Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf. Abraham A. van Kempen

the Apostle Paul derides as a perversion to the gospel:

      "⁶ I am surprised at you! In no time at all you are deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are accepting another gospel.

      ⁷ Actually, there is no ‘other gospel,’ but I say this because there are some people who are upsetting you and trying to change the gospel of Christ.

      ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel that is different from the one we preached to you, may he be condemned to hell (Galatians 1: 6-8 GNT)!”

      The gospel of the kingdom of God proclaims the sacrificial death of Jesus to redeem the sins of mankind and to endow the gift of the Holy Spirit to his followers. This good news infuriates the Jews in Jerusalem. Stephen, the leader of the Hellenist Christians, contend that the "gospel of the kingdom of God" provides a new basis to worship God, in the Spirit. It is not dependent upon the Jewish temple order of worship (Acts 6: 8-14; Acts 7).

      Stephen's message focuses on the location of God (Acts 7: 2, 9, 29-33, 36, 44, and 48). Through recitation of Jewish history, he shows that God will no longer dwell in "places made with human hands." God's presence is no longer in the temple. When asked and upon faith, He resides permanently in the hearts of men and women.

      Neither is God's presence determined by geographical location— Jerusalem— any longer! Stephen proclaims the day of Jewish privilege is finished. The new spirituality has arrived in the gospel.¹³ The Jews in Jerusalem respond to Stephen with murderous rage; and, the Jewish Christians are befuddled and perplexed (Acts 21: 21, 28; Mt. 26: 61).

      Although Hellenist Christians experience the influence of Judaism, they make the transition with relative ease in cultural terms, because of their readiness to understand the universal kingdom of God with its new spirituality. The Day of Pentecost reinforces Stephen's claim about the location of the presence of God. As customary in Judaism, the apostles and the new Jewish Christian community attend the temple at the hours of prayer, worshiping at Solomon's Porch on the Day of Pentecost (Luke 24: 53).

      Wind and Fire …

      Everyone feels the Holy Spirit manifested by "wind and fire." All witness God's Holy Spirit descending upon them; they individually become "temples of God's presence" (Acts 2: 3). Contrary to as in the days of Solomon's Temple, God's spirit skips the Jewish temple's Holy Place. The hour of fulfillment has struck, and the age of particularism is finished" (Acts 7: 55-56).¹⁴

      

      Significantly, Solomon's porch overlooks the Court of the Gentiles where thousands of proselytes to Judaism are gathered "from every nation under heaven" are gathered. Many are ancestors to the indigenous people of Palestine in a future timeframe. While hearing the 120 disciples praising God in their own tongues or languages, they listen to Peter's first sermon on the new spirituality— Jesus crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of sin and his gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2: 1-11, 14-36).

      This new spirituality conflicts with the old order of spirituality in Judaism. Judaizers are trying to hijack Christianity to construct another sect in Judaism. Paul confronts them with:

      “¹ You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross!

      ² Tell me this one thing: did you receive God's Spirit by doing what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it?

      ³ How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power?

      ⁴ Did all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely it meant something!

      ⁵ Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do what the Law requires or because you hear the gospel and believe it (Galatians 3: 1-5 GNT)?”

      Before leaving Ephesus after a prolonged stay there, "testifying to the good news of God's grace and preaching the kingdom," Paul charges the elders of the church to keep watch over themselves and the ‘flock.' He encourages them to be diligent:

      "²⁸ So keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock which the Holy Spirit has placed in your care. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he made his own through the blood of his Son. ²⁹ I know that after I leave, fierce wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. ³⁰ The time will come when some men from your own group will tell lies to lead the believers away after them. ³¹ Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years (Acts 20: 28-31 GNT).”

      With his reference to ‘wolves,' Paul is warning the elders about the major conflict between Judaism and the truth of the gospel. Paul's Galatia reference quoted above sums up his condemnation of the Judaizers; they are promoting a "different gospel" which, of course, is "no gospel at all" (Galatians 1: 6-7).

      Paul emphasizes the wolves at Ephesus are already in the flock with a cloak of anonymity.