WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KINGDOM NUCLEUS?
IT is grievous that the apologetic, unscriptural dismissal of Yahweh’s servants from their appointed mission, by modern expositors, has prevented a true realization of the significance of the New Covenant, the keystone of Yahweh’s purposes for mankind. Once the separate (though complementary) functions of Church and Servant-nation are understood, this wonderful conception of an intimate relationship between Yahweh and man becomes clearer. It is important to appreciate that in the first place the New Covenant is indubitably made with all Israel; that is, with the same people with whom the Old Covenant was made at Sinai. Both Old and New Testaments declare:
“Behold, the days come, saith Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers … which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them … But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel … I will put My law in their inward parts … and I will remember their sin no more.” – (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:8)
It was absolutely imperative that a New Covenant with Israel should be made. The coming into operation of the Promises to the Fathers, which envisaged the inclusion of the rest of mankind in the Kingdom of Yahweh, was being held up indefinitely by reason of the fact that Israel, the Kingdom-nucleus, was still in disgrace under the punishment clauses of the Old Covenant – the Curse of the Law: “Yet they obeyed not therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant”, said Almighty Yahweh through Jeremiah. She had failed miserably and, in her unredeemed state, was incapable ever of keeping the Law. In spite of her breach of covenant, Yahweh still loved His servant-nation (He said so on many occasions) but, being Yahweh, He had to keep His own law, though Israel had failed to do so. The penalty clauses still stood unrepealed and Israel’s punishment would have been never-ending.
This frustration could be ended only by the annulling, on Yahweh’s part, of that portion of the Old Covenant which provided for punishment; a matter so grave in its implications that it demanded unspeakable and shameful suffering on the part of Yahweh Himself, in the Person of His Son. How Yahweh paid the price for the broken Covenant is beautifully related in a little-known parable contained in the 11th chapter of Zechariah’s prophecy, in which is described a symbolic wooden staff, ‘Beauty’, easily identified as Yahshua, both by the context and by the significant passage. “They weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. “ The parable states (Yahweh speaking prophetically): “And I took My staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break My covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day.“ So Beauty was broken on the Cross of Calvary. As Yahweh had earlier said, through Isaiah, “For the transgression of My people was He stricken.”
The stark necessity for Yahshua’s sacrifice is also clearly shown in an explanatory passage in the ninth chapter of Hebrews:
“For this cause He is the mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”
Israel were the only people ever to have been under the first Covenant. So long as the nucleus remained unredeemed there could be no Kingdom for the Christian Church to inherit, or for the Gentiles to enter. Yahweh’s setting aside of the punitive clauses opened the Kingdom of Yahweh first to the servant-people and then to believers of all races. From the instant of Yahshua’s triumphant cry, “It is finished”, it became possible for Israel to take her place once again within the Divine orbit.
The universal Kingdom of Yahweh was declared to Israel long before New Testament times. The Old Testament makes it quite plain that the Kingdom was never intended to be Israel’s private monopoly. Isaiah’s 56th chapter is devoted to explaining that non-Israelites who are believers are equally acceptable to Yahweh:
“The sons of the stranger, that join themselves to Yahweh, to serve Him … will I bring to My holy mountain…. Yahweh Elohim which gathereth the outcasts of Israel said, Yet will I gather others to him.“
Yahshua restated this momentous announcement when He said:
“Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom.”
He went even further, giving a warning that there would be some in racial Israel who would not be allowed to remain. St. Paul also underlined the idea of the Kingdom wide-open to all believers:
“If ye be Yahshua’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
No believer in Yahshua can now be a ‘Gentile’.
Thus the blessings and privileges of the New Covenant through Yahshua, made in the first instance with Israel as a nation, are now available to all who will accept the sacrifice of Israel’s Redeemer. Yahshua came to save His Kingdom, the Pearl of Great Price, for which He gave His all. Those who desire His Salvation must first follow His advice to ‘press into it’.
That the Promises to the Fathers were by no means entirely spiritual in their application is manifest, even from a cursory study. Those first made to Abraham were confirmed by Yahweh to his son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob, and amplified by still further promises, of most remarkable import, in the material realm: “A company of nations shall be of thee” and “Thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south.“ These great promises have been the despair of orthodox Scriptural commentators. Where in the world was this Israelitish company of nations, far-flung over all the earth? The prophecy did not fit the Jews; it could not by any ‘spiritualization’ be applied to the Church and so this wonderful passage of Scripture was relegated permanently to the background. Had they but known that Israel of old had been continued in the nations of the North Sea isles and coastlands and in the great overseas peoples which sprang therefrom, they would have had no difficulty in pointing to the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promise in the associated peoples of Celto-Saxondom.
It was to enable her to perform her world mission that expansion to the ends of the earth was promised to Israel; a promise which has been abundantly vindicated only in the development of the Celto-Saxon peoples. Their pioneering enterprise, under Divine urge, has produced daughter nations in the continents across the oceans.
Not only have they made new homes for themselves and their kinsfolk; they have also provided sanctuary for legions of home-seekers of every race. Particularly is this so in the remarkable racial experiment which has been taking place in the two great Celto-Saxon countries of North America, where hosts of individuals of all nations have been welded into the Celto-Saxon core.
In the South Seas and also in Africa there have arisen splendid young nations of whom the peoples of the parent stocks have every reason to be proud. In their respective quarters of the globe they stand guard for Christendom.
Thus, at the end of the times of the Gentiles, in a most amazing manner, these great world-embracing nations became moulded together for the protection and general benefit of themselves and all the free peoples of the earth. St. Paul’s ‘Commonwealth of Israel’ has suddenly become not merely an interesting possibility but a grave necessity of the utmost urgency.
“For thus saith Yahweh; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.” – (Jeremiah 32:42)
All the lines of prophecy relating to the End of the Age converge in the period of confusion which follows the release of Jerusalem and the close of the times of the Gentiles. Those who study the prophecies will be able to discern the approaching fulfillment of these Scriptures and to recognize, with some confidence, the fruition of the signs which Yahshua, the Apostles and the Prophets have given. Events are inexorably and visibly shaping themselves to the Divine pattern. One vital item, however, still defies elucidation – the exact time of Yahshua’s return. Yahshua was careful to warn against those who would attempt to fix a date for His appearing:
“… Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Yahshua; or, lo, He is there; believe him not.”
The Saviour likened His return to the coming of a ‘thief in the night’. Some have endeavoured to show that this indicates a totally unobserved return, but this view does violence to the text, for Yahshua urged constant watchfulness:
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your King doth come. “
It would be futile to watch for the appearance of someone invisible. Clearly, He meant that His return would be unexpected by all but the faithful watchers.
The Apostles also lay stress on this ‘unexpected’ Second Advent. St. Paul, speaking of the End of the Age and urging constant alertness, reminded his readers:
“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”
The Risen Saviour, in the Revelation vision recorded by St John, makes a ‘last minute’ appeal for watchfulness to those living at the Time of the End. After a further and final warning, in awe inspiring symbology, of the turmoil in which the End-of-the-Age conflict will take place, Yahshua suddenly interposes the striking counsel which He gave to His disciples on the Mount of Olives on this matter:
“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth.”
This dramatic admonition should be both watchword and time-mark to Christian believers. Those who are watching for their Saviour’s return will be much more likely to do His will than those who do not expect Him.
The signs are not given as an almanac of future events, but rather to ensure that those who obey their Saviour’s instructions to ‘watch’ shall have some idea of the time of His return. It would be useless to look for it before the final upheaval, for He has declared that it will not occur until after its commencement. In the words of Yahshua, it will come immediately- “after the tribulation of those days.“ Though He repeated the warning “Of that day and hour knoweth no man”, He nevertheless provided that the watching believers shall have sufficient guidance to key them up to a state of expectancy as the time approaches.
In spite of the Saviour’s warning against those who will say, “Lo here” or “Lo there “, still there are some who are prepared to forecast a specific time for His return. It is certain that no date so fixed by mortal man will prove correct. Yahshua’s parable of the Wise and Foolish virgins, in which He refers to the state of affairs at the time of the end, furnishes a warning. Both ‘wise’ and ‘foolish’ made ready to meet the Bridegroom, but He did not arrive at the time expected. Doubtless they grew weary of false alarms, for finally even the wise ones fell asleep through long watching, though they roused in time and with sufficient ‘oil’ of understanding to welcome their Saviour. The message of the parable is plain: it is given to watching believers to recognize the signs which will herald the approaching return of the King, but not even to the angels is it permitted to know how long the Bridegroom will tarry. We are now in the ‘tarrying’ period.
“And He shall send Yahshua … Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which Yahweh hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” – (Acts 3:20-21)
With acknowlegments to NEW BEGINNINGS, April 2003 Issue
