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Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Showing posts with label Jacob. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jacob. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
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Sunday, November 29, 2015
Is Israel a Nation or a Person? | Brian Hennessy ISRAEL TODAY
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Is Israel a Nation or a Person?
Sunday, November 29, 2015 | Brian Hennessy ISRAEL TODAY
Most Bible believers can tell you Israel is both the name of a person and a nation. But what most don’t realize is that the term ‘Israel’ can refer to seven different entities in the Bible! And if we don’t know which ‘Israel’ is in play we’ll become hopelessly confused. Throw in the state of Israel today and it gets even more complicated. So let me try and sort them out as best I can.
In general, the seven ‘Israels’ found in the Bible will always fall into one of three categories: a person, a nation, or part of a nation.
As a person, Israel would be Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes that eventually became the nation that bore his name. God had changed his name from Jacob to Israel, which loosely means “he who prevails with God and overcomes,” after he survived a wrestling match with the Angel of the Lord (Gen. 35:10). However, Israel as a person can also be Yeshua, for he is the “seed” who inherits all the promises (Gal. 3:16).
As a nation, Israel would be the whole nation of twelve tribes.
But where it gets tricky is when Israel stands for just part of the nation, because there are four ways to understand a partial Israel.
First, it could be the name of the ten-tribe kingdom that formed after Solomon’s united nation split into the two kingdoms of Israel in the north and Judah in the south.
Secondly, it could be referring to the two-tribe southern kingdom of Judah which took sole possession of the title after the northern kingdom was exiled among the nations. The descendants of Judah became known as “the Jews” after they were deported to Babylon. When they returned to the land they became the Israel we encounter in the New Testament. It is mostly their descendants who’ve returned again to establish today’s Jewish state.
Thirdly, ‘Israel in part’ can be understood as the Israel within Israel. This Israel represents just the chosen descendants (like Jacob), who Paul distinguished in Romans 9 from those physical offspring who were not chosen (like Esau).
Finally, Paul calls the body of Messiah “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16), which shows the ecclesia is the continuation of chosen Israel, but now under the New Covenant. This verse, along with Revelation 7:4, are the only two times in the NT (out of 79 references to Israel) where the followers of Yeshua are clearly addressed as Israel. I think the reason God kept references to the ecclesia being Israel to a minimum was He didn’t want us to think we had replaced the Jewish nation. Which, as we know, the institutional church tried to do anyway.
The fact is, the Jews retained sole possession to the title ‘Israel’ even though they rejected Yeshua as Messiah. Didn’t Paul tell us “a partial hardening has happened to Israel [meaning the Jewish people], until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in?” (Rom. 11:25). However, in the next sentence he informs us that when all the “Gentiles” come in, that “all Israel will be saved.” Here the name “Israel’ has been expanded to mean the whole nation – not just the Jews!
I believe there is a day coming, and coming soon, when all the confusion over who or what is Israel will suddenly disappear. The whole world will see the Israel of God revealed in glory as both one nation and one person in Messiah!
Brian Hennessy is the author of Valley of the Steeples, available at:ketchpublishing/BrianHennessyBooks.htm
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Tuesday, November 24, 2015
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Monday, November 9, 2015
COMMENTARY: Is Israel a Chosen People? - November 09, 2015 | Brian Hennessy - ISRAEL TODAY
COMMENTARY: Is Israel a Chosen People?
Monday, November 09, 2015 | Brian Hennessy
To ask whether the family of Abraham was uniquely chosen by God may sound like a foolish question to those who call themselves ‘Zionists.’ Yet entire Christian denominations today hold fast to a theology that denies God the freedom to show special favor to anyone, including the Jews. And I’m not speaking of Replacement Theology.
To ask whether the family of Abraham was uniquely chosen by God may sound like a foolish question to those who call themselves ‘Zionists.’ Yet entire Christian denominations today hold fast to a theology that denies God the freedom to show special favor to anyone, including the Jews. And I’m not speaking of Replacement Theology.
The theology I’m referring to is Arminianism. It was named after Jacob Arminius who obviously didn’t take seriously the words of God spoken by the prophet Amos, “You only have I chosen from among all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2). Or Jesus: “You did not choose me. But I chose you” (John 15:16). Or Paul: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).
Instead, Arminius’s belief informed him it would be unfair for our Heavenly Father to favor one part of His human creation above the rest. It insisted all should be treated equally. In so teaching, Arminius completely ignored Paul’s response to man questioning God’s freedom to do as He pleases, when he wrote, “Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?... Does not the potter have the right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?” (Rom. 9:20,21)
Worse, this teaching feeds into the anti-Semitism of Replacement Theology that specifically wants to remove all consideration of the Jewish people from having any favor with God today. It may grudgingly admit God chose Israel for a time in order to bring forth the Messiah. But once Yeshua came it’s believed God did away with the idea of having a chosen people and the Jews are just like every other unsaved person now.
Of course, when Arminius first promoted his ‘unchosen’ theology in the late sixteenth century the Jews were not uppermost in his mind. Replacement Theology, along with the Jews’ fallen state of affairs, had pretty much taken them out of the running. No, he was mainly trying to counter the teaching of John Calvin who had taught God was graciously drawing to Jesus only those He had pre-chosen to be saved (as John 6:44 clearly states). Arminius insisted God had left it up to each individual to choose his own fate by either his acceptance or rejection of the Gospel. For him man’s free will was inviolable, and God’s free will must bow to it. But that not only undermines God’s sovereignty, it mocks the very definition of a Supreme God…”who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11).
I bring up this centuries-old controversy of Arminianism because I believe it is contributing greatly to the confusion among believers today regarding the restoration of Israel. For if God is not hand-picking those who are to be His people in the Israel of God, how can He call forth the remnant of Abraham’s seed? Doesn’t the very word ecclesia mean “called-out ones?”
For me, one of the strongest arguments that shows God reserved for Himself the right to choose who He wants as His people is Paul’s teaching on the twin boys, Esau and Jacob. “Though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said [to their mother], ‘The older shall serve the younger.’ Just as it is written, ’Jacob I loved, and Esau I hated” (Rom. 9:10-13).
Now I don’t believe God actually “hated” Esau. He was just trying to convince Israel of His everlasting commitment to bless them by using strong contrasting language. Malachi even reminds Israel that God’s choice of Jacob over Esau was the proof of His love! (Mal. 1:1-3)
I’m convinced the fact that God has a chosen people has been the underlying cause of anti-Semitism in the world. Look at how angry and jealous Joseph’s brothers became when they saw the extreme favor their father showed towards him.
Nevertheless, that’s how God set it up. That’s why if you have received the gift of faith to believe in Yeshua (of whom Joseph was a foreshadowing) – be in awe! It means you are among those few chosen by Almighty God to be part of the remnant of Abraham and the coming Kingdom of God.
Just don’t be surprised when the world hates you for no apparent reason.
Brian Hennessy is the author of Valley of the Steeples, available at:ketchpublishing/BrianHennessyBooks.htm
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A Star Shall Come Forth From Jacob - Richard and Carolyn Hyde from Heart of G-d Ministries in Israel
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On October 27th at 3 AM Carolyn and I were travelling south from Haifa to the Ben Gurion Airport. When we started to head east we beheld a site that almost took our breath away. In the eastern sky were three bright lights on the horizon. Two of them looked like they were joined together with one being much brighter than the other. My first thought was that it was man-made - perhaps drones. But they were too big and bright to be drones - and they weren't moving. They were stationary and appeared to be hovering over Judea, near Jerusalem or Bethlehem.
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