Kingdom Passports (2)
But of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; and the Most High Himself will establish her. The Lord will count when He registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah Psalm 87:5-6 NASB
Born there – The psalmist’s assertion that all citizens of the Kingdom will carry “born in Zion” passports clears up another modern confusion, that is, that the current nation-state of Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
“What? Are you telling me that all those miraculous events that brought about the nation of Israel in 1948, and all the subsequent miracles of Jews returning to the land from all over the world is not the fulfillment of biblical prophecy?” Such a claim echoes popular interpretations of prophecy like these words from Yael Eckstein, founder of The International Organization of Christians and Jews: “ . . . that we have a modern state of Israel is nothing short of prophetic.”
Well, yes and no. I like Maimonides’ approach to prophecy. It’s prophecy in the rearview mirror. After it’s over you will know what it was. So, yes, it’s miraculous to see Jews from foreign lands returning to Israel, but this is the trailer to the movie, not the movie itself. The real event will occur in the Messianic Age, when it will be abundantly clear what has happened. Until then God graciously gives us hints so that we will be reassured that the big event is coming. We have tickets to the opening, but we have to wait until the movie is released.
There is a corollary dealing with the relationship between Jew and Gentile. The idea that Jews must be separated from dealings in the pagan world is a destructive misconception. I am reminded of Abraham Heschel’s statement when he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. He said, “I am praying with my feet.” Heschel was fully involved in the Civil Rights movement with King. He did not withdraw from the conflict. His picture taken with King in the Selma march is the epitome of Jewish alliance. This is the proper stance of Jewish-Gentile relations. Of course, Jewish religious views and practices demand ethical separation, but this does not mean a separation on the basis of religion or ethnicity. It means a separation on the basis of morality. Torah observers are required to stand against practices that reject God’s instructions, but they are not required or expected to separate from all non-Jews in order to maintain some kind of cloistered community. We should consider God’s instructions to His people through the prophet Jeremiah. After a long list of behaviors all of which require involvement with their captors, we realize that the point of God’s instructions is to prosperthe Babylonians and then pray for them. There is no command whatsoever to stay aloof from the Babylonians. Just the opposite is required. Those who wish to fulfill God’s instructions in a hostile world are commanded to be fully involved in such a way that God’s name is honored among their enemies (cf. Jeremiah 29). Conversion to God’s point of view doesn’t happen through division or derision. It happens because the outsider witnesses a spirit so compelling, generous, and kind that he or she wants it too. It is conversion by attraction, the magnet of God’s spirit on display.
There are no monasteries in the Kingdom.
Topical Index: born there, citizenship, enemy, Jeremiah 29, Psalm 87:5-6
The reason that we fail, even on the basis of morality, is that we have yet to understand the true nature of both the darkness and the light. Morality of itself can reflect a bit of light, but if we do not have fellowship (a relationship) with God, even the light we presume to reflect is darkness, and the road/way which we are supposed to be taking in this world remains obscured, and thus unable to be traversed successfully.
“If we say that we have fellowship with him (God) and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6-7) “…God is light and there is no darkness in him at all.” (1 John 1:5b) “The true light, who gives light to every person, [has come] into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, and the world did not recognize him. He came to his own things [of time-space] , and his own people did not receive him. But as many as received him—to those who believe in his name—he gave to them authority to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a husband, but of God.” (John 1:9-13)