Did Jewish Unbelief Postpone the Kingdom?

Dispensationalism's Desperation

Joel Sexton

Dispensationalism asserts that because Israel rejected her king, therefore the kingdom was to be
put on hold. God's prophetic clock has ceased ticking since then and won't begin again until after
the rapture of the church. Jesus on the other hand states on more the one occasion that He
would come in His kingdom DESPITE Jewish rejection!

While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near
Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So He
said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return.
And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Do business with this
until I come back.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not
want this man to reign over us.’ When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that
these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what
business they had done. The first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas
more.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little
thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master,
has made five minas.’ And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ Another came,
saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of
you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what
you did not sow.’ He *said to him, ‘By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did
you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did
not sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have
collected it with interest?’ Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and
give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas
already.’ I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does
not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine, who did not
want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.” [Lk 19:11-27]

Jesus goes to receive the kingdom and gives minas to the worker's and return. (He was returning
to the same group of people). In vs. 14 we see the clear rejection of Christ by the Jewish nation.
When we get to the end of the parable Christ comes in His kingdom and slays those who would
not have Him reign over them.

We see the same idea in Mtt 21; Lk 20. The Husbandman. The Jews killed the prophets, then
Christ. Yahweh didn't decide to postpone a thing! Jesus was made the chief cornerstone to the
Messianic Tabernacle (Ps 118:22; Is 8:14). And after slaying Israel, the kingdom was taken from
them and given to the faithful remnant of Israel and the Gentiles. i.e. the body of Christ.

This is similar to what Christ states concerning the sons cast out in [Mtt 8:11-12]

And finally, with the parables, we cannot forget [Mtt 22:1-14] which is in very much a similar
vein. But it is not only the coming, in the kingdom but the time of the marriage. Everything is on
God's plan

John the Baptist's message was one of harvest. Judgment/Salvation. He preached to the "vipers
and snakes" the Pharisees and Scribes that the Kingdom had drawn near and the ax is already
laid at the root. And Messiah's winnowing fork is already in his hand. The kingdom would come
DESPITE their unbelief and rejection. Isn't this what the Psalmist spoke of>

Why are the nations in an uproar

And the peoples devising a vain thing?

The kings of the earth take their stand

And the rulers take counsel together

Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,

“Let us tear their fetters apart

And cast away their cords from us!”

He who sits in the heavens laughs,

The Lord scoffs at them.

Then He will speak to them in His anger

And terrify them in His fury, saying,

“But as for Me, I have installed My King

Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” [Ps 2:1-6]

God would laugh at the rulers who would try to thwart His sovereign plan. And we see Ps 2:7
fulfilled in the enthronement of Christ and again when the kingdom came in A.D. 70

In [Rom 10] we see Paul in denounces National Israel for her blindness pulls out a litany of O.T.
promises in stating that because of their unbelief the promises are STILL being fulfilled. He
quotes from Deut 30 in vs 5 which even the dispensationalists admit [Deut 30-34] is Israel's latter
days. [Deut 30] is repeated in vs 8. [Joel 2:32] which is Israel's full restoration he quotes in vs 13.
[Is 52:7] which is one of my favorite passages from Isaiah which speaks of Zion being restored
and the second exodus. [Deut 32:21] is quoted in vs 19. [Deut 32] The Song of Moses part of a
bigger section [Deut 30-34]. Is first quoted by Peter in Acts 2:40 warning them of the coming
judgment. It is also quoted in [Heb 10:25f] which is clearly the coming demise of Jerusalem, as
well in [Rev 19:2] with the celebration of the saints over the fall of Babylon, i.e. Jerusalem
Lastly. In Hebrews as a whole, we see the kingdom is still on track despite what those suffering
would have thought. We see the second exodus in [Heb 3:7-4:11; 10:25f; 12:22f; 13:12-14] They
then were "receiving a kingdom"

''Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside
the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not
have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.'' [Heb 13:12-14]