What is the Gospel? Don't ask Adrian Davis!
If any of you had any doubts about the real dangers that the doctrine of Anglo-Israelism poses to the Gospel message, you should check out CGI's Pastor Adrian Davis's latest offering on the subject! The most recent installment of their Armor of God, What is the Gospel?, suggests that the Gospel is for and about Israel! In the almost half-hour program, Davis asserts that the Gospel (or Good News) is NOT about the teachings of Christ and his apostles! He also states that the Gospel is NOT the STORY of Christ's life and teachings as outlined in the first four books of the New Testament! According to Davis, the message is all about Israel and salvation through them! Does that sound like blasphemy to you? I hope so.
However, for those of you who may see some merit in Pastor Davis's message, buckle your seat belts and put on your big boy pants; because what follows will completely discredit his answer to the question (What is the Gospel?) and prove from the Scriptures that the Good News is ALL about Jesus Christ and salvation through him!
To give the devil his due, I do agree with Pastor Davis that the Greek word "eunangelion" which has traditionally been translated into English as "Gospel" means GOOD NEWS (see Blue Letter Bible's entry for Euangelion). We also agree that this "good news" is focused on the positive outcome of a seminal event in God's plan(s). Unfortunately, that's just about where our agreement ends!
According to Davis, the Gospel MUST: 1) be "this" gospel - the one Christ mentioned in Matthew 24:14 (wait until you hear what he thinks constitutes "this" gospel before you jump on his bandwagon), 2) be the same gospel that the forefathers heard (by this he means the ancient Israelites operating under the terms of the Old Covenant), and 3) be controversial (offensive - not well-received). After listing the elements of the message which he considers to be essential, Davis proceeded to assert that "If you're not keeping the Sabbath, how can you call yourself a Christian?" For Davis, the gospel that Jesus preached is synonymous with the message which Isaiah delivered to ancient Israel. "What's wrong with that?" you may be wondering. The problem is that Pastor Davis believes that this should be understood in the context in which Isaiah delivered it to the Israelites of old, not through the lens/filter of Jesus Christ and his teachings!
He begins with Christ's quotation of a passage from Isaiah during a synagogue service narrated in the fourth chapter of Luke's Gospel. We read there: "When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.' He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. 'The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!'" (Verses 16-21, NLT)
The passage, of course, is found in the sixty-first chapter of the book of Isaiah. Unlike Christ, however, Davis didn't stop there, he included the rest of the passage. "Well, wasn't he just providing context?" you may be wondering. Let's look at the text and see how Pastor Davis employed it in his larger argument. We read: "To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago. They will revive them, though they have been deserted for many generations. Foreigners will be your servants. They will feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards. You will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God. You will feed on the treasures of the nations and boast in their riches. Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of honor. You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours. For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully reward my people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be recognized and honored among the nations. Everyone will realize that they are a people the Lord has blessed." (Verses 3-9) To be clear, Adrian Davis believes that this passage establishes his contention that the Gospel is all about Israel and the restoration of their fortunes! In other words, Pastor Davis believes the same thing that the ancient Israelites believed about themselves - that their physical descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob entitled them to be ABOVE ALL of the other peoples of the earth!
You see, Mr. Davis and his allies in CGI believe that the English-speaking nations of the world are descended from two of the "lost" ten tribes of Israel. And, although he doesn't explicitly outline the doctrine of Anglo-Israelism in his remarks in this particular message, it is implied in everything he says and is strongly suggested in a number of more specific statements. For example, he acknowledges that there is currently a nation called Israel, but he goes on to make clear that God is NOT talking about that nation. Indeed, he specifically points to "wealthy" nations like the United States and Canada as being the modern representatives of the House of Israel. For Davis, Jerusalem will someday be the seat of salvation, and salvation will be open to the world through Israel!
Unfortunately, a number of passages which completely contradict Adrian's assertions about the nature of the Gospel are missing from his narrative/message. A number of these will come immediately to the mind of most of us. Let's look at just a few of them: "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6, ESV), "For God so loved the world <not just Israel>, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16), "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12), "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16), "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8), "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23), "Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9) <let's not forget too that this epistle (Romans) was written to GENTILE Christians>, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." (I John 2:1-2), "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." (I John 5:11-12), etc., etc. In other words, salvation is through Jesus Christ - PERIOD!
The Apostle Paul wrote to the saints at Corinth that "Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God...Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So, when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength." (I Corinthians 1:17-25, NLT) In other words, Paul's Gospel message was ALL about Jesus Christ and salvation through HIM!
Although we have very different perspectives on the nature of the Gospel message found in the Old Testament, I do agree with Pastor Davis that it can be found there. The oft repeated promise that ALL of the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham's offspring (see Genesis 18:18, 22:18, 26:4) referred to Jesus Christ and the salvation that would be made available to EVERYONE through him. It does NOT refer to the tidbits and scraps that wealthy nations like Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States contribute to the other nations of the world through various foreign aid programs! Likewise, when God promised Jacob that he would make of his descendants "a great nation, even many nations" or in the words of the King James Version "a nation and a company of nations" (Genesis 35:11), it is absolutely ABSURD to suggest that he had the United States and Britain in mind! Indeed, if we are thinking in terms of salvation through Jesus Christ, it makes much more sense to believe that he was referring to Israel and all of the other Gentile nations of the world! Once again, it is absolutely ridiculous to suggest that spiritual promises be downgraded to physical ones!
The TRUTH is that Isaiah did preach the same Gospel that Jesus and Paul preached, but Adrian Davis didn't reference that passage in his message! In the fifty-third chapter of that book, we read: "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Verses 1-12, KJV) THAT is the Gospel/Good News that Christ and his apostles brought to the world!
God chose the people of Israel to introduce himself to the rest of humanity - NOT to single them out for special treatment or status, or because they were somehow superior to the peoples of other nations (see Deuteronomy 7:7-9). God used Israel to demonstrate to other peoples the blessings which could result from serving him, and the terrible suffering that could result from his absence or wrath. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the entire Western world now has the Hebrew Bible, and that the WHOLE world has been exposed to it or its principles to one degree or another. Israel was a tool and a means to a much grander end! Moreover, God's Son, Jesus Christ, was born of the lineage of Abraham and David! And THAT is precisely how God fulfilled his promises to BOTH men!
After castigating the saints of Galatia for abandoning the Gospel of Christ (see Galatians 1:1-7), Paul wrote that "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." (Galatians 3:6-9) A little later, in the same chapter, he added: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." (Verses 13-16) Later still, Paul concluded his thought with this famous statement: "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Verses 26-29)
In his remarks, Pastor Davis quoted from Christ's answer to his disciples' questions about the destruction of the temple, the sign of his return, and the timing of the end of the age. In the fourteenth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, we read that Christ told them that "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Now, Mr. Davis made much of that English word "witness" (Greek "martyrion") which simply means testimony, and please notice that it would have to "be preached in ALL THE WORLD - UNTO ALL NATIONS! Unfortunately, Pastor Davis left out another important Scripture regarding the preaching of the Gospel. After completing his ministry on this earth, we are informed by the same Gospel (Matthew), which Mr. Davis referenced in his message, that Christ gave these final instructions to his disciples: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach ALL nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:18-20)
In other words, the Gospel is ALL about Christ and his message (which focused on the salvation available through him)! The Gospel/Good News has NOTHING to do with a warning message to the English-speaking nations of the earth - NOTHING! It's just a suggestion, but may I humbly commend to Pastor Davis's attention Paul's warning to the saints of Galatia: "Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed." (Galatians 1:8-9, NLT)
Lonnie Hendrix
16 comments:
God placed the responsibility of world cop on America's shoulders. It's the "rent money" for the living in the large farm and mineral rich country. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and 9-11 are the bloody noses gave America to incite them to confront their enemies. Likewise, God has placed the responsibility of warning the Anglo-Saxons of their eminent collapse and militarily defeat on to the shoulders of today's Christians. Their blood will be on their heads if they fail to do so.
I just want to add the verse that actually explains what the Gospel is and makes it clear that it is SOLELY through our faith in Jesus Christ, as our propitiation, that we are saved. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. "Brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received and in which you stand firm. You are being saved by it at this very moment if you hold fast to it as I preached it to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain. I handed on to you first of all what I myself received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures;that He was buried and, in accordance with the Scriptures, rose on the third day." The fact that HWA hammered over and over again that the Gospel was NOT about the person of Christ is the greatest of heresies and my biggest bone of contention with Armstrongism. Without the Person of Christ, and His death, burial and resurrection, according to the Scriptures, there would be NO salvation for any of us. Additionally, it is THIS Gospel that is to be preached, with ALL others being under a double curse.
This is what I was slightly disagreeing with you about Lonnie..the article a few weeks back that belief in BI is not a salvivic issue. I argued it does effect salvation, but obviously not very well! You just enumerated it far better than I did in my comments. Fantastic!
DW,
Thanks for sharing that additional quote from Paul's first letter to the saints at Corinth - it really underscores the fact that the Gospel is about Jesus Christ and salvation through HIM. Adrian Davis and Bill Watson (the person responsible for this programming) posted this message about the Gospel to support their emphasis on headline theology and their obsession with conservative politics. Focusing the Gospel on Israel, in conjunction with British-Israelism, allows them to completely ignore the real Gospel and Christ's commission to his followers to preach it. Again, this piece is foundational - it was meant to be a justification of their obsession with current events in the English-speaking world!
To be fair to Adrian. He believes everyone has the opportunity to receive salvation through Jesus. If you are a Christian you are now grafted into Israel. So salvation is for Israel in that respect.
Lord Jeef,
In the presentation referenced in this post, Adrian preaches that everyone will have the opportunity to receive salvation through Israel and be eternally subservient to those who have physical ancestry from Abraham. Adrian is focused on the establishment of a literal kingdom on this earth. As Gary suggested in his headline for this post, for Adrian and his allies, Christ and salvation are secondary to all of that.
Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.......
There is also 1 Corinthians 3:11 "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
I thought it was every TONGUE, tribe and nation. But I guess salvation is just for the English speaking world.
Which Isaiah are you talking about? It's well known that the book of Isaiah was written by multiple people over more than one life span.
Don't listen to that Davis mega-mouth.
HWA used to say that Christians falsely so-called took the gospel of the Kingdom and made it all about the person of Jesus Christ. Well, if one reads carefully, one finds that it was not HWA's Christians falsely so-called who did this, it was Jesus himself, and the apostles. I've said for years that HWA only preached half of the gospel. The ACOGs today continue to perpetuate this by downplaying the "inconvenient Dude". Adrian Davis is rocking out on the HWA half a gospel, but in so doing misses out on the key to the whole thing! Two words, Adrian: Jesus saves!
"I just want to add the verse that actually explains what the Gospel is and makes it clear that it is SOLELY through our faith in Jesus Christ, as our propitiation, that we are saved."
Except that Jesus said "...if you will enter into life, keep the commandments..." .
We are judged by our works (actions), not by our "faith". James, Chapter 2 should clear that up for you. True, saving faith produces actions, obedience to the law. Those that go about preaching "faith only" or "only believe" have been misled and are misleading others. They are in the same condition as the demons.
Lonnie Hendrix
Well done exposition of this topic. Much more comprehensive than anything I have seen elsewhere. Sometimes I feel like I am Major Clipton watching the destruction of the bridge over the river Kwai from a distance. HWA believed that the true Gospel was suppressed from the middle of the Second Century to 1953 when he started proclaiming his message. On page 294 of the MOA he derides the "Gospel of Salvation."
In fact, the Christian movement preached the true Gospel of the way to salvation over that span of 1900 years and HWA was the one who tried to suppress it, beginning in 1953, and replace it with an idiosyncratic gospel focused on the utopic Millennium and BI. The former is an outcome of the Gospel and the latter is Rupertist fantasy.
The great point of interest is how did HWA get so far off track? Did he, in the dark chambers of some aging mansion in Pasadena among boxes of G.G. Rupert's magazine, craft his private gospel out of whole cloth? Did some other Millerite preacher influence his thinking? It certainly could not have come from a close reading of the NT as your post illuminates. One of the many mysteries associated with Armstrongism.
Skepsou
Televangelists have made Christianity all about the person of Jesus Christ. But they do a dirty by editing this to exclusively mean salvation though His sacrifice. But it means much more. Following Christ also means striving to develop His traits. HWA and the televangelists give lip service to this, but basically reject it. As many have posted here, in the ACOGs members are only permitted to grow along narrow corridors. To them, the ideal Christian is a Borg drone, so no Christ like intellectual independence, and the character to carry through with their choices.
Jewish advantage
2Co 1:20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. (NIV).
This post needs to be premised by the above quote.
Part 1
Rom 2:17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast about your relationship to God;
Paul “begins the prosecution by appealing not to Jewish weakness but to Jewish strengths. One strength is the name Jew itself...
“A second strength is the law. Well might Jews rely on the law. “Torah” was a sacred word in Judaism, for to Israel alone the law had been given...
Ro 2:18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; (NIV).
Rom 2:18 You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law. (NLT).
“Jewish privilege and pride continue in verse 18 (note the third “if”). Torah was holy because it revealed God’s will. This too Israel claimed to its credit, that it alone knew God’s will. Knowledge of God’s will gave Israel a standard by which to approve of what is superior...
Rom 2:19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
Rom 2:20 an instructor of the foolish [aphron; “ignorant,” (CSB)], a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth -
Isa 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa 42:7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
“In verse 19-20 Paul lists four evidence of Jewish preeminence: Jews are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, and instructor of the foolish, and a teacher of infants...
[Some see this as Paul being sarcastic; if so, but there is also ‘truth’ standing behind the observation].
Mic 3:11b yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
“Jewish orthodoxy was not a hollow claim. Jews had been called and equipped for the special mission of being “a light for the Gentiles” (Isa 49:6). The premise in verses 17-20 is not that Jews harboured inflated claims of themselves. They had reason to boast in God. Their problem lay not in overestimating their importance, but in failing to live up to it. God’s favor entailed a responsibility, not an exemption. They understood their privileges to excuse them from judgment, whereas Paul argues that the privileges accuse them before God” (James R. Edwards, Romans, NIBC, p.75-77).
[To qualify Isa 49:6 -Under the OC “Israel definitely had a sense of mission, not in the sense of going somewhere but of being something” (Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God, p.504; but in the NC the mission has expanded from “being” to include “going” (see below)].
Rom 3:1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
Rom 3:2 MUCH IN EVERY WAY. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. (ESV).
Ro 3:2 Much every way: chiefly [proton], because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
“Two questions are posed in verse 1: What advantage is there in being a Jew, and what value is there in circumcision?...
Rom 2:28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
Rom 2:29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
“In light of what was said in 2:25-29 the reader might conclude that there is no advantage in being a Jew. If circumcision is of no value (2:25); 1 Cor 7:19), and if true Jewishness is internal and not external (2:28-29), then Jews are evidently no different from other people, and their supposed advantage is but a pure illusion.
Part 2
“But that is a mistaken conclusion. With regard to SALVATION there is, to be sure, no advantage, for Paul will shortly conclude that on the basis of a moral righteousness “Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin” (3:9), and that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23). But there is a decided advantage with regard to MISSION, as Paul argued in 2:17-20. Along with the sign of circumcision, the law was given to Jews to equip and obligate them, as “a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark” etc. (2:19). Whereas earlier (ch.2) Paul referred to the Jews’ advantage as the “law,” here he speaks of logia (v.2: NIV, the very words), “oracles,” the spoken utterances of God through Moses and the prophets which constitute Holy Scripture.
“We have already noted the preeminent position which Torah held in Judaism. Only to Israel had Torah been given, thus setting Israel apart from the nations. Torah as Israel’s source of wisdom, honor, and life, the pledge of God’s love...
Ro 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
“If Torah was the pride of Jews, their response to it was disappointing. Torah was not a possession to be hoarded but a gift which entailed a responsibility. Calvin believed the Jews were first to be the depositories of Torah and then the dispensers of it (Romans, p.114). But in this they failed” (James R. Edwards, Romans, NIBC, pp.84-85).
Isa 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
Zec 2:11a And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people:
Zec 2:12 And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
"Zechariah affirms two things here that are always held in a delicate balance in Scripture. The first is the special place of Israel in God's purposes, represented here by Judah and Jerusalem (8, 12); the second his intention, finally to include people of many nations, and to own them as my people just as surely as he owned Israel (11). Again we are in touch with a theme that arcs right across the biblical revelation. It is a programme announced in the promises to Abraham, who was called to 'leave' (be separated from) others, to live in a special, covenantal relationship with God, so that through him, all peoples on earth might be blessed. The programme is realized in the person of Jesus Christ, the true seed of Abraham, in whom all the promises of God are fulfilled. IT IS VITAL THAT WE REALIZE, HOWEVER, THAT THE FULFILMENT IN CHRIST DOES NOT OBLITERATE THE SPECIAL PLACE OF ISRAEL IN GOD PURPOSES, IT BRINGS IT TO PERFECT REALIZATION. Only by bowing the knee to the true seed of Abraham, the one perfect Israelite, can one be saved. There is no Saviour but Israel's Messiah, and no God but Israel's God... Zechariah expresses that same truth in terms of pilgrimage to Zion. There is only one place to which all must come in order to be saved. Only there will God dwell with his people..." (Barry Webb, The Message of Zechariah, BST, p.82-83).
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