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The False Prophet   |   Copyright   |   Dedication   |   Contents   |   List of Illustrations   |   Preface   |   The Great Detective   |   When Are We?   |   69 Weeks   |   1290 Days   |   The Wrong Rock   |   Two Witnesses   |   Time, Times & a Half   |   Mounting Evidence   |   One More Time   |   Timeless Covenant   |   Leopard-Bear-Lion   |   Two-Horned Beast   |   The Big Lie   |   Scarlet Beast   |   Wherefore, Come Out   |   Last Trumpet   |   Hour, Day, Month & Year   |   Bifids & Chiasms


The False Prophet - Skolfield
Timeless Covenant
CHAPTER 10

Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake,
do not disgrace the throne of thy glory:
remember, break not thy covenant with us.
JER 14:21

MANY wonder how a lost Jewish people could possibly be one of the
Two Witnesses, quoting as support for their view, “There is no other
name under heaven, given among men, whereby ye must be saved” (Act
4:12). Their concern is reasonable enough. So how can the true Church
be the ally of a people who don’t know that Jesus is their Messiah? Well,
when we look back at the rest of the Bible in the light of what we now
know from Revelation, we get a clearer picture of the spiritual position
of the Jews during this era. But to see it, we also need to understand the
spiritual condition of the Old Testament saints. Were Old Testament
Israelites “born again” like New Testament Christians are? There are any
number of heavyweight theologians who would dispute the point, so
let’s bring Scripture to bear on the issue.1
In His discussion with Nicodemus (John 3), Jesus put a name to
what happens in the human heart when we first turn to the Lord. He
called it being “born again.” When Jesus spoke with Nicodemus, the
cross was still in Jesus’ future, yet right there He
made a doctrinal statement that many think applies only to the Church:
Joh 3:3,10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God ... Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
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1 Joh 3:3, 3:7 and 1Pe 1:23 are the only verses in the Bible where this experience is so
named.
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       Even though the Old Testament was all the Scripture Nicodemus
had, the Lord expected him to understand what being born again was all
about. So here is the question: How could Nicodemus have understood
the born-again principle before Jesus died on the cross? Answer: He
could only have understood being born again before the cross if Old
Testament believers could be born again before the cross. Jesus expected
Nicodemus to know, as did a scribe of his time, that it was not correct
doctrine, but a changed heart that resulted in salvation:

Mar 12:32-33 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou
hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but
he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the
understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, to
love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices.

       The Old Testament is full of verses declaring that a changed heart,
rather than sacrifice, is the central aspect of salvation.1 The whole 11th
chapter of Hebrews teaches that Old Testament saints were saved by
faith. They were not justified by the Levitical code, nor by the deeds of
the law any more than we are. Old Testament believers were given a
changed heart before the cross – were born again – just like Christians
are after the cross.
       Since Jesus said, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the
kingdom of heaven,” then Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Job,
Daniel, and all the rest of the Old Testament saints had to be born again,
or we will not see them in Heaven. We saw Moses and Elijah in their
glorified bodies on the Mount of Transfiguration – before the cross – so
we can prove they were born again, unless we wish to believe that God
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1 Here are four of many Old Testament verses that stress heart condition unto salvation
above ritualistic observance:
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Hab 2:4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by
his faith.
Psa 51:16-17 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in
burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O
God, thou wilt not despise.
Mic 6:8 ... what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with thy God?
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would permit His glory to radiate through the faces of the unregenerate.
Obviously, those elder brethren had changed hearts, and a changed heart
is what being born again is all about.

Eze 36:26-27 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.And I will put my
spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall
keep my judgments, and do them.

       Old Testament or New, there is NO difference in how a soul is
saved. The only difference is doctrine, and doctrine is determined by
how the Lord willed to reveal Himself to man at a given time. Old
Testament saints and Christians have different doctrines, but the method
of salvation is the same.

1Co 10:1-4 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.

       True saints have always been born again “by grace through faith,”
regardless of the era in which they lived. This is a major issue in some
churches, so please make an effort to understand the argument. It will be
important to your spiritual well-being and will aid you in your future
comprehension of the Bible.
       We said all that to get to this: When Jesus went to the cross, there
were Old Testament Jews, spread all over the world. They were in
Africa, Spain, India, even as far away as England. If they were true
believers, they were born again. Elect, just like you and I are (Rom
11:28). Many of them must have been unaware of Jesus’ ministry, death,
and resurrection.
       So here’s the question: Did those dispersed Jews lose their salvation
the moment Jesus went to the cross and they were suddenly and
unknowingly thrust into the Christian Era? If we believe so, then we are
saying a man is saved by his doctrine, rather than his heart condition.
 
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       If a Jew, under God’s covenants given to him through the patriarchs
and prophets, could be saved by faith in his coming Messiah for one
nanosecond into the Christian Era, then a Jew in that same spiritual
condition can be saved under those same covenants a thousand, or even
2000 years later. The only way that would not be true is if salvation is
based upon where we are positioned in history, and the correctness of
our doctrine.
       Numerous times in the Old Testament the Lord speaks of His
everlasting covenant with the children of Israel, including the following
verses:

Gen 7:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee
and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting
covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
Psa 105:8-10 He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word
which he commanded to a thousand generations ... And confirmed
the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting
covenant.

       If faith in God’s Old Testament covenant was good enough to save
Moses and Elijah, then it is good enough to save a Jew today if – and it
is a big if – the Holy Spirit has not revealed to that Jew that Yeshua is
his Messiah. When the Holy Spirit does so, the Jew needs to recognize
God’s Son as his Messiah and Lord just like we do. So is it possible for
a Jew in this information age to be unaware that Yeshua1 is his
Messiah?2 Jesus gave us a marvelous parable in Luke which explains it
very clearly:

Luk 5:33-39 (excerpts) And they [the scribes and Pharisees] said
unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make
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1 Strong’s No. H3091. Yehowshuwa’, yeh-ho-shoo’-ah; or Yehowshu’a, yeh-ho-shoo’-ah;
from H3068 and H3467; Jehovah-saved; Jehoshua (i.e. Joshua), the Jewish leader:
Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua. Compare H1954, H3442. Transliterated into Greek as Jesus,
many Jews spell His name in the abbreviated form of Y’shua, Yeshua or Yeshuah.
2 It is no easier to tell if a Jew is saved than it is to tell the spiritual condition of a Gentile.
But, if the Holy Spirit reveals to a Jew that Jesus is his Messiah, he is no longer blind. If
a Jew then rejects the Lord, he is as lost as any Gentile who does. Consequently, a witness
to Jews is as necessary as it is for Gentiles. If a Jew already has the circumcision of the
heart (Rom 2:28-29), and the Holy Spirit takes the veil away, the believing Jew WILL turn
to Yeshua. Why? Because, the same Spirit that takes the veil away will point him straight
to God’s Son. Only the Lord knows the true heart condition, (1Sa 16:7).
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prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat
and drink? And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the
bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?... And he
spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new
garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent,
and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the
old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new
wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall
perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are
preserved.

       The Pharisees were questioning why Jesus’ disciples didn’t keep
Jewish traditions. Jesus replied that the children of the bridegroom didn’t
fast while the bridegroom was present, speaking of Himself and the
disciples. He then likened the gospel to new wine, and the Jews to old
wineskins. Jesus went on to say that He would not put the new wine of
the gospel into the old wineskins of the Jewish people, lest He destroy
them both. Jesus concluded with the categorical statement that He did
not will for the old bottles to perish, so new wine was put in new wineskins,
and both would be preserved. That is a mystery indeed. How can
a Jew be preserved if he does not understand the gospel? Let’s see how
God accomplished it. He promised Moses He would:

Lev 26:33-45 (excerpts) I will scatter you among the heathen, and
will draw out a sword after you ... And they that are left of you
shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands ... And yet
for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast
them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and
to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God . .
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.

ELECTION FOR BOTH COVENANTS

       Throughout the centuries, the Holy Spirit has kept the Jew under the
law (2Co 3:14, Gal 5:2-3). As stated before, to the Jew, the Old
Testament is all the Bible there is. To him, Messiah is still to come, and
oh, how he longs for His appearance, just as we do. The Jew believes in
Him and trusts in Him because of the promises of God given to him in
 
Timeless Covenant 101

the Old Testament. Can his faith be in vain? The Bible tells us, if we
only have ears to hear it:

Rom 11:8-11 (According as it is written, God hath given them the
spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they
should not hear) unto this day. I say then, Have they stumbled that
they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation
is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.1
Rom 11:24-25 For if thou [the Gentile church] wert cut out of the
olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to
nature into a good olive tree [the Jews]: how much more shall
these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own
olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye [Gentiles] should be
ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the
fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:28-29 As concerning the gospel, they [the Jews] are
enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election,2 they [the
Jews] are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. [are irrevocable, NASB]

       Note the two groups of people in those verses: We and They.
Language is meant to communicate, and in no language known to man
are we and they the same group of people. These are two distinctly
different bodies of people. From context, these two groups are the
Jewish people and the Gentile church. According to Rom 11:28, one of
these two groups is the enemy of the Gospel. The Church is not the
enemy of the Gospel, so the other group must be, and that’s the Jewish
people.
       But despite their enmity to the truth of the gospel, wonder of
wonders, they are still elect. Hear that: the Jews are still elect. That is not
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1 Some have suggested that it is impossible for a Jew in this age not to know about Jesus.
If we were dealing in the natural realm, the author would agree, but we are not. By a
sovereign act of divine will, God blinded the spiritual eyes of the Jews (Rom 11:8) and
only God can cause them to see again! If the Lord blinded the Jews to their eternal
damnation, then He broke faith with the Patriarchs, and His everlasting covenants with
Israel are untrue. Num 23:19 states, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son
of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and
shall he not make it good?”
2 Strong’s No. 1589. ekloge, ek-log-ay’; from G1586; (divine) selection: chosen, election.
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a suppositional doctrine; Rom 11:28-29 states they are still elect, and the
following verses affirm it:

Rom 11:30-32 For as ye [the Gentiles] in times past have not
believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their [the
Jews] unbelief: Even so have these [Jews] also now not believed,
that through your mercy [shown to the Gentiles] they [the Jews]
also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all [both
Jews and Gentiles] in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

       Those Scriptures lead us to this point: If the Church is “elect,” and
Israel is “elect,” wherein lies the difference between us? Only in our
historic position, and in the accuracy of our doctrine (neither of which
saves us). The Old Testament saints knew their Messiah was coming,
even though they did not know who He was going to be. They were born
again, even though they did not know His identity. They were saved by
faith in the same Messiah that you and I are, and not by their doctrine.
Praise God we are not saved because our doctrines are perfect, but
because Jesus is the perfect atonement for our sins, and His blood is
perfect even for the Jews who do not know His name.
       Over the last 22 years, I have watched people dance all around Rom
11:11 and 11:24-32. I even know several theological types who heatedly
declare, “I don’t know what those verses mean, but they certainly don’t
mean what they say,” thus putting the doctrines of men above the Word
of God. Why not believe what those verses say? Is the Bible the Word
of God, or isn’t it? I fear our traditions are so firmly entrenched that only
a major disaster or the return of the Lord will change them. Throughout
the Christian Era, we have been trying to make Gentiles out of Jews, but
we have it backwards. Israel was not grafted into the Church; the Church
has been grafted into Israel (Rom 11:17).
       In Rom 11:25, we were commanded not to become “wise in our own
conceits” because we were given the gospel while the Jews were not.
But we got arrogant anyway, and it has resulted in our own blindness.
We’ve been thinking all along that we had it all, while the Jews were
without hope. It isn’t so, but unless we permit the Holy Spirit to take the
scales from our eyes, we will remain hopelessly blinded to God’s overall
plan.
 
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BREAD AND WINE
Jesus was surrounded by a jeering crowd as He stood before Pilate.
Pilate wanted to free Him, but the crowd demanded His crucifixion. The
Lord loved them, taught them, fed them and healed everyone who came
to Him. The Pharisees knew who He was, but they still wanted Him
dead:

Mat 27:22-25 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with
Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be
crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But
they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate
saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was
made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude,
saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and
on our children.

       How are we saved, brethren? Because Jesus’ blood is upon us. There
at the Pavement, the Jews uttered what they thought was a curse, “His
blood be on us, and on our children.” But I don’t believe God saw it that
way. With unfathomable love and mercy He looked down on the people
He had blinded for our sakes and probably said, “Be it unto you in
accordance with your words.”
       Despite the Jews not recognizing God’s dying Son as their Messiah,
the Lord put His merciful hand over the eyes of His beloved people
Israel, and saved them. Do we even begin to grasp the caring and
forgiving nature of our Heavenly Father? All He needed to do for them
to be lost was nothing, just nothing. Instead of that, He blinded them so
they could not sin against a knowledge of the truth.1 Oh, what it has cost
those precious people. What sufferings they have endured throughout the
centuries because of their inability to see the Savior who went to the
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1 Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth
[that Jesus is the only sacrifice for sin that is acceptable to God the Father], there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
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cross for them.1 Spiritually, they suffer still, looking dimly ahead,
through darkened Old Testament eyes, for the coming of their beloved
Messiah.

Rom 11:33-36 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his
ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord?
or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him,
and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and
through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
Amen.

       Looking at the big picture, why did the Lord decree a partial
spiritual blindness upon His beloved people? It was for the sake of you
and me, the Gentile believers. How dare the Church judge a people
whom God Himself blinded. The Lord desires that we have a loving and
understanding heart toward our brethren afar-off, the people who were
“blinded for our sake,” moving them to jealousy so that they come to His
Son.
       Most Jews believe that Christians hate them. They may not show it
up front, but down inside the Jews believe it, and for very good reasons.
It is a deplorable fact that many so-called Christians have persecuted the
Jews throughout this era in the mistaken belief that they killed Jesus.
My, have our spiritual eyes ever been darkened. It wasn’t the Jews who
killed Jesus. You and I killed Jesus! Don’t you see that Jesus sacrificed
Himself because you and I sinned? While Jesus was hanging on the
cross, He saw the sins of all time, from the first sin of Adam to the very
last sin that will ever be committed. It was for your sins and mine that
He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
       Blindness is upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles is come in
(Rom 11:25). Maybe that day is at hand because many thousands of
Jews are now turning to Yeshua. But the Lord has yet to take the scales
from the eyes of all, and many Jews still look to Moses and the prophets.
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1 Certainly many of the Pharisees rejected the Lord so as to be lost, but not all.
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are notable exceptions. Nor would it surprise the
author to see Gamaliel in Heaven. He defended the brethren in Acts 5:37-39, and that he
feared the Lord is unquestionable.
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       In Hebrews we read about Father Abraham giving tithes to Melchizedek
(the Lord Jesus). Abraham did so for all those who would
proceed from his loins: for his children throughout all generations to
come (Heb 7:1-10). So what was Melchizedek’s response to Abraham?
He set a table before him, and on that table, bread and wine (Gen 14:17-
20). Bread and wine ... the same communion that Jesus served the
disciples at the last supper. Oh, the richness of the foreknowledge of
God. Do we have eyes to see what the Lord Jesus did through Abraham,
and for his physical seed forever? As Abraham gave tithes for the
children of Israel yet to be born, so, in like manner, Jesus had communion
with all the children of Israel yet to be born, and our God is a
covenant-keeping God.1

Jer 31:3-8 Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love:
therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. For there shall be
a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise
ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God. For thus saith
the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the
chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save
thy people, the remnant of Israel.

If the Jewish people had come to know Jesus as their Messiah, they
would have been absorbed into the Church, and Jews would have
disappeared from the face of the earth. That doesn’t sound so bad, does
it? How significant could that be?

If the Jewish people had accepted Yeshua as their Messiah, the
Jewish nation as a distinct people would have been absorbed
into the Church and every one of the prophecies we have been
studying could never have been fulfilled!

The fulfillment of every prophecy we have looked at so far, plus the
ones we study next, depended on the Jews not knowing Jesus as their
Messiah!
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1 Most denominations believe that the Jews of the Christian Era who are blind to the fact
that Jesus is their Savior are lost. Nonetheless, the scriptural evidence to the contrary is
so strong that the author wonders how the Church at large has been able to maintain their
position.
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