Excited About Israel?
My reading and thinking is very much geared towards restoration, revival, God's ultimate purpose for His Church - His glorious Bride etc etc, so it is probably not surprising that one of the books I'm re-reading is "The Puritan Hope" by Iain Murray. What a glorious book! Suddenly we find that a positive eschatology is not unique to Newfrontiers alone! However I was reading a chapter last night and was quite surprised by a quote that Murray including from the great Puritan Richard Sibbes and his sermon, "The Bruised Reed". The quote said this:
"The faithful Jews rejoiced to think of the calling of the Gentiles, and why should we not joy to think of the calling of the Jews?".
The doctrinal background I come from has always been an assumption that Israel will be indeed grafted in at some point in a revival to the Church (Stanley Jebb, Anglia Bible Week 1983) but however I have been guilty of neglecting studying it in any depth. So I hunted down the actual sermon by Richard Sibbes in his Works, and was really impressed and excited by the fact that this great reawakening of the Jews is meant to stand as a sign for us - that when we see this day, we will know that the return of our Lord isn't far off!
John Hosier wrote extremely wisely and excellently (as per usual) on this, noting that we must not treat this subject fatalistically, or allow it to become one of our primary doctrines - rather we must "actively and passionately involved in preaching the gospel and planting churches across the world" - and that includes Israel!
Yet I think that he would agree with this quote by Sibbes, that it is a subject we can allow ourselves to get excited about!
2 comments:
To follow up this subject, you may want to take a look at 'The Israel of God' by O Palmer Robertson. He is a well respected theologian who provides a coherent and clearly presented perspective on the land and people of Israel. From your post, it may be at odds with some aspects of your understanding - but nevertheless it is worth a read if only to add further 'grist for the mill'. I am still working to understand these issues but found it immensely helpful. It has helped me to develop a clearer view on Israel and on such perplexing Scriptures such as 'not all Israel are Israel'.
Thanks for that book recommendation! I haven't read that book but I've read a few of Palmer Robertson's and found him very readable and helpful. It is an interesting subject, but I do see the danger of getting drawn into it to the exclusion of the rest of the "whole counsel of God".
I get the feeling that this was the path Derek Prince walked a bit? He seeemed focused on demons and Israel!
Post a Comment