I believe that the last days have been the Church Age, or the last 2000 + years or so. I am wondering if Matthew 24 was directly to the Jews? Jesus mentioned all that has happened in 70 AD with the destruction of the temple and those in Judea. Now having written that, do Christians get caught up with the dead in Christ caught up first, then the rest of the world realizing that it is too late for them to be caught up because they have not been truly born again. Now if all of this is true and I believe that it is, then what role do the Jews play in the End Times? Do those Jews who are saved also get caught up along with the saved believers, or are they protected because of what has been written in Revelation 12 about the prophecy of Jesus' Birth, persecution, and protection? In short, is there prophecy written separately for the Jews as written in Matthew 24 and are the Gentiles caught up to meet the Lord in the air first and then the Jews who are saved? What I am trying to express is that will the Gentiles be caught up and then the Jews be caught up later after the Church has been raptured. Or do the Jewish people and the Gentiles get raptured at the same time? Help me understand.
Tremendous confusion has been produced in the modern Church by the Two Peoples of God doctrine, which John Nelson Darby brought to America about the time of the Civil War. After that it was incorporated into the notes of the Scofield Reference Bible and then spread like a virus through much of the evangelical Church. Many people have never heard anything else. It is a doctrine based on genealogy.
Let us examine what the Bible says.
The most important genealogy in the Bible is found in Matthew chapter 1. It starts with Abraham and ends with Christ.
Mat 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
In Matthew chapter 3 John the Baptist tells his people to not put their confidence in being Abraham's seed.
Mat 3:9 and
do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
In 1 Timothy we find a warning against endless genealogies.
1Ti 1:4
nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.
The Apostle Paul tells us that the promise made to Abraham was made only to Christ.
Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.
He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "AND TO YOUR SEED," who is Christ.
In verse 29 of the same passage we find that we are the seed of Abraham and inherit the promise through faith in Christ.
Gal 3:29 And
if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
The middle wall of separation between all races of people was broken down at the Cross.
God does not Judge people based on their DNA.
There are two Israels found in the New Testament.
There is Israel of the Flesh and Israel of the Promise.
A person can only inherit the promise through faith in Christ.
Rom 9:6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For
they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
Rom 9:7 nor
are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED."
Rom 9:8 That is,
those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but
the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
The New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34 was made with Israel and Judah.
Jer 31:31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when
I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
Jer 31:32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day
that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.
Jer 31:33 But this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Jer 31:34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
At the Last Supper Christ confirmed that He would bring in this New Covenant with His Blood.
Mat 26:28
For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
On the Day of Pentecost Peter addressed the crowd as "men of Judea", then as "men of Israel", and in Acts 2:36 as "all the house of Israel". On that day about 3,000 Israelites accepted the New Covenant promised to Jeremiah.
Act 2:36 "Therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
When it first began, almost all members of the New Covenant Church were Israelites. The Gentiles were grafted in several years later.
The Olive Tree of Romans chapter 11 is a symbol of the New Covenant Church made up of Israelites and Gentiles grafted together into one tree. Paul says the branches broken off can be grafted back into the tree, through faith in Christ. He provides no path of salvation outside of the Olive Tree.
The New Covenant is found fulfilled in Hebrews 8:6-13 and we find that the New Covenant has made the Old Covenant "obsolete" in verse 13. The New Covenant is specifically applied to the Church in Hebrews 12:18-24 and 2 Corinthians 3:6-8.
God now judges all people in the same way, not based on race, but rather based on their relationship to His Son.
1Jn 2:22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
1Jn 2:23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
If we want modern Jews to be saved we need to share the Gospel with them, now. The "suffering servant" of Isaiah chapter 53, and the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and the timeline of Daniel chapter 9 prove that the baby born in a manger was and is the New Covenant Messiah promised in the Old Testament.
The "Church Age" began on the Day of Pentecost. Based on Hebrews 13:20 the New Covenant is "everlasting". Therefore, it cannot end before the Second Coming of Christ.
This is confirmed by those under the Blood of the Lamb in Revelation 12:11. A person cannot be under the Blood of the Lamb and not be under the Grace of the New Covenant. The 144,000 are described as "firstfruits" of the Lamb. Paul used the same language to describe Christians in Romans 16:5.
Matthew chapter 24 was written mainly to Jewish Christians, since we find the "Great Commission" to the Church at the end of Matthew's Gospel and Christ spoke about His Church in Matthew chapter 16.
If you want to understand what happens in the end times do a study to understand the New Covenant of Christ.
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"new covenant" in the NKJV
Jer_31:31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
Mat_26:28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mar_14:24 And He said to them, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.
Luk_22:20 Likewise He also
took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup
is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
1Co_11:25 In the same manner
He also
took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink
it, in remembrance of Me."
2Co_3:6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Heb_8:8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH—
Heb_8:13 In that He says, "A NEW COVENANT," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Heb_9:15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Heb_12:24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than
that of Abel.
Who Confirmed The Covenant?
James Lloyd
http://christianmediaresearch.com/node/1023