Gary reveals that he is considering having a prophecy conference in the Nashville area next summer.
2 Corinthians 7 begins: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (v. 1). “These promises” were made to Israel, and yet Paul applies them to the church at Corinth (1:1).
There is no mention of a postponement of the promises first made to Abraham. These Jewish believers, the recipients of the promises spoken by the prophets (Acts 3:24), made up “the church” (5:11). So then, when Gentiles were grafted into the existing all-Israelite ekklēsia, they took part in the same Israelite promises. Dispensationalists have to maintain that this was never God’s plan. Citing Isaiah 57:19, Paul assures Israelites and non-Israelites who are in Christ, “and He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near” (Eph. 2:17). The New Testament ekklēsia was always God’s plan!
Dispensationalists still maintain that there are unfulfilled promises for Israel. Where in the New Testament does it say this? Not a single New Testament writer offers a caveat to their claim that the promises have been fulfilled. We have to ask the dispensationalist when these unfulfilled promises are going to be fulfilled. It can’t be during the so-called church age since, as dispensationalist Thomas Ice states, “We dispensationalists believe that the church has superseded Israel during the current church age, but God has a future time in which He will restore national Israel ‘as the institution for the administration of divine blessings to the world.’” When will this divine blessing to the world take place? It can’t take place “during the current church age” since God, according to Ice, has replaced Israel with the church. It’s not going to take place during the dispensationalist’s version of the Great Tribulation since there will be a mass slaughter of Jews and even greater destruction to the world. Will it be during the “millennium”? Revelation 20 doesn’t say anything about the promises being finally fulfilled since there is no mention of Israel or the land of Israel.
If the dispensationalists are correct, then the New Testament writers were awfully confused, in spite of the fact that they, like their Old Testament counterparts, were under the direct inspiration of the infallible Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Of course, we know they weren’t confused in the least. If they had wanted to make such a distinction between Israel and the “church” they certainly would have used a word other than ekklēsia, which possessed a continuity of meaning spanning both the Old and New Testaments of the Greek Bible.
Ten Popular Prophecy Myths Exposed and Answered
Since the reestablishment of Israel in 1948, “end-time” prophetic speculation has been on the rise. While there is a long history of date setting, the past century has seen an exponential increase in the number of books proclaiming that the end is near. It’s time that the “Boy who cried wolf” syndrome be dealt with in a biblical way.
Buy NowGary reveals that he is considering having a prophecy conference in the Nashville area next summer. Why is this necessary and what will be taught? Listen to today’s episode to learn much more about what Gary has in mind for this potential event.