Israel and the church, Two or one?

Ephesians 2:11-11-22

 

 

Sermon Introduction

 

 

  • One book that has had a profound influence on our views of the end times.
  • First became a Christian.
  • “see you there or in the air”
  • Car may be unoccupied in case of rapture.
  • Left Behind the original movie.
  • Many led to the Lord by it – much good!!!
  • How many read “The Late Great Planet Earth”
  • Much good !  Thank God!!
  • One lingering problem here that haunts the American church even to today is the view Hal Lindsey and other brothers hold regarding the nation of Israel and the end times.

 

 “I believe this generation is overlooking the most authentic voice of all, and that’s the voice of the Hebrew prophets.  They predicted that as man neaedr the end of history as we know is that there would be a precise pattern of events which would loom up in history. Nations would fit into a certain power pattern.  And all of this would be around the most important sign of all – that is the Jew returning to the land of Israel after thousands of years of being dispersed.  The Jew is the most important sign to this generation.”

Hal Lindsey in “The Return”, quoted in The Late Great Planet Earth, p i.

 

 

The distinction between God’s dealing with the church and His dealing with another group of believers who are largely gathered around Israel is very important. Revelation 20 and Matthew 25 speak of the time when Jesus will return to the earth and separate the believers from the nonbelievers.  For us, as believers, our hope is different from Israel’s.  This will be clear when we distinguish between the second advent, or the second coming of Christ, and the Rapture.”

Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth, p. 139.

 

 It should be observed that though Judaism and Christianity have much in common, they never merge the one into the other. Having each its own eschatology reaching on into eternity ... The Word of God distinguishes between earth and heaven, even after they are created new. Similarly and as clearly it distinguishes between God's consistent and eternal earthly purpose, which is the substance of Judaism; and His consistent and eternal heavenly purpose which is the substance of Christianity, and it is as illogical and fanciful to contend that Judaism and Christianity ever merge as it would be to contend that heaven and earth cease to exist as separate spheres.

Lewis Chafer(Dispensationalism, pp. 40, 41):

 

We have to ask the question whether our understanding of the end times exalts Christ or not, we have to ask the question whether it exalts the gospel or not, we have to ask the question whether it places the church in a proper perspective or not, because there are so many believers that are in the grip of ideas about the end that paralyze them in the present.  They are sentenced to immaturity and independence because their eyes are fixed on Israel and not sufficiently focused on Christ, the gospel and the church. How many local churches are struggling to survive, are struggling to serve their people, are struggling to proclaim the gospel with any degree of impact because people see little need for the local church.

Dave Harvey, “Israel and the Mystery of the Impartial Gospel”, Mar 30, 2003

 

  • Not disparaging the nation of Israel, not dishonoring the Jewish people, thank God for them and the blessing of Jesus and their incredible heritage and contributions to society.

 

Anti-Semitism is real today. Jews around the world are feeling vulnerable. They feel damned if they do and damned if they don't. If they are weak they are hated, and if they are strong they are hated—that's the way history has treated them.

And with all the authority that I can claim from Scripture and from the Spirit of Christ, I call you not to be a part of that. Paul sensed the rising of this thing—or maybe he had heard of anti-Semitic feeling in Rome —and he attacked. And that is what we should do, especially if we find it in ourselves.

Why? Because the Jewish root—the Jewish fathers, the Jewish Scripture, the Jewish promises, the Jewish history, the Jewish Messiah—supports you, not the other way around. Being a Christian means becoming a true Jew. Being a Christian means finding your ancestry in Abraham and his offspring. Being a Christian means believing and loving the Jewish Torah, and Writings, and Prophets. Being a Christian means being grafted in to the Jewish covenant. Proud anti-Semitism proves we do not know who we are—or we are not who we say we are.

John Piper, Message on Rom. 11, February 1, 2004

 

  • Real issue is…

 

  • Are there two distinct peoples of God?
  • Are there two plans?
  • Are there two purposes?
  • Are we to view Israel apart from the Church?
  • What “people” are the focus of the end times?

 

  • Let’s look at what the scriptures teach.

 

  • Many texts – best to study broadly.
  • Let’s take a look at one poignant passage.

 

Text: Ephesians 2:11-22, 3:1-12. 20-21

 

1.      One Plan

 

1.1.                     The background

 

1.1.1.  Remembering Life as a Jew

 

  • God has revealed himself in the past to the Jews –
  • His mercy to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – pure mercy.
  • Covenant with Moses too! Foreshadowing redemption too!
  • Covenants of promise!  All pointing to the promise realized in Christ!

 

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

 

1.1.2.  Remembering life as a Gentile.

 

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

 

  • Life as a Gentile – no promise, no revelation – lost and wandering!
  • Enmity towards the Jews and visa versa.
  • The warning in the temple before entering the courtyard!

 

Kinda like the Prince and the Pauper

 

1.1.3.  Two separate people. 

  • One without hope, one with knowledge of the covenants of promise.
  • Two separate peoples.
  • But…

 

 

1.2.                     In Christ.

 

Ephesians 2:11-22 (ESV)

 

  • The supremacy of Christ in the equation.
  • He is the perfect One.
  • He is the perfect Jew.
  • He is the fulfillment of all the promises and all the requirements God mad on Israel – he is the culmination!

 

Luke 24:25-27 (ESV)

 

1.2.1.  All the promises of restoration  -

  • the true Israel – Is. 49-53, Mt. 2:15, Hosea 11:1
  • The land – the new earth
  • The new Jerusalem.
  • The restoration of the temple. Ez. 47- Jn. 7, Jn. 2
  • The Davidic kingdom – at Pentecost. Acts 2

 

Hebrews 1:1-2 (ESV)
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

 

 

Hebrews 12:18-29 (ESV)
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel

 

 

Colossians 1:15-23 (ESV)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

 

  • Seeing a separate plan for the Jew and the Gentile comes against the clear teaching of scripture and denigrates the centrality of the work of Christ on the cross to purchase a people for himself.

 

  For the Dispensational side, the Church is a parenthesis in God’s program for the ages. It is a temporary thing in the flow of history.  You have heard the phrase The Great Parenthesis, which is used to the time when Messiah came and the Jews shockingly rejected Him.  This actually thwarted God’s plan, because the original plan was for Messiah to come and set up a kingdom in Israel, but oops, the Jews rejected Him.  At that point the prophetic clock stopped and we entered into the period of the Gentiles, the Great Parenthesis.  That is a period about which there was no prophecy in the Old Testament.  At the end of the period of the Great Parenthesis, the end of the time of the Gentiles, as the Dispensationalists interpret that section in Romans chapter 11,  the Church is removed.   That is the rapture.  Then the prophetic clock starts ticking again, and God’s dealings with Israel resume. 

Dispensationalism - A Reformed Evaluation by Ligon Duncan

 

  • You see, He is exalted as head over all who joins us all together in the church.  This is the glory of God – not the restoration of Israel.  The greatest thing He is doing in the earth today is not restoring Israel as a nation but forming His church.

The Scriptures clearly teach the centrality of the church in the redemptive purposes of God.  Let us note first what Jesus says about the church in “Matthew 16:18-19, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death (or gates of Hades, ASV, NIV) shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  Christ here clearly teaches the centrality and permanence of the church; the powers of death shall never succeed in overthrowing it.  Jesus also indicates that the church is not a kind of parenthesis or interlude awaiting his return to establish the kingdom, but that the church is the chief agency of the kingdom, since the keys of the kingdom are given it (that is, to Peter as the representative of the church).

Anthony Hoekema, TBATF, p. 216

 

  • You see, He is exalted as head over all who joins us all together in the church.  This is the glory of God – not the restoration of Israel.  The greatest thing He is doing in the earth today is not restoring Israel as a nation but forming His bride and making her ready – calling a people to himself from every tribe and people and nation.  Taking bluebloods and blue collars, Africans and Asians,  Arabs and Anglos, Jews and Gentiles and unitiing them in his beautiful bride.
  • The church – the gathered people of God from every nation – is the most exciting thing God is doing in the earth today!!
  • This is all to His glory!

 

Time in college – nerds, jocks, druggies and hoods, intellectuals and thugs.

Look around – KGC. 

Our unique position in Methuen – Southern NH, Lawrence, Andover…

“The Barn” filled with diverse animals. A vision of our church.

 

  • The unity borne of the Gospel.
  • A unity for all peoples!
  • Every tribe and tongue and people and nations!
  • Reconciled us to God and to one another – Jew and Gentile.

 

  • He preached peace to us – those far away and those near!
  • This is a statement about the power of the gospel!

 

Imagine forming a company of incompetents and enemies.

 

  • Glory to God!

 

1.3.                     The peace of the gospel.

 

  • His sacrifice for the unity of His people!
  • The gospel!
  • God bleeding on a tree.
  • Accursed for you!
  • To bring you to Him – to bring you together.

Application minute. – no reconciliation to God w/o reconciliation to others.

PN – forgive us as we forgive.

Reconciled to one another.

Affection for one another.

Liking folks that are different.

Building relationally with folks that are different.

 

2.      One People

 

Ephesians 2:11-3:22 (ESV)

 

 

2.1.                     the Church – one of two.

 

  • Church – translation of “ekklesia” – gathering or assembly – Septuagint translation of qahal.

 

  • The gathering of God’s people!
  • Gathered by God – chosen by Him in his marvelous grace – by faith! Not by birth – (never by birth alone!)

 

Exodus 12:6 (ESV)
6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

 

Numbers 14:5 (ESV)
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.

 

Deuteronomy 5:22 (ESV)
22 “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

 

Galatians 3:1-29 (ESV)
7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. ……………….

 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

 

Galatians 6:14-16 (ESV)
14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

 

Romans 11:1-5 (ESV)
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

 

Romans 9:6 (ESV)
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,

 

 

  • The church (Jew and Gentile) as the fulfillment of the restored people of God!

 

1 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV)
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

When we look carefully at 1 Peter 2:9, we notice that Peter is here applying to the New Testament church expressions which are used in the Old Testament to describe Israel.  The words “chosen race’ are applied in Isaiah 43:20 to the people of Israel.  The expressions “a royal priesthood, a holy nation’ are used to describe the people of Israel in Exodus 19:6.  The words “God’s own people” or “a people for his possession’ are applied to the people of Israel in Exodus 19:5.  Peter is therefore saying here in the plainest of words that what the Old Testament said about Israel can now be said about the church.

Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and The Future, p. 198

 

  • One beautiful bride!

 

Two brides, three marriages?

 

Ephesians 5:25-33 (ESV)
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

 

Revelation 21 (ESV)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 …………….

 9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

 

Do you see one bride?

Do you see a beautiful bride.

 

The moment before the wedding.  Beaming groom.

God is beaming.

Are you beaming?

Is the church your greatest delight next to the groom.

Are Sunday mornings drudgery and duty or delight.

Imagine a marriage of duty versus delight.

 

Why do you love the church?

  • She is beautiful – bought with the precious blood of Christ.
  • Clothed in His righteousness!
  • Being made ready.
  • The keeper of the truth.

 

Are you excited about the church?

 

Why I am excited about this church.

The glory of God in His gospel.

The glory of God in your faces.

Fellowship forming and deepening.

Maturing in grace.

Children being established in grace. – Childrens Ministry Meeting.

The lonely with a home.

The poor being reached.

Diversity and unity.

The lost being brought in.

Love in our midst.

His reputation being magnified in and through you.

This is the most exciting thing happening around!

Asuming the context of wife and family – subsumed in the church.

 

 

3.      One Purpose

 

7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

 

3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

 

  • His glory!

 

  • His glory in jars of clay!
  • His glory in us!
  • His glory in the church!

 

2 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

 

The Outreach week and our trials – Lyme disease, hornets, stitches, a twisted ankle, a crashed hard drive – and then intense hip pains – Clot?

Like the church.

 

  • God’s most eloquent statement of His glory –
  • Christ and His church!
  • Strength in weakness.
  • Love and unity in diversity.
  • Christ and the church.

3.1.                     Dismissal/Closing

 

  • An invitation.
  • Look to the most exciting thing God is doing in the end times until Christ returns.
  • His church.
  • His return is for His church and the consummation of His marriage.
  • An invitation to value what God values.
  • To express that in a local church.
  • Plug in, build relationally, contribute your time, energy, love , life, finances.

 

  • The bride is beautiful in his eyes.  Is she beautiful to you?  Will you give your life for her too?

 

One plan, one people, one purpose.