Posted by Ray Kidder on 9/18/2009, 9:15 pm, in reply to "Re: Matthew 21 & 28"
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Searcher,
You mentioned Psalm 2: 8-12. This is from Psalm 2 (Young's Literal Translation):
7 I declare concerning a statute: Jehovah said unto me, `My Son Thou [art], I to-day have brought thee forth.
8 Ask of Me and I give nations -- thy inheritance, And thy possession -- the ends of earth.
9 Thou dost rule them with a sceptre of iron, As a vessel of a potter Thou dost crush them.'
10 And now, O kings, act wisely, Be instructed, O judges of earth,
11 Serve ye Jehovah with fear, And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Chosen One, lest He be angry, And ye lose the way, When His anger burneth but a little, O the happiness of all trusting in Him!
I interpret verse 7 to be an introduction to this passage, as being something that pertains to Jesus, as He is the Son of God (and also the Son of King David). I also interpret the Chosen One of verse 12 to be Jesus, rather then the nation of Israel. I also interpret the nations of verse 8 to be those nations that have lots of Christians within them. I do not interpret these verses to be something where the Jews rule over gentiles. the words "heathen" and "gentiles" do not appear in this literal translation of this passage. It reminds me of the story of Joseph in the book on Genesis, for at one point, his brothers bowed down before him (Genesis 43:28). Similarly, the Jews will bow down before Jesus some time in our future.
How is praying the 10 Commandments contrary to the hopes of St. Paul that he described in Ephesians 1:17-23? If God gives me the grace to avoid temptations, avoid taking His name in vain, and given me the ability to feed my friends with bread (and those things that are symbolized by bread), doesn't this give me wisdom, riches in heaven, a deeper knowledge of Jesus, and spiritual victory? In praying for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, aren't we seeking things that are above for the way we live our lives here on earth, such that although we are in the world, we are not of the world?
The great commission at the end of Matthew reminds me of this passage from Genesis 1 (NKJV):
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.
30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.
As Jesus started out as a gardener on the day of His resurrection, so Adam started out as a gardener in Eden. As Adam was told to have dominion over every living thing that moves on the earth, so is Jesus to have dominion over every person (both Jews and gentiles).
There is another thing about your assertion that Acts 28:25-27 tells of a second rejection by the Jews that Jesus is their messiah, causing some kind of great postponement of the Kingdom of God on Earth, and the development of a new form of Christianity that is not based on the great commission found at the end of Matthew. One of my Bibles dates Acts 28 at 63 AD. It also dates 2 Peter at 66 AD, and Jesus implied that his second coming would occur after St. Peter was crucified. In addition the destruction of the temple occurred in 70 AD, as this fulfilled a prophecy of Jesus in Luke 19:44 & Matthew 24:2. Why would God expect an acceptance of Jesus by the Jews during Acts 28 if some of the prophecies of Jesus had not yet occurred? If the Jewish religious establishment had accepted Jesus during Acts 28, would the temple have been destroyed, and St. Peter been crucified? If these two events had not occurred, then wouldn't Jesus have been a false prophet?
Also, why do you believe the olive tree that St. Paul described in Romans 11 was cut down a few years after this epistle was written (believed to have been written circa AD 60)? Are there early church documents that tell of the new dispensation that started during the writing of the epistles? Does Romans 11 say that if the Jews do not accept Jesus as their messiah, then the olive tree will die, or something to that effect?
Ray Kidder
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