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DISPENSATIONAL
DISINTEGRATION
(PART
1) (PART 2) (PART 3)
THE NEW
COVENANT'S
Relationship
To
Israel
and the Church
by
Evangelist Fred Diven
critiqued by
MILES J. STANFORD -- September 1993
DISPENSATIONAL
DISINTEGRATION
It is essential to have
a clear concept of Israel's New Covenant. Fred Diven, Field Evangelist for
The Friends of Israel, gives us just that in the current Aug.-Sept. issue of
their magazine, Israel My Glory, pp. 19-21:
ISRAEL'S NEW COVENANT
-- In the eighth
century B.C., the Prophet Hosea was the first to speak of the New Covenant
that someday would replace the other covenants. In the year 597, after
the majority of Jerusalem's population had been taken captive to Babylon (Jer.
29:1,2), God revealed through Jeremiah further details of His New Covenant
(Jer. 31:31-34). This is the key OT passage concerning the New Covenant,
although other references in the OT are equally as explicit.
More than a
century before Jeremiah, Isaiah declared that God would "make an
everlasting covenant with them" (Isa. 61:8,9). Israel anticipated an
everlasting covenant that would result in the world's recognition of the
people of Israel as a special people of God. The context of Isaiah's
prophecy, like that of Jeremiah's, affirms that the fulfillment of the
covenant will follow a time of sorrow and difficulty for Israel and will
involve the regathering of the Jewish people to their own land (Jer.
32:37-41).
The prophet
Ezekiel, writing after Jeremiah and during the Babylonian captivity, confirmed
the New Covenant and gave additional details, referring to it as "a
covenant of peace" and "an everlasting covenant" (Ezek.
37:21-28). Ezekiel's statements concerning the New Covenant are so
specific that it is obvious that they have not been fulfilled up to the
present time.
The provisions of
the New Covenant are detailed in Jeremiah 31, where God declared that He would
"make a new covenant with the house of Israel" (vs. 31). This
covenant is in contrast to the Mosaic Covenant given by God to the Israelites
after they came out of Egypt (vs. 32). In the New Covenant God declared,
"I will put My law in their inward parts [mind], and write it in their
hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be My people" (vs.
33). In verse 34, He indicated that He would "forgive their
iniquity, and... remember their sin no more."
The provisions of
the New Covenant are so detailed that it is apparent to any careful observer
that it has never been fulfilled in the past and is not being fulfilled at
present. God promised that Israel will be regathered following His
judgment of them, and they will return to their ancient land "to dwell
safely" (Jer. 31:37-41).
This everlasting
Covenant promises that God "will not turn away from doing them good"
(vs. 40). At the conclusion of the Covenant He stated, "I will
plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole
soul" (vs. 41).
The NT references
to Israel's New Covenant point to a future fulfillment. In Romans 11:26,
the Apostle Paul wrote, "And so all Israel shall be saved."
This passage helps to date the time of the fulfillment of the New Covenant by
pointing to the time of Christ's return as their "Deliverer."
One of the prominent NT
references to the New Covenant is found in Hebrews 8.
The writer stated that the New Covenant is better than the Mosaic Covenant.
In verse 6 he wrote, "He [Christ] obtained a more excellent ministry, by
how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established
on better promises."
Hebrews 10:16,17
also refers to the New Covenant. The details relate primarily to
Israel's future in the Millennial Kingdom, when the nation will experience
spiritual revival. The knowledge of Christ will be universal, because He
will be bodily on the earth. Israelites will be regathered to their own
land and will fulfill God's program during the Millennial Kingdom (pp. 19-21).
So far, fine! It
is to be expected that one in Jewish evangelism would doctrinally establish
Israel's New Covenant, unfulfilled to date, to be fulfilled for Israel in her
future Millennial Kingdom. All evangelical dispensationalists do
the same.
THE BIG LIE! -- But
it amounts to a prevarication! They all in the face of and despite
their doctrinal stand concerning Israel's New Covenant,
compromise, capitulate, and crash! They all (with the possible
exception of Dr. Walvoord, with his recent discovery--see our "Kingdom
Bound," pp. 5,6) relate the heavenly Church to Israel's earthly New
Covenant.
If there should be a
professor in the evangelical seminaries who has not thus betrayed the Church,
let him come forth from his doctrinal closet and clearly and honestly say
so...20 years too late! Yes, they have all followed the following:
The NT indicates
that the church is also related to the New Covenant. There are five
direct NT references to the New Covenant: Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2
Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 8:8; 9:15. In these passages the word testament
is synonymous with the word covenant.
There are a number
of other NT references to the New Covenant, and some do not use the word new:
Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Romans 11:27; Hebrews 8:10,13; 10:16; 12:24.
Although the OT is silent concerning the relationship of the New Covenant to
the church [and well it might be!], several NT passages seem [emphasis
ours] to indicate that the church is related to it (p. 21).
REPROBATE RELATIONSHIP
-- This erroneous relating of
Israel's New Covenant to the Church has opened the door to the devastation of
the Charismatic, the Covenant, and contemporary Progressive. But according
to the rightly divided Word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15)--according to Paul--you
cannot relate that which is heavenly (Grace) to that which is earthly (Law).
As the Father has
wrought for us on the Cross, and delivered us from every atom of sin in
Christ, so He will not allow us to mix one earthly or legal element with the
revelation of His grace, which He has made ours in redemption, and
proclaimed to us by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. --Wm. Kelly (NT
Lectures II:177)
And how does Mr. Diven
(as all the rest) proceed to relate the heavenly Church to earthly Israel via
the New Covenant?:
First,
the church participates in the communion service that Jesus established in the
upper room on the night before His Calvary experience (Lu. 22:19,20; 1
Cor. 11:23-30). When Jesus instituted the Lord's table, He said
concerning the cup, "This cup is the new testament
in My blood" (Lu. 22:20). Obviously, Jesus
was stating that the communion cup represents the New Covenant that God
promised to Israel in the OT, indicating that the church partakes of that
Covenant (p. 21).
THE EVERLASTING
COVENANT -- This application of
Israel's New Covenant is sheer error, the error that has broken the back of
Dispensationalism. The Church partakes of nothing from Israel's New
Covenant, nor does His Bride have any need there from.
The Church's
relation to the shed Blood of the Cross is based upon Hebrews 13:20: "Now
the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
Shepherd of the sheep, through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant."
What will Israel's
benefit be from the Blood of her New Covenant? "I will forgive their
iniquity," and "I will cleanse them" (Jer. 31:34; Ezek.
37:23). That is the total benefit of the Blood to future kingdom Israel,
from their New Covenant.
And what are the
Church's benefits now and forever, from the Blood of the Everlasting
Covenant? "But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off
are made nigh by the Blood of Christ." "Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus" (Eph.
2:13; Heb. 10:19). That benefit of the Blood Israel will never
know, nor even approximate.
The same Blood
was shed for both the Church and Israel, but not the same results for
each. From the precious Blood of the Lamb the
Christian receives infinitely more than Israel will ever
have, whether as eternal citizens of earthly-kingdom Jerusalem,
or as guests in the Church's heavenly Jerusalem.
Second,
the church partakes of the many spiritual blessings God promised as part of
the New Covenant in the OT. For instance, [1] Christians have
regeneration (Titus 3:5), [2] received forgiveness of sin (Eph. 1:7; 4:32;
Col. 1:14), [3] been indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19), and [4]
received a new nature (Rom. 7:22; 2 Cor. 3:3; 2 Peter 1:4).
INCOMPARABLE CHURCH -- None
of the above spiritual blessings to Christians has anything to do with either
the OT, or the New Covenant!
"The Church
partakes of the many spiritual blessings God promised as part of the New
Covenant in the OT."
The OT neither contains nor reveals any of the Church's spiritual
blessings. All concerning the Church was hidden in God, and revealed to
Paul by the glorified Son. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). Of
this Israel will know nothing--except to be in awe of, and admire, the heavenly
Church. Forever!
[1] "Christians
have regeneration." The Christian is re-created in Christ
glorified, and his life is "hidden with Christ in God" (Col.
3:3). This is never revealed in the OT or the New Covenant, and never
experienced by Israel.
[2] "Received
forgiveness of sin." A common mistake. Sin (the
principle) was not forgiven, but condemned (Rom. 8:3). The Christian's sins
were forgiven past, present, and future (Rom. 3:25; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14).
The believing sinner was crucified (Gal. 2:20), re-created in Christ (2 Cor.
5:17), and seated in the heavenlies in Him (Eph. 2:5,6). All of which the
kingdom Jew will never have, his New Covenant notwithstanding.
[3] "Been
indwelt by the Holy Spirit." The indwelling Holy Spirit is the
"Spirit of life" in the Christian (Rom. 8:3), and that life is
expressed by means of the "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22,23).
The gifts of the Spirit are also made available to the Christian by His
indwelling (1 Cor. 12-14).
In complete contrast to
that which the Christian has by the indwelling Spirit of Christ, the kingdom Jew
will have, not the Lord Jesus Christ in his heart, but the kingdom law,
causing him to live under the reign of the King and His Bride, the Church,
according to the laws of the Theocratic Kingdom. "I will put My
Spirit within you [Israel], and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall
keep Mine ordinances, and do them" (Ezek. 36:27).
[4] "Received a
new nature." The Christian receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his
Christian life, and the nature of that Life is divine (Col. 3:3,4). As for
the Jew, he will receive that which is necessary for his life in the earthly
kingdom. He will have life from Christ, but not in Christ,
nor the life of Christ. "A new heart also will I give you, and
a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26). The
Church is heavenly; Israel is earthly.
Third, the
Apostle Paul indicated that the apostles of the church functioned as ministers
of the New Covenant (2 Cor. 3:6). Paul claimed to be a competent
minister of the New Covenant.
HEAVEN-POSITIONED PAUL
-- What a travesty, what a
let-down! Paul's ministry to the Gentiles (Gal. 3:6,8), and to the Church,
was not drawn from Israel's future kingdom New Covenant. Paul's ministry
was centered in the Everlasting Covenant (new in time) of Hebrews
13:20,21! He received his Gospel of the grace of God (I Cor. 15:3,4) by direct
revelation from the ascended and glorified Lord Jesus Christ.
"I make known to
you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not after
man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it [by
Jeremiah or Ezekiel], but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal.
1:11,12).
"Now to Him that
is of power to establish you according to my Gospel, and the preaching
of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept
secret [Israel's New Covenant was well known from the eighth century B.C.]
since the world began" (Rom. 16:25).
"If ye
have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me toward
you, how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery...which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men...unto me...is
this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the
mystery, which from the beginning of the ages hath been hidden in
God...to the intent that now, unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the Church
[not kingdom Israel] the manifold wisdom of God" (Eph. 3:2,3,5,8-10).
Paul ministering
Israel's earthly New Covenant to the heavenly Church! The very idea!
The absolute best of Israel's New Covenant would leave the Christian spiritually
impoverished!
MESSIANIC MESS -- To
relate the Church to Israel's New Covenant opens the Church to Israel's Synoptic
Gospels and their Sermon on the Mount. This tends to make Messianic Jews
out of Jewish converts.
On page 7 of the
present issue of Israel My Glory is a Special Report by Will Varner,
titled "Jewish Believers Test the Law of Return." In this he
recounts the experience of Gary and Shirley Bereford, Jewish believers since
1985. They are seeking, in vain, to become citizens of Israel, and
recognized Israel's. Christians, seeking to "out-Jewish" the Israelis!
The Berefords
[Christians] consider themselves to be Jews and are far more observant of
Jewish law and tradition than the majority of their secular Israeli
neighbors. They celebrate Jewish holidays and keep the Sabbath and
dietary laws.
But such
observance and patriotism make no difference to the high court. Justice
Menachem Elon declared, "In the last two thousand years of history...the
Jewish people had decided that Messianic Jews do not belong to the Jewish
nation and have no right to force themselves on it."
Poor souls! They
know not their heavenly citizenship in Christ, and they cannot obtain earthly
Israeli citizenship. All because they were led to the Jew's Messiah,
instead of the sinner's Saviour, the ascended Lord Jesus Christ!
Mr. Diven speaks for
all evangelicalism in his closing statement of error:
National Israel
failed to enter into their New Covenant relationship with God at the Messiah's
First Coming. During this present era of Israel's blindness, the Church
is being grafted into a place where they can partake of the spiritual
blessings of the New Covenant (p. 21).
NOTHING BUT NOTHING! --
The Church is grafted into nothing!
She is heavenly, positioned in union with Christ in the Holiest of All,
now. There is nothing that Israel will have in the
"grounded" New Covenant that the ascended Church will ever need!
Nothing,
all ministries to the Jews; nothing, Evangelicalism; nothing, Fundamentalism;
nothing, Covenant-conquered Dallas Theological Seminary; nothing,
Neo-Dispensationalist Saucy-Bock-Blaising & Co; nothing, IFCA; nothing,
whoever else out there!
So much as touch
Israel at any point, past, present, or future, and you have violated the
rightly-divided Word of truth and its Pauline Dispensationalism.
POST MORTEM -- As
so often happens, a letter arrived today (September 4) related to the subject at
hand. It is from a pastor who took a course at Dallas this
summer toward the Master's degree. The subject was
Eschatology, taught by one Dr. Craig A. Blaising. The letter reads as
follows:
I am sure you are
aware of the influence and impact Dr. Blaising exerts upon the lives of the
young students. He has broken down and dismantled the truth that
Dispensationalism has been built upon. Meticulously, he has replaced it
all with his two-aspect teaching of the one plan of redemption for both Israel
and the Church, along with his one New Covenant of Israel, with dual
application.
My few attempts at
in-classroom refutation of his Progressive Dispensationalism were met with
quick diversions. At the conclusion of the two-week course, the
classroom students gave him an enthusiastic round of applause as a few
attempted to rally a standing ovation in tribute to his "victory"
over the "old and worn-out views" of Darby, Scofield, and Chafer.
I think Dr.
Blaising's attacks upon Classic Dispensationalism have frightened and cowed
those who have never really been established or grounded in true Pauline
Dispensationalism. I further believe that one of his delights is to
expose the errors and mis-emphasized teachings or shortcomings of some of the
past and present dispensationalists, and thereby attempt to discredit and
replace true dispensationalism with his progressive type.
I do believe that Dr.
Blaising knows the power and influence he has been given--the liberty, if you
will, to indoctrinate the totally ignorant and unsuspecting students who are
now passing through the halls of Dallas Theological Seminary.
Few objections
were raised against his Covenant teaching by the students who filled
the class. I sincerely wonder if it was even possible for them to
object, in view of the present decline and disrepute in
which Dispensationalism finds itself. Dr.'s
Walvoord, Pentecost, and Campbell may deny such a departure has
occurred since the homegoing of Dr. Chafer, but I cannot.
RUINOUS REVERSAL -- To
reduce the heavenly Bride to an earthly level in effect demotes the glorified
Last Adam to the earthly status of the innocent first Adam--the
Adam who was but "the figure of Him that was to come" (Rom.
5:14).
Actually,
Covenant theology, of which all evangelicalism is permeated today, heads either toward
Israel's New Covenant kingdom, or back to unfallen Adam and his Edenic
kingdom. Anywhere but up! And that despite Paul's blessed
instruction to "seek those things above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye died, and your life is
hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:1-3).
Arthur W. Pink and John
Owen were two Covenant worthies who would consign the heavenly Church to Adam's
earthly Eden:
ARTHUR PINK:
Now the miracle
of grace is God's answer to man's ruination of himself, his begun reversal
[emphasis ours] of what happened to him at the Fall. The very fact that
Christ is denominated "the last Adam" implies that He came to right
the wrong wrought by the first Adam--though only so far as the elect are
concerned [Covenant limited atonement].
Hence we find Him
saying by the Spirit of prophecy, "I restored that which I took not
away" (Ps. 69:4). Suffice it now to say that He recovered both unto
God and His people what had been lost by Adam's defection--to the One His
manifestive honor and glory; to the other, the Holy Spirit and holiness in their
hearts.
At regeneration they
began to be restored to their pristine purity or brought back to their
original state [emphasis ours]. Therefore it is that the great change
is spoken of as the "renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5),
that is, a renovating and restoring of spiritual life to the soul (Practical
Christianity, p. 84).
JOHN OWEN:
For in the restoration
of these abilities unto our minds in our renovation unto the image of God in
the Gospel, it is plainly asserted that the Holy Spirit is the imparter of
them, and He doth thereby restore His own work. For in the new creation
the Father designs it and brings all things unto a head in Christ, which retrieves
His original work (Discourse on the Holy Spirit, chap. 4).
TRUTH PURLOINED -- There
are contemporary leaders who would seek to attach the identification truths to
their error-ridden ministries, without forsaking their aberrations. Some
are demonists, such as Dickason and Anderson; one-naturists, such as Solomon and
George; and even some Covenantists, such as Gothard--of whom, typical of all the
others, a correspondent wrote:
The first time I
heard the identification truths at a Gothard seminar was in May of 1982.
Bill taught the truths in a seven-step approach. [Not twelve?!] He
told the crowd that if any of the seven steps were not acted upon one could
not expect victory over sin. This is typical, as Bill is a collector.
During the sin-crisis
of BIYC several of the staff were reading Nee's book The Normal Christian
Life. One of the staff was being groomed to replace Bill should the
need occur due to the crisis. This brother did all the video
seminars. He met with Bill one Sunday and shared how he saw the
Institute endorsing the law instead of grace. Others shared this same
burden with Bill, and out of all that he developed the seven (who can argue
with the perfect number?) steps.
Many have told me how
excited they were that Bill was teaching Romans Six, and I hoped that God was
turning the scandal around. But I was disappointed when I heard
first-hand what was being taught. Bill makes the truths of
Identification a human activity--more of a formula than a living truth.
And I am afraid that these liberating truths are no more than another subject
in his file. Our identification with Christ in His death, resurrection
and ascension is not the central truth of Bill's legal teaching, but just
another truth. [Postmodernism?]
If Christians knew who
and where they are in Christ glorified, they would stand up to, and cry
down these doctrinal detractors whom they have as leaders. The Church
needs a few William Kellys today:
WILLIAM KELLY:
The Father would
associate us with His Son (that is, of course, in everything that is
consistent with the maintenance of His divine glory).
J. G. BELLETT:
The Church is
"the Body of Christ" and "the Bride of Christ." The
first of these titles telling us that she is set in the very highest place of
honor; the second of them telling us that she is set also in the dearest and
most intimate position of personal affection and relationships.
She is made,
moreover, to the creation of God, to the principalities and powers in heavenly
places, the great witness, the only adequate witness, of grace, glory, and
wisdom; of the exceeding riches of grace, of the praise of glory, and of the
manifold resources and secrets of wisdom (Paul's Apostleship, p.
88).
It is not in the
heavens above, nor on the earth beneath, nor in angels themselves, bright
witnesses as they are of creature power, that the character and ways of the
Father will be manifested in the ages to come: it is in the new redeemed
creation in Christ, in the Church and by the Church, that the Father's
manifold wisdom will be known.
In the Church,
brightest emanation of the Divine mind, masterpiece of His handiwork, every
perfection of light and glory and beauty shall be displayed; otherwise she
would be unworthy of her high destiny as His Beloved's glorious Bride.
The depths and
heights of the grace and love and power of the Father will never be known to
the heavenly hosts, till they behold the Church, chosen from Adam's ruined and
apostate race, not only brought into the closest and sweetest intimacy of
sonship to the Father, but exalted to the highest dignity in heaven, and
partaker of the ineffable glory of her glorified Head in heaven, the Lord
Jesus Christ. --Selected
GEORGE V. WIGRAM:
"Blessed
with all spiritual blessings in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). What are
those spiritual blessings? Not the golden city, but we find that we are
brought so near to Christ that everything we need we have in Him [thank you
just the same, Jeremiah and Ezekiel]. That the Father can look on us
with the same delight as on His Son because we are hidden in Him. He
cannot stop the flow of His affection and delight in Christ,
and so it flows on us. We are before the Father in
all the completeness of Christ's work in the removal of
everything He had against us (Gleanings, p. 208).
Find an atom of that in Israel's
New Covenant!
"And hath raised
us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus;
that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6,7).
ABIDE ABOVE! -- Is
it asking too much, something unscriptural or unPauline, to
suggest that you, dear "brethren of the cloth," desist from this
pre-occupation with earthly kingdom Israel?
Will you not find and take your
scriptural position, seated in Christ at the Father's
right hand, and lovingly and doctrinally draw the law-logged Church thereto?
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