BIBLICAL BRIEFS 6
In chapters 4 and 5 of his book Shadows of Things to Come, Rick Joyner positions much of what must happen in the “end times” in terms of Israel. He warns against the danger of the so-called “replacement theology”; he calls Israel the “cradle of the church”. He also uses Rom. 9-11 as the foundation of a theology that explains the natural Jew and Israel in an untouchable position. He says: “It can only apply to the Jews according to the flesh, because in this text it is clear that a distinction is made between them and non-Jewish believers.” (p. 74). The letter to the Romans, however, offers a radically exact opposite argument about the position of the Jews in the new covenant, also the claims and concepts regarding the natural and spiritual Israel. In Rom. 1:16-17, Paul clarifies that the “gospel of Christ” is for everyone who believes, first of all for the Jew, but also for the non-Jew/Gentile. In Rom. 2:11 he explains that God does not show favoritism nor “elect” man (or a people) above another. In Rom. 2:28-29 he defines a Jew in the New Covenant NOT one that is a Jew according to the flesh, but one who becomes a Jew in the spirit through the circumcision of the heart, i.e. having been born again. This becomes the definition of Jews for the rest of the letter! In Rom. 3:9, Paul addresses his fellow-Jews and explicitly spells out: “Are we better than they? Not at all!” In verse 29, he also states that Jews and Gentiles belong to God, which makes Abraham the father of “all of us” (Rom. 4:16). In Rom. 9:4-8 he shows that “the people of Israel … theirs is the adoption to sonship … For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel … NOR because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children … In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children …” In Rom. 9:27 Paul quotes Isaiah and agrees: Only a remnant of the biological Jews will be saved, those that received salvation through Jesus Christ. Only a select few of the Jews will be saved – we call them Messianic Jews (Rom. 11:5). The olive tree in which we were engrafted (verses 17-18) is NOT Israel, but Christ, the Anointed! The Jews as a nation is veiled not to recognize the Messiah due to hardened hearts; it is clearly not applicable to ALL Jews, otherwise, none of them would have been able to come to repentance! In fact, ALL the first Christians were Jews, for the Gospel was initially brought only to Jews for 3 and a half years (Rom. 1:16, Matt. 15:24). With the completion of Daniel’s precise prophetic word of God’s covenant with “Israel to the flesh” (1 Cor.10: 18), which ended in the autumn of 34 AD. with the death of Stephen, the dawn of the “fullness of time” appeared for which God sent His Son (Rom. 11: 25-26) to make salvation for spiritual Israel, meaning ALL people – Jew and Gentile.
Dr. Tom Gouws
