Messianic Perspectives

Liz Iello: Did God reject the Jewish people when they rejected his son 2,000 years ago? Has he replaced Israel with the church? Stay with us as Dr. Gary Hedrick discusses the question, is God finished with Israel today, right here on Messianic Perspectives? Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Iello. On today's edition of Messianic Perspectives, Dr. Gary Hedrick is discussing the question, is God finished with Israel? I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer.

So have your pencil and paper ready. Now with today's study, here is Dr. Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right. Thank you and welcome listening friends to another edition of the program. It's good to have you with us again today as we continue this series of studies on the question, is God finished with Israel? And what we've been doing here on the program for the past couple of days is working our way through a series of distinctions that we said are essential to an accurate understanding of the scriptures. We take the premillennial approach, which church history tells us was the approach of the apostles and the early church. Premillennialists are people who take the Abrahamic and Davidic promises literally.

We believe in a literal kingdom on this earth after the coming of the Messiah. That's premillennialism or uh as it was called in the days of the early church, chiliasm. And last time, for example, we were talking about the fact that one of the distinctives of premillennialism is that we recognize that Abraham has both spiritual and physical descendants. There's a physical seed of Abraham, and he also has spiritual seed or spiritual descendants. According to Romans chapter four, Abraham is the spiritual father of all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile. And now another distinctive of premillennialism is and by the way, someone called and said I should explain what these big words mean like ah millennialism and premillennialism.

It's explained in detail in the book, but the meaning is really very simple. First of all, the word millennium comes from two Latin words, mille and annum, meaning literally a thousand years. So the millennium is what we call the thousand year reign of the Messiah that's described in Revelation chapter 20. Now different people believe different things about the millennium. For example, the oldest millennial belief is what we call premillennialism as I just said. In the early church, it was known as chiliasm. Premillennial literally means before the millennium, pre-millennium. So a pre-millennialist is someone who believes that the Messiah returns to this earth before the beginning of the millennium.

Then the word ah millennial literally means no millennium. So an ah millennialist is someone who says there is no literal reign of the Messiah on this earth. Typically, they will say that the Old Testament prophecies about the coming reign of the Messiah were fulfilled in the time of Christ or that they are being fulfilled right now in a spiritual sense by the church. They'll say the throne of God in heaven and the throne of David in the Old Testament prophecies are really one and the same throne. Therefore, the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah ruling and reigning from the throne of his father David are really being fulfilled right now as Jesus Christ sits on his throne in heaven.

So there is no need for a future reign of the Messiah according to many ah millennialists, but not all of them. There are ah millennialists who are friends of our ministry and who believe very strongly in the future ah restoration of Israel. They just have a little different way of expressing it. So those are two of the main views of the millennium. And historically, premillennialism or chiliasm is the oldest view. It was apparently the view of the apostles themselves and certainly the view of the early church. It's not until two or 300 years later that we begin to find traces of ah millennialism in church history, in the writings of Saint Augustine, for example.

And then post-millennialism didn't come along until centuries later when a Catholic monk named Fiore popularized that view. So we've been talking about some of the distinctives of pre-millennialism. We've already said, for example, that one of those distinctives is the fact that pre-millennialists distinguish between Abraham's physical and spiritual seed. And that's important because if you don't make that distinction, then you end up saying that one has replaced the other or that one has superseded the other or that one has canceled out the other. In other words, Israel has been replaced by the church. So there's no future plan for the Jewish nation.

That's why that's important. Now the lady who debated me on the internet had a little different slant to this. She said the church didn't really replace Israel, but she said the Old Testament promises to Israel were just sort of swallowed up by the church because the promises to Abraham's seed belong only to Jewish believers who are now what? Part of the church. So she wouldn't actually say the church has replaced Israel, but the only Jewish people who could inherit the promises are Jewish believers, of course, who are now part of the church or the ecclesia.

But when you realize that God's plan includes both Israel and the church and that those two tracks of prophecy in the Bible are not contradictory, but complementary, then you're on the right track. Does that make sense to you? We've got to understand, my friend, that Abraham has two seeds. One is spiritual and the other is physical. And God's promises to Abraham's spiritual seed, the church, do not cancel out his promises to Abraham's physical seed, Israel. In other words, it's not an either or proposition. It's not either Israel or the church. It's both. And that leads us to another important distinction.

Not only do we distinguish between the spiritual and physical seed of Abraham, but we distinguish between soteriology and eschatology. Now there are some more big words for you. And again, these are just fancy words that theologians use to describe things that are really not that complicated. For example, soteriology simply means the study of God's plan of salvation. Sotir is the Greek word for salvation. So we call this particular branch of inquiry soteriology. We study it so we know what God means when he says we're saved. And it means a great deal more than most Christians realize, by the way.

Then eschatology is a word that means the study of last things. Eschatos is the Greek word for last things. So when we talk about prophecy and God plan for the end times, we often use this word eschatology. And one of the distinctives of premillennialism is that it provides a framework to allow for the distinction between the way God works soteriologically and the way he works eschatologically. You say, Gary, what in the world are you talking about? Well, I'll tell you what I'm talking about. One of the things that this lady in the internet debate could not seem to get a handle on was the idea that there can be two prophetic schedules without there being two different plans of salvation.

This is what they say. They'll say, you can't have God dealing one way with Israel and another way with the church. There's only one way and that's the gospel way. And there's only one schedule for salvation and that's now. And they'll quote scriptures right and left to prove their point and they can make it sound awfully good. Problem is they're comparing apples and oranges. They're confusing method and timing because when it comes to method soteriologically speaking, most of us agree that there is only one plan of salvation. That's not even an issue. But when it comes to God's prophetic plan and the way he deals with nations, there are different prophetic schedules.

Listen. The salvation of Israel, soteriologically, that is how they are saved is a separate issue from the salvation of Israel eschatologically or when they are saved. It's the difference between timing and method. Just because the salvation of national Israel is yet future does not mean she will be saved in a different way. Note that God also has a wonderful future plan for Egypt and Syria according to Isaiah chapter 19 when the peoples of those lands will come to know the Lord. But the fulfillment of those prophecies is yet future. They certainly do not know him now, do they?

Well, individual Egyptians know him and individual Syrians know the Lord. That we know the church is growing in Syria on an individual basis, but nationally those are not Christian countries. They certainly do not know him now, do they? You see, the Egyptians and the Syrians will come to know the Lord in exactly the same way that everyone else does soteriologically speaking. But the timing of these events is yet future eschatologically speaking. Do you see the difference? And again, soteriologically speaking, that is in terms of salvation, individual salvation, national Israel will be saved just like everyone else is saved with the individuals making up that nation being saved by grace through faith with each individual coming into a personal new covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ with Adonai Yeshua Ha Mashiach.

The gospel is, after all, the good news of his death, his burial, and his resurrection. So when Israel realizes who the Messiah is, they will know that Yeshua of Nazareth is the one who died, that he is the one who was buried, that he is the one who rose again. Zechariah 12:10, that great prophecy says, 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.

That'll be the attitude of Israel, an attitude of teshuvah or repentance when they realize who the Messiah is. That's when Romans 11:26 will be fulfilled and all Israel will be saved, my friend. That's at the close of the tribulation period when the Messiah comes to deliver his people and to inaugurate the glorious Messianic age which most Christian scholars call the millennial kingdom of our Lord. Well, our time is gone once again. We'll continue this on the next program. Until then, this is your friend Gary Hedrick saying, God bless you. Take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Iello: Thank you, Gary, and thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. Now let me tell you about our special offer. It's Gary Hedrick's booklet entitled, Is God Finished with Israel? It's available for a suggested gift of $7. This booklet is especially helpful because it includes a word for word transcript of an internet debate between Gary Hedrick and an ah millennialist. This is someone who very definitely believes that God is finished with Israel. And of course, Gary very definitely believes that he is not. So it made for quite a lively discussion. Then we also have the programs you're hearing here on the broadcast.

This series of studies is available on compact disc for a suggested contribution of just $6 to this ministry. The title again is, Is God Finished with Israel? Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292. To order by phone, use our toll free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. Have you enjoyed this edition of Messianic Perspectives? Why not continue to learn about the Jewish roots of your Christian faith by inviting a speaker from CJF Ministries?

Call our toll free number, 1-800-926-5397 and we'll be happy to handle all of the details. And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Iello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on, Is God Finished with Israel? Right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas and is made possible on this station by the free will contributions of our listeners in this area.