Category: The Nation Israel

A Hope Reserved for Israel in Heaven? #1

Friday, January 30, 2026

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,…” (1 Peter 1:3,4 KJV).

Perhaps we can search the Scriptures to resolve an apparent contradiction, thereby perfecting that which is lacking in superficial readers….

We Pauline dispensational Bible students have been charged with wrongdoing—the accusation being utterly false. Never do we confine our reading and studying to Paul’s epistles of Romans to Philemon. We throw away none of the 66 Books of the Bible, Genesis to Revelation. (What is true is that some in Christendom throw away Paul’s epistles altogether!) Dispensational Bible study allows us to think of God’s words in an orderly fashion, arranged on a timeline… instead of jumbled thoughts and disparate activities that make people lose the overall “big picture” of God’s plan for the ages. We will easily demonstrate this, and, in doing so, provide the solution to that aforementioned “contradiction.”

Read today’s Scripture in context: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:1-5).

Dispensational Bible students distinguish between the nation Israel (God’s earthly people) and the Church the Body of Christ (His heavenly people). Consequently, it comes as quite a shock to them (as it did to me so long ago) to learn that the Bible links Israel with Heaven. How could this be? Does that not challenge the very premise of right division? Here is where we have to exercise exceptional spiritual discernment….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #22

Monday, January 26, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Re-read today’s Scripture and context (Galatians 3:22–4:11). Though the Law of Moses had been given to Israel, it was designed to prove to every Jew and every Gentile that man is sinful and therefore can merit nothing but curses from a holy, righteous God (cf. Galatians 3:10-14). Failing to keep the Law perfectly, sinners would be forced to realize they could gain acceptance before God only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who did obey the Law completely (Romans 3:19–5:11). The Law pointed sinners to that Saviour of sinners, so, once they trusted Him, their performance in religion would remain insignificant and thus still shut out of the conversation forever.

Believers would then move to spiritual maturity, just as a biological father declares his son to be a man/adult who could be his successor in the family estate (the “adoption” of Romans 8:15-17,23; Galatians 4:5-7; and Ephesians 1:3-6). Therefore, to return to the Law is like going back to spiritual kindergarten—condemned to re-learn the basics like little children starting school at the very beginning (cf. Galatians 4:8-11,19,21). “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage…. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (Galatians 5:1,18).

Once Satan corrupts us with bad information, he is victorious because God cannot use us to our full potential! We did not become heirs of God by our works, so it is impossible to lose that position by failing to work. Rather than being servants (who lack the son’s rights and privileges), we believers in Christ are sons of God (today’s Scripture). What belongs to Father God is actually ours through the mediatorship of Christ (the Father’s Primary Heir!). Does it make sense for the heir of the father’s grand estate to live in poverty and squalor, eking out an existence with feeble efforts performed by dirty hands, so pitifully ignorant of whom he really is?! No, it is spiritual madness, craziness….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #21

Sunday, January 25, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Instead of resorting to the lame excuse, “This verse does not mean what it says,” we can simply leave it in its dispensational context. Just because we do not see a passage fulfilled today does not prove it to be false; it merely means the verses are not to or about us. We need to be scriptural and dispensational, especially keeping Law/Moses and Grace/Paul separate!

The Devil labors in religion because it is all about self—“I have done this, I have done that” (cf. Exodus 19:5,8). Church members seldom differentiate between this and Christianity, and such bragging demonstrates and reinforces those misunderstandings. “That no flesh should glory in his [God’s] presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:29-31). If we boast, let us brag about what the Lord Jesus Christ is for us and what HE did for us!

Romans is the standard of grace/Christian living. We have total forgiveness of all sins in Christ by grace (Romans 4:6-9 cf. Colossians 2:13) and therefore have joy (Romans 5:11), but religion questions this. Guilt weighs us down, and we stumble over 1 John 1:9 and Israel’s Law system (cf. Galatians 4:15,21)! We hesitate to believe we have complete, permanent, unconditional fellowship with Father God through Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8,9). Forgetting our victory in Christ in Romans chapters 6 and 8, we suppose we must keep laws to make God happy with us! Under the Law, we do not have liberty to do right but bondage to keep doing wrong: self-pity and misery consume us! We believe we cannot help but sin, so sin conquers us just as it did poor, hopelessly defeated Paul in Romans 7:7-25! We wonder if God loves us, doubting He has actually made us accepted in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:6). We are not only paupers in religion, but also prisoners….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #17

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Despite the (hopefully) underlying sincerity, it is vain church tradition to urge unbelievers and new believers to begin reading the Holy Bible in the Book of John. Yea, it is more preferable for them to start in the Book of Romans. After all, Paul’s epistle (formal doctrinal letter) to the Romans is actually divided into four “grace pillars” which constitute the foundation of the Christian life. How does the Christian life commence? Read Romans! How does the Christian life work? Read Romans!

Romans chapters 1–5 is justification, having a right standing before God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Chapters 6–8 is sanctification, being set apart unto God’s purposes (chapter 6 is how we are dead to sin, chapter 7 is how we are dead to the Law, and chapter 8 is how we are alive unto God by the indwelling Holy Spirit). Romans chapters 9–11 is dispensation, how we are not Israel and how we have not replaced Israel (chapter 9 is Israel’s past, chapter 10 is Israel’s present, and chapter 11 is Israel’s future). Chapters 12–16 is application of grace principles to specific daily situations and circumstances (renewed mind, living with fellow Christians and unbelievers, human government, weaker brethren, unity among members of the local church, et cetera).

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6,7). Our “walk” is our Christian conduct or service—and it works by faith in Christ just as we received Him by faith (see verse 5). “Rooted in Him” suggests life (like a plant), whereas “built up in Him” implies firmness (like a structure). “Stablished in the faith” is stabilized according to sound/healthy Bible doctrine which we must first be “taught,” for our Christian life will not operate on the basis of Bible ignorance. We should be immensely grateful to God for what He has done for us. Yet, Colossians 2:8 issues a warning….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #15

Monday, January 19, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Romans is the most basic grace Bible Book: “For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me” (Romans 1:11,12). The Book of Romans “establishes” us, firmly fixes our feet in grace truth.

The final three verses of Romans are: “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen” (Romans 16:25-27). Paul praises Father God who is able to “stablish” (stabilize) us, to prevent us from swaying or drifting spiritually. How is this spiritual stability achieved? Three items are given in that doxology.

Firstly, God will “stablish” (stabilize) us according to Paul’s Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3,4), as found in the Book of Romans. This is how the Christian life begins. Secondly, God will “stablish” (stabilize) us according to the mystery/secret preaching of Jesus Christ, as made known in Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon. Thirdly, God will “stablish” (stabilize) us according to the Scriptures of the prophets, or the whole Bible (Genesis to Revelation) in light of Pauline information. Most professing Christians—and even most genuine believers—have no such grounding. Actually, they are those poor souls of Ephesians 4:14, “…children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;….”

Pauline dispensational Bible study is how we know precisely what God wants us to know and how we do exactly what He wants us to do….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #14

Sunday, January 18, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

It is no secret that Christendom is unhealthily obsessed with Matthew through John. While these Four Gospel Records are the inspired and infallible Word of God, confused souls fail to realize Christ’s earthly ministry is still Judaism and not Christianity. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are under the Law of Moses (Matthew 8:4; Mark 1:44; Luke 5:14; cf. Luke 1:59; Luke 2:21-24; cf. Matthew 5:17-19). “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,…” (Galatians 4:4). Also, Christ’s earthly ministry was restricted to Israel because the Old Testament covenants were given exclusively to the Israelites (Romans 9:4,5; cf. Ephesians 2:11,12). “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24; cf. Matthew 10:5-7; Romans 15:8).

Also, it is quite obvious that Christendom is exceedingly fixated on early Acts and “Pentecostal power,” more passages that are the infallible and inspired Word of God but nevertheless do not describe what the Lord is doing right now. Israel is still dominant in the opening chapters of Acts (see Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14,22,36; Acts 3:12,24-26; Acts 4:8,10; Acts 5:31; Acts 7:2), with her fall occurring in Acts chapter 7 once her leaders stoned the Prophet Stephen and thus blasphemed against the Holy Ghost (Matthew 12:31,32; Mark 3:28-30). Salvation and blessing go to the nations starting with Paul’s salvation and commissioning to Gentiles in chapter 9 of Acts.

Serving as “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13; cf. Acts 26:17; Romans 15:16; 1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11), Paul writes inspired and infallible words in Romans through Philemon to identify true spirituality today. “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant” (1 Corinthians 14:37,38).

May we not be like most, willingly ignorant of Pauline revelation….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #13

Saturday, January 17, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Observe again the prophetic program: “Whom [Jesus Christ] the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began…. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” (Acts 3:21,25,26). Peter’s sermon here draws on Genesis 12:1-3, the Abrahamic Covenant, or how God will save and bless the nations (world, Gentiles) through Israel’s rise to kingdom glory (cf. Isaiah 60:1-3; Zechariah 8:20-23; Matthew 28:18-20).

Since we can locate Bible verses that teach national Israel has a privileged position or favored standing before God, it is assumed that they still have that situation and it is thus thought that we need to bless Israel for God to bless us. Such is Bible ignorance, for the prophetic program has now given way to the mystery program: “I say then, Have they [Israel] stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them” (Romans 11:11-14). Currently, the salvation and blessing of God come to the nations/Gentiles or world through Paul’s ministry because of Israel’s temporary fall.

Indeed, we are not Israel, we have not replaced Israel, and we therefore are not under Israel’s Law system….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #12

Friday, January 16, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Read Genesis 2:16,17 and Genesis 3:1-13. Adam and Eve, our first parents, operated outside of the sphere of life their Creator God had planned for them. Instead of living according to His work (Grace), they made their own life with their works (Law). They ate the forbidden fruit, lost fellowship with Him and with each other, and then tried to cover up their sin with feeble religious efforts and blame shifting. Read Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 15:1-6, Genesis 16:1-16, Genesis 17:1-27, and Genesis 21:1-5. Abraham and Sarah connived to produce a son (Ishmael, flesh) as opposed to depending on God’s work (miracle son, Isaac, and the resulting nation Israel). Hundreds of years later, Israel at Mount Sinai believed they could make themselves God people by obeying 613 rules and regulations (the Law of Moses): “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do” (Exodus 19:8). Here are three examples in prophecy of sinners preferring Law to Grace. Move over to mystery (God’s current program). Recall how we have the grace standard of Romans ignored and legalistic Galatianism entering.

Whether Adam and Eve at the Fall, or Abraham with Ishmael, or Israel at Sinai, or the Galatians (or even the Corinthians), man is using the energy of his flesh to try to live Christ’s life for Him. Though God in His goodness offers them spiritual riches (forgiveness, sanctification, eternal life, redemption, and so on), they keep leaning on spiritual poverty (resources in Adam) to make themselves contrary to God’s will for them. Mark it well: God can fully use us only if He renders us dead to, or separated from, Adam (thereby making us spiritual winners and heirs by position in Christ). We become spiritual losers and paupers by practice when we draw on Adamic resources instead of walking by faith in our new identity in Christ. The way we have the clearest understanding of whom we are in Christ is to see whom we are not….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #11

Thursday, January 15, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Keep reading about the Galatian Christians: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” (Galatians 4:19-21). Like the vast majority of today’s church members, these Galatians were “spiritual kindergartners” or “Bible babies.” Instead of Christ being formed in them—being able to function as vessels of His life (under Grace)—they were demonstrations of Adamic living (under Law). Yea, their chief blunder was to crave the Law system (work/perform to gain the blessing), when God had already blessed them in Christ because of Christ’s finished crosswork (grace)!

Here are examples of spiritual losers and paupers by practice, wallowing in self-righteousness and languishing in darkness. “I can be just as good as Jesus. Give me rules and regulations and I will stop doing this evil work and start doing that good work. God will let me into Heaven if I just do my best.” “The Lord will forgive me if I confess sins according to a ‘short-account system,’ He will give me fellowship with Him if I am water baptized, He will reward me with physical wealth if I ‘tithe’ money to a church or denomination, He will favor me if I observe a religious calendar and fast and pray and cry out for mercy.” “I need to ‘hold out,’ ‘hold on,’ ‘pray through’ so God will answer my prayers as I want and spare me the curses.” Unfortunately, the so-called “Christian” sermons and commentaries of the last 20 centuries are replete with such teachings. (Without these practices, all those groups, cults, sects, and denominations would collapse because members would leave and funding would vanish!)

It is no secret that the old heresies of Galatians from 2,000 years ago have never left us….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #10

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Grace is all that Father God is able and willing to do for us sinners through Christ’s finished crosswork. Our spiritual riches or blessings in Christ resulting from grace include: forgiveness (sin-debt cleared or sent away), justification (imputed righteousness, given a right standing before God), sanctification (being set apart unto God’s purposes), eternal life (given God’s very life), and redemption (purchased, or bought back, and freed).

A “pauper” is a very poor person, one lacking sufficient money to live normally and comfortably. Though the flesh (Adam) attempts to live the Christian life, it does not, cannot, and never will. Religious works can never substitute Christ’s life: only Christ can live His life. Living in the energy of the flesh is spiritual pauperism, for no spiritual riches can be derived from it. “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1-3). Can we in our own strength improve the Holy Spirit’s work in us? No! Do our feeble efforts “perfect” (complete, finish) the Christian life? No!

Read the verses following today’s Scripture: “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” (Galatians 4:8,9). Like we, the Galatians before they came to faith in Christ were slaves to sin (Satan, idols, et cetera). Yet, as believers, they were still opposed to God’s work, ignoring Grace to receive the “weak and beggarly” Law system (like heathenism, a system of spiritual immaturity, spiritual poverty, and spiritual inability). Though members of the Body of Christ, they had confused themselves with the nation Israel….