The Daily Word of Righteousness

A Destructive Doctrine, #8

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. (I Peter 1:10-12—NIV)

The above passage reveals beyond doubt that we Christians are built on the Jewish Prophets, as well as on the Jewish Apostles of the New Testament. It shows also that our inheritance and destiny are found in the Old Testament.

The Apostle Peter makes it clear that the writings of the Hebrew Prophets that deal with "the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow" were not directed toward the physical land and people of their day but have to do with those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The "glories that would follow" obviously refer to the Kingdom of God announced by John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus, and the Apostles of the Lamb.

Let us without delay cast from our thinking the confusing, destructive notion that there is a Gentile church and then a Jewish church; a Gentile kingdom and then a Jewish kingdom. There is only the one new Man, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ and all who are part of Him.

You and I may be Gentiles but we are not part of a Gentile church, because there is no such institution. If we are under the new covenant we are an integral part of Israel in that the new covenant can be made only with the House of Israel. The New Testament makes no mention of a new covenant made with Gentiles.

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Hebrews 8:10—NIV)

In the following verse, Peter, a Jew, invites Gentiles into the one family of God:

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (I Peter 2:10—NIV)

We who at one time were Gentiles are now, through Jesus Christ, an integral part of God's Zion. We are of the one household of faith, the Israel of God, the Church of the Firstborn. Our Apostles whose writings we trust were all Jews. The Books of the Old Testament were written by Jews. The books of the New Testament were written by Jews.

The names of twelve Jews are in the foundations of the wall of the new Jerusalem and the names of twelve Jews are on its gates.

If we are not a part of God's Israel then we have no part in the holy city, except to visit it as a member of the saved nations. We are not part of the one Bride of the Lamb. We are not part of the eternal House of God, the Throne of God and of the Lamb. We are not part of the royal priesthood, for God's holy nation is Israel.

The truth is, at one time we were Gentiles, but no longer. We now are of the one Seed of Abraham. We are of the one Light of the World. We are members of the Body of Christ, of the Servant of the Lord who will bring justice to the saved nations of the earth.

This is your inheritance and mine also. Who would want to sit in a mansion in Heaven when God returns Paradise to the earth?

Well, we have been mistaken. That is all there is to it. Now it is time to turn from the two-church, two-kingdom fable and the other myths that have so weakened the Christian churches. We are going to need the strength of Jesus Christ if we are to be able to stand throughout the age of moral horrors that we are approaching. (from A Destructive Doctrine)