Stormcrow
Member
The purpose of this thread is to get people to see a consistent thread that runs throughout the prophecies of both the Old and New Testaments.
Dispensationalism and Futurism both point to the Olivet Discourse, in particular, and Revelation, in general, as proof that the kingdom will be restored to Israel and that Jesus will return at some "soon" but unspecified time in our future to reign from a physical throne in Jerusalem.
The thread you are about to read (if you dare) shatters that myth.
For this is contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."
This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone," and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 1 Peter 2:4-8 (NASB)
Peter didn't mince words: disbelievers and the disobedient were appointed to doom. But it's not the doom the dispy/futurist sees when they read this passage. The dispy/futurist view believes this verse applies to disbelievers and the disobedient of all time, and while that may be true on one level, that is not what this passage is referring to.
Peter (and Paul, in Romans 9, as well as Luke in Acts 4) cites this passage about the stone that was rejected from Psalm 118:22. It's the same Psalm Jesus is quotes in Matthew 21:
Jesus *said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'? Matthew 21:42 (NASB)
Jesus is the first one in the New Testament to tie the rejection of the "chief cornerstone" (Him) to Israel (something Paul does later in Romans 9), and He (Jesus) puts this rejection in the context of the parable of the vineyard:
"Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. Matthew 21:33 (NASB)
Think Jesus didn't know the words of the prophets He inspired them to write? The parable of the vineyard comes from Isaiah's song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5:
Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. Isaiah 5:1-2 (NASB)
If I could collimate the following passages - one from Matthew 21 and the other from Isaiah 5 - you would see that they are both referring to judgment on disbelief and disobedience, not of all mankind as the dispy/futurist believes, but of judgment upon Israel!
"When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. "The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. "Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. "But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' "But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' "They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
"Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?" They *said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end [kakos apollumi: cruel destruction], and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons." Matthew 21:34-41 (NASB)
"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. "And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. Matthew 21:43-45 (NASB)
(The woes of Matthew 23 were directed at them, too, and Jesus specifically tells them "...all these things will come upon this generation" literally meaning the generation of those to whom He was speaking.)
So how do we know this "taking of the kingdom away from Israel and its corrupt, apostate priesthood" is about judgment and destruction? Because we have precedent for it in Isaiah 5, the song of the vineyard Jesus cites in Matthew 21!
"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. "What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? "So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. "I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it." For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. Isaiah 5:3-7 (NASB)
Isaiah 5:1-7 was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC. Matthew 21 through 25 were fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in 70 AD.
Matthew 21-25 is not about the restoration of Jerusalem; Revelation 8-22 is not about the restoration of Jerusalem: both are about its destruction and judgment: the same "doom" to which Peter writes that they are appointed when Christ returns!
The end of all things is near...1 Peter 4:7 (NASB)
But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men [the same disbelieving and disobedient men to whom he refers earlier!]. 2 Peter 3:7 (NASB)
This "end of all things" to which Peter refers - like the disbelievers and disobedient to which he refers in chapter 2 - is not the end of all time and the universe as we know it! It's about the doom that would come on those who killed the Son mistakenly thinking that they might keep the "vineyard" (kingdom)! (John 11:47-52).
Peter tells us how this all ends:
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NASB)
The "end" to which all the apostles pointed was not the end of the planet and universe as we know it: it was the end of the old covenant kingdom which was taken away from Israel when it was destroyed and judged in 70 AD!
Finally, on 1 Peter 2:9-10...
See these words, "so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light? It's an allusion to Daniel 12:3...
"Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3 (NASB)
The work of producing fruit for the kingdom continues to this very day and will continue - as Daniel writes - "forever and ever" because the new covenant kingdom of Christ will endure "for all ages to come." (Daniel 7:18).
We, the "living stones", are a royal priesthood of the new covenant kingdom of Christ - which exists now and forevermore - because the old covenant priesthood was violently disbanded in 70 AD. Forever.
Two ages: Mosaic and Messianic. Two kingdoms: kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Christ. Two covenants: Law and Faith. Two women: Hagar (Israel) and Sarah (the Church.) Two Jerusalems: earthly and heavenly. Two women: idolatrous harlot and heavenly bride. Two mountains: Sinai and Zion. Two temples: earthly and heavenly. All of the old has been swept away for the sake of the new. You can read more about the contrast and comparison of these "twos" in Hebrews and Revelation.
Too long. Done.
Dispensationalism and Futurism both point to the Olivet Discourse, in particular, and Revelation, in general, as proof that the kingdom will be restored to Israel and that Jesus will return at some "soon" but unspecified time in our future to reign from a physical throne in Jerusalem.
The thread you are about to read (if you dare) shatters that myth.
For this is contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."
This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone," and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 1 Peter 2:4-8 (NASB)
Peter didn't mince words: disbelievers and the disobedient were appointed to doom. But it's not the doom the dispy/futurist sees when they read this passage. The dispy/futurist view believes this verse applies to disbelievers and the disobedient of all time, and while that may be true on one level, that is not what this passage is referring to.
Peter (and Paul, in Romans 9, as well as Luke in Acts 4) cites this passage about the stone that was rejected from Psalm 118:22. It's the same Psalm Jesus is quotes in Matthew 21:
Jesus *said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'? Matthew 21:42 (NASB)
Jesus is the first one in the New Testament to tie the rejection of the "chief cornerstone" (Him) to Israel (something Paul does later in Romans 9), and He (Jesus) puts this rejection in the context of the parable of the vineyard:
"Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. Matthew 21:33 (NASB)
Think Jesus didn't know the words of the prophets He inspired them to write? The parable of the vineyard comes from Isaiah's song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5:
Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. Isaiah 5:1-2 (NASB)
If I could collimate the following passages - one from Matthew 21 and the other from Isaiah 5 - you would see that they are both referring to judgment on disbelief and disobedience, not of all mankind as the dispy/futurist believes, but of judgment upon Israel!
"When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. "The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. "Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. "But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' "But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' "They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
"Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?" They *said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end [kakos apollumi: cruel destruction], and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons." Matthew 21:34-41 (NASB)
"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. "And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. Matthew 21:43-45 (NASB)
(The woes of Matthew 23 were directed at them, too, and Jesus specifically tells them "...all these things will come upon this generation" literally meaning the generation of those to whom He was speaking.)
So how do we know this "taking of the kingdom away from Israel and its corrupt, apostate priesthood" is about judgment and destruction? Because we have precedent for it in Isaiah 5, the song of the vineyard Jesus cites in Matthew 21!
"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. "What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? "So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. "I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it." For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. Isaiah 5:3-7 (NASB)
Isaiah 5:1-7 was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC. Matthew 21 through 25 were fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in 70 AD.
Matthew 21-25 is not about the restoration of Jerusalem; Revelation 8-22 is not about the restoration of Jerusalem: both are about its destruction and judgment: the same "doom" to which Peter writes that they are appointed when Christ returns!
The end of all things is near...1 Peter 4:7 (NASB)
But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men [the same disbelieving and disobedient men to whom he refers earlier!]. 2 Peter 3:7 (NASB)
This "end of all things" to which Peter refers - like the disbelievers and disobedient to which he refers in chapter 2 - is not the end of all time and the universe as we know it! It's about the doom that would come on those who killed the Son mistakenly thinking that they might keep the "vineyard" (kingdom)! (John 11:47-52).
Peter tells us how this all ends:
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NASB)
The "end" to which all the apostles pointed was not the end of the planet and universe as we know it: it was the end of the old covenant kingdom which was taken away from Israel when it was destroyed and judged in 70 AD!
Finally, on 1 Peter 2:9-10...
See these words, "so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light? It's an allusion to Daniel 12:3...
"Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3 (NASB)
The work of producing fruit for the kingdom continues to this very day and will continue - as Daniel writes - "forever and ever" because the new covenant kingdom of Christ will endure "for all ages to come." (Daniel 7:18).
We, the "living stones", are a royal priesthood of the new covenant kingdom of Christ - which exists now and forevermore - because the old covenant priesthood was violently disbanded in 70 AD. Forever.
Two ages: Mosaic and Messianic. Two kingdoms: kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Christ. Two covenants: Law and Faith. Two women: Hagar (Israel) and Sarah (the Church.) Two Jerusalems: earthly and heavenly. Two women: idolatrous harlot and heavenly bride. Two mountains: Sinai and Zion. Two temples: earthly and heavenly. All of the old has been swept away for the sake of the new. You can read more about the contrast and comparison of these "twos" in Hebrews and Revelation.
Too long. Done.
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