Has prophesy been fulfilled in our lifetime?

Has prophesy been fulfilled in our lifetime?

This is an important and necessary question regarding the mystery view. Old Testament prophecy and New Testament prophecy centers around Israel. Both refer to specific events, times, seasons, persons, and places. New Testament statements fulfilled in this age or in our lifetime are of a different kind. For example, Second Timothy three describes "last time conditions." These are moral features that will characterize evil throughout this present period, up to the Rapture. That is likewise the character of what the Lord unfolds in Revelation 2" TARGET="_blank">Revelation 2 and 3. It may therefore be preferable to refer to this as the mystery view rather than the "prophetic view."

Distinguishing these two types of forecasts is crucial. We have no authority to state that present events fulfil the specific prophecies that center around Israel. After the Rapture, God will raise up prophets (Joel 2:28)" TARGET="_blank">Joel 2:28) whose ministry will be to identify, for example, events or persons saying, "this is that" (fulfilling specific Scriptures), as Peter did at Pentecost (Acts 2:16)." TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:16). The gift of prophecy is not functioning today. Those who attempt to exercise it have brought the subject of Bible prophecy into public shame.

D. Oliver
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Did God replace Israel with the Church?

No.

If we fail to distinguish between the Church and Israel, we will have difficulty in interpreting the Bible, especially in regards to prophecy.

The Church is distinct from the nation of Israel. Israel is God’s chosen people who have specific promises (land, king) that are eternal and irrevocable. There is still much that God is going to do with Israel.
A common error is to teach that Israel was the Church of the Old Testament and the believers of the New Testament are just another manifestation of the chosen people of God. It is taught that since the Jews rejected Christ, God has rejected them forever. That leaves room to say that the Church is the new Israel in sprit. All promises that were given to Israel would therefore apply to the Church of the New Testament.

It can be shown from a few verses that God still sees a future for Israel as well as sees a distinction between Israel and the Church.

The Bible makes a division of the world into three groups:

1 Corinthians 10:32" TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 10:32 "Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God."

The Jews – Israel
The Gentiles – the unconverted, unsaved of the world.
The church of God – all believers in today’s period of grace.

In Acts 15:14-17" TARGET="_blank">Acts 15:14-17 divides the world in the same way:

The Church

God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name (v. 14).

Israel

After this I will return, and will build you the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up (v. 16).

The Gentiles

That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things (v. 17).

Again we see the same division in Ephesians and Colossians:
    the Jews-the circumcision made with hands (Eph. 2:11)." TARGET="_blank">Eph. 2:11).
    the Gentiles-the uncircumcision (Eph. 2:11)." TARGET="_blank">Eph. 2:11).
    the Church-the circumcision made without hands (Col. 2:11)" TARGET="_blank">Col. 2:11)

What difference does it make?

Israel will one day have a son of David sit on the throne in Jerusalem. This kingdom will have no end.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." (Luke 1:31-33)" TARGET="_blank">Luke 1:31-33)

All Israel will be saved. They will repent and receive Christ and be forgiven for their sins.

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob"; "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.

(Romans 11:25-28)" TARGET="_blank">Romans 11:25-28)

Currently, most of the Jewish people are not saved. Only a “remnant” is saved.

So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day."

(Romans 11:5-8)" TARGET="_blank">Romans 11:5-8)

When the Jews did not receive Christ as their Chosen One, they were temporarily set aside. No longer does God work through them to accomplish his work on earth. They will remain in this dormant state until Christ returns. The work of God with the Jews has been put on “pause” until God is done working with the Gentiles.

Three phrases tell us about this time of parenthesis:

1. The riches of the Gentiles (Rom_11:12) is the great blessing that falls to the Gentile nations through salvation by faith in Christ. The Gentiles are spiritual rich while the Jews remain in poverty.
2. The fullness of the Gentiles (Rom_11:25) is the time allowed to the Gentiles to be saved. When Christ completes the church with the last soul saved, He will come again to rapture the church home. That will mark the end of the Gentile’s time of salvation.
3. The times of the Gentiles (Luk_21:24) refers to the political domination of Gentile nations over the nation of Israel. The Gentiles have been asserting control over Jerusalem ever since the last king of Juda was led captive to Babylon in 521 B.C. The times of the Gentiles will end when Christ liberates Jerusalem (Revelation 18)." TARGET="_blank">Revelation 18).

The Mystery of the Church

The Church is “a mystery”. A mystery is a doctrine that was kept hidden from Old Testament believers but has been revealed to us now. The fact that the Church was a mystery means that it is something new in comparison to the Old Testament.

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

(Ephesians 3:6-10)" TARGET="_blank">Ephesians 3:6-10)

The Beginning of the Church

The Church had it’s start on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2." TARGET="_blank">Acts 2. The Church did not exist before this date. In Matthew 16:18," TARGET="_blank">Matthew 16:18, Christ spoke of the Church as a future event yet to be fulfilled.

Entrance Requirements

To become a member of the nation of Israel, one must be born to Jewish parents. To become a member of the Church, one must be born again. One must receive Christ to become a member of the Church.

Spiritual Benefits

If a person is born a Gentile they are naturally without hope and without God. Gentiles which here are called the "Uncircumcision" suffered two types of separation. For centuries, the Jews looked upon the Gentiles as lower-classed, rejected, dogs, alienated peoples who were in darkness. Seconldly, the Gentiles were separted spiritually:

1) they were "separated from Christ". They had no Messiah, no Savior, no Redeemer. They had no hope of ever coming to God without a mediator to bring them.
2) They were "alienated from the commonwealth of Israel." The people of Israel being God's chosen people enjoyed the only physical place on earth where God dwelled and worked. Without being part of the nation, people were alienated.
3) They were "strangers to the covenants of promise," aliens to God's blessings. While the church doesn't have the priviledge of participating in all the Covenants of the inheriting the Land - "To your offspring I give this land" (Genesis 15:18)" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 15:18) or of having the King rule over them - "And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. " (2 Samuel 7:8-17)," TARGET="_blank">2 Samuel 7:8-17), the church does enjoy the blessings that come from the Covenant of Promise that God made with Abraham that "and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3)." TARGET="_blank">Genesis 12:3).
4) They were "having no hope". They were lost and had no possibility of changing their future.
5) They were "without God in the world." While they had many gods, they did not have the One True God.

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

(Ephesians 2:11-12)" TARGET="_blank">Ephesians 2:11-12)

However, once a person is in Christ, the barriers that kept Gentiles away from God's blessings are removed. God created a third group, the Church, in which both Jews and Gentiles enjoy intimacy with God and blessings.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

(Ephesians 2:13-18)" TARGET="_blank">Ephesians 2:13-18)

Conclusion

God defines the nation of Israel as his people. They may have been set aside, but they are not forgotten. The promises regarding an eternal kingdom for Israel should not be allegorized into some undefined blessing for the Church. God has preserved the Jews throughout the centuries as a distinct people. God is preserving them for the Day of Christ when he comes again and begins to work with them to fulfill all that was written about them.

Shad Sluiter

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What is a Nazarene?

How are we to understand the words in Matthew 2:23" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 2:23 “He shall be called a Nazarene”?

Some connect them with the Nazarite vow, but how did that depend on living in Nazareth?

The exact words quoted are not to be found verbatim in any particular Old Testament Prophet, and the evangelist does not assert so much, but only, as it seems, that the sense of his quotation “was spoken by the prophets.” The phrase cannot refer to the Nazariteship of the Lord, because His consecration was not on the line of the Jewish vow of the Nazarite. He was not a Nazarite in the literal sense, and had He been, that would not have depended on His living in Nazareth. Indeed, this interpretation may be ruled out, for the words both in Hebrew and Greek are different—that for Nazarite being “Nazir” or “Nazeiraios,” whereas an inhabitant of Nazareth is generally “Nazöraios” or else (e.g., Mark 1" TARGET="_blank">Mark 1: 24 or Luke 4:34)" TARGET="_blank">Luke 4:34) “Nazarênos.” Some have thought the reference is to Nazareth, as a despised place, which would tally so well with our Lord’s name of Nazarene, which certainly conveyed the thought of reproach. However this may be, the more probable interpretation seems to be that which connects the words of Matthew with such a passage as Isa. ii. i, “There 8hall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Netzer (Branch) shall grow out of his roots.” The name “Nazareth” is probably derived from Netzer, from the bushes and shrubs which were a feature of the landscape, a fact that would thus recall the prophetic name.

W.H.

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Can social discipline be lifted for a person who has been put away from the assembly?

Can social discipline be lifted for a person who has been put away from the assembly?

Social discipline is intended to preserve other believers from doing what the offender has done. When the excommunicated person changes his behavior., social contact with the other assembly believers no longer poses any threat to their behavior. For example, when a couple put away for fornication marries, they no longer endanger the behavior of others. On occasion the excommunicated individual chooses to remove himself from contact with believers, perhaps going back into the world. In that case, 1 Corinthians 5:9," TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 5:9, 10 applies. He is no longer in the class of those from whom believers must withdraw.

In Matthew 18:18," TARGET="_blank">Matthew 18:18, the Lord teaches that, because the Lord is in the midst (verse 20), the assembly must carry out Gods mind on earth. Through Gods Word, the decision of God in heaven and the assembly on earth are the to the same. The assembly imposes discipline ("whatsoever ye shall bind") and exempts from or lift discipline ("/whatsoever ye shall loose") in concert with heaven. The social discipline in 2 Thessalonians 3" TARGET="_blank">2 Thessalonians 3 was temporary until the behavior changed. Therefore, the Lord intends the social discipline in both 2 Thessalonians 3" TARGET="_blank">2 Thessalonians 3 and 1 Corinthians 5" TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 5 to be lifted at the appropriate time.

The assembly applied the Word of God, binding the discipline. The assembly is now to apply the Word of God in lifting or loosing the discipline, thus carrying out the Lords mind on earth. Just as the discipline is not an act of the overseers, but of the assembly, and has been handled in the presence of all the assembly, so lifting the discipline should be handled in the same way.

How will the assembly know when social discipline should be lifted?

This involves a subjective judgment by the overseers in guiding the assembly. As shepherds they know the spiritual state of the disciplined person and have an ongoing interest in bringing that individual back to the Lord and eventually to the assembly. Even if there is no spiritual recovery, shepherds, who see the wanderers, will know that the time comes that he wondering offender no longer endangers other believers with this behavior.

Social discipline is not intended to heap shame on a person for all the years of his life, but to cause him to be ashamed that his sin has had such serious results and has endangered others. When his behavior no longer endangers others, it is time to end the shame and lift the social discipline.

D. Oliver
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Is the "Rapture" distinct from Christ's return to earth?

Is the "Rapture" distinct from Christ's return to earth?

The second coming of Christ Ahas two segments: the rapture into the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17);" TARGET="_blank">1 Thessalonians 4:17); the return onto the earth (Zechariah 14:4)." TARGET="_blank">Zechariah 14:4). The term "rapture," from the expression "caught up" (1 Thessalonians 4:17)," TARGET="_blank">1 Thessalonians 4:17), literally means "to snatch away" "The Lord Himself" (verse 16) comes to catch away into the air both the resurrected and living believers to "be with the Lord" (see John 14:3)," TARGET="_blank">John 14:3), for He has "not appointed us to wrath" (ch.5:9, 1:10, and Romans 5:9)." TARGET="_blank">Romans 5:9). In contrast, at His return to earth, the Lord comes accompanied by His saints (Zechariah 14:5," TARGET="_blank">Zechariah 14:5, Revelation 19:14)" TARGET="_blank">Revelation 19:14) and "His mighty angels" (2 Thessalonians 1:7)." TARGET="_blank">2 Thessalonians 1:7). At this time, He executes wrath, "taking vengeance on them that know not God" (2 Thessalonians 1:8)." TARGET="_blank">2 Thessalonians 1:8).

Another distinction in 1 Thessalonians is that Paul saw the Rapture as imminent; it could happen even while he wrote, since "we which are alive" (4:15, 17) included himself. He says the Thessalonians were presently waiting for "His Son from heaven" (1:10, see Titus 2:13)." TARGET="_blank">Titus 2:13). Again, in contrast the return to earth requires fulfilled signs (Matthew 24:3, 6, 15, 21, 29-30)" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 24:3, 6, 15, 21, 29-30) before it will occur. It could not happen today. In addition, the expression, "the coming of the Son of Man" is linked only to His earthly return. Further, the change in both sleeping and living saints at the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)" TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 15:51-53) was a mystery revealed only in the N.T. It had not been prophesied in O.T. portions regarding our Lord's return to earth.

S. Thompson
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Why is the Breaking of Bread inseparable from an assembly?

Why is the Breaking of Bread inseparable from an assembly?

Breaking bread is a testimony (1 Corinthians 11:26)." TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 11:26). Unlike baptism, being honest, witnessing to individuals, and many other Christian behaviors, breaking bread in remembrance of the Lord is not an individual responsibility but a responsibility shared with others. Like unity (1 Corinthians 1)," TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 1), discipline (1 Corinthians 5)," TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 5), headship (1 Corinthians 11)," TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 11), the functioning of varied gifts (1 Corinthians 12)," TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 12), defending doctrine (1 Corinthians 15)," TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 15), collective giving (1 Corinthians 16)," TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 16), and spreading the gospel (Acts 13:1-3)," TARGET="_blank">Acts 13:1-3), remembering the Lord is part of assembly testimony.

In addition, the breaking of bread expresses a fellowship (1 Corinthians 1:9; 10:16)." TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 1:9; 10:16). When all believers in an assembly take their part from the bread, they express that the assembly is one, as a body is (10:17). This truth affects their relationships (11:29-34; 12:25, 26) and how varied gifts function (12:14-25, 27).

Remembering the Lord in the Breaking of Bread is therefore impossible apart from an established assembly whose testimony is consistent with the scriptural truths which the fellowship holds in common with one another and the Lord Himself.

D. Oliver
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Should an elder leave his responsibilities when assembly problems overwhelm him?

Should an elder leave his responsibilities when assembly problems overwhelm him?

It is easier to make decisions for others than for ourselves. Decisions must, however, conform to spiritual principles. An overseer must answer one basic question: "Did the Lord give me this responsibility for His sheep?" The time to decide the answer to this is not when the pressure of difficulties sways his thinking. No matter who asks him to do so, no matter how often he receives a request to do so, no matter how necessary it appears for someone to assume the responsibility, a man should never take the place of an overseer unless he recognizes that God has given him this responsibility. Any who take the place of overseers and have not arrived at that conclusion should be assured that God holds them responsible to Him for the place they have assumed. They should leave that assumed responsibility immediately if they are not willing for the grace of God to bring them into conformity to the scriptural standard for overseers.

1 Timothy 4:10" TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 4:10 provides an assuring principle for those who suffer physically and emotionally in fulfilling their charge in divine things. Paul assures Timothy that God is the preserver ("Savior") "of all men, specially of those that believe." Ultimately all depend on God for preservation and that is of special value to those who are his beloved children.

These principles seem to indicate that God is able to sustain those to whom He has given a responsibility. Therefore, no matter the difficulties, an overseer should never relinquish that responsibility. Like the Levites (Numbers 8:24-26)," TARGET="_blank">Numbers 8:24-26), he may be spared to the age when he should relinquish some of his activities and mentor others in doing the work. If an elder sins, he may be rebuked publicly (1 Timothy 5:19-21)." TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 5:19-21). If he is unwilling to conform to the standard for overseers, his peers may inevitably decide he must be removed from a place for which he is not fit. Otherwise, overseership is a lifelong commitment.

D. Oliver
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What is a mortal sin? a venial sin?

Be the first to give an answer to this question. Write an answer in the comment section below. Please provide your name and if you have a website or blog, be sure to include the URL and email address in your answer.

Answers will be reviewed.

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Is it wrong to conjure dead spirits?

Please explain 1 Samuel 28:15-19" TARGET="_blank">1 Samuel 28:15-19 in the light of Ecclesiastes 9:5." TARGET="_blank">Ecclesiastes 9:5.

Does this give ground for to-day’s teaching of Spiritism?

The story of 1 Samuel 28" TARGET="_blank">1 Samuel 28 in no way justifies the practice of Spiritism in this or in any other age.

As for Ecciesiastes 9:5, it expresses the general rule, “The dead know not anything”; the above story of the witch of Endor is the exception, by God’s special permission, as I shall seek to show. “The dead know not anything,” i.e., of what is going on on the earth, but they know what is going on where they are, as the story of the ex-rich man and Lazarus shows (Luke 16)." TARGET="_blank">Luke 16). The former and Abraham knew each other, and the former recognised Lazarus and remembered his own five brethren.

I have not the slightest doubt Samuel was really permitted by God to respond to the call. This was less, I doubt not, of a surprise to Saul the dupe, than to the witch, the deceiver. To her the attendant spirit was familiar, but she seems to have been completely taken aback by the appearance of the strange visitant that Samuel was, for “she cried with a loud voice,” and did not know him, though by some peculiar intuition she at once became aware of the identity of Saul. Samuel was a true prophet, and could foretell the morrow’s happenings, but we have no justification for supposing that wicked spirits can foretell the future.
That this response to Saul’s evil action does not justify modern Spiritism is clear, from the fact that it did not justify his own recourse to this medium, for it is specifically mentioned in 1 Chronicles 10:13" TARGET="_blank">1 Chronicles 10:13 as one of the two causes of his final downfall: (i) “his transgression” i.e., in sparing Amalek, and also (z) his “asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it. And he enquired not of the Lord, therefore He slew him.” He did ask of the Lord (sha’al), as indeed of the witch, but he did so in a merely formal way in the former case and he did not enquire (dãrash) of Him, as he did of the witch; for in her case he put himself to all pains to get information. Saul knew perfectly well the distinct prohibition of Jehovah to any kind of occult practices—consulting spirits, etc. (see Leviticus 19:31;" TARGET="_blank">Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:6, 27;" TARGET="_blank">Leviticus 20:6, 27; Deuteronomy 18:9-12)," TARGET="_blank">Deuteronomy 18:9-12), and had as we know, acted thereon, till he found it convenient to transgress!

W.H.

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How can a Christian be "perfect" before God?

Is the righteousness of Christ imputed to the believer?

Romans 5:19," TARGET="_blank">Romans 5:19, "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous," compares and contrasts Adam and Christ. God declared all under Adam's headship sinners because of Adam's one disobedient act. That determined our natural standing. Adam's one sin was not imputed to us, but the result of that one sin was. One act of Christ's obedience (the cross) constitutes all under His headship righteous. His obedience "to the extent of death" is not imputed to us. Our righteous standing results from His death, not His life.

God imputed to us neither the righteous acts of Christ nor His own righteousness, a divine attribute. We have been made "righteousness of God in Him" (literally, "the" is missing, indicating the character of our standing) (2 Corinthians 5:21)." TARGET="_blank">2 Corinthians 5:21). Because of the cross, God is righteous to declare the believer righteous and to impute to him a righteous standing, perfectly in accord with His righteous requirements (see Romans 3:21-26; 5:1, 9)." TARGET="_blank">Romans 3:21-26; 5:1, 9).

D. Oliver

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