“Peter, answering for the others, affirms their conviction that Jesus was ‘the Christ’—that is, the Messiah, or the coming King of the Jews. This affirmation became the bedrock upon which the Jesus movement was formed. This story, like the ‘good confession’, served to highlight the central conviction that bound Jesus’s earliest followers together: Jesus of Nazareth was the coming King of Israel.”

“I’m not antisemitic; I’m anti-Zionist.” We hear that disclaimer from the progressive political left, the radical alt-right, Muslim apologists, Hollywood stars, mainstream politicians, and even Christian theologians and pastors. “I’m not against Jews, it’s the political ideology of Zionism that I oppose.”

In that coming day, the LORD will cleanse the land and remove its iniquity “in a single day.” From that moment forward, there will no longer be merely a remnant within Israel, but the whole nation — “from the least to the greatest” — will know the LORD. Israel will finally be preserved in holiness as a priestly nation and become an example to all peoples during the reign of Messiah over the earth.

We are living in-between the Cross and the Crown, in a window of mercy opened for the fullness of the Gentiles to enter into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. This is the moment in eternity with the declaration of the Son of Man, “Maranatha,” sweeps across the nations of the earth that, truly, all might be blessed through the promises made to Abraham. And these days, as any, are numbered. This window of mercy will close—because He has promises to keep to Jerusalem, and when the new song reaches her city of origin again, this “present evil age” will finally end.

“The message of the Bible has an explicitly eschatological thrust centered on the future redemption of Israel. There is simply no way around it. This message was not only handed down to the Jewish people; it hinges on their own redemption. That is, ‘if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?’”

Do we really have two covenants in opposition and contrast, or rather one eternal covenant with different facets that progressively unfolds and renews itself in order to fulfill God’s purposes and demonstrate His faithfulness?

From the beginning, God has been telling a story of redemption. It is a story that is unfolding on the world stage. It is important that we understand this story. 

“Abraham staked his entire life—and that of his covenantal son—on the dream given to him through promises: the city whose builder and maker is God.”

“Why would the friends of Israel suffer demonic oppression? Because the Devil never forgets who sides with the Jews.”

“The more we long for the return of the Lord, the more we will find ourselves drawn into His purposes among the nations—especially in the Middle East, the central stage of the redemptive drama.”

Passover & the Return of Messiah: The holy plot twist, and what it means for the next time He'll part creation to make a passageway.

“Throughout history, the descendants of Ishmael have indeed become a vast multitude—but they have not yet become a great nation in the purposes of God. That promise still awaits fulfillment before the end of this age.”

If we want to have clarity today and endurance through our remaining tomorrows, we would do well to become literate in the prophets ourselves, remembering a critical principle: The Scriptures are no ordinary texts vulnerable to the scrutiny of our own wavering criticisms; we must submit to the Scriptures. The Scriptures are under no burden to submit to us.

“The prophets and the apostles had access to that pain, they embraced it as their own, they felt it, and contrary to any intuition it obviously sustained them. It is counterintuitive and paradoxical indeed that pain could sustain, and build-up character. Unless that pain is the expression of undying love…”

The way that the nations behave has never been an acceptable path for the Jewish people. It is a heavy calling and there is no opt-out option for the Jew.