All of us, from Abel to the latest Christian, are one Kingdom of God, one holy city, one new Jerusalem, one true Israel. The Jew by race always is favored of God because of God's love for Abraham, Moses, and others of the fathers. The Jews were broken off from the Olive Tree, from Christ, because of unbelief; but God will return to them in the near future and will reveal to them Jesus, their Christ.

There is one fold, one Shepherd, one true and eternal Israel, one Holy Spirit, one Redeemer, one Kingdom. It is the Kingdom of God, of Heaven. It is destined to come from Heaven to the earth.

Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, Peter, all spoke of the one Kingdom. How could it be otherwise?

The saints of old contributed to the work of restoration by providing examples for us. The actual restoration of man began when Jesus rose from the dead and poured out the Holy Spirit from Heaven.

The Law of Moses was given to Israel as a means of dealing with sin until the true Seed of Abraham should come. Everything prior to the life and death of Jesus prepared the way for the coming of the true Seed, for the true spiritual work of restoration (no unclean spirits were judged and cast out under the old covenant).

The concept that God's work with physical Israel is a separate work from Christianity, a separate work that will be resumed after the Church is lifted into the spirit realm, is totally in error. It is contrary to the teachings of the Prophets and of the Apostle Paul.

God's dealings with physical Israel were the necessary preparation for the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God, into which we Gentiles now have been brought, actually is the "children's bread." It belongs to the Jews first. It is the Divine blessing for which the Jews are waiting. There only is one olive tree, one root of Abraham. We Gentiles have been grafted on the true stock. We do not constitute another olive tree, a wild olive tree that will be "raptured" into Heaven.

The purpose of grace, of assigned righteousness, is to give all of us, especially the Jews, a means of entering the work of restoration while we yet are sinners. Grace is not a substitute for the new creation of God; rather, it is the Divinely given means through which all men, especially the Jews by race, can enter the transforming work of the new covenant without the condemnation of the Law hanging over us.

No individual, Jew or Gentile, can enter the work of restoration by means of adhering to the Law of Moses. The Law is our guardian and guide that brings us to Christ, not another method of God's dealing with man under a different "dispensation."

The saints in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews are our examples of patient faith, which is the only way to inherit the promises of God. None of the eight assumptions or approaches discussed earlier are portrayed in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews nor are they to be found anywhere else in the Bible.

To be continued.