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| Usurping the Birthright Issue #135
April 2000 There
were two Judases in the New Testament, one good and one not so good. Judas
Iscariot, as we have seen, betrayed Jesus. The other Judas was Jesus'
half-brother along with James (Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3). The writer of the
book of Jude identifies himself in verse 1 in this way:
1
Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother
of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father,
and kept for Jesus Christ. This
good Jude (short for Judas) considered himself to be a bond-servant to
his older half-brother, Jesus, whom he recognized as the Messiah. His
heart attitude was right. The same could be said of his brother, James,
who was a pillar in the church of Jerusalem and the author of the book
by his name. This
good Judas became a prophetic pattern of all the people of Judah who really
had a heart to follow God and who therefore recognized, accepted, and
followed the Messiah when He came. They were the sheep who heard His voice
(John 10) and followed Him. But not all of the people heard His voice.
There was a division among the people, as we read in John 10:19-21,
19
There arose a division again among the Jews because
of these words.
20
And many of them were saying, "He has a demon
and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?" 21
Others
were saying, "These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A
demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?" The
division among the people was manifested in their ability to hear the
voice of the Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Those who heard His voice were, as
a body, the good Judas. Those who did not hear His voice were, as a body,
the other Judas, that is, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him by helping
the chief priests to crucify Him and seize on His inheritance--the throne
of David. The Two Baskets of Figs Jeremiah
24 speaks of the nation of Judah being like two baskets of figs. The fig
tree was, of course, the symbol of the nation of Judah. One basket had
very delicious figs; the other had very corrupt figs that were so bad
they could not be eaten. Jesus said in Matt. 7:17-20,
17
Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but
the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18
A
good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
19
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut
down and thrown into the fire. 20 So
then, you will know them by their fruits. It
is apparent that the two baskets of figs came from two different fig trees.
The good tree brought forth good fruit; the bad tree bore bad fruit. Both
are of Judah (Judas), but there was a clear division between the people
represented by these trees. The good figs submitted to the judgment of
God against the nation by willingly going to Babylon for 70 years. The
bad figs disagreed with God's judgment for their sin and decided to fight
the army of King Nebuchadnezzar. This is clear from a simple reading of
Jeremiah 24-30. The
divine law said in Deut. 17:9-12 that the people were to obey the verdict
of the priests when they stood to judge the people according to God's
law. Verse 12 says,
12
And the man who acts presumptuously by not listening
to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, nor to the
judge, that man shall die [for unrepentance and contempt of court];
thus you shall purge the evil from Israel. Jeremiah
was one of the priests of Anathoth (Jer. 1:1). God used him to pronounce
judgment upon the nation of Judah in 7:9-15, with these words:
9 "Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery,
and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices
to Baal,
and walk after other gods that you have not known, 10
then come and stand before Me in this house, which
is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered!'-- that you may do all
these abominations?
11
Has this house, which is called by My name, become
a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it," declares the LORD.
12
"But
go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell
at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of
My people Israel.
13
And now, because you have done all these things
. . . 14
therefore,
I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust,
and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.
15
And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast
out all your brothers, all the offspring of Ephraim." In
this lawful sentence against Judah, God says that He was to cast Judah
and Jerusalem out of His sight--even as He did Shiloh and Ephraim. Shiloh
was the place where God put His name at the beginning, after Joshua conquered
Canaan (Josh. 18:1; Ps. 78:60). Because of Eli's sons, God removed His
presence (ark) from Shiloh and placed it in Jerusalem. God
never returned to Shiloh but permanently forsook that place and ultimately
cast Ephraim out of His sight into the Assyrian captivity. Even so, God
said He was about to do the same with Judah and Jerusalem, because they
were as corrupt as the Eli priesthood and the people of Ephraim. There
were some Judahites who had sense enough to submit to God's judgment,
but the majority did not. They chose to fight it, and so God pronounced
the death penalty upon the evil fig tree in accordance with Deut. 17:12.
The
Second Fulfillment In
Matthew 21 Jesus pronounced judgment against the temple in Jerusalem and
the nation in general when He said in 21:13,
13
And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house
shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a robbers'
den." This
was a direct reference to Jeremiah 7:11, showing that there was to be
a second fulfillment of judgment upon that temple and the city of Jerusalem.
A few verses later, in Matthew 21:19, Jesus cursed the fig tree, saying,
"No
longer shall there ever be any fruit from you" (NASB). Was
Jesus talking about the good fig tree, or the bad? Obviously, the bad
fig tree was cursed, for this was an act of spiritual warfare against
that part of the Judah nation producing no fruit worth eating. In the
laws of war in Deut. 20:20 it was prohibited to cut down trees that could
yet bear fruit. But this Judah-fig tree would never again bear fruit,
so it was lawful for Jesus to curse it. Later, of course, Jesus said that
this fig tree would someday bring forth more LEAVES (Matt. 24:32), but
He did not say it would bring forth fruit. Fig
leaves are not what God is looking for. Fig leaves have been the problem
since Adam and Eve sinned (Gen. 3:7). We sew fig leaves for ourselves
while we are still running and hiding from God. Fig leaves are man's attempt
to cover sin in an unlawful manner apart from the blood of Jesus Christ.
In 1948 the cursed fig tree again began to bring forth leaves, even as
Jesus prophesied. In one sense it will not bring forth fruit at all--for
this was the substance of Jesus' curse. In another sense, it can only
bring forth corrupt fruit, presenting God with a basket of evil figs that
He cannot and will not eat. But
we are getting ahead of ourselves again. During the 40 years of grace
that God gave to Judah, there were many individuals who repented and accepted
Jesus as the Christ. This began on the day of Pentecost with the conversion
of 3,000 people (Acts 2:41). Another 5,000 were converted a short time
later (Acts 4:4). In Acts 6:7 we read,
7 And the word of God kept on spreading; and the number
of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a
great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. This
conversion rate caused a reaction from the chief priests, who began to
persecute these "good figs." First, Stephen was stoned (Acts
7). Then in Acts 8:1 we read,
1 And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him
to death. And on that day a great persecution arose against
the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout
the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. God
used this persecution to separate the good figs from the bad, for it was
God's intent to bring judgment upon Jerusalem and its priesthood. No Christians
were left in Jerusalem by the time Rome destroyed the city. When Jesus'
half-brother, James, was murdered by the temple priests in 62 A.D., they
killed their last great intercessor that had stood between them and the
judgment to come. The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, mentions
this incident briefly in Antiquities of the Jews, XX, ix, 1: "And now Caesar, upon hearing of the death of Festus, sent Albinus into
Judea as procurator; but the king deprived Joseph of the high priesthood,
and bestowed the succession to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who
was also himself called Ananus. . . . This younger Ananus, who, as we
have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his
temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who
were very rigid in judging offenders . . . . he assembled the Sanhedrim
of the judges and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called
Christ, whose name was James, and some others, and when he had formed
an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to
be stoned." Eusebius,
the 4th-century bishop of Caesarea, wrote how Jesus-brother,
James, was called "the Righteous one," or James the Just, because
he had the reputation as an intercessor. He was a Nazirite from his birth,
a vegetarian, drinking no wine and not shaving his head. Bishop Eusebius
writes in his Ecclesiastical History, 23.11, "He alone was permitted to enter the Holy Place, for his garments were
not of wool but of linen. He used to enter the Sanctuary alone, and was
often found on his knees beseeching forgiveness for the people, so that
his knees grew hard like a camel's from his continually bending them in
worship of God and beseeching forgiveness for the people." James'
prayers were very effective in bringing many of the people to Christ during
Jerusalem's 40-year grace period established many years earlier by the
prophet Ezekiel's intercession (Ezekiel 4:6). Yet even his prayers could
not avert the ultimate disaster that was to come upon the nation, for
Jesus had already invoked Jeremiah's verdict. The priests had made the
temple a den of robbers. After God had said this in Jeremiah 7:11, He
told the prophet in verse 16,
16
As for you, do not pray for this people,
and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me;
for I do not hear you. Jeremiah
did continue to pray for the individuals within the nation, but the nation
itself was doomed once judgment had been passed. In the same manner James
prayed for the people of his day-- with the understanding that judgment
was inevitable, for Jesus had prophesied as much in Matt. 24:16. James
knew that the nation was doomed, so he prayed that as many as possible
would get out of the evil fig tree and come into a saving knowledge of
Jesus Christ. His prayers, of course, were answered, but his efforts cost
him his life. Eight
years after James was martyred, the Roman armies came and destroyed Jerusalem
and the temple. The people decided once again to fight the judgment, rather
than to repent of their sins. Thinking they were righteous, they could
not believe that God would fight against them. When the inevitable happened,
many became embittered against God, thinking that He had done them a terrible
injustice. That bitterness increased as time passed. Throughout
the centuries, God has continued to answer James' prayers, for there have
been individual Jews in every generation that have repented and genuinely
turned to Christ. In recent years it has become politically incorrect
to expect a Jew to repent of the sins of his forefathers in rejecting
and crucifying Christ. The mere mention of this sends modern rabbis into
a frenzy, bringing accusations of "antisemitism." If they had
their way, the New Testament would be banned as "hate literature." It
is my desire to see all men saved, including Jews. But I do not believe
in editing the New Testament to make it easier for a Jew to accept Christ.
Judaism is still an evil fig tree, as Jeremiah said. Jesus said that the
evil fig tree of Judaism will never bear fruit that is acceptable to God. There
is still a good fig tree, however, which has grown steadily and has borne
good fruit. This trunk of this fig tree is first of all, Jesus Christ,
the King of Judah and of all the earth. True Christians that recognize
His headship are the branches on this tree. At first, the Christians were
primarily Judahites, but later people of other nations were engrafted
on this tree. All
of them, regardless of their national origin, are Jews (lit. Judeans)
by Paul's definition in Romans 2:28 and 29.
28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither
is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But
he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of
the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from
men, but from God. A
Jew is not a Jew by outward circumcision, but by a heart circumcision.
Being under the old covenant does not make a person a Jew. A Jew is not
a Jew apart from the King of Judah, who is Jesus Christ. The "tribeship"
always resides with the lawful head of the tribe. Any
Jew who revolts against the King is cut off from among his people and
no longer has the legal right to call himself a Jew. Those who followed
Jesus Christ in the early Church were in the minority, of course, but
they had the lawful right to remain in the tribe of Judah (i.e.,
to be called Jews), because they were united with the Head of the tribe.
This tree consists of natural branches as well as engrafted branches,
but they are all securely fastened to the trunk, which is Jesus, the King
of Judah. Meanwhile,
those of the evil fig tree, which rejected and crucified the King in the
spirit of Absalom, have continued to call themselves Jews on the grounds
that they (the chief priests) now possess the throne. They staged a revolt
to overthrow the King and seize the throne, even as Absalom did with David.
But though Absalom occupied Jerusalem, this did not make him a Judahite.
Only as long as he was united with his father, David, did he have the
right to call himself a Judahite (Jew). When David left town, the tribeship
went with him. God had anointed him as the true king, and nothing else
was relevant, except to prophesy of the revolt against Jesus many years
later. So
for nearly 2,000 years there has been a running dispute as to which fig
tree is the real Kingdom of God. Judaism and Christianity both lay claim
to this honor. The issue is clear. Either the evil fig tree is God's Kingdom,
or it is the good fig tree. It cannot be both. There is no middle ground
or room for compromise. Those who attempt to do so run the risk of playing
the role of Judas, who was Jesus' friend, but betrayed him nonetheless. Usurping the Birthright When
Jacob-Israel blessed his sons in the latter part of Genesis, he gave the
sceptre to Judah, the priesthood to Levi, and the birthright to Joseph.
1 Chron. 5:1, 2 says,
1
Now the sons of Reuben the first-born
[Heb., bekore]
of Israel for he was the first-born, but because he defiled his father's
bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel;
so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright.
2 Though Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from
him came the leader, yet the
birthright [Heb.,
bekoraw] belonged to Joseph. The
term "birthright" comes from the Hebrew word, bekoraw. Its root word is bekore,
which means "firstborn." In other words, the birthright of the
firstborn son, which normally should have been given to Reuben, was given
to Joseph, not to Judah. The
prophetic implications of this are enormous, for this is the underlying
secret of understanding prophetic events in the past century, particularly
since 1948. In 1948 the evil fig tree that unlawfully called itself Jews
in spite of their rejection of the tribal Head--these same people moved
to usurp also the birthright of Joseph. This is why they took the official
name "Israel" for their newly created nation in 1948. In
Jesus Christ's first advent, He came as the tribal head of Judah, and
the chief priests, like Absalom, killed Him in order to usurp His throne.
Now, in the events leading to Christ's second advent, the same people
have stolen the name of Israel that Jacob gave to Joseph's descendants.
Genesis 48:13-16 says,
13
And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right
hand toward Israel's left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's
right, and brought them close to him. 14
But
Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim,
who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, crossing
his hands, although Manasseh was the first-born. 15
And he
blessed Joseph,
and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham
and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this
day, 16
The
angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; and may my name
live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. " The
angel who redeemed Jacob in Genesis 32 gave him the name "Israel."
It was the birthright name, and only the holder of the birthright--in
whom is the tribeship--has the right to use that name in an official,
legal, and political capacity. For
this reason, when Israel split into two nations after Solomon's death,
the northern tribes retained the name of Israel, while the southern kingdom
was known as the House of Judah. This was because the two tribes of Joseph
(Ephraim and Manasseh) joined the revolt against the Davidic throne. All
the tribes who remained united with Ephraim retained the right to use
the name "Israel." The
tribes of Israel were carried into Assyria from 745-721 BC and never returned.
Some individuals from the tribes, of course, found their way back to the
land, but in uniting with Judah, they lost the right to the name "Israel"
in its official capacity. The same was true with the tribe of Benjamin,
which remained loyal to Judah from the beginning. Jesus
came the first time of the tribe of Judah and the seed of David in order
to claim His throne rights from that tribe. But a second advent of Christ
was necessary in order to secure His birthright. For this reason He comes
the second time in the capacity as Head of the tribe of Joseph. Of
Joseph, we read in Genesis 37:31,
31
So they took Joseph's tunic, and slaughtered a male
goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood. Of
Jesus' second advent, we read in Revelation 19:13,
13
And He is
clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called
The Word of God. The
Sonship Message is the message of Birthright. As we showed earlier, the
Hebrew word for firstborn son is the root of the word for Birthright.
One cannot separate the concepts. In 1948 the Jews took Joseph's birthright
name upon themselves, thereby implying that they are called to bring forth
the manifestation of the sons of God. But in reality, the chief priests
of Judaism staged a revolt against Jesus Christ, this time in the attempt
to strip Him of His coat of many colors and deprive Him of His birthright. The
question is: Who will inherit the Sonship? Will it be the usurping chief
priests of Judaism and their followers, or will it be Christ and His followers?
Will it be the evil fig tree, or the good fig tree and its branches? God’s
Kingdom Ministries |