Dear David,
Hello again. In my last post – which you did indeed post on your website, but after I had posted it on mine and shared it on Google Plus – I had made an entry in my post that I did not complete because I was interrupted while writing it. I repost it here for the benefit of your readers and mine, and continue another part of our discussion. Some of what is posted here will make it to the book, some may not, but it is my intent in Christ Jesus our Lord according to the grace given me into this matter and God’s election and calling upon me – to present as much as possible an accurate, Scriptural, and fair report of what you have written about Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Harbinger in your own review of it in your own book, The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction?
I do this for two reasons; as a service to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose cause has suffered from the division over what one person thinks the book says versus what another thinks; and the distraction this unnecessary controversy has created among Evangelical Christians which has led many of us to refocus our attention away from sharing the Gospel of Christ to argue and wrangle over words and their meanings, something we are warned to stay away from, but the publishing of your book has created the stir and as I’ve mentioned before, as its author you have placed yourself at its epicenter. Maybe that’s where you wish to be, I don’t’ know; but Christ knows.
If what I am about to write will put an effective end to this controversy by correcting the various misunderstandings, misapplications of what Rabbi Cahn meant or was alleged by others to mean, and any or all other questions related to this topic that has since arisen; then I will consider it a success. These are my reasons for writing about this topic at this time, and my intent to publish what I have uncovered with the Lord’s direction and in accordance to His will. But here is what I wrote in my previous post, only this time with the complete train of thought.
Your entire theology dictates that it is not only improbable that God heard the prayers of the Puritans or any of the others who settled this land (America) for the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or that He heard the prayers given to God at Saint Paul’s Chapel in New York City on the day of George Washington’s Inaugural, where it is reported Washington led our nation’s first leaders to pray for two hours, (and I add to this the following: and he offered up his prayer to God from there, but that if one takes your premise to its full application, God has not, did not, does not, and will not hear the prayers and petitions, much less answer them; of people who are not Jews and who do not belong to Abraham’s children through the covenant God established uniquely with Israel. And therefore by extension, if God has not heard these prayers, then there is no way that this land and the nation founded upon it, can be in any way or form in covenant relationship with Him, because God does not hear the prayers of people outside of His covenant people, and nations outside of His covenant nation. I am using your logic here, as your posit in your book.)
Indeed, your assessment denies what Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God wrote:
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.
(1Timothy 2:1-8)
And also what Peter also writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, saying:
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.
(1Peter 3:18)
And I must add here that the Scripture is absolute and unmistakable regarding who He died for and the purpose of this death, where the Apostle Paul again under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit declares:
For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
(Romans 6:10)
Absolute and unmistakable unlimited atonement. As a theologian you are aware of what I mean by this phrase, and I stand by it, in fact, it forms what is an unmistakable fact and truth – God hears the prayers of people and nations who repent and come to Him for forgiveness; otherwise no one but Israel, and no one but a High Priest of Aaron’s Order, presiding at the temple in Jerusalem, with Levites under service to God, under the Mosaic Covenant (which erected a wall of separation between God’s people Israel and all of the other nations), could ever hope of communicating their thoughts, concerns, fears, and hopes, or faith to a God they could and would not reach without the Mediator (1Timothy 2:5) and Advocate (1John 2:1) and faithful High Priest (Hebrews 2:14-18) between themselves and that the God who imparts life to all flesh and has provided this salvation – the blessing He promised Abraham when He ratified His covenant with him, long before the covenant at Sinai under which the Mosaic Law was ratified. (Genesis 12:1-8, 13:14-18, 15:1-21, 17:1-17, 18:10-14, 21:1-8, 22:15-19, Abraham himself bears witness of this, Genesis 24:7a) If it were not so, He would not have inspired the Apostle Paul through the Eternal Holy Spirit to write that this promise to bless all of the nations of the earth was itself the Gospel preached to Abraham!
Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
(Galatians 3:6-9)
Indeed, the Apostle to the Gentiles even calls Abraham the father of all who believe without being circumcised. (Romans 4:11c) And we see the Apostle declare boldly as a believing Observant Jew that the Gospel he preaches saves both Jew and Non-Jew alike:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
(Romans 1:16-17)
This Gospel that God preached to Abraham is the one which has broken down the wall erected by the Mosaic Covenant under which the Law came four hundred and thirty years after the Abrahamic Covenant, of which the Apostle Paul continues to write in the Spirit the following regarding its perfect observance – which according to God’s Word is an impossibility (1King 8:46b), because there is no one who can claim that they are free from sin (2Chronicles 6:36 part of the same prayer rendered by Solomon) – just as the Apostle John also writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the following Scripture:
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
(1John 1:8-10)
And the following Holy Spirit inspired observation of the precarious reality of every human being:
Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
(Ecclesiastes 7:20)
This is why Solomon in the Holy Spirit, asks elsewhere, “Who can say, I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin’”?
(Proverbs 20:9)
And the Psalmist pleads with God in the following manner:
And do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no man living is righteous.
(Psalm 143:2)
Isaiah understood this. In the Holy Spirit, he confessed, bearing witness of man’s lost condition before the righteousness of God:
For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
(Isaiah 64:6)
This is because, as the Apostle Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans, every person is locked into an inclination towards sinning, and this evil inclination – this fallen nature – this original proclivity to sin – drives them to break the commandments of God:
… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.
(Romans 3:23, 11:32)
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
(Romans 5:12-14)
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written,
“There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
“Their feet are swift to shed blood,
Destruction and misery are in their paths,
And the path of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
(Romans 3:9-18)
And what will the result be for the human race – that is for those who are Abraham’s physical descendants through Isaac, as well as those who are not physically descendant from Abraham through Isaac?
There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.
(Romans 2:9-11, see Jeremiah 9:25-26)
But of the promise made to Abraham which extends to the nations, the Apostle Paul in the Holy Spirit writes the following:
For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
(Galatians 3:10-14)
What am I saying here quoting the Apostle’s writing about Jews and Non-Jews receiving the same grace from God through Christ? I am saying that anyone who invokes the name of Christ to call upon it, most definitely will be heard by God, and saved. Make no mistake about it, the Scripture is clear about this fact (Acts 2:21, Romans 10:13), and about the fact that regardless of the limitations that man will try to place on God by citing the Abrahamic Covenant as having relevance for Jews only, and not for the entire human race – a blurring of one covenant of promise and faith with one of Law and works; which is all inclusive through the promise of Christ made to Abraham with one which is exclusive to one nation, Israel – the Abrahamic Covenant with the Mosaic Covenant – a practice in the most blatant example of Eisegesis; this does not nullify the universality of what God has wrought in Christ for the entire human race – for every person, nationality, ethnic group, and race under heaven.
And although His works were finished from the foundation of the world (Hebrews 4:3b), The Harbinger’s critics erect the old wall of separation between God and the nations. This because one is independent of the other, and the Mosaic Covenant has no relevance on the Abrahamic, but the Abrahamic does on the Mosaic because it has been replaced by the New Covenant with the better promises (Hebrews ) God made to Abraham long before the Law and its covenant were given to Israel:
Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
Galatians 3:1-29)
And what the Scripture teach us about this promise? The promise was made to Abraham at the mount of sacrifice, where God made Abraham four specific promises, and they were:
1.) God would greatly bless him.
2.) God would greatly multiply his descendants as much as the sand which is on the seashore and make them as numerous as the stars in the night sky.
3.) God promised that Abraham’s seed – that is Christ would possess the gates of His enemies.
4.) God promised that in His seed – that is Christ - all of the nations of the earth would be blessed.
Let us look at the entire text, and examine this promise God made to Abraham, and the scope of it, in order to understand fully what it would cover. Doing this will allow us to appreciate more fully the grace and provision of God for His people – the physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and the spiritual descendants of through Christ – Abraham and Isaac’s greater Son from whom Abraham would be made the father of the nations.
Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”
Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.
(Genesis 22:1-19)
But, if indeed if Abraham was only referring to the place where the Lord provided the ram for the sacrifice when he named the place “The Lord Will Provide,” then why was it called in antiquity “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided?” And why did he still call it in a future tense, “The Lord Will Provide?” if he was referring to the Lord’s provision of the ram for the sacrifice which was given to him to offer in place of Isaac, which he did offer in place of Isaac? It was because Abraham looked ahead at the seed God promised – the One who would deal a crushing blow to the enemy of Israel and mankind (the devil and his servants) on the head (Genesis 3:15, John 3:15, See Dr. Michael Rydelnik, The Messianic Hope: Is the Hebrew Bible Really Messianic? , page 143.), and for this reason Abraham named the place “The Lord Will Provide” and it was said of this place in antiquity “In the Mount of the Lord it will be provided,” for they were looking ahead to the promise of Christ, where He laid down His life on the mount of the Lord.
And to accentuate the promise over the Law, the writer in his Letter to the Hebrews writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. (Hebrews 7:12) What priesthood is he referring to? To Aaron’s from which came the Law four hundred thirty years later, nor does it invalidate the promise God made to Abraham which established the Abrahamic Covenant between Himself and the father of nations. (Galatians 3:17) Aaron’s priesthood has been replaced by Melchizedek’s. (Hebrews ) And the writer in his Letter to the Hebrews writes further down what this change entails and what it pertains to:
Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. For it is attested of Him,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. And inasmuch as it was not without an oath (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him,
“The Lord has sworn
And will not change His mind,
‘You are a priest forever’”);
so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
(Hebrews 7:11-22)
And pertaining to this salvation, it is not man who first initiated it, but God, which is why the Apostle Paul writes again in the Holy Spirit in reference to the sovereign grace of God’s election:
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
(Romans 9:16)
That is to say, that it was not man who initiated this, but God who first brought it into being – this salvation. Otherwise He would not have made the following promise, which He made to Israel and has extended to all peoples:
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
(Ezekiel 36:15)
For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
(Hebrews 6:13-20)
Therefore any man or woman who invokes and calls upon the name of Jesus Christ as Lord for blessing and in faith, believing in that name, honors God (John 5:23), and is honored by God by calling him “son,” or her “daughter.” There is no exception to this, this is for all and for all time. The cross stretches back to those who lived in faith of the promise and forward to us and beyond us to the end of days. (Hebrews 4:3b, see also Revelation 13:8, 17:8) It is for all peoples and all nations, for we have seen that God’s Word establishes that there is no partiality with God, and that He is the God of all creation, and He has promised to give the nations as His inheritance. (Psalm 2:7) Of Him, the Scriptures say that He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15) Christ has said that one day He will say to His elect:
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’
(Matthew 25:34)
And it commands us to do the following:
Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!
(Psalm 2:12)
Thus, it has been established by Scripture itself that God’s intent since before the foundation of the world was laid, was to extend the offer of salvation to the entire human race by blessing it with the promise He made to Abraham that through Isaac (the son of promise through whom Gentiles and Jews would be blessed), one of his descendants would bring this salvation – indeed this descendant would be the catalyst of this salvation – the Savior – as the angel of the Lord said to Joseph when he was considering divorcing Mary quietly because he had discovered that she was pregnant with a Child: “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) In other words, Jesus Christ would be their Savior, and the Savior of all who come to Him. John the Apostle is very clear when writing in the Holy Spirit, and makes the following declaration:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Not only was all creation come into being through Him, but He possessed and possesses life and it is this life – His life – that is the light of men; that is to say, both to Jews and to Gentiles. Further down John the Apostle in the Holy Spirit writes:
There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
(John 1:1-5, 9-13)
He is the life and He is the light that “enlightens EVERY man.” What does this mean? Does it mean that every person on the face of the earth is enlightened? Of course not, but that every person who comes to Him, regardless of ethnicity, national origin, or race – Jew or Gentile, male or female – anyone who comes to Him for life, will receive His light, for the proverb says that the spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being, (Proverbs 20:27) because the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1Corinthians 6:17)
There is nothing in these promises that indicate that only a people or a nation with whom God has made a covenant with (such as the Abrahamic Covenant, and or the Mosaic Covenant, or any others such as the Davidic Covenant – covenants God made with the children of Israel – are the only ones to share in this blessing, for if that had been the case, then the Apostle Paul would not have had recourse to strongly advocate full admission of Gentiles into the Way without first becoming Jews by undergoing circumcision according to the Law and converting to Judaism before coming to faith in Christ. Indeed, the Apostle Paul underscores this truth when writing under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration about the Gentiles receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, (admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
(Colossians 1:24-29)
Moreover, he and Barnabas and others, including the Apostle Peter advocated full Gentile autonomy in Christ from conversion to Judaism as a requirement for salvation, since it had been proven experientially with the conversion of Cornelius the Roman Centurion and his entire household that Gentiles were being saved independent of the need for conversion to Judaism, (Acts 10, 11:1-26, 15) which is precisely what the Apostle Paul was referring to when he wrote: The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” (Galatians 3:8) This is the Gospel that has reached the nations and has converted countless numbers to Christ, the Gospel which the first settlers to this land called America in which these United States reside, was dedicated to God for, and by way of this dedication, these servants of Christ made their vows to God and thereby established this land for God, and it is why for over two hundred years it has been so blessed by Him.
What has made this possible? The promise God made to Abraham that in his seed, the nations of the earth would be blessed. Indeed, the Apostle Paul declares under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that this is the great mystery that had been hidden in ages past, specifically that the Gentiles with God had no covenant and a people who were not God’s people; would be through Christ God’s covenant people with Israel – something that had been hidden in God in ages past, but which with the consummation of the ages – was revealed with and in Christ something that has been overlooked by the critics of The Harbinger when comparing America to Israel. The Apostle writes:
By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
(Ephesians 3:4-10)
In his book The Jew of Tarsus, Hugh J. Schonfield brings draws this mystery out with its complete ramifications for the Body of Christ, where he writes pertaining to the Apostle Paul’s Gospel and the mystery of which he wrote with such passion:
“His distinctive aim, which involved him at this stage in a great many theological intricacies, was to establish that believers from the Gentiles, unencumbered by subjection to the Law, were under the New Covenant genuine Israelites, and not merely associates, resident aliens.”
(Hugh J. Schonfield, The Jew of Tarsus, page 191 bottom paragraph. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947)
Although there is much to disagree with in regards to many of Schonfield’s assertions, he is correct here when writing about Gentile full admission into the nation of Israel. Additionally Schonfield actually believed that Gentiles who came to faith in Christ were now full fledge Israelites with natural born Jews, and had become by virtue of the new birth and water baptism, naturalized citizens of Israel, an interesting interpretation to the Apostle Paul’s inspired writings on it the the topic. Schonfield writes:
“Few Christians now accept the teaching of Paul; for if they did they would have to hold not only the identity of the Church and Israel, but that all who become Christians immediately surrender their former nationality in favour of Israelite nationality. According to Paul, if you are a Christian you belong to another nation with another allegiance spiritually and actually, and in the country of your birth or choice your status is that of friendly alien. If the Church had followed Paul we should see it to-day as a distinct nation, and not simply as a distinct religion. Baptism is more than an act of faith, it is a rite of naturalization. Paul’s demand, put plainly, was ‘Equal Israelite citizenship for all Ex-Gentiles on terms of faith in Jesus the Messiah.’”
(Hugh J. Schonfield, The Jew of Tarsus, page 196-197. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947)
Though it bears deeper scrutiny to what the Scriptures teach about this aspect of the Gospel; this is not a far cry from what the writer to the Letter to the Hebrews posits under divine inspiration, where after summing up the lives of great men and women of God who had come before him, he writes:
All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be (called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
(Hebrews 11:13-16)
And the greatest prophet who ever lived, John the Baptist, bore witness that Jesus would save Jews and Gentiles of their sins. The Scriptures record the moment, again from John’s Gospel:
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
(John 1:29)
And additionally we have the story of the centurion’s servant who was deathly ill, who was healed by Jesus. This man was a Gentile slave of a Gentile – a Roman, a Centurion no less – who petitioned Jewish leaders to approach the Lord Jesus for his servant’s healing. Now before anyone comes forward with the claim that Jesus only healed this servant because the leaders from the Jews approached Him with the Roman’s request, understand that the Lord Jesus did not heal this man because a group of Jewish leaders were the ones who petition on the Centurion’s behalf, although it can be said that they did petition on behalf of the Centurion. It was not for their sakes that He healed the man, but because of the great faith the Centurion displayed, for Jesus said of him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” (Luke 7:19) Our Lord granted this righteous Gentile his request and healed his servant. We read in Luke’s Gospel:
When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum. And a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.” Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
(Luke 7:1-19)
Matthew’s version of this story has the Centurion approaching Jesus for his servant’s healing, which we may surmise happened minutes after our Lord arrived on the scene, and the Centurion who was waiting was told by his servants that Jesus had come. This is how Mathew’s Gospel relates the story to us:
And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed that very moment.
(Matthew 8:5-13)
Not only did Jesus grant the Centurion’s request by healing his servant, but He did so after the Centurion himself approached Him with this request. We first see the Centurion make his request through the agency of the Jewish leadership of Capernaum. They approach the Lord Jesus with their petition on the Centurion’s behalf, and Jesus grants it, but when Jesus arrives on the scene, the Centurion approaches the Lord and repeats his request to Him – perhaps not realizing yet that the request has already been granted by the Lord – because he is not inside his house but outside with the Lord Jesus, and not in his servant’s room to know about his recovery.
The point is, though the petition had been given by the Jewish leadership on behalf of the Centurion, and granted by the Lord, when Jesus arrived on the scene, the Roman Centurion left his house and approached the Lord Jesus Himself, because he still believed himself unworthy that the Lord should enter his residence, and we see in Matthew’s Gospel that the Lord Jesus granted this man his request and healed his slave.
This occurred before the cross by the way, for the cross awaited the Lord Jesus, but God’s plan extended from the cross to the past and into the future, because it was established before time itself by God Himself – and how do we know this? Because God had established it before the foundation of the world was laid. Elsewhere in his Gospel, Matthew records that Jesus healed the people of the regions of Syria, Galilee, the Decapolis, and Jerusalem and Judea.
The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
(Matthew 4:24-25)
Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”
(John 12:20-26)
And I quote the following from a web site, because I could not have explained it better. It is the story of the Canaanite woman who approached the Lord Jesus, begging for her demon-possessed daughter. I quote:
B. Jesus answers a Gentile’s request.
1. (21-22) Jesus is met with a request from a Gentile woman.
Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
a. To the region of Tyre and Sidon: Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities, located some 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. Jesus went all this way to meet this one Gentile woman’s need. This shows remarkable and unexpected love from Jesus to this woman of Canaan.
i. “Matthew’s used of the old term ‘Canaanite’ shows that he cannot forget her ancestry: now a descendant of Israel’s ancient enemies comes to the Jewish Messiah for blessing.” (Carson)
ii. It was especially unlikely for Jesus to go to the region of Tyre and Sidon. “Even at that time, or not much later, Josephus could write: ‘Of the Phoenicians, the Tyrians have the most ill-feeling towards us.’” (Barclay)
iii. “Let us always plow to the very end of the field, and serve our day and generation to the extreme limits of our sphere.” (Spurgeon)
b. Have mercy on me . . . My daughter is severely demon-possessed: This woman came to intercede for her daughter, and she provided a picture of an effective intercessor – her great need taught her how to pray. When she came to Jesus she made her daughter’s needs her own.
c. Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! This Gentile woman also understood who Jesus was. Many of Jesus’ own countrymen didn’t know who Jesus was, but this woman of Canaan knew.
i. Perhaps this woman knew that Jesus had healed Gentiles before (Matthew 4:24-25; 8:5-13). Yet what made this encounter unique is that Jesus did those miracles as Gentiles came to Him in Jewish territory. Here, Jesus came to Gentile territory and met this woman.
2. (23-24) Jesus’ cold response to the request of the Gentile woman.
But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
a. But He answered her not a word: Though the Gentile mother interceded for her daughter, Jesus did not immediately give her an encouraging reply. His reticence drew a more energetic and faith-filled response from the Gentile woman.
i. “As Augustine says, ‘The Word spoke not a word,’ and that was so unlike him. He who was always so ready with responses to the cry of grief had no response for her.” (Spurgeon)
b. Send her away, for she cries out after us: It is likely that the disciples meant, “Send her away by giving her what she wants.” It is entirely possible that they just wanted her to go away, and the easiest way was for Jesus to fix her problem.
i. Send her away: “The same verb in Luke 2:29 applies to a dismissal with desire satisfied.” (France)
ii. Matthew Poole observed that some Roman Catholics look to this as an example of bringing prayers to saints, so that they would intercede on our behalf. “How many of the papists think that this text patronizeth their invocation of saints departed I cannot tell, for these disciples were alive, and we do not read that she spake to any of them to intercede for her.” (Poole)
c. I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel: Jesus defined the focus of His mission of to His irritated disciples and to the Gentile woman. He made it clear that He was not sent to Gentiles like her.
i. It is fair to ask whether Jesus meant the lost sheep among the house of Israel, or meant to say that Israel as a whole were lost sheep. Jesus’ instructions to His disciples in Matthew 10:6 (“go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”) would seem to imply the latter.
3. (25-27) The Gentile woman’s persistent appeal to Jesus.
Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
a. Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” She responded to the rebuff from Jesus with increased dedication to prevail with her request. In so doing, the Gentile woman continued to show what a dedicated intercessor does.
i. “She could not solve the problems of the destiny of her race, and of the Lord’s commission; but she could pray. . . . If, as a Shepherd, he may not gather her, yet, as Lord, he may help her.” (Spurgeon)
ii. “Herein she reads us all a lesson. If we have had no answer to our pleading, do not give up, but go nearer to Christ.” (Spurgeon)
iii. “I urge you who seek the conversion of others to follow her example. Notice, she did not pray, ‘Lord, help my daughter;’ but, ‘Lord, help me.’” (Spurgeon)
iv. “I commend this prayer to you because it such a handy prayer. You can use it when you are in a hurry, you can use it when you are in a fright, you can use it when you have not time to bow your knee. You can use it in the pulpit if you are going to preach, you can use it when you are opening your shop, you can use it when you are rising in the morning. It is such a handy prayer that I hardly know any position in which you could not pray it: ‘Lord, help me.’” (Spurgeon)
b. It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs: Jesus continued to say discouraging things to the woman, yet this was not quite as severe as it might first sound. When Jesus called her one of the little dogs, He used little as a way to soften the harshness of calling her a dog. This softened the traditional Jewish slur towards Gentiles, which called them dogs in the most derogatory sense.
i. We are at the great disadvantage of not hearing the tone of Jesus’ voice as He spoke to this woman. We suspect that His tone was not harsh; we rather suspect that it was winsome with the effect of inviting greater faith from the woman. It is possible to speak harsh words in a playful or winsome manner.
ii. “Its harshest word [dogs] contains a loophole. [Dogs] does not compare Gentiles to the dogs without, in the street, but to the household dogs belonging to the family, which have their portion though not the children’s.” (Bruce)
c. Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table: The woman responded with great faith. She admitted her low estate, and did not debate the issue when Jesus called her one of the little dogs. She did not demand to be seen as a child; but only to be blessed as a dog.
i. It was as if she said, “Jesus, I understand that the primary focus of Your ministry is to the Jews – that they have a special place in God’s redemptive plan. Yet I also understand that Your ministry extends beyond the Jewish people, and I want to be part of that extended blessing.”
ii. Her response is especially meaningful in light of the increasing rejection of Jesus by the Jewish religious leaders. It was as if the woman said, “I’m not asking for the portion that belongs to the children, just the crumbs that they don’t want.” In the flow of Matthew’s gospel, there was more and more that the Jewish religious establishment did not want to receive.
iii. These were two faith-filled words: Yet even. She accepted Jesus’ description and asked for mercy despite it – or perhaps because of it. “She would not give over, though he gave her three repulses. So as she said, like Jacob, I will not thee go, until thou bless me. And as he, like a prince, so she, like a princess, prevailed with God and obtained the thing which she desired.” (Poole)
iv. “Dear friend, possibly someone has whispered in your ear, ‘Suppose you are not one of the elect.’ Well, that was very much what our Lord’s expression meant to her. She was not one of the chosen people, and she had heard Christ say, ‘I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ Notice that this woman does not battle with that truth at all, she does not raise any question about it; she wisely waives it, and she just goes on praying, ‘Lord, help me! Lord, have mercy upon me!’ I invite you, dear friend, to do just the same.” (Spurgeon)
4. (28) Jesus rewards the great faith of the Gentile woman.
Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
a. Then Jesus answered: Finally, the woman will receive and encouraging word from Jesus.
b. O woman, great is your faith! Jesus never said this to another person. He complimented the great faith of the Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant (Matthew 8:10), but He said it to the crowd, not to the centurion directly. This Gentile woman heard it from Jesus directly.
i. Significantly, the only two people to receive this compliment from Jesus were these Gentiles. This shows us that:
• Great faith may be found in unexpected places – not merely Gentiles, but a centurion and a woman!
• Great faith is sometimes measured from its disadvantages. Their faith was great because it did not have the advantage of being nourished by the institutions of Judaism.
• Faith is often greatest when it is expressed on behalf of someone else’s need.
ii. Great is your faith! “No-one else receives from Jesus the accolade.” (France)
c. O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire: Her faith was great enough to receive her request – what she desired from Jesus.
• Her faith was great, even compared to her other virtues. She was humble, she was patient, she was persevering, she cared for her child. Yet Jesus didn’t compliment any of these good things, but only her faith.
• Her faith was great because it was unlikely. No one might have expected a Gentile to trust Jesus so much.
• Her faith was great because she worshipped Jesus even before she had an answer from him.
• Her faith was great because it had been tested so severely. It’s hard to think of a greater test than a demon possessed child; but her faith was also tried by the seeming indifference or coldness to Jesus.
• Her faith was great because it was clever. She turned Jesus’ word inside-out and made what might have been taken as an insult as a door open for faith.
• Her faith was great because it concerned a need right in front of her, and a real need at that. Many people have faith for everything except those things that are right in front of them.
• Her faith was great because it would not give up. She did not stop until she got what she needed from Jesus.
• You could say that her faith conquered Jesus. He not only healed her daughter but He did so immediately, something that she had not even asked for.
i. We read of nothing else that Jesus did during this time in Tyre and Sidon. It would seem that His only divine appointment was to meet the need of this woman of faith and her afflicted daughter.
Was is the point of all of these stories? That the Lord Jesus not only granted the request of Gentiles before His cross, but that He did so in contrast to what the critics of The Harbinger make pertaining to America and the American people with regards to God; that according to these critics of The Harbinger, America and its people, do not have a covenant with God, and therefore should not be equated with the conditions God sets forth with Israel with whom He established His covenant. These passages of Scripture makes it clear that not only does God hear the prayers and petitions of Gentiles – non-Jews – people with whom God had no covenant established; but that He answers their prayers and petitions when they’re made in faith to God through Jesus Christ the Lord. What’s more, God has already initiated this through His cross, even before the foundation of the world was laid, long before all the covenants and the people they affected came into being.
This is how everyone who invokes the name of Christ and believes in that name for salvation and blessings from the God of heaven (John 1:12-13), will be heard and answered regardless of whether they are Abraham’s natural descendant through Isaac or Ishmael, or not of Abraham’s stock; regardless of national origin, ethnicity, race, or even affiliation of any type – all who come to God through Christ and invoke that name to seek God’s pleasure and His blessing shall not by any means be turned away. Christ Himself affirmed this and so do the Scriptures. (John 6:37, 39, 17:2, ) This is because all things have been given into Christ’s hand. (John 3:35)
Indeed, in the Psalms we see the Psalmist admonishing the rulers and leaders of the Gentile nations of the earth in the following manner:
Now therefore, O kings, show discernment;
Take warning, O judges of the earth.
Worship the Lord with reverence
And rejoice with trembling.
Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may [n]soon be kindled.
How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!
(Psalm 2:10-12)
The Psalm cited above is preceded where the nations of the earth – those who do not have a covenant relationship with the God of Israel – the Gentile nations – are devising a vain thing as they take their stand against the Lord and His Messiah, wishing to break themselves from God’s influence and authority. The Psalmist has them saying: “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” (Psalm 2:1-3) But it is God who has the last and final word in this, for He has installed His King – Christ on David’s Throne, (Psalm 2:4-6) and promises the nations as an inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as His possession. (Psalm 2:7-9)
It is the promise made to Abraham that the inheritance of Christ would be shared by those who come to faith in Him, for we are from every nation under heaven and share in this inheritance through our faith in Christ. Need I say more? It is clear that all who come to God through Christ, invoking His name in prayer for blessing, or repentance, for wisdom, for counsel, for anything that God can bestow upon them will be heard and not turned away. This is how the prayers of a people, indeed of a nation is heard and answered by the God of Israel, who is the God of all the Creation. This is how the people of Nineveh – a people with no covenant relationship with God, indeed a people who by and large were pagan – were warned by God of their eminent destruction without even a word of mercy from the prophet, for he declared to them, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” (Jonah 3:4), and when they – from the greatest to the least of them – repented, they were forgiven and that generation was spared the wrath of Almighty God. (Jonah 3:5-10)
This is what The Harbinger is all about; it is a warning to this nation that must be heeded by God’s people, and if possible by all Americans, and we must turn to Him in individual and national repentance. It is a warning with a promise of restoration given via topical teachings, put into the form of a novel, which the critics of Pastor and Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn have lambasted hermeneutically because they have taken it to be something it is not; doctrine.
The Harbinger like it or not, is a prophetic warning that Cessationists will simply not accept, just as they reject any and all manifestations of God because of their belief. The same people who have trouble accepting this or any other prophetic warning, or teaching will have a lot of trouble with the appearance of God’s two witnesses during the Great Tribulation; oh, but yes, they believe that they won’t be around to see this when it happens, so they won’t have to struggle with their disbelief, oh excuse me; their Cessationist clash with the prophetic witnesses who will appear to the world in those days.
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