May 23, 2018

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Restoration of all things

Restoring the Missionary Mandate:

Jews and Gentiles

Completing the Task Together

Exodus 19:6 God's choice and Israel's identity
Deut 7:7 God’s unconditional choice of Israel
Isaiah 2:3 Zion/Jerusalem - the source of the universal message of salvation
Isaiah 49:6-7 Israel - the light to the nations for universal salvation
Isaiah 66:18-22 Mission at the End of time – Jews and Gentiles in both directions
Jeremiah 31:10 What the nations will need to proclaim about Israel
Ezekiel 37:11-12 All Israel will return to the land and will come to know Him
Matt 24:14 “the end” will not come before the Gospel will have reached all nations
Matt 28 the Great Commission given to the Jewish believers in the first place
Matt 20 The parable of the vineyard – His sovereignty leaves no room for jealousy
Luke 21:24 until the times of the Nations are fulfilled.
Luke 24:45-47 the OT / Tanach prophetically points to the Missionary Mandate (1)
Acts 1:8 His witnesses to go forth from Jerusalem to the ends of the world
Acts 3:21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things
Acts 13:46-47 Paul and Barnabas turning to the Gentiles due to Jewish rejection
Romans 9-11 The Heart of Paul’s missionary motivation: the salvation of the Jews
Romans 11:12-15 Jewish jealousy as Paul’s motivation to work among the Gentiles
1Cor 1:22-24 “to Jews a stumbling block… but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks…”
Eph 3:4-6 partnership between Jews and Gentiles in the same body
1Cor 14:8 "If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?"

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(1) John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad, The Supremacy of God in Missions, Baker Books 1993, 13 th printing 2002. p. 137 and 201 lists the following passages that relate to the missionary vision including ‘all nations’ Genesis 12:2-3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; Ps 48:2; Ps 67; 71:11,17; 81:8; 85:9: 116:1; Isa 2:2; 25:7; 52:10; 56:7; 61:11; 66:18-20 (numbering as in the LXX)

Our Conclusion: Even though the Jewish disciples were the first to whom the Missionary Mandate (or “the Great Commission”) was addressed it had always been God’s intention that both Jews and Gentiles in Messiah should be one and partner in unity together to fulfill the Missionary Mandate. Both should be witnesses until the Gospel is known in all the earth. His original intention was lost due to the anti-Semitic attitude of the Gentile Church. This loss must be recovered.

The apostle Paul knew what was on God’s heart when the Holy Spirit called him to the Gentiles; the apostle knew why he wanted the Christians to ‘make the Jews jealous.’ The Church by reading the Letter to the Romans through their anti-Semitic lens falsely concluded that all the Jews were hardened and needed to remain so. This led to the beginning of Replacement Theology – the belief that the Church is now taking the place of Israel. Most Christians believe that this replacement is definitive. Many Evangelicals believe that it is temporary. We believe that replacement or succession is based on false assumptions. The damaging belief that the Missionary Mandate is only given to the Church because God has finished with the Jews or will deal with them at the end of history must be corrected. In light of Scriptural teaching, Israel’s emergence and the awakening of the Messianic Jewish branch, the Missionary Mandate or rather its biblical understanding must be restored. Helping the Jews find their identity, their position in God’s economy and their function and calling is the key to world evangelism.

The complete essay: Restoration of All Things.

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