The Difference: Israel, The Kingdom And The Church
The difference between Israel, the Kingdom, and the Church are explained.
With Israel, the Holy Spirit works outwardly. With the Church, the Holy Spirit works inwardly.
In his address at Pentecost, Peter spoke with outward evidences of the Holy Spirit (refer to Acts 2:1-4).
The Holy Spirit literally came outwardly upon their flesh.
The point is this: In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit is working outwardly with Israel and not the Church. The Church had not yet been formed.
1. At Pentecost, it was the 120 Jewish disciples of Christ who received Tongues in the Upper Room from the Holy Spirit, they then communicated to the 3,000 Jewish observers of Pentecost (an Old Testament holy-day) below and outside of the Upper Room, each of the 3,000 hearing of the event in his own language... were enabled to receive the gospel.
At Pentecost, the 18 people groups of Jews were gathered from the nations they had been disbursed to during their 3 Babylonian captivities.
2. Gentiles were not present at Pentecost.
It is not until we get to Acts 13 that we begin to see the Holy Spirit working inwardly in the Church, although the Apostle Paul had begun work as Apostle to the gentiles in Acts 9. Failing to differentiate this major difference in which the Holy Spirit works is a primary cause of confusion in the Churches.
Christians operating under the misinformation that the Holy Spirit works upon rather than within gentiles (the Church), are led to look for outward promises as pertaining to Israel, rather than inward realities as pertaining to the Church.
Where Israel was looking for an outward, visible kingdom... the kingdom of God was established and activated as an inward experience for the Church (Luke 17:20,21). For the Church could no longer be denied kingdom privileges by Israel, because at Pentecost, the Church (although not yet formed) was in-grafted into the Abraham covenant (Gal. 3:9), and would become enabled to share the gospel to the world. Lets us briefly summarize the differences between Israel the kingdom and the Church: Israel - The Jews, received an outward experience by way of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and were blessed to hear the gospel preached each in his own (18-languages via Diaspora) tongue, and as a result were pricked in the heart for consenting to the death of Christ, the 3,000 upon realizing their guilt, were then baptized and received salvation. The Church - The Gentile (Church), although empowered and initiated at Pentecost, would form after Pentecost, had not consented to the death of Christ, and would be formed one individual at a time upon conviction of the Holy Spirit.
The Church (each new convert), would first believe, then receive baptism - a believers baptism.
Israel as pertaining to kingdom empowerment:
The Jews had been operating prior to the coming of Christ under the kingdom empowerment’s as detailed in Deuteronomy chapter 28, the blessing of Abraham - the Abraham covenant as in Genesis 12. And had refused to share the blessing of Abraham to the world, opting instead to reserve it for Israel.
The Church as pertaining to kingdom empowerment: The Church was in-grafted into the blessing of Abraham - the Abraham covenant of Genesis 12; Deuteronomy 28; and Galatians 3:9.
The Church would receive assignment to carry the gospel message to the world, and would do so, for the kingdom had been placed within them and she would operate under kingdom empowerment...
“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” 2 Peter 1:3.
However, the Church did not replace Israel, and Israel remains God’s chosen people. The Church nevertheless, would be used to provoke Israel to jealousy and in Revelation 11 verse 12, Israel, as a nation, will receive her salvation upon seeing the two witnesses rise.
Although the Church exists and operates using kingdom empowerments placed super-naturally within believers, the eternal Kingdom of God will manifest as described in Revelation 11:15, and remains a separate event.