Date: May 2006 Series: “I Want to be Left Behind” (XIX) Title: Israel and the Kingdom of God

     Dispensationalism is wrong about “Israel” - Dispensationalists only seem to be interested in the first part of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; his physical descendants in Canaan – national Israel), whereas the ultimate goal in God’s mind was an international era of blessing through the Messiah of Abraham’s lineage.  A continual emphasis in the Old Testament writings was that the age to follow the Mosaic era would find people from all nations seeking Israel’s God.^[1]  This I take to be the current Gospel age, for its emphasis is the spreading of the Gospel (Messianic blessing) to all nations (Matthew 28:19) and the result is the divinely-commanded gathering of an international^[2] body of blood-bought/redeemed saints, the Church (Ephesians 2:11 – 3:11; Colossians 3:9-11; Revelation 5:9-10) on earth that is on its way to finally being the full, international body of the redeemed in heaven (Revelation 7:9-10).  This was exactly how James and the all of the gathered Apostles and Jerusalem elders understood the ingathering of Gentile believers that was beginning to occur with Peter’s visit to Cornelius’ home (Acts 10) and Paul’s first missionary journey into Asia Minor (Acts 15:7-17).  If Jesus is the Messiah (and I am convinced He is), then Isaiah laid out the same expectation – God’s Messianic servant would appear first to Israel, then His blessings would spread to the nations (Isaiah 49:5,6).  The writer of Hebrews said that the “first covenant” was “obsolete” and about to “pass away” as it had been replaced by the New Covenant Christ mediated (Hebrews 8:6-13), he did NOT say “set on pause” and to be reactivated in the future!  How can anyone miss this shift from the national to the international phase of God’s promise to Abraham as being exactly what has occurred with Jesus’ first coming and what followed (Matthew 10:5,6; 15:24; then 28:18-20)? 

     Sadly, because of their continuing obsession with fleshly “Israel” and an earthly “promised land,” dispensationalists DO miss it and this continues to cause a good deal of confusion amongst believers.  Just as Belshazzar’s wise men could not read the writing on the wall (Daniel 6), and many Jews could not see their Messiah in Jesus, so dispensationalists cannot see the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel in the Messiah and New covenant.  Let’s move on to the issue of the “Kingdom.”

     Israel and the Kingdom of God - As I wrote in an earlier article, there are two key issues that will pretty well determine your “End Times” viewpoint.  How you understand national Israel’s place in God’s program is the first one and the second is your conception of the Kingdom of God.  The subject of the kingdom is pivotal.  If God’s plan does require that the Jews have and Jesus rules over an earthly kingdom, then I am dead wrong.  There can be little doubt that (1) “the kingdom” was a central topic in Jewish thinking when Jesus arrived on the scene, (2) most Jews expected an earthly Messianic monarchy, and (3) Jesus showed no interest in sitting upon an earthly throne or changing the outward political structures of His time!

     The Messianic King - David predicted that, although opposed by a Jewish-Gentile coalition, God would install His Messianic king anyway and then the nations would be warned to “honor the Son” before judgment falls (Psalm 2).  Isaiah predicted a Messianic king whose reign would continually increase (9:6-7) and that a Davidic king/Judge would sit upon a righteous throne (16:5).  Jeremiah predicted that a righteous descendant of David would again rule as king and Judah would be saved (Jeremiah 23:5-6).  Daniel foretold the establishment of God’s kingdom during the fourth empire from his time (2:44-45).  Zechariah foretold that Jerusalem’s king would come with justice and humility upon a donkey’s colt, speaking peace to all nations and holding authority over all of the earth (9:9-10).  The Jews of Jesus time had every right to expect that the Messiah would establish and rule God’s kingdom at some point in history, probably during the days of the Roman Empire.  This "Jewish king" is what the Eastern wise men were looking for (Matthew 2:1-2).

        The Suffering Servant - On the other hand, the prophets also foretold something a bit “darker” and harder to comprehend - they predicted a Messiah humiliated, rejected, and suffering.^[3]  Here was a bit of the “mystery” that Paul often discussed - how to understand a Messianic king who has authority over all, yet suffers and is rejected by people.  How could Israel’s king speak peace to the nations that had oppressed Israel?  Here, truly, was a mystery that only could be solved and understood “after the fact” - after it was played out for humanity to see.

         Re-thinking the Kingdom - It will be difficult to understand the Bible until you get a grip on this topic of “the Kingdom” in the Bible and First century Jewish culture.  Note Jesus’ close association of the kingdom and Gospel (Mark 1:14-15) and the topic’s centrality in Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus (John 3:3-5), in Jesus’ parables (Matthew 13), in the Triumphal entry (John 12:12-15), it was understandably Pilate’s main concern (John 18:33-39), and it was still a central issue in Jesus’ post-resurrection time with the Apostles (Acts 1:3-6).  Not only did Daniel’s prophecies generally point to the first coming as the time for God’s “Messianic Kingdom” program to begin, but Jesus Himself identified His first coming as the time when the kingdom was to be established “with power,”

And He was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power."  (Mark 9:1)

       Is there any way to make sense of all of the material concerning the Kingdom of God?  I believe there is and we will begin to address this next month. (to be continued)