Israel Restored

By Ovid Need, Jr.

Points presented below:

1. the promised restoration
2. confession of the iniquities
3. final restoration of national Israel
4. Bible Conferences

Leviticus 26:14-39 describes the "destruction" of Israel. Then vv. 40-46, describes the restoration of Israel. The question we would like to address is this -- is the promised restoration the restoration of the Old Testament national Israel, is it the New Testament Israel of God or does it refer to both.

Let us start by comparing v. 40 with Zechariah 12:10 :

If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me...

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (See also Isaiah 53.)

Zechariah tells of the coming day when the inhabitants of Jerusalem will receive the pouring out of spirit of grace and supplication. (See Eph. 6:18.) The result will be that they will repent of their sins, and come to the Saviour. Zechariah tells us, furthermore, that this repentance will start in the tents of Judah first, and expand. The purpose of the repentance starting in the tents of Judah is so the rest who come to the Messiah will not be lifted up with pride against Judah. Did not Paul warn the Gentiles against being lifted up with pride against the natural branches who were broken off so the Gentiles could be grafted in (Romans 11)? In other words, the Gospel message found its first receptive audience among the "Jews" (a general term used to describe the followers of Old Testament Judaism, whether physical seed of Abraham or not). The first few chapters of Acts shows the tremendous working of spirit of grace and supplication in the tents of Judah first.

The Christian Church is from its very commencement the legitimate continuation of Israel, the wicked having been rooted out from the nation, and those who were Gentiles by birth having been incorporated into Israel on the ground of their faith. The Saviour himself clearly indicated this at the very outset, by calling his Church "Israel" (Matt. xix. 28); and it was from this point of view alone, that the number of apostles appointed for the whole Church (Matt. xxviii. 19), corresponded to that of the tribes of Israel. According to Paul there is but one olive tree, one people of God, one Israel from the beginning to the end. In Rom. xi. 18, Israel is represented as the root of the Christian Church. In Rom. xi. 7,--" the election hath obtained it, the rest are hardened,"--the emphasis must not be laid upon the latter in a one-sided manner. According to Eph. ii. 12 and 19, when the Gentiles come to Christ, they are incorporated into tho "commonwealth of Israel," as " fellow-citizens with the saints" ("Israelis;" Bengel). That Israel is the root of the Christian Church is also apparent from the intercessory prayer of Christ (John xvii. 6--8), where he refers to the Church on earth as founded already, before a single Gentile had been admitted into it. 1 [1. See the remarks on Hosea ii. 1 (vol. I. P. 209 sqq.), or Rev. vii. 4 and xi.] --There is just as little ground for restricting the second part of the prophecy to the final history of the Church, as for limiting the first in this way.

The first day of Pentecost, which is evidently included in chap. xii. 10, enters a decided protest against such a limitation.... (Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament, II.1111. MacDonald Publishing.)

[S]hall look upon me whom they have pierced was first fulfilled in Acts 2:37, Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? It is also clearly referred to in many other passages that pertain to the Gospel Church: 2 Corinthians 7, Paul compares Godly sorrow with worldly sorrow; The author of Hebrews tells us that the Church must be Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith... (12:2.)

According to Ezekiel 39:23-29, after Israel has borne their shame, he will gather them into their own land where he will not hide his face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God. The promise there is God's people regathered, the Israel of God, in Christ, and is his Church made up of both Jews and Gentiles. (Rom. 10:12, Gal. 3:28, Col. 3:11.) The basic promise of the pouring out of my spirit (Joel 2:29) was fulfilled in Acts 2:17, and consisted of pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon the elect, Acts 2:33. The fact that the promise of the Holy Ghost went to both Jews and Gentiles alike was astonishing to the first preachers of the Gospel, and caused the first church to call them into question. (Ac. 10:45; 11:15.)

Therefore, though Leviticus 26:40ff., has an immediate fulfillment in national Israel, it also looked forward to its final fulfillment in the Gospel Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Bonar holds to Dispensationalism, saying that Abraham's promise will yet be fulled in natural Israel, a Scripturally untenable position. Does God's word revolve around the Christ and his gospel, or does it revolve around an exalted, glorified, literal entity?)

Immediate & Future

First, Leviticus 26:14-39 describes what took place under the Syrians and under the Chaldeans; therefore, vv. 40-46 describes what took place in Daniel chapter nine. We will not quote it for spaces' sake, but please look up and read the passage. See also Jereremiah 25:9-12, and will make it perpetual desolations. God himself laid the land waste. (During the "gulf war," American bombers made it a special point to bomb the ruins of Neb's great city. No doubt they did it out of spite for the Scriptures and God, but here God promised that the land would be a perpetual desolation for what he did to his people. Moreover, if God did this against the wicked [Neb., &c.] for what they did to Old Testament Israel, think what is in store for the wicked who move so dramatically against the Gospel Church. They are moving much more clearly against Christ than Neb. Ever thought of doing. The wicked today are not only touching the apple of God's eye, but they are trying to gouge it out. God will move according to his good pleasure in his good time. We must do our best to leave the rest to him.)

Jeremiah 40:9, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans... Babylon was sent by God to judge Israel's sin of disobedience to her God. God's people would remain in servitude until the judgment was complete, so they were to submit to it. The rebellious men of Jeremiah's day did not like the message, so they rebelled again. (V. 14.) Daniel saw the end of the seventy years --- Cyrus gave the command to rebuild Jerusalem, which started the seventy weeks. (Ezra 1.) The seventy weeks were completed when the Messiah was cut off.

(Lev. 26) V. 41, Israel of old was told to accept the punishment of their iniquity. After they accept the punishment, then the Lord remembers the covenant, and restores old Israel to its land under Ezra and Nehemiah.

I fully realize v. 41 refers to Israel of old, and its bondage to Babylon for its sin. However, there seems to be some clear applications for our day: Note Gill's comments and my comments:

Ver. 41. And [that] I also have walked contrary unto them, &c.] Showed no regard unto them, as if he took no care of them, or in a providential way concerned himself for them, but let what would befall them; yea, came out in the way of his judgments against them, as if he was an enemy to them, see Gill on "Le 26:24"; (Gill, Online Bible.)

Comment: The new Israel of God appears to have forgotten who its God is, the Lord Jesus Christ. Showing no regard for the Lord, the Lord seems to be, for a time, showing no regard for the Church, treating it more as an enemy than a friend.

and have brought them into the land of their enemies; should acknowledge the hand of God in it, that he himself brought them out of their own country into an enemy's land, as Assyria, Babylon, and other nations: and that this was not the chance of war, or owing to the superior power or skill of their enemies, but to the just judgment of God upon them for their sins, who on that account delivered them up into the hands of their enemies: (Ibid.)

Comment: The Lord himself exalts the enemies of the Gospel Church to the place where they can oppress it. It is the Lord who delivers his church in to the hands of the enemies of the cross. He delivers them not because the enemies are stronger or more skillful than God's people; he delivers them because the church exalts itself in self-importance, pursuing the god of this world, mammon. Many believers absolutely deny that the Lord God would exalt the enemies of the Gospel, and that he would make his people serve the wicked. Though many believers dogmatically place almost all the Revelation into the future, they refuse to acknowledge what passages such as Revelation 9:15; 13:7; 17:17, &c., teach, viz., the ungodly do not exalt themselves nor does Satan exalt them. The Lord God alone exalts the ungodly to places where they can oppress the people of God. (Dan. 4:17, &c.)

if then their uncircumcised heart be humbled; their foolish proud heart, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; it signifies a sinful, wicked, hard, and impenitent heart, brought to a sense of sin, to repentance and humiliation for it. Jarchi interprets it, "or if their uncircumcised heart", &c. as in #Ex 2:23; and observes another sense of the word, "perhaps their uncircumcised heart", &c. not only would in words confess their sins, but be truly humbled at heart for them: (Ibid.)

Comment: [H]umbled... is an important theme throughout both the Old and New Testaments. (Jam. 4:1-10. See also, Dan. 9, 1 Pet. 5.) [F]riendship of the world is enmity with God, and when God's people walk contrary (at enmity) to God, He walks contrary to them. The call to God's people throughout the word of God is for God's people to cleanse their hands of sin, purify their hearts, mourn and weep in genuine repentance over their sin, humble themselves in the sight of the Lord by returning in obedience, and he shall lift you up.

and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity; take it well at the hand of God, bear it patiently without murmuring, or thinking themselves hardly dealt by, but freely owning it is less than their iniquities deserve; or complete and finish the punishment of their sins, as Aben Ezra, which upon their humiliation should be put an end to, and cease. Jarchi takes the word in the sense of atonement and pacification, as if by their chastisement their sins were expiated {d}, and God was pacified toward them: but rather it denotes the free and full pardon of their sins, manifested to them upon their repentance and humiliation for sin.

{d} Siphri apud Yalkut, ut supra. (par. 1. fol. 197. 2.) (Ibid.)

Comment: [A]nd they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity... This statement is given twice, v. 41 and v. 43; it, therefore, is not a statement to be taken lightly. "[B]ear it patiently without murmuring...," is described by Peter:

For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. (1 Pet. 2:20.)

For your faults {ham-ar-tan'-o} -- That is, sin (missing the mark), not iniquity {an-om-ee'-ah} -- lawlessness. Buffet (strike, or violence of some kind) is used five times in the New Testament, four times in suffering for righteousness, and this fifth, receive violence for sin. 1 Peter chapter two is a strong passage that requires God's people to bear maltreatment with patience. If they do not deserve the violence against them, they will be rewarded by the Lord; if they do deserve the violence, or buffeting, they have no cause to complain:

Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Pet. 2:12.)

Though I personally am not in the "secular" work place, I am close enough in touch with what is going on to make this informed statement: Most of the charges of evildoers against professed Christians are true -- the average "Christian" can be identified with G. Gorden Liddy. Listening to him, he is a man with a dirty mind: he readily and openly makes all kinds of sexual comments, some by innuendoes and some as openly as can be done on a public broadcast. Yet he readily claims to be a "Christian." He continually says that each person is to establish his own standard. The average "Christian" temper is "every man doing what is right in his own eyes. (Deut. 12:8; Jud. 17:6; 21:25.) One of our men who worked at Caterpillar readily tells of co-workers who profess to be Christians, yet their public actions are worse than those who make no such profession, viz. "Christians" quickly stab someone in the back who might stand in their way toward making themselves look good or might stand in their way of more money. God's people are clearly serving the gods of the surrounding pagans, in violation of the Law of God:

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exo. 20:4-6; Deut. 5:9. See Exo. 34:7; Lev. 5:17; 18:25 [the land itself vomited out the Canaanites and the Israelites for their iniquity]; 20:17ff. [everyone involved in immorality]; Num. 5:15ff. [immorality within marriage]; Josh. 22:20 [Achan did not perish alone in his iniquity of taking what belonged to the Lord]; 1 Sam. 28:10 [King Saul promised no punishment for the witch to do her thing]; Ps. 51, &c. There are 213 uses of #5771 [iniquity, punishment] in the Old Testament.)

Numbers 14:34, presents an interesting though concerning iniquity:

After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.

The people did not believe God could deliver the promised land, Canaan, to them, so they refused to go claim it. The result was that they and their children had to spend forty years in the wilderness to bear their iniquities. The average "Christian" thought today (since the early 1088s) is that it is impossible that God can fulfill Matthew 28:19, 20 -- that is, convert the nations of the world to Christ. The result is that God has exalted the wicked into places of authority where the wicked can trod "Christianity" under their feet. (Mat. 5:13.) "Christianity" today bears the iniquity of their faithless fathers. The Second Commandment (quoted above) promises that God will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me... That hatred is shown by disregarding the Ten Commandments.

In other words, it appears obvious to me that what is taking place today through oppressive civil governments is no more than God exalting the wicked into places of authority because of the wickedness in those who profess to be his people. (In fact, it is hard to describe the anger this pastor experienced from "Christians" by the proper plan of salvation, over which we have lost several families from the Linden Baptist Church --- they depended upon "ask jesus into your heart," and simmilar things. When confronted with the truth, they left rather than admit error. See "The Other jesus," by this pastor.)

Therefore, not until they shall confess their iniquity... will the Lord remember my covenant with... Abraham.

(Lev. 26) Ver. 42 is very remarkable in the Hebrew. It is literally, "I will remember my covenant, Jacob," &c. There is no "with." May God not be speaking here to these patriarchs whose God He is at this moment, and saying, "I will remember my covenant, O Jacob, made with thee! and my covenant, O Isaac, with thee; and I will remember my covenant, O Abraham, with thee, and the land wherein thou wast a stranger?" The land, too, wherein His own Son was a Man of Sorrows--can that land ever be forgotten? The corss was there; shall not the Throne be there too? (Bonar, Leviticus, 491.)

Though Bonar restricts the promised land wherein Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were strangers to Palestine, Hebrews 11:13 distinctly tells us that the land wherein they were strangers and pilgrims was the earth. (These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.) Accordingly, the whole earth was promised to Abraham's seed, Christ. Those who are in Christ are commanded to go forth and conquer all nations through the preaching the Gospel of Peace. (Mt. 28:19, 20. 1 Pet. 2:11 -- note the significant NT use by the Spirit of the same words, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul... See also, 1 Cor. 1:17-2:8. Note that the power of God to subdue hardened sinners is the sword of the Spirit, the gospel, not a literal sword.)

The promised result of accepting the punishment of their iniquity is also given twice, v. 42 and vv. 44, 45 -- the Lord will remember the covenant he made with Jacob, Isaac and with Abraham. The Abrahamic covenant, upon which all the rest are built, is found in Gen 12:1-3. V. 3b:

And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed; that is, in his seed, as in #Ge 22:18 and which is interpreted of Christ, #Ac 3:25 Ga 3:8,16 meaning not every individual of all the families or nations of the earth; but that as many as believe in Christ, of all nations, are blessed in him; and that whoever of them are blessed, they are blessed and only blessed in him, and that they are blessed for his sake with all spiritual blessings; see #Eph 1:3 such as redemption, justification, remission of sins, sanctification, adoption, and eternal life. (Gill.)

The covenant is "the salvation which God made with Abram, is neither stable nor firm except in Christ," (Calvin) and the promised blessings to his people through Christ. (We will not go into all that here, for I deal with it throughly in "Israel's Identity/Israel's Conversion.") [A]ccept of the punishment of their iniquity... Hebrews 12 clearly parallels Leviticus 26:40-46. Hebrews 12:

First, the Spirit calls for patient endurance in the Christian race. We are to look to Jesus as our example, for if we do not, we will grow weary and faint in your minds. (Vv. 1-3.) Weariness and faintness of the mind will result in failed and forsaken Christian actions.

Second, the people of God are called upon to patiently endure chastening. Obviously, the Heavenly Father does not chasten his children after his own pleasure, as human fathers do. Rather, he does it for his children's profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Chastening, though it is not joyous at the time, yieldeth the peceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby, vv. 4-11.

Third, the New Testament people of God, Christians, are compared to the Old Testament people of God who gathered at the foot of the mount in Sinai. (Vv. 18-24.) It was at this location at the foot of the mount that the law was given, including the law we are looking at in Leviticus 26.

Fourth, Moses was the mediator of the old covenant given at the mount, through the blood of bulls and goats; Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant through his own blood.

Fifth, the sight at the giving of the first covenant, of which Leviticus 26 is part (see v. 46), was so terrible that Moses himself said, I exceedingly fear and quake.

Sixth, after rehearsing to those under the new covenant the terribleness of the first covenant, even instantaneous death, the Spirit warns concerning the second covenant, of which Jesus is the mediator, sealed with his own blood. The serious warning, even more serious than the warning issued at the foot of the mount, is, See that ye refuse not him that speaketh... (Vv. 25, 26.)

Seventh, the Lord is shaking the things that can be shaken so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. The result will be that those who serve God acceptable with reverence and godly fear will receive a kingdom which cannot be moved. (Vv. 27, 28.)

Eighth, Moses feared and quaked at the appearance of God at the mount, but God's people today seem to be totally oblivious of the same God today. So the Spirit ends his warning concerning God's chastening with v. 28, For our God is a consuming fire. (V. 28.)

All that to say this: The chastening by God of his people under the old covenant given at the mount and sealed with the blood of bulls and goats (e.g., Lev. 26) is not near as bad nor serious as the chastening of his people under the new covenant given at the new mount Sion and sealed with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Quoting Gill again on Leviticus 26:41:

and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity; take it well at the hand of God, bear it patiently without murmuring, or thinking themselves hardly dealt by, but freely owning it is less than their iniquities deserve; or complete and finish the punishment of their sins, as Aben Ezra, which upon their humiliation should be put an end to, and cease. Jarchi takes the word in the sense of atonement and pacification, as if by their chastisement their sins were expiated {d}, and God was pacified toward them: but rather it denotes the free and full pardon of their sins, manifested to them upon their repentance and humiliation for sin.

In light of Hebrews chapter twelve, the above statement should take on a very applicable meaning. In other words, God has today exalted the wicked over his people because they have forsaken the Lord of the New Covenant; they have clearly ignored his word, secure in their false confidence that surely he will not reward his "beloved" people according to their attitude toward his Law-Word.

Just as sure as his people of old could not successfully "rebel" against the oppressors the Lord exalted, they cannot today. Not until his people admit they justly deserve, accept, the situation they are in will the Lord fulfill the covenant made with Abraham, and bless the whole earth through Christ and his people, the Gospel Church. By accepting the situation we must mean, as it did of old, realizing that the Lord God of heaven is using the wicked to chasten his people for their sins, confessing the sin of rejecting the Law of the Lord as the rule of every thought and action, and renewing the commitment to follow his Law-Word in every area (which includes being involved in every area of life by taking Godly, Lawful Christian laws into areas as civil government, charity, occupation, &c. (See 1 Jn. 1:9 and Pro. 28:13, 14.) After his people humble themselves under the mighty hand of the Lord, the Lord will lift them up, even delivering the pagans into their hands (conversion of the world to Christ).

Note how easily and clearly the ancestors of Leviticus 26:45 (But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.) are traced into the New Testament, and applied to the Church:

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted... (1 Cor. 10:1-6.)

At the risk of "spiritualizing" too much, the ancestors, whom the Lord brought forth out of the land of Egypt, are the fathers of the Gospel Church. (1 Cor. 10:1.) Therefore, the promise of the covenant blessings upon God's people found in Leviticus 26:40-46 looks forward to its final fulfillment in the Gospel Church of the Lord Jesus Christ:

Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God... (2 Cor. 1:21.)

Ver. 20. For all the promises of God in him [are] yea, &c.] This is a reason or argument proving what is before said, that "in" Christ "was yea", since "all the promises of God in him are yea"; and shows, that God has made many promises to his people: mention is here made of "promises", and of "all" the promises; or, as the words may be rendered, "as many promises of God". There are some which concern the temporal good of the saints; as that they shall not want any good thing; and though they shall be attended with afflictions, these shall work for their good, and they shall be supported under them. Others concern their spiritual good; some of which relate to God himself, that he will be their God, which includes his everlasting love, his gracious presence, and divine protection. Others relate to Christ as their surety and Saviour, by whom they are, and shall be justified and pardoned, in whom they are adopted, and by whom they shall be saved with an everlasting salvation: and others relate to the Spirit of God, as a spirit of illumination, faith, comfort, strength, and assistance, and to supplies of grace by him from Christ: and others concern everlasting life and happiness, and are all of them very ancient, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; are exceeding great and precious, suited to the various cases of God's people; are free and unconditional, immutable and irrevocable, and will all of them have their certain accomplishment. These promises are all "in" Christ; with and in whom could they be but in him, since he only existed when they were made, which was from everlasting? with and in whom should they be of right, but in him with whom the covenant, which contains these promises, were made, and who undertook the accomplishment of them? where could they be safe and secure but in him, in whose hands are the persons, grace, and glory of his people? not in Adam, nor in angels, nor in themselves, only in him. Moreover, these promises are "in him yea"... (Gill.)

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:24-28.)

And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. (Heb. 6:15.)

Thus Leviticus 26:40-46, in the final analysis, looks forward to the modern Israel of God, the Gospel Church. The covenant, v. 42, clearly speaks of the Church. Today the church is under oppression; not until it does vv. 40 and 41, will it be restored to its power in Christ. The promised covenant was the new, everlasting covenant which God made with his new people, the new Israel of God, the Church. (Jer. 24:6, 7; 32:37-41.)

The Scriptural evidence is overwhelming --- the promised restoration of vv. 40-46 is the new Israel of God. (Gal. 6:16.) The promised regathering is "Israel," i.e., God's people, gathered to the Ensign, which is Christ. I will not go into the argument here, for it is presented in "Israel's Identity/Israel's Conversion" as well as "Identifying Identity." However, I will mention a few things that come to mind.

V. 43 (vv. 34, 35), then shall the land enjoy her sabbath... The context refers to national Israel: While it was in Babylon for the seventy years, the land rested. However, we must not overlook the promised rest of the land that is part of Christ's redemptive work:

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. (Rom. 8:22.)

Paul tells us that the sabbath rest the land (the whole world) is waiting to enjoy is accomplished in Christ.

Vv. 40, 41, the purpose of the previous negative I wills is to call the people to repentance of their sins against the Lord God and his law. Vv. 40, 41, If they shall confess... that they have walked contrary unto God's law, if they will humble themselves before the Lord and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will he remember the covenant. (Bonar uses this to say that the Lord here promises Israel's restoration to the old estates. P. 491.)

Confess the iniquities of your fathers... Genuine, godly confession means admitting one is wrong and then setting about to change that wrong. (Pro. 28:13, 14.) Thus confession of the iniquities of the fathers means that we confess where they went contrary to God's Law-Word, and we set about to correct those things they put into practice, e.g., statist education. It does not simply involve admitting the fathers were wrong, but that what they did was wrong and we need to change it.

Thus "Bible Conferences" should be conferences to examine every area of life and thought in the light of God's word; then plans are to be made and implemented on how to bring those areas into captivity to Christ, as revealed in his word.

Though many good men try to use the promise of the restored covenant in places such as Leviticus 26 to teach a final restoration of national Israel to a physical location, Canaan, they must do it at the expense of the Gospel Chruch -- the covenant is clearly the new Israel of God.

The covenant-promise was that Abraham's seed should be the heir of the world. The promise was not made to Abraham's physical seed, but to his spiritual seed. Through faith in Christ, the Gospel Church is joint-heir with Christ. (Rom. 4:13, 14, 8:17.)

Note in passing: Leviticus 26:41, Biblical circumcision has always been a humble, circumcised heart, which is then revealed through outward actions.

By Ovid Need, Jr.