The Israelites and the Law

[keras]

The ten Northern tribes of Israel were exiled from their Land because they did not keep the Laws, as given to them through Moses. At present, in their dispersion, it is not a requirement that they keep the whole Law, only at least the ten Commandments. Hosea 9:1-7, Deuteronomy 28:64 Prophecy clearly states that after their return to the Holy Land, the Israelites, now every born again Christian, will then go back to observance of the Law. Ezekiel chapters 40 to 48.

Ezekiel 16:1-52..Your father was a Amorite and your mother was a Hittite...
The Lord says to Judah: Your sisters, Samaria and Sodom, never behaved as badly as you and your daughters have done. They grew proud and committed abominations, then I swept them away, as you know, but you are worse than them – you make your sisters look innocent! Now, you must bear your shame and humiliation.
This passage is a graphic allegory of the ‘adulteries’, that is the idol worship, of Judah: the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and of Samaria: the ten Northern tribes of Israel and of Sodom: the peoples to the South of Judah. But the House of Israel are the peoples who have accepted the Salvation offered by Jesus and it is them who bear the proper fruit. Matthew 21:43

Ezekiel 16:53-59 I shall restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria and will restore you too, Judah at the same time. When you all rejoin, you will bear your shame and be disgraced for your iniquities. You were contemptuous of your sisters in the days of your pride and now the nations around you despise you. You, Judah must bear the consequences of your abominable conduct. The Lord says: I shall treat you as you deserve, because you violated an oath and made light of our Covenant.

Ezekiel 16:60-63 But I shall call to mind the Covenant that I made with you when you were young and will establish a new Covenant that will last forever. You will be ashamed when you receive your sisters, the elder and the younger. They will join you, but not on the basis of My Covenant with you. When I have pardoned you, you will remember and be so ashamed and humiliated that you will never open your mouth again. Jeremiah 3:11
Ref: REB, NIV, KJV.
The Jewish sages [Moshkovitz, Malbim and Abarbanel] say that the ‘sister’ peoples will be the most important part of the new Israelite nation, Isaiah 62:1-5, after they all return and Judah will be subservient to Joseph. ‘Not by their Covenant’, means that the ten tribes will not convert to Judaism, but the Jews must become Christian. Jeremiah 12:14 They will be given true priests for the correct instruction in the Law and ordinances. Malachi 3:1-5

All over the world amongst some Christians there is an arousal in the direction of returning to ‘Hebrew roots’, meaning adopting Biblical injunctions and customs. This attempt to observe the Old Testament Laws sometimes takes the form of imitating aspects of Judaism, or applying their own innovations by a personal interpretation of what Scripture says. This movement of trying to ‘do Torah’, is especially noticeable among people who are identified as comprised to a significant degree as descendants of the ‘Lost ten Tribes’. The phenomenon of this searching for their Hebrew roots, seems to show an instinctive arousal amongst “Joseph”, and can be seen as a sign of the impending redemption of all Israel.

While the ‘Return to Hebrew roots’, is a positive sign of the times, just how far should a person who realizes their Israelite ancestry, go? The obligations of Joseph in our times should include; Justice, Honesty, Prayer and fasting, Bible study, being a good example to others, doing good works, no sexual immorality, no substance abuse, and read carefully what the prophets tell us about our future. 1 Peter 4:7

 

[keras]

I shall set My Laws in your hearts…. Hebrews 8:10
This verse from the New Testament, is a quote from the O.T. –
Jeremiah 31:31-34…The days are coming when I shall set My Laws within them, writing them on their hearts…

Church teaching says we Christians are now under the New Covenant, the Old is obsolete: Hebrews 8:10-13. However, it is fairly obvious that this prophecy of how God’s Laws will be set into our hearts has not yet been fulfilled. The great prophecies in Ezekiel chapters 20, 36 and 37 tell us when, how and why this will happen:

Ezekiel 20:39-44 Now, you Israelites, [Scattered among the nations as at present, but now identified as every true Christian person. Romans 9:8] go and serve your idols. But in days to come, I shall punish you for your disobedience to Me and no more will you desecrate My holy Name with your idolatries. But after I have gathered you into the Land of Israel, you will serve Me and the nations will witness it. You will know that I am the Lord, [BEFORE the Return of Jesus, Ezekiel 34:30] when I bring you back to the Land that I swore to give to your forebears and you will despise your old evil ways and follow only My Commandments. You will know that the Lord has done this for you, not for your sake, but for the honour of His holy Name.

Ezekiel 36:1-7…the enemy boasts: The ancient heights of Israel are ours. [the current situation] Therefore the Lord says: The mountains of Israel, now occupied by other peoples and plundered and despoiled by them, so I will act in the heat of My anger against those Edomite peoples who have seized My Land as spoil. [Edom: the descendants of Esau, now identified as the Islamic peoples.] Jeremiah 12:14, Ezekiel 30:2-5

This will be the Day of the Lord’s vengeance and wrath, an event extensively prophesied throughout the Bible – a literal Day of fire from the sun, earthquakes, tsunamis and powerful storms. All of the world will be affected, but the full force of this disaster will hit the Middle East, virtually depopulating the entire area.

These are the great promises of our redemption and the great gathering:

Ezekiel 37:11-14 The Lord said: These bones are the whole people of Israel, [every Christian person] They say: Our bones are dry, [spiritually bereft] our hope is gone [Acts 26:6-7] and we are cut off. [separated from the holy Land] Prophesy, therefore, the Lord God has said: My people, I shall bring you out of your graves, [your dead spiritual condition] I shall put My spirit into you, redeem and purify you, then I shall settle you into your heritage. Ezekiel 30:11-31, Ezekiel 20:34-38

Ezekiel 36:24-28 The Lord says: I am going to take the Israelites [now Christians] from where they are among the nations, I shall assemble them from every location and bring them to their homeland. I shall purify them from everything that defiles them, give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them. I shall place My spirit in My people, they will conform to My statutes and observe My Laws faithfully.
THEN they will live in the holy Land that I gave to their forebears, they will be My people and I will be their God.

Isaiah 51:1-2…We Christians belong to the Seed from Abraham. Galatians 3:26-29

So, the sequence of events is: first, the great Day of the Lord’s wrath, next His people are gathered and purified, then they are settled into all of the holy Land. Some years later, Jesus will Return for His Millennium reign.
Ref: REB. Some verses abridged.

 

[keras]

The Davidic Line and the Covenants:
Soon after the nations had been dispersed at Babel, God entered into a Covenant with Abram, for the purpose of blessing the world through him and his descendants, who we know are only people of faith; Jew and Gentile. Galatians 3:26-29

This covenant, known as the Abrahamic Covenant unconditionally promises three things to the Lord’s people: land / seed or descendants / and blessings. These three promises are confirmed in further covenants that God made with the original, natural descendants and all who qualify by faith; like that displayed by Abraham.
The Land, all that area from the Nile to the Euphrates, has never been occupied solely by any one group as yet.

This seed aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant’s promises is later amplified in what is known as the Davidic Covenant. After God rejected Saul, God selected David from among Jesse’s sons, leading to David’s anointing as the nation’s second king.
In time, God entered into a covenant with David, promising that through David’s lineage would come an eternal house, throne, and kingdom.
The Gospels confirm Jesus Christ as the unique Davidic descendant who will one day rule the world from Jerusalem.

While the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants are unconditional, the Mosaic Covenant is conditional; Exodus 19-23 Thus, any given generation within Israel must meet the conditions of the Mosaic Covenant in order to experience the blessings promised in the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants. They must enthrone the king of God’s own choosing, Deuteronomy 17:15, to satisfy the condition of obedience found in the Mosaic Covenant.

First-century Israel failed to enthrone Jesus, so they lost the covenantal blessings. Such a rejection not only led to first-century Israel’s loss of the Kingdom blessings, Matthew 21:43, but also to a long interim age of two thousand years; when the earthly Davidic line would be continue, but not known as such. Luke 19:11-27

During this time of postponement, the ascended Christ has been elevated to the Father’s right hand. Acts 2:33-34; Psalms 110:1 In this position of glory, Jesus continues His ministry spiritually, in which He functions as priest and our Comforter. Matthew 28:20

Many years elapsed between David’s anointing as king and when David actually began to reign after Saul’s death. In the same way, Christ has been anointed at His Ascension as the one who will ultimately fulfill the Davidic Covenant. However, He will not begin to actually rule as Davidic king until the nations are made His footstool, Hebrews 10:12-13, and Satan has finally been deposed at the inauguration of the Messiah’s earthly kingdom.

Revelation 3:21 He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Those trusting in Christ will be rewarded (future) by joining Him in His earthly reign, Revelation 5:10a, just as Christ overcame and sat down (past) on His Father’s heavenly throne. Nowhere is it said that we humans go to live in heaven.

During the future glorious one-thousand year era, everything that was promised in the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants will find a literal fulfilment when Christ will rule the world from Jerusalem. This earthly kingdom will then merge into the Eternal State, fulfilling the Davidic Covenant’s eternal Promise. 1 Corinthians 15:24
Ref: A Woods

 

[keras]

Who is the real House of Israel?
A study of the first two chapters of Hosea shows us that Israel was to be cast off and divorced from God. They were to be scattered (“Jezreel”); they were to have no mercy (“Lo-ruhamah”); and they were to be no longer God’s people (“Lo-ammi”). But at the same time, God promised that they would be regathered under one Head (Jesus Christ) and come out of captivity. A decreed period; Ezekiel 4:4-6.

In fact, God told them He would “betroth thee unto Me in righteousness” (Hosea 2:19). The prophecy culminates with a Hebrew play on words. The name “Jezreel” means “God scatters,” but it also means “God sows.” (One must scatter the seed in order to sow it in the field.) Thus, at first the name prophesies that Israel was to be scattered; but ultimately it shows God’s Purpose—to sow Israel in the earth in order to multiply her as the sand of the sea, so as God remains faithful to His promise to Abraham.

Hosea 2:23 And I will sow her unto Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not My people, Thou art My people; and they shall say, Thou art My God.

In other words, even though God did indeed cast off His people Israel, scattering them in the nations by the hand of the Assyrians, God’s ultimate Purpose was to sow them in the earth, so that they would multiply and fulfill the promise to Abraham. Furthermore, Hosea prophesied that; in the very place (of their captivity) where it is said that they are not God’s people (Israel), they would be Christians known as; “the Sons of the living God." Hosea 1:10, Romans 9:24-26

The problem is that most Christians try to make the Jews fulfill these prophesies, when the House of Judah, is fact, fulfilling an entirely different set of prophecies. God in His great mercy has allowed them nearly 2000 years to change their hearts to Him and to accept Jesus as Messiah.

If people realized that the Jews are to fulfill the prophecies of the House of Judah, instead of those dealing with the lost House of Israel, they would not have made this mistake. The Jews were certainly “cast off” in 586 BC and again in 70-135 A.D., even as Israel was cast off during 745-712 B.C.—but the difference is that the prophets uniformly prophesy good things for lost Israel even during the time of their captivity; while severe judgments were pronounced upon Jerusalem and the Jewish people.
Note; that Ezekiel 21:14 tells of 3 Judgements. The next one, to come; will be by the Hand of the Lord Himself. Ezekiel 21:1-7

In Jeremiah 18:1-10, God says that the House of Israel was marred in the Potter’s hand, so God was going to beat down the wet clay and remake it into a vessel fit for His use. Then beginning in verse 11, God begins to prophesy about Jerusalem and Judah. First comes an indictment for their sins, and then in Jeremiah 19:1-15 we see that Jeremiah was to take an old earthen vessel (as opposed to wet clay that was pliable), he was to go to the city dump and smash the earthen vessel there, saying: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again, and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. Thus will I do unto this place, says the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet.
God’s choice of an allegory to suit each House is amazing!

An old clay vessel, once broken, cannot be remade into another vessel. Only wet, pliable clay can be used to remake a vessel. The House of Israel is like the pliable clay; but the House of Judah will be smashed and never again be built into a vessel of honour.

At the end of the first Temple era, God departed from it and Ezekiel saw the glory depart. Ezekiel 10:4-19 It has never returned to the Temple. Even when Zerubbabel rebuilt the Temple in 515 B.C., the glory did not return to it when they dedicated it to God. The work was good and was allowed by God, but the site itself was cursed.
This is consistent with the New Testament prophecies regarding the cursed fig tree, Matt. 21:21 the parable of the vineyard, Matt. 21:43-44 and the parable of the citizens who hated Him and would not allow Him to reign over them. Luke 19:27

The point is, these peoples must still be around to fulfill these distinct prophecies for Israel and for the cursed fig tree. The lost House of Israel must exist to be remade into another vessel and Judah must exist to be virtually wiped out. Isaiah 22:14

The problem comes when people think that the smashed vessel is going to be rebuilt into a vessel fit for God’s use, and when those same people wrongly think that the original House of Israel is lost forever and the Jews are the only Israel.

Plainly, the Christian peoples are the House of Israel, the Overcomers for God, as Jacob was. Jesus came to save the House of Israel, Matthew 15:24, who must be the Christian peoples; or Jesus failed in His mission.
The Jews will never change and Bible prophecy says they will be Judged and punished and only a remnant will survive. Romans 9:27, Isaiah 6:11-13, Zephaniah 1:1-18, +