Israel and the Church Parallel Restoration
Derek Prince
Scripture has a great deal to say about times and seasons. If we don’t have an understanding of the times as God reveals them, we probably will not know what to do.
In the New Testament, after Jesus had risen from the dead and was about to take His leave of His disciples, they asked Him about the time He would restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus answered that it was not for them to know the times or the seasons which God has put in his own authority. From these passages we see that times and seasons, even the return of Christ Himself, are under the sovereign control of God. (Mark 13)
I want to specifically share about another time that is referred to in scripture. Acts chapter 3, verses 19 and following record the words the Apostle Peter spoke to an assembled crowd of Jewish people in Jerusalem shortly after the day of Pentecost. "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." Notice again that we have times, "times of refreshing." And then it continues, "That He may send Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who was before appointed for you whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began."
Notice, "the times of restoration of all things." Peter outlines, very simply, God’s program for closing this age. I believe that this is something of real and practical concern for all of us. Note that this restoration must be initiated by a response by the people of God. Peter says "repent therefore," turn back to God. Then Peter declares that God will set in motion the process that will bring the Messiah back again.
He goes on to say, "be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." So, we see that repentance leads to refreshing. This is a principle that always works for God’s people. If we are in need of times of refreshing, it will be set in motion by times of repentance. To try and seek God’s refreshing without repentance is a waste of effort.
Peter then goes on to say that it is in this period that God intends to send back Jesus the Messiah. Then he clarifies that heaven must receive Jesus until the times of restoration of all things. When our Bible translations say "receive," the original languages show that we can put in the word "retain." Heaven must retain or hold Jesus until the times of restoration of all things spoken by all of God’s prophets.
In other words, Jesus will not come back until there’s a season, a period, which is called "times of restoration of all things." If you want a little outline, very simply, of God’s program to close this age, you can say it in just four English words which begin with the letter "R." They are, in correct biblical order, repentance, refreshing, restoration, and return. Yes, that’s right, the Return of Christ the Messiah!
There are a lot of things we don’t know, but there are some things that God has revealed. I believe that this program began to be initiated at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Someone has said that the minute hand on God’s clock is the Jewish people. When you see what’s happening to the Jewish people, you know what the time is.
Somebody else has said the minute hand is at about 11:58, two more minutes to Midnight. But my understanding and theme is that there’s a double process of restoration taking place. God’s restoration always begins with His own people. They are the center of God’s purpose on earth. And, as I understand according to the scriptures, God has two peoples on earth to whom He has a special relationship.
The first, historically, is Israel. The second is the Church of Jesus Christ, the called out assembly, the Ecclesia. Unfortunately, the enemy of our souls, Satan the liar, has done everything he can to confuse this truth. At the present time, in a professing Christian church, the most appalling confusion prevails concerning the identity of Israel and the identity of the Church.
The confusion about Israel is that theologians, God help them, turn the Bible into a system. I don’t think any system adequately expresses the truth of the Bible. Let me say that I’m not a theologian, I’m a teacher of the Bible. I’m content to teach what I find as God reveals it and leave the unrevealed part to the Lord. But there has been a system of theology which has prevailed for probably 17 centuries which has said that God has given up on Israel. They’ve proved unfaithful, and so God has reneged on His covenant and His commitment and He’s transferred all of that from Israel to the Church. They say that, now, where you read Israel you should substitute the Church. I believe that this is a source of endless confusion. In fact, I believe as long as people think that way, they cannot ever have a clear picture of God’s program to close this age.
I am simple-minded. I have often commented that basic truth is essentially simple. And the truth we are looking at is very simple, Israel is Israel and the Church is the Church. I have analyzed every place in the New Testament where the words Israel and Israelite occur. There are 79 occurrences, and I have not found a single place where Israel is referenced differently between the Old and New Testaments. My personal opinion is that this replacement theory and theology is not faithful to scripture. It is an invention of theologians. It is a source of confusion and has actually been used of Satan to spawn pride, anti-Semitism, and hatred for the Jewish people—to this day.
Scripture reveals that Jesus will not return until there’s a season, a period, which is called "times of restoration of all things. (Acts 3:19-21)
My theme is that a double process of restoration has been taking place with Israel and the Church since the beginning of the twentieth century.
Some "replacement" theologians say that God has reneged on His covenant with Israel and that, now, where we read Israel we should substitute the Church. I believe the truth the Bible teaches is that Israel is Israel and the Church is the Church. I believe that this "replacement theory" is a source of endless confusion and has been used of Satan to spawn pride, anti-Semitism, and hatred for the Jewish people—to this day.
There is almost equal confusion about the Church. For many people today, the word Church still signifies a physical building. Others hold to a totally false concept that the Church is a mass of different denominations and movements, all bearing specific labels, all claiming to be Christian. I believe the real truth is summed up in one sentence in Ephesians where the apostle Paul says God gave Jesus to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body. The true authentic Church, the scriptural New Testament Church, is the body of Christ. (Eph 1:22-23)
That means to say that all believers are related to Jesus as a body with a head. They are joined to Him with an organic union. All individual believers are members of that body, have a part in that body and are members of one another. By that biblical definition, I would estimate that most of the contemporary Church is not the Church by scriptural standards.
The apostle Peter proclaims in Acts that there is a period in God’s redemptive plan called "the times of restoration of all things." I define restoration as putting things back in their place, and in their right condition. If something has been out of place, restoration puts it back in its place. If something has been in a wrong condition, restoration puts it back in the right condition. I believe that at the top of God’s list for restoration, as we have seen, are His two peoples, Israel and the Church. So, this period of restoration is primarily the time when God puts those two peoples back in their appointed right place and condition.
For Israel, restoration is primarily geographical and political, but ultimately spiritual. Putting Israel back, restoring Israel, requires putting the Jews back in their land. God gave that land to Abraham and to his descendants by an everlasting covenant four thousand years ago. (Gen 17:18-21, 17:8) God has never changed nor reneged on that covenant. He is fulfilling His covenant commitment to Abraham.
So, restoration for Israel is primarily or initially putting Jews back where they belong. This has essentially been taking place since 1900. If you want a specific date, you could choose August 29, 1897. Meeting in Basel, Switzerland, the first Zionist Congress embraced the concept presented by Theodor Herzl that the Jews had to be returned to their biblical land.
The restoration of Israel is ultimately spiritual and redemptive. In Ezekiel chapter 36, God details the stages of restoration. He speaks about aliyah, the return and re-gathering of the Jews. He speaks of their cleansing, the taking away of the heart of stone, and His giving them a heart of flesh. He speaks about putting His Holy Spirit in them. He declares that they will dwell in the land, will be His people, and that He will be their God. That is the consummation of restoration. It’s not just geo-political, but ultimately it’s the redemptive restoration of personal relationship with God through the Messiah. Everything else that takes place prior to that is merely a step in that ultimate direction. Romans chapter 11 encapsulates this process.
Now I want to apply the same principles to the Church, the true Church. And I want to suggest something that may shock you. I believe that the Church was out of its spiritual inheritance in Christ for just about the same length of time as Israel was out of their geographical inheritance. Israel, you might say, is in the natural, and the Church is in the spiritual. It’s easier to see things in the natural. To see them in the spiritual you need discernment.
Basically, I want to suggest to you that the restoration of the Church to its spiritual inheritance in Christ has proceeded since 1900 in a parallel fashion, step by step, with the restoration of Israel to their geographic inheritance. Viewed this way, history has God-centered meaning and the developments that are taking place all fit into God’s eternal plan.
I believe the restoration of the Church can only take place through the supernatural presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the agent of restoration. If you were to choose a date for the initiation of the restoration of the New Testament Church, you could take January 1, 1900. A young woman in a Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, went to the headmasters of the school and asked them to pray for her. She said that she wanted to receive the Holy Spirit the same way they experienced Him in the book of Acts. The heads of the Bible school didn’t believe in that but, to accommodate her, they prayed for her. She received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And, she began to speak in tongues.
That, in a sense, was an historic initiation point and breakthrough. Then, in 1904, there was what has been called the Azusa Street outpouring in Los Angeles which eventually gave rise to the Pentecostal denominations. In the early 1960s Pentecostal and other "second blessing" and "latter day fullness" teachings and experiences flowed into Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations and non-denominational circles. These brought forth the "charismatic renewal." The restorative works of the Holy Spirit are continuing—to this day.