THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD - Part 6 - By Daniel J. Musokwa

Daniel J. Musokwa

Here is the 6th installment...I would encourage you to click on these links and check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 of this series of teachings, solidly based on the Word of God, titled "The True Israel of God" by my brother and friend Apostle Daniel J. Musokwa of The New Testament Ministries - Tanzania.

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But God is able to graft them back into grace IF they do not persist in unbelief! These things are so open and so clear to be understood. Yet why has the church been so wrong? The Old Testament is why! Every church that still preachers and instructs in the Old Testament for doctrine, instead of illustration, will almost invariably see Israel as God’s chosen people, and not the church!

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Gal 6:14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Gal 6:15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.

Gal 6:16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.

Please notice here what Paul, the Apostle, calls the people “who follow this rule”… people who “boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” – he calls them “the Israel of God!” There is no doubt that the church is now the Israel of God, God’s children and God’s chosen people; the Scriptures prove this beautifully! 

Eph 2:11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-

Eph 2:12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

The former condition of those of us who are Gentiles by birth was that of “separation from the promised Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world!” That is such a dire and fatal condition to be in! You must remember that God cut a covenant with His people Israel (Lev 27:34), and not the Gentiles! As far as the Old Testament is concerned the Gentiles are dogs, even a Jewish rabbi named Jesus thought and actually said that (Mat 15:22-28)! The minute a Gentile, whom now because of ‘grace’ is included in citizenship with the true Israel of God, decides to go back to the Old Testament he automatically disappears from the radar-screen of God’s grace.

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Why is this so? Because the Old Testament was not equipped to view Gentiles as heirs together with Israel… it was not designed to give the gentile righteousness by the Law at any level. The Law only prophesies that the gentiles will be saved through the Messiah, but it offers no salvation and no absolution to them within its precepts. Even the slaves or gentiles that used to live in Jewish households, they were circumcised according to the Law – but not for their own relationship with God… they were circumcised for the sake of ceremonial cleanness in a Jewish home. The same way those who keep dogs make sure they’re clean in order to keep flees away from the home.

TO BE CONTINUED >>>

THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD - Part 5 - By Daniel J. Musokwa

Daniel J. Musokwa

I would encourage you to click on these links and check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of this series of teachings, solidly based on the Word of God, titled "The True Israel of God" by my brother and friend Apostle Daniel J. Musokwa of The New Testament Ministries - Tanzania.

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Col 3:11 Here there is NO Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Col 3:12-13 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

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Paul says “here there is NO Greek or Jew…” Here where? In Christ! (Read all of Colossians 3) It means “In Christ there is NO Greek or Jew… but Christ is all, and is in all!” I tell you the New Testament does not have hidden within it somewhere another special covenant for the Jew! In the New Testament, there is neither Jew nor Gentile but Christ is in all! What part of that Scripture is too difficult for us to understand! Where is the Jew therefore? Where is the Gentile therefore? In Christ, they are one and the same. In Christ, you are not disadvantaged if you cannot trace your natural lineage back to Abraham; and you are not advantaged if you can! What matters is the new seed of heaven, even Jesus Christ.

In verse 12 of Colossians 3 Paul says something that would be almost blasphemous and heretical to most evangelicals today! He says to the Colossians “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved…” How about that! Paul, a Jew of Jews, of the tribe of Benjamin, calls Gentile Colossians “God’s chosen people” as well as “holy and dearly loved!” That comes as a shocker to us evangelicals, doesn't it! You see now friends, it is true what Paul said to the church in Rome; “it is not the natural descendants of Abraham who are God’s children but rather, those who are children of the promised Holy Spirit through Jesus the Christ of God!” Here’s more:

Gal 3:26-27 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are ALL ONE in Christ Jesus.

Gal 3:29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

What can I say? In this dispensation there is neither Jew nor Greek for we are all one in Christ Jesus! He says “if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise!” It doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, your father is Abraham if you are in Christ Jesus! 

Hallelujah!

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So really, is this “Replacement Theology?” My honest answer would be, I truly don’t know. Since I never went to Bible College so I wouldn't really know what to call it, so for now I’ll just call it the Gospel of the Kingdom… I’ll call it “grace given freely to the Gentile as well as the Jew”. There’s nothing more foolish and reckless than for the church to continue insisting that the Jews are still God’s only chosen people! They were that in the Old Covenant economy which was just a type and shadow of the good things that were to come, but NOT still so in the New Covenant where the Blood-washed church is God’s chosen people! I am truly humbled that through the Jew we received the New Covenant and that through them we received a Saviour of the world. But that alone does not deify them as anything above the rest of humanity! At best, they denied Jesus as the Messiah and crucified Him on the cross. Remember that to this very day they are still denying His Lordship and divinity! They have been ‘cut-off’ from Christ, according to Paul. Keep that in mind.

TO BE CONTINUED >>>

THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD - Part 4 - By Daniel J. Musokwa

Daniel J. Musokwa

I would encourage you to click on these links and check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this series of teachings, solidly based on the Word of God, titled "The True Israel of God" by my brother and friend Apostle Daniel J. Musokwa of the New Testament Ministries Tanzania.

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Rom 9:6-8 It is not as though God's word had failed. For NOT all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." In other words, it is NOT the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.

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Not all who are the natural descendants of Jacob are the Israel of God! He stresses that “it is not the NATURAL children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the PROMISE who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring!” I am telling you, it doesn't get more telling than that! So truly, it is NOT the natural descendants of Abraham who are God’s children because that would mean that they are born of earth through the earthly man, Abraham! But God’s children were simply promised to Abraham through Christ Jesus the heavenly man! What was the promise?

Gal 3:14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT.

So here Paul tells us what the promise was. Our redemption was in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to us Gentiles through Christ Jesus so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Holy Ghost! So the promise of the blessing was the Holy Spirit! So it is by the giving of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ produces God’s children; that is why Paul says:

Rom 8:14 … those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Wow Paul! If we are truly God’s sons that would mean that we are no longer under the Law because we are being led by the Holy Ghost of God Himself! Could that be?

Gal 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are NOT under law!

Believe me; the Jew is being led by the Law, not by the Holy Spirit! So who has the promise now, the Jew or the Church? Just be honest with your answer. The Holy Ghost has been poured to the church of Jesus Christ, both the believing Jew and Gentile! That means the unbelieving Israelis are without the promised blessing of the Spirit. Even though they are the natural descendants of Abraham, they are NOT God’s children! In the New Testament economy of the church, they are NOT God’s chosen people. This is Paul’s gospel. Tradition gets the best of us.

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Rom 9:30-31 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is BY FAITH; BUT Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has NOT attained it.

Rom 9:32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were BY WORKS. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."(Jesus)

So the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness by the Law have obtained it by faith, but the Jew who pursued it by works did NOT obtain it! Why? Because they wanted to attain righteousness by works of the Law.

TO BE CONTINUED>>> 

THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD - Part 3 - By Daniel J. Musokwa

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Paul here is thinking of Jesus as an olive tree and the Jews as His branches. But because of their unbelief they were broken off from the commonwealth of God (verse 20), but that we, though according to God we were wild branches from a wild olive of sin were grafted-in into the holy olive tree that is Jesus. 

So now according to the 17^th verse, we are sharing in the nourishing sap from the holy olive root. But verses 23-26 are very important here because the Holy Ghost says, through Paul, that “… if they (Israel) do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted back in, for God is able to graft them in again… and so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins”!”

Look at that! Oh, how we've always misquoted that verse to mean that all Israel will be saved regardless of their sins because they are God’s chosen people. But Paul, an Israelite of Israelites, of the tribe of Benjamin, strongly disagrees with that assessment! Paul said “if they do not persist in unbelief God will graft them back in… AND SO shall all Israel be saved! The conjunctive word “so” used in this verse (v26) is translated from the Greek word “houto” and Strong’s Concordance translates it as “in this way”.

It is a word which refers you to a preceding statement, and the precedent here is that ‘if Israel does not persist in their unbelief, then God would graft them back into the Olive tree… and “houto” shall all Israel be saved!” So all of Israel without exceptions MUST believe that Jesus is the Christ, then and only then would God graft them back into their original Olive tree AND ONLY IN THIS WAY (houto) must all Israel be saved! So there will be Jews who will never accept Jesus as the Messiah, their fate is already sealed together with the rest of Gentile unbelievers! God has NO preferential treatment for the Jews in this dispensation of the New Covenant; none whatsoever! They are just like the rest of humankind. Probably that sounds like blasphemy to most people, but it is very true. Why do you think Paul lamented about them:

Rom 9:1 I speak the truth in Christ-I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit-

Rom 9:2-5 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Rom 9:6-8 It is not as though God's word had failed. For NOT all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." In other words, it is NOT the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.

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If salvation was automatic to the Jews, why would the Apostle Paul mourn and lament their unbelief? He wished that he himself were “cursed” and “cut off” from the Messiah on their behalf; please notice that this was and is the spiritual condition of Israel, cut off from Christ! These are not my words, but rather the words of Paul. In verses 6 to 8 he goes on to say that “not all who are descended from Israel (Jacob) are Israel.Nor because they are his natural descendants are they all Abraham’s children!” This is a very interesting observation by Paul.

TO BE CONTINUED>>> 

This series titled THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD by my brother and good friend Daniel J. Musokwa, General Overseer of New Testament Ministries Tanzania is not over yet, there's more to come, stay tuned. - Patrick G. Kamera.

THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD - Part 2 - By Daniel J. Musokwa

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The Bible says “My people perish for lack of knowledge” – Hosea 4:6. This means that in the spirit, whatever you know is included in the commonwealth of your spiritual density and identity! Even spiritual authority is based on what you know in the spirit, this knowledge is quickened by the Holy Ghost into your authority. Knowledge without the Holy Ghost is absolutely nothing.  

The Old Testament makes a lot of well-meaning Christians completely blind to the life of spirituality that Christ came to offer. The Law through religion creates a façade of pseudo-religiosity that keeps the people busy thinking they are growing spiritually, but in effect only their ‘church’ or ‘denomination’ is growing is in size, in their organizational structure and in the missionary projects they undertake. But believe me; these things have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with your personal spiritual growth! It doesn't matter how good and seemingly comprehensive whatever religious program is that you are involved in, you are not growing until Christ’s life and Word can be seen in you and until your knowledge of God and the spirit have increased as well. So the church has been blinded into surrendering her birth-right as God’s chosen people because of their dwelling too much in the Law! The church thinks that the nation of Israel is God’s chosen people still... but that was a shadow! ISRAEL in OT = Church in NT.

What is church? Believing Gentile + Believing Jew = Church (Israel of God – Gal 6)

“But Brother Daniel, the Bible says that ‘all Israel shall be saved’!” No it doesn't. We've got to somehow learn to read the Bible the way it was written, with no chapter and verse numbers. It is rather careless to build a whole doctrine on some verse number that has just recently been introduced as a coordinate system to navigate the holy text. Paul’s great letter to the church in Rome contains some very valuable information about the subjects of the Law and Israel. In Romans chapter 11 Paul talks about how God has not completely rejected the people of Israel, he says there is still a remnant in Israel that would later receive the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

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Rom 11:17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,

Rom 11:18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

Rom 11:19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."

Rom 11:20 Granted. But they were broken off because of UNBELIEF, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.

Rom 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Rom 11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

Rom 11:23 And IF THEY do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in AGAIN.

Rom 11:24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

Rom 11:25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, lest you should be wise within yourselves; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the nations has comes in.

Rom 11:26 AND SO all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, "There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

TO BE CONTINUED>>>

THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD - Part 1 - By Daniel J. Musokwa

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Gal 6:16 All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God--his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them! (The Message)

Greetings! May the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ lead our hearts to knowledge, understanding and love based upon the principles of His mercy and grace. I feel it is incumbent upon us to also talk about how the Bible understands “Israel”.  Let me just say right off the bat, I love the great nation of Israel and indeed I am grateful to God almighty for them. The story of Israel is really a story about God’s love and insistent grace upon the human race.

God created man in His own image and likeness, and afterwards, man’s image and likeness became marred, and he found himself in a state of sin. But God had a plan to restore man to his former glory. But first, He had to reveal sin for what it was; He had to create a mirror that would reveal sin inside man’s nature; he called the mirror the Law (Rom 7:13)! Then He bequeathed this mirror to His chosen people (Ex 13:9; Lev 27:34), the people of Israel who are also the natural seed of Abraham; these were His chosen nation through whom the whole world would be saved (Gen 12:1-3). God loved His chosen people and He revealed His Law and Himself to them. From then on, every Law and every interaction God had with them would be a ‘type’ and ‘shadow’ of what was going to take place when the Messiah had come, at the time of the New Covenant.That means, even Israel itself being called “God’s chosen people” or “my people” (Ex 3:10; Is 65:8-10) was also a type and shadow, the reality of it is only found in Christ Jesus (Col 2:17)!

Hang on a sec!

I know to a lot of people this is going to sound like what the theologians call “Replacement Theology” where some people teach that the church has replaced Israel in the economy of God. I truly do not subscribe to that teaching, however, in this New Covenant God chooses people out of the Israel pool and the Gentile pool to create a third group, the Ekklesia, the church… the “Israel of God” according to Galatians. So Israel as a nation has not been replaced, but the concept of OT Israel has been extended to the adoption of believing gentiles. But I would like to invite you to stay with me for a while here. The church has continued to believe blindly that the physical nation of Israel is still God’s chosen people today even apart from the New Covenant of the Blood of Jesus Christ… and this is a grave error! 

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Remember that believing gentiles are also “a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9). Jesus says to His church “You have not chosen Me, but I HAVE CHOSEN YOU…” Yes, Israel was ‘God’s chosen people’ in the OT, but what about the church in the NT? It is not right for the church to worship Israel; we are supposed to love them just like we love the Iraqis. It is true that “the gifts of God are irrevocable”, and that they were blessed by God… but as pertaining sonship, they also need Jesus Christ just as we do.

TO BE CONTINUED >>>

FAN OR FOLLOWER? Which one are you?

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Jesus called out His first would-be disciples, who were fishermen, with these simple words:

¹⁹ … “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” – Matthew 4:19 NKJV

To the others like Matthew the Tax Collector He simply said “follow me” (Matthew 9:9)

He asked them to do only one thing and that was to “follow Him” and He promised to “make them” fishers of men. They followed Him and did just that – made them Fishers of Men.

Today, the Lord is calling us by His Spirit within us. He is calling us to follow Him as dearly beloved children. Beloved, go beyond just being a fan and become a follower, a disciple of Jesus Christ today! We are to pay attention to what He is communicating to us by His Spirit and adjust our lives accordingly. We are not tasked with the duty or responsibility of making ourselves into anything, we are God’s sons and daughters, partakers of the Father’s Divine nature.

In this family of God that we now belong to, He is the Potter and we are the clay. As sons and daughters have chores and responsibilities in natural family settings, with God’s family it’s no different. He is the one who “makes” us into different vessels fit for His use – as He pleases. Should we fail to follow Him it’s our loss, we miss out on what He would have made us. 

Jesus our Lord said:

²⁷ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. – John 10:27 NKJV

So, as His sheep we not only hear His voice, but we follow Him as well. We follow Him wherever He may lead us, and He leads us by His Spirit who is resident within us. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of Himself for us and our faith in Him, we are God’s children, holy, righteous and accepted in the Beloved.

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. – Romans 8:14:-16 NIV

We are no longer to be lead outwardly by the OT Law or by some man-made set of rules and regulations for us to be accepted by God, in Christ we are already accepted by God. We are now led inwardly by the Holy Spirit who not only knows the mind of Christ, but imparts it to us as well. As we walk in fellowship with the Holy Spirit and follow His leading, we will not have to worry about “making” ourselves into anything, He will “make” us what He created us to be seemingly effortlessly. We will avoid the “pressure to perform” and/or the “trying too hard” syndrome and its ensuing frustrations. Let’s not forget, without Christ we can do nothing.

Beloved, I’m not advocating complacency or apathy in any way, shape or form. One cannot truly follow the Lord’s leading and remain apathetic, ineffective or indifferent in how they live and love on others. I must also hasten to add that being constantly active and involved in everything is not necessarily proof that one is following the Lord’s leading. A healthy balance must be struck, let’s pay attention to what the Spirit is saying to us. 

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Christ has graced each one of us uniquely and it is He who knows how and where we fit best in His Body – the Church and we can only find our place and be at peace as we follow His leading.

Jesus said “follow me and I will make you…”

My part is to follow Him, His is to “make me…”

And we know that He who has promised is faithful and He will do it! 

Blessings!