What God Joined Together at the Cross...

 By Hazel Holland

We're all familiar with the phrase that pastors use during marriage ceremonies, "What God has joined together, let not man separate".  The Scriptures tell us that when a man and a woman choose to marry they no longer are two, but become one flesh.  Therefore, what God has joined together, man should not separate (Matthew19:5-7)

I believe that this phrase, "What God has joined together..." also applies to Jews and Gentiles in Jesus Christ.  What God joined together at the cross now applies to believing Jews and believing Gentiles!

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For He Himself is our peace , who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation...to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross" (Ephesians 2:11-16).

Just as there is no physical wall separating East and West Germany today, so there is no spiritual wall separating believing Jews and believing Gentiles today!  At the cross they became one body in Jesus Christ.  They became the church.  Jesus Christ's blood brought down the dividing wall that separated both Jew and Gentile believers...forever!

But over the centuries respected teachers have invented false teachings that have erected the wall of separation that Jesus Christ brought down with a thunderous crash at the cross!  Some of these inventions of men have become such sacred cows within the church that they are thought to be impregnable. 

But God through His Spirit will expose the layers of error that have been laced with  truth and used to erect the dividing wall that God brought down through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Although the traditions of men continually seek to divert us away from what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, the One who loves us and gave Himself for our peace has joined together believing Jews and believing Gentiles into one new body-- His church.  No cunningly devised fable will ever be able to separate His Body from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

For further reading on this subject go here.

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Link:  Empowered to Love as God Loves  

See Art Link:  What God Joined Together at the Cross

"Please Put Your Words in My Mouth!"

By Hazel Holland

Many years ago before I ever attended a church where people raised their hands to praise God, I received a dream from the Lord that opened my eyes to the biblical precedent for worshiping God in this beautiful way. Having previously been taught to believe that openly expressing my feelings to God in corporate worship was wrong, because it could lead to emotionalism and therefore to deception, I was very much surprised by what God revealed in this dream.

In the dream I entered a building through a set of double doors into this large room. From the back of the room where I entered it looked very much like a large gymnasium that could double up as an auditorium for meetings. It appeared to be packed full of people who were standing up with their backs to me.

As I entered through the doors and turned right, an usher was waiting for me in the back corner. He walked up to me and proceeded to take me by the right arm and walk me down the side aisle in the hopes of finding a seat...or so I thought.

When we got to the front row he walked past it, still holding on to my arm as he led me to the bottom of the steps that led up to the front of the stage. Obediently, I followed his direction as he indicated that I should go up the steps. When I reached the top step, he turned to leave and I turned around to face the sea of faces.

Up until this point in the dream everything had been quiet. But when I turned to look at the room packed out with people I saw that they had their hands uplifted to God in praise and were singing some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. I was overcome by deep feelings of love toward God and I spontaneously raised my hands and began to join them in worship. Although in real life I had never rasied my hands in worship to God, I couldn't help myself in the dream. Tears poured down my cheeks as I experienced His tangible presence.

We continued to worship God in this manner for some time. After awhile I opened my eyes and noticed that there was a bright beam of light coming from the ceiling that was directed on to me. Being in the spotlight made the features of the people in the crowd nearest to me rather blurry. It didn't matter that they were there, because I was so locked into God's presence that everyone else kind of faded away. I wanted to worship him forever like this as I was being emersed in his glory!

In the dream I finally became aware that at some point in time the worship would stop, and I was expected to speak to this auditorium full of people. Because the room reminded me of a large gymnasium I had a sense in the dream that these were college age students.

But as I continued to worship God and bask in His awesome presence (something I had never yet experienced in real life) I became aware of the fact that I had no notes and was unprepred for what I should speak about. In real life I would never have been caught off guard like this! But up there on that stage, soaking in His presence, I had no fear of what to say even though I had no idea what I would say.I remember thinking to myself, "Ok God, I have no notes and I'm not prepared for what you want me to say. But I will trust you to give me the words you want me to speak. So please put your words in my mouth and I will tell them what is on Your heart."

Suddenly the singing stopped. A quiet hush came over the place. The moment had come for me to speak. The light beaming down on me continued to give me strength and great joy. As I opened my mouth to speak I suddenly woke up from the dream.

For the next two weeks I continued to bask in God's awesome presence that I had begun to get a taste of in the dream. I wanted more of Him. And so I began a spiritual jorney to find out what was on His heart that He wanted me to share with His beloved children.

By nature I am shy...not the kind of person that naturally enjoys being up front in the limelight. I have always been afraid of public speaking for fear of making a fool out of myself. So to be placed in front of a roomful of people and be asked to give an impromptu speech or share anything about my life off the top of my head would cause me to break out into a cold sweat!

What I am saying is that for me to feel relatively comfortable up front in a speaking situation I would have to be in someone else's body! I guess the closest I can get to that in this life is to be in the Spirit so my flesh doesn't have control. Then my natural panic is dissolved by His supernatural peace.

As I look back over the years God has been faithful to continually put His words in my mouth as He has called me in various situations to speak words from His heart into people's lives. As I have opened my mouth He has always been faithful to fill it.

If you will seek God with all your heart and wait on the leading of His Spirit, He will be faithful to give you His heart and put His words in your mouth, too.

Church Fulfills Promises Made to Israel

By Hazel Holland

The Bible reveals that God’s elect of all the ages are one people, with one Savior, and have one eternal destiny. This continuity can be seen by examining the following Old Testament passages of Scripture and noticing that promises made to Israel find their fulfillment in the New Testament church, and words spoken to Israel are applied directly to the church. 

Promise to Israel

 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” Hosea 1:10 (NIV)

Fulfillment in the church

 “What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?  What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?  As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” Romans 9:22-26 (NIV)

Promise to Israel 

“I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.  I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” Hosea 2:23 (NIV)

Fulfillment in the church

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)

Promise to Israel

“On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages;  I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old.”  Amos 9:11 (NKJV)

Fulfillment in the church

 ^“Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.  And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: ‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the LORD who does all these things.’  “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” Acts 15:14-18 (NKJV)

Spoken to Israel 

“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.   And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.   And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:  blood and fire and pillars of smoke.   The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.  And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.   For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls.” Joel 2:28-32 (NKJV)

Applied to the church 

 “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place… But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:  ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your  sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. and on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.  I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath:  Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.  And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’” Acts 2:1, 16-21 (NKJV)

Spoken to Israel

 

“You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” Exodus 19:6 (NIV)

Applied to the church

 

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Peter 2:9 (NIV)

Spoken to Israel 

^“My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Ezekiel 37:27 (NIV)

Applied to the church

^“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?  For we are the temple of the living God:.  As God has said: “ I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God,  and they will be my people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16 (NIV)

Spoken to Israel

“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.’”  Leviticus 19:2 (NIV) 

Applied to the church

 

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16 (NIV)

Spoken to Israel 

"The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.” Jeremiah 31:31 (NIV)

 Applied to the church 

“In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” Luke 22:20 (NIV)

Conclusion

If the church (comprised of both Jews and Gentiles) fulfills these promises made to Israel, shouldn't we be repenting of teachings that view Israel and the church as having two distinct eternal destinies?  

According to the New Covenant there is not an eternal earthly Kingdom for Israel, and an eternal heavenly Kingdom for the church.  There is only one eternal inheritance for both the church and Israel.  That eternal inheritance is Jesus Christ! 

Link:  What God Joined Together at the Cross
Link:  Promised Land Issues