The Key to “Right Division:” Israel - Comments (3)

Category: Articles,Doctrine
Author: John Malone
Date: 4th July, 2005 @ 12:30:13 PM

“Rightly dividing” – cutting straight – the Word of God is not merely a good idea, but {an exhortation|2Ti 3:16} and command {given in Scripture|2Ti 2:15} from the Lord’s {pattern servant|1Ti 1:15-16} to his {protege|1Ti 1:2}, and therefore to all who would follow the apostle in the ministry of God’s word.

The enjoyment of the Scriptures, which is much of the enjoyment of the Lord Himself, is unlikely when they are not “cut straight” or rightly divided.

It is no accident that the apostle paul was a {tentmaker|Acts 18:3} by trade. He undertsood the importance of a straight cut. Surely his tents were not patched together with duct tape! No matter how skillful a tentmaker was with a needle, the cutting of the tent material along the straight lines required by the tent design was essential to successful completion.

Many groups and individuals come to faulty conclusions, or embark upon a wrong course, because they do not “get Israel right,” just as Israel itself goes awry because it does not “get the Lord Jesus Christ right.”

Israel today – like the kingdom of the heavens – is in “mystery (or secret) form.” What you see is NOT what you will get. The Israel of today is not the “Israel of God,” nor Israel as it shall one day be. Israel of today is in unbelief, and it is thereby obviously true that not all who are descendant from Israel (Jacob) are {God’s Israel|Rom 9:6;Gal 6:15-16}.

The Israel of God today is the product of God’s dealings with Israel in the matter of the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, Israel’s Messiah, and the Son of God Himself. And today, the Israel of God is a{ “remnant according to grace.”|Rom 10:5} Paul claimed to be {part|Rom 11:1} of this remnant. He was an outcast in the political Israel of his day.

In carefully tracing the arguments of Paul in Romans 9 and following, we learn that he takes up the matter of Israel’s election, and reduces it from a broad understanding to a narrow one. His argument is essentially this: That Israel is of the seed of Abraham, but only through Isaac (not Esau), and then further reduced to those who are on the principle of “grace through faith” and NOT on the principle of “law for righteousness.”

In Romans 11, he declares this group today to be a “remnant.” He disclose that Israel is nationally set aside through the means of a {temporary and partial blindess|Rom 11:25}, a mystery (secret) disclosed only in {Paul’s prophetic writings|2Pe 3:15-16}.

But many err.

Of course, the nation of Israel errs because they are attempting to set up a nation apart from the Messiah, Whose nation it is!

Reformed theology errs, because it confuses the Church’s higher and heavenly calling with Israel’s national calling.

British Israelites err, because they submit that some Gentile nations are the real Jews.

Dominion theology and its recent decendants fail because they do not recognize that Israel’s fulfillment is after the 2nd coming, and millenial in scope.

None of these that err can enjoy the full blessing that is for us in the Scriptures: it requires a proper division.

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