Hebraic Roots: The Further Separation

Why did the Church further the separation of itself from Israel beyond what God had done? To help us understand this, we will consider the story of Jeroboam ben Nebat. The story is recorded in I Kings 12:16-33. God anointed Jeroboam to be king of the Northern Kingdom as a part of the judgment on the house of David due to the sins of Solomon. The judgment occurred during the reign of Rehoboam ben Solomon. Rehoboam reigned only over the tribe of Judah and Benjamin; Jeroboam ruled over the other tribes.

It is obvious from our text that Jeroboam did not trust the Lord to establish the kingdom He had promised him. The Temple remained in Jerusalem, the Altar of the Lord was there and the Levitical priesthood ministered there. Jeroboam was afraid that if the people in his kingdom continued to worship, according to Scripture, in Jerusalem, that soon they would defect to Judah and serve the King of Judah and Jeroboam's kingdom would lose its separate identity. He thought he would lose his throne. In reaction to this, Jeroboam committed three specific sins.

First, he built an idol (two golden calves) and said to Israel,

“behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt”.¹

In other words, he declared to Israel that these idols were really the Biblical God.

Secondly, he built altars before these idols at Bethel and Dan. Sacrifices were offered on these altars rather than on the Altar of the Lord in Jerusalem. This also was a sin because God expressly forbade offerings at any place other than that place where He established His name, i.e., Jerusalem.

““But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come”.²

Thirdly, Jeroboam instituted a unique festival which rivaled the festivals of the Lord,

“And Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense”.³

This festival was established in the eighth Hebrew month (Cheshvan, October / November) and appears to have been patterned after the festival of Sukkot. In this manner Jeroboam sealed the separation of the Northern Kingdom from the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Eventually the tribes he led were dispersed by Assyria (722 BC) never to have a national identity again. Remnants of all these tribes have been preserved in the Jewish people;⁴ nevertheless, the Kingdom of Israel itself was destroyed forever due to the sin of its first king, Jeroboam. Hosea prophesied that this remnant would be preserved in the Jewish people when he said,

“Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their King, and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days”.⁵

We have considered the sins of Jeroboam because they have been repeated in the Church for exactly the same reasons – to establish and maintain an identity for the Church separate from Israel. It is obvious that Jesus instructed His disciples in the worship of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He specifically quoted the Shema,

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord”.⁶

During the apostolic era the leaders of the Church followed this form of worship. However, in the second and third centuries Christian doctrine evolved beyond Biblical revelation. Finally, at the council of Nicea, convened and directed by Caesar Constantine, Jesus was defined as being of the same essence as the Father.⁷ Later, in the General Council held in Constantinople in 381 AD, the Holy Spirit was defined in the same way. These definitions of God were based on philosophical speculation as to His nature, rather than on Biblical revelation because the Bible does not define the detailed relationship of the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Thus, the basis for the mystical Holy Trinity was formulated by the bishops of the Church. Later, Augustine developed the concept further in his writings. It has become universally accepted in the Church since then. There is some Biblical basis for understanding that God has been manifested as a triune being. We believe that this is obvious from the New Testament literature. We are opposed, however, to the definition of God as the mystical Holy Trinity because this contradicts directly the name of God revealed to Moses,

“I Will Be that which I Will Be”.⁸

God boldly declared that man could not define Him. This is exactly what the Bishops of the Church did as they defined the Holy Trinity. In this manner, the Church defined for itself a god, the mystical Holy Trinity, not conforming to the simple revelation of Scripture, and labeled this god as the true Biblical God. It would not be wrong to speak of God being revealed in the New Testament era as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is wrong to say that this defines God. Thus, the Church followed the sin of Jeroboam and affected exactly the same results – a determined separation from the Jewish people who held to a Biblical definition and revelation of God.

Jeroboam’s sin of erecting alien altars was repeated by the Church as the Altar of God was universalized. This step was aided by the fact that Titus destroyed the Altar of the Lord in 70 AD when he destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. The sacrifices ceased after this time. The Altar of the Lord, both in the Tabernacle and, later, in the Temple, was seen as the physical counterpart of a Heavenly one,

“And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain”;⁹

and,

“who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, ‘See’, He says, ‘that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain’ ”;¹⁰

yet, God declared that the physical altar would be established forever,

“For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually”.¹¹

In the Christian view, the destruction of the physical altar was interpreted as a declaration that it was obsolete to God's purpose. Christians saw the heavenly altar mystically associated with the sanctuary of the Church. Thus, the Altar of God was seen as universal and unconnected with a given geographical location. The Church saw, and continues to see, no need for the Altar of God in Jerusalem due to the concept of a universal spiritual altar. Again, the separation with Israel was effected.

The final sin in which the Church followed the pattern of Jeroboam was in the matter of Biblical festivals. The most important Biblical festival by Jewish reckoning is the weekly Shabbat.¹² God said specifically that this would be a sign between Him and His people,

“So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed”.¹³

As early as the second century, the Church adopted a Sunday “shabbat” and by doing so denied their union with the Biblical God and His people.

Again, at the time of Constantine, the matter of a weekly festival was considered. In 321 AD, Constantine forbade work on Sundays in the cities.^₁₄ Other festivals such as Easter and Christmas were defined separate from Biblical revelation to distinguish Christian practice from Jewish practice. Easter had been separated from the Jewish Passover as early as 200 AD. Christmas was associated with the pagan Roman festival of Sol Invictus and celebrated on December 25th. Thus, the Church defined for itself an entire set of festivals which were different from the Biblical festivals. This effectively defined Christians as a separate people from Israel.

The sins of Jeroboam were repeated by the Church. Changes in Christian doctrine and practice evolved throughout the second and third centuries. Constantine, early in the fourth century, locked the changes into Roman Law at the first General Council of the Church at Nicea. Little has changed since that time. Following the guidance of Constantine, the bishops readily laid aside Biblical revelation to establish a religion totally separated from God's people, Israel. That religion has been passed down to our own day. When the reformation occurred, these most basic doctrines were left unquestioned. The reformation Churches carried over these universal concepts into their own practice; they remain as such today.

Now God is calling for repentance. Israel has returned to its land. Jerusalem is under Jewish control. Christians are being challenged to embrace their real roots. Will local churches be grafted into Israel according to Romans 11 or into Universal Christianity? Which way will we go? Repentance must come in three areas:

• From the mystical Holy Trinity to the worship of the Holy One of Israel and His Messiah in the Holy Spirit;
• From a universal spiritual altar to the Altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; and
• From Sunday Shabbat and Constantinian festivals to Biblical Shabbat and festivals.

That church, or those churches, which cling to the Constantinian tradition will almost certainly become the false prophet envisioned by John,¹⁵ who stands alongside the final “beast” government of the earth. We see bold overtures in the world toward a one-world government. We believe that we are also approaching the manifestation of a representative one-world religion. That one-world “beast” government and religion will ultimately attempt to destroy God’s people Israel. As true Biblical believers, we have the opportunity and responsibility to stand in unity of identity and purpose with Israel as this challenge develops.

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Footnotes

1 I Kings 12:28
2 Deuteronomy 12:5
3 I Kings 12:32-33
4 II Chronicles 30:1-12
5 Hosea 3:5
6 Mark 12:29
7 Isaac Boyle, A Historical View of the Council of Nice, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, pg.20
8 Exodus 3:14
9 Exodus 25:40
10 Hebrews 8:5
11 II Chronicles 7:16
12 Samuel T. Lochs and Saul P. Wachs, Judaism Argus Communications, Niles, Illinois, pg. 73
13 Exodus 31:16-17
14 Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church, Charles Scribner’s Sons, NY, pg. 105
15 Revelation 13 and 19