WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY “BORN AGAIN”?

Almost everyone knows about John 3. This is the famous conversation between Jesus and a leading rabbi, who ought to have known what born again or born from heaven meant, but did not (v. 9-11). Nicodemus, fearful about being seen by his friends associating with the “unorthodox” or “questionable” rabbi, Jesus had come by night. Nicodemus was honest enough to know that no one could have done the miracles Jesus did, unless the true God was with him and had commissioned him: “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher” (v. 2: “come from God,” that is, commissioned by God.

Jesus gave a most basic lesson. Unless we are born again or born from above, that is, from God’s creative activity, we cannot ever see or experience the Kingdom of God. We cannot be saved. We cannot understand the Kingdom now, and we will not gain immortality in the Kingdom when Jesus comes back. These are really big issues - the only ones that ultimately count!

Jesus made the rebirth from water and spirit a condition for tasting the power of the Kingdom now and gaining immortality in the future Kingdom. Israel’s Scripture (Nicodemus ought to have known this) spoke of an outpouring of spirit in Isaiah 32:15-20. He and Israel should have known about the renewing effect and power of the spirit. The Hebrew Bible is full of marvelous prophecies of a bright future after punishment. Isaiah had foreseen that “one day from the heights of heaven a spirit will breathe into us, till the downs grow like an orchard, and the orchard like a forest; then justice fills the very downs, and honesty the orchards, and justice brings us welfare; honesty renders us secure. My people will have homes of peace, resting in houses undisturbed. Ah, happy folk…” (Moffatt translation)

This was the promised rebirth from above, by spirit, which Jesus announced in advance of the worldwide appearance of the Kingdom of God. If we want to be in that Kingdom when it comes at the Second Coming, then we must be reborn now, receive the spirit of new life, and be fit to inherit the Kingdom of God when Jesus reappears. Regeneration, or rebirth, must happen to us now in advance of the great renewal of the world. Jesus spoke of this coming regeneration of the whole world in Matthew 19:28, and Paul in Titus 3:5 teaches our need for renewal through washing and rebirth through God’s Holy Spirit.

Jesus and Paul, of course, taught the same saving Gospel, and both knew of Isaiah 51:16 and 65:17-25, where we read of the great coming new society on earth, the new heavens and earth, a new world order with the capital at Zion - Jerusalem. All this is Kingdom Gospel material to be believed in response to the command that we are “to repent and believe God’s Gospel of the Kingdom” (Mark 1:14-15).

Jesus and Paul were intensely conscious of an accompanying text in Isaiah 32:1: “One day a King will reign in justice, with princes who rule uprightly.” Our destiny, as a mass of Scripture says, is to assist Jesus is in the organizing and administration of the coming new society on earth.

Christianity is never about going to heaven as a disembodied spirit when you die. It is always about inheriting and possessing the renewed land and earth (Matt. 5:5; Rev. 5:10; 20:1-6), with Jesus and all the faithful of all the ages, when the Messiah returns.

To make your point, ask your friend, “Where are you hoping to be in the future?” “I hope to be with Jesus in heaven,” she will predictably say. Then counter with this: “Why do you want to go to heaven, when Jesus won’t be there?!”

Many churchgoers are very far from having the Bible’s view of the future! Much less do they grasp the Christian destiny, the point of our present training and tribulation in view of our election to royal office in the future Kingdom. Do you frequently meditate on Revelation 2:26-27 and 5:10: Jesus has constituted the true believers “a kingdom of priests” (Rev. 1:6) and they “will rule as kings upon the earth” (Rev. 5:10).

Daniel 7:18, 22, 27 is a key passage for presenting the Gospel. The time will come when “the saints will possess the Kingdom, and all nations and people will obey them” (Dan. 7:27). I will repeat this since so little is known of these amazing propositions: “The kingship and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the holy ones [saints] of the Most High; their kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey them” (Dan. 7:27).

For participation in immortality and rulership in the coming, peaceful Kingdom of God on earth, we must be born again, born from above, Jesus said. Is John the only writer to have dealt with this very basic theme?

Certainly not. Matthew, Mark, and Luke were just as impressed with the all-important issue of rebirth, and they record how Jesus treated the same subject by speaking of the seed that must lodge in our hearts for new birth to occur. This is an agricultural picture, well known to us all. Jesus speaking to Nicodemus used the biological idea of rebirth by seed, gaining a new parentage.

God’s Gospel about the Kingdom

Many of your friends have been told that being born again involves “accepting Jesus in your heart.” This concept is very vague. It’s open to all sorts of imaginative guesses. It lacks clarity entirely, the clarity and specificity of the Kingdom Gospel teaching of Jesus. Jesus, you see, begins his ministry by calling on all to “Repent because the Kingdom of God is approaching” (Mark 1:14-15). More than that, Mark calls this Gospel preaching of Jesus the announcing of God’s Gospel (Mark 1:14). There is no higher authority than that! People in the days of Jesus knew what the Kingdom of God meant. It signified the great time coming when God would install His elected Messiah on the restored throne of David in Jerusalem, resulting in world peace and disarmament (Luke 1:33; Isa. 2:1-4; Luke 2:25; Acts 1:6, etc.).

“The Gospel of God” or “God’s Gospel” is a wonderfully unifying key phrase and title in the New Covenant (8 times). Jesus announced, “God’s Gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). He commanded belief in that Gospel of the Kingdom. Paul framed his whole teaching in Romans by calling it “God’s Gospel” (Rom. 1:1; 15:16). Paul often preached God’s Gospel without financial charge (2 Cor. 11:7). In 1 Thessalonians 2:2, 8, 9, and 1 Peter 4:17, “God’s Gospel” is the most dramatic piece of information for all mankind. Jesus announced this Kingdom and then followed with these imperative words: “Repent [change your mind and your life radically] and believe that Gospel about the Kingdom.” The command is clear - we are ordered by the Messiah to believe in the Gospel of the Kingdom. We are to believe, in other words, in God’s great world plan for us and everyone else. That is where the faith (belief) begins. That is where “the obedience of faith” starts (Rom. 1:5; 16:26; Heb. 5:9). It includes, as we know now, belief in the sin-offering sacrificial, substitutionary death of Jesus to atone for sins, and of course his resurrection on the third day. In addition, of course, is belief in Jesus’ current position at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Ps. 110:1, etc.). The Messiah at the right hand is “my lord,” not “my Lord,” as wrongly rendered in many versions. Jesus is the “my lord” Messiah, the Messiah-lord of Luke 2:11 and 1:43: “my lord” (cp. John 20:13).

The simple truth about the Gospel of salvation is well encapsulated by Hebrews 2:3. This teaches us that Jesus was the first preacher of the Gospel of salvation. Hebrews 5:9 makes this simple proposition: “Salvation is based on obeying Jesus.” Jesus said the same in John 3:36. He lays out the stark choices before us: either to believe in the Son or to disobey him. To believe Jesus is to have “the life of the age to come.” To disobey Jesus is to be under the wrath of God (John 3:36). That is exactly why Paul defines true faith as “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5; 16:26. Faith is not real faith if it does not go hand in hand with obedience), and obedience without faith and belief in the Gospel as Jesus and Paul preached it is not obedience. The command that we all be baptized in water to demonstrate our commitment to the one God and Jesus (Acts 2:38; 8:12, etc.) is also one of the non-negotiable requirements of the NT.

Think about how Bible writers make things doubly clear and emphatic. They frame their writing with the same key concept. In other words, they begin and end what they have to say by repeating the same idea. This is an excellent way to teach systematically and effectively. Note how Jesus in the Beatitudes begins with a reference to the Kingdom and completes a series of parallel sayings by referring to the Kingdom (Matt. 5:3-10). No wonder then that Jesus uttered these marvelous purpose statement Gospel words: “Seek above all the Kingdom of God and all its ways of doing right, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). So also, with the Lord’s prayer. The Kingdom is at the beginning and the end. Jesus announced his own fundamental, eye-opening career statement by saying, “I must announce [I am divinely compelled to announce] the Gospel of the Kingdom to the other cities also: that is why God commissioned me” (Luke 4:43). That is our Christian commission too (Matt. 28:19-20).

THE SEED: The Gospel of the Kingdom

In the parable (illustrative story) of the Sower and the seed, Jesus drew on an Old Testament idea, just as he did when speaking of being born of the spirit (cp. Isa. 32). Jesus was very familiar with the tremendously hopeful words of Jeremiah 30 and 31, chapters brimming over with the prospect of national joy and restoration for Israel, following a future time of Great Tribulation, the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7). In Jeremiah 31:27-31 Jesus read these words: “The days are coming, says the LORD God, when I will sow Israel and Judah with the seed of people and of animals. In the past, I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished, and brought disaster. But now [at that future time] I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. Indeed, a time is coming when I will establish a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.”

Sowing is the symbol of prosperity and progeny.

Now observe Hosea 2:23: “I will sow her [Israel] as My own in the land; and I will love her who was not loved and will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” Jesus knew these words well, and he saw it as his task as Messiah, using the saving Gospel of the Kingdom, the sowing and planting of the international people of God in advance of the yet future recovery of Israel and Judah. Jesus went out to sow the seed of rebirth and conversion, the germ of future immortality. He sought to bring about the rebirth and change of mind among people, the same challenge being made first to Jews and then to the whole world.

Via the Great Commission, Jesus was creating the new international people of God, the saints (Gal. 6:16). The process requires a rebirth under the influence of the creative spirit of God working through the Gospel of the Kingdom. Sowing and planting of kings and rulers was a biblical notion (Isa. 40:23-24).

The matter of being born again through spirit and seed is developed in Jesus’ famous parable of the Sower and the seed. The seed which must be sown in our hearts and minds is identified and defined as the “word [Gospel] about the Kingdom” (Matt 13:19). Luke abbreviates this to simply “the word of God” (Luke 8:11) and Mark shortens it to “the word” (Mark 4:14). Wrongly defining this Gospel/word is the source of all deception. “The word” or “the word of God” is certainly not just a synonym for the Bible, which is called in the Bible “the Scriptures.”

Observe with the greatest attention the amazing teaching of Jesus in Luke 8:12: “The seed on the path represents those who hear the word [Gospel of the Kingdom, Matt. 13:19], but then the Devil comes and carries off the word [Gospel] from their minds for fear that they should believe it and be saved.” This text, I used to say to the students, ought to be preached several times every Sunday! It is a brilliant summary of the saving Gospel, the message which determines whether or not we eventually gain immortality in the Kingdom!

Yes, immortality! The biggest issue in our lives - by far. The Gospel is something to be obeyed! “Those who refuse to obey the Gospel of our lord Jesus” (2 Thess. 1:8) are the unconverted, the unsaved. The Gospel must be defined, of course, before it can be intelligently obeyed. Precision in defining the Gospel is essential.

Through Much Tribulation

For Jesus, the recipients of rebirth were and are being trained and groomed for royal office in the coming Kingdom. That process of gaining a place in the future Kingdom is to be “through much tribulation” (Acts 14:22). Navy Seals are trained and tested under severe conditions. The rulers of the future world government must also be tested and tried in various ways. Jesus and God are watching their people with “X-ray” eyes, testing the hearts and minds, an activity which Jesus now shares with Yehovah (Ps. 7:9; Jer. 17:10; Rev. 2:23). God is “seeking men and women to worship Him in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). He wants people for His government who will give up everything for discipleship to His Son. Jesus said that if we are not willing to give up all for him, we cannot even be his disciples (Luke 14:26).

He urged us on with these warning words: “Struggle to enter [the Kingdom] through the narrow door” (Luke 13:24). “Small is the entrance and narrow is the way which leads to Life, and only a few find it.

Beware of false prophets [fake preachers] who come to you dressed up as sheep while underneath they are vicious wolves…Not everyone who says to me, ‘lord, lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven Kingdom of God]; rather, it is those who do the will of my Father in heaven. When that day comes, many will say to me, ‘lord, lord, did we not preach for you, drive out demons in your name, and perform many miracles with your authority?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Out of my sight, your deeds are evil!’” (Matt.7:14-23).

Once again, we see the need for the “obedience of faith for salvation” (see Heb. 5:9). We are first to obey God’s Gospel about the Kingdom (Mark 1:14-15). Let no one mislead you by saying that there is a different Gospel for us! Paul always preached the same Gospel of the Kingdom as had Jesus (Acts 19:8; 20:25; 28:23: to Jews; 28:30-31: to everyone else; cp. Philip in Acts 8:12). Paul called his saving Gospel by the same title as given to the Gospel of the Kingdom preached by Jesus in Mark 1:14-15. He called it “God’s Gospel” (Rom. 1:1; 15:16). Observe that Paul made no distinction at all between the Gospel of the grace of God and preaching the Gospel about the Kingdom (Acts 20:24-25). To preach or fall for a Gospel other than the one Gospel of the Kingdom is to put oneself under a curse (Gal. 1:8-9).

The Same Seed and Rebirth in Peter

Not many seem to realize that Peter, who had listened for hours to the Gospel teaching and preaching of his master-teacher Jesus, repeated the whole account of the parable of the seed and the Sower. We can read it in 1 Peter 1:22-25. He begins like this: “Since you have purified yourselves in obedience to the truth [you have believed and obeyed the Gospel of the Kingdom, Acts 8:12], producing a sincere affection towards your fellow Christians, love one another wholeheartedly with all your strength. You have been born again, not of perishable but of an imperishable seed - the Gospel-word of God, which is living and lasting. For ‘All humanity is like grass, and all of their glory like wildflowers. Grass withers and flowers fall, but the word of the Lord [the Gospel] endures forever.’ And this ‘word’ is the Gospel [of the Kingdom, Matt. 13:19] which was preached to you.”

Peter was an excellent student of Jesus. He is listed in a leadership position among the twelve (Matt. 10:2). He had heard the Messiah preach the Kingdom Gospel/parable of the Sower over and over, even from a boat to folk standing on the beach! Peter here combines the idea of “having been born again” - pause here to note that anyone who says you cannot be born again until the future resurrection is very much astray! - “born again not from perishable seed, but from the seed of immortality” (1 Pet. 1:23). Ponder that amazing truth. Our physical lives derive from the seed of our fathers. Our immortality derives from the seed of immortality provided by the Creator God, the God and Father of Israel and of Jesus.

 

No wonder then that “you must be born again” if you hope to live forever (John 3:7). And “having been born again,” we are commanded to seek the milk of the Gospel-word (that is not an unborn fetus!): “Like the newborn infants you are, you should be craving for the pure spiritual Gospel milk, so that you may thrive on it and grow up to salvation. For surely you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Pet. 2:2-3).

 

Peter then goes on to give the people of God a clear idea of their true identity as believers: “So come to Jesus, to the living stone who was rejected by people, but chosen by God and of great value to Him. You also, like living stones [like those of a temple building], must be built up into a temple and form a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Messiah Jesus…You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people claimed by God for His own to announce the excellence of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people at all, but now you are God’s people. Once you were outside His mercy, but now you are outside no longer” (1 Pet. 2:4-10).

 

Peter has here taken the identity markers of the ancient people of Israel and applied them to the international true called-out Assembly. The people of Israel were designated to be priests and kings for God (Exod. 19:6).

 

Now it is the international called-out Assembly who assume that privilege. That is not all: Israel was to be the special treasure belonging to God. And that impressive status is now given to the called-out Assembly in Galatians 6:16, Titus 2:14, and 1 Peter 2:9.

 

The one nation which was Israel is now the one holy nation, the called-out Assembly (1 Pet. 2:9). To these people Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock: It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32). The Kingdom was removed from Jews hostile to Jesus and given to the little flock who bear fruit from the seed of the Kingdom (Matt. 21:43).

 

There is, of course, also a future recovery for now blinded and hardened ethnic Israelites (see Rom. 9-11 and much prophecy in the Hebrew Bible).

Peter is thrilled, too, with the destiny of the faithful who, according to Paul in Romans 2:7, are commanded to “seek for glory and honor and immortality.” Peter described our being “born again into a living hope [of the future Kingdom]” (1 Pet. 1:3). Peter balances the present trials and tribulations which come to all believers with the greatness of Christian’s future destiny: “Much more precious than perishable gold is faith which stands the test. These trials come to you so that your faith may result in praise, glory, and honor for you when Messiah Jesus is revealed” (1 Pet. 1:7). Yes, “for you”!

 

In James

 

James, Jesus’ half-brother, was equally impressed with the fundamental teaching about how to gain immortality in the Kingdom. He gave us a similar picture of rebirth, speaking instead of birth from a mother:

 

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters. Every perfect gift is from above [cp. ‘born from above’ in John 3:5], and comes down from the Father of lights. With Him there is no variation, no play of passing shadows. He gave birth to us through the Gospel-word of Truth, according to His own plan, so that we would be the first fruits of His new creation.” (James 1:16-18).

 

James had in mind no doubt the destiny of the Christians prophesied by Daniel: “Many of those who are asleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to the life of the age to come [‘everlasting,’ ‘eternal life,’ some 40 times in the NT] and some to the reproach of eternal abhorrence

[annihilation in the lake of fire]. The wise leaders will shine like the bright vault of heaven, and those who have guided the people in the true path will be like the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:2-3). Yes, God has His stars, not to be compared to the world’s version!

 

1 John

 

John, in 1 John 3:9, speaks with equal passion of the seed of God in the Christian believer. The parable of the Sower is his reference point, of course. God is the parent of all true believers through the transmission of the seed of the immortal God, which is placed in the believer via the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, God’s Gospel. 1 John 5:1 says that we have been fathered by God, born again through the Gospel. Jesus in 1 John 5:18 is the unique Son who was begotten, brought into existence, and as God’s Son by miracle begetting, he now protects the believers who have been fathered by God, i.e., regenerated (don’t read the KJV here, which is corrupted in this verse).

 

Paul and the Seed/Gospel

 

Paul spoke often of salvation as springing from the same Gospel promise. “You, brothers and sisters, are children [i.e., born again] of the promise” (Gal. 4:28).

 

The promise in this context was the promise made to Abraham, the Abrahamic covenant, which is the basis of the NT Gospel (“the Gospel was preached ahead of time to Abraham,” Gal 3:8). The promise to Abraham

was of property (land, Kingdom), progeny (seed, the Messiah), and prosperity (every possible blessing). The promise to Abraham, said Paul, was that “he will inherit the world” (Rom. 4:13). Here is the same Gospel teaching in Ephesians 1:13: In Messiah, “when you heard the word of the truth - the Gospel of your salvation - you believed it [cp. Mark 1:14-15: ‘Repent and believe the Gospel of the Kingdom’] and were sealed in him with the holy spirit of the promise [that is, of your future inheritance of the

Kingdom.” Again, in Ephesians 2:12: “Remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, aliens from the community of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God [Greek: atheists!] in the world.” He goes on to say that now, as believers in the Kingdom, they are part of the community of true Israel, the true people of God, fellow citizens with the saints (Gal. 6:16).

 

Paul repeats the same theme over and over. In Galatians 3:1-5, Paul urges them to understand that the spirit is received in response to intelligent “hearing with faith” - intelligent reception of the one Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus must never be separated from his Kingdom Gospel preaching (1 Tim. 6:3; 2 John 9).

 

The spirit, as Peter said so well, is “given to those who obey God” (Acts 5:32). And “the spirit is the truth” (1 John 5:6) since the words of Jesus “are spirit and truth” (John 6:63).

 

The Importance of This Topic

 

Many churchgoers think of Jesus as only the one who died and rose. Those facts are, of course, central to the Gospel, but they are not the whole Gospel. The death and resurrection are picked out as among the vital

elements of the Gospel, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 (en protois: “among things of first importance”).

 

But the Gospel was first preached by Jesus, and for a long time Jesus said nothing about his death and resurrection (see Matt. 16:21: he began to speak of his death). He preached the Kingdom Gospel constantly. Jesus laid the foundation of the entire Gospel by announcing the Gospel of the Kingdom, which Mark defines as “God’s Gospel.” Jesus’ first command was that we are to believe in the Kingdom Gospel. That is where obedient faith begins (Rom. 1:5; 16:26).

 

Jesus unpacked the great saving truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom in the parable of the seed and the Sower. Jesus noted that none of his parables could be grasped unless the key parable of the Sower was first understood (Mark 4:13). Repentance, conversion, and new life in preparation for immortality in the coming Kingdom are the product of that seed message of the Kingdom. In Mark 4:11-12, Jesus uttered these astonishing words: “The revealed secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you to understand, but those who are on the outside get everything in parables [in

that case inscrutable enigmas and puzzles!], so that [quoting Isaiah 6:9-10], even though they see they do not perceive, and even though they hear they do not understand. Otherwise, if they did understand, they would be able to repent and be forgiven by God.”

 

This is staggering preaching, echoing Jesus’ first words in Mark 1:14-15: “Repent and believe God’s Gospel about the Kingdom of God.” In the absence of a clear understanding of the Kingdom Gospel, repentance and forgiveness are not possible! Luke 8:12 is equally a riveting teaching from Messiah Jesus. The Devil knows very well what is at stake in the matter of

responding intelligently and believing the Gospel of the Kingdom as preached by Jesus and all the NT writers: “When anyone hears the word of God [the Kingdom of God Gospel, Matt. 13:19; Mark 1:14, 15], the Devil comes and snatches away the message from his heart, so that he cannot believe it and be saved” (Luke 8:12).

 

The NT called-out Assembly faithfully preached that same Gospel of the Kingdom and required belief in the Kingdom Gospel message before men and women were ready to be obediently baptized in water and become part of the body of the Messiah. This is the whole point of Acts 8:12, easy to remember in view of Luke 8:12 just discussed!

 

Once the Gospel of the Kingdom has been grasped, believers must persist in obedient faith until the end. “Some people,” Jesus taught, “believe for a while and then fall away” (Luke 8:13). The seed message of the Gospel of the Kingdom must be retained and produce the necessary fruit, which results in a successful entrance into, inheritance of, the Kingdom of God when it comes at Jesus’ future return (his Parousia).

 

After a presidential election in the USA, the President-elect chooses his cabinet, seeking the most qualified and talented personnel for the various jobs in government. An exact parallel is found in the Biblical teaching and preaching of the Kingdom. Jesus the Messiah and King of the Kingdom was “about his Father’s business” (Luke 2:49) - and still is to this day,

selecting those who will be honored with governmental positions in the first ever really successful world government (Dan. 7:18, 22, 27; 1 Cor. 6:2; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10; 20:1-6; Luke 19:17: “Excellent servant, you are to be in charge of 10 towns”).

 

“May your Kingdom come!” (Matt. 6:10). The Kingdom of God frames the Lord’s prayer as the central and most important topic in God’s great world

plan. Daniel 7:27 is an astonishing vision of the world and its societies as they will be when the seventh trumpet announcing the return of the Messiah sounds (Rev. 11:15-18). Use Luke 23:42-43 as a gift of light to your Christianity. This should be your prayer and hope: “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom!” “Truly I tell you today, [note where the comma goes!] You will be with me in paradise.”

Written by Anthony Buzzard and edited by Bruce Lyon

 

THE PROMISED LAND

Would You Like to live in the promised land and administer the World with the lord Messiah Jesus?

Hebrews 11:1: “Faith is being sure of what you hope for. It is being convinced about the reality of what you do not see.”

The point of this article is to make clear to you the content of Christian hope and your part in the future history of the world. The future is often described foggily, vaguely, and nebulously as the “consummation”! Or “the afterlife.” Or worse, it is portrayed as having disembodied life “in heaven” when you die. This is not the Christian hope and conveys almost no Bible information about your future and the future of the world. Thus, faith is undermined. Notice that Paul said that faith and love are based on, rooted in hope (Colossians 1:4-5). Christians are to be certain and clear about “the reward, which is the inheritance” (Colossians 3:24).

I believe that many Bible readers cannot define the content of hope. The energy of the spirit in their lives is correspondingly diminished, since the mind of God and Jesus regarding the destiny of the believer is thwarted.

Jesus speaks of the reward of the faithful as receiving “authority to rule the nations” and receiving “the morning star” (Revelation 2:26-28), which perhaps refers to the glorified appearance of the resurrected faithful whose “faces will shine like the sun in its strength in their Father’s Kingdom,” as Jesus promised in Matthew 13:43, echoing the promise of resurrection life in Daniel 12:3, where the resurrected faithful will “shine like the stars.”

Here is a major Bible teaching. These promises are based on the Abrahamic land promise (Genesis 12, 13, 15, 17, 28:4, etc.), which Abraham and all the faithful will receive and implement when they are raised from the dead at the return of Jesus (Luke 13:28; Matthew 8:11, 12).

The history of the Jewish people, as is well known, begins with Abraham in Genesis 12. God made a new start (after 11 chapters of human disaster and sin) when he selected Abraham and his wife Sarah. Abraham is also of the greatest possible significance to Christian believers in Jesus as the Messiah. Paul loved the story of Abraham, and he saw it as the great key to understanding the Gospel-message of faith in Jesus, in the Gospel as Jesus preached it — about the Kingdom of God (Luke 4:43; Mark 1:14-15).

 So, Abraham and his story and his faith-walk with the One God are the basis of the true Christian faith. Paul, in his impassioned appeal to the Galatians, declared, “the Gospel was preached ahead of time to Abraham” (Gal. 3:8). Christians have Abraham as our spiritual father, and we are to “walk in the steps of our father Abraham,” “the believer” (Romans 4:12; Galatians 3:9).

But are you hearing that Gospel as defined by what Abraham was invited to believe and do? (the “obedience of faith,” Romans 1:5; 16:26). Is the fact that the Gospel was known to Abraham clear to you from the sermons you are exposed to? We should be constantly vigilant to ensure that we are being properly nourished, fed spiritually on the true Gospel. Counterfeits are prevalent, and only an “analytical” approach to what we hear will prevent our being taken in by a partial gospel, deprived of its vital energy (1 Thessalonians 2:13: “The Gospel-word is at work with energy in you”). A depleted or “washed out” Gospel, emptied of vital nutrients, is doing you harm. False ideas and teachings are poison to our spiritual life.

Paul calls Abraham the spiritual “father of the faithful” (Rom. 4:16), the international true church, the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16; Philippians 3:3). That means that Abraham’s faith is the Christian faith in advance. “We are to be of 'the faith of Abraham'” (Romans 4:16). It follows logically that all who are seeking genuine faith in Jesus and his saving Gospel will be intent on understanding the Gospel as preached to Abraham.

You can remember the substance of the Gospel as preached to Abraham like this (teach your children an easy summary): Abraham was invited to give up his natural and national ties, pull up stakes, obey God unconditionally, and go in simple faith (Genesis 12:1-4). The results of his faith in the One God, his blessings, would be Progeny, Prosperity, and Property — three “P’s.” By progeny, we mean a child to be born despite indications to the contrary (Sarah was old), and multitudes of spiritual children, descendants, drawn from all nations. The progeny would culminate in the one “promised” seed-descendant, who is Jesus Messiah (Galatians 3:16; cp. Genesis 3:15).

By prosperity, we mean blessing, not necessarily in terms of finance (it may include this), but a successful, obedient walk guided by God (“the obedience of faith,” Romans 1:5; 16:26; Hebrews 5:9). By property, we mean the all-important promise of land/earth. The land promise refers to this planet Earth, which will, at the return of Jesus, be renewed and restored under the perfect government of the Messiah Jesus (see Acts 1:6; 3:21; Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:28-30, Revelation 5:10; Revelation 20, etc.). All the prophets spoke of this amazing future for the world when Jesus and the saints are in charge (Daniel 7:14, 18, 22, 27). Daniel 7:27 says that all nations will obey the saints, “obey them.”

The Land Promise

It is the land promise which has, amazingly, disappeared from contemporary presentations of the Gospel! The land promise is a fundamental element in the content of Christian hope. It was a basic proposition in the promises offered to Abraham — the Gospel (Galatians 3:8). Abraham’s willingness to believe the content of God’s promises to him won him the highly desirable approval of God. He was reckoned by God as being in right standing with God. This is sometimes called being “justified by faith” (Romans 4:3). What that means is that Abraham gained the approval of God, was reckoned by God to be right rather than wrong, pleasing to God, no longer an enemy of God, no longer under the wrath of God (see John 3:36). Believing in the biblical hope based on the land promise is crucial to your spiritual outlook. Jesus said this: “Blessed are the meek; they are going to have the earth [or land] as their inheritance” (Matthew 5:5). This is the property promise made to Abraham. Jesus was also the recipient of that promise (Galatians 3:16). Paul declared, “the promise to Abraham was that he would inherit the world” (Romans 4:13). Inherit the world? Do you understand what this means for you as a follower of Jesus and of the faith of Abraham?

“The land throughout Psalm 37 is the promised possession, the land of Yahweh’s presence, which has not merely a glorious past, but also a future rich in promises; and will finally more perfectly than under Joshua become the inheritance of the true Israel…This promise also runs in the mouth of the Preacher on the Mount (Matt. 5:5), following exactly Ps. 37:11. Meekness, which is content with God and renounces all earthly stays, will at length become the inheritor of the land, yes, of the earth.”

 By a longstanding miracle of misunderstanding, the word “earth” or “land” (Matthew 5:5) has been stolen from believers and replaced by a vague “heaven” when you die. The biblical goal is not “heaven when you die,” but the inheritance of the earth/land when you are resurrected from death at the future arrival of Jesus (the Parousia). If you survive until that time of Jesus’ arrival, then you will receive the gift of the land in that future (the “age to come”), which will begin when Jesus comes back.

Jesus (following Daniel 12:2) referred to this future time as the age to come. It is the new age of world history, which will begin at the future return of Jesus (the Parousia). This will definitely not be “the end of time” or “the end of history.” It will be the new age of Jesus’ personal government with the saints on a 5Commentary on Psalms, pp. 11, 13. renewed earth (Isaiah 65:17ff; 66:22; Daniel 7:18, 22, 27). It will be the era of world affairs in which the present chaos of war and international conflict, and the mass of troubles which now afflict society, will come to an end.

The life to be gained at that time will be immortality, living forever, and becoming indestructible. It is called in Scripture “the life of the age to come.” It is so defined in Daniel 12:2, a passage in which all believers should take delight: “Many of those who are currently sleeping in dust-land [that tells you what all the dead are currently doing, and where they are doing it] will awake to the life of the age to come.” Some forty times this precious information comes into the NT as “eternal life,” properly translated as “the life of the age to come.” “Eternal life” is too vague and imprecise. “The life of the age to come,” i.e., life in the future Kingdom of God on earth, is the proper meaning of the original.

If you want to sound like Jesus and Paul and the Bible, then drop the “heaven” language altogether and speak with Jesus of “the life of the age to come,” or “the coming Kingdom of God.” True believers in Scripture “inherit the Kingdom” or, in equivalent words, “inherit the land/earth” (Matthew 5:5, Jesus quoting Psalm 37, where inheriting the land is repeated 6 times!). This takes us directly back to the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12, 13, 15, and 17; 22:15-18; 28:4, and many other passages. Paul phrased it like this: “the promise to Abraham that he would inherit the world” (Romans 4:13).

From the Land to the Whole World

You might ask: How do we move from the promise of the land in Genesis to the promise of the world? The answer is easy. Psalm 2 and other passages had given assurance to the faithful that the Messiah would inherit not only the land but nothing less than a worldwide possession: “I will give you the nations to the uttermost parts of the earth” (Psalm 2:8). Psalm 2 is a brilliant summary of the whole Messianic plan for the world to come into submission to Jesus, the Messiah, and God, the Father, who is the one God of Israel and of Jesus. He is the one God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (certainly not a triune God!).

The Abrahamic, Messianic promise of the land of Canaan was thus extended to the whole world. Micah 5:2 announced the coming of the Messiah as “ruler over Israel,” and “his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth” (Micah 5:4). This information is repeated in the Gospel of the Kingdom, so that the land promise to Abraham becomes the Kingdom of God promise in Christianity and the Christian Gospel. Jesus promises this reward to the saints at Thyatira, provided that they fast “until I come”: “I will give you authority over the nations, and you will shepherd them with a rod of iron, as vessels of clay are broken in pieces, the same authority which I received from God” (Revelation 2:25-27). Here, Jesus and the saints are co-heirs of the land/Kingdom/world as promised also to Abraham (Romans 4:13).

Christians are co-heirs of the future Kingdom with the Messiah (Rom. 8:17), and they will inherit the same promises as does Jesus, based on the oath-bound covenants made with Abraham and David (2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17; Psalm 72; 89). Christian faith is also the faith of Abraham and a response to the same promises as God made to him.

This is simply to say that if one claims, as Jesus did, to be the promised Messiah (Matthew 16:16-18), you are claiming to be God’s unique human agent to succeed where Adam failed, and as the second Adam to rule the world from the throne of David in Israel. The whole plan of salvation for us and the world is based on the bedrock promises to Abraham, as well as the later promises made to David. If we do not understand this, we fail to grasp the biblical plot and plan from start to finish. In popular thinking, the false prospect of “heaven at death” has dramatically diverted Bible readers from the heart of the biblical story. Faith has been weakened and obscured. God's and Jesus’ vision for the world and the earth is for international peace and disarmament and the cessation of all war (Isaiah 2:2-4).

The Bible is an essentially simple document, to be read in the light of the fact that language is meant to be understood and not explained away! The Hebraic concepts (Jesus was a Jew!) are “concrete” and “real,” not vague and philosophical. But churches began soon after NT times to “vaporize” that clear language, dissolving easy concepts like “Kingdom” and “throne.” Instead of a territorial meaning for “earth” and “land,” a so-called “spiritual” meaning (it sounded appealing!) was attached to them. The word “spiritual” can be most misleading if it results in losing the plain meaning of words.

Matthew 19:28

 Much Bible study and preaching constantly leaves out those sayings of Jesus that add a realistic, clear meaning to the future. Matthew 19:28 would be a classic example. Have a look at the text index of many books on the Bible, and you will be surprised to see no comment on Matthew 19:28. In that passage, a fascinating question was put by Peter to Jesus. Peter’s question was very genuine, reasonable, and clear: “What are we going to get as a result of our wholehearted following of you and your Messianic mission?” “What can we expect as our reward?” (Matthew 19:27).

The answer was as direct and clear as the question: “Let me tell you, on the highest authority,” Jesus said, “in the future rebirth of the world, you who have followed me will be sitting on twelve thrones to govern the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matthew 25:31 clarifies the easy fact that the future age would be inaugurated by the future arrival of Jesus in glory and power. This is exactly the meaning of our request in the Lord’s prayer that “Your Kingdom come; your will be done on earth.”

Acts 1:6-7

Another much underpublicized passage is Acts 1:6. We learn first that Jesus had spent nearly 6 weeks instructing and lecturing his students (disciples) on the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). This information prompted the most reasonable and informed question: “Lord,” they asked, “is it now time for you to restore the Kingdom to Israel?”

Some commentary, not understanding the Christian Gospel, nor the teaching of Jesus, has disparaged the disciples’ question as ill-informed and too “political”! This however disparages the teacher, Jesus, as well as his students. Jesus did not rebuke them for any misunderstanding! He did not doubt that the future will see the restoration of national Israel and their return, in faith (not now, when Israel has not accepted their Messiah). Jesus merely said that the time periods which had to elapse before that grand event were not known. Indeed, we still do not know the chronological periods involved. In Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 (based on Daniel), Jesus did, however, lay out a clear sequence of events: Abomination of Desolation, Great Tribulation, cosmic signs, which will precede his single future arrival (Parousia). There will be no pre-tribulation coming of Jesus. Jesus will come back once, after the time of the future Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:21-29; Dan. 12:1).

John Calvin was so upset by Jesus’ disciples’ question in Acts 1:6 that he protested that there are as many errors as words in that verse! The error was, of course, Calvin’s, who did not understand the nature of the land/earth promises made to Abraham and to Jesus! To expect a renewed earth and a renewed political arrangement with Jesus and the resurrected Apostles in charge was precisely what the Christian Gospel had foreseen, following the prophets of the OT and Jesus’ confirmation of the promises made to the patriarchs. Romans 15:8 declares explicitly that Jesus came to confirm the promises made to Abraham! Land, prosperity, and many spiritual descendants, culminating in the Messiah.

What was lost was the momentous statement of Jeremiah 27:5: “With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that 6 Focus on the Kingdom are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.” Indeed, as Psalm 115:16 states, “God has given the earth to mankind.” He is indeed a generous God! This is the basis of Christian destiny and hope.

Romans 4:13

Paul makes a staggeringly significant statement in Romans 4:13. He speaks of “the promise to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world.” This is the Gospel hope on which the NT is based. Jews at the time of Jesus knew well that the promise to Abraham and his seed involved inheriting the whole world! The book of Wisdom (44:21), reflecting the Bible, has this to say: “God assured Abraham by an oath that He would cause them to inherit from sea to sea.” Jewish commentary on Exodus 14:31 notes that “you find that our father Abraham became heir of this and the coming world simply by merit of the faith by which he believed the LORD, as it is written: ‘He believed the LORD and He counted it to him as righteousness’” (Mekhilta, tractate 2, chapter 7).

 The key to our subject is that “if you are a Christian, you are Abraham’s seed and heir to the promise made to Abraham that he would inherit the world” (combining Gal. 3:29 and Rom. 4:13). But how much of this is put to potential converts today? Hasn’t the Gospel been shrunk to a message only about personal forgiveness?

The fundamental truth about Christian hope and destiny is well described by James Dunn’s comments on Romans 4:13:

 “The idea of ‘inheritance’ was a fundamental part of Jewish [now Christian!] understanding of their covenant relationship with God, above all, indeed almost exclusively, in connection with the land — the land of Canaan, theirs by right of inheritance as promised to Abraham…Already before Paul the concept had been broadened out from Canaan to embrace the whole earth (Sirach 44:21; Jubilees 17:3; 22:14; 32:19; 1 Enoch 5:7; the world to come). Our passage, therefore, is a good example of the extent to which Paul’s own thinking reflects ideas which were widespread in other strands of Jewish theology at that time [which are also Christian theology, or ought to be!], cf. also Matthew 5:5; Heb. 1:2. Paul takes up the enlarged form of the promise…The blessing promised to Abraham and his seed (including ‘the nations’) is the restoration of God’s created order, of man to his Adamic status as steward of the rest of God’s creation…

 “Integral to that national faith was the conviction that God had given Israel the inheritance of Palestine, 6Word Biblical Commentary, Romans 1-8, p. 213, 463, 234. the promised land. It is this axiom that Paul evokes and refers to the new Christian movement as a whole, Gentiles as well as Jews. They are the heirs of God; Israel’s special relationship with God has been extended to all in Christ. And the promise of the land has been transformed into the promise of the kingdom; the thought of Christian inheritance as inheritance of the kingdom was evidently well enough established in the churches known to Paul [it was the Gospel!], so that he does not need to be more explicit…That inheritance of the kingdom…is something still awaited by believers…

“Paul did not doubt that the gospel he proclaimed was a continuation and fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham. But he was equally clear that the heirs of Abraham’s promise were no longer to be identified in terms of the law [of Moses].”

The Faith of Abraham

Abraham is listed among all the other heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. That chapter lists the property promise of inheritance of “the land of the promise” and then the promise of a seed, the Messiah. The promise of the resurrection of Jesus is typified in the “resurrection” (figuratively) of Isaac from death (Heb. 11:17-19). Hebrews 11:8-10 informs us that Abraham lived in the land of the promise (the promised land) as an alien and, along with all the other faithful, never received the promises but died, “not having received them” (Hebrews 11:13, 39). This means, of course, that only by future resurrection will the heroes of the faith inherit the amazing promises which God had made to them.

 The story of Abraham began when the God of Israel told him to leave his homeland, promising Abraham and his descendants a new home in the land of Canaan (Genesis 12). This is the land now known as Israel, named after Abraham’s grandson, whose natural descendants are the Jewish people. The land is often referred to as the promised land because of God’s repeated promise to give the land to the descendants (“seed”) of Abraham and to Abraham himself. Yet Acts 7:5 says, “God did not give Abraham a square foot of the land, but He promised to give it to Abraham and to his descendants after him.”

The essence of the Christian faith is encapsulated in this verse: “Abram believed Yehovah, and Yehovah counted him as righteous because of his faith” (Genesis 15:6, NLT). Do you have that faith? What if the promises made to Abraham are not put before the potential convert? Would he/she then not be invited into the faith with inadequate information? Would this not amount to a form of deception, if belief in one of he promises to Abraham - progeny, property, and prosperity - was omitted from invitations to salvation by faith?

 “Abraham’s faith was the same as the justifying faith of Christians.” Christians, therefore, are heirs to the land, the earth, or the world! Inheritance of “heaven” is nowhere promised to believers!

Dr. Rice, a learned American writer who had been trained in a postmillennial view but gave it up for premillennialism, was aware of the veil that much preaching draws over the central truth of the coming Kingdom of God on earth:

“Preachers and Bible teachers have fallen into an evil way of spiritualizing the Word of God, explaining away the promises and making the Bible mean what it does not say…Men have defiled the Word of God with their opinions, which explain away the literal meaning of the inspired Book…When God prophesies good to Jerusalem…or prophesies about the future of Mount Zion, such learned teachers and preachers often say that God did not mean what He said at all, but referred to ‘Heaven.’ They are wrong [and here he comes on strong!], utterly, foolishly, presumptuously, wickedly wrong! The Bible says what it means and means what it says. God has an eternal plan connected with the literal city of Jerusalem …which is so plainly foretold that honest Bible students must accept it. Mount Zion is the southwest hill of Jerusalem, the older and higher part of the city; it is often called the city of David. The term ‘Mount Zion’ is often used for the whole city of Jerusalem.”

World history culminates in a world government in the hands of Jesus and the saints on a renewed earth! Daniel 7:14, 18, 22, 27, and a mass of verses describe this happy future offered by the Christian Gospel. A gigantic diversion and obscuring of hope occurred when churches began to speak of “heaven” and harp-playing in a location far from the earth. This foggy concept took over the thinking of church members. They became unsympathetic through miseducation to the passionate and engaging hope offered by the Bible.

Do reread and ponder Paul’s amazing description of salvation through “the faith of Abraham” in Romans 4 and Galatians 3. You will find there the key to intelligent Bible study. Abraham is not some distant Jewish figure unrelated to Christian faith. For 100 years (Abraham was called at 75 and died at 175), God worked with Abraham and his family. He models for us a lifetime of faithful obedience to God’s promises, and Jesus is the one to whom and of whom the promises were given.

Pulpit Commentary on Romans, p. 110. Without this basis in “Abrahamic faith,” the NT is detached from its roots in the Hebrew Bible.

The promise given to Abraham “that he would be heir of the world” (Romans 4:13) was repeated by Jesus when he offered the meek the land (Matthew 5:5). The time is coming when “the saints take over the Kingdom” (Dan. 7:22) and with Jesus bring about the peaceful conditions for which we all long!

Written by Anthony Buzzard, and edited by Bruce Lyon

THE HISTORICAL CHURCH VIEW OF THE JEWS [ISRAEL]

Just three years before he died in 1546, Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer, wrote an anti-Jewish treatise titled On the Jews and their lies. For more than a thousand years, Christians throughout Europe had debated among themselves about how they should treat the Jews living in their midst. By Luther’s day, some argued that the “problem” of the Jews called for a definitive solution. Luther’s treatise offered his solution in no unclear terms.

LUTHER’S WORDS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

What then shall we Christians do with this damned, rejected race of Jews?

First, their synagogues should be set on fire, and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread over with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder or stone of it. And this ought to be done for the honor of God and of Christianity, so that God may know that we are Christians.

Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed. For they perpetrate the same things there that they do in their synagogues. For this reason, they ought to be put under one roof or in a stable, like gypsies, so that they may realize that they are not masters in our land, as they boast, but miserable captives.

Third, they should be deprived of their prayer-books and Talmuds in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught.

Fourth, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach any more.

To sum up, dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domains, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that you and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish burden - the Jews. Next to the devil, a Christian has no more bitter and galling foe than the Jew.

Most Christians who read Luther’s words for the first time are shocked. Tragically, Luther was far from alone among notable Christian leaders in his hatred and abuse of the Jews. As we will see, his attitude was actually quite common among Christians throughout an overwhelming majority of Church history.

Even more tragically, roughly five hundred years after Luther wrote his hateful treatise, Adolf Hitler would rely heavily on Luther’s proposals as the basis of his own “final solution,” resulting in the death of two-thirds of the roughly nine million Jews who were living in Europe at the time.

How did it all come to this? How did Christianity, whose adherents claim to follow a Jewish Messiah, become a Gentile-dominated religion that persecuted the Jews no matter where they were found? How did those Christians who claimed to worship the God of Israel come to hate the children of Israel so deeply, so passionately, and so relentlessly?

To answer that question, we must begin with the words of the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 11. It is there that Paul issued a most solemn warning - one specifically intended for Gentile Christians.

First, Paul warned them against being arrogant toward the Jews, reminding his readers of the ongoing calling and election of Israel - including unbelieving Israel - as the people of God.

Second, he also warned Gentile believers not to become conceited about their own standing before God. Instead, they were exhorted to “fear.”

Let us read Paul’s warning:

Do not be arrogant toward the natural branches, but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise, you also will be cut off. (Romans 11:18–22; emphasis added)

This is an absolutely profound statement. Put another way, a failure to be both informed and humble concerning unbelieving Israel could very well result in believing Gentile Christians being “cut off” from God. The word Paul used here is the Greek ekkoptō. It is the same word John the Baptist used as he warned those coming to him to be baptized: “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10).

Paul and John, the Baptist, were not alone in issuing such stern warnings. Jesus also used precisely the same term as John in his exhortation: “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 7:19).

Today, as we look back two thousand years to Paul’s warning, a terrifying reality grips us. When we take an honest look at the Gentile-dominated Christian Church throughout its history, up to this present day, most believers have utterly failed to heed Paul’s warnings. The vast majority of the Church, from early on, from the top down, has fallen headlong into wrong ideas and arrogance toward unbelieving Israel. How quickly they forgot the promises of God and Israel’s ongoing role in His plan! The results have been horrific.

One of the results of the Church’s ignorance of Israel’s role in the plan of God is the profound blindness concerning unfolding prophecy. Many Christians have heard of “the sons of Issachar,” mentioned in 1 Chronicles 12:32. We are told that they were “men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do.” Today, the Church is in desperate need of understanding the times and the ability to properly respond. The Jewish prophets, apostles, and Jesus Himself have given us such a profound gift in their words that contain a tremendous amount of information concerning what we will witness in the days ahead.

Throughout the pages of Scripture, the future, like the past, is laid out in great detail on a divinely revealed timeline. Understanding the times and recognizing where we are on this timeline is of tremendous strategic benefit to the Church if it properly responds. The Jewish prophets, apostles, and Jesus himself have given us such a profound gift in that their words contain a tremendous amount of information concerning what we will witness in the days ahead. Throughout the pages of Scripture, the future, like the past, is laid out in great detail on a divinely revealed timeline. Understanding the times and recognizing where we are on this timeline is of tremendous strategic benefit to the Church as it seeks to fulfill its divine mandate. But when the Church fails to acknowledge and recognize the consistent thread of the people and the land of Israel that runs through the entire timeline, it quickly becomes distorted beyond understanding, resulting in a thick fog of confusion settling over the vision of the Church. Such is the state of the Church today. This timeline, the great strategic blueprint that Yehovah has given to His people, has essentially been scribbled over, defaced with the errant doctrines of a Gentile-dominated Church. Not only are vast segments of the Church fundamentally unaware of where they presently sit on God’s prophetic timeline, but many reject the idea that such a clear timeline even exists. The end of this age is fast approaching. Are you ready?