PROJECTING NATIONAL ISRAEL’S DESTINY
INTO THE AGE OF RESTORATION45
One
reason misunderstanding about Israel’s present regathering thrives is because
we have not had an adequate window on the future—to perceive how, under true
restoration conditions, a redeemed yet mortal Israel can exist in context of a
Glorified Eternal Israel born entirely on New Covenant terms without any
respect to Moses. Absent this window, reconstructionist thinking has
flourished, allowing misuse of the restoration prophecies to envision a solely
mortal restoration of Israel characterized by Mosaic revival and the
reassignment of functions that, since Christ, Israel can never again have on a
genealogical basis.
But
now in this time, as we close in on Israel’s spiritual rebirth in conjunction
with Eternal Israel’s manifestation, the Lord’s Spirit is beginning to remove
the veil against the future and give us some understanding that will put these
things into perspective, even laying the ground work for their appearing.
To
that end, the Spirit bids me to finish this treatise with some preliminary
prophetic explanations of the conditions surrounding national Israel’s
existence on New Covenant terms in the Restoration Age—outlining some of what
will be true of Israel, and what will not.
Introduction to the
Restoration Age (“The Regeneration”)
At
Yeshua’s return with His Glorified Israel, a wonderful thing will have
transpired. The surviving remnant of mortal Israel will have at last turned to
surrender to their Deliverer. This surrender will not be one of receiving
Yeshua on the terms of nationalist pedigree and pride in Moses as they once
sought and for which today’s reconstructionists yet yearn. Rather, Israel’s
surrender will be one of complete unconditional yielding to Yeshua on His
terms—even the terms of the life-giving gospel given to Paul of Tarsus—entirely
apart from the Law and lineage. (More on this in the next treatise.)
Through this surrender, Israel’s corporate restoration through spiritual rebirth will come into force. They will become “grafted back in” to the transcendent Abrahamic tree of promise and body of Eternal Israel, whose root is that of Jesse, and whose seed is Christ. “And so,” as Paul tells us, “all Israel will be saved.” In connection with this inward transformation, the purged, redeemed remnant already in the Land will finally be established there in peace; while the scattered ones will return from earth’s four corners with the joyful support of earth’s other surviving peoples.46
But
at the same time, Glorified Eternal Israel will be returning with Yeshua from heaven’s
four winds to take up their occupancy and receive their inheritance in the
Land. So there will be a convergence of reborn national Israel and manifestly
revealed Transnational Israel on the Land. This convergence calls us to a
needed discussion of the relationship between the mortal and Immortal members
of Eternal Israel in the Age of Glory. It also begs us to further discover what
will and will not distinguish reborn national Israel among the nations and what
will define Israel’s relationship to them.
[Note: This section describes the union of Eternal Israel’s Immortal members with Eternal Israel’s newly reborn mortal members humanly descended from Jacob. To avoid confusion between these two branches of Eternal Israel, going forward we will use the name Israel alone to refer strictly to the reborn mortal national Israel. We will refer to the transnational immortal body of Eternal Israel as Glorified Israel, Transnational Israel, etc.]
The
Nature of Restoration Age Law, Government and Land Possession
Certain
background concepts about the Restoration Age legal system are vital to grasp
in order to rightly understand future reborn Israel’s relationship to the
Promised Land, to Glorified Israel on the same Land; and to the remaining
mortal nations—some of which also will be reborn, and some not.
At
the inauguration of the next age, a major shift will occur in the basis on
which law, government and land rights are administered throughout the world.
This shift will greatly affect Israel, putting it on a different footing in the
earth than it has ever known. First, we’ll look at the new principles of law
and land possession that will come into place. Then we will apply them to
Israel to explain the relationships we want to understand.
The
Law of Life and the Principle of Agape
In
the past and present ages, all human legal systems (Mosaic and Gentile) have
been fashioned on the principles of the knowing of good and evil—extrinsic
principles of good purposed to contain sin (evil) through human willpower, but
that only aggravate awareness of sin leading to death (Gen. 2:17> Rom. 3:20;
7:10,13; II Cor.3:6b-7a). By contrast, Restoration Age law under Yeshua will
issue from a different source for a different purpose through another power.
Under
Yeshua’s regenerative reign, law will issue from the intrinsic Spirit
power of eternal Life toward the end of reproducing eternal Life. This Law
of Life (Rom. 8:2) will be derived from the Covenant established with all
mankind at Calvary descended directly from the Abrahamic promise. It will issue
firstly from Him Who is The Law of Life (ie, the Word—Jn.1:1),
even Christ Jesus on Mount Zion (Isa. 2:3; Mic. 4:2). In turn it will be
conveyed by Spirit network through those who have been regenerated to
immortality by the same Law.
In the age to come, Lawgiving is not a matter of mere external dictation, but one of being and internalized Spirit essence. Those who give the law do so because they now are the law. Where Yeshua is known as the Word or “Logos,” those having come into complete immortalized conformity to His indwelling Word will be known as the “Homologos” (ie, the Like-Word).47
So
it is that the capacity to give law is determined by one’s degree of living
inward conformity to it. This is how the relationship between authority and law
will function. It will not be left up to the will of men, either collectively
through “democracy,” individually through dictatorial control or through any
other religious or cultural codes of ethics.
The
operative (regulating) principle of the Law of Life in those reborn of
it will be the Law of Agape—a law first issued by Yeshua at the Last
Supper and amplified later by His apostles (Jn. 15:12; Rom. 13:8-10).48
The Law of Agape will act as the universal “prime directive” from which all
other specific laws are legislated and contracts enacted among the peoples who
have submitted to rebirth through that Life. (It’s on this basis that Yeshua
Himself will “render decisions for many nations.” Isa. 2:4.)
One
contrast between the Law of Life’s operation in the present and future ages is
very noteworthy. Presently, the Laws of Life and Agape are confined within the
body of pre-glorified Eternal Israel (the Church) as its own rule of
government. But in the Regeneration, the Law of Agape will openly govern entire
tribes and nations as a collective.49
For where in this age the Law of Life has
been primarily offered on an individual and household basis (e.g., Ac. 16:31)
with minority results, in the Regeneration it will be offered on a national
basis yielding majority results.50
At
that time, entire nations—Israel being the first—will submit themselves
to constitutional refabrication under the Law of Life.51
All present age national constitutions based on human legal theory and
religious code will be trashed and made over under the Law of Agape. However,
for some nations, this will be a matter of force.
While
the Law of Agape will serve as the operative directive for earth government
headquartered on Mount Zion, it will necessarily act with force upon and against unbelieving
nations not yet regeneratively converted by it, as well as upon non-regenerated
individuals and clans dwelling among larger believing nations. (The power of
life as a military force against and punishment of sin in unbelieving nations
is prophetically described as a “rod of iron.”) However, though the
power of Life will need to be administered as a negative force, its ultimate
intent will still be to redeem, not destroy, unbelieving peoples.
The
Laws of Earth Inheritance and Possession
As
a Law imparted into humanity through a process of spirit rebirth, the Law of Life is not just a Law of Being, but also a Law
of Descent. It is a Law whose power
brings forth an entirely different lineage in the earth—one that is divine, not
human (Jn. 1:13).
This
fact determines the relationship of Restoration Law to all issues regarding
property and territorial rights. Where matters of land ownership, inheritance,
tenancy and probate are concerned, the Law of Life will be applied to establish
and settle issues among men and nations solely on the basis of their internal descent from the Law itself—that
is to say, according to spirit-based inheritance.
In
the regenerative legal system, actual land possession is obtained and certified
neither by privilege of natural inheritance or favor, nor by the power of
purchase or exchange, nor by any other objective decree. Legal possession is
obtained only by right of spiritual descent from God through the
Law of Life. Playing on Paul’s words we can say, “Possession cometh by
inheritance and inheritance by spiritual rebirth.” To be a Restoration Age
land possessor, one must be a legally reborn spirit child of God through faith
in Christ.
Thus
internal relationship to the imparted Law of Life establishes right of claim to
property. But this opens up larger issues because of the differing statuses men
and nations will have relative to the Law of Life. Not all earth inhabitants
will be spiritually regenerated. Moreover, a necessary status difference exists
between reborn mortals who only possess the Law of Life as a growing identity
seed, and glorified immortals who have ripened into fully manifest conformity
to the Law. Further key details are a
must here:
- Three Land Possession Statuses
In
the regenerative land conveyance system, men will have one of three statuses.
These statuses are keyed to one’s state relative to spirit identity rebirth—hence
heirship—through Christ. They are: glorified
“liberation,” pre-glorified stewardship and unconverted tenancy.
The
first and highest status regarding land rights is that of glorified liberation. This status is
accorded those who have matured all the way from new birth into transnational
glorification, having broken out of their mortal national “husk” (body).
Passing from mortality to immortality, these children of God become deemed
fully placed sons of Yeshua’s kingdom
(the kingdom of God), to whom are thus vested the full rights and privileges of
actualized heirship possession of the earth. (In that day, instead of the term owners, the glorified ones will be more
properly referred to as liberators in
accord with Paul’s fuller description of the transition to actualized earth
heirship in Rom. 8:14-24.)
The second status is that of pre-glorified stewardship. This status is given those individuals, clans and nations that have submitted to receive the Law of Life into their beings as reborn spirit children of God, but who haven’t matured into the physical glorification which certifies actualized heirship. As flesh-and-blood nationals, these kingdom children are considered just that—children. They are minors in the kingdom and “cannot inherit the kingdom” in actualized possession (I Cor. 15:50). They are still “joint heirs with Christ” in principle, just as reborn believers in Christ are today (Rom. 8:17). But in the realized sense, they are regarded as stewards of the land—a semi-slave status under mortality according to Gal. 4:1, “as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything.” 52
The
third and
lowest status relative to land rights is that of unconverted tenancy. This status belongs to all men and nations who
have not yet submitted to receive the Law of Life into their beings to become
reborn children, hence heirs, of the earth. Their land occupancy therefore is
strictly a tenancy without right, as is true of slaves.53
As slave tenants on the earth, the unconverted peoples will receive their
dwelling allocations strictly by judicial assignment under military enforcement
from Mt. Zion—on the same order by which sinful mortal nations are now assigned
their bounds and habitations by God (Ac. 17:26).
45 The Age of
Restoration goes by many names, and is alternately referred to as the Kingdom
Age, the Millennial Age, the Age of Glory and the Age to Come. In keeping with
our themes of restoration and pre-restoration however, we will refer to it as
the Restoration Age or, as Yeshua called it, The Regeneration.
46 Remember that at this time, the earth’s total population
will have become significantly reduced—perhaps to as little as 10% of its
pre-tribulation population [prophetically consider Isa 6:13 in conjunction with
Isa 13:12 and Mt. 24:22]. When the resurrected immortals from all the ages past
return with Yeshua to take up their inheritance in the earth, in all probability
there will be many more immortals on the earth than surviving nationals.
47 The word homologia is used by the writer of
Hebrews and Paul to describe our testimony, being translated as “confession.”
Its verb form is commonly translated as “to acknowledge” or “confess.”
But literally translated it refers to the internalized answer to or reflection
of His Word in us back to Him in sympathetic vibration.
48 The Law of Agape as issued by Yeshua in Jn. 15:12 is
a regenerative transmutation of the original Law of Agape given under Moses
(Lev. 19:18), which along with Dt. 6:5 was one of the recognized Two Great
Commandments (Mt.22:34-40; Mk. 12:28-34; Lk. 10:25-28). In this transmutation,
Yeshua moved Agape from an unfulfilled external concept to an internalized
reality available through Spirit relationship with Him.
The overlay of Yeshua’s
regenerative Agape Law upon that of Moses gives the Mosaic and New Covenants
their only point of contact, though it is one of parallelism, not of essence by
descent. Because of this parallelism,
Lev. 19:18 is the only Mosaic Law that the apostles, including Paul, find a New
Covenant basis to directly endorse. The transmutation of the Law of Agape from
externalized concept to internalized relationship through the Spirit is the
fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophesied “writing of the Law on the heart”
(31:33—more on this in the next treatise).
49 In
a word, the New Testament apostolic writings provide the legal theory and
foundational principles upon which Kingdom Age law will be established. They
serve as the “preamble” or first “articles of confederation” from which Kingdom
Age “constitutions” will be constructed worldwide, including that of national
Israel. We do not think of the New Testament writings this way now because of
this age’s immediate primary concern with simply imparting spiritual life into
men. But once the Life which now manifests only as a kingdom “seedling” comes
into fully matured glorification at Yeshua’s personal return, the full legal
capacity of the New Covenant to openly govern earth’s peoples and nations will
become plainly apparent.
50 This
Restoration Age context of national redemption will see the fulfillments of the
presently numerous but erroneously interpreted and applied prophecies regarding
national destinies.
51 Yeshua specifically
commits authority for Israel’s new government to the apostles (Mt. 19:28; Lk.
22:30).
52 There is a confusing overlap regarding the slave-child
heirship illustrations employed by Paul in Galatians 4 and Romans 8. This
pertains to the difference between freedom in principle and freedom in
actuality. In principle, slaveship is
contrasted to our freedom in Christ as reborn children of the Father. Those
outside Christ still under the Mosaic Law (or any human government) are slaves
while all those reborn of Him are free, no matter their level of maturity. All
are freed from the Law. However, in actuality,
as God’s children under the confines of mortal discipline, we are still as
“slaves” regarding our earthly rights of inheritance and authority although
reborn in Christ. We are still confined under the laws of men (see Rom. 13; I.
Pt. 2). In the actualized sense, we do not become “free” until we are liberated
into immortality where we are recognized as sons, not merely children. The
confusion of freedom in principle for freedom in actuality is at the heart of
much false “word of faith,” “kingdom” and “manifest son” teaching vis-à-vis the
church’s relation to human governments.
53 In
the Regeneration, the term slavery
will be applied to unbelievers who in fact remain as slaves to sin in their
mortal bodies. It is this use of the
term slave which fulfils the
restoration prophecy references to slaves in the age to come (e.g., Joel 3:8).