Ping
Hey!
This is a booklet written by Lewis Sperry Chafer, founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, called “Dispensationalism”.
http://bartimaeus.us/pub_dom/dispensationalism.html
That is a great statement of clarity on what the Bible teaches. It also happens to be what Seventh day Adventists believe. It is Biblical. Thank you.
There are NOT two Elects or two Chosen Peoples.
Scripture shows God drawing out a single company of people through time.
God draws His Elect from Judah and from the lost sheep of the House of Israel. (Mat.15:24) And heathen gentiles out in the nations, are also drawn into His covenant.
When heathen gentiles are saved by Israel’s Messiah He brings them into His eternal covenant.
And so in the new birth they take on their new identity in Israel. (Eph.2:12-13)
In the new birth Christians are no longer outside the Commonwealth of Israel.
And so they are no longer to be considered heathen gentiles
There is nothing inherently sacred about the word “Church”.
It is merely the Greek word “Ekklesia”.
It simply means a “called out assembly” or “congregation”.
So the real issue is simply this. To whom have we been “called out”?
As Christian believers we have been “called out” to Jesus Christ.
Responding to the Good News of the Gospel we came to Israel’s Messiah for salvation. And we asked the Holy One of Israel to come into our lives as Savior and Lord.
Our redemption comes from the New Covenant and the Gospel plan of salvation.
This, in turn, comes from the covenants of Israel. (Eph.2:12-13)
People are saved by grace through faith in Israel’s promised Sacrifice Lamb.
There simply is no other salvation plan being offered by our God.
Our Lord and Savior is the Holy One of Israel. (Act 4:12)
We are brought to salvation by our Jewish Messiah.
“The Church”, so called, is rooted and grounded in the true and genuine faith of Abraham. (Gal.3:29)
It has never replaced Israel, nor will it ever replace Israel.
Nowhere in the Holy Scriptures does God ever speak of two covenant peoples.
Nowhere in Holy Scripture do we see one salvation plan for Israel and another for the Church.
All who have been saved, or ever will be saved, are saved by the same plan of salvation. They are saved by grace through faith in Israel’s promised Sacrifice Lamb.
But this error of “two covenants” has crept in and dominated our thinking.
The error goes all the way back to the early Church Fathers. This is due to the deep and longstanding politico-religious rift between Christianity and Judaism. Religious leaders took it upon themselves to make an eternal theological division based on the breach of Jeroboam.
But in Christ our Savior we become new creatures. (2Cor.5:17) We become identified in Abraham’s Seed. (Gal.3:29) In covenant with our indwelling Jewish Messiah and King of Kings we actually take on new citizenship.
And in the covenants of Israel we become heirs according to the promise. (Gal.3:29)
A person who was formerly a heathen finds his Jewish Messiah.
And by the personal work of Christ in the Gospel he is “saved”. He may not realize it, but his heart has just undergone circumcision.
And as the flesh and the blood falls to the ground he also has a new identity in Israel.
Because of the kings and merchants this true identity of Christianity in Israel is veiled. But the Congregation of Israel, the true church, became a global company on the Day of Pentecost.
The New Covenant in the Gospel has overflowed the banks of Israel for the past 2,000 years. And it will continue to do so “all the days of the harvest”.
From Zechariah Chapter 4 When gentiles repent and are saved they are no longer gentiles. They are no longer spiritually uncircumcised heathen outsiders, or goyim.
Nor are they lost in the nations as aliens from the covenants of promise and outside of the Commonwealth of Israel. (Eph.2:12-13) Through the blood of Messiah they become new creatures. And so they are grafted into the Olive Tree of Israel. (See Ephesians 2:12-13)
The Holy Scriptures only speak of one covenant people of God. And they are identified in Israel.
Israel may have been split up into two kingdoms back in 900+ B.C.. And today we may have “the Church” and “Israel”, even as the two kingdoms and two houses of Israel.
But God never did ordain this nor speak in Holy Scripture of this lasting forever. Nor does the Bible ever speak of God instituting any “Apartheid of the Elect”.
So the present divided situation is temporary; and it is destined for restoration. The present “wall of separation” does not reflect God’s ultimate will or His plan.
The Messianic movement in Jewry has shown us what God will do.
He intends to unveil and restore “all Israel” at the climax of the age. (Zech 12:7-13:1)
The separation of the bulk of the royal tribe of Judah from the true Congregation of Israel is not “forever”.
What we see today is merely our present pragmatic Ecclesiastical and Judaic accommodation to the Breach of Jeroboam. The present split between Israel and the Church is quite obviously unfinished covenant business.
Throughout the history of Israel and the Church God has called out one Elect.
All the people who have been saved come in by His grace through faith and are personally known by God.
All of God’s Chosen People, from Abel to the last Tribulation saint, will be regathered. The end of the age will see them all glorified together.
THERE IS ONLY ONE ELECT PEOPLE AND THEY ARE DRAWN FROM BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES ALIKE.
Gamecock,
Do you really believe this stuff you post? Fully believe? Do you really believe the biblical usage in these articles is accurate?
Or is this just flame-bait?
There is ony one people those whom has chosen as his people, which include jews and christians. to say there are two distict people, runs into heresy. Now if you want viewpoint on Dispensationalism this too is heresy. In Todays so called Christian circles there is too msny views that have come into the Picture In the mid to late 1800s in the US, you have the Millerites (Seventh Day Adventists) Campbellites (Church of Christ - no music), Jehovah Witnesses,Christian Science, Look at your Bible and Mormon ( Church of Latter Day saints) are all questionable in their respective teachings. Dispensationalism came into existence and it has been considered a heresy. Pentecostalism has come into existence and it has been considered heretical too. Read the background history of these religious movements. Look at the Purpose Driven Movement heresy, Church Growth Movement heresy. positive Confession Heresy, Christian Scientology heresy Read your Bible and study everything and anything. keep in mind when man touches he has a tendency to corrupt it and make it something that it was never intended to be. However their will never be a perfect religious tradition because mankind has a tendency to put its stamp on it and corrupting it. Personally I like the mennonite and amish (anabaptist) being separtate from the world, but the clothing restrictions and the strict rules and regulations.
Doctrine is important
Fundamentals of Faiths important
worshipping Christ
Fellowship with others
care of people in the church and the community
paying the government what it is owed.
limiting the government intervention into the individual liberties and freedom
Marriage and Family
Bottom line: the righteous will live by faith; the righteousness is a gift - the faith is a gift. It was so with Abraham, Moses and so it is with the Church - the bride of Christ - today.
Romans 9:6-8
...For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring...
In the end there can be only one...people.
I do find it incredibly amusing that there are a great many in the church who somehow think that the natural children of Abraham are God’s children when the Bible is explicit that they are NOT. Only the children of the promise are considered Abraham’s offspring for the purpose of eternal salvation. This is why the Lord would choose in a way contrary to the custom of Abraham and his people. The elder served the younger.
No fair.
I’m debilitated.
Harumph.
[no sweat really but I had to give you a courtesy harumph!]
It might be the same tree, but He still has the latitude to treat different branches in different fashions. Israel is discernible from the Gentiles in Prophecy and some unconditional covenants have been made with that branch still yet unfulfilled.