The Church being a light yet this world not being its home March 29th, 2015 Ed Chait March 27 at 6:31pm How can the Church be a light to the nations if the world is not the Church’s home? Like · Comment Seen by 28 Robert Lowry The church is supposed to live in the world (for now) but not be of the world. So it will be the light to the nations until the rapture. After that, the job falls to the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, the Two Witnesses, and angels flhying around in the heavens making evangelistic announcements. March 27 at 6:34pm · Like Ed Chait Do you have any verse references for that? That the Church will be a light to the nations until the Rapture? March 27 at 6:39pm · Edited · Like Robert Lowry Matthew 5:14 and 16. March 27 at 6:45pm · Like Ed Chait I don’t see the phrase “light to the nations” in those verses. March 27 at 6:47pm · Like Robert Lowry Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world”. Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men…etc.” The word “nations” is not there, but I think implied in the words “world” and “men”. March 27 at 6:50pm · Like Ed Chait Maybe it’s talking about two different things since the word “nations” isn’t there? March 27 at 6:52pm · Edited · Like Robert Lowry Don’t the various nations make up the world? March 27 at 6:55pm · Like · 1 Ed Chait “In the world, but not of the world” sounds like the Church is passing through, but not that the world is it’s home. March 27 at 6:56pm · Edited · Like Sarah Van Baale Nations would be a secular form of government that resides in the world. The church also resides in the world, but its authority is from God. March 27 at 6:56pm · Like Ed Chait What I’m trying to figure out are the implications of the Church fulfilling the prophecy of being a “light to the nations” because in the Bible, God promises that to Israel. Is it that they were a light to the nations by rejecting Jesus so that salvation would then be offered to the Gentiles? March 27 at 6:58pm · Like Robert Lowry The church has to live in this world, but it is a temporary physical abode. The church’s real home is in Heaven. Of course, for the Millennial Reign of Jesus, we’ll be right back here for 1000 years, on the same earth, but significantly renovated after all the damage of the Tribulation. March 27 at 6:59pm · Like Sarah Van Baale Ed – What part of scripture are you referencing above? March 27 at 7:00pm · Like Ed Chait This one I think:(Isaiah 49:6) he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” March 27 at 7:01pm · Like Robert Lowry But Israel is not living up to God’s expectation of it presently. One of the most astounding verses in the Bible to me is Romans 11:11. Christians are supposed to be so effective in winning others that it makes the Jews jeaous of what we have. March 27 at 7:01pm · Like Ed Chait and:(Isaiah 42:6) “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, March 27 at 7:03pm · Like Ed Chait the promise to Israel isn’t for the millenial kingdom? March 27 at 7:05pm · Like Sarah Van Baale Wild guess here – but isn’t Jesus the light to the nations and the one who brings the Gentiles into the equation? March 27 at 7:06pm · Like Ed Chait yes March 27 at 7:07pm · Like Ed Chait doesn’t Israel have a special role during the millenium? March 27 at 7:07pm · Like Robert Lowry I think it was for what we now know as OT times, Israel failed, God send Jesus to die for sins and to raise up the Church, which has taken over for Israel in NT times (it has NOT replaced Israel), and the Jews or a certain portion of them will become effective worldwide evangelists during the Tribulation, when the church will not be around. March 27 at 7:08pm · Like Ed Chait wow, I’m just tired and not thinking well here March 27 at 7:11pm · Like Sarah Van Baale It seems that the light to the nations reference is in the OT and refers to Christ. But it is echoed in the NT when the church is called to be a light to the world, which is really still the light of Christ shining through us. March 27 at 7:12pm · Like Ed Chait of course that is Jesus referenced in Isaiah March 27 at 7:12pm · Like Ed Chait OK, so the millenium has no bearing on any of this? March 27 at 7:17pm · Like Sarah Van Baale Ed, I don’t think so. But we’d have to look at every reference of light in comparison to nations/world to really know which verses we’re talking about. Jesus – from the Jewish people – is the light. The church reflects his light to a dark world, and at some point Israel is going to come around and also reflect His light. March 27 at 7:21pm · Like Ed Chait The reason I brought this up is because the Replacement Theology people seem to stress that the Church is the “light to the nations” and it made me think that was part of what they replaced. March 27 at 7:24pm · Like Ed Chait “It will thus come to pass that practical righteousness, practical holiness, will characterize the entire national life of Israel. No other nation will be in its entirety so characterised. The keeping of the commandments of God will be the constant concern of the whole nation. In all their governmental procedure, in all their civic and social arrangements, there will be an application of the principles of God – intelligent, unhesitating, whole-hearted. “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD … yea, every pot in Jerusalem shall be holiness unto the LORD of Hosts” (Zechariah 14: 20-21)”. March 27 at 7:30pm · Like Ed Chait Maybe I should delete the whole thread. March 27 at 7:36pm · Like Sarah Van Baale Ed, it is fine. The church doesn’t replace Israel. I’m not sure how anyone could say that it does. If someone is so focused on the light, I’d say this: Light only emanates from God. The church can shine Christ’s light, and we should, but we don’t own it nor have we created it. March 27 at 7:38pm · Like · 2 Ed Chait Thank you Sarah. March 27 at 7:39pm · Like · 1 Robert Lowry No dont delete. Christians should be reading threads like this. March 27 at 7:39pm · Like · 2 Sarah Van Baale Don’t be discouraged, Ed. God sees your heart. He knows you desire to follow Him and honor Him with your decisions. Because our emotions get involved sometimes it is hard to know exactly what to do when a church seems to lean away from solid teaching and dip their toe into misleading doctrines. We may want to “set them straight” but people’s hearts and souls are involved and so we need to be mindful that we don’t hurt others in the process of ‘being right’. Ultimately know, that you don’t have to convince anyone of anything. You simply have to present the truth and let the Holy Spirit do the convincing. It is really good for us to study the Scriptures and know why we believe what we believe. We should dig deep into the Word while constantly examining our own hearts, but the responsibility for convicting others is God’s alone. He’s got the hard job, we have the easy job. We just have to present the truth – both in word and deed. What other people decide to do with it is between them and God. Rest well tonight, Ed. God just wants you to present the truth. He doesn’t expect you to change people’s hearts. That’s His job. March 27 at 8:05pm · Like · 1 Ed Chait Thank you again, Sarah. March 27 at 8:08pm · Like Robert Lowry Just as a followup to this thread, a great resource that goes into all the who, what, when, where, why, and the chronology, of all end time events, fully annotated to the Bible, is “The Footsteps of the Messiah” by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum.
