Once the LORD of glory moved the entire spectrum of salvation into the realm of the Spirit, we recognize the identity of “Israel” was translated into a Spiritual body. Thus, the only real Jew (or Israelite), is one who has experienced the Spiritual rebirth which is only available in Christ.
“For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly…in the flesh” (Romans 2:29).
In his magnificent teaching addressed to the Christians who were of Gentile descent, the learned Apostle goes on to tell the believers that those who are born again in the Spirit, are now the real Jews:
“But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter [of the law]” (Romans 2:29). Obviously, this turned everything “upside down,” and is widely misunderstood to this very day.
“Surely your turning of things upside down shall be regarded as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? Or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?” (Isaiah 29:16).
The Scriptures further speak of events which were to occur during the era of Spiritual salvation in Christ, as those who were formerly chosen, based on their flesh and blood, invariably sought to retain their special primacy.
“But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy….drew certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also. Acts 17:5-6
As the LORD had warned that the coming Messiah was to be the last chance for the salvation of Israel (Amos 8:2), the Apostle Paul cited an ominous prophecy.
“Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets: Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your day, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you” (Acts 13:40, 41).
Since Israel’s role was always designed to mediate between God and the Gentiles, the Jews were appointed to export the Light of God to the Gentiles who walked in darkness.
“Thou are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified….I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 49:3, 6).
Israel repeatedly disobeyed the plan of the LORD, so God made a New Covenant between Himself and mankind, and drew the Gentiles to Himself through the work of His only begotten Son:
“Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2).
Since Paul repeatedly referenced disobedience to the law, as enunciated in the Old Testament, His reference to the children of disobedience must be applied to those who understood how the concept of sin was related to disobedience to the LORD’s will – as revealed to physical Israel in the Old Covenant.
“But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Romans 10:21).
In other words, to the Ephesians (who were physical Gentiles), Paul states they were once identified with the Spirit of Death, which we’ve already shown was associated with the not chosen Gentiles – as opposed to the False Prophet/Spirit of Hell which was found in the Jews under the Old Covenant.
“And you [Ephesians]…were dead in trespasses and sins”(Ephesians 2:1).
However, Paul goes on to say that it is that very Spirit of Death which “now” inhabits the “children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Further, Paul goes on to remind the Ephesians that they were “in time past” considered Gentiles in the flesh, but now, through Jesus, they belong to a Spiritual body which is chosen by God.
“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made [near to God] by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).
Mindful that he told the Romans that physical Jews were no longer to be considered Jews, and the Ephesian Christians were of a circumcision which “is that of the heart” (Romans 2:28), Paul was careful to refer to the Christ rejecting Jews as “that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands” (Ephesians 2:11).
Israel understood how they were entrusted with the law, so their conformity to it was to shine as a light unto the Gentiles.
”Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers” (I Timothy 1:9).
Instead of exporting the light and life of God to the Gentiles through their adherence to the Old Covenant, Israel reversed course, and imported the Death which was inherent in the Gentiles. Noting how He had richly blessed Israel, and using the great gifts of gold and silver He had given Israel as a metaphor of their chosen people birthright, God likened their faithlessness to that of an adulterous wife.
“Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them” (Ezekiel 16:17).
The reference to images anticipates how it is the Spirit of the False Prophet (which we’ve shown was in the Jews in the Old Testament), which is associated with the creation of the Image of the Beast. Thus, a vivid allegorical picture of an adulterous wife, turning away from her life with her godly husband, comes into view.
“Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?” (Ezekiel 16:20, 21).
As this lengthy cycle progresses, the prophets clearly delineate it is the Gentile “lovers” that Israel turned to, and since the Gentiles were not chosen to mediate God’s life to the rest of the world, their not chosen status represents the Death which eventually consumes the Hellish harlotry which Israel pursued.
“Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians…Thou hast played the whore with the Assyrians, because thou was insatiable…Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way” (Ezekiel 16: 26, 28, 27).
As the Spirit of Hell (read the False Prophet) in Jerusalem turns to the Death in the Gentiles in pursuit of her fleshly pleasure, we see Israel exchanges the Life of the LORD for the Death in the Gentiles, and is destroyed in the process.
“Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure…And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: and leave thee naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords” (Ezekiel 16:2, 37, 39, 40).
This is obviously the precise event which occurred as the Jewish priesthood (the False Prophet) turned to the Romans (Antichrist) to rid themselves of the Life of JESUS CHRIST – to say nothing of the fact that it was those very same Romans who ultimately destroyed Jerusalem.
But that is only half of the story. As the true prophets of the LORD indicated, those who were not chosen would become key components in the Revolutionary Role Reversal, in which the LORD would reconstitute the house of Israel in the realm of the Spirit.
Writing to the Christians in Rome, the Apostle Paul eloquently described how Spiritual Israel, comprised of former physical Israelites and former physical Gentiles, would reverse roles with those under the Old Covenant, and be born again as the people of the LORD.
“As he saith in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God” (Romans 9:25, 26).
The present writing has focused on the Revolutionary Role Reversal at the cross, in which physical Israel, laden with the Spirit of the False Prophet, was consumed by the Death which inhabited the Gentiles. However, the second stage of the timeline, in which Spiritual Israel (commonly called the church) recapitulates the identical pattern, is now upon us. In the New Testament timeline, the harlotry of Spiritual Israel is now apparent for all who have ears to hear. In this process, the Christian church, now appointed to export the LORD’s righteousness to the Spiritual Gentiles (comprised of the Christ rejecting physical Jews and Christ rejecting physical Gentiles), repeats the ancient apostasy and is importing the Antichrist Death now residing in the Jews.
Just as ancient Israel imported the Spirit of Death from the ancient Gentiles, Spiritual Israel is importing the Antichrist Spirit from physical Israel, as the reliance on the letter of the law resurfaces yet once more, fulfilling the prophecy of a last day’s Falling Away from the truth. These two timelines are yet another manifestation of the two parts which are cut off and die. In this profound series of events, the third part – which is the true Remnant of Israel – is obedient to the LORD’s directive to come out of her, for her sins have reached unto heaven.
Ref: James Lloyd
The Prophetic Word 