Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

The Christian-Israelite's Destiny: Rulership with the Messiah in the Coming World Government

by Anthony Buzzard

Few students of Christianity seem to be aware that believers in the Messiah are destined for royal office. An extraordinary conspiracy of silence hides from churchgoers the very point and final purpose of the Christian-Israelite life. Yet the biblical writers knew very well what was involved in discipleship.

Our New Testament documents record that the Messiah came heralding the Messianic Kingdom of YEHOVAH God (Matthew 4:23; 9:35). He called this the Gospel. With his Gospel of the Kingdom message the Messiah came recruiting executives for the universal government which the Father had promised to entrust to him as king over Israel.

If any truth is calculated to inspire and embolden, and humble the people of YEHOVAH God, it is that Christian-Israelite believers -- those properly instructed in the truth -- are now ambassadors residing in the alien territory of the present evil world-system (2 Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 6:20; Galatians 1:4), awaiting the return of their master to make them co-rulers in the new world system of the future (Daniel 7:18, 22, 27).

For this astonishing privilege the faithful are to strive now with the help of YEHOVAH's spirit. This, patently, is what the Bible teaches, and the reader is challenged to reconsider any other view which he may have accepted without careful consideration of the biblical facts.

It cannot be denied that the Messiah was preoccupied above all with the Gospel message about the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God (Luke 4:43; Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 13:19) as the dynamic tool by which converts were moved to abandon all for him and the Kingdom. Entrance into the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God was the supreme goal at the end of the Christian-Israelite's road. That goal inspired early Christian sacrifice, even of life itself: "Through much tribulation we are destined to enter the Kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). All present trials are to be borne cheerfully in view of the spectacular prize awaiting the faithful believer at the return of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah to inaugurate the Kingdom on earth. This theme underlies all the New Testament writings, as well as those of the Hebrew prophets.

The Messiah cannot be understood apart from his Judahite, Old Testament background. His mind was saturated with the words of the Old Testament prophets. For him it was axiomatic to believe that YEHOVAH God had revealed to His servants the prophets the secrets of the future (Daniel 2:45; Matthew 24:15). The book of Daniel, for example, had conferred on the faithful in Israel an outline of world history in which the Son of Man, the Messiah (Daniel 7:13), was to play the leading role.

The Messiah knew himself to be the Son of Man (his favorite self-designation), a figure whom Daniel had seen in a remarkable vision. The Son of Man was seen appearing before the court of heaven to receive a Kingdom (over Israel) and kingship (Daniel 7:14). Daniel's seventh chapter provides us with a fundamentally important insight into the Messiah's mission and the destiny of his followers.

The meaning of this chapter is in no sense difficult. Neglect of the Old Testament has long deprived the average churchgoer of these basic building blocks of the Messiah's saving Gospel message. It is unfamiliarity with this material, not the material itself, which may create difficulty. Christian-Israelite's are everywhere in the Bible urged to search and study.

All scholars agree (and it is obvious to every reader of Scripture) that the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God was the central topic of all the Messiah's teachings. What the Messiah meant by the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God may be readily understood by tracing the Kingdom to its Old Testament source in Daniel 2:44. Looking at the close of the present era of human history, Daniel foresaw that "the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left to another people; it will crush and put to an end all these [previously mentioned] kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever." Its location is to be "under heaven" (Daniel 7:27) -- on this earth.

Micah gives us words reminiscent of the Messiah's command that we are to pray "May Your Kingdom come!" The Kingdom is the time when the LORD God will rule on Mount Zion (Micah 4:7-8). The Kingdom of YEHOVAH God is thus clearly political and geographical. The Kingdom of YEHOVAH God Gospel, the Christian Gospel, promises a time when the nations will beat their weapons of war into harmless farm tools, and "never again train for war" (Micah 4:3; Isaiah 2:4).

This Kingdom to be set up by "the God of Heaven" quite naturally became known as "the Kingdom of Heaven" or "the Kingdom of God" (the terms are synonymous: Matthew 19:23-24), and it was that Kingdom which the Messiah came to announce as good news, the Christian-Israelite Gospel (Matthew 4:23; Luke 4:43). The Messiah evidently believed, with Daniel, that the vision "made known to the king [Nebuchadnezzar] what will take place in the future" (Daniel 2:45).

The Messiah knew that he, of all members of the tribes of Israel, was the chosen King appointed as royal ruler over those of Israel in that great future Kingdom of YEHOVAH God on earth. He saw his task as inviting as many of Israel as would believe him and his Gospel message (Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 13:19) to prepare now for participation as executives and governors in the future Kingdom, when YEHOVAH God and His Messiah return.

Daniel 7

There is further vital information about the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God to be found in Daniel 7. In verse 11 the dominion of the "beast," clearly an evil ruler, is taken away when he is "slain and his body given to the burning fire" (cp. Revelation 19:20), and then "a Son of Man," the Messiah, is presented before YEHOVAH God. "And to him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, so that all the peoples, nations and men [of Israel] of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed" (7:14).

As is well known, the Messiah always referred to himself as the Son of Man described in Daniel 7, thus claiming to be the king to whom the rulership over Israel would be entrusted. Before the high priest of Israel, the Messiah affirmed that he was indeed "the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed" (i.e. the Son of God, Mark 14:61). In the same breath the Messiah quotes Daniel's vision and promises that the Son of Man will be seen "coming with the clouds of heaven" (14:62). Evidently the title "Son of Man" is an equivalent for the titles "Son of God" and "Messiah"; and this is exactly what we would expect from reading about the Messianic function ascribed to the Son of Man in Daniel.

Matthew 16:16 had already equated Messiah with "the Son of the living God": "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." All these titles are purely Messianic and have nothing whatsoever to do with the post-biblical theories about the so-called two natures of the Messiah, a concept which both the Messiah and Paul would have found baffling. It was only when the Messiahship of Yeshua was misunderstood by the Greeks who began to dominate the Church after apostolic times that the reality of the coming Messianic Kingdom of YEHOVAH God on earth was largely obscured or lost. Contemporary theology continues to weary itself in an attempt to pry apart the titles "Son of God" and "Messiah." In the Bible these are equivalents, designating the same royal office.

There is an underlying problem with Christianity as it has been generally understood. This has to do with Yeshua's Messiahship. People have long been taught that the Messiah rejected the "Jewish" expectation that he would overthrow the political power of present human government and set up a real Kingdom over Israel. The church-going public largely imagines that the Messiah expected that the Kingdom would be established only in the hearts of men and women, and not externally as a real government. This imagined meaning of Kingdom is a dangerously misleading half-truth.

It is true that the Messiah did not, at his first appearance, make any attempt at all to overthrow the existing political system (John 6:15). He came to proclaim the Kingdom as Gospel (Luke 4:43; Mark 1:14-15) and to die for the sins of YEHOVAH's people Israel. This, however, does not alter the fact that at his future appearance he fully intended to take up the political role predicted for Messiah in the Old Testament and "Jewish" sense (Mark 14:62).

Not for one moment did the Messiah deny his future function as King of Israel. To have claimed to be Messiah and yet to have disclaimed the right to sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem and govern his kinspeople Israel would have been nonsensical! It would have been to reject the Bible's view of Messiahship, while claiming to uphold the Scriptures! The destiny of the Messiah was defined by the fascinating words of the angel to Mary in Luke 1:32-33: "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the LORD God will give him the throne of his father David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his Kingdom will have no end."

The Messiah always looked forward to the Millennium when he would assume his full role as King of Israel (Hebrews 9:28). It was not that he was not already Messiah. He was always, since his birth, Messiah, and it was the essence of the Christian-Israelite faith to recognize this (Matthew 16:16-17). To make this known publicly too early in his ministry was, however, to ask for unnecessary trouble hence the so-called "Messianic secret" (Mark 1:34).

Theology departs from the New Testament when it tries to convince us that because Yeshua did not in the first century take up the position of Messiah in the expected Davidic sense, he will never do so! This is simply to reject the Gospel of the Kingdom which contains a promise that the Kingdom will be inaugurated worldwide when YEHOVAH God's Shekinah Glory returns. The Messiah and the Apostles constantly make their appeals for repentance on the basis of belief in the future Kingdom (Mark 1:14-15; 4:11-12; Luke 8:11-12; 9:2; Matthew 13:19; 24:14; Acts 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). E. Earle Ellis is right when he says that "the term 'Kingdom of God' is used in Acts only of a future event."'

Now the knowledge of the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God as a vital part of the Gospel is in no sense an academic acknowledgment of a remote future event. It is the key to the believer's involvement with the Messiah. Daniel 7 provides information not only about the individual Son of Man, to whom the Kingdom over Israel is granted, but also about all those who are to be associated with him in rulership. Daniel 7:18, 22 speaks of the time to come when "the saints take possession of the Kingdom." The Messiah echoes this prediction exactly when he says to believers, "Seek His Kingdom...Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is delighted to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:31-32).

Daniel 7:27 is even more explicit: "Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their Kingdom will never end and all rulers on earth will serve and obey them" (see ERV, GNT, RSV). Let it be carefully noted, however, that no world political power is to be asserted or exercised by the saints until YEHOVAH God returns. That future event is the one for which we pray "May Your Kingdom come!"

In 1 Corinthians 6:2 Paul makes an appeal to a recognized fact, a basic principle of Christianity. He seems frustrated that his people are unclear about such an elementary Christian-Israelite truth (cp. 6:9, 19): "Do you not know that the saints are going to manage the world?" (see Moffatt's translation). The remark is made in the context of settling disputes and recalls the passage in Isaiah 2:1-4 which foresees YEHOVAH God the Father as arbiter of international disputes. This is to be the honor and responsibility of Christian-Israelites as they assist YEHOVAH God and the Messiah in the future worldwide government. This will be the first truly successful world government.

In the book of "the Revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:1) where the mind of the Messiah is disclosed continuously for 22 chapters, the coming reign of the saints is a principal theme. The two elements of the Gospel -- the death of the Messiah and the subsequent reign of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah and the saints -- are combined in the jubilant outburst of 5:9-10: "Worthy are you [the Lamb, the Messiah] to take the book and to break its seals; for you were slain, and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation [of Israel]. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign on the earth."

This central importance of the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God and the co-rulership of the Messiah and the saints should put beyond doubt the need to proclaim the Kingdom as the heart of the Gospel message. The announcement of the Kingdom serves as an invitation to royal office in the coming geopolitical reign on a renewed earth. This is both the goal of human history and the destiny of the Church. No wonder, then, that the Messiah urges his Church on with the promise of the supreme reward: "He who overcomes and keeps my deeds to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, just as I have received authority from my Father" (Revelation 2:26-27).

This is an echo of Psalm 2, of Daniel 7:27 and, of course, Luke 22:28-30: "You are those who have stood by me in my trials, and just as my Father has covenanted to me a kingdom [over Israel], I covenant to you, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to administer the twelve tribes of Israel." ("Judge" is equivalent to "administer" or "rule," according to Hebrew usage. See, for example, Good News translation, Moffatt and the International Critical Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6:2.) The Messiah insists also in Revelation 3:21, "He who overcomes, I will grant him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne."

It is in Revelation 20 that we find the ultimate denouement of the Bible's constant anticipation of effective divine rule on earth. Once again there is the promise of royal office for the faithful when they are resurrected to immortality: "They came to life and began to reign as kings with Messiah" (Revelation 20:4).

On the firm foundation of the Messiah and his teaching -­ on the Kingdom Gospel message of the Messiah, not only on the messenger -- a believer is assured of a place of responsibility and royal privilege in the coming Kingdom. It remains a fundamental truth of the New Testament that the Gospel of the Kingdom was preached to Abraham (Galatians 3:8). And to Abraham was promised an inheritance of the world (Romans 4:13). To his literal descendants, the international Israel of YEHOVAH God (Galatians 6:16; Philippians 3:3) will be granted inheritance of the earth (Matthew 5:5). With the Messiah, King of Israel and Savior of Israel, they will reign as kings on earth (Revelation 5:10). To that honor and service they are summoned by the Gospel of the Kingdom. In their blessing lies the power to bless others (Genesis 12:1-3).

Background to this central definition of the Christian-Israelite Gospel as preached by the Messiah and Paul and New Testament evangelists (Acts 1:3, 6; 8:12; 19:8; 20:24-25; 28:23, 31) is, of course, Psalm 37: "the humble will inherit the land" (v. 9, 11), "the inheritance of the blameless will be forever" (v. 18), "those blessed by Him will inherit the land" (v. 22), "the righteous will inherit the land and live in it forever" (v. 29), "He will exalt you to inherit the land" (v. 34).

It is time for Bible readers to abandon their customary misleading language about "going to heaven at death." After all, why would you want to go to heaven, when the Messiah will not be there! He is coming to the earth at the outset of the Millennium. Your destiny is to prepare now, with all earnestness, to gain a position as supervisor, governor and manager with Yeshua the Messiah in the future Kingdom of YEHOVAH God on a renewed earth, which is the heart of the Gospel hope.

Jeremiah 27:5 presents the stupendous truth that YEHOVAH God, who has created the world and everything in it, proposes to give that whole world to those who are pleasing in His sight. The divine plan speaks of an amazing generosity on the part of the One God. The definition of the Kingdom, the heart of the Christian Gospel, urgently needs redefinition as "the Kingdom of the LORD in the hands of the sons of David" (2 Chronicles 13:8), certainly not just a spiritual state of mind in the heart!

The world now in chaos is going to be reborn (Matthew 19:28), renewed, when YEHOVAH God and the Messiah return, and you are destined to take part in that first successful world government, when the world will be under new management, that of YEHOVAH God, the Messiah, and the saints (holy people of all ages). No wonder then that Peter anticipates, as the outcome of the present trials and tests of believers, that the future gift of the Kingdom "will bring you much praise and glory and honor" at the future revelation of Yeshua the Messiah (1 Peter1:7, NLT). The gift of the Kingdom of Israel to the Messiah and his true Israelite followers is nothing less than the heart and core of the New Covenant (see Luke 22:28-30 above). What an honor!

In view of this core Gospel truth, we should be duly disturbed and warned by the striking alert to us all supplied by Paul in 1 Timothy 6:3-4: "If anyone comes to you and does not bring the health-giving words, those of our lord Jesus Messiah...he understands nothing." Did not John echo exactly the same dire warning? "Many deceivers have gone out into the world...Anyone who goes too far, and does not remain in the teaching of Messiah, does not have God" (2 John 7-9).

These precious verses account for the most severe and alarming warning of the Messiah in the Sermon on the Mount: "Many will say to me in that future day, 'Lord, lord, did we not preach...and even do miracles in your name?" That unfortunate group will be confronted with the chilling words, "I never recognized you" (Matthew 7:22-23). So also in Luke, the same multitude will claim that they had eaten in the Messiah's presence and he had "taught in their streets" (Luke 13:26). But the level of their deception and carelessness will have stolen their imagined success! They will be rejected from the goal of the Kingdom. Why? Simply by addressing the Messiah as "lord, lord" but failing to believe and do what he said! (Luke 6:46-49).

This will cause each reader to ponder again the black and white Apostolic warnings from Paul and John, cited above. Without the teachings and Kingdom Gospel words of the Messiah, we are founded on sand, and not on rock. Make absolutely sure that your inherited Christian-Israelite faith begins with obedience to the words of YEHOVAH God, the Messiah, and his Gospel (Mark 1:14-15). To do otherwise risks ultimate failure.

-- Edited by John D. Keyser.