Bible Believers' Newsletter #104
"We focus on the PRESENT Truth -- what Jesus is doing NOW . . ." ISSN 1442-8660
We greet you in the wonderful Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and may you prosper in the faith this New Year.
A special welcome to our new subscribers. Please forward a copy of this Newsletter to friends and acquaintances whom you feel may like to subscribe.
This newsletter serves those of like precious faith and whosoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Your brother-in-Christ . . . Anthony
The Chosen People
Revelation 18:4, "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues."
Luke 19:9-10, "Jesus said to Zacchaeus, 'Today salvation is come to your house, forsomuch as you also are a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost'."
God is a separator. The Bible is the story of God separating His Own from the world unto Himself by revealing His unchanging Word to an election foreknown from the foundation of the world, having such faith as would transform their lives into written epistles of the Word God promised to perform in their day.
The Bible foretells how these individuals would recognize THEIR day and ITS Message, acting It out in their lives in fulfillment of current Bible prophecy. The evidence of their redemption. The Bible is God's thoughts expressed, which is His Word.
The Greek word "logos", means "thought in speech" or concept. God's elect receive the Logos (Word) not simply by hearing, but by understanding God's thoughts. God's thoughts are eternal. They are real and unchanging. They will come to pass in their designated, decreed season and time and are the attributes or qualities of His nature and character.
In our English Bibles "logos" is translated "Word". And to confuse matters, the Greek words "agapello" meaning news or report, "epo", to speak or command, and "rhema", meaning an intelligent message, are also translated word.
The non-elect receive not the Logos. At best they hear "Agapello", "epo", or "rhema" -- the letter WITHOUT the Spirit. The most diligent among them have learning or education without knowledge.
Education is mental or moral training by formal schooling, or study. However, God is building His kingdom on Godly knowledge which is awareness, consciousness and discernment of His living Word, which is faith.
Obedient faith in the PRESENT Truth separates God's elect from the world, transforming His thoughts recorded as Words into the living Body-Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. This baptism with the Holy Spirit that places us into Christ, the new birth and guarantee of our redemption (I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 4:30).
To redeem is to "buy back that which was lost". And the only thing belonging to God that was lost was His Word. Adam was God's Word. In every Age God sent forth a portion of His Word to call fallen sons of Adam Home just as He called our first parents after the Fall (Genesis 3:8-9). As many of Adam's children who hear His Word are "called" and become responsible to God for what they do with It, determining their eternal destiny by their own choosing. Many are called but few are chosen.
The "Chosen People" are they who hear what His Voice is calling in THEIR day and see THAT part of the Word living through them. These are the redeemed and, since Pentecost, "Abraham's seed".
Now since the revelation of the Seven Seals in 1963 "FINISHED the mystery of God" (Revelation 10:7; Acts 3:21), from the Serpent's seed and original sin to the eternal security of the believer, NOT as Baptists and others preach, "when" they believe, but AFTER they believe AND have faith in the PRESENT Truth which is the new birth (Ephesians 1:13; Acts 2:38; 19:2); the true oneness of the godhead - away from Trinitarian, Unitarian and "Jesus Only" guesswork back to genuine Bible faith from Genesis to Revelation; Scriptural water baptism; marriage and divorce and ALL of the other mysteries pertaining to how Christ redeemed His Bride in each Age and who they are.
HOW Christ redeemed His elect Church and WHO the saints are? Yes, for God could only redeem His Word, that is the, Attributes of the Logos, which is HIMSELF, the Holy Spirit, expressed in a form we can by faith receive. So if we know which part of His Word God was manifesting in each Age, we can know the ones He redeemed in that Age, whose lives expressed THAT part of the Word.
Throughout the Gentile dispensation God sent seven major apostles or messengers, each anointed with a portion of the Spirit to bring Light and Life to a portion of His Word. These Messages are all foretold in the symbols of Revelation 2 and 3. The Message of the seventh and final earthly angel, the late William Branham, FINISHED the mystery of God, thus identifying the previous six "angels" and their Message.
Since "the mystery of God IS finished", we know which parts of His Word were fulfilled by the saints or elect of each Age and will not fall into the trap of ignorantly IMPERSONATING the Word for a day God by. For instance, Lutherans, Anglicans and Presbyterians are impersonating the Word for the Sardis Church Age which closed in 1750; Methodists and Baptists are impersonating the Word for the Philadelphian Church Age which ended in 1906; and the various Pentecostal denominations are impersonating the Word for Laodicea which ended in 1963. Those parts of the Body are all made up and will sleep in the dust until the first resurrection.
All Seven Church Ages have ended. Christ's mediation for ignorance of PART-Word is fulfilled. We live in the holy convocation or rest typed by the fiftieth day of the Pentecostal Feast, and are coming to maturity in the fullness of the Word for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation (Leviticus 23:16-21). We are at the END!
Since the revelation of the Seven Seals brought us the perfect interpretation of the Word (I Corinthians 13:10; Acts 3:21; Revelation 10:7), the elect of God have no need of a Mediator to make excuses for ignorance. Since the fullness of the Word is here the Holy Spirit will guide us into ALL revealed Truth as Jesus promised. Those with the Spirit will not speak of themselves but declare what God has already revealed (John 16:13-14).
The end-time evangelism is NOT the great commission to go into the Darkness of a world that has never heard of Jesus Christ and make converts, but to call those who believe they are Christians out of the Darkness of man-made traditions (that make the Word of God of no effect), into Christ, the living Word of THIS hour.
The end-time Bride is NOT out to "save the world". Jesus Christ Himself wasn't out to "save the world". He died for His Own. Those foreknown of God as receiving and manifesting the Word for their day by grace through faith. The incarnate Capstone has the mind of Christ, the Fullness of the Word, with no need for a Mediator.
John 17:6-7, 9, 18-23, "I have manifested Your Name unto the men whom You gave Me OUT of the world: Yours they were, You gave them Me; and they have kept Your Word". (Because by His foreknowledge God knew who would receive and manifest His Word and be redeemed, because they were foreknown as written epistles and therefore God's Own Attributes and a part of the Logos before the foundation of the world. The elect have eternal Life as they were always a part of the Logos).
"Now they have known that all things whatsoever You have given Me are OF You." (In other words, they are Attributes. Like Zacchaeus, they have recognized My vindication)."
"I pray NOT for the world . . ."
What is the sense in praying for "everybody" when, like Jesus, we know most of Adam's race are lost by choice for rejecting their Kinsman Redeemer, and the Serpent's seed are lost because they are not kin to Adam and have NO savior. We are to pray with the mind of Christ that God's will be done, not our foolish fancy.
"As You have sent Me into the world, (sanctified) even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth: Your Word is truth."
(The revealed Word sanctifies because the Light of understanding scatters Darkness and uncleanliness. As a Man, Jesus had a right to a wife and home. He had a right to a successful career. But He denied Himself these pleasures so that He may sanctify and fully dedicate Himself to fulfill the part of our Kinsman Redeemer).
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on Me through their Word; (that's you and I). That they all may be agreed in the common faith; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me."
"And the glory which You gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made complete in the unity of the faith (Ephesians 4:13); and (their lives a witness) that the world may know You have sent Me, and have loved them, as You have loved Me."
About whom is Jesus speaking? Not everybody, only God's elect. His sheep who hear His Voice and will not follow strange doctrine because the elect of God can not be deceived on the revealed Word of God (John 10:1-5; Matthew 24:24). He is speaking of His future offspring, His faith Seed Spiritually conceived of the Word as His physical form was conceived by the Word (Isaiah 53:10).
Galatians 3:13-17, 19, 24-29, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, because He was made a curse for us: for it is written, 'Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree:' That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through faith."
(The "blessing of Abraham" is the Promise of God that his Seed and heir shall a great nation in Whom all of Adam's race shall be blessed and against whom the gates of hell shall not prevail (Genesis 12:1-3; Romans 9:1-8). Abraham's promised Seed was Messiah. When we are born-again, we too are Abraham's Seed by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, becoming heirs and joint Heirs with Him).
"Brethren, even a man's covenant, once signed and witnessed, cannot be modified or declared void. But the Covenant promises to Abraham and his Seed were made by God. He said not, 'And to seeds (plural)', but to one, 'And to your Seed (singular)', Who is Christ. My point is, that the Law which was given four hundred and thirty years after the Covenant regarding the Coming Messiah, cannot change or annul that Covenant previously confirmed by God, so as to make the promise void."
(So who are God's Chosen People? Clearly NOT natural Israel whose Tribe did not exist at the time of God's Covenant with Abraham. They're people of the Law, NOT the Promise. The "Chosen People" are Abraham's seed by Jesus Christ Who is Heir of the Covenant).
". . . What then was the PURPOSE of the Law? It was added AFTER the Promise because of Israel's UNBELIEF in God's Covenant ... as a schoolmaster to bring Israel unto Christ, that they might be justified by faith (rather than the works of the Law). But since the faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For EVERYONE who IN Christ Jesus is a child of God by faith (-- the baptism of the Holy Ghost)."
"For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with the righteousness of the anointed Word. There is no longer any distinction between Hebrew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female: for you are all one (many-membered Body) in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and Heirs according to the Promise."
We are not heirs according to a sexual birth in the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that is by law; but according to a Spiritual conception by faith. The Bride is the Blood of Christ by the baptism of the Holy Ghost because the Life is in the Blood. Christ is the Word made flesh and blood and when we partake of the bread and wine at the Lord's Supper we symbolize our union with His Word and Spirit as we become one with the symbols we eat.
Abraham's seed is the baptism with the Holy Ghost or new birth.
Do you recall the story of Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector? He was long on money but so short on legs, when he heard that Jesus was to pass his way, he had to climb a tree to see Him. Looking up, Jesus discerned the thoughts and intents of Zacchaeus' heart, calling him by name and inviting Himself to dinner. By this sign (Hebrews 4:12) Zacchaeus knew Jesus was the vindicated Word of God and repenting of any wrongdoing, promised restitution to any he had defrauded of tax. Please Turn to Luke 19.
In the Roman colonies of those days as in the "Jewish" colonies of the City of London like the US and Australia today, tax collection was privatized and franchised to unregistered companies like the IRS or the Australian Tax Office who used the common citizens as a "tax farm" while multinational corporations were either untaxed or able to avoid tax.
Acknowledging his faith, "Jesus said to Zacchaeus, 'This day is salvation come to your house, inasmuch as you are an Israelite but also a Spiritual son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost'." Jesus recognized Zacchaeus to be foreknown as an Attribute of the Logos lost in sin but found and saved when He recognized HIS day and ITS Message.
Whom did Jesus come to seek and to save? Was it EVERYBODY? No!! It was Abraham's Seed, offspring of the Child of Promise. Multitudes will be blessed and saved because of their association with Christ and His elect, but they will never be the Bride which is the New Jerusalem and Abraham's Seed by the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Reading Luke 19:11-27, "Now because the crowd was listening, and because He was approaching Jerusalem, Jesus told a parable to correct their mistaken impression that the kingdom of God was imminent." (Notice, He did not expound the doctrine but spoke in a mystery to be understood by the elect but go over the heads of the rest).
"A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And calling his ten servants, delivered them ten pounds, saying, 'Carry-on as usual till I return'."
"But his citizens hated him, and sent a declaration of independence after him, stating that they had rebelled would not acknowledge him as their king."
"Upon his return, having received the kingdom, he summoned those servants to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much each had gained by trading. The first reported an eleven fold increase. And the king said, 'Well done, you are a good servant: because you have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, you shall be governor over ten cities'."
"The second reported a gain of five pounds. And the king made him governor over five cities. But the third returned the original pound, saying, 'Lord, here is your pound, which I kept tied in my handkerchief: For I feared you would demand my profits, because you are a harsh man, taking what is not yours, even confiscating the crops that others have sowed'."
"And he said, 'Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant. If you knew how hard I was, why didn't you deposit the money into the bank, that I could at least receive the usury?"
"And he said to them that stood by, 'Take the pound, and give it to the man who has profited the most'. (And they said, 'But Lord, he has ten pounds already'). For I say, 'That to every one who has shall be given; and from him that has not, even what he has shall be taken from him. As for my ENEMIES who revolted, bring them back to Israel, and slaughter them in my presence'" (Revelation 14:10; Mark 8:38).
The certain nobleman was Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who went to the Gentiles to take from that far country a people for His Name (Genesis 12:1-3; Isaiah 11:10; Malachi 1:11; Acts 2:39; 15:14-17). The "Chosen People", "Abraham's seed", this "kingdom of priests" who are joint-heirs with the Israel's King, the Son of David, are the elect Church and primarily Gentiles (Hosea 2:23; I Peter 2:9-10; Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:6).
This is a great mystery Jesus' audience did not understand. Many who call themselves Christians (like British Israelite, Mormon and Christian Identity groups) do not understand It today. Even at His ascent from the Mount of Olives His disciples asked, "Lord, will You at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" But it was not yet time, for according to the parable, He was to take possession of a Kingdom that was rightfully His and then "return to Jerusalem". It is still not time, but it is near.
The servants are Israel, the natural seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Once the Kingdom is restored, or the Millennium begun, the elect of Israel will continue as servants throughout eternity. The elect Church made up of both Hebrews and Gentiles is the Bride of Christ, Israel's Queen. Israel is forever their servant; although elect and truly born-again in the midst of Daniel's Seventieth Week, the Wedding ends at the close of the Gentile dispensation.
According to the parable, Jesus gave his servants money and told them to continue trading until He returned, knowing they would be blinded Spiritually through the Gentile dispensation and the best they could do was continue living by the Law of Moses until He returned to Israel through the revelation of their Seven Trumpet mysteries. Then an assessment would be made. Israelites faithful to His command will recognize THEIR day and ITS Message, making up the 144,000 true servants. "Servants" because they gave themselves to do the will of the Master. Those who are disobedient to the Law will lose what hope they may have had, having made the Word of God they claim as their Covenant of no effect to themselves.
The citizens are Jesus' fellow countrymen. This term perfectly describes most "Jews" from Christ's day to this, for "Jew" means a citizen of the geographical area of province of Judea and has no regard whatsoever to race or religion. Few "Jews" is Christ's day were related to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Most were Edomites. And according to their own statistics published in the Encyclopaedias Judaica and Britannica, some 95% of present-day "Jews" are either Edomites and Khazars (Hittites or Mongols) or Canaanites who were not and can never be in the Abrahamic Covenant and are unrelated to the so-called "chosen people" who left from Egypt with Moses.
Like their Edomite King Herod, these detested and rebelled against Jesus and have persecuted His Church for the past 2,000 years, and have massacred millions of Christians. They have also persecuted God's Hebrew or Israelite servants for 3,850 years, trying to kill them to steal back the birthright Esau/Edom sold to Jacob/Israel.
Luke 19:27, "My enemies, who rebelled and would not have Me reign over them, bring back to Israel, and execute them before Me."
The Old Testament confirms Luke. Obadiah 10, 15, "For violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off for ever... For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen (the close of the Gentile dispensation): as you have done, it shall be done unto you: your reward shall return upon your own head."
Malachi 1:1-5, "The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 'I have loved you,' says the LORD. Yet you say, 'Wherein have you loved us?'
'Was not Esau Jacob's brother?' says the LORD: 'yet I loved Jacob/Israel, And I hated Esau/Edom, laying his mountains and his heritage (his kingdom and birthright) waste for the jackals of the desert.'
Whereas Edom says, 'We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places;' (And they have returned in unbelief to Israel, rebuilding the national infrastructure). 'THUS SAITH THE LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and men shall call them, "The wicked country", and, "Those against whom the LORD has indignation forever".'
'And Israel shall see, and say, "The LORD is magnified beyond the border of Israel".'
Redemption means to buy back that which was lost. Jacob/Israel was lost. Esau/Edom who represent the self-styled Jews and type the Gentiles at the close of this dispensation, come to a place of no more repentance (Hebrews 12:14-18). They are no longer on the Book of Life and are therefore not redeemable. Esau bred his race off the Book of Life by intermarrying the physical Serpent's Seed. The Gentiles have their names removed by hybreed God's Word with human reasoning which is and the hiss of spiritual serpent's seed.
Obadiah says "ALL of the Gentiles" including the "Jewish" Edomite Empire of the City of London -- America, Australia, Britain, New Zealand, etc., etc., as well as Russia, Africa, China, India, etc. will be destroyed in the day of God's vengeance. Esau is those who say they are "Jews" or the elect and chosen of God but who are not (Revelation 2:9; 3:9). There is no redemption for Esau.
These "Jews" are not and were at no time God's "Chosen People". His chosen people are the overcomers. Jacob prevailed upon God and when he overcame his name was changed from Jacob or supplanter to Israel, meaning "a prince in authority with God".
When we overcome we receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost which is the new birth and Abraham's Seed. Like Jacob, we receive a new name. It is the Name of our Husband the Word, we are Christians and Spiritual Israel.
Galatians 6:14-16, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance, but a new birth. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, even upon the TRUE Israel of God."
The true Israel of God is His elect Church, Abraham's Promised Seed. I Peter 2:9-10, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous Light: Who in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
Spiritual Israel is the overcomer who receives the Promise and the promises to each Church Age are cumulative.
Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26, "To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Restoration of fellowship with God through new birth.
"He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the SECOND death." That sure knocks the FALSE "Two Souls" doctrine out of the water. The first death is the death of the body whilst the second death is that of the soul (Ezekiel 18:4, 20; Revelation 20:14).
"To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new Name written, which no man knows but he who receives It." Hidden manna speaks of the Word for the hour. A white stone is witness of God's approval (as a black stone would signify His rejection). The Name within the stone signifies out place in the Body of Christ being a revelation no man knows but he who also has the revelation.
"He that overcomes, and keeps My works unto the end, to him I will give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father. (This takes us back to Malachi, Obadiah, and the day of God's vengeance Psalm 2:8-9; Revelation 12:5; 19:15). And I will give him the Morning Star (Christ)."
Revelation 3:5, 12, 21, "He that overcomes, shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels". The eternal security of the saint (Ephesians 4:30).
"Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the Name of my God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new Name." Jesus Christ is the Temple of God (John 2:19) and those baptized into Christ are a part of the same Temple and cannot depart from their rest being sealed to the day of their physical redemption.
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in his throne." Heaven is God's throne, earth is His footstool, and from the Millennium when the glorified Jesus returns with His saints of all Ages to take His throne as Son of David, this earth becomes Christ's throne (Isaiah 66:1).
Those promises are to the overcomer. Esau was not an Overcomer and was overcome by the world. Many are called but few are chosen. Israel is chosen, NOT the Jews. Not all Israel of the flesh nor all with a Christian profession are God's chosen people but an election of 144,000 Hebrew overcomers will make up God's servant nation while ten thousand times ten thousand Hebrew and Gentile overcomers will comprise the True Spiritual Israel, the Church of the past 2,000 years. Abraham's seed by virtue of their baptism into Christ. nl104.htm
For Further Information Contact:
Bible Believers' Church
Currabubula, NSW 2342, Australia
e-mail: ags@biblebelievers.org.au
URL: http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/