, the first day of the 11th month, 3400 yrs ago:
Deuteronomy 1:3,8 And it happened, in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that God had commanded him concerning them; Behold, I have set before you the land; go in and possess the land which the LORD has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.
It just so happens, this is not only just the first day of the eleventh month, but it is also in the fortieth year since Jerusalem was recaptured in 1967!!
Also read Zechariah 1:7-21 concerning January 31st; this year is the 24th day of Shevat.
Zechariah 1:7-21: Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the LORD shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.
Read all of Zechariah concerning Jerusalem and the nations.
We know from:
Matthew 5:35 Jerusalem is the city of the Great King. (Yeshua is the Great King of the Jews and Jerusalem.)
2 Chronicles 6:6 But I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there;
then look at:
Zechariah 3:2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! …” ].
Commentary:
For many years I was a devout Christian Zionist and Pretribulationist that believed Israel could do no wrong. In addition, I believed Christians and the United States was biblically obligated to support the Zionist state. In that regard, I had very little sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians. In teaching sessions, I would strongly argue that it did not matter the Palestinians had lived in the land of Israel for millennia; the land belonged to the Jews and whatever means they used to reclaim it were justified.
Then over a ten-year wilderness experience (1992-2002) the Lord opened my eyes to the truth about the Zionist state, the Jews, and the Church. For the first 25 years of my Christian life and ministry, I believed the Jews were God’s earthly chosen people and the Church was God’s chosen heavenly people as if God could not make up His mind about the elect. That is foolish of course, for God has never had but one elect people in the earth in any dispensation, The elect have always been those who placed absolute faith in the Word of God regarding His promises, whether they involved a physical or spiritual fulfillment. The outward or physical appearance of the elect may have changed somewhat, but the elect has always been the faithful remnant whether Jews or Gentiles.
Christian Zionists who believe secular Israel is God’s chosen people do not understand that God operates on more than one level in dealing with national and personal issues. The national issues involve the nation of Israel as well as the Gentiles. God’s prophetic Word will be fulfilled to the nations and Israel in bringing the rule of godless nations to an end. The same is true of individuals. God will judge individually the citizens of the nations both Jews and Gentiles. The Old Testament prophets clearly predict both God’s blessings and judgment on the nations including apostate Israel. Paul told us this in Romans Chapter 11 where he contrasts the believing and unbelieving Jews and Gentiles as part of God’s kingdom program or rejected because of unbelief. The most misunderstood passage in the Bible regarding Zionism is Romans 11, which Christian Zionists love to quote as a proof text for “the so-called “chosen people – the Jews.”
Even though I do not agree with some of his theology, there is no better scholar in the field of secular and religious history involving the Jews, Gentiles, and the Church of God than Dr. Stephen Jones. While he has written much about secular and Christian Zionism, his brief article entitled, “Prophecies Fulfilled by the Israeli State,” provide great insight into the topic of our article.L
Dr. Jones compares and contrast “legal chosenness" with “actual chosenness" – something few Christian Zionist understand. “Those legally chosen are the ones God holds accountable to bring forth fruits of the Kingdom. Those actually chosen are those who will indeed bring forth the fruits of the Kingdom” (Matt. 21:43). Authority and responsibility work hand-in-hand. Those given the authority by God to carry out His Program for the ages are responsible before God how they handle the authority. God chose Abraham to be a blessing to all families of the earth, not just the Jews (Gen. 12:1-3) and gave him the authority to carry out the plan, but God held Abraham responsible since He was chosen. The biblical record proves Abraham exemplified perfect obedience in obeying God’s decrees and is why He is called the “Father of faith.” How about his descendents; were they equally responsible? No, they failed miserably in fulfilling the obligations that followed authority. From the time they entered the wilderness wanderings to the present day, the historical record regarding the Israeli state and people is one of disobedience, discipline, and exile. The modern state of Israel continues what their forefathers did – rebel against the Word of God. This is why God placed them in the hands of wicked tyrants and pagan nations for over 3000 years beginning with the Babylonian captivity (if you count the 400 years in Egypt, it is even longer).
Why has God seemingly judged Israel so harshly? God has both a short-term and a long-term plan to complete His mystery plan of the ages, which involve the prophecies affecting the nation (national) as well as individual Jews who come into the New Covenant by faith. Christian Zionists who do not understand this (most of them) confuse the prophetic Scriptures and blend the two into one making all the Jews God’s chosen people and that is a gross distortion of the Bible.
The Mystery Plan of God involving Israel as well as the Gentiles and the Church begins and proceeds through 3 epoch’s or Ages – the Passover Age, the Pentecostal Age, and the Tabernacle Age. Running concurrently with the history of Israel and the Church is the history of the Gentile nations. While I do not agree with Dr. Jones statement that understanding prophecy starts with history, that is, to properly discern prophecy, we must see it through the eyes of history, I do agree that much of prophecy has been fulfilled, and in that light, the study of history alongside prophecy greatly enhances our understanding. Where I disagree with his historicist position is that it leaves out the revelation of the Holy Spirit to teach us things past, present, and more importantly, the future. If I am solely dependent upon history in order to discern the prophetic Word, then I must wait until the prophecy has been fulfilled to understand it. That is ludicrous when applied to Scriptures not yet fulfilled, for Jesus told us the Holy Spirit would teach us “things to come.” (John 16:13).
Any serious study of prophecy must focus upon the Seven Feasts of Israel, not their past Old Covenant rituals, but their present and future spiritual implications. Christians normally speak of Pentecost in Acts 2 as the first Pentecost, but it was actually the second. When God used Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt to Mount Sinai and gave them the Law, it was on the Day of Pentecost. They left Egypt on Abib 14 (March - April) after observing the first Passover. Therefore, that marked the beginning of the Age of Passover in which God patiently, over an extended period, taught them the importance of a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. They were accountable to teach it to the Gentiles, but became self-centered, pious, and legalistic, thinking the Covenant was solely theirs. They forgot God’s instruction to Abraham that he would be a blessing to all nations (that obviously was fulfilled in Jesus, but it did not relieve them of the responsibility of being a light to the Gentiles).
When God gave Moses the Law on Mount Sinai, He wanted to write it upon the heart of all Israel, but they were afraid of God and ran like scarred rabbits. Had they obeyed God, He would have poured out His Spirit upon them (albeit in measure). Because they rejected God’s voice via His Law, God had to postpone the original Pentecost until Acts 2. The Passover Age was to prepare the heart of man for the offering of Jesus as the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It ended with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. After a transition period of 50 days, the Holy Spirit returned to indwell the hearts of the redeemed both Jews and Gentiles. This was the beginning of the Pentecostal Age or the Age of the Holy Spirit. While the Passover Age involved a physical temple, rituals and keeping of laws, the Pentecostal Age (the present age) involves spiritual temples and a New Covenant. The Pentecostal Age as great as it is, is not the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit for believers still have the sin nature. The Spirit will not be poured out in full measure until the Tabernacle Age when the glorification occurs – when the overcomers receive their new bodies in which no sin nature exist. This is easily proved by studying the Feast of Pentecost. Leviticus 23:1-7 reveals the “firstfruits offering was to be two loaves of bread baked with leaven (yeast), which is a type of sin. Why two loaves? Both Jews and Gentiles are born in sin and under the Law of sin. Paul taught that in Romans 7 where he understood two laws at work in him – the law of sin and death and the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
The Church Age or Pentecostal Age is one of imperfection and inadequacy of Spirit. This is why we are witnessing so much sin and falling from grace in the modern Church. Many Pentecostal Age believers are still living in the Passover Age in which the flesh dominates. Even the most devoted saint in the Church still sins and sometimes sins in a way that it appears he or she is lost. However, unless we daily yield our spirits, souls, and bodies to the Holy Spirit, we will fail and sin, even big time.
The Pentecostal Age has now lasted for 40 Jubilees (The Jubilee Year was 49 years and 7 months counting from the first sacred month – Abib or March – April on the Gregorian Calendar) or 1969 years and 10 months from 33 A.D., the year Jesus was crucified. 49 x 40 = 1960 years; 7 months x 40 = 280 months divided by 30 days in a prophetic month = 9 years and 10 months; this fits perfectly into my article on the 120-year generation beginning in 1897 and ending in 2017. 1969 years and 10 months starting from 33 A.D. comes to 2002 and in the month of December (the 10th month). The Pentecostal Age ended in 2002 and we are in a transition period (remember there was a 50 day transition between the Passover Age and the Pentecostal Age) until the Tabernacles Age begins at the Second Coming of Jesus. The 8 years and 7 years applies here also (See Bullinger’s book, Numbers in Scripture on the “8 and 7 years or 15 years.” The 8 years (preparation for the New World Order) began in 2002 and ends in 2010; the final 7 years (the New World Order) ends in 2017.
Dr. Jones has a great article on the “Debt Note,” which I do not have time to cover in detail in this article. Basically, it has to do with Adam who sinned in the garden plunging the whole human race into sin and under the penalty of physical and spiritual death. Adam, via his fall, created a debt note that had to be paid before Holy God who cannot overlook sin, for He is both a just and legal God. Satan stole Adam’s birthright and dominion mandate, and for Adam’s race to pay off the debt note, someone had to pay the debt. The debt note did not remain static in the earth, but God passed it to succeeding generations and held each individual and nation accountable according to whom it passed. It was passed to Noah, then to Abraham as God made a covenant with each (the Debt Note always involves covenant) and held them responsible for what they did with it. Abraham passed the Debt Note to his descendents or I should say God passed it through him, and when his seed came into the land of Canaan, they were responsible for bringing forth fruits of the kingdom, but they failed. The Debt Note can never be paid until someone is found worthy of perfection. Israel was “chosen by God” to usher in the kingdom by bearing spiritual fruit worthy of a kingdom person (the Sermon on the Mount), and in that sense, they were “the chosen people.” It also involved the coming of the Kinsman-Redeemer via the seed of Abraham, which we know is Christ Jesus who paid the sin debt for all mankind (individuals).
However, the nation of Israel as well as the nations have a Debt Note that must be paid to satisfy God’s demands for legal justice (you don’t hear any teaching on this). Since Israel could not possibly satisfy the Debt Note (the period of the Judges proved that), God devised a way to remove the legality of the Debt Note from them. However, this was not possible without also removing the authority and the responsibility. He did it in a way no human would understand, not even the Prince of Darkness (God is always miles ahead of the devil and he is too stupid to figure it out). God gave disobedient Israel over to the Gentile nations, and in that way, passed the Debt Note temporarily to the Gentiles beginning with the Babylonian captivity. The Gentile powers were “Chosen by God” to temporarily satisfy his legal demands for justice. To put it another way, God sold physical Israel to the Gentiles to serve them for a “season.” The proud arrogant Gentile powers who hated the Jews anyway were more than happy to carry out God’s edit for Israel. What they did not realize was that God also passed the Debt Note to them in order to pay Israel’s debt. If they did not do so, God would eventually judge them. Therefore, God’s plan for the ages has been hidden among the nations and is the reason God allowed them to have authority over Israel for over 3000 thousand years.
Dr. Jones compares what God is doing with the nations and the Jews as “using the vessels of dishonor” (Rom. 9:21; 2 Tim. 2:20) – the wicked Gentile nations – as a hiatus, giving them authority until the “vessels of honor” were ready for the full anointing of the Tabernacle Age (Joel 2:28-30 predicts this). As alluded to, Babylon was the first vessel of dishonor, followed by successive Gentile powers who carried Israel’s Debt Note. Then in 1917, Great Britain received the Debt Note (this is not teaching Herbert Armstrong’s heresy) when General Allenby took the city of Jerusalem. However, Great Britain or any of the other nations do not have the ability to bring forth the perfection required by the Debt Note.
Now the following is very important in understanding God’s Controversy with Zion and who are the chosen people today. God removed the Debt Note from Great Britain on November 29, 1947 (officially May 14, 1948) when the UN passed the Palestinian Resolution and gave it to Israel in order to provide them another opportunity to bring forth fruits worthy of the kingdom (they were actually given a previous opportunity from 33 A.D. to 73 A.D. and again miserably failed to realize what God was doing). It was at this time (1948) many prophecy teachers of the Traditional Dispensational camp leaped for joy thinking God was about to restore the kingdom to Israel. It did not occur to them to read the Book of Law concerning the laws of exile and tribulation. Had they done so, they would have realized the Lord’s Parable of the Fig Tree (Matt. 24: 32) was set in motion, that is, unspiritual fruitless Israel once again appeared in the land of Israel. Contrary to what TD’s believe, the Fig Tree is not a sign of the glory days of Israel, but of tribulation and judgment, even utter destruction with only a small remnant remaining.
There is a book that every Christian Zionist should read (unfortunately it is no longer in print) that tells the real story of secular Israel’s rebirth. Many of her leaders were terrorists themselves, killing their own people to advance the cause of Zionism. Begin, Shamir, Rabin, Sharon, etc. admitted personal terrorism in their memoirs. They sunk the ship in Haifa Harbor with over 200 European Jews who were trying to escape Hitler’s Germany and blamed it on the British in order to obtain world sympathy and help the Zionist cause. Begin blew-up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and killed 19 of his own countrymen. Israel assassinated the British Ambassador when they realized he was about to cut a deal with the Palestinians. In his memoirs, Sharon admitted to wiping out an Arab village in which many women and children were killed. The International Criminal Court has indicted Sharon for ethic cleansing of Lebanese Christians during the war with Hezbollah. The Palestinians observed the terrorism of the Israelis and took note. I once interviewed a Palestinian refuge now living in the United States and his account of what the IDF did to his family is grossly immoral. The point is, the Israelis have been just as guilty as the Palestinians in fomenting terrorism in the Middle East, but the Israelis have convinced Christian Zionists and the United States, they are still the Chosen People and deserving of preferential treatment.
In Part II of this article, we will examine in more detail God’s Controversy with Jacob and Esau – “The Controversy of Zion.”
God bless.
Dr. Allen Barber, a Servant of the Lord
P.S. Much credit goes to Dr. Stephen Jones for the background to this article. You can read his articles at www.gods-kingdom.org. Caution: Be careful in reading his articles for he is a historicist and a universalist. However, he has sound revelation in many of his prophetic articles. You have to know when not to throw the baby out with the bath water. After 40 years of Bible study, I know how to recognize truth mixed with error and how to take the good and throw away the bad. However, someone not grounded in the Word of God may not recognize when falsehood is mixed with truth.