Who Is the Remnant of Israel? - 2:05 PM, 12/16/2009 |
Who Is The Remnant of Israel? Bernard Pyron "I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid." This is Zephaniah 3: 12-13 In Romans 11 Gentile Christians are grafted into ethnic Israel reborn as spiritual Israel. Before the Cross and the Day of Pentecost Israel was made up of descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and a few Gentiles who joined themselves to Israel. After Pentecost, reborn Israel was made up of Peter, John and a few thousand other Jews who had become reborn in Christ. It is this group of reborn Jews to which Gentile Christians are grafted in. There is in Scripture no "Church" which is different from Israel. The Greek word ekklesia in the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, number 1577, is said to mean "a calling out, a popular meeting, a religious congregation,Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both." An ekklesia is not a capital C Church in the sense of an institution authorized by the Bible, and certainly not a corporation set up under the federal government, i.e., the Internal Revenue Service. An ekklesia is just a community of Christians who have been called out of the world.... Who then is the Remnant of Israel? Daniel 11: 33 "And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days." Daniel 12: 3 "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.... For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee." Isaiah 60: 1-2 The dispensationalists have contributed to the confusion over what and who is Israel. They do not clearly separate out that small group (who numbered maybe a few thousand) of Jews in the very early Jewish community in Jerusalem who were transformed into spiritual Israel by the Cross and at the Day of Pentecost - and for a while after Pentecost - from an also small number of Jews who were not transformed but who were mostly faithful to the Old Covenant, and from another larger group of Jews who followed Talmudic Judaism and the religion of the Pharisees. Traditionally the Reformation Christians taught that born again Christians are Israel. Present day Calvinists and orthodox Lutherans still teach we are Israel. This does not mean the Christian Remnant now is Calvinist or Lutheran. Most of the Calvinists and Lutherans have not studied Bible prophecy in much detail, while the Remnant is interested in prophecy. |
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