"If Jesus had established an earthly kingdom at His first coming, He
would not have been crucified, and there would be no adequate
sacrifice to take away sin."
This is where covenant theologists go wrong as well. Paul Washer makes this mistake in his sermon where he rags on dispensationalists. Jesus Christ had to die. He said He would.
Israel had a complete opportunity to accept the Kingdom. Now, this is conjecture, and I would not form a doctrine about it, but it's entirely logical. When Pilate crucified Jesus, he wrote "Jesus the King of the Jews" and said "what I have written, I have written".
If the Jews had said "we have no King but Jesus" right there is an insurrection, and the Romans would have crucified Christ (he went willingly). He would have risen from the dead, and the Millennial Kingdom would have begun (no need for a tribulation if the Jews accept the saviour). However, God, in His sovereignty and foreknowledge, knew what was going to happen, so in one sense, while this was a possibility, it was also an impossibility, because God already knew what would happen.
Here is the amazing thing. God knows the future right? But we have free will. So "in time", we have choices, however, outside of time, all things have already happened, are happening and will happen. So Israel truly had a choice to accept the Kingdom, and had they done so, things would have turned out differently (the church was never prophesied in the OT - it was prophesied that the gentiles will come to God as well, which will also happen in the MK). But in giving Israel the choice, God already knows their decision, and gives prophetic words to His prophets, because He is ALL POWERFUL, and knows everything before it happens.
EDIT: I need to stop posting stuff like this - it may be evident (well, I saw it just then) that while I may believe this, I didn't post any scripture. I need to get back to the Bible when posting. God bless (and thank God for showing me that).
|