RESTORING THE CHURCH TO THE MESSIANIC KINGDOM - – SOME RESTORATION BENCHMARKS
Dr. Walter Thomas
“What if you learned you had a long-lost brother, and then you discovered he was Jewish?”
The church has a long-lost brother and His name is Yeshua. As part of our vision to restore the Church to Israel, we believe restoring the church to the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Messianic Kingdom, is essential. The Messianic Kingdom was proclaimed and demonstrated by the Jewish Messiah and the Jewish Apostles in the Jewish Bible. It is a Kingdom about the man, the mission and the message of the Messiah come to earth to do His Father’s will. The quintessential message of the New Testament gospels and epistles is the message of the Kingdom Rule of God. Most of Yeshua’s teachings would begin with a phrase like, “The Kingdom of God is like….” The word “Kingdom” occurs 162 times in the New Testament. Not only did Yeshua and the Apostles teach and preach about the Kingdom, they demonstrated it in power, signs and wonders. The anointing power of the Holy Spirit enabled the Kingdom to advance to a million or so Jews and millions of Gentiles in the first 200 years. It was, and is, a spiritual invasion force through which the Sovereign One proposes to take back what had been stolen and lost. The Kingdom rule of the Messiah has come into the hearts and lives of Messiah’s followers, and that Kingdom spread like wildfire throughout the world and it will come in fullness, shortly. However, much of that Kingdom Gospel has been missing in much of the church. In fact, the disconnection of the church from Israel has been intentional, massive and has existed for most of the 1,900 years since the first century miracle of the Messianic Kingdom. The Reformation (restoration) has partially restored major pieces of the Primitive Church ministry and manifesto, but few protestant streams embrace them all. The Restored Church, however, will return to those things they did at first and to their first love (Rev. 2:5). It must be restored in its fullness before Messiah returns. The following list itemizes the main components of the Messianic Kingdom revealed by Messiah. It is a church scorecard, to indicate whether or not the church is being restored to the Gospel of the Messianic Kingdom. This is a Restored Church wish list.
The Restoration of the Church to Israel is the expressed Heart of YHWH and prophesied in Scripture. In these last days, YHWH has restored His Jewish people to national Israel and the Promised Land. The Kingdom has been in exile too, but it is now back in Israel. Now YHWH wants to restore all His people to Messianic Israel! The final chapter in the shared histories of Israel and the Body of Messiah, is ONE UNITED MESSIANIC KINGDOM—just as it was proclaimed in the very first century. Therefore, it would be advisable for us, as Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles, to be about the Father’s business of Restoration to the Kingdom of God in fullness. We are the two witnesses, the two lampstands, and the two olive trees of Rev. 11:4. Restoration is the grafting together of the two trees (Romans 11). Directions: Make a checkmark to the left of each item in the list below that has become passionately real in your personal life or in the life of your local church congregation:
1. The Restored Church understands the Kingdom is a Messianic Kingdom, built around the Savior and Lordship of Yeshua the Jewish Messiah. The Church will be fully restored to that truth and power.
2. The Restored Church recognizes that the Jewish Messiah was sacrificed as the Holy Lamb of God at 3:00 PM before the Jewish Holy Day, Passover, as established by YHWH 1,800 years earlier.
3. The Restored Church understands the Messianic Kingdom came in resurrection power, as the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua ha’Mashiach arose from the grave on the Jewish Feast of First Fruits.
4. The Restored church understands the Messianic Kingdom was demonstrably empowered by the Rauch HaKo’desh (Holy Spirit) on the day of the Jewish Pentecost and the inauguration of the Body of Messiah (the church) exactly 50 days after the Feast of First Fruits, as established by YHWH.
5. The Restored Church knows the Messianic Kingdom was long-planned and presented in a distinctively Jewish setting, in historical and spiritual Israel.
6. The Restored Church knows the Messianic Kingdom is best understood in the Jewish Scriptures, knowing them from a Jewish Biblical worldview is necessary to understand the Messianic Kingdom.
7. The Restored Church understands the theology of Messianic Judaism is the authentic doctrine of the Gospel of the Messianic Kingdom.
8. The Restored Church will involve a passionate heart for the Nation of Israel and for Messianic Israel.
9. The Restored Church will devote its prayer, ministry and outreach to the Jew first and then to the Gentile.
10. The Restored Church embraces and operates in the power ministry of signs and wonders, which always accompany the authentic Gospel of the Messianic Kingdom. Cessation of them is unbiblical.
11. The Restored Church affirms all the many Gifts of the Spirit taught by the Apostles will fully operate in the authentic Gospel of the Kingdom in mutual ministry of the saints.
12. The Restored Church knows repentance driven by Godly sorrow is the first step to entering into the Kingdom of God, and continues as “walking in repentance” to live victoriously in the Kingdom.
13. The Restored Church will repent of its anti-Semitism, its dismissive history of rejecting-of-Israel teachings regarding Israel and the Jews.
14. The Restored church knows the ‘exchanged life” is essential to living in the Messianic Kingdom of God: “It is no longer I that lives, but Christ who lives within me” (Galatians 2:20).
15. The Restored Church teaches Kingdom Living is a holy, separated, and sanctified life of personal holiness made possible by the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit.
16. The Restored Church understands that Kingdom ministry requires a Baptism of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying power, usually involving deliverance and Spiritual impartation.
17. The Restored Church knows that Kingdom living and ministry is best when understanding the Covenants of God and being a covenant keeper. These covenants are distinctly Jewish in doctrine and living.
18. The Restored Church affirms Kingdom ministry fully embraces the WHOLE Bible as true and is applicable to all Messianic believers today.
19. The Restored Church knows the Messianic Kingdom is inextricably tied to the Tanach and Torah (Old Testament scriptures) every much as it is tied to the Brit Hadasha (New Testament).
20. The Restored Church affirms that Torah has not been replaced, but is fulfilled in the life, teaching and ministry of Yeshua ha Meshiach.
21. The Restored Church affirms that the Jewish people have not been replaced by the church, but the church is grafted into Messianic Israel (the Olive Tree of Israel and Messianic Israel - Romans 11:11-24. Supersessionism is unbiblical.
22. The Restored Church will intentionally and passionately attempt to restore its Jewish roots and embrace a Jewish worldview of ecclesiology, prophecy and scripture.
23. The Restored Church will turn from worldly church models (mega-church, entertainment, corporate CEO, celebrity pastor, etc.) and return to simple face-to-face mutual ministry among the saints.
24. The Restored Church will learn new ways to cohabit the Body of Messiah, both Jew and Gentile, in Biblical doctrine and in the daily life of the local congregations as “One New Man” (Eph.2:15; 3:6; Gal.3:29), breaking down all walls and partitions that would divide Messianic Gentiles and Jews.
25. The Restored Church will be a unified Body of Messiah (as prayed by Messiah in John 17). The hundreds of denominations and independent streams in the church are a testimony to disunity.
