DOES CHURCH BECOME ISRAEL?

GOD DOES NOT WANT THE CHURCH TO BECOME ISRAEL

I. True Worship in the Great Tribulation Will Be Israelite, Not Christian

A.      The Lord Jesus Christ warned believers to pray that during the Great Tribulation "Your flight may not be . . . on a Sabbath" (Matt. 24:20). But only Israel, not the Church, is under a divinely enforced Sabbath law. The apostle Paul warned the Church: "let no one act as your judge in regard to . . . a Sabbath day" (Col. 2:16; Gal. 4:10; Rom. 14:5).

B.      The Lord Jesus Christ also warned believers that the abomination of desolations would stand "in the holy place" (Matt. 24:15). But only Israel, not the Church, can have a "holy place" on this earth. See John 4:21 - "an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father." See also 2 Thess. 2:4. “The man of lawlessness . . . takes his seat in the temple of God". Compare Rev. 11:1-2.

C.      During the coming Tribulation there will be an altar in the Temple for the offering of divinely approved animal sacrifices; but this has no part in God's plan for Church worship (1 Cor. 11:23-26; Heb. 10:1-14; 13:15; 1 Pet. 2:5; Rom. 15:16). The temple and the altar will be God's during that period, even though the outer court will be given over to the nations to desecrate (Rev. 11:1-2). The only way the antichrist will be able to break his covenant with Israel and to cause the blood sacrifices and grain offerings to cease (Dan 9:27) is by killing God's two witnesses in Jerusalem (Rev. 11:7-12). No blood sacrifices could be offered on the Jerusalem altar during (those 3 1/2 years if the two witnesses of God did not approve of this form of worship). They will be "the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth" (Rev. 11:4), and will thus set the pattern for the true worship of God on earth from that time to the end of the Millennium.

D.      Not only will there be a God-approved Temple and altar and sacrifices in Tribulation Jerusalem, there will also be, of necessity, Levitical priests to carry out this Israelite form of worship. Ever since Roman armies destroyed the Temple and its genealogical records in A.D. 70, Jews have lost their tribal identity. Thus, there can be no legitimate Jewish worship during the Church age. But during the Tribulation period, God will reveal the true tribal identity of Israelites, for among the 144,000 who are sealed by God will be 12,000 Levites (Rev. 7:7). Through the testimony of the two witnesses, one of whom will probably be Moses --himself a Levite--, these Levites will not only be won to a saving knowledge of the God of Israel, but will be instructed in the ministry of animal sacrifices at the Jerusalem altar.

It is, of course, unthinkable that the true Church could ever again have a distinct Jewish element within its body. The apostle Paul insisted that Christ "broke down the barrier of the dividing wall" (Eph. 2:14) so that now "there is no distinction between Greek and Jew" (Col. 3:11), and we are thus "all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28).

Thus, it is biblically impossible to have the Church bearing its witness for Christ throughout the 70th week of Daniel with one segment of the body doing Jewish things and functioning as twelve tribes of Israel! The angel Gabriel made it clear to Daniel, after all, that "the seventy weeks [including the seventieth!] have been decreed for your people and your holy city" (Dan. 9:24).

II. True Worship on the Earth in the Kingdom Age Will Be Israelite, Not Christian

The Bible gives even more powerful witness to the Israelite form of worship which will characterize the Kingdom Age. Joel 3:18, Isaiah 2:2; 60:13, Daniel 9:24, Ezekiel 40-42 and

Haggai 2:7-9) describe the millennial temple in much detail. Isaiah 56:6-7; 60:7- Jeremiah 33:16, Zechariah 14:16-21- and especially Ezekiel 40-48 also describe the animal sacrifices which will be offered in that temple. God even stated, through Jeremiah- that just as "David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel-" so "the Levitical priests shall never lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings- to bum grain offerings, and to prepare sacrifices continually" Jer. 33:17-18. Ezekiel goes even further and narrows down these Levitical priests to-the family of Zadok who was faithful to King David to the very end (Ezek. 40:46; 43:19; 44:15; 48:11; cf. 1 Kings 1:34).

Inevitably those who deny that true worship during the Great Tribulation will be Israelite also go on to deny that true worship during the Millennium will be Israelite.

III. Theological Disaster Follows Every Effort to Incorporate Israelite Functions Into the Church Today.

A.      The spiritual disaster of ecclesiastical pride. "Do not be arrogant toward the branches, lest you be wise in your own estimation" (Rom. 11:18-25).

B.      The hermeneutical disaster of denying the clear statements of God's prophetic program. "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!" (Luke 24:25).

C.      The missionary disaster of confusing Israel's theocratic structures of government- economics and society with the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ to His Church.