THE DENVER DECLARATION
The Denver Declaration is a living signatory document, which may be signed at any time by those who are in agreement. (Signature Form and Information after last section)
INTRODUCTION TO THE DENVER DECLARATION 2019
During the course of 2017-2019 a number of believers in Messiah – Jesus – realized from their doctrinal backgrounds that the major theological paradigms now prevalent primarily within evangelical circles were either inherited from Roman Catholicism and Reformational Churches and/or from more modern forms of systematic theology, primarily those with premillennarian/dispensational emphasis. Coupled with these older bodies of doctrinal emphases were eschatologies which emphasized the “disinheritance” of Israel (aka, the Jews) expressed in the corpus of what is considered Replacement/Rejection theology wherein “Israel” is solely the New Israel of God—i.e., the Church; whereas in Dispensational thinking the Ekklesia/Congregation/Church is wholly disconnected from the tribe of Judah (i.e., the Jews) wherein God’s plan for both the Church and “Israel” are utterly disconnected, the one from the other.
Neither theological extremity sufficed this band of brethren concerning their relationship with what they saw written in the “prophetic Scriptures” (Rom. 16:26) – for they saw in the prayer of Jesus in John 17 “that they all may be one” through the work of the cross would not only open up the floodgates of universal redemption but would as well, break down the “middle wall of separation” – making of the two (Jew and Gentile) ONE NEW MAN – SO MAKING PEACE.
Furthermore, neither did the current movements within Messianic Judaism – followers of Yeshua – placate these extremes of profound, even eternal, alienation found in Replacement / Dispensational theologies due to the growing isolationism within far too many of the Messianic confederated organizations – most standing “apart” from their “Gentile” counterparts. Neither were we convinced with most of the “Two-House Theology” during the last hundred years (e.g., British Israelism, Mormonism). Yet, lest we become inflated with “comparing ourselves with ourselves” – we have been greatly blessed by elements within all these branches of Biblical understanding and research.
We are keenly aware of both the hostile/superior theologies within Christendom and the isolation among our Messianic brethren; consequently, and as greater fellowship over issues related to the Ekklesia and of the prophetic scriptures related to the Breach of Jeroboam and the true work of the cross in reconciling both the House of Judah and the House of Israel (aka, Ephraim), we set about in developing what we feel is a body of knowledge/truth which would reconcile these theological extremes, while challenging the isolation amongst our Messianic brethren – and, in so doing, build greater understanding and bridges with the House of Judah in preparation for the coming Messianic Era – the Final Redemption.
Thus, since 2017 we have increasingly reached out to a diverse group of leadership—primarily among Christian communities in holding bi-annual convocations, “teaming-up” with other ministries for the “faith of the gospel” and spreading our research through sundry expressions like publications and social media. What you see here within this DENVER DECLARATION is an initial expression of our findings—knowing full-well the insufficiencies of our discoveries; yet, at the same time, introducing these efforts to the greater Body of Messiah because we are persuaded the time has come to take a vibrant stand for the “Truth of the Gospel” in proclaiming not only the Gospel of the Grace of God for so great a salvation wrought through our Savior, but embracing the Gospel of Peace in bringing His people in both Houses—Judah and Ephraim—to see their prophetic roles at the culmination of this age. May God Almighty bless this declaration.
THE DENVER DECLARATION SUMMER - 2019
PREAMBLE:
What follows here are simply sundry statements—not necessarily in order of preference—but each, in the main, standing on its own theological understanding. They do not necessarily build upon one another for an ultimate conclusion/summation; however, and although this is NOT a complete reservoir of our immediate understanding of the Scripture of Truth – it is an earnest attempt to state those theological truths we deem essential in the current drama of Redemption.
The Living God desires relationship with man. Fellowship has been extended to chosen people through a series of covenants. God desires obedience but requires faith in His identity and in His intent to accept, bless, and show mercy (Heb. 11:6; Rom. 9:32)*.
Both the House of Israel (Ephraim) and the House of Judah broke their covenant with God (Jer. 11:10). The House of Israel was declared to be divorced (Jer. 3:8); and, “not My people” (Hos. 1:9). Thus God’s covenant with Ephraim was technically broken. The House of Israel/Ephraim was intentionally, divinely scattered and diffused among the Nations (Gentiles) so that they were “swallowed up.” The House of Judah was sent away without a certificate of divorce (Isa. 50:1). Although a remnant of Judah did return to the land after their Babylonian Captivity, they were later scattered among the Nations and “Jerusalem was trodden down of the Nations; led away captive into all nations – until the times of the Nations be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). We today are witnessing the run-up to the terminus of the “times of the Gentiles/Nations” (Luke 21:24), and most certainly, “until the Fulness” or “Completion” “of the Nations be come in” (Rom. 11:25).
God has not forgotten nor forsaken either Judah or Ephraim. (Isa. 49:14-16; Jer. 3:12; Rom. 11:1-2)—notwithstanding their “scattering.” “Concerning the election...the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:28-29); “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13).
How God might legally take back his unfaithful partner, Ephraim; and, how God might bring the Gentiles/the Nations (who were “strangers from the covenants of promise”) into a covenant relationship, was a mystery. This mystery of the Servant-Savior, was stated but not comprehended in Isaiah’s narrative (Isa. 49-53) which addressed: The Gentiles, the divorce, and the vicarious suffering and death of Christ for the sins of all parties - “the sins of the world” (John 1:29; 1 John 1:22).
The overarching divine intent is the prophesied reconciliation and restoration of the Two Houses of Israel (Judah and Ephraim) which will occur at the prophesied End-Time Harvest, with the Gathering together of All Israel. This is “the Prophesied Reconciliation and Restoration of the Two Houses of Israel” which will occur during the End-Time Harvest with the Gathering of All Israel in the Blood of Messiah from out of all the nations as a Unified International Congregation, originally expressed as the “Commonwealth of Israel” (Eph. 2:11-14). Yes, a single undivided Elect wherein both Testaments agree: “The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people . . . God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev. 21:3; Ezek. 37:27).
THEREFORE - BE IT KNOWN
Section 1
Unity in the Commonwealth of Israel
Whereas: It is evident to those within and without the body of believers in the Holy One of Israel that God’s assembly has fallen grievously short of the unity, peace, and effectiveness portended by Holy Scripture; God, having accomplished everything necessary on earth and in the heavenlies to afford such unity and peace to His people, we, the parties of Commonwealth of Israel comprised of those near, those far, and those included - identified in Ephesians, Romans, and elsewhere as the House of Judah, the House of Israel (lost tribes), and the Gentiles - do hereby call, plead, and appeal to our fellow heirs in the heritance of God to realize the peace on earth and goodwill announced at Messiah’s appearance.
The Holy Scriptures* clearly state those who are “in Christ” are redeemed under His shed blood and are likewise brought nigh into the Commonwealth of Israel— (Eph. 2:11-14). This is the ultimate national identity of the Congregation of Israel’s Messiah, the Ekklesia, “the pillar and ground of reality” (1 Tim. 3:15) – a spiritual house, the heavenly expression of the Living God manifested both as the descending New Jerusalem (Rev. 21) from a “heavenly perspective” and as the Holy District with Holy City and Sanctuary, from its earthly perspective—yet it is ONE HOLY CITY—beyond man’s finite mind to comprehend in its multi-dimensional expression.
“They who were ‘swallowed up of the Nations’ [aka, Ephraim, Israel, Jezreel, Samaria – Hos. 8:7-9]; yet, He “will gather them” for “As He says also in Hosea: ‘I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God’” (Hos. 2:23; 1:10; Rom. 9:25-26). The prophetic “latter rain” reality of the ONENESS of God’s people will intensify within the crucible of the Seventieth Week of Daniel—the Final Week of seven years of human history until the Messiah—the Deliverer—shall roar out of Zion (Rom. 11:26; Isa. 59:20-21). The supernatural concept of “Divine Deliverance” – of “Messiah,” the “Deliverer,” “Savior” – is embedded in Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and is espoused by both Jewish and Christian theologies. Joseph/Ephraim and Judah with their companions (Ezek. 37:16) constitute ALL ISRAEL to be delivered by the Deliverer.
We affirm but ONE OLIVE TREE (Jer. 11:16) yet “two branches” but “one root” – these two are seen as the “natural branches” (Judah) and the wild branches (those “elect from among the nations” – Rom. 11) – the common “root that bore them both” is our same Messiah. Judah has been “blinded in part” – whereas, we, “the wild branches” now “see through a glass dimly” – none should boast! God in His infinite wisdom has included all in disobedience that He might have mercy on us all. He is able to graft them (Judah) in again – How much more will these (Judah), who are natural branches, be grafted into THEIR OWN OLIVE TREE?” (Rom. 11, excerpts).
Section 2
Enmity between Judah and Joseph Abolished
Messiah abolished in His flesh, via His death at Calvary—the enmity (the hatred between the House of Judah [i.e., the Jews] and the Nations [viz., the Gentiles – including the House of Joseph, i.e., Ephraim scattered among the nations; and the “rest of mankind” or Edom]). Thus, this “middle wall of separation” has been destroyed! He abolished this enmity derived from “the law of commandments contained in ordinances” to make of the aforementioned Two—ONE NEW MAN, so making peace. Messiah was “cut off” (Dan. 9:26) for us and our salvation, bringing us all into the Congregation / Commonwealth of Israel—we are no longer aliens but fellow citizens of the “household of faith.” Now, at the close of this age—ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE DELIVERED—as a single, undivided elect, manifested as the United Kingdom of David. Both Houses (Judah and Ephraim) retaining their distinction in their anointings under the Holy One of Israel, but “One in Messiah” (Acts 15:14-17; Amos 9:11-12).
Section 3
One Congregation - God's Ultimate Plan
Whereas: The “Commonwealth of Israel”* shares identification with the Congregation or Ekklesia in the Wilderness (Acts 7:38). Their mutual harmony and complimentary destiny are assured through the Messiah of Israel. Together they constitute the ultimate manifestation of the New Jerusalem having the 12 Gates bearing the Names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and the 12 Foundations of this Holy City bear the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb (Rev. 21; Ezek. 48). There are NOT “Two” Holy Cities—there is only One Holy City, One Bride, One New Covenant, One Body, One New Man, One God and Father, One Baptism, One Faith – both heavenly and earthly – the New Jerusalem is beyond our current comprehension – SHE is Multi-Dimensional!
Although the covenant people of God, currently estranged in both houses, they are nevertheless destined to become reconciled, reunited, and their identity fully restored as “All Israel.”* We affirm His promise made in Ezekiel 37:15-28 that He “Will make a covenant of peace with them [between the House of Judah and the House of Ephraim], and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them . . . I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. . . Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God . . . David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes and do them.”
We affirm the prophetic climax of the ages and the manifestation of the Kingdom of “My Servant David shall be their prince forever” . . . for “Thus says the LORD GOD: ‘Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand” (Ezek. 37:25, 19).
Section 4
One Lord, One King, One Redeemer
Whereas: The “called out” Ekklesia, the “Elect” from the nations, having been redeemed through the “blood of the cross,” find their salvation in Messiah’s first coming; and as Israel’s promised Pascal Lamb their final salvation and glorification will come with Messiah’s Second coming—this time as the Lion of the royal Jewish House of Judah, the holder of the scepter, the promised Shiloh, (Gen. 49:10), to whom the national sovereignty of Israel belongs, and to whom all allegiance is due. There are not two Messiahs—there is but one—the same one who came precisely as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9, “Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Matt. 21:5; Mark 11:7, 9; Luke 19:38; John 12:15). He is the same one who “will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off . . . He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Zech. 9:10) – this ONE: “And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be—’The LORD is one,’ and His name one.” (Zech. 14:9). Glory! Messiah’s First and Second Comings are acclaimed by the prophet Zechariah. First as the “suffering servant” – then as “King of kings, and Lord of lords – Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it” (Rev. 19:16; Isa. 9:7).
It therefore follows: We “elect from among the nations” and our Jewish counterparts do NOT have a different God. Nor do we have different salvation plans. Both houses of Israel purport to give homage to Yehovah-God Almighty, the Eternal God of Israel, and as the end-time drama unfolds both houses will discover and take part in this unifying reality in Messiah; thus, we affirm, our God is ONE—eternally existing and distinctly: The Father, the Son; and the Holy Spirit (Isa. 63:16, 8, 10-11; Zech. 14:9). The ONEness of God confounds the natural mind:
“‘I, even I, have spoken; Yes, I have called him, I have brought him, and his way will prosper’ . . . ‘Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.’ Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD your God . . .” (Isa. 48:15-17).
“Surely, I am more stupid than any man, and do not have the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom nor have knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if you know?” (Prov. 30:2-4; John 3:13-16; Rom. 10:6-10; Deut. 30:11-15). Surely, the Everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6) – to be a Father – must have an “Everlasting Son” – otherwise, He would never have been called the Everlasting Father!
Section 5
One Elect - Distinct but Not Separate
Whereas: The Holy Scriptures present separate names and terms of address for two prophetic entities, namely, the “House of Judah” (aka, the “Jews”) and the “House of Israel OR Joseph/Ephraim”, (aka, the “Elect”). Jesus, Paul, John, and Peter’s use of the term “elect” in the ultimate climax of the ages is all-inclusive of both the House of Judah and the House of Israel—distinct, but not separated—altogether they constitute THE ELECT. The “Light to the Gentiles/Nations” – has shined on them that “sit in darkness” – the expansion of God’s Elect is, in this sense, indistinguishable from the Elect from the House of Judah (Isa. 9:2; Matt. 4:16; Acts 26:18; John 8:12) – the House of Ephraim constitute His Elect today, as well, and together (both Houses) shall His angels “with a great sound of a trumpet . . . gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:31) “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matt. 24:29) when the “Sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven . . . and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30).
Therefore, we are committed to look further into how they are distinct and different and yet how they are destined to become a single Elect fully harmonized and complementary to one another in the restoration of ALL Israel which is so prophesied. May the LORD give us greater insight! (See also: Isa. 11:12; 1 Chron. 16:13; Ps. 33:12; Ps. 105:6, 43; Ps. 135:4; Isa. 45:4; Isa. 65:9; Isa. 65:22; Rom. 9:24—”Even us He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Nations?”)
May the LORD give us greater insight into His eternal plan and purpose for the ages . . . “According to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—to God, alone wise, be glory through Yeshua, the Anointed One, to whom be the glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 16:25-27). It is because of our immediate deliverance through the Messiah we are constrained to reconcile with the House of Judah—so making peace!
Section 6
Joseph's Role in the Gathering
The “Breach of Jeroboam” occurring after the death of King Solomon between King Rehoboam of the royal Jewish tribe of Judah [the Two Tribes of the south, and the Levites] and Jeroboam, the leader of the Ten Tribes of Israel, split Israel into two kingdoms. We recognize that a strident law vs. grace dichotomy was the root cause of this breach and has led to what has become a family feud, even a blood feud, and that out of the darkness of ignorance of this Biblical history, and due to the “religious traditions and ordinances” of men – a multitude of spurious teachings/doctrines demanding eternal separation between both houses of Israel has spawned anti-Semitism within the House of Ephraim toward the House of Judah; while engendering fearful suspicion within the House of Judah toward the House of Joseph (i.e., the House of Ephraim), leading to acrimonious and grievous histories between the two factions of Israel and their isolation one from the other ever since that time (nigh 3,000 years).
NOTWITHSTANDING – OUR JOSEPH WILL DELIVER: We, of “the Stick of Joseph [i.e., the Shepherd of Israel—Psa. 80:1], which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel, his companions” (Ezek. 37:19) have come to terms with what we affirm to be the “divine order” and our mutual, prophetic destiny in harmony with the Stick and Scepter of Righteousness, in Shiloh, of Judah. For the One to whom the scepter belongs, the Son of David Who sits upon the throne of David in the royal Jewish House of Judah, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, our Messiah and King, the sovereign to whom we owe our ultimate allegiance – sits, as Joseph, before both Houses. Yet, as well, seated before Joseph are those (Egyptians) from among the nations for he has “saved us all” (Gen. 47:13-26). Now, at the “time of the end” the Shepherd of Israel at the darkest hour will go out to save the last of His lost sheep (Gen. 49.24).
Indeed, we all sit before Joseph incognizant of His role in the end-time ingathering of the “fullness of the Nations be come in” (Rom. 11:25—the MELO HAGOYIM) – for we all have been “theologically quarantined” to the extent we—those saved out from among the nations under the blood of the New Covenant—sit with Joseph among His brethren (Gen. 43:32). Alas! Neither do the Ten Tribes, even Judah, consider they all sit before Joseph!
In this “spiritual house of the redeemed” sitting before Joseph—this archetype of Messiah, the Shepherd-King holding both the rod and the staff . . . the One “ministering and ruling” in the dual office of the Order of Melchizedek—is “seen in a mirror, dimly” (1 Cor. 13:12). Nevertheless, the time is fast upon us where the alienation and isolation of “them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves” will be ended—but only when our Joseph can no longer hold back his love, his identity - for now we “know in part” - but when “that which is perfect is come then shall we know, even as we are known” – “now abide faith, hope and love - but the greatest of these is love!” (1 Cor. 13:13) . . . then it shall be fulfilled: “The [jealous] envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the [anti-Semitic] adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not [harass] vex Ephraim (Isa. 11:13).
What immediacy awaits the House of Ephraim! Are we not designated the “watchmen upon the mount?” “For there shall be a day, [that] the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God” (Jer. 31:6).
Is there not divine revelation seen in John’s Gospel when “Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them . . . ‘It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people’” . . . “Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad . . . Therefore, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim” (John 11:49-54).
Yes, “Then the Assyrian oppressed them [mainly Ephraim into captivity] . . . ‘Now therefore, what have I here,’ says the LORD, ‘That My people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them make them wail,’ says the LORD, ‘And My name is blasphemed continually every day. Therefore, My people shall know My name; therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks: ‘Behold, it is I.’” – “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Isa. 52:4-7; Rom. 10:15).
Yes, again, the reconciliation lies before both Houses: “Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see EYE TO EYE, when the LORD shall bring again Zion – [for] I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, [which] shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence (Isa. 52:8; 62:6).
Section 7
Edom's Role in Repairing the Breach
The exhortation given to us in Isaiah 58 in the context of sacrifice for others now commends us all to be “repairers of the breach” not only “between the two” but within Judah and within the lost house of Israel out from among the Nations. Furthermore, that a contributory cause of this “breach” was recognized by the early Ekklesia in Acts 15 as a “yoke” of expansive legalism not based upon the Ten Commandments as written in the Torah but based upon the traditional oral law of the rabbinical priesthood (viz., “the law of commandments contained in ordinances” – Eph. 2:15) known in Greek as dogma – Strong’s G#1378 … “an opinion or judgment” – Col. 2:14: “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements [“ordinances” or “dogma”] that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” This dogma arose in earnest after the Babylonian Captivity of Judah. All these “ceremonial ordinances” were “a shadow of things to come, but the body [tangible substance] is of Christ [Messiah/Anointed One]”—Col. 2:17.
Now, through the “Gospel” the enmity between Judah and the nations has been “abolished,” and in its place there is to be an issuing forth in the United Kingdom of David (aka, “Tabernacle of David”)* in fulfillment of Amos 9:11-12 - a New Covenant of Peace which is extended out as an invitation inclusive of those coming to Messiah from “the rest of mankind.” “Mankind” is used in Acts 15:17 – quoting from Amos 9:11-12 where the word “Edom” is used instead of “mankind” in that the Septuagint translates the Hebrew word as “Edom” or “Adam” – shedding greater light upon the House of Obed-Edom, the servant of Edom, who was greatly blessed when the Ark of the Covenant did abide in his threshing floor for three months until Obed-Edom and some 69 other “Edomites” became the gatekeepers in the Tabernacle of David—joining themselves to the 12 Tribes of Israel (2 Sam. 6:11; 1 Chron.15:18, 24-25; 26:4-8, 12, 15).
Section 8
Distinction Between Judah and Scattered Israel
Whereas: The Biblical and historical evidence is clear that the lost “House of Israel” in the ten northern tribes were taken captive by the Assyrians and dispersed between 745-712 B.C. We commend the research presented by pioneers of Judah/Ephraim understanding, researchers and authors on the lost tribes of Israel like Yair Davidiy and Steven Collins who detail the “swallowing up of Ephraim” among the nations; yet, their undeniable physicality is indeed prophetically breathtaking. Thus, the Northern Kingdom never returned to the land with the returning captives of Judah in sufficient numbers to establish sovereignty, either with Ezra in 457 B.C., 275 years later, or with Nehemiah in 445 B.C., 287 years later. Therefore, the current Jewish house, as the royal Jewish House of Judah with Benjamin and elements of Levi, were the only significant portions of Israel who returned from Babylonian captivity. Consequently, we affirm the former post-exilic Kingdom of Judah returning to rebuild Jerusalem as a small city-state under Medo-Persia never did absorb the lost ten tribes of the House of Israel who were literally “swallowed up” by the Nations* (aka, the Gentiles – Hos. 8:7-10 – they were the “twelve tribes scattered abroad”—James 1:1). The biblical and anthropological history of the Ten Tribes is quite clear that very few ever re-entered the land with the House of Judah, and never in any sovereign way as the House of Israel. There is little biblical or historical recordation of any merit providing justifying evidence, beyond a sprinkling of individuals among the Ten Northern Tribes who ever returned to the land.
Furthermore, the Jews at the time of Christ spoke of those “dispersed among the Gentiles” (John 7:35) or John’s declaration as “the children of God who were scattered abroad” (John 11:52); and Josephus in (Ant., 11:133) stated as a fact that “the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude and not to be estimated in numbers.”
Section 9
Exhortation Against Rebellion and Treachery
Whereas: The root cause of animosity/enmity between the House of Judah (i.e., the Jewish house) and the nations (with the “Elect of Israel” being called out from among the Gentiles/Nations) was a disagreement over the pre-eminence of Law vs. Grace and was further aggravated at the Breach of Jeroboam by a rebellious attitude found among the ten tribes and by an unrelenting YOKE of bondage imposed by the royal House of David upon the ten tribes at the time (viz., that “yoke” being taxation and exploitation of labor) which resulted in what is known specifically (today) as “anti-Semitism” but actually at its root being a lawless and rebellious, anti-Jewish, anti-throne of David, anti-Son of David, Anti-Messiah, Antichrist spirit.
Indeed, this has caused the lost tribes to go to the princes of Europe like Gomer with her lovers in search for defenders of the faith (Hos. 1:2-5), thereby entering into covenant with them in a post-Nicene Nicolaitan, hierarchical, Dominionist spirit, thereby engendering an attitude of “Christian superiority” leading doctrinally to “rejection/replacement theology” to justify such superiority AND this being exacerbated by “the law of commandments contained in ordinances” from the Jewish side – notwithstanding the “work of the cross” – this “breach” needs an agonizing reappraisal by both Houses—Judah and Israel— to address such grievous persistence and to discover an open door to the divinely prescribed remedy that is to be found in the New Covenant with the indwelling Christ/Messiah committed to writing His laws upon the fleshy tables of our hearts.
Section 10
The Sinaitic Covenant of Relationship and Obedience
Discernment between the Law and God’s relationship with Israel at Mt. Sinai is essential for understanding the Old and New Covenants. Jeremiah acknowledged “the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a HUSBAND to them,” says the Lord (Jer. 31:32). Witnesses to this marital relationship include: “She is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!” (Hos. 2:2a); and multiple references to adultery, “putting away,” and divorcing the House of Israel. “Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also” (Jer. 3:8). As with traditional marriage vows, God expected faithfulness and obedience to His commandments: “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine” (Ex. 19:5).
God promised the relationship would be restored: “And it shall be, in that day,” says the Lord, “That you will call Me ‘My Husband’” ...“I will betroth you to Me forever”...“Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ and they shall say, ‘You are my God!’” (Hos. 2:16a; 19a; 23b). However, God’s own instructions for righteousness prohibited such a remarriage: “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, may he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted?” (Jer 3:1). “Then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord” (Deut. 24:4a).
Death and resurrection was God’s solution for cleansing the defiled relationship and rejoining Israel. “HUSBANDS, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and GAVE HIMSELF for her, that He might SANCTIFY and CLEANSE her..."the two shall become one flesh” (Eph. 5:25-32). Romans Ch. 7 further alludes to the death of the husband: “For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband...she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress” (Rom. 7:2-3). “Therefore...you also have become dead to the law [of her husband c.f. Rom. 7:2] through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another–to Him who was raised from the dead...” (Rom. 7:4). Restoring the relationship by satisfying (fulfilling) the “law of the husband” did not diminish God’s expectations of faithfulness and obedience from His bride. “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Rom. 7:12).
Yeshua’s death on the cross annulled the divorce certificate with the House of Israel and also annulled Judah’s marriage contract with Yahweh allowing both the House of Judah and the House of Israel to also have a new covenant with Yahweh. “Behold, the days are coming,” says Yahweh, “when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah” (Jer. 31:31). “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:14-19).
Section 11
The Synthesis of Law and Grace
Whereas: There persists a fundamental misunderstanding concerning “Law & Grace” and a biased favoring of one over the other by each of the two houses and among “God’s People” – We affirm: Jesus did not come to “abolish the Law” but to “fulfill the Law” and that the “law of commandments contained in ordinances” serving a rabbinical priesthood as an external policing authority is NOT the Law written in the hearts on tablets of flesh (Jer. 31:31). The Law that is written upon tablets of flesh operating from within, is even now guiding the saints on their pilgrimage in the gentle bond of love, thereby revealing the very “Character of God” that makes accommodation for “Grace.” This is the “Law of Messiah” – the “Law of the Spirit of Life” (1 Cor. 9:21; Rom. 8:2). This reflection of God’s character is expressed to the nations—this inner work of the indwelling Torah, the Living Word of God administered personally by the indwelling Messiah from His throne in the hearts of believers everywhere was exemplified by Jesus/Yeshua at the Passover Seder/Upper Room when He inaugurated the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31) wherein “The Law of Christ” (the Messiah) is at work in believers today.
Section 12
End-Time Witness to One Messiah
The end-time “raging of the nations”* (Ps. 2) targets all “God’s People” – inclusive of all true Christians who will join the Jewish House in affirming that the Jewish Messiah is likewise their own Messiah, the God of Truth, and the God of Righteous Law, Who from His throne shall “laugh and have the nations in derision.” Yes, in counter distinction to the Coming of Messiah is the coming of the “Lawless One” – the “Son of Perdition” who shall be “consumed with the breath of His [Messiah’s] mouth and destroyed with the brightness of His coming” (Ps. 2; 2 Thess. 2:8). Therefore, the final “conflict of the ages” – as the nations rage against Zion . . . for they do not know they gather against the Lord and against His Messiah – so, He shall bring forth His Witnesses to the nations “who keep the commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus” – these are the Two Olive Trees and the Two Lampstands who stand before the Lord of the whole earth (Rev. 11, Zech. 4). Divine Judgment shall issue forth in the manifestation of His Kingdom upon the earth (Zech. 14).
Section 13
Persecution and Revival of the Whole House of Israel
True “Biblical Christians” in the tens of millions have suffered throughout the centuries and have closely identified with similar persecutions of their Jewish brethren and will be seen, as well, within the final trials of the future 70th Week of Daniel. This mutual companionship will become more evident as both houses of Israel/Jacob gather together in Messiah even in the refining and the awakenings which will occur at the time of “Jacob’s Trouble” on this spiritual pilgrimage from “Jacob, the heel, the trickster,” making the transition to “Israel, prince, and contender with God.” (“Many shall be purified, made white, and refined” – Dan. 12:10); nevertheless, being kept, preserved, and saved (Gr. “ek”), in, through, and out of, the hour of trial with the promise being that “a remnant shall return” even as Israel was preserved in the first Passover in Egypt and “carried on eagle’s wings” at that time of the first exodus (Ex. 19:4). (“And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book” – Dan. 12:1). Moreover, concomitant with our mutual refinement and preservation is our mutual revival – the “Valley of Dry Bones” (Ezek, 37:1-14). These dry bones do not solely represent the House of Judah but “the whole house of Israel” (Ezek. 37:11, 16). It is time the House of Israel (Ephraim) come to grips with the prophesied collaborative revival—for BOTH Houses are sorely in need of this great end-times’ revival: “So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army . . . these bones are the whole house of Israel” (Ezek. 37:10-11).
Section 14
Abraham's Seed Sown Among the Nations
Whereas: Abraham was shown the myriad company of the redeemed as a starry host as numerous as the stars of heaven - a nation and a melo-hagoyim, a multitude called out of the heathen nations, and that in this myriad company kings were to come out of the Seed of Abraham,* with that Seed being singular, (Gal. 3:29); -- the promised “S”eed of Abraham within his loins being Christ (our Isaac) – the Messiah Who is the Progenitor of Abraham’s family of faith, even the “Author and the Finisher of our faith” (Heb.12:2).
The primary prophecy of Moses in Deuteronomy over the prophetic destiny of the Twelve Tribes of Israel declares that supreme blessing upon Joseph – even “the blessing [shall] come on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers . . . his glory is like a firstborn bull, and his horns like the horns of the wild ox; together with them he shall push the peoples to the ends of the earth; they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh” (Deut. 33:16-17) – declares Ephraim’s prophetic role, like a two-horned bull, pressing the peoples to the ends of the earth. There would be Ephraim’s “ten thousands” indicative of the Gospel of the Grace of God reaching billions of souls who have come to the saving faith and knowledge of the One True God through Messiah’s First Coming, even as they eagerly await His Second Coming.
Section 15
Gathering Israel - Including the Gentiles
Whereas: The end-time agenda of Yehovah-God is to “gather together into One the children of God who were scattered abroad” (John 11:52) which includes all TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, who in Isaiah 49:6 are called in Messiah, His Head and His Body to be His Servant and a Light to the Nations in extending His DELIVERANCE /SALVATION to the ends of the earth; moreover, this charge is amplified in its broader Hebraic context in the Savior’s Great Commission: “Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all the nations.”* (Matt. 28:18-20). This will be fully realized at the end of the saga during the final gathering of that great company of the redeemed numbered in the 12 Tribes, a spiritual household from every nation, race, and tribe as per the vision John saw in Revelation 7 and ultimately expressed as the Holy District – the Bride of the Lamb, – the New Jerusalem (Ezek. 40-48; Rev. 21).
Section 16
Restoring Grace, Peace, and Unity
Whereas: The eternal plan and purpose of Yehovah-God is manifested in the Gospel of the Grace of God, for His Servant, Who is the Messiah, to heal the partial blindness, or partial hardening* in both houses of Israel, recovering the broken staffs of Beauty (Favor/Grace) and Bonds (Unity)*, to join together the two sticks of Joseph and Judah, and to consummate in One Body – One New Man* – from out of both Jew and Gentile companies – through the preaching of “this Gospel of the Kingdom to all the world” – bringing about a great end-time harvest of souls, all of whom are destined to be refined, reconciled, reunited, and restored as “All Israel” - ultimately, saved and delivered by the Deliverer Who shall come out of Zion (Rom. 11:26).
Furthermore, embedded within the Gospel’s message is not only the Gospel of the Grace of God (as clearly delineated in Romans 1-8 in reference to one’s personal salvation; also: Acts 20:24); moreover, the Gospel of Peace (Romans 9-16) illuminates the ultimate purpose of the Almighty: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Rom. 10:15; Isa. 52:7; Nah. 1:15). The “fullness” (or “completion”) of the blessing of the gospel of Christ (Rom. 15:29) is predicated upon Romans 11:31: “For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.”
“He has made of the two One New Man, so MAKING PEACE” (Eph. 2:16). This is “the TRUTH of the Gospel” which we are called to be “straightforward” in our practice (Gal. 2:14)—the “elect” from the House of Judah (the Jew), the House of Ephraim (those “scattered among the Gentiles”); and the “rest of mankind” (Edom) NOW constitute the Household of Faith – “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved’” (Rom. 10:11-13).
Therefore, we preach that all men be reconciled to God and to one another through the God of Peace (Rom. 15:33) . . . for the answer to our Lord’s prayer in John 17 “that they all may be one” is the preaching of the Kingdom of God (Acts 28:31; Rom. 14:17). Prophetically: “I will cut a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them” (Ezek. 37:26-28) bespeaks of that time “I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore, . . . My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” It is time to preach the “Fullness” (or “Completion”) of the Gospel—GRACE & PEACE. For if unity can and should take place between the most divided (Jew and Gentile), then all other divisions are readily resolved: “That the world may know that You have sent me” (John 17:34).
Section 17
The Dual Office of Messiah
Whereas: The dual office of Messiah is established forever in the Order of Melchizedek; He being BOTH High Priest of God Most High and King of Salem or Prince of Peace—this is affirmed and declared in Psalm 110:4; therefore, this dual office provides the solid Biblical basis for the reconciliation and the reunion of the two houses of Israel under Messiah.
Section 18
A Royal and Priestly Ekklesia
Whereas: The Biblical evidence of the eventual combining of the two houses of Israel as a single reconciled, reunified, restored covenant people of Yehovah-God is stated by Moses in Exodus 19:6 and restated by the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:9, NOT as a purely Jewish royal nation and holy priesthood/church, but as both Moses and Peter have used similar expressions, very deliberately, and very tellingly via a cross-linking phraseology: “A royal priesthood and a holy nation” and “A kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Section 19
Two Witnesses, Two Anointings
The prophet Zechariah* (Zech. 4) saw the two olive trees in the dual anointing of King and High Priest feeding the oil of anointing into the seven lamps that are the menorah of Israel—today’s National Shield of Israel--and was told that these are the two anointed ones who stand before the God of the whole earth. Similarly, the apostle John (Rev.11:4) in a vision was told that God’s two witnesses were two olive trees and two lampstands who stand before the God of the earth; furthermore, that two angels are seen over the Ark of the Covenant . . . even so, the Jewish women light the two Sabbath candles on the eve of Shabbat with a Sabbath prayer, heralding the glorious unity of the two anointings in the Millennial Thousand-Year Sabbath yet to come—altogether, this is in full harmony with the prayer of Yeshua/Jesus in John 17:21 when He prayed this prayer for unity among ALL His covenant people.
“THAT THEY MAY BE ONE; even as you, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, that the world may believe that you sent Me.”
We, therefore, the undersigned pen our signatures to this Denver Declaration as Testimony and Witness to the One True God – That they all may be one: Sign the Denver Declaration View Signatories Page
*Scriptural citations are at times so stated.
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