Posted on 12/28/2023 6:12:14 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
Imagine you open to the middle of John Grisham’s latest best-seller. Immediately you face unfamiliar names and locations. To make sense of the story you flip to the end. But the ending seems more confusing than the middle. You slam the book shut in disgust. Grisham has really lost his touch, you conclude.
This analogy is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. But it illustrates why so many people have trouble with Bible prophecy. To understand prophecy, we should not start in the middle of the Book—with Ezekiel and Daniel—or at the end with Revelation. No, we should begin at the beginning—with Genesis.
It’s there, in Genesis 12:1-3, that God makes a startling promise to a man named Abraham. All prophecy hangs on this promise, or “covenant.” To better understand this covenant, and how it relates to prophecy, let’s look at the contents of the covenant, the character of the covenant, and the consequences of the covenant.
Content of the Covenant
The first thing God promised Abraham was Land. Abraham was born in the idolatrous city of Ur, around 2166 BC. In His sovereign grace, God called Abraham out of this lifestyle.
In Genesis 12:1 God says, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.” At the age of 75, Abraham uprooted his family and possessions and moved to a distant country he had never seen. It was only later, after Abraham had acted, that God provided the details of that land in Genesis 15:18-21.
God also promised Abraham a lineage to fill the land. Genesis 12:2 states, “And I will make you a great nation.” Genesis 22:17 adds, “I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore.” Remember, God made this promise to Abraham when he was 75 years old. Not only this, but his wife, Sarah, was barren. Yet God fulfilled this promise, giving them physical and spiritual descendants beyond number.
In addition to a land and a seed, God also promised to make Abraham a lasting blessing. Genesis 12:3 states, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” In this climax of the covenant, God was saying, “Through you Abraham, I will bring a Savior who will redeem the world.” How do we get a Savior from Genesis 12:3? From the New Testament.
Galatians 3:8 states, “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’” God preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Abraham. And Abraham was saved by it.
Galatians 3:6 tells us, “Even so, Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” People in the Old Testament were saved the same way we are: by God’s grace through faith. Abraham looked forward to Christ for salvation, and we look back to Him.
Character of the Covenant
We have seen that God promised Abraham a land, a lineage, and a lasting blessing. But were these promises symbolic? Were they temporary? Could they be lost? How we answer these questions determines how we view Bible prophecy. Thankfully, God’s Word gives us some answers.
First, God’s covenant with Abraham was literal. We see this from Abraham’s response. In Genesis 12:4-5 we read, “[Abraham] went forth as the Lord had spoken to him… and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.” If Abraham thought Canaan was only symbolic of Heaven, why did he go through all the trouble of moving to Canaan? Certainly, he was looking for Heaven as well, as Hebrews 11:10 states. But he was also looking for an earthly home. In addition to being literal, the covenant was eternal. Genesis 13:15 states, “All the land which you see, I will give it to you and your descendants forever.” God placed no expiration date on the promise.
Finally, God’s covenant was unconditional. In Abraham’s day, kings would establish contracts by taking animals, splitting them in two, and placing the halves in two lines. The parties would then walk side-by-side through the animal pieces, holding a torch. This signified that the covenant was dependent upon each party keeping his end of the bargain. But when God ratified the agreement with Abraham in Genesis 15:9-21, only God passed between the pieces. This signified that the promise had nothing to do with Abraham’s obedience. It had everything to do with God’s faithfulness.
Genesis 13:15 states, “All the land which you see, I will give it to you and your descendants forever.” God placed no expiration date on the promise.
Consequences of the Covenant
So what does this have to do with prophecy? Since 1948, Israel has possessed the Promised Land—but not all of it. True, God sent a blessing to all the world through Jesus Christ. He rules right now in the hearts of believers. But he’s not yet sitting on the throne of David in Jerusalem. That prophecy will still be literally fulfilled.
You may say, “I’m not Jewish. Why should I care?” Just as God made unconditional promises to believing Jews, He has made promises to you and me.
In John 10:28 Jesus said, “I give eternal life to them and no man shall snatch them out of my hands.” The God who can be trusted to keep His promises to Israel, is the same God we can depend on to keep His promises to us. We’ve seen that God’s promise to Abraham includes land, a lineage, and a lasting blessing. We’ve noted that the covenant was literal, eternal, and unconditional.
We know that part of it has not yet been fulfilled. And we know that God’s faithfulness to complete it demonstrates how faithful He will be to us.
We now know how the story begins. We are ready to dive into the middle and the end. And because of God’s faithfulness, we know it will have a perfect ending.
Is it too much to ask that you give me verses?
ROMANS 11: 1
Romans 11:23And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
Meaning: Any INDIVIDUAL Jew that now believes in Jesus Christ as their Savior will be grafted in. HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO with literal/corporate Israel. It is about the people, NOT THE NATION OF ISRAEL. It is now about Abraham’s seed, of which Christians are now included.
I’m speaking to closed ears and closed eyes, goodbye.
No, you’re speaking to someone who rightly divides the word of God. Your total belief system in bible prophecy centers around the Satanic lie of the Secret Rapture, devised by Jesuits to counter the Reformer’s truth that the Papacy is the Antichrist power. You are a Futurist. You have been fooled. If you are alive at the end of this world, you will be an easy target for the Mark of the Beast.
——>If GOD rejects an Eternal Covenant that he made, then he would be a liar.
Not if it were CONDITIONAL on obedience.
Romans 11:26And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
All Israel. That Paul is not teaching universal salvation for either Gentiles or Jews has already been shown (see on v. 25). Furthermore, why should only the generation of Jews living in the time of the end be assured of salvation by some kind of divine decree? Paul has expressed his hope that “some of them” (v. 14) might be saved. It seems evident from this that he believed that many would reject all efforts to save them, and that accordingly he never envisioned the conversion of the entire nation.
Some commentators hold that the faithful remnant (see on v. 5) to which are added those Jews who accept Christ during the Christian Era, constitute the “all Israel” who will be saved. This view is based on the observation that Paul’s burden in ch. 11 is the salvation of his fellow Israelites. He contrasts their salvation with that of the Gentiles. The two groups are distinguished throughout the chapter by the Jews’ being referred to in the third person and the Gentiles in the second. The salvation of the former is described by the expression “all Israel shall be saved”; that of the latter by “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
Other commentators hold that “all Israel” represents spiritual Israel. This view is based on the belief that Paul is here completing his illustration of the olive tree. He has shown how the branches representing the unbelieving Jews were broken off, and the wild olive shoots, representing the Gentiles, grafted in. He has shown, also, how the severed branches could be reunited with the parent stock. By the grafting in of these branches the tree representing spiritual Israel would again be made whole. “All Israel” would thus represent the totality of those saved, Jews and Gentiles, who together constitute “all” of true Israel (Rom. 2:28, 29; Gal. 6:15, 16).
I’m arrogant and condescending because I’m telling you the truth?
Oh I was looking too far back and accidentally skipped over it
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4206457/posts?page=21#21
——>When the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt God saved them all.
At that time, were they a nation/corporate body? No, they were not. They were the seed of Abraham. When God made a covenant with them at Sinai, was that covenant dependent on obedience? Yes, it was.
After Babylon, God gave literal Israel EXACTLY 490 years to repent of their sins, etc... (Dan 9:24) They failed.
Jesus Christ declared...
Matthew 21:43Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
——>There is plenty of evidence that Israel is restored, but you refuse to consider it.
Like the evidence to the contrary that I gave to CowboyUSA, who then called me arrogant, condescending, and prideful? Said I would have to answer for it? Like that?
——>Keep watching.
I am. You and I are looking for totally different things. What I’m looking for is provable by the bible and history. I agree with the Protestant Reformers (all of them) on who the Antichrist power is. You do not. Biblically, you and cowboy are clueless, believing Jesuit lies. Does that make me arrogant and condescending? No, it does not. Most of you refuse to even consider, THEN RESEARCH, my evidence. Don’t blame me when your world comes crashing down.
Now I remember your post, w/ Martin Sheen pic... Thanks.
Matthew 21:
The barren fig tree
The parable of the two sons
The parable of the wicked tenants
Christ is talking about the Jewish Nation, literal/corporate Israel, and in verse 43 addressing its leaders, as REPRESENTATIVES of that Nation.
The concept etc, stopped right there.
Speak your mind, but don’t act like you can read mine.
Read 1st 11 chapters of Genesis to start understanding God.
Them get back to me.
——>Speak your mind, but don’t act like you can read mine.
No mind reading necessary. You just don’t understand. Simple as that.
And I think they may well be foot-soldiers of the False Prophet.......
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