|
|
|
To understand “the Fullness of the Gentiles” or “the Time of the Gentiles” we have to put these Biblical phrases back into the full context of the entire Bible, which is the story of God’s redemption of humanity (restoring what was lost in the Garden of Eden) through the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel). The Nation of Israel and the Land of Israel are essential components of what God is doing in bringing fullness to every generation. For each and every year, the Israelites have rehearsed through His Festivals, what the Messiah would have to be and do in order to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth for eternity.
In the Spring of the year, the Israelites observed the feasts of Unleavened Bread, Passover, First Fruits and Pentecost. During the Exodus, they had to be ready to leave Egypt quickly and eat holy Unleavened Bread (which symbolizes Repentance, since they could not use yeast, which represented sin and thus they had to forsake it completely). They killed and eat the Passover lamb, wherein they believed in and placed the Lamb’s blood upon the doorposts of their home, so that they could experience Redemption from Death and be released from the slavery of Egypt. Then they left Egypt experiencing First Fruits, wherein God commanded them to ask the Egyptians for their gold & silver, wherein they took the wealth of the entire known world with them to the Promised Land, which had come into Egypt 400 years earlier during the famine of Joseph’s generation (symbolizing the Provision that God had already prepared for them in advance, to establish His Kingdom). Then at Mt. Sinai, 50 days later on Pentecost, God gave them His Commandments and officially created the Nation of Israel out of those that came out of Egypt. But rather than continuing in their Faith in God, in spite of what they had just experienced with Him (wherein they could have crossed the Jordon River and celebrated the Falls Feasts in the Promised Land), that generation wandered and died in the desert, wherein their children actually inherited the Promised Land 40 years later (with only Joshua and Caleb leading the way). In foreshadowing the Messiah, His Flesh is the Unleavened Bread (without sin), His Life is the sacrificed Passover Lamb (wherein His Blood purchased humanity’s Redemption) and His Resurrection from the dead is the First Fruit Offering (of all those that will be resurrected for eternity). Then on the day of Pentecost, the Messiah officially creates His Body and writes His Commandments on the hearts of those that believe in Him and receive His Spirit for eternity. But here again, rather than corporately receiving the Fullness of God, in spite of what the Nation of Israel experiences with the Messiah, that generation persists in Unbelief and only a Remnant remains in Faith, wherein a remnant of families (nations) are blessed for eternity.
In the Fall of the year, the Israelites observed the feasts of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. The beginning of the new civil year as a nation was celebrated with the feast of Trumpets, which were sounded throughout the land to call the nation together as one Body before the Lord God of Israel. Then they celebrated the most holiest feast of Atonement, wherein the High Priest presented the Nation of Israel before God, asking for His Mercy, Forgiveness, Cleansing and Acceptance. Then they celebrated Tabernacles, wherein they lived in booths, which symbolized that they would fellowship with God in His creation for eternity, just as it was at the beginning in the Garden of Eden. In foreshadowing the Messiah, He comes to the Land of Israel with sounding of the Last Trumpet, calling all believers together as one Body before the Lord God of Israel. Then He presents them before God, each in their newly resurrected sinless bodies, holy and acceptable, wherein God the Father can extend His Mercy and Forgiveness. Then the Messiah tabernacles with His Body on the earth, wherein believers in the Messiah, rule and reign with Him over the nations for a 1000 years.
So within this context of what God is, has been and will do with the Nation and Land of Israel, we can fully understand how the Gentiles (nations) fit into His Plan A, for He has never had a Plan B. God loves all of His creation, not just the family of Abraham, through his sons, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) and their children. His purpose and destiny for the Nation of Israel is that they would be a Light to the Nations (the Gentiles, the heathen, the pagan). He called Abram, out of the nations, revealed Himself to him and stated that through him and his Seed, all nations (families) would be blessed. Furthermore, the promise of Abraham was the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in whoever would receive Him for all of eternity. The Nation and Land of Israel was designed to reveal the true nature of God to all nations AND to extend an eternal relationship with God to whomever would believe in Him. Thus the Messiah is not only Unleavened Bread, the Passover Lamb and First Fruits for the Nation of Israel, but for all nations that would be grafted into His Body after Pentecost, so that all of humanity could also experience Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles for eternity. In one sense “the Fullness of the Gentiles” or “the Time of the Gentiles” is this entire process by which God is bringing Redemption to all nations throughout thousands of years through the Messiah and the Nation and Land of Israel.
After Moses (“To Draw Out,” a pre-figure of the Messiah’s 1st coming) brought the Israelites through the Springs Feasts of the Lord and out of Egypt, gave them the Law of God on Pentecost and died with them in the wilderness, it was Joshua (“He Who Saves,” a pre-figure of the Messiah’s 2nd coming), that led the next generation of Israelites into the Promised Land, wherein the Nation of Israel celebrated the Fall Feasts of the Lord in the Land of Israel. Thus it became the greatest nation of earth, wherein King Solomon was the wealthiest and wisest man who ever lived. The Nation of Israel was a theocracy based upon God’s written Law, wherein there had never been any thing like it before. But because the Law of God was not yet in the hearts of men, it’s greatest liability was the sinfulness of man and thus when God was removed from national life, the nation fell apart and was destroyed by it’s enemies. Because of their rebellion, God removed His protection from the Nation and the Land of Israel. But not without Hope, wherein His prophets declared a future series of events called “the Time of the Gentiles” that God would utilize to shepherd His people until He would bring them back into His Land, reveal Himself to them again and to all nations through them for eternity.
Just as Abraham was told that his children would be enslaved by another nation for 400 years, Daniel was told that 490 years was decreed for the Nation of Israel to come into Fullness, wherein it would start when the command went forth to rebuild the Temple, pause for a season between the Messiah and the Prince who would come and then finish out for a final seven years. It was also revealed to Daniel that four great kingdoms would arise between the Nation of Israel’s first season in the Land of Israel and their final season in the Land of Israel, that of the Babylonians, the Medes & Persians, Greece and the Roman Empire with a revised Roman Empire in the latter part of this Time of the Gentiles, which would deal with the Nation of Israel in the Land of Israel. Just as Daniel was foretold, 483 years after the decree was issued to rebuild the Temple, the Messiah came and was cut off (crucified and resurrected), wherein the Roman Empire then destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Then the Roman Empire was revised and became the Holy Roman Empire, which through Replacement Theology set the stage for the Holocaust in the 1940’s, which gave rise to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, wherein the stage has been set for God to deal with the final kingdom of the Gentiles and establish His Kingdom through the Nation and Land of Israel. Forty years ago, in 1967, Jerusalem was brought under Israeli control for the first time since the kings of Judah ruled over it thousands of years ago, thus ending the rulership of Jerusalem by the Gentiles (nations) of the earth. Romans 11:25 states “that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in” and Luke 21:24 states “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Since 1967, God has brought more Jews into Fullness (experiencing a personal relationship with the Messiah “He Who Saves”) than at any other time in history. Thus “that blindness in part” is ending and “the fullness of the Gentiles” is coming into completion. In the 2000’s, the Messiah will come again to the Nation of Israel (who will declare, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord”) to fulfill Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles in the Land of Israel for eternity.
Throughout History God has blessed the nations through the Nation of Israel. When He scattered them after the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel fell, the four great kingdoms that had Jews in them prospered through their reigns throughout the Middle East and Europe. Even the smaller nations in Africa and Asia, that took the children of Abraham in, were blessed. Later Jews in Russia, Europe and the Americas brought blessings to those nations. Then as these nations turned upon the Jewish people they began to fall apart, as God removed His protection from them so that their enemies could take advantage of them and defeat them. As the Nation of Israel returns as one Body to the Land of Israel and to Fullness in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), all nations will know and understand who the Messiah is, wherein they will receive Him by Faith in Repentance, Redemption and Provision, being grafted into the Nation of Israel through the impartation of His Holy Spirit, so that they can gather as one Resurrected Body and Tabernacle with the Messiah on earth for a 1000 years OR they will reject Him as their Messiah and become a part of the enemy’s kingdom that will fight against the Nation of Israel in the Land of Israel as the Messiah comes to establish His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
Received December 9 - 21, 2006
