The Church’s witness of the Kingdom is not only by word, but also by deed. The Church witnesses to the righteousness and holiness of the coming Kingdom by walking in righteousness and holiness in this age. This is the thrust of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7; Lk. 6)  - John P. Harrigan

The good news of the Kingdom also inherently consists of bad news toward the wicked and unrepentant. Thus, the good news is consistently accompanied by a call to repentance unto the forgiveness of sins (cf. Mt. 3:2; 4:17; Mk. 1:15; Lk. 3:3; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 10:43; 11:18; 13:38; 14:3; 17:30; 20:21; 26:18; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 2:13; Tit. 2:11; etc.).  - John P. Harrigan

HERE I would observe,

1. That we ought not to rest in the world and its enjoyments, but should desire heaven. We should “seek first the kingdom of God.” (Mat. 6:33) We ought above all things to desire a heavenly happiness; to be with God and dwell with Jesus Christ. Though surrounded with outward enjoyments, and settled in families with desirable friends and relations; though we have companions whose society is delightful, and children in whom we see many promising qualifications; though we live by good neighbors, and are generally beloved where known; we ought not to take our rest in these things as our portion. We should be so far from resting in them, that we should desire to leave them all, in God’s due time. We ought to possess, enjoy and use them, with no other view but readily to quit them, whenever we are called to it, and to change them willingly and cheerfully for heaven.

A traveler is not wont to rest in what he meets with, however comfortable and pleasing, on the road. If he passes through pleasant places, flowery meadows, or shady groves, he does not take up his content in these things, but only takes a transient view of them as he goes along. He is not enticed by fine appearances to put off the thought of proceeding. No, but his journey’s end is in his mind. If he meets with comfortable accommodations at an inn, he entertains no thoughts of settling there. He considers that these things are not his own, that he is but a stranger, and when he has refreshed himself, or tarried for a night, he is for going forward. And it is pleasant to him to think that so much of the way is gone.

So should we desire heaven more than the comforts and enjoyments of this life. The apostle mentions it as an encouraging, comfortable consideration to Christians, that they draw nearer their happiness. “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” — Our hearts ought to be loose to these things, as that of a man on a journey, that we may as cheerfully part with them whenever God calls. “But this I say, brethren, the time is short, it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away.” (1 Cor. 7:29-31) These things are only lent to us for a little while, to serve a present turn, but we should set our hearts on heaven, as our inheritance forever.

-Johnathon Edwards, The Christian Pilgrim

John Calvin, the great expositor, never wrote a commentary on Revelation and never dealt with the eternal state at any length. Though he encourages meditation on Heaven in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, his theology of Heaven seems strikingly weak compared to his theology of God, Christ, salvation, Scripture, and the church… A great deal has been written about eschatology—the study of the end times—but comparatively little about Heaven… Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote an in-depth two-volume settitled The Nature and Destiny of Man. Remarkably, he had nothing to say about Heaven. William Shedd’s three-volume Dogmatic Theology contains eighty-seven pages on eternal punishment, but only two on Heaven. In his nine-hundred-page theology, Great Doctrines of the Bible, Martyn Lloyd-Jones devotes less than two pages to the eternal state and the New Earth. Louis Berkof’s classic Systematic Theology devotes thirty-eight pages to creation, forty pages to baptism and communion, and fifteen pages to what theologians call “the intermediate state”… Yet it contains only two pages on Hell and one page on the eternal state. 

When all that’s said about the eternal Heaven is limited to page 737 of a 737-page systematic theology like Berkof’s, it raises a question: Does Scripture really have so little to say? Are there so few theological implications to this subject? The biblical answer, I believe, is an emphatic no! In The Eclipse of Heaven, theology professor A. J. Conyers writes, ‘Even to one without religious commitment and theological convictions, it should be an unsettling thought that this world is attempting to chart its way through some of the most perilous waters in history, having now decided it ignore what was for nearly two millennia its fixed point of reference—its North Star. The certainty of judgment, the longing for heaven, the dread of hell: these are not prominent considerations in our modern discourse about the important matters of life. But they once were.’”  - Randy Alcorn, Heaven

“What is the cause of most backslidings? I believe, as a general rule, one of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer.

You may be very sure men fall in private long before they fall in public. They are backsliders on their knees long before they backslide openly in the eyes of the world.” -J.C. Ryle

”Now if you take the first coming as the "climax" of most of the Bible's storyline you are going to have to find ways of packing an awful lot of pesky OT covenant prophecy into the first half of the first century A.D.".  -Paul Henebury, The Words of the Covenant, p. 17-18. 

God's first words after the Fall were, "Where are you?"

It's only one word in Hebrew: אַיֶּכָּה (ayyekkah).

In that one word is compressed a whole theology:

-God seeks out the lost sinner.

-God welcomes him to confess.

-God desires his restoration.

-God works his redemption.

-Chad Bird

The covenant made with Abraham, to bless all nations by his seed, is not revoked; heaven and earth shall pass away, but the chosen nation shall not be blotted out from the book of remembrance. The Lord hath not cast away his people; he has never given their mother a bill of divorcement; he has never put them away; in a little wrath he hath hidden his face from them, but with great mercies will he gather them. The natural branches shall again be engrafted into the olive together with the wild olive graftings from among the Gentiles. In the Jew, first and chiefly, shall grace triumph through the King of the Jews. O time, fly thou with rapid wing, and bring the auspicious day. - Spurgeon, 1863

If the Gospel that one preaches does not culminate with a Jewish Man ruling the world, then it is not the Gospel of the New Testament. The Gospel today has been reduced to a simplified formula whereby one might "get saved," but it has been fundamentally detached from the coming kingdom that we are saved unto. - Joel Richardson, When a Jew Rules the World

The way of repentance proclaimed by Jesus is not a substitute for the message of the Torah, but its fullest and most powerful embodiment. Those unaffected by the sovereign claims of the Torah will likewise ignore the words of the resurrected Messiah. - Kinzer & Resnik, Besorah: The Resurrection of Jerusalem and the Healing of a Fractured Gospel

Many Christian worship songs boldly declare that Jesus is reigning. But the world is still filled with death, injustice, and lack. So either: 

1) Jesus is a horrible king, or 

2) He's sitting at God's right hand, *waiting*. 

I'm going with the latter. - Joshua Hawkins

Genesis 4 through Malachi 4 is not just "background information" to the "real story" of Jesus and the church. Unless we first understand what the Law, Prophets, and Writings meant for 1st century Jews, we don't have much of a chance of rightly understanding the words of Jesus. - Joshua Hawkinns

My teaching on Christmas and the Covenant. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

Restorationists realize that to properly understand the New Testament, one must first understand the Old Testament. The supersessionist method of interpretation, however, approaches the Bible in reverse. It begins with the New Testament and then seeks to reinterpret or completely revise the original meaning of the Old Testament. - Joel Richardson

“the essential secret [to preaching well] is not mastering certain techniques but being mastered by certain convictions.” - John Stott

Whenever someone says, “the Jews rejected Jesus,” (past tense) or, “the Jews reject Jesus” (present tense), to justify whatever theological/political position they are advocating, I always want to ask them: Can you show me any ethnic people group that has accepted Jesus 100%? Do all the people in your white American town believe in Jesus and obey him? In other words, it is fundamentally antisemitic (and unbiblical) to argue that a lack of 100% acceptance of the Gospel among the Jewish people is a justifiable reason to denigrate them, or to mark them out for special curses and judgment, because this is holding the Jewish people as a whole to a standard that is not being applied to anyone else. You’re turning the Jews into some kind of special villian just because they have Jewish blood, rather than including them as part of the rest of humanity, which is textbook racism and antisemitism. Not to mention that thousands of Jewish people in the first century did follow Jesus and more follow him now than ever before.  - Travis M. Snow

 “I am the Lord; I will speak the word that I will speak. . . . O rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it, declares the Lord God.” Ezekiel 12:25

God does not predict the future like a soothsayer. He performs the future he has spoken. - John Piper

Theology 101: Tribalism is among the most harmful spiritual diseases of American Christianity today. Our highest allegiance should be to our common Lord, not to a denomination, seminary, theological system, or popular preacher.  - Dr. Michael Svigel

Go, labor on: spend and be spent, 

Your joy to do the Father's will; 

It is the way the Master went; 

Should not the servant tread it still? 

Go, labor on while it is day: 

The world's dark night is hast'ning on. 

Speed, speed your work, cast sloth away; 

It is not thus that souls are won. 

Toil on, faint not, keep watch and pray; 

Be wise the erring soul to win; 

Go forth into the world's highway, 

Compel the wand'rer to come in. 

Toil on, and in your toil rejoice; 

For toil comes rest, for exile home; 

Soon shall you hear the Bridegroom's voice, 

The midnight peal, "Behold, I come."

-Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), via BA Purtle 

Throughout the Scriptures, the Lord always links genuine teshuva (repentance and return to Him) with caring for the weak, the needy, vulnerable—the little ones. "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:16–17)

-Joel Richardson

It is the real governance of the age to come, and the righteousness and reward therein, that is a primary motivator of the human heart. The lack of a real government and real rewards in an ethereal “heaven” is one of the main reasons for the lack of discipleship and sanctification in the church today. - John P. Harrigan

Jesus exhorts his disciples to servanthood, meekness and love because they will reign in a real government on the earth. The modern Church generally disregards discipleship and sanctification because immaterial “heaven” has no real government to prepare for. - John P. Harrigan

It is the judgment and righteousness of the coming kingdom that sets the standard for holiness in this age. Sanctification and a higher moral standard are not arbitrary realities given by God in this age before we die and go to an ethereal “heaven”; they are real standards that will be enforced on the earth in the age to come. -John P. Harrigan

“Discipleship” therefore (in light of the coming resurrection and kingdom) is simply training to reign. Because all government is based on love and ability, God has provided a context and opportunity for all the nations to be purified of selfishness, pride and greed and to be made worthy to rule over the earth in genuine love for its highest well-being.  - John P. Harrigan

Eschatology determines missiology. One’s understanding of the end logically determines the means to that end. Biblical eschatology is based on perfect cosmogeny, which sets the foundation and context for salvation at the end of the age. - John P. Harrigan

Theological confusion, especially in matters which have to do with the Church, will inevitably produce consequences which are of grave practical concern. 

The identification of the Kingdom with the Church has led historically to ecclesiastical policies and programs which, even when not positively evil, have been far removed from the original simplicity of the New Testament ekklēsia. It is easy to claim that in the “present kingdom of grace” the rule of the saints is wholly “spiritual,” exerted only through moral principles and influence. But practically, once the Church becomes the Kingdom in any realistic theological sense, it is impossible to draw any clear line between principles and their implementation through political and social devises. For the logical implications of a present ecclesiastical kingdom are unmistakable, and historically have always led in only one direction, i.e., political control of the state by the Church. 

The distances down this road traveled by various religious movements, and the forms of control which were developed, have been widely different. The difference is very great between the Roman Catholic system and modern Protestant efforts to control the state; also between the ecclesiastical rule of Calvin in Geneva and the fanaticism of Münster and the English “fifth-monarchy.” But the basic assumption is always the same: The Church in some sense is the Kingdom, and therefore has a divine right to rule; or it is the business of the Church to “establish” fully the Kingdom of God among men. 

Thus the Church loses its “pilgrim” character and the sharp edge of its divinely commissioned “witness” is blunted. -  Alva J. McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom: An Inductive Study of the Kingdom of God 

A wedding message I gave on the Wedding Supper of the Lamb from Revelation 19. Audio. 

This exhortation (to set our hope fully on the Day of the Messiah) is echoed throughout the parables, particularly the Parable of the Widow (cf. Lk. 18:1-8). The context of the parable is the suddenness of the Messiah’s coming (17:20-25) and the justice established in the days of Noah and Lot as a sign of the Day of the Lord (17:26-37). Thus, the point of the parable ultimately boils down to “faith” (18:8) in Jesus as Messiah and his appointment as judge of the heavens and the earth (cf. Jn. 5:22-29; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Rom. 14:9f; 2 Tim. 4:1-8; etc.).  - John P. Harrigan

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in… 32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. 33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? 35 Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (NIV Romans 11:25-36)  

Throughout the Scriptures, it is soteriological context that primarily defines worship rather than divine ontological attributes. It is the revelation of God’s absolute power and love over creation, culminating in the Day of the Lord, that evokes the greatest response of worship.   

The logical consequence of God’s absolute and benevolent sovereignty is the restoration of all things by his ordained means, i.e. the Messianic Seed (cf. Gen. 3:15). If God is a loving and all powerful Ruler over his creation, then the Day of the Lord ought to be expected. - John P. Harrigan

The worship of God’s sovereign governance over the heavens and earth is the eternal purpose of creation. However, after the Fall it becomes the anchor of hope for all creation, the navigational compass for our sojourning amidst evil and suffering in this age. -John P. Harrigan

My teaching on the introduction to the Sermon on the Plain from Luke 6. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

When the Church enters into mixture in its allegiance with the kingdoms of this age, its function is confused and its form is retarded. This allegiance is almost always due to an underlying theological distortion that identifies the Kingdom with present wealth and power (vs. that which the Church will receive upon Jesus’ return). - John P. Harrigan

As a nation without land, the Church is a “pilgrim nation,” submitting to the rebellious nations of the earth that God has sovereignly instituted and allowed to exist (cf. Mt. 17:27; Rom. 13:1ff; 1 Tim. 2:2; Tit. 3:1; 1 Pe. 2:13; etc.), until their judgment and the church’s allotted inheritance (cf. Heb. 9:15; 1 Pe. 2:11).  - John P. Harrigan

The day of the Lord is the predominant theme of the Scriptures. Moreover, it is the event that ultimately unifies the Christian and Jewish Scriptures, for all hold to the ultimate divine end that God “has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31). Furthermore, the day of the Lord is so dynamic and extraordinary that it creates a fundamental delineation of time: “this age” before the day and “the age to come” after the day (cf. Matt. 12:32; Eph. 1:21; Heb. 6:5). Human sin and depravity will progress until the end of this age when God judges humanity on the last day, rewarding the righteous with eternal life and punishing the wicked with eternal fire. Through the day of the Lord, God will initiate the age to come, which will go on in righteousness, peace, and joy for unending ages (i.e., “eternity”).  - John P. Harrigan, The Gospel of Christ Crucified, p.3

"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." (Luke 23:42) A beautiful and effective prayer. We are all, down to the last man, nothing more than the thief on the cross.  - Travis M. Snow

Genesis 4 through Malachi 4 is not just "background information" to the "real story" of Jesus and the church. Unless we first understand what the Law, Prophets, and Writings meant for 1st century Jews, we don't have much of a chance of rightly understanding the words of Jesus. - Joshua Hawkins

5 The earth also shall yield its fruit ten-thousandfold and on each vine there shall be a thousand branches, and each branch shall produce a thousand clusters, and each cluster produce a thousand grapes, and each grape produce a core of wine. 6 And those who have hungered shall rejoice: moreover, also, they shall behold marvels every day. 7 Four winds shall go forth from before Me to bring every morning the fragrance of aromatic fruits, and at the close of the day clouds distilling the dew of health. 8 And it shall come to pass at that self-same time that the treasury of manna shall again descend from on high, and they will eat of it in those years, because these are they who have come to the consummation of time. 2 Baruch 29:5-8

Jesus did not “declare all foods clean”. It’s time to retire this drastically misleading mistranslation.  - Logan Williams 

-- The Bible's bookends -- Genesis 1-2: God on the planet, tree of life, no death Revelation 21-22: God on the planet, tree of life, no death Many Christians wrongly see the beginning as tangible and earthly, but the end as ethereal and heavenly. - Joshua Hawkins

Because the day of the Lord and the age to come are markedly punitive in nature, this age is broadly defined by divine mercy. Everything that happens before the last day must be understood as a restraint of divine wrath and judgment upon sin. This age is this age because the day of judgment has not yet arrived. Indeed, God is patient, not wanting any to perish but all to repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9). As such, the event of the cross exemplifies all divine activity during this age. God has ultimately shown humanity his mercy and love by offering his Son in order that we might be saved from the wrath to come (cf. John 3:16; Rom. 5:8–9; Titus 3:4–7). This age, therefore, can broadly be described as “cruciform” (i.e., shaped like the cross), while the age to come is generally “apocalyptic” (i.e., established by the day of the Lord). If we seek to describe biblical theology as a whole, it is best summarized as cruciform apocalypticism.  - John P. Harrigan, The Gospel of Christ Crucified, p.3

My teaching on Jesus's relationship to the Sabbath and the calling of the 12 disciples from Luke 6. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

“De esto estoy seguro, que el que comenzó en vosotros la buena obra, la perfeccionará en el día de Jesucristo. Fil 1:6

La escatología impulsa el discipulado. Sin él, la iglesia vaga de un lado a otro sin dirección ni propósito.” - John P. Harrigan

Yes, in our fallen world of suffering, death can bring an end to often excruciating physical pain, but that does not make death your ‘friend’ any more than passing through a doorway engulfed in flames to escape a burning building makes the wall of flame your friend. - Dr. Micheal Svigel, Fathers on the Future, p.275

“Scripture and traditional Christian faith are clear that death is the enemy of humanity. In fact, death is the enemy of all creation; the victory over death is resurrection and restoration of all creation (Rom 8:18–25).” - Dr. Micheal Svigel, Fathers on the Future, p.275

“Death is not our friend. Death is the enemy (1 Cor 15:26). 

This fact is often forgotten in many Christian circles, especially when funerary sentimentality gets in the way of sound doctrine—when statements abound like ‘Don’t cry for him; he’s more alive than ever’ or ‘She’s finally been made fully whole’ or ‘That body isn’t him, he’s in heaven.’” - Dr. Micheal Svigel, Fathers on the Future, p.275

“From a biblical-theological perspective, the ‘second coming’ involves the entire period of the seven-year tribulation as well as the eternal reign of Christ on earth. His second coming is first manifested indirectly as he fulfills YHWH’s role in a theophanic ‘coming’ in judgment—that is, throughout the whole tribulation.” - Dr. Micheal Svigel, Fathers on the Future, p.250

“Irenaeus articulated quite explicitly not only a futurist view of the impending Day of the Lord but also fleshed out details of the reign of antichrist, which will take place in a future seventieth week of Daniel 9. This perspective, he says, he received not only from the Gospels, Paul’s epistles, and the book of Revelation, but also from his own teachers who received this eschatology from the apostles themselves.” - Dr. Micheal Svigel, Fathers on the Future, p.219

The descriptions of the New Zion presuppose a new temple, for no good Israelite could think of one without the other - RJ  McKelvey

Above all else, authentic eschatological hope will produce perseverance among the saints, both Jew and Gentile. 

The sacrificial death of the Messiah secures this eschatological hope, and the Spirit of the Messiah guarantees it. -John P. Harrigan

John Piper ~ Prosperity Gospel

“In classic Irenaean premillennial eschatology, the coming ultimate tribulation period (Dan 12:1–12; Matt 24:21–22) is the same as the ultimate Day of the Lord (1 Thess 5:1–9; 2 Thess 2:2–12), which is also the same period as the seventieth week of Daniel 9:27, all of which are described in other passages related to the ultimate coming judgment prior to the coming kingdom (e.g., Jer 30:7; Dan 7:25; Rev 7:14; Rev 11–13).” -Dr. Micheal Svigel, Fathers on the Future, p.212

Theologians, eminent for their piety and position in the church, are now entertaining crude ideas and contradictory conceptions of the kingdom. For many centuries under the interpretation given by men who have, probably unconsciously, largely imbibed the spirit of the Alexandrian school, the kingdom has been made to mean a variety of things have the option of the writer. Modern authors, with but few exceptions, instead of discarding this looseness, seem to revel in it, making the kingdom to denote almost everything that fancy connects with religion or the Church or even with humanity. - George N. H. Peters

“For persecution never kills the church. But a compromised Gospel will” — Dr. Patrick Fung

But redeemed humanity gathers in two families: Israel, those twelve tribes descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and everyone else, all seventy nations, descended from Noah’s three sons. If, for this vision to be realized, gentiles in the Christ movement had to remain gentiles, so too then did Jews have to remain Jews—that people constituted by the family connections and God-given privileges and promises that Paul in Romans chapters 9 through 11, and again in chapter 15, so proudly pronounced. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable!” The day of that realization verged on arriving, this earliest community was convinced, because their messiah, slain and resurrected, was about to return. -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.162

Paul fought with Peter in Antioch after men from James arrived there. Oceans of ink have been spilled trying to account for the causes of their fight. Because of one prominent scholarly tradition of interpretation, James and Peter have long been cast as conservative, Law-observant apostles, “Jewish  Christians” who wanted Christ-following gentiles to be circumcised. Paul, by contrast, is the “Law-free” radical who insists that gentiles (and, in some readings, Jews too) be unencumbered by Law-observance. And this reconstruction presupposes that Paul, too, had stopped living a Jewish life. He thereby transmutes from being a “Jewish” Christian into a sort of honorary gentile one, as well as the premier defender of and spokesman for a “Law-free” gentile Christianity. 

This interpretation misreads all parties. From the beginning—before Paul was even involved—the movement had admitted gentiles without requiring them to be circumcised. James, Peter, and John all affirmed that position, back in Jerusalem. But these gentiles were responsible for maintaining some specifically Jewish behaviors, such as worshiping only Israel’s god (sic), and renouncing sacrifices made to idols. All the apostles, Paul included, were agreed on this, and in this sense no form of the gospel, for gentiles, was “Law-free.” And finally, Paul, as we have seen, worked in concert with James about the collection for the Jerusalem community throughout the rest of his missions. No ideological breach yawned between the two men. -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.160-161

All of these New Testament texts are often read as antagonistic to Jews and to Judaism. I think that this is due, again, to the long shadow of later Christian anti-Judaism, cast backward. We simply assume that “Judaism” and “Christianity” are two incompatible traditions because that is the way that, in large part, things eventually worked out. So too when reading Paul. He says terrible things about the Law—but he says them with reference to his gentiles, who are listening to other apostles urging them to accept proselyte circumcision. (And Paul says really terrible things about these other apostolic colleagues!) Elsewhere, Paul affirms the Law, quoting from the Ten Commandments, urging its observance on his gentile assemblies. “The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.” And as late as the late 50s, Paul is still praising the cult of sacrifices offered in Jerusalem’s temple. The Paul of history stands entirely within Judaism. -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.159-160

For this reason, throughout this study, I have avoided using the terms “Christian” and “church.” These words too readily conjure the later realities of organized institutions, and of a religion separate from, different from, and hostile to Judaism. But in its founding generation—which was committed to the belief that it was history’s final generation—members of this movement were traditionally observant Jews, Paul included. (And for that matter, reaching back to the period before his crucifixion, so was Jesus.) These people all studied Jewish scriptures. They honored the god (sic) of Israel through offering sacrifices at the temple. They came together on the Sabbath. They imagined final redemption, inclusive of eschatological gentiles, as a natural extension of the history of Israel. -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.158

So powerful is Paul’s toxic rhetoric in Galatians that it still effects, and even distorts, modern critical reconstructions of the beginning decades of what will eventually be Christianity. Freedom, grace, Spirit, life: these describe Paul’s “law-free” mission and message, and Christianity in general. Slavery, works, flesh, death, the Law: these describe the “Judaizing” message of Paul’s circumcising opponents and, by extension, Judaism in general. But, as we have already seen, the outreach to gentiles had never required circumcision. In this regard, it was “Law-free” from the beginning. And, again as we have already seen, the outreach to gentiles had always required exclusive worship of the god (sic) of Israel, and foregoing sacrifices before images of other divinities. In this regard, it was a “Judaizing” gospel from the beginning, insisting on a public behavior that Paul himself demands of his gentiles as well. No other gods and no images—the first two of Judaism’s Ten Commandments—were always the sine qua non for any and all gentiles joining this movement. In this regard, even Paul’s own gospel was never “Law-free.” -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.136-137

Against this idea [circumcising Gentile believers], however, stood centuries of prophetic traditions. In the End, as Isaiah had foreseen, the gentiles were to join with Israel, but they would not join Israel. Their place in the Kingdom was to be as gentiles, now free from their enchainment to idol worship. “The root of Jesse shall come,” prophesied Isaiah, “he who rises to rule the gentiles. In him shall the gentiles hope.” Paul repeated this verse from Isaiah when summarizing his own view of final redemption in his letter to the Romans. Gentile Endtime inclusion did not mean an Endtime “conversion.” A policy of circumcision, of turning these gentiles “into” Jews, would undermine the very same positive sign of the times that they themselves embodied. -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.134-135

Into this carefully maintained urban religious ecosystem, working their way via the network of diaspora synagogue communities, walked the apostles of the early Jesus movement. What these apostles urged on their Jewish hearers would have required no huge adjustment religiously so much as an altered perspective. The god (sic) of Israel, they proclaimed, was about to end history. Some of the behaviors that they consequently encouraged—focused repentance, immersion for sin in Jesus’ name, reception of divine spirit— were indeed new. But diaspora Jews attracted to the Jesus movement still prayed to the same god as before; they still read the same scriptures as before; they still kept the same calendar as before; and their traditional practices, domestic and liturgical, were all the same as before. Jews joining the Jesus movement, in short, did not “convert” so much as make a lateral move within Judaism, similar to a decision to move from being a Sadducee to becoming a Pharisee, as Josephus, in his own life, had done. To an outside observer, it would all have seemed like some version of Jewish business as usual.  -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.131

Jerusalem’s destiny in the age to come informs our prayers in this age. - John P. Harrigan

My teaching on Paul's cruciform apocalyptic discipleship model in the book of 1st Corinthians. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

The Judaized pagans of these urban synagogues thus presented the apostles with a startling new opportunity. Once the apostles brought their testimony to the synagogue, they not only persuaded some of its Jews to repent and to immerse in Jesus’ name in preparation for the coming of the Kingdom. They also persuaded some of its associated pagans, who likewise wanted to commit to this charismatic assembly. But how should these gentiles be integrated into the movement? Jesus himself had left no teachings on this matter. 

The apostles needed to improvise, and that is what they did. They drew upon that same prophetic paradigm within which the movement had always functioned: the expectation that, in the End, the nations too would renounce their false gods and worship the one true god alongside of Israel. Thus, apostles welcomed these pagans into their new assemblies too.

But there was one major proviso: these gentiles absolutely could not worship their own gods or sacrifice before their images anymore. By immersing in Jesus’ name, by receiving holy spirit, by being empowered to prophesy, to receive visions, to exorcise demons, to heal, these ex-pagan pagans had to shut the door on the old age and step into the new. Just as the original community back in Jerusalem represented a beachhead of the Kingdom, so too did these new non-Jewish members. By committing to Israel’s god alone, they were no longer pagans—and, thus, no longer godfearers: they were eschatological gentiles. What greater confirmation that the times were fulfilled, that the Kingdom of God truly was at hand?  

These ex-pagan pagans were walking into absolutely uncharted social territory. Like proselytes, they made an exclusive commitment to Israel’s god; unlike proselytes, they did not assume the bulk of Jewish tradition. Gentile men were not required to circumcise. They remained gentiles, which was precisely the point: God’s Kingdom was to encompass all humanity, Israel and the nations. Like god-fearers, these gentiles were still gentiles, that is, they retained their native ethnic status as non-Jews. Unlike god-fearers, they could no longer worship their native gods.  -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.123-124

Jesus said that "many who are first [in this age] will be last [in the age to come], and the last [in this age] first [in the age to come].” (Mark 10:31)

Disciple of Jesus, don't fear. Though the wicked seem to prosper today, it won't always be this way. - Joshua Hawkins

Paul’s premier sense of self was as “apostle to the pagans.” Only his letters from midcentury survive. By that time, he would have had to explain to his own ex-pagan congregations, as well as to himself, why the Kingdom was already “late”—some twenty-five years after Jesus’ resurrection—and why many other Jews were not persuaded by this messianic reading of their ancient scriptures. In Romans, Paul lays out his two-phase explanation. Israel would have received the gospel, had God wanted them to. But instead, God was currently and deliberately preventing most of Israel from so doing, for strategic reasons: to give Paul (and other apostles) more time to reach out to the pagan nations. Once the “full number” of gentiles came over, God would cease this strategic hardening of Israel, and then history’s finale could begin. At that point, “a Deliverer will come from Zion / he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.” It was the outreach to the gentiles—the time it was taking to turn pagans from their gods to Paul’s god (sic) —that was holding things up. -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.118-119

Loving and longing for the appearing of our Lord is not cowardly escapism, but the triumphant expression of our sure and blessed hope. -BA Purtle

Jesus’ followers in the year 30, however, innocent of the future—of this future—were not burdened by the need to explain the temple’s destruction in 70. They never saw it coming. The trauma that compelled them, rather, was the crucifixion of their beloved leader. Their experiences of Jesus raised— which eventually blended into their evolving expectations for Jesus’ second, public debut as the eschatological warrior-messiah—was their response. They too scoured scriptures, as would the evangelists long after them. They modified Jesus’ prophecy of the coming Kingdom by linking its arrival to his second coming. That revamped message provided the core of the good news that they began to proclaim to holiday crowds in Jerusalem: the Kingdom was coming, and Jesus was coming back.  -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.113

“Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood

  Shall never lose its power,

Till all the ransomed Church of God

  Be saved, to sin no more.”

-William Cowper (1731-1800)

Unlike Christoplatonism, which generally interprets “seen” and “unseen” in metaphysical terms (material vs. immaterial), the Scriptures primarily refer to “seen” and “unseen” in historical terms (this age vs. the age to come). Such an approach is based upon the day of the Lord and the “appearing” of God (cf. Ps. 21:9; 102:16; Zech. 9:14; Mal. 3:2), when humanity will “see” him in his glory (cf. Ps. 97:6; Isa. 33:17; 52:8). Such language is assumed in the New Testament and applied to Jesus’ own “appearing” (Col. 3:4; 1 Tim. 6:14; Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 5:4; 1 John 2:28). Thus, “when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2), for “he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” (Rev. 1:7; cf. Matt. 5:8). -John P Harrigan

The double appropriation of this aspect of the David-traditions happened quickly, within two-plus decades of Jesus’ death. Already by the late 50s of the first century, on the evidence of Paul’s letter to Rome, the association of Jesus with David, both past and future, was firm. Paul uses it as the springboard for his own self-introduction:   

Paul, slave of Jesus Christ, called to be his messenger, set apart for God’s good news— 2 promised beforehand through his prophets in the sacred scriptures— 3 the good news concerning his son, from the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead: Jesus Christ our lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship in order to bring the obedience of faithfulness on behalf of his name to all the nations/gentiles/pagans, 6 including to you. (Romans 1.1–6; my translation)   

Paul simply asserts Jesus’ Davidic lineage here. He does not argue it, but ties it immediately to Jesus’ impending apocalyptic reappearance, when the dead would be raised. The claim of Jesus’ past Davidic descent, in other words (and for all the interest that Paul shows in it here), seems “caused” by expectations about Jesus’ future eschatological performance. - Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.102-103

“Israel is the carnal anchor that God has sunk into the soil of creation.” - Wyschogrod, Body of Faith

Christian Bible teaching and preaching is primarily based on the writings of the Apostle Paul. No exaggeration to say that Protestant churches especially stand upon a Pauline foundation. That means that, if we got Paul wrong, then we've got everything wrong. - Daniel Thomas Lancaster

"For if you live according to the flesh [in this age] you will die [on the Day of the Lord], but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body [in this age], you will live [on the Day of the Lord]." (Romans 8:13)

“We sing not because the present is enjoyable, but because the future is glorious.” - Christopher Ash

Theology 101: As in textual criticism, so in the history of doctrine—an earlier, well-established theological position is to be preferred to a later majority position. It is not those who hand down the teaching that made the error, but those who failed to receive it. -Dr. Michael Svigel 

My teaching on fasting from Luke 5. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

Theology 101: “That’s just a symbol” is a lazy hermeneutical cop-out. Literally every word on your page is a symbol. That’s the nature of written language. The interpreter’s burden is to determine the meaning of the term; and if a figure of speech or symbolic vision, the referent of the image. Too often I feel people say “that’s just a symbol” to dodge the implications of the likely interpretation or to relieve themselves of the burden of thinking. -Dr. Michael Svigel 

“Christ . . . will appear a second time . . . to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:28

The fact that we *have been* saved (Eph. 2:8) and *are being* saved (1 Cor. 1:18) means that we are irrevocably united to the One who *will save* us from coming judgment. - John Piper

“It is a general methodological assumption of the early church fathers, as well as those modern renewalists, that John’s vision of the new heavens and new earth in Revelation 21 must be read in light of Isaiah 65–66. To read this as annihilation and re-creation ex nihilo is to read into it meanings for “pass away” and “new heavens and new earth” that are foreign to the sum of biblical teaching.” -Dr. Michael Svigel, The Fathers on the Future, p.164

Leonard Ravenhill: The devil is not afraid of a busy church, but he trembles at a praying church.

"The Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion." Isaiah 34:8

In an age of theological self aggrandizement and ministry clout farming, choose Christ instead.

Reject the clamorous dove sellers for the quiet service of, to, and for, Christ. - Aaron in Writing

I get the impression when reading some commentaries on Romans 9-11 that the authors have given more time to reading other scholars than they have to reading the Hebrew Bible (or rest of the NT for that matter). They seem likewise to think that Paul has forgotten about it as well. - BA Purtle

The Spirit sanctifies the gentiles by bringing them into a state of faith and hope in the crucified Jewish Messiah—both in regards to his death which makes them righteous in God's sight and in regards to His Parousia which delivers them from this present evil age. - John P Harrigan 

It is quite vital to understand the various literary genres in Scripture and to bear them in mind when studying. It is unfortunately common, however, among those who recognize the genres, to exaggerate their importance and focus on them in such a way that actually disfigures the purpose of certain God-breathed passages.

This happens very often when men study the biblical books which tend to fall under the "apocalyptic" category. It happens in such a way that excessive allegorization takes place in the treatment of Daniel, Ezekiel, or Revelation. 

For many, apocalyptic invariably necessitates the expectation that in reading a passage like Matthew 24-25, for instance, you will be pummeled on every side with imperceptible symbols and wild-eyed and elusive visionary pictures. There is little hope for understanding it at all. 

While no one would deny that apocalyptic books and prophetic passages often contain types and symbols, there is much that should be taken at face value that gets sidelined in the name of allegory, and this often produces a kind of exegetical agnosticism. Such cases produce men who make light of biblical eschatology, for if the scholars count virtually all of it unclear, what hope is there for the man in the pew?

It happens also in the treatment of narrative portions of Scripture, to such a degree that some men posit that there is virtually nothing in terms of application that can be drawn from the books of Genesis, the Kings, Samuel, the Chronicles, or Acts in the New Testament. Virtually nothing therein could be prescriptive for a Christian or for the Church.... after all, these books are in the narrative genre! If only you were a scholar, those books might somehow be of help to you! "I speak as a fool."

To be sure, a lack of understanding genre has led to foolish proof-texting on the other end, but I'm addressing the other side of the pendulum, one which can be just as problematic. 

This is what it looks like when you take otherwise helpful hermeneutical principles, stretch them to the point of breaking, and make them chief and decisive factors in Bible interpretation, without holding them in tension with other vital hermeneutical practices.

The man who does this will invariably end up with a threadbare grasp on the whole of Scripture, and the analogy of the Bible -- it's profound unity and unique glory -- is thereby smeared. One may be able to impress a few friends with lofty language regurgitated from scholars.... but it may also be that in the last analysis he has no true knowledge of God at all. That would be a tragedy.

Let us see to it that we labor to get to the bedrock and heart of authorial intent -- what the biblical human authors really intended their recipients to understand. And let us not forget along the way that "all Scripture is God-breathed," and profitable for salvation, for the knowledge of God, and for an understanding of His holy will. Therefore, whoever has the Spirit of God may be helped greatly (even salvifically!) by it, whatever his level of education may be. And he may be helped yet further by some good hermeneutical practices.

Let us walk the long road of "pressing on to know the Lord" in the manner of our reading, study, and meditation upon His Word. 

Read the whole Book. Read it humbly, hungrily, and hopefully. Couple your reading with much prayer. Learn from able teachers, and "train yourselves for godliness."

The Word of the Lord is precious beyond compare, after all, brothers and sisters.

"More to be desired are they (God's Words) than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and dripping of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is Your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward." -David (Ps. 19)

-BA Purtle

One precious reality about the age to come, rarely considered, but which I very much anticipate: The people of God will never again harbor mistrust for one another.

No more bearing false witness. No more coldness. No more envy or insecurity. Never again. What a day that will be. -BA Purtle

The logic of [1 Cor. 15:50-53] is fairly straightforward: if creation is going to be purged of all sin, death, and corruption, then those who will participate in the new creation must also be without sin, death, and corruption. - John P Harrigan 

This closing invocation remains as a rare Aramaic outcropping in Paul’s Greek: “Marana tha! Our lord, come!” Surviving as it does in the vernacular of the original community, this summons again gives us a glimpse of these people’s apocalyptic mind-set. Imagining ourselves back into the weeks following Jesus’ execution, when his apostles repeatedly experienced him as raised and present, we can still catch a sense of their focused anticipation in the urgent query that remains in Luke’s mannered narrative: “So when they had all come together, they asked him, ‘Lord’—addressed to the risen Christ —‘will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’” The imminent restoration of Israel, soon, that defining eschatological event, was for his community the original significance of Jesus’ resurrection. - Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.88

That Christians of every generation since the first century have eagerly anticipated the future, physical, personal coming of the Lord is clear and unambiguous. - Dr. Micheal Svigel, Fathers on the Future

Many Christians dismiss God's many, clear, literal promises to give Israel the land. Instead of accepting God at his word, they spiritualize these things into meaninglessness. Jesus is not the land of Israel. He is the King who will fulfill the land promises to his people Israel. -Joel Richardson 

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." (Luke 6:27-28)

The words of Jesus. The way of life. May we be quick to obey them. - Joshua Hawkins

Gratitude is such a powerful tool to lift our gaze off of the disappointments and discouragements of this age and to remind ourselves that the world is not going to be this way forever. - Joshua Hawkins

Many of Jesus' teachings only make sense to obey if we believe that a great reversal is coming - when the last will be first, and the first will be last. - Joshua Hawkins

"One-third of the Bible does what most of us pastors won't do: Preach on prophecy." - Dr. Walter Kaiser Jr. 

Why his (Jesus's) followers had this experience is an interesting question. After all, many other Jews in this period followed other charismatic, prophetic figures (John the Baptizer comes readily to mind); but none of their movements outlived the death of their founder. Why was this group different? - Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews. 

The first-century C.E. Roman orator Quintilian nicely described the social function of this Roman mode of execution: “Whenever we crucify criminals . . . [we place them] where the greatest number of people can watch and be influenced by this threat; for every penalty is aimed not so much at the offense, as at its exemplary value.” - Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews. 

My commentary: Agreed, the cross of the Christ has exemplary value for all of his followers. 

Theology 101: As a general rule, not everything about the church you grew up in was right, and not everything about the church you grew up in was wrong; graciously correcting the bad and gratefully embracing the good—these are marks of spiritual maturity. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

My teaching on Jesus's use of parables. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

Many debate whether we should interpret the biblical more literally or more spiritually. I'd suggest it should be understood through the same lens that we understand most human communication—the lens of simple, rational literalism. Those who lean too heavily on a spiritualized lens may be likened to someone with schizophrenia who sees imaginary code words everywhere. Those who lean too heavily on a hyper-literal lens like someone with autism, often unable to recognize the world of subtle inferences. - Joel Richardson

"...salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed." -Paul the apostle

"...the time is near." -John the apostle

"Surely I am coming soon." -The Lord Jesus Christ

-BA Purtle

My teaching on the resurrection of the dead from 1 Corinthians 15. Notes. Slides. Audio 1. Audio 2. Video. 

Theology 101: The more firmly I embrace the catholicity of the church, the less likely I am to leave my church tradition for another. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

Most religious writings from the Second Temple Period are categorized as either Gnostic or Jewish Apocalyptic. Today, much of the Charismatic AND Reformed worlds are increasingly becoming far more Gnostic than Jewish or Apocalyptic. - Joel Richardson 

Theology 101: The Bible isn’t a guide for dieting, a manual for leadership and management, an outline for economics, a playbook for politics, a textbook for science, or an anthology of frame-worthy quotes to hang in your office. It is an account of God’s story of redemption to make us wise for salvation and to lives that glorify him. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

To study the scriptures, and neglect the Spirit, who ‘searcheth out the deep things of God’, leaveth us in darkness about God’s mind. —Thomas Manton, Works 8:76

Jesus never warned his audience to change their way of thinking. He likely spoke in Aramaic and sometimes in Hebrew. Greek word studies when looking at the words of the master are only indirectly helpful. He wasn’t speaking in Greek.

Rather, he (like John before him) warned men that they must change and turn (a common idiom for behavior and actions in the Hebrew Bible) in light of the coming Day of God. - Bill Scofield

Theology 101: In two centuries, the church grew from a single room in Jerusalem to countless congregations in Africa, Europe, and Asia without government power or acts of violence. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

Once typology drifts from its Jewish apocalyptic moorings, its flights of fancy know no end. - John P Harrigan 

If we ask, What is God ultimately doing in this age? then we must answer: He is showing love and offering mercy to his enemies in light of his coming severity and eternal recompense. Redemptive history is cruciform-apocalyptic, and consequently the mission of the church is to “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). - John P. Harrigan

It is the prerogative of Christ alone to break the knees of those who refuse to bow down before him. - Aaron in Writing

My teaching on Genesis 3:15 as the metanarrative to the Bible. Slides. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

Everything begins, and events unfurl, from Zion, that is, from God’s “holy mountain,” Jerusalem. 

Further: it would be to Jerusalem that all the families of man, at the End time, would flow. Biblical tradition had long distinguished the human family as comprised of two groups. The first, by far the smallest, was Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their plenum number, at the End, corresponding to Jacob’s twelve sons and grandsons, would be all twelve tribes. “The nations,” by far the larger group, were themselves divided into seventy “families” or “peoples,” the biblical number derived from the total count of descent-groups from the three sons of Noah in Genesis 10. These seventy nations are distinguished from each other according to their kinship groups, their lands, and their languages. All humanity, in brief, is summed up in this eschatological arithmetic: the twelve tribes of Israel and the seventy nations. - Paula Fredriksen, When Christians Were Jews.

"A saint is often under a cross, but never under a curse." — Charles Spurgeon

Theology 101: In the kingdoms of this world, people seek power to exercise authority and make servants of others. In the Kingdom of Heaven, God grants power to people to divest themselves of power and become servants of others. - Dr. Michael Svigel

I often think about how the average person doesn't understand the judgment of God that is coming because they misinterpret common grace.

"The sun is shining today, I have a good job, and things are pretty good, so I must have nothing to worry about."

That's common grace you are receiving, which God bestows because of His kindness. I mean, He can't have a world where the minute you do wrong you get smoked and turned into a vapor. The world just couldn't function that way. Plus He wants to give people time to repent and live faithfully.

But common grace is not a sign of God's ultimate pleasure or displeasure towards you. There is a day when common grace ends and God comes to settle accounts. - Travis M Snow

May we seek the good of wherever we have been assigned, and renounce every cultural ambition for dominion and control so that we are freed up simply “to serve,” lest we instead build a culture wherein we ourselves are served. May we be unthreatened by the strength of Babylon—she’ll collapse one day, and it’ll only take an hour —so that we beautify her in bearing witness of the better Beautiful.

May we match Wilberforce’s fervor and diligence to plant gardens in Babylon, and may we even see them bloom before we pass into the sleep of the saints—until He comes. - Stephanie Quick, Planting Gardens in Babylon

I’m not a dominionist, and I don’t at all mean to encourage any kind of “seven mountains” campaigns or nationalistic fervor. Babylon was not Jerusalem then, and it is not Jerusalem now. And, in obedience to the word of the LORD, Babylon was bettered by the presence of the exiles. In one generation, they beautified Nebuchadnezzar’s wicked kingdom in obedience to the King of Heaven and Earth, whose Kingdom is “not of this world” but will soon bring our groaning creation under His regenerative jurisdiction. That is what we plant gardens for, because we are meant to bear witness to the Beauty coming. - Stephanie Quick, Planting Gardens in Babylon

My teaching on our view of God. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. Slides. 

Let’s study the whole Bible. Link the testaments!

A common objection to the Biblical belief in Jesus’ deity is that neither Jesus nor the NT writers (other than Paul in Titus 2:13) came right out and said “Jesus is God”

They didn’t need to. There are many times when Jesus did things which the OT writers knew only God could do. The NT writers made the connection.  We must, too, dig deeper and make the connections. 

Here’s one:

“They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;

    their courage melted away in their evil plight;

they reeled and staggered like drunken men

    and were at their wits' end.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

    and he delivered them from their distress.

👉🏻He made the storm be still👈🏻

 and 👉🏻the waves of the sea were hushed👈🏻

Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,

    and he brought them to their desired haven” Ps 107:26-30

Then go to:

“A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 👉🏻”Quiet! Be still!”👈🏻Then 👈🏻the wind died down and it was completely calm👈🏻. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:37-41

Who do the wind and waves obey?   

The One who created them and is the Lord of all creation. 

The OT is a gold mine. We can see the Son all throughout it. Let’s dig in and have fun exploring God’s word. - John Gacinski

The first time the phrase “true Israel” shows up in Christianity is in the Dialogue with Trypho written by Justin Martyr in 160 AD, nearly 100 years after the NT era. 

It’s not a biblical concept to replace Israel with Christ or the Church. - Travis M Snow 

The Bible never says “Christ is the true Israel.” Won’t find that language anywhere. 

There is solidarity between Christ and his people according to the flesh. But that does not mean the people are now a “false” or “irrelevant Israel.” 

It means the opposite…think about it.-Travis M Snow 

Jesus had evoked these (apocalyptic) hopes when he, like John the Baptizer before him and like Paul after him, had announced the impending advent of God’s Kingdom. His followers’ experiences of Jesus raised—whatever it is that they thought they saw; however we interpret their experience now—point irrefutably to this movement’s rootedness in these apocalyptic convictions and commitments. The resurrection of the dead and the vindication of the righteous are two prominent tropes in these traditions, each representing God’s opportunity to finally put right all the things that, in the course of normal history, had gone wrong. - Paula Fredriksen, When Christians Were Jews.

The resurrection of the dead was but one of any number of miraculous events that Jewish biblical and postbiblical traditions anticipated as marking the Endtimes, and the establishment of God’s Kingdom. Not only would life be restored to the dead; the ten tribes of Israel, “lost” to the Assyrian conquest in the eighth century B.C.E., would also be restored to the nation, “gathered in” with the exiles of Israel. In the final battle between good and evil, the forces of good—led by an archangel, or perhaps by a warrior of King David’s house, the messiah—would definitively prevail. The righteous would be vindicated, the wicked punished. The false gods of the nations, subdued in their turn, would themselves acknowledge the god of Israel. Their peoples and former worshipers, the pagan nations, would themselves stream to Jerusalem, to worship together with Israel on God’s holy mountain. God would pour out divine spirit upon eschatological humanity. And the mother city of the wide-flung Jewish nation, Jerusalem, restored and resplendent, would shine in the End as the place of God’s presence, the seat of his Kingdom. - Paula Fredriksen, When Christians Were Jews.

Inconvenience is an illusion of persecution. But if we are meant to carry our own crosses, presumably the same way and to a similar end that Jesus carried His, we instead become servants of all ethnolinguistic people groups. We do not conquer and subjugate; we serve and wash feet.

Nationalism, Christian or otherwise, is antithetical to the narrow way of the cruciform witness. They are mutually exclusive. We must not squander time and opportunities on the absurd culture wars and conspiracy theories Isaiah and Paul explicitly instructed us to avoid [Isaiah 8:12, 2 Tim 2:16]. We must steward our numbered days to obey Jesus and behave like Jesus, in word and deed, “filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.”[Col 1:24] If you want to affect redemptive change in your nation, William Wilberforce is a magnificent example of a man who leveraged politics to serve Jesus in a faithful manner. If you want control, power, and authority you can wield over your neighbors in religious superiority, better to swap #ChristIsKing for #AllahuAhkbar. - Stephanie Quick, Culture Wars and the Way of the Cruciform

Matthew recorded the following declarations, one a commitment and one a commission, bookends Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection:

This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18-20

It is worth noting that “nations” in the latter verse is ethnos, referring to tribal, ethnolinguistic people groups. So every tongue and tribe is meant to receive the same kind of incarnate witness Jesus provided when He took on flesh and dwelt amongst us to declare the Father. If we take Matthew 28:19 to mean we are meant to conquer and subdue geopolitical nations, we are no longer bearing witness to Jesus, but rather Muhammed. Who knew culture wars could so easily conflate Christianity with Islam? - Stephanie Quick, Culture Wars and the Way of the Cruciform