Q303 : What if Israel had Accepted Christ at His First Coming?

Home  •  Questions  •  Subscribe  •  Previous  •  Next

Q303 : What if Israel had Accepted Christ at His First Coming?

Hi Dr. Woods,

I am an avid listener to Brannon Howse World View Weekend, and enjoy your teaching.

I am reading your latest book, The Coming Kingdoma and have not finished it yet, but I have a few questions I hope you can help me with.

The first is concerning Israel rejecting the Kingdom, after Matt 12:24, where Jesus then only taught in parables.

If Israel had accepted the Kingdom, and you state, that it (the Kingdom), would have been set up then & there, and that Jesus would have been enthroned as the King on the Davidic Throne in Jerusalem, as stated in 2 Samuel 7? This didn't happen, so the Kingdom has been put on hold.

How would redemption for the world have happened?

My second question is regarding Chapter 5: Kingdom Mysteries.

After Matt. 12;24, Jesus only spoke to the disciples in parables, and the 8 Kingdom parables are covered. You state that the Kingdom is different to the Church age, which I have thought for many years anyhow, but then you mention the wheat & the tares, teaching it will be hard to distinguish between saved & unsaved within professing Christendom;

Also, you state that the parable of the mustard seed teaches that in its final form, Christendom will represent an apostate form of truth;

The leaven parable, you state, teaches that professing Christendom will experience increasing moral & doctrinal corruption as the age progresses.

I am getting a little confused because as you say, the Kingdom has been put on hold, the Church Age is a parenthesis between the rejection of the Kingdom & the acceptance of the Kingdom by Israel and the acceptance of Christ as their Messiah, how then can you apply the Kingdom Parables to the Church Age?

Thank you for reading my questions and I look forward to your response.


A303 : by Andy Woods

Thank you for the encouragement and also for your very good questions.

Regarding the first question, it’s difficult to answer. It’s sort of like asking what if Adam and Eve had never sinned, then how could God‘s plan of redemption have been accomplished from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8)? Some, like Dr. Pentecost and Dr. Fruchtenbaum, have speculated that if Jesus had taken the throne then the Romans would have come and executed Christ for insurrection and that’s how the plan of salvation and the crucifixion would have been carried out. However, that is only speculation. The only thing I know for sure is that the offer of the kingdom was a real tangible offer, but God through infinite foreknowledge knew that that offer would be rejected. He then used this rejection to accomplish His plan of salvation. It’s a tricky subject, sort of like talking about election and free will. Both are definite realities. It’s hard for the finite human mind to wrap itself around.

Regarding your second question, the kingdom parables represent the experiences of the kingdom’s sons (Matt. 13:38), or the inheritors of the kingdom (Gal. 4:7), in between Christ’s two advents. So it really doesn’t represent a time period of the kingdom on the earth but rather what the sons of the kingdom will experience while the kingdom is in postponement. This time period overlaps with the church age but is slightly broader than the church age. The church age begins on the day of Pentecost and goes to the rapture. The kingdom parables start in Matthew 13 and extend all the way through the tribulation period to the second advent of Christ.

Hoping this helps.

In Him, Andy

Search Website
Related Topics


Home  •  Questions  •  Subscribe  •  Previous  •  Next


Copyright © 2023 by www.SpiritAndTruth.org
(Content generated on Sat Dec 2 20:49:15 2023)
Contact