Christian Zionism - New Life Tabernacle of Chattanooga

do with the earthly Jerusalem. Jesus had already made this clear to the
woman of Samaria in John 4 when he said, ‘a time is coming when you will
worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.’ 916 At his trial
Jesus explained further, saying, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my
servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is
from another place’ (John 18:36). The turning point for the Disciples comes
with the resurrection encounters and Pentecost. Until this point they seemed
to share the same understanding of the land as other 1 st Century Jews. They
had looked forward to God’s intervention which would at last restore political
sovereignty to the Jews in Israel. 917 This is reflected in the unfulfilled hopes
of the disciples who when on the road to Emmaus unknowingly confess to
Jesus, ‘ we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel’
(Luke 24:21). This idea is also clearly still in the minds of the disciples even
as Jesus is about to ascend to heaven when they ask, ‘Lord, are you at this
time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ (Acts 1:6). John Calvin
comments, ‘There are as many mistakes in this question as there are
words.’ 918 Jesus’ reply indicates that he has another agenda for his disciples.
‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own
authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:7-8). Jesus redefines the boundaries of the
kingdom of God and thereby the meaning of chosenness. The expansion of
the kingdom of God throughout the world requires the exile of the Apostles
from the land. 919 They must turn their backs on Jerusalem and on their hopes
of a materialistic kingdom. They are sent out into the world but never told to
return. Subsequent to Pentecost, under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the
Apostles begin to use Old Covenant language concerning the Land in new
915 English, op.cit., p953.
916 ‘Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship
what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come
when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind
of worshippers the Father seeks.’ (John 4:21-23)
917 Colin Chapman, ‘Ten questions for a theology of the land’ in The Land of Promise, edited
by Philip Johnston and Peter Walker (Downers Grove, Illinois, InterVarsity, 2000), p179.
918 John Calvin, The Acts of the Apostles 1-13, (Edinburgh, St Andrew Press, 1965), p29.
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