Casting Out the Bondwoman--Part 5

Prophetically speaking, the "son of the bondwoman" persecutes Christians. We see this on all three levels of fulfillment in history. These three levels are:

1. Judaism (legal Ishmael)
2. Christianity (spiritual Ishmael)
3. Islam (physical Ishmael)

In the New Testament we see how Judaism (temple religion) hated Jesus "without a cause" (John 15:25).

"But they have done this in order that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law: They hated Me without a cause."

This is quoted from Psalm 69:4 and 109:3. Both of these chapters are referenced in Acts 1:20 where the disciples applied them to Judas, knowing that he was a type of Ahithophel who betrayed David in the Absalom revolt. Thus, it was well known to the apostles that Judaism's persecution of the Church was the natural fulfillment of the Old Testament story of David and Absalom.

Secondly, David was persecuted earlier by King Saul, who was crowned on the day of "wheat harvest" (1 Sam. 12:17), which was later known by the Greek name, Pentecost. Saul was a Pentecostal type and prophetically represented the Church in the Pentecostal Age (33-1993 A.D.). The Church also persecuted the overcomers (David) in its day, once it usurped the place of Christ as Head.

In persecuting the David company, it became just another manifestation of the "son of the bondwoman" persecuting the son of the free woman. Even as those of the Passover Age persecuted those who were moving on into Pentecost, so also did those of the Pentecostal Age persecute those who were moving on into Tabernacles. It seems that once the religious spirit takes hold, they stop growing and then persecute anyone who desires to grow into the full stature of Christ.

Thirdly, there is the case of Islam. God raised up Islam as the antidote to the Church's version of the bondwoman and her son. God often "fights fire with fire." Because the Saul Church had fallen into Old Covenant religion, God raised up Islam as a SUPER-Old-Covenant religion to bring corrective judgment upon the Church.

Just before the rise of Islam, Pope Gregory I (590-604) had written a letter declaring, "whosoever calls himself universal priest or desires to be called so, was the forerunner of Antichrist." (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. V, p. 220)

A few years later in 606, his successor, Pope Boniface III, did just that. Schaff says on page 230,

"Boniface III (606-607) did not scruple to assume the title of 'universal bishop,' against which Gregory, in proud humility, had so indignantly protested as a blasphemous antichristian assumption."

And so the year 606 marked a very important turning point in the history of the Church. It marks the time when the Roman Bishop assumed full authority over the entire Church. Others had done this before him, setting some precedents, but their successors had denied this power. In 606 this became a permanent fixture of the Church religious system. H. G. Wells wrote on page 650 of his book, The Outline of History,

"But it is the universal weakness of mankind that what we are given to administer, we presently imagine we own."

Three years later God raised up Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, to bring judgment upon the Church. He received his visions in 609 and began preaching in 612.

Islam has all the characteristics of Old Covenant religion that I have described earlier. God is still using it today to bring judgment upon the Church, but most Christians do not comprehend the intent of God in this, nor do they see that the solution is not to destroy Islam but to repent of its own Old Covenant religion. In the recent century, this has taken new significance with the rise of Zionism, in that Christians sold their Birthright to the Zionists and made themselves servants of the bondwoman of Judaism and Zionism. Thus, as Christians, they have become servants of those who hate them. And having cast their lot with the Israeli state, old Jerusalem, and Zionism, they have joined the Absalom revolt and will share in a measure of his judgment.

It is time to cast out the bondwoman. We are fast approaching the day when we will see the final battle that destroys Jerusalem. That will mark the point where God takes matters into His own hands and casts out the bondwoman--even as He did in 70 A.D. and again in 135. Once that point is reached, however, it will be too late for individuals to escape from Absalom's army.

The time to leave Absalom is NOW. Now is the time to take a new look at David and recognize His right to the throne. Or, to put it in terms of the second work of Christ, it is time to recognize Jesus Christ as the son of Joseph, the inheritor of the Birthright. The throne could not be obtained through Absalom, although he usurped it for a time. The throne could not be obtained by the temple priests in Jesus' day, although they usurped it for a time as well. David returned to claim His throne, and Christ will return as well to claim His throne and His birthright.

Those who aspire to Sonship today (i.e., the Birthright) cannot obtain it through Judaism or Zionism. It cannot be obtained by converting to Judaism (as Pat Boone did, and many others after him). It cannot be obtained by supporting Zionism and insisting upon Jewish ownership of old Jerusalem. It cannot be obtained by becoming a Muslim. It cannot even be obtained by placing one's faith in a denominational Church. These are all various forms of the bondwoman and her son.

Sonship is the reward of the New Jerusalem, which functions by the New Covenant, because Sarah is the only one who can bring forth Isaac, the son of the free woman.

Therefore, we are called to leave the old Jerusalem and become citizens of the New. We are called to stop supporting the construction of a physical temple in the place that God forsook in Ezekiel 10, 11, and to realize that we are being built into a new Temple with Christ as the Chief Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20). We are called to stop animal sacrifices and place our trust in the one True Sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

We are called to stop this nonsense that Jesus is going to reinstate priests of Levi who were disqualified long ago from dispensing the blessings of the Kingdom. They have been replaced by the Melchizedek Order, of whom Jesus Christ is the High Priest (Heb. 5:10). One cannot obtain the blessings of the Kingdom by seeking it from a Levitical high priest, for any such man would not be Jesus Christ.

How important is all of this? It depends upon one's goal. If one's goal is mere citizenship in the Kingdom, then it is sufficient to believe that Jesus Christ died as the Sacrifice for sin. Confidence in His first work 2000 years ago qualifies us for citizenship. But if one is aspiring to Sonship, one must go beyond citizenship, because Sonship has to do with authority, rulership, and leadership in the Kingdom. The special reward for the manifested sons of God is that they are given Life in the first resurrection, so that they have "Life in The Age." In other words, they will not die during the 1000 years of the Tabernacles Age, but will be given immortality before the general resurrection of dead, where all the dead are raised at the Great White Throne.

Even as citizenship requires faith (belief), so also Sonship requires faith in the second work of Christ.