There are a couple of different views on when Israel became Loammi (not
my people), hopefully we will discuss the major views here, though we
might leave a few minor ones out.
When teaching about Israel becoming Loammi, you must take into consideration
the prophecy of the seventy weeks of Daniel, for this prophecy tells
us the number of years that God has determined upon the nation of Israel.
You cannot disregard this fact, it has to be taken into consideration.
This is not a fundamental teaching on the 70 weeks. If you are reading
this article you should already have this knowledge, so we are going
to bypass the fundamentals.
As you already know, the 70 weeks were broken down into 3 sections,
7 weeks, threescore and two weeks or 62 weeks, and 1 week. This boils
down to a 49 year period, a 434 year period, and a 7 year period giving
us a total of 490 years. This chart shows us the breakdown as given in the book of Daniel:
It is commonly known that there is a break in between these times for
the dispensation of grace, most commonly between the 69th and 70th weeks
of the prophecy, but there are other views which will be discussed also.
In Daniel 9 it says,
“24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon
thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins,
and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint
the most Holy.”
This time period, the 70 weeks, are determined upon the nation of Israel.
God is giving them 490 years from the start which is the going forth
of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah.
There are 490 years, no more, no less.
At the end of the 62 weeks the Messiah shall be cut off, in other words,
he is going to die.
The two major teachings of when Israel became Loammi is when the 69th
week of Daniel ended and in Acts 28 when Paul got to Rome. Some people
feel that Israel was not cast away, set aside, became Loammi, blinded
or whatever other name you would like to use, until Paul got to Rome
in Acts 28.
When you teach that Israel became Loammi (cast away, blinded, set aside,
broken off the good olive tree, whatever, for this article we will use
the term Loammi) in Acts 28, this means that you have to teach that
they were not Loammi throughout the book of Acts. In other words, God
was still dealing with Israel as a nation throughout the book of Acts.
Now with Daniels prophecy in mind, there was only given 490 years that
God was going to deal with Israel as a nation so somehow, someway this
490 years has to be included into the Acts period.
You cannot randomly add 30-35 years in the book of Acts and apply it
to God dealing with Israel as a nation as this chart indicates:
This would add to the 490 year prophecy bringing it to a
total of about 525 years. Either they were Loammi not my people or they
were God’s people. If they were God’s people, then you have
to count those years into the prophecy of Daniel, if they were Loammi,
then you don’t count them into the years.
Our Acts 28 brethren fully recognize this problem and their solution
is to shift the years of Daniel’s prophecy around to match their
teachings. They believe Israel became Loammi in Acts 28 and they know
that the book of Acts has to be counted as part of Daniel’s prophecy.
But watch how they do it. This is a quote from the Heaven Dwellers website,
an Acts 28 website,
The address:
http://www.heavendwellers.com/hd_seventy_weeks_of_daniel.htm
The Quote:
To revert to our illustration, the period covered
by the building of the wall up to the dedication of the temple corresponds
with the first 7 miles of country road. At the dedication of the temple
at the end of the seven sevens the "lo-ammi" period ends;
the new high road is reached. It is then a distance of 62 miles to the
Cross; or, leaving the illustration, an unbroken period of 62 sevens
to the time of "the Messiah the Prince". Those who include
the 49 years of rebuilding, include a period when Israel was "lo-ammi",
and they have no alternative to excluding from their reckoning the whole
period of the Acts of the Apostles. But it is quite certain that Israel
were not set aside as a people until Acts twenty-eight, so that the
period of the Acts must be included. Our interpretation has required
only 62 sevens; so that there is still scope remaining. From A.D. 29
to 63, the usual dates now given for the Crucifixion and Acts twenty-eight
respectively, is a period of 35 years; this accounts for five sevens.
Three sevens, therefore, remain for the future, and these are dealt
with in the book of Revelation; seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven
vials. The final "seven" is concerned with the Beast, the
False Prophet, Antichrist and Babylon, as we read in Daniel nine.
End of quote.
Now let’s put this in chart form and look at this.
The first thing you will see is that they take the 3 sections of the
70 weeks and rearrange them and renumber them. Instead of how Gabriel
broke it down into 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and 1 week they took the seventy
weeks and broke it down into 62 weeks, 5 weeks, and 3 weeks.
You can’t do that.
You will also notice that instead of starting it at the going forth
of the commandment as Gabriel said it would, they start it at the dedication
of the temple.
You can’t do that.
They also have the seven seals, trumpets and vials of the book of Revelation
spread out over 3 weeks or 21 years instead of seven years.
You can’t do that.
But in order to make their teaching work, that Israel became Loammi
in Acts 28, they realize that they have to include God dealing with
Israel as a nation during the book of Acts, they have to include this
into the 490 years somehow, someway.
They have to start the 70 weeks at the dedication of the temple instead
of the going forth of the commandment and instead of having the 7 week
period first, they put the 62 week period first with the Messiah being
cut off at the end. Then they have a 5 week period that they put for
the book of Acts. This is a 35 year period from the time of the cross.
At the end of this 5 week period is the end of Acts, Acts 28:28 to be
exact. Then the dispensation of grace starts in Acts 28 and continues
until the last 3 weeks of the prophecy.
This breaks scripture after scripture. You cannot do this, They are
so determined that Israel did not become Loammi until Acts 28 that they
twisted the scripture to make it fit their teachings.
If you have to twist scripture around to make it fit a particular teaching,
it is not the scripture that is the problem, it is the teaching.
But I’m sure that you can start to see the dilemma here. If you
are going to count the Acts period as God still dealing with Israel
as a nation, then you have to somehow, someway include it into the 490
year prophecy. You cannot just randomly add years to the prophecy.
But it seems that this one small little parable gets overlooked when
concerning God dealing with the nation of Israel, Let’s go to
Luke 13 which says,
“6 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig
tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon,
and found none.
7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three
years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down;
why cumbereth it the ground?
8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also,
till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt
cut it down.”
This article will explain the parable in more detail:
Daniel’s
69th Week
When John the Baptist came on the scene, God counted the years to the
cross of dealing with Israel looking for fruit. The Lord Jesus Christ
said let it alone THIS YEAR ALSO”
Please notice that he said, “this year also”. He did not
say, let it alone for another 35 years, but “this year also”.
You cannot extend this parable out for another 35 years, that would
be breaking scripture. You cannot extend Daniel’s prophecy out
for another 35 years, that would be breaking scripture. You cannot rearrange
the years of Daniel’s prophecy, that would be breaking scripture.
You cannot start the 70 weeks at a different point than that which was
given, that would be breaking scripture.
Jesus died on the 14th day of the 1st month of the 483rd year of Daniel’s
prophecy. At the end of that year, Israel was cut off. They became blinded.
They were cast away. They became Loammi, not my people.
They will not resume their position as God’s people until the
start of the 70th week of Daniel which is the tribulation period.
When Jesus Christ stood up in Acts 7 he judged the nation of Israel
in unbelief and Israel fell. Right after this, God saved Paul and said
he would send him to the Gentiles. Paul said in Romans 11,
“11 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.”
If through Israel’s fall salvation came unto the Gentiles, then
obviously before their fall salvation was not come unto the Gentiles.
In Acts 10 the uncircumcised Gentiles started getting saved so Israel
definitely fell before Acts 10.
So Israel fell, and now salvation was being offered unto the Gentiles.
In Acts 20, Paul writes the book of Romans and tells us in Chapter 11,
“1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid.
For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of
Benjamin.
2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what
the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against
Israel, saying,
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars;
and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself
seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according
to the election of grace.
6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no
more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise
work is no more work.
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but
the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded”
Paul tells us here that God has already cast away Israel and is not
dealing with them as a nation anymore but he has a remnant he calls
the elect and he is saving them by grace not of works and the rest were
blinded.
Let’s look at this pie chart:
Some people teach that there were also some that were being saved by their works as this other chart indicates:
So by Acts 20 when Paul writes the book of Romans, Paul tells us that Israel has already fallen, they are already cast away and God is only dealing with the remnant.
By Acts 20, Israel is already Loammi not my people. Once again in Romans 11 it says,
“30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.”
Question: When did God come to this conclusion of all in unbelief? It wasn’t at the cross, for he said that he would give them, “this year also”. Israel fell at the end of the 69th week of Daniel’s prophecy when Jesus Christ stood up and judged them in unbelief and gave salvation unto the Gentiles.
Now here’s the deal: it is very easy to see that by the time Paul writes Romans in Acts 20 that Israel has already fallen. They have already been cast away. They have already been set aside. God is only dealing with the elect (the remnant) and the rest were blinded. If this is true, and it surely is, then what did God do to the elect in Acts 28? Did God cast away the elect also in Acts 28? No. God is still saving Jews today. It is the same today as it was back in Acts 20. God is saving the elect and the rest were blinded. Nothing has changed concerning this matter. See this chart:
Israel did not become Loammi in Acts 28. They became Loammi when they
were judged in unbelief and they fell and God offered salvation unto
the Gentiles.Now this is very important:
Some people teach that the dispensation of grace could not have started until Paul declared it as in Ephesians 3, which was written when he got to Rome.
If this is the reasoning that you must use then you have to also reconsider when the body of Christ started. Paul does not mention the term, “body of Christ” in the book of Galatians, nor does he mention it in 1st or 2nd Thessalonians. It is not until 1st Corinthians does he mention the body of Christ. If you take this reasoning of him having to say it before it is in effect then this means that the body of Christ didn’t start until Acts 19 when he wrote 1st Corinthians.
But this cannot be correct for the Lord gave the body of Christ so he could save the uncircumcised Gentiles. This happened when the Lord opened the door to the Gentiles when Israel fell.
The message of the dispensation of Grace, (the mystery) was given to Paul to give to the Gentiles. It tells us about circumcision and uncircumcision being joined together in one body. Starting in Ephesians 2 it says,
“11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power."
The dispensation of grace is about circumcision an uncircumcision being joined together in one body. The middle wall of partition was torn down so that this could happen.
The one new man (the body of Christ) and the dispensation of grace run hand in hand. The dispensation of grace was given to the Gentiles when the body of Christ was given.
The dispensation of grace along with the body of Christ separate Daniel’s 69th and 70th weeks. At the end of the 69th week of Daniel, Israel fell, became Loammi, and God gave the dispensation of grace along with the body of Christ so that he could save the uncircumcised Gentiles.
At the rapture, the body of Christ will be taken away and the dispensation of grace given to the Gentiles will be over. They will end at the same time because they started at the same time, at the end of Daniel’s 69th week. They started together at the end of Daniel’s 69th week and they will end together at the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week. Between Daniel’s 69th and 70th weeks, Israel is Loammi, not my people.
Now depending on who you talk to will determine on what kind of teaching you will get on the Acts 28 position. Some people teach that after Acts 28 believers are no longer associated with Israel. They teach that Israel became Loammi in Acts 28 and so believers after this time have no association with Israel whatsoever. Let’s put this to the test.
In Galatians 4 it says,
“5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
Galatians was written in the early part of Paul’s ministry. Here it says that we have received the spirit of adoption. In other words, we will be adopted one day. In Romans 8 it says,
“15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
Paul writes Romans in Acts 20. Once again we see that these believers have received the Spirit of adoption. In verse 23 it says,
“23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
Paul tells us here that the adoption is the redemption of our body. The adoption is the catching away, (the rapture), this is when our bodies shall be redeemed. In Romans 9 Paul says,
“4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
Paul tells us here that the adoption, the redemption of our bodies, pertains to Israel. Paul also tells us in Romans 15,
“27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.”
Paul tells us that the Gentiles have been made partaker of Israel’s spiritual things. The Gentiles have been made partakers of the adoption, which pertains to Israel.
When Paul got to Rome in Acts 28 he wrote Ephesians. In chapter 1 it says,
“5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Paul is still teaching about the adoption. He tells them about the redemption of the purchased possession, the redemption of our bodies. This adoption still pertains to Israel, so even after Acts 28 Paul is still teaching that the Gentiles are partakers of Israel’s spiritual things.
This teaching that after Acts 28 that the Gentiles are not associated with Israel doesn’t fly. The body of Christ will be taken out of here at the adoption, (the rapture) when our bodies will be redeemed.
This adoption pertains to Israel and has always pertained to Israel and always will pertain to Israel. The Gentiles have been made partaker of their spiritual things. Check out this chart:
First of all, under grace you are not under the law, this is very clear in the holy scriptures. In Acts 15, the apostles gave 4 ordinances for the Gentiles to follow. These were not mandatory, they said,
“28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.”
They did not tell them that it was mandatory to keep these for their salvation, but rather, “…from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well.”
In 1st Thessalonians 4 it says,
“1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.”
Here in 1st Thessalonians, Paul gave some commandments on how to walk and please God. He also gave some commandments in other places too.
In Acts 15 as in 1st Thessalonians 4, it tells us not to commit fornication. If all these ordinances were done away in Acts 28 does this mean it’s all right now to commit fornication? Should we go around telling people, “This ordinance of not committing fornication was before Acts 28, but now after Acts 28 all the ordinances are done away with?”
Or is not committing fornication still an ordinance of the church and a commandment of the Lord?
I would never go around telling people that fornication is OK. I fully realize that it has nothing to do with your salvation, but it was like that before Acts 28 and after Acts 28.
Is it okay now to defraud your brethren because all ordinances were done away in Acts 28?
This is not sound teaching. If it is not OK to commit fornication then we still have ordinances, commandments, and guidelines that we should follow to walk and please God.
The handwriting of ordinances that was against us and was nailed to his cross was the law, especially the part where it says the uncircumcision could not be partaker with the circumcision. But God still gave commandments to the church to follow. In 1st Corinthians 14 it says,
“37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.”
The Lord gave commandments for the church to follow in order to walk and please God. These have not been done away with just because Acts 28 rolled around. Anyone who teaches that there are absolutely no commandments, ordinances or guidelines that we should follow today, such as not committing fornication, will have to give account of that at the judgment seat of Christ.
Even after Acts 28 Paul writes in Titus 2,
“12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;”
Will still have guidelines that we should follow to walk and please God. This did not change.
Now concerning Acts 28:28, let’s read it,
“28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.”
This is where it is stated by our Acts 28 brethren that Israel became Loammi, not my people. They teach that God was dealing with Israel as a nation up until this point. Now right before he said this he gave them some scripture which says,
“25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.”
Now there is surely no indication through these verses that God quit dealing with Israel as a nation at this time. Even in Acts 13 Paul told the Jews,
“46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.”
So we have here in Acts 13 the same scenario that Paul had in Acts 28. The Jews rejected the word, and Paul moved on to the Gentiles just as he was taught to do.
In Romans 11 Paul said,
“8 (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.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.”
And back in Acts 28 he said,
26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
In both instances Paul gives them scripture about them being blinded. He said this in Acts 20 when he wrote Romans and also in Acts 28. So when did Israel become blinded? Was it in Acts 20 or was in Acts 28? Or was it when Israel was judged in unbelief in Acts 7?
There is no indication whatsoever that Israel became blinded in Acts 28. Paul tells us in Romans that this happened many years earlier.
So why did the Lord tell Paul to go to the Jew first? In Romans 1 it says,
“16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
It is not because God was still dealing with the Jews as a nation, this is very clear in Romans 11, for they had already been cast away. The reason Paul was sent to the Jew first is because the promises were made to Abraham and his seed, the promises were made to Israel, not the Gentiles. In Romans 9 once again,
“9 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;”
The Gentiles were made partakers of their promises by the one new man (the body of Christ), they became fellow heirs with Israel.
God is still dealing with the remnant (the elect) of Israel, they were never broken off of the good olive tree. In Romans 11 it says,
“15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.”
Not all of the branches were broken off of the good olive tree. The branches that were left on are the remnant (the elect), the branches that were broke off were the rest of Israel (the rest of them were blinded). The Gentiles were grafted in.
Now here is the big question:
Which ones are first partaker of the root and fatness of the good olive tree, the branches that were never broken off or the branches that were grafted in from a wild olive tree?
The answer is the branches that were never broken off. They receive the root and fatness of the good olive tree first, actually they never left the tree. But the Gentiles were grafted in. The Gentiles became partakers of their spiritual things. Naturally the branches that were never broken off are going to receive the fatness of the olive tree over the branches that were grafted in.
In Mark 7 it says,
“26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.”
Jesus said that the children should first be filled before the dogs.
The gospel going to the Jew first had nothing to do with Israel not being cast away, because they were, but rather fulfilling the branches that were never broken off of the good olive tree.
The promises, adoption, covenants, law, service of God, etcetera, all pertain to Israel. It would not have been right for the Lord to give the gospel to the grafted in branches before he gave it to the natural branches that were never broken off the good olive tree in the first place. Once again, the Gentiles have become partakers of their spiritual things, by the body of Christ.
In Acts 28 when Paul told the Jews that they could not see and that he would go unto the Gentiles was not when Israel became Loammi. Paul had said these things many times before, and he stated in Romans that they Israel was already cast away. This was nothing new.
Now concerning the spiritual gifts that stopped.
We know for a fact that at one time believers had the power to speak in tongues, heal, do miracles, etc. Some people refer to them as the sign gifts. But in 1st Corinthians 13, Paul told us that these things would cease and that there would be a reason why they would cease. Starting in verse 8 it says,
“8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”
Paul tells us that these things would cease when that which is perfect is come. It does not tell us that they would end when something else ends but rather when something comes.
Our Acts 28 brethren teach that Israel became Loammi and God stopped dealing with Israel as a nation and this is when these powers ceased. But Paul said,
“10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”
So the powers that were to cease is based upon something coming, not upon something stopping. Israel as a nation was set aside, cast away, became Loammi, many, many years before Acts 28 came around.
Israel becoming Loammi is not that which is perfect. Paul received that which is perfect when he got to Rome. He calls it:
That which is perfect.
The fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.
The fellowship of the mystery.
God’s eternal purpose.
The manifold wisdom of God.
It has to do with the saints knowing the love of Christ, and that this was God’s eternal purpose that he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This article will explain the details:
God’s eternal purpose has absolutely, positively nothing to do with Israel becoming Loammi. When Paul received that which is perfect when he got to Rome, these powers ceased.
So what we have done here is cover the two major views of when Israel became Loammi. There is a lot more detail we could cover concerning these issues but this should suffice for the basic understanding and outline of the views.
As you can see, I favor Israel becoming Loammi at the end of the 69th week of Daniel’s prophecy over the Acts 28 position. To me the Acts 28 position leaves too many unanswered questions and tends to break the scripture in many places.
Now the choice is for you to decide and be fully persuaded in your own mind. Whenever I teach an issue with more than one view, I teach as many of the views that I can to compare the teachings side by side and allow Christians to be Bereans and search the scriptures and to see for themselves which view follows the scriptures the closest.
... Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...