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Hoyte Nelson's Poems/ Reflections & Biblical Essays
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Essay A Tree Grows In Israel Introduction:
Southern Dr.
W. A. Criswell, then pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, unveiled a
plague bearing an inscription that expresses the gratitude of the people of
Israel to Southern Baptist for planting this Forest located only a mile or so
from the old city of Nazareth. There near the monument bearing this plague, Dr.
Criswell planted a tree symbolizing the state of We
returned to In
the book, The Fall and Rise of Israel,
Dr. William L. Hull, has written an
historical account of the struggles of the Jewish people from the days of the
dispersion in AD 70 to the time in 1948 when the State of Israel was recognized
by President Harry Truman of the It is not my purpose to reflect upon those nineteen
hundreds years of struggles, though my heart hurts as I read of them; however,
to study about those struggles helps one to better understand better problems
they face today. However, my purpose is to reflect upon the prophetic promises
as they relate to the present State-hood of I am now
82 years of age, and I remember well the reports of these struggles in the years
leading up to their Statehood and the joy I felt when finally, the Jews
scattered over the world could now legally continue their return to rebuild
their homeland. It was my privilege in 1971 to visit and see first hand what
they had already accomplished in the restoration of the land - it was amazing!
Amos’ prophecy so vividly fulfilled: “Also
I will restore the captivity of My people A
point of special interest to me is the fact that the leaders of I
said earlier, not only did the Jews of the day believe in the promises of
prophetic truth as being fulfilled in their time. Also many Christian Bible
believing leaders of that day that worked on behalf of Jews also believed that
this movement was of God in the fulfillment of OT Prophesies. After all, for 19
centuries they had waited, and now, the land of Israel was finally rescued from
their captives; truly, the hand of God upon them. This is what is written:
“...But deeper and more significant, ...Lloyd-George, Churchill, General Smut
and some others were Bible-lovers and Bible-believers who had been brought up to
believe in the return of the Jews to Palestine was a Messianic move of God. It
is to their eternal credit that when the time came they rose to their
responsibilities and opportunities and let God use them, because they had faith
in the Word of God.” The Fall and Rise
of With
this as a background, I would ask this question: What is the significance of the
NT references to OT prophesies wherein the fulfillment of those prophecies might
seem to be different from that which we might have assumed just by reading the
OT prophecies like Amos chapter nine addressed in Peter’s Pentecostal message.
I will offer a few examples of kingdom promises through the eyes of apostolic
revelations. I. Kingdom Promises Through the Eyes of Apostolic Revelation: Jesus said, “But I
say to you [the apostles], I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now
on until that day when I drink it new
with you in My Father’s kingdom”
(Matthew 26:29). (1)
Pentecost:
On the day of Pentecost, Peter says, “Brethren, I may confidently say to you
regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is
with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God
had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his
throne, he looked ahead and spoke
of the resurrection of the Christ, [now, sitting upon David’s Throne in
heaven] (Acts 2: 29-31). (2)
Jerusalem Conference “All
the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they
were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the
Gentiles. After they had stopped
speaking, James answered, saying,
“Brethren, listen to me. Simeon [Peter] has related how God first concerned
Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.[See
Acts chapters 10;11) With this the words
of the prophets agree [Amos 9:11),
just as it is written, ‘After these
things I will return, And I will
rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, And
I will rebuild its ruins, And
I will restore it, So
that the rest of mankind may seek
the Lord, And
all the Gentiles who are called by My name”
(Acts 15:12-17). It
is clear to me that God revealed to James an apostolic revelation at the Marvelously, God has also given to us this insight:
“Now therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy
temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation
of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:13-22). Oh, what a revelation! We are,
as the body of Christ, (Jew and Gentile) the II. Apostolic (NT) revelations of OT Prophecies: (1)
Psalm 22:18 “They divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots”. “And
when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by
casting lots” (Matthew 27:35). (2)
The Passover: “It is to be eaten in a single
house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house,
nor are you to break any bone of it” (Exodus 12:46). Fulfilled at the
cross: “For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture,
not a bone shall be broken” (John 19:36). (3)
Psalmist
Prophesied: “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow
Your Holy One to undergo decay” (“Psalm 16:10). This
is repeated in the book of Acts concerning the resurrection of Jesus:, “Because
You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor
allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. (Acts 2:29ff), (4)
The
Cross: The Psalmist wrote: “They divide my garments among them, and for my
clothing they cast lots” (Psalm 22:18). This
was fulfilled at the cross: “And when they had crucified Him, they divided
up His garments among themselves by casting lots” (Matthew 27:35).
(5)
Isaiah 7:14) “Therefore the Lord Himself will
give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she
will call His name Immanuel” /
“Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through
the prophet: “Behold, the
virgin shall be with child and
shall bear a Son, and they shall
call His name Emmanuel,” which translated means, “God
with us” (Matthew 1:22,23). (6)
Jeremiah 31:15): “Thus says the Lord,
“A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation and
bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be
comforted for her children, Because they are no more” ---
Fulfilled:
He [Herod] became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were
in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to
the time which he had determined from the magi. Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled
“A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping
and great mourning, Rachel weeping
for her children; And she refused
to be comforted, Because they were
no more” (Matthew 2:16-18) We have reviewed several
passages of scripture wherein OT prophecies that could only be understood
through the eyes of apostolic revelation. For me, these prophecies contain
important insights for eschatological studies. III. When the Trumpet Sounds: (1)
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the
ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and
everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I
say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of
the Son of God, and those who hear will live. “Do not marvel at this; for
an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and
will come forth; those who did the good to a resurrection of life, those who
committed the evil to a resurrection of judgment” (John 5:25-29). (2)
“Truly I say to you, there is no one who has
left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for
My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as
much now in the present age,... and in
the age (singular) to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29,30) (3)
“And will pay the penalty of
eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of
His power, when He comes to be glorified
in His saints on that day” (2
Thessalonians. 1:9,10a). (4)
“Jesus presented another
parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who
sowed good seed in his field. “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came
and sowed tares among the wheat, ...Allow both to grow together until the
harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First
gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the
wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:24-30). IV. New Testament [apostolic) revelations never revealed to the OT
Prophets: The Church (Jew and Gentle united) as the true “ “For neither is circumcision
anything, nor un-circumcision, but a new creation. And those who will walk by
this rule, peace and mercy be upon
them, and upon the (1) “What if God, willing to
demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience
vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? (Speaking of the nation of [“I will call
those who were not My people, ‘My
people,’ And her who was not beloved,
‘beloved.’ ” “And it shall be that in the place where it
was said to them, ‘you are not My
people, There they shall be called
sons of the living God.”
(Speaking of the Gentiles) Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though
the number of the sons of Israel be like
the sand of the sea, it
is the remnant that will be saved; for
the Lord will execute His word on the earth,
thoroughly and quickly.” And just
as Isaiah foretold, “Unless the Lord of
Sabaoth had left to us a posterity
(in Christ), We would have become like (2) “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not
pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by
faith; but (3)
The
Big Question: If only a “remnant is to be saved” from the people called
“ (4) The Mystery,
hid from the prophets of old, is now, in Christ, revealed: “This mystery
is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32). ”For He Himself is our peace,
who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so
that in Himself He might make the two
into one new man, thus
establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in
one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And
He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and
peace to those who were near; for through Him we
both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer
strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of
God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole
building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple [David’s Tabernacle] in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in
the Spirit” (Ephesians 2: 11-22). “For
this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you
Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which
was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery,
as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can
understand my insight into the mystery
of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men,
as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to
be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body
[with the Jews], and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the
gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace
which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very
least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the
unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration
of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things…”
(Ephesians 3:1-9). (The mystery was not about the
church, perse, although it was unknown in OT times, but about the make-up of the
church – Jew and Gentile as one body in Christ. This fact, to me, has been one
of the greatest misunderstandings in the field of eschatology).
Conclusion: As we read the above passages, it is clear that
the Jew and the Gentile is now one body in Christ. The “middle wall of
partition” that once separated the two peoples is forever gone. This is the
mystery spoken by the Apostle Paul: [I repeat], “to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow
members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through
the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6). The only hope for anyone is in
the gospel, (hid in the mystery now revealed in Jesus Christ). There is no more
Jew or Gentile as to salvation, or the future kingdom, for we have been made one
in Christ. Let us not promise another gospel. “Today is the day of salvation;
now is the accepted time” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Jesus said,
“I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at
the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the
sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11,12). This is one of the saddest
statements found in the Bible. Nevertheless, “all |