The Daily Word of Righteousness

Israel—Spirit and Flesh, #8

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: (Romans 11:26)

But, one may protest, God cannot save people apart from a concerted, systematic effort of the Christian churches and workers!

Can't He? Consider how Saul of Tarsus was converted. Consider God's work in Wales, in Nagaland, in Indonesia, and in other areas where the sovereign Spirit of God has come down and swept thousands of souls into the Kingdom. Salvation is of the Lord. God saves whom He will, when He will. Our part is to serve faithfully in the capacity assigned to us. God then saves according to His own foreknowledge, mercy, and power.

Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. (Isaiah 32:15)

God blesses Israel, not according to the will of man but according to His own sovereign will and purposes. (There is a relationship between godly behavior and the Divine blessing, and prayer and the Divine blessing, but we will not discuss these relationships at this time.)

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)

God has promised to turn once again to the people of Israel, and He has begun already. The Gospel is the children's bread. Once again the Spirit is bringing Christ to the Jews.

The door will be held open for the Gentiles while the witness of the Gospel of the Kingdom is borne to the nations in latter-rain power. Meanwhile, God is bringing about historical events that will culminate in the salvation of the Jews.

Finally, the greater Son of David will be crowned King in the city of Jerusalem. We who are members of His Body will be with Him there for we shall always be with the Lord.

The spiritual life of Zion is being perfected in the heavens. We Christians, whether we were born a Jew or a Gentile, are of the Zion in the heavens. There the spirits of righteous men are being perfected.

To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just [righteous] men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:23)

As soon as the saints have been perfected, the life of the heavenly Zion will descend on Jerusalem, and all elect Israel will be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. The heavenly Jerusalem is the spiritual counterpart of the Jerusalem on the earth. One day Christ will come. At that time the Spirit of life from God, the Spirit of the heavenly Zion, will enter Jerusalem on the earth. Then there will be one fold, and one Shepherd—Christ.

To be continued.