50 Years Building His Kingdom - Far Eastern Bible College

conceits; that blindness in part is happened
to Israel, until the fullness of Gentiles be
come in. And so all Israel shall be saved:
as it is written, There shall come out of Sion
the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob: For this is my covenant
unto them, when I shall take away their
sins” (Rom 11:25-27). “Hath God cast
away his people God forbid” (Rom 11:1).
The anti-Israel
millennialists say “Israel”
refers to spiritual Israel,
namely, the Church. A
careful study of Romans 11
shows that there is a clear
distinction between Israel
and the Church. The
Church in Rome was predominantly
Gentile. Now
that the Church is blessed
by God with salvation, Paul
warned the believers not to
misunderstand that God has
replaced Israel with the Church—“God
hath not cast away his people (i.e. Israel)
which he foreknew” (Rom 11:2). Paul went
on to explain that the Church is not meant
to replace Israel but to provoke her to jealousy
(Rom 11:11). This blindness of Israel
will finally be lifted when the last
elected Gentile is saved (Rom 11:25). So
non-Jewish Christians ought not to despise
unbelieving Israel. Israel is of the natural
olive tree, while we Gentiles are wild olive
branches grafted into the natural olive
tree (Rom 11:17). Although God has broken
them off, He is able in good time to
graft them in again (Rom 11:23-24). Paul
evidently saw a distinction between Israel
and the Church in his analogy of the olive
trees.
In keeping to the Davidic covenant
(2 Sam 7:12-23), Christ the Son of David
will rule over the whole earth in a future
millennium (Zech 14:9, Rev 5:10, 20:6).
The Davidic covenant of a worldwide government
of God was surely not fulfilled by
Solomon, nor by the kings that followed.
Only Christ can literally fulfil the Davidic
covenant (Luke 1:31-33, Acts 1:6). Christ
will sit upon the throne of David and rule
“ In doctrine, we
are Reformed and
premillennial; in
practice, we are
separatistic and
evangelistic. ”
over the whole world from Jerusalem for a
thousand years (Isa 24:23 cf. 2:1-5, Jer
3:17, Mic 4:2).
This premillennial view of Israel was
the view held by the Bible-Presbyterian
denomination since the day it started. It was
the view of Drs Carl McIntire, J O Buswell,
and Allan A MacRae (see Buswell’s A Systematic
Theology of the Christian Religion,
2:324-553, and MacRae’s
The Prophecies of Daniel).
Our founding pastor, having
studied under McIntire,
Buswell and MacRae at
Faith Theological Seminary,
returned with the
same premillennial position
(see his various books:
Coming World Events Unveiled:
A Study of the Book
of Revelation; The Gospel
Prophets: An Applied Commentary
on Isaiah and
Micah; In Times Like These: A Study of the
Book of Jeremiah; Prophescope on Israel;
The Story of My Bible-Presbyterian Faith;
The Truth Shall Make You See; and Visions
of the Princely Prophet: A Study of the
Book of Daniel). We believe that this view
of Israel and of the end-times is most consistent
with Reformed theology. The unity
of the covenant of grace is founded on a
gracious covenant-keeping God. God is
gracious not only to His Church, but also
to Israel. He will keep His Word.
Conclusion
What are the distinctives of the B-P
Church In terms of doctrine, we are Reformed
and premillennial; in the area of
practice, we are separatistic and evangelistic.
May we on this the 50 th anniversary
of the B-P Church appreciate our rich historical,
biblical, and theological heritage.
“Remember them which have the rule over
you, who have spoken unto you the word
of God: whose faith follow, considering the
end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the
same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”
(Heb 13:7-8).
Rev. Dr Jeffrey Khoo
Page 83