The witnesses are the house of Israel and the house of Judah. those do not need to be recognizable as kingdoms, they are houses, or groups of people, or families. Both existed from Jacob on.
OK good, I can go with that as long as you can do it without kingdoms.
Jeremiah 3, Ezekiel 23, Hosea 1, etc all prove that differing fates demands two people.
And (back in the time when there were indeed two kingdoms) those prophecies were fulfilled HISTORICALLY and separately by the Babylonians and Assyrians.
There are many latter-day applications of OT prophecies, but there are not two kingdoms now, so we may need to make some modification at least.
(Consider the Philistines and the Palestinians. Similar words, occupy same area, both implacable enemies of Israel. Israel never had peace while the Philistines had power. Are they the same people? Not at all. But is the political landscape of Israel now with the Palestinians similar to OT problems with the Palestinians? I think I am noticing some similarities...
I agree there are useful things in OT prophecy that can be applied to today’s time but we need to stop short of expecting an exact overlap every time.)
Another significant point is that both Judaism and Christianity in general commit the very common error of assuming 'Jews' is synonymous with 'Israel' and tbat just isnt so. Remember, "all Jews are Israelites, but all Israelites are not Jews."
OK I will tell you briefly what I think. When Jesus returns, there are indeed two entities but not two kingdoms. The division will be between Jacob’s descendants living in the land, and those who do not. And with the rise of anti-semitism, the diaspora will have different problems, and those problems will have to be dealt with differently and in different places.
Christ is going to return - who else are we specifically told will return? Elijah.
Mat 17:11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
Did John the Baptist really restore all things? No. Within four years, the Messiah had been crucified.
Since John the Baptist was already dead by the time Jesus gave that prophecy, Elijah really is going to come back. Both were prophets, but what’s the difference between them?
Who did Jesus preach to? Well as he never left Israel, Israelites in the land.
Who did Elijah preach to? Specifically to the northern tribes who never returned en masse to the land – the diaspora.
Christ oversees sorting out the problems in the land, and Elijah oversees sorting out the problems Jews face returning to the land
That’s the crossroads where I suspect we part company and go in different directions.
The New Covenant is with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. If you aren't Jewish, then where do you fit? Why did He divide the house? What was His purpose? How then did He keep two witnesses?
the principle from Genesis is that Japheth and Ham could only find salvation in the tents of Shem (=name, and of course should have looked for the same city that Abraham did in Hebrews 11).
But they did not, and their alternative proposition met with complete failure:
Gen 11:4 And they said, Go to,
let US build us a city and a tower, whose top
may reach unto heaven; and
let US make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
I am not Jewish and my responsibility is to fit into Gal 3:8,16, and 26-29.
If Abraham is your natural father, your responsiblity is to make sure you are among the spiritual children of Sarah not Hagar (Gal 4).
I thought we had agreed that God kept many individual witnesses not just one or two (1 Kings 19:14-18. here's v18
1Ki 19:18 Yet I have left
me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.)
I maintain my original comment. Two brides remain and always will. But, they will walk in unity. Ezekiel 37:24-28.
I don't think so. You have not yet explained my understanding of 1Corinthians 15 reference where the coming kingdom is split into two phases. Phase 1 is the political mess that Christ inherits when he returns which will be totally resolved before the kingdom is fit to hand over to the Father (Phase 2) and incorporated into the divine family. The divisions of man are going to be reversed and replaced by unity under Christ, although comprised of many individuals. It's the final part where permanent comes in.
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.[/QUOTE]
