The prophet Isaiah saw in his vision for Jerusalem and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:  “The judges restored as at first, and the counselors as at the beginning; afterward Jerusalem called, The City of Righteousness”, the faithful city.

Medieval tradition held that Jerusalem was the true location of the center of the world.  If you have any doubts there is a spot in the marble floor of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the walled Old City section that marks the exact spot.

While the tradition may not meet with acceptance by contemporary man, well schooled in a geography that teaches the world is round, no one will question the fact that Jerusalem is central in the hearts and minds of the followers of Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedism.  Jerusalem’s traditions are rooted deep in history of man, and though she is physically small, the dimensions of her significance defy measure.

The history of Jerusalem is so well chronicled in the Bible that it has become a part of the history of us all.  Through this pageant of the past, events have molded belief and belief has molded events until it seems that every square inch of the city has its own story.  The Prophet Micah saw the town of Bethlehem Ephratah, small among the thousands of Judah, yet out of this city would come forth one to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.  Micah 5:2.

The Government would be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Prince of Peace, The Everlasting Father, The Mighty God.  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.  Isaiah. 9:6-7.

New Birth

Jerusalem today is a Renaissance city.  The date of the new beginning was inJune 1967.  The old walls and buildings are being moved out and new ones are going up.  The Renaissance is evident in countless ways, both visible and hidden.  While the visible vitality of Jerusalem is physical, the hidden vitality is spiritual.  The Kingdom of God on earth was given Israel, in Abraham and in Moses.  However, Jesus prophesied that the Kingdom would be taken from Israel and would be given to a Nation bringing forth fruits of the Kingdom.  This took place historically; both in land and in spiritual meaning in the year 70 A.D., Israel lost both.  The land was finally restored to them on June 6-8, 1967, and the Spiritual Kingdom by faith on October 6th, 1967, with the lifting up of the Tabernacle of David, in the 62ndAnnual General Assembly of The Church of God.  Israel was ordained by St. Paul to be grafted back in.  The Gentiles were, by the rejection of Jesus, able to reconcile the World to Christ, and now, the work is to be completed by Israel according to his word.  Matthew 21:43, Romans 11:25-29; Acts 15:16-17

Thus we can count upon it that Israel has come to the time foretold by St. Paul, when through the Anointed One, through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, all Israel shall be saved.  At such a time, according to St Paul, last of all to see Jesus

If we think it is wonderful that a billion Gentiles now believe on the God of Abraham, through the instrumentality of such a few Israelites in the first manifestation of The Church of God in the first hundred years A.D., think what will happen as all Israel believe upon Jesus.  It will be like receiving this whole world from the dead!  Romans Chapters 9 thru 11.

We of the Gentile Church have done wonderful things,( while Israel has been an outcast and wanders in the earth), all gathered in the name of Jesus, the most illustrious Son of David, we could not have gathered this billion without all the work of Israel form the time of Abraham until now.  Their acceptance of Jesus will bring in the residue of men.  Amos 9:11-15; Acts Chapter 15.  The Church of God will count on Israel taking up the responsibility of bringing the whole plan of salvation to this world in due season.  As you visit the City of Jerusalem, you will see other hints of her reawakening on the Jewish Sabbath in the New City, the sound of the Moslem Mezzuin calling the faithful to prayer, in the bells of the churches of Jerusalem ringing out on a Sunday morning.  The wakening is a part of the passion of discussions of its citizens as they mingle in a mixture of language and custom.

The Last Days

The Prophet Micah says “But in the last days it shall come to pass that the Mountain of the house of the Lord shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.  And many nations shall come and say, come and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, and to the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths; for the Law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”  Micah 4:1-8

The Church of God is the Daughter of Israel

According to the Prophet Micah, the Kingdom would be given to the daughter of Zion, the daughter of Israel, and truly The Church of God is The Daughter of Israel in every sense.  Particularly because we were begotten as a church in the very lineage of David, both in Joseph and in Mary, of the Tribe of Judah, while all our beginnings for ten years were with membership, ministry, apostleship of Israel alone.  Then Israel, of The Church of God, received the Gentiles, offered us the same blessings and hope that they themselves had.  Thus in all meanings we are the daughter of Israel, the daughter of Zion, begotten of Israel.

Kingdom of God

There is a Kingdom now, even in terms and meaning of Kingdom, as one would say the animal kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the kingdom of the sea.  This Kingdom we speak of up to this time, and of which Jesus has always been King, is made up of those who hold to Jesus as their King, keep His commandments, do His will, yield obedience fully to Him.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.  In time past, we were Gentiles in the flesh, which are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands; at that time we were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus, we who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.   He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new main, so making peace.  That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.  Through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.  Now then we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God.  Ephesians 2:10-19

Adopted Children of Abraham

Thus if Abraham may be said to have adopted us, we have adopted him as our father and his God as our God.  Even as in Boaz and Ruth who brought forth the house of David, and all that it has meant.  Israel numerically, by their own count, are a small company, yet they were and have been the oracles of God to us.  Their prophets became our prophets, their experiences guiding lights for us.

Bishop James, from the 15thchapter of Acts, gave the early Church council how the Lord at first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name.  After this, he would return and build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down “I will build again the ruins thereof and set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called saith the Lord, who doeth all these things”

Jesus is now in Heaven looking to us to set all in Order

Jesus is in heaven now.  When comes the completion of our work, as the Lord’s church, and the restitution of all things, Jesus himself will return and we shall gladly lay our crowns at his feet and he shall be all and in all to us.  Then Jesus in his turn will give this Kingdom to his Father, the God of Abraham, so that the God of Abraham may be all and in all.  Acts 3:4

Just as truly as the Lord has brought forth The Church of God, daughter of Zion, so now the Kingdom is given to The Church of God.  The prophet asked the question “Is there no King in thee?”  We can answer that Jesus hat made us kings and priests unto God.  In this way we serve as kings and priests in the Kingdom of God on earth now.  Revelations 1:6

“Behold the days comes, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute Judgment in justice in the earth”.

“In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called “The Lord our Righteousness” (marginal reference says Jehovah-Sidkenu Jeremiah 23:5-6) (The original Septuagint Greek version says the name is Josedec).  The two verses following show that this will be a time when the Children of Israel are gathering back in their Promised home land.  I feel this is the set time for God to favor Zion, the Law to go forth from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, The Church of God government to become the government of all Nations of the world.

Christ lifted unto the ends of the Earth

Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord.  For wheat, for wine, for oil and for the young of the flock of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more Jeremiah 31:12.  At that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord, and all nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil hear.  Jeremiah 3:17

For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest until the righteousness go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.  I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night; yet that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest till he be established and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.  Isaiah 62:1-7

Isaiah 60:10-12 & 61:4-5 says “And the sons of Strangers shall build up thy walls and their Kings shall minister unto thee; for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor have I had mercy on thee.  Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and that their Kings may be brought.  For the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those Nations shall be utterly wasted.  They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.  And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

Lord Jealous for Zion

Sing and rejoice O daughter of Zion for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord.  And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day and shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shall know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee.  And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the Holy Land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.  Zechariah 2:10-12.

Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy and I was jealous for her with great fury.  Thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, the Holy mountain.  Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for every age.  And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.  Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes?  Saith the Lord of hosts.

Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: Behold I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.  Zechariah 8:2-8.

Favor of God upon Zion

The Lord also shall roar out of Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heaves and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.  So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God welling in Zion, my holy mountain; then shall Jerusalem be holy and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.  Joel 3:16-17

From that day Jesus took the kingdom from Israel as a nation and gave it to the Gentiles to bring forth fruits in their season. He gave Israel the spirit of slumber, or let down a veil between them and the Kingdom of God, until he could get a people out of the Gentiles for his name.  God promised to rebuild the Tabernacle of David and set it up, as in the days of old.  That the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord who doeth all these things.  Acts 15:13-17

Paul from the 11thchapter of Romans gives his hope for Israel “For I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.  All Israel shall be saved, as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.  This is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.  For as ye in times past have not believe in God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief;  Even so have these also now believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy for God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all.

Apostle Ted Carr

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