The Church Meeting in Jesus’ Name
602 Oak Knoll Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78228
Epistle
July 2025
2025 Event Calendar
JULY 20 – 27
· Mission Conference – Sundays 10 am
· Every evening 7 pm
· Week day morning meetings 10:30 am
· Dinner on the grounds both Sundays
OCTOBER 18
· Men’s Meeting
NOVEMBER 30
· Thanksgiving Sunday – Dinner on the grounds
Restoring the Kingdom
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. Acts 1
Recently a young man from one of our churches in Mexico wrote me about some articles he has been reading, about a pervasive deception among modern Christians who believe in a rapture, and a restored nation of Israel. The articles referenced many scriptures, especially focusing on the imminence of Christ’s promises to the generation then alive.
28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Matthew 16
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. Matthew 23
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Matthew 24
50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; Luke 11
The claim is that all of the events in the great affliction which Christ mentioned would happen before his coming, were fulfilled within the same generation as Christ. The interpretation is that the Jewish war in the first century was the fulfillment of those stark warnings of great tribulation “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” The story as they tell it is that after that war fulfilled the judgment promised, the church has been the kingdom of God spreading his rule to all the world. So the gospel is the final fulfillment of all kingdom prophecy, and the church inherited all the promises specifically aimed at Israel.
Now I think it is obvious that much within the prophecies in both testaments is obscure, and our interpretations cannot be certain. But I think it should be clear to everyone who is familiar with both the Bible and history that the Jewish War, in which Herod’s temple was destroyed, was not the tribulation Jesus was outlining in the Olivet discourse. Many wars and human catastrophes since then have been worse, by far, and the specific prophecies Jesus mentioned did not happen. The sun and moon did not darken, the stars did not fall, and all men did not see the Son of man descend the way lightning shines from one end of heaven to the other.
There are so many problems with such an “interpretation” of Matthew 24 that I will not labor to comprehensively disprove it here. But I must contradict it. All Bible lovers immediately notice how loose and symbolical all the explanations become in that system. All Old Testament prophesies about the restoration of David’s kingdom, and world dominance under the Messiah, are uprooted from the natural descendants of Israel, and reoriented and retrofitted to a Gentile church. Matthew 21:43 and Galatians 6:16 are used to justify this interpretive scheme, but surely it is significant that none of the Apostles considered the church to have superseded Israel. In our text above they wondered if Christ was preparing to restore Israel at that moment, and Christ didn’t rebuke the expectation, just advised patience. And Paul fully aware of Jewish unbelief still expected Israel to repent someday and be restored (Romans 11:25-7 and Hebrews 4 “another day”). And it should be pointed out that this “a-millennial” scheme was not believed by the followers of the apostles either. It wasn’t even invented until centuries later. All the early church writers were millenarians, and took the warnings and claims in the New Testament, and even the prophecies of the Old Testament to Israel, literally. They believed in an eventually converted Israel, and a thousand year reign of Christ on earth.
Furthermore, the idea proposes that the book of Revelation and all warnings about last days disasters are all somehow already past, fulfilled in the upheaval of Israel in the first century. Also that all the warnings in the New Testament about the end time apostasy and the references to that “man of sin,” some coming world ruler which would deceive every unbeliever, are fulfilled in some un-literal way, perhaps referring to historical or political events during the church’s “reign.” It’s just too much for me, too much waffling, too much strained interpretation, too much facile dismissing of bold predictions, too much unbelieving.
Now, to be fair, the Bible doesn’t explain the “rapture” plainly. It doesn’t graph out the tribulation expressly. I can’t be sure about a lot of things. But the Bible makes such abundant predictions about the end of the world, the coming worldwide affliction, and the kingdom of God on earth, in both testaments, that we can be confident that it means what it says. I am unwilling to devote too much time to correcting the wafflers and imaginative interpreters attempting to excise their need of faith, but I find it fascinating how just believing the scriptures in their plain, straightforward meaning unexpectedly shaped the modern world. Despite the profuse disdain of the scholars and consensus of mainstream Christians since Augustine, some people in our past read the Bible and believed just what it says. They began predicting the restoration of Israel in sermons and pamphlets, and praying for it, and working toward it. A number of modern books have been written on the subject or parallel subjects (Dispensationalism before Darby by William Watson, for one), but what fascinates me most is how the Bible thumping conviction of fanatical protestants and evangelicals actually paved the way for the prophecies to happen.
You might know the history of Zionism, how Jews being persecuted in Russia, Eastern Europe and Arabic lands began what they called “making aliyah,” or moving to Palestine as early as 1882, causing waves of Jewish immigrants up until the first world war. Or how Theodor Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) in 1896 calling for the creation of a sovereign Jewish nation. Or the first Zionist Congress convening in 1897 in Europe. Or about the Balfour Declaration in 1917 or the White Paper of 1939 which rescinded it. This is all true, and important. But where was Zionism among Jews before this? Of course Jews always maintained their devotion to their ancestral homeland, especially Jerusalem, but the idea of restoring their nation was not part of that. Rabbis would explain that only when Messiah comes would he restore the Jews to Jerusalem and Israel.
In fact, Zionism did not come from Judaism. It came from Bible thumping Christians. For example Henry Finch wrote a treatise in 1621 entitled, The World’s Great Restauration, or The Calling of The Jews, which envisioned the return of the Jews to their ancestral homeland. John Milton and John Locke also referenced the idea in their writings. The excitement of English Reformers over the promise of Christ’s kingdom coming literally to earth created a fervor in England for the “fifth monarchy,” a reference to the five empires mentioned by Daniel, the last one being Christ’s. In the midst of many such reformation movements (Fifth monarchists, Seekers and Anabaptists) was an expectation for Israel to take its place among nations. Even English dissenters during that time (often mistakenly referred to as “puritans”) exiled to Holland were exposed to Jewish refugees of the Spanish Inquisition, and petitioned the Dutch government to “transport Izraell’s sons and daughters to the land promised their forefathers for an everlasting Inheritance” (Tuchman, Bible and Sword, 121, quoted in Michael Oren, Power, Faith and Fantasy, p. 89).
Many Americans also were aware of the direct meaning of scripture. Ezra Stiles of Yale predicted “the return of the twelve tribes to the holy land.” Some iconic American preachers even demanded action. John Cotton and Increase Mather advocated opposing the Ottoman Empire to make way for the Jews to return. In 1808, Presbyterian Asa McFarland claimed the Ottoman Empire would fall, the Jews would be restored, and Christ would reign. Elias Boudinet (founder of the American Bible Society) and John Adams wrote about Jews forming an army and reconquering the holy land. In 1819 Levi Parsons and Pliny Fisk from Boston committed themselves as missionaries to Palestine to help facilitate the return of the Jews. Parsons arrived in 1820, but died in 1822 of dysentery. Fisk established a school in relatively safe Beirut in 1823, thinking to convert a future generation (his school became the prestigious American University of Beirut). He made it to Jerusalem in 1825 but was arrested and tortured, freed only by intercession of the British Consul. He tried again in Nazareth but was beaten to death by Arab bandits. None of the missionaries could claim any spiritual success. Their only legacy was humanitarian aid, such as hymnist Horatio Spafford and his wife Anna provided when they moved to Jerusalem in 1881, and established the American Colony there, remnants of which remain to this day. Modern Jews may take offense at the fact, but Zionism is a specifically evangelical Christian point of faith, and Jews adopted the concept only after evangelical Christianity became powerful enough to make it feasible.
While many modern Christians, mainline denominations and all scholars that “really matter” denounce the idea, and oppose the movement, and because of their peculiar “interpretive scheme” always denied, and must still deny the very Biblical predictions that caused Zionism to sprout, the fact remains, and is a modern and powerful testimony to the truth of scripture.
The modern miracle of Israeli nationhood testifies that the early Christians, and later Bible thumpers were spot on all along. But when preachers began proclaiming the scripture as literally predicting their return, the Israeli nation was not improbable. It was impossible. And it wasn’t even desired. Jews worldwide did not want to live in Palestine. It was a wasteland. Descriptions of Palestine before the Aliya were despairing. Mark Twain visited it and said, “of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. It is a hopeless, dreary, heart-broken land…a desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action…hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.” And about Jerusalem he claimed it “is mournful, and dreary, and lifeless. I would not desire to live there.” Jews were not clamoring to return to Palestine. It took evangelistic fervor and worldwide persecution to change their minds.
Of course, the prophecies are not fulfilled yet. Restoring the kingdom to Israel is a literal promise the apostles expected, and Jesus acknowledged. But Israel must also be restored to faith. Most modern Jews and Israelis are not believers, not even in their own Hebrew scriptures, much less in the New Testament, which I might add, is also entirely Jewish. If modern Jews were interested in their scriptures they might notice the amazing promises, and so much fulfillment in the New Testament. But even the few modern Jews and Israelis who are devout believers in God are completely distracted with rabbinical explanations, minutia about personal righteousness, Talmudic commentary and musings, and unscriptural traditions. I would love to meet a Jew that is excited about the Hebrew Bible, the law of Moses, the messianic and kingdom Psalms, the great promises of the prophets. But they are hard to find.
Nevertheless, the expectation is that God is going to restore them, not just to their land, but to interest in his word more than in their tradition, to longing after truth more than pithy wisdom and ancient sayings. Israel will be saved when they believe. They will be “graffed in again.”
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. Romans 11
I do not believe the present situation in the Middle East is fair, or just, or hopeful. But God doesn’t guarantee much in this life. He is doing something in that region that will eventually glorify him. The fact that nearly all humanity opposes it, and has opposed it for nearly two millennia, and yet it happens against all odds, is reason enough to respect God’s word, at least enough to give it a fair reconsideration. What the apostles wanted as Jesus prepared to leave them, and Jesus de facto promised in the appropriate time, will happen according to his word. And meanwhile, we just observe in wonder.