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Ordo Solutis) Drawing, Faith, Union with Christ which entails Justification, Regeneration, Adoption
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I was looking for some good info on this subject & I came across this. I thought I would share it with you guys.
"Reasons for Distinguishing Israel and the Church
The following is a summary of the many reasons for maintaining a distinction between the promises to national Israel and the promises to Christ’s spiritual body.
Consistent Use of the Historical-Grammatical Hermeneutic Demands That Literal Unconditional Promises to Israel Are Yet to Be Fulfilled
The unconditional land-promise God made to Abraham and his descendants (e.g., Gen. 13:1–17) has never been fulfilled; it must have a future fulfillment for national Israel.
Further, it was a unilateral covenant made by God with Abraham (not Abraham with God); Abraham was unconscious when it was made (15:12, 18).
What is more, it was a gift of the whole land, not just west of the Jordan (e.g., vv. 18–21).
Finally, it was an eternal inheritance: “The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God” (17:8, cf. v. 19; 26:3).
In short, God forever gave the land to Abraham and his descendants through Isaac, Jacob, and his sons, who became the twelve tribes. This includes modern-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and all the way to Northern Iraq. Even under Joshua and Solomon this was not fulfilled, let alone fulfilled forever. The unconditional land-promise to Israel must have a future literal fulfillment.
John, Messiah’s Herald, Offered a Literal Kingdom to National Israel
The Baptist’s simple message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt. 3:2); to the Jewish mind, this was the kingdom promised in the Old Testament (e.g., Dan. 2, 7).
He announced a coming kingdom, which simply means “a coming rule.” This rule was to be heaven’s rule: “the kingdom of heaven.” [Would God then begin to rule in the heavenly realm?] Obviously not, for God has always ruled over the heavenly spheres since Creation. John must mean that God’s heavenly rule was about to be extended directly to earthly spheres. [That is,] God’s rule over earth had drawn near and was about to be instituted through the person of the Messiah for whom John was preparing the way. (Walvoord and Zuck, BKC, 1.24)
Though the Jews rejected Him and thereby His earthly visible reign over them, Jesus began to reign spiritually (cf. Matt. 13) in the kingdom’s interim, containing both saved and unsaved, who will be separated after the Second Coming. The outward messianic reign was set aside until His return, when the so-called “Lord’s Prayer” will be literally and ultimately fulfilled; meanwhile we have the church age (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 3:3–5), the mystery form described in the kingdom parables (op. cit.). The messianic promises to Israel (delayed until Jesus comes back) are not to be confused with spiritual blessings for the church; they are distinct entities, and literal promises are not to be spiritualized away.
Jesus Foretold a Literal Reign Over Israel at His Second Coming
“I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28; cf. 24:30). The Second Coming is a literal physical return in a literal physical body. Jesus left physically and visibly, and He will return in the same manner, as Zechariah and John foresaw: “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west” (Zech. 14:4); “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be!” (Rev. 1:7).
The Apostles Will Sit on Twelve Thrones to Judge Israel
The twelve apostles, through whom Jesus built His church, were literal physical persons, who at the final resurrection will regain their literal physical bodies (John 5:28–29), which will be just like Jesus’ resurrection body (Phil. 3:21), made of “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39; cf. v. 44; John 20:27). It makes no sense to call this a spiritual reign of Christ—both He and His apostles will be in physical resurrection bodies. The reign after Christ’s return can be no less literal and physical than the body in which He comes to reign; a denial of Christ’s literal reign is, in effect, a denial of His literal resurrection body.
Regarding the twelve apostles on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28), again, the word tribe is never used of Israel or any other group in a purely spiritual sense. These are always the twelve literal tribes, who were the literal descendants of the literal twelve sons of Jacob (whom God renamed “Israel”—Gen. 32:28).
The Promised Messianic Kingdom Was Not Yet Fulfilled at the Ascension
The disciples asked Jesus if He was then going to “restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6); as mentioned earlier, if there were to be no future literal kingdom, this was His last opportunity to correct them, as with their errors on other occasions. Instead, He implied that this kingdom had not yet been fulfilled but would be, in the Father’s good time (vv. 7–8).
After the Church Began, Peter Offered the Kingdom to Israel
In Acts 3:19–21 Peter offered restoration (the literal messianic kingdom) to national Israel, specifically addressing the “Men of Israel” (v. 12) who had killed Jesus (v. 15) and their “rulers” (v. 17 nkvj). This was the promised Old Testament kingdom that would be inaugurated when Messiah came, but Jesus would not return until they repented and accepted Him as their Messiah.
This was not merely a hypothetical offer. Had they repented, Christ would have returned in accordance to what was prophesied. Since God knew they were not going to repent, it is not contradictory to affirm with Scripture that the “times of the Gentiles” (Ezek. 30:3 NKJV) would occur in the intervening time: “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom. 11:25). Since Israel did not repent, this will occur at the Second Coming.
National Israel Will Yet Be Restored to Its Place of Blessing Under God
The promises about Israel’s future restoration to their land and national status were not fulfilled in the first century (as preterists claim) or today through the church in a spiritual sense (as amillennialists insist).86 We have already seen how, in Romans 11, Paul speaks clearly of national Israel’s literal future. Verses 9–11 are about Israel’s past blessings (9), present rejection (10), and future restoration (11); Paul makes it evident he is speaking of literal physical Israel, not some “spiritual” Israel (like the New Testament church); they are the “nation” to whom Moses wrote, the “Israel” to whom Isaiah prophesied, “his [God’s] people” of whom Paul is one (9:3; 10:1, 19, 21; 11:1).
They are “the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises” (9:4). God has not, will not, and cannot cast them away (11:1–2, 29). God’s unconditional promises will be fulfilled; the nation as a whole will be converted and restored when their Messiah returns (vv. 24–26).
Revelation Speaks of National Israel’s Role Before Christ Returns
John’s Apocalypse points to Israel’s future role during the tribulation period before the Second Coming: “Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Judah, 12,000 were sealed … [12,000 from each of the tribes]” (see 7:4–8). This refers to literal national Israel, and it is these who are alive and active during the Tribulation,89 bringing into the kingdom “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands” (v. 9).
Then Jesus’ words about the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles (Matt. 19:28) will be literally fulfilled, and He will separate those who have believed from those who have not believed (25:31–34).
Having said all of this, it is important to repeat that, despite these differences between Israel and the church, there are many commonalities. In addition, as with the pre-Israelite believers (before Abraham and Moses), believers of the present age will have more in common than they have differences. After all, there is one Savior, one plan of redemption, and one family of all the redeemed people who will worship God in heaven. Spiritually, God’s people share a redemptive inheritance, even though there are functional differences between Israel and the church.
THE THEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR THE COVENANTS WITH ISRAEL
The theological foundation for belief in a literal fulfillment of Israel’s unconditional covenants is based in (1) several attributes of God and (2) a consistent application of the historical-grammatical hermeneutic to Old Testament prophecy. Specific divine attributes stand out in this regard: sovereignty, eternality, omniscience, immutability, omnipotence, and omnisapience. With His sovereign power God has no difficulty bringing about His plan and purpose for Israel, which He willed from all eternity. In order for God to be sure that what He willed would come to pass when He made the covenants, He must have infallible foreknowledge. His immutable will, by means of His omnipotent power, will accomplish His eternal decrees and unconditional covenants, and His omnisapience planned Israel’s election, dispersion, and ultimate restoration.
God’s Glory As the Basis for His Covenants With Israel
Ultimately, everything is for God’s glory (1 Cor. 10:31; cf. Ps. 76:10), and, as with New Testament believers, God’s plan for Israel was to bring glory to Himself:
God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Cor. 1:27–29)
God is glorified through His faithfulness to Israel:
The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. (Deut. 7:7–9)
The Literal Hermeneutic as the Basis for God’s Covenants With Israel
While God is the basis for Israel’s unconditional election, the basis for our knowing about it is the historical-grammatical hermeneutic. The only way to deny Israel’s literal national future is to deny literal interpretations of all covenants with Israel; as we have seen, denial of the literal hermeneutic is both self-defeating and undermining of the Christian faith."
Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume Four: Church, Last Things (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2005), 534-38.
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Faith is not knowing what the future holds, but knowing who holds the future.
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