The Israelite Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God (Yhwh), what does it look like in the end?  Most believers today have a faulty view of what the kingdom of God is, since "the Church" believes to one extent or another that it has replaced the Jews for rejecting their Messiah, Yeshua ben Joseph.

We lose track and forget the promises that Yhwh made to the Father's, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Note: you hear Muslims say they are worshippers of "the God of Abraham", but not, "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob"!), to multiply the I descendants like the sand on the seashore, that through them, all the nations of the earth are blessed.

Genesis 12:1 "And Yahweh said to Abram, “ 'Go out from your land and from your relatives, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great. And you will be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse. And all families of the earth will be blessed in you.' ” 

Genesis 15:17  On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram saying, “To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates river, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” 

Gen. 17:3 Then Abram fell upon his face and God spoke with him, saying, “As for me, behold, my covenant shall be with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. Your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will make you a nation, and kings shall go out from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and between your offspring after you, throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant to be as God for you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land in which you are living as an alien, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting property. And I will be to them as God.” 

So that is it.  All this fighting over the land of Israel, the culmination of a centuries old battle to control this land promised by the Creator to Abraham, and to regathering his dispersed descendents from the ends of the earth, all the tribes of the Israelites, back to Israel!  Ezekiel spells out the Renewed Covenant Yhwh makes after His people had broken the first Mosaic Covenant (all foreseen by Moses, Deut. 30:1-5).

Ezekiel 36:26- 36  "And I will give a new heart to you, and a new spirit I will give into your inner parts, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give to you a heart of flesh. And I will give my spirit into your inner parts, and I will make it so that you will go in my rules, and my regulations you will remember, and you will do them. And you will dwell in the land that I gave to your ancestors, and you will be to me as a people, and I will be to you as God. And I will save you from all of your uncleanness, and I will call to the grain, and I will cause it to increase, and I will not bring famine upon you. And I will cause the fruit of the tree and the crop of the field to increase, so that you will not suffer again the disgrace of famine among the nations. And you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourself over your iniquities and over your detestable things. But not for your sake am I acting,” declares the Lord Yahweh. “Let it be known to you, be ashamed, and be put to shame because of your ways, house of Israel. 

“Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘On the day when I cleanse you from all of your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt. And the land that was desolate will be cultivated in the very place that it was desolate before the eyes of all of the persons crossing over. And they will say, “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden, and the wasted and desolate and destroyed cities, now being refortified, are inhabited.” And the nations who are left all around, you will know that I, Yahweh, I built that which was destroyed; I planted the desolate land; I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act.’ 

Ps. 47- a Preview of the Return of Messiah

Yesterday I was reading in Psalm 47, and I was just totally amazed.  The Yhwh opened my eyes to see or realize things in this Psalm I don't ever recall seeing before!  This Psalm is a Psalm of rejoicing in Yhwh, the holy one of Israel, and pictures Him working deliverance, or salvation, for the people of Israel, and indeed, Himself being king over Israel, putting them in their land.

The reason Protestants misunderstand, is because they reject (in the majority) the Tanakh as the basis, or foundation of the Brit Hadaschah (New Testament, or Covenant).  and they think it is otherwise!

First off, the Hebrew scriptures start their verse numbering in the Psalms with the superscription, which English Bibles usually just take as the section heading or leave it as 'superscript.'  But this tells us in Psalm 47 that this song was "written for the music director (which, gentlemen, the choir in the temple was made up of men!)

v.1 1 All you peoples, clap your hands.b

Shout to God with a voice of rejoicing.

In Philippians, we are taught by Rabbi Paul to "rejoice in the Yhwh always, I will say it again, rejoice!" (Phil. 3:1, 4:4).

2 For Yahweh Most High is awesome,c

a great king over all the earth.

A common Biblical theme, that Yhwh Sabaoth (of hosts~ angelic armies), is king over the earth, the most high, Elyon; and, He is to be feared, something lost in most Christian circles!

3 He subdues peoples under us

and nations under our feet.

4 He chooses for us our inheritance,

the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah

He, Yhwh Sabaoth, is the one who subdues or conquerors, Israel's enemies under them. He chose the land of Canaan, or Palestine (old Philistia~ Israel's ancient foe), to give to the children of Ja'acob, and it is their Pride!

5 God has gone up with a shout,

Yahweh with the sound of a [shofar].

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises.

Sing praises to our king, sing praises.

7 For God is king of all the earth.

Sing praises with understanding.d

8 God reigns over nations;

God sits on his holy throne.

Here we see God, Elyon Sabaoth comes, of goes up with a shout! With the sound of a trumpet (in hebrew,shofar, the ram's horn) the instrument given by the Israelis' when going into battle. This is where, beyond acknowledging that Israel's peace, military dominance, and possession of the land of ancient Canaan are from Yhwh, we see in verse five the rallying signal given by Yhwh Himself for the final battle (also known as Armageddon, when the nations of the world are gathered against Israel, synonymous with Psalm 83?).

One reason why this passage is so powerful, is that we can see here it's parallel teaching by Rabbi Paul, in the Brit Hadashah. 1 Thessalonians 4 - 

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

This seems to parallel the eschatological (end time) teaching of the deliverance of Yhwh found in Psalm 47.  and for those with a Biblical worldview... this is bringing to completion the good news, the Euanggelion, the consummation of Yhwh's plan, the covenant He made with Abra'am, Yisac, and Ja'acob.  

The forgiveness of sins, based upon the suffering of the Messiah, the son of man, and justification because of imputation of His righteousness is based upon the teaching found in the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 53.  And to this Rabbi Paul also alludes in his letter to the diasporoa Romans in Romans 3:19-31.

 17 Then we who are alive, who remain, will be snatched away at the same time together with them in the clouds for a meeting with the Lord in the air, and thus we will be together with the Lord always.

And so with Rabbi Paul's teaching, in accordance with the basis of the Christian faith, the Tanakh, Rabbi Paul teaches that the dead in Messiah, and then those living believers, will be caught up to be forever with Messiah, as he places His people in the land of Yisrael never more to be uprooted, under His physical reign upon the earth!

There are so many other scriptures in the Tanakh and the Brit Hadashah, connecting these teachings, but for now, it will have to be another post.

Rabbi Paul also speaks about the salvation of all Israel in Romans 11, which ties in with Psalm 47.  Another hint for those who are hungry: the "fullness of the Gentiles" is explained to us what that is in Genesis 48:19 where Jacob blesses the children of Joseph.

Let those who have ears hear!  Shalom!