ok, that may sound a little grand for a topic, but I’m back on my favorite subject…which is looking at the true identity of things. In this case, two things: the church and the jews.
These two have obviously not found the way which they are properly related up til this point, and for this to happen each must know who it is and what is its particular destiny; and then see how they fit together in God’s grand plan.
In short (very short), the church is to be a supernatural manifestation of God, and the jews are to be a natural manifestation. Having said that, it does not mean that one is better or more valued than the other, only that they have unique identities and destinies, which I believe come together and touch in Christ.
At this stage, neither is being what it truly is. The church is not living from the supernatural fully. It is not yet living from heaven down. And the Jews as a whole are not yet being the teacher of the nations that they will be. But both are beginning to turn in the direction of their destinies.
If you look at the promise given to abraham, you see that his seed had both a natural and a supernatural line. These two then come together to restore and bless the earth to the full extent that god intended. It is as if the earth and the sky will touch, and God will once again place His throne with men. For this to happen, both the Jews and the church must be in their proper role and relation.
There are so many scriptures about all the nations streaming to Jerusalem to have God teach them His Ways and sort them out, that it would take an entire book to catelogue them, but I pick one. It is from the beginning of the prophet Isaiah, and reads, “In the last days, the mountain of the lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills and ALL nations will stream to it…the Law will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge the nations and will settle many disputes for many peoples…” and it goes on.
Both the church and the jews are looking towards this day! For it to come, both must be in place– knowing both who they are, and how they fit together. The beginning of this conjoining is in our day.
These two methods of god–the church and the jews seem to come together in this passage so that both the metaphysical temple of god which the church is, and the literal physical temple building in jerusalem touch and reconjoin in such a way that jesus Himself is actually sitting on a literal throne in that literal city. There are of course mysteries in this, but one of them is not that the church replaced the jews, or that the jews will replace the church. They are two different aspects of God’s plan which will come together at the end of the world, and already are moving towards their true identities!
We need to love and understand one another in our day, and part of this is to seek god’s heart for one another, and a vision of how the church and the jews actually relate in Him! When we are both being who God intended us to be, the world will be altered permanently, and will see God in the fullness that He intended!
