Aggregated articles and videos articulating the Commonwealth of Israel
Dr. Gavin Finley has posted many valuable resources for understanding God's intent for the Commonwealth of Israel at his website, http://endtimepilgrim.org
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| End Time Pilgrim header image |
Below are only a few highlights from the website page: http://endtimepilgrim.org/coi.htm
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| Two olive trees and menorah, from the Jewish Cervera Bible, Spain, circa 1299 |
The Law-Grace Fracture in Israel and the EndTime Restoration in Messiah
A video Power-Point presentation by Gavin Finley spotlighting the Law-Grace fracture line in Israel that broke at the Breach of Jeroboam, to split Israel into Two Kingdoms. Then the end-time reunion and reconciliation of the Two Houses of Israel as the Congregation / Commonwealth of Israel, along with the regathering and restoration of "all Israel" complete with a Fullness out of the Gentiles, people in Messiah, a called out assembly, from every nation,race, and tribe, even as Israel's partial blindness is healed in the latter days.
LAW AND GRACE. THE HIGH PRIESTLY GRACE OF MESSIAH. AND THE RIGHTEOUS RULE OF MESSIAH.
DUAL ANOINTINGS FROM THE TWO OLIVE TREES
THE
TWO WITNESSES OF ZECH 4 AND REV. 11.
TWO LIGHTS FROM THE TWO SABBATH CANDLES.
TWO OFFICES OF MESSIAH AS HIGH PRIEST AND KING IN THE
ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.
Excerpts from Dr. Finley's article below:
In the book of Zechariah the prophet is shown two olive trees. Both of them are issuing the holy oil of anointing into a golden bowl. From this the oil flows on via seven pipes into the seven branched candlestick. This is the menorah which was established as the true symbol of Israel by Moses in the book of Leviticus. This is the imagery. And in it we find the key to the story to the re-union and full restoration of both Israel and the Church. In Zechariah chapter 4 we are looking at completed Israel. And in this picture the spiritual anointing and the sustenance is coming from the two olive trees. Here we see Israel as both a Kingdom and a Priesthood. It is the combined and cross-linked Nation and the Congregation of Yehoveh-God. Its final state is the restored perfected Union or the Commonwealth of Israel. There is no separation into church/synagogue/religion and state/nation/land. There is no separation at all, - none whatsoever.
Obviously this is not our present situation. But it will surely become a reality at the Restoration of Israel at the consummation of the age. There is a huge, dark, and forbidding gulf between Israel, (which we as Christians view only as the Jewish House of Judah), and what we like to call, "The Church". A huge legion of dark religious spirits swirl around the chasm, guarding it like trolls, forbidding access to the truth. To get to the truth of the matter here we are going to have embrace our Messiah, ask for His Holy Spirit to be our Guide, and go back to the Bible.
We'll begin by taking a surveying trip back into Israel's past history. Our journey will take us back down a long and twisted pathway. And before we have finished this study we shall have traced out the fracture line of Israel right through to its political source at the Breach of Jeroboam. There is a blood feud here and a deep amnesia about the whole issue. Both sides are entrenched. And this sad story has gone on for 2900 years. So understandably there will be some painful lessons for us to learn along the way. We shall discover that both of the feuding parties in Greater Israel, and not just "the Jews", have cursed themselves into total blindness. This happened to each party at two pivotal point in their respective histories. Oh yes, this partial blindness is certainly in Jewish House who are blind to the first coming of the Messiah in His priestly role as the Suffering Servant. But, (and here is the rub), the partial blindness is also in the Church. They are blind to their identity in Israel which comes through the blood of Christ and the Seed of Abraham. So the blood feud, the amnesia, and the partial blindness is in both houses of Israel. This is our present situation. And this sad state of affairs extends right up to the present day.
So what has happened? Let us begin by taking a close look at this first big issue, the two great principles of God. In Zechariah 4:11,12,13,&14 the prophet sees the two olive trees. He doesn't know what they mean. But he knows that God is showing him something. And He is told that a branch of one tree relates to Zerubbabel, their present ruler in the Kingdom and Jerusalem and another branch from the other tree represents Joshua, their office-holder in the Priesthood. He knows that the two olive trees he is seeing there in this open vision must be very important. So he asks,
"What are these, my Lord?"The angel answers him saying,
"These are the two anointed ones who stand before the Lord of the earth"Half a millennia later the Apostle John picks up the rest of the story connecting the two olive trees, (the two anointed ones who stand before the Lord of the earth), as the two witnesses who will prophesy in an epic final way during the final 1260 days of this age in the Great Tribulation. Revelation 11:3-4
"3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands standing before the God of the earth."The Holy One of Israel is the God of Law and Righteous Rule. He is also the God of Grace and Mercy. But as we look at religion today and especially as we look at Israel, (as it is currently understood), and what we call "The Church" quite clearly their is a disconnect. The two have become estranged from one another. They are now warring feuding factions. Each has set out to champion one element of the God of Israel and neglect the other. And quite clearly they are at cross purposes with each other. Theologically it is very clear what has happened. It seems that the main issue and the main burden of the Church is the Gospel of Grace. And the main burden of the royal Jewish House of Judah in Israel is for God's Law. At present the two camps do not appreciate or understand each other very well. Is this destined to change in times to come?
Oh yes!
Christian believers do not appreciate the Law of God very much right now. They are inclined discount it all as "Mosaic Law" and insist that "the Law" has been "done away with". And so they retire to the Church to concentrate on what they call Grace. After all, this is what God in His mercy has given has he not?
Ah, but here is the rub. "Grace" can be misrepresented. It can be a cloak for license and licensuousness. Much of what is touted as Grace today is in fact antinomian lawlessness.
Many who call themselves Christians are just as lawless and just as inclined to break covenant as the pagans in the world around them. The popular church being pushed down the skids into Godlessness by the Hegelian dialectic. Many church-going Christians are slip-sliding down the path of compromise to destruction. Indulgence to sin and the pursuit of self-centered agendas does not just come with secular humanism. Religious humanism is the poisoned apple in the mouth of the Sleeping Beauty that is the church. There is a "way that seems right to a man". But it leads to spiritual death and damnation. See Proverbs 16:25. And yet this is a conspiracy and a rebellion against God. This is the raging of the heathen that will come to a peak in the latter days. King David wrote a song about this final apex of lawlessness in Psalm 2.
As we look around we see that the Church in the West today is becoming increasingly accommodating to all this rebellion. There are consequences to is lawlessness in rejection of Christ/Messiah as King and the refusal of those who call themselves Christians to honor Him on the throne of their heart. This is precisely why the Western Church is now in such serious moral decline.
But the Christian God is the Holy One of Israel. He is the God of righteousness, the Son of David who sits upon the Throne of David. His Law, even His Torah, is part of His divine purpose. And the Hebrew roots of our Christian faith are very deep and very real. But is our calling just to "Torah observance". And is the Law just to be observed "out there" written on tablets of stone, in Holy Books, or on digital tablets?
The Prophet Jeremiah spoke of the New Covenant. Oh yes, the New Covenant was spoken of in the Old Testament. It seems that in this New Covenant the Law brought home to its rightful place at last. The Law is not "done away with", no, not at all. 600 years before our Redeemer came to earth the prophet Jeremiah clearly stated that the Law is destined to be written not just on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh. The God of Israel spoke through Jeremiah to tell us this. The Law is to be written in human hearts. (See Jer. 31:31,32,33)
So the Law is not just an arbitrary enactment or guidelines categorized and subdivided ad nauseum and laid down and policed by men with wagging fingers. Ultimately the Law is the Law of the God of Israel, the Law of a very personal God, the God who crossed the gnostic chasm and the barricades of Hellenized compartmentalizing men to come to earth as Immanuel, "God with us". Is this a personal matter? Oh yes, it certainly is!
The Law involves the anointing of a King to enact Righteous Rule. YHVH-God's Kingdom rule is a throne of total, absolute, and pure righteousness. But where is that king? Is he "out there"? Or is He "in here", inside our heart? The external upholding of the law is in the precinct of the Levitical priesthood which overflowed into the Church. But with the Law "out there" as an object to be assessed and talked about forever by men there is no guarantee of obedience. And let's face it, a mere following of the letter of the law has proven to be problematic. God knows this. And He has made provision for us to go beyond the external Law. Through His blood He carries us, just as He did our Father Abraham when they made covenant together. There was "one set of footprints in the blood". The God of Israel takes us beyond the schoolmaster of the Law. Then He carries us on across a threshold into the precincts of His Grace in the New Covenant.
So when He comes in to human hearts in the New Covenant does He abolish the Old Covenant? Does He "do away with" the Law? Does He render all His righteous precepts as "null and void"? No, a thousand times no! He establishes and enthrones His Law inside the hearts of His Holy People. He does this when they are saved and "born again". This is what happens to them when they become "new creatures".
The power to follow the Law is now very present. It comes in the Person of the indwelling Christ and by His Holy Spirit. He establishes the Throne of David upholding His Law inside human hearts and leads them in the gentle bonds of love. He guides His people and empowers them to walk in His ways. He walks with them and talks with them throughout their journey here on earth. And when they have finished their pilgrimage He brings them home to the mansions He has prepared.
Great is the mystery of godliness. But it is a very personal reality. It is a wonder seen in the lives of men, women, and children who know God. This inner work of righteousness and law written in the hearts of men is just the beginning. The coming Millennium of Messiah will see His rule from the Throne of David going out from individuals to unify them as a corporate body, His Holy City, Jerusalem. Indeed, the Holy City, New Jerusalem, is the Bride of the Lamb, the Bride of Christ. See Rev. 21:2,3.
Here is the central uniting truth that will establish the Commonwealth of Israel. Both the anointing of Law in the anointing of a King and the anointing of Grace and the Gospel that comes to us in Christ our High Priest, are brought to us by our Messiah. He will rule in the dual anointing over both offices as Priest-King in the Order of Melchizedek. Messiah Himself brings the two offices of Law and Grace into perfect Union. It is this recognition and this submission and commitment to the dual anointing of Messiah that will bring in the true double anointing ministers like to talk about and try and claim. This dual anointing will energize the End Time Revival to accomplish the full restoration of all 12 tribes of Israel.
Quite clearly the two houses of Israel in Yehoveh-God are in a serious state of disunity and dysfunction right now. The Kingdom portion of the Order of Melchizedek, the Messianic anointing of God's righteous rule, is presently alienated from the Church. God's Law and His precepts is presently championed in the Jewish house of Israel. But the promised great salvation of the Jewish house, while it has already started, will come to a head rather late.
See Zechariah 12:10. The priestly ministry of the Messianic anointing is in the Gospel. This is entrusted to and championed by an entity we call "the Church". The word "church", by itself, and stripped of all its religious and ritualistic coverings, means nothing. The word "church" merely means "assembly". The Greek word "ekklesia" means "called out", "congregation", or "assembly". It is only when the object of the assembly is mentioned that the word has anything beyond just a generic meaning. The so-called "church" should be properly presented as "The Congregation of Israel", or "The Congregation of Israel's Anointed Messiah". Those more Biblically correct names would help connect the dots and help Christians, a word that means "of the Anointed One", into a fuller understanding of their true identity. True born-again blood bought Christians are by that atoning blood ushered into the Congregation, the Nation, and the Commonwealth of Israel. Do they know this? No, they do not. As part of Israel they are partially blind, just as partially blind, but in a different way, than their Jewish brothers and sisters. Christians, for the most part, are blind to their corporate identity in the Commonwealth of Israel. And their Jewish brethren are partially blind to their Messiah, coming as He did that first time not as King of kings but in His priestly role as the Lamb of God, Israel's Suffering Servant.
