Today, during our “dispensation of the grace of God” today (Eph. 3:2) Israel and her Prophecy Program is set aside.

The Apostle Paul writes that the nation Israel is currently “fallen,” “cast away,” and “spiritually blinded” (Rom. 11:11, 15, 25). Israel rejected her Messiah-King Jesus Christ, and demanded His crucifixion, thus, Israel’s Messianic kingdom has never yet been established on the earth.

¹⁰ Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. ¹¹ I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy…. ²⁵ For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part [temporarily] is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (Romans 11:10-11, 25)

To date, Israel has never been a “kingdom of priests” … not yet. The passages of 1Peter 2:5, 9-10, Rev. 1:6; 5:10 we look at in Part 1 all belong to a future time period, beyond our present day. During today’s “dispensation of the grace of God,” God has temporarily set Israel aside. Consequently, for nearly 2,000 years now, the nation Israel has not enjoyed the privileged status she once held.

The day is coming, however, when God will remove Israel’s spiritual blindness after the Rapture of “the body of Christ.”

“and so all ISRAEL shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob [Israel]: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their [Israel’s] sins” (Romans 11:26-29).

This above refers to Israel’s “New Covenant,” which God will establish at Christ’s Second Coming to earth (Acts 3:19-21; Heb. 8:8-13; 10:15-17).

But first “the Church the Body of Christ” must become ‘complete’… by the addition of the last member of His body to be saved. Upon its completion we will all be Raptured, taken into heaven. Thereby today’s “dispensation of the Grace of God” will have ended (1 Cor. 15:51-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18). After the Rapture, there will be a seven-year period of God’s “vengeance,” known as the Tribulation, Daniel’s 70th week, and “the time of Jacob’s [Israel’s] trouble.” The Tribulation will conclude when Christ returns at His Second Coming to establish His kingdom on the earth, and this is when Israel will become God’s “kingdom of priests” on earth. Israel will co-reign with Christ (Rev. 5:10, 20:6).

Let’s now consider Isaiah 61:1-6 as the basis for Jesus’ Partial Quote seen in Luke 4:16-21.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me [Messiah Jesus]; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
^2a To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, [NOTE: The Lord Jesus STOPPED READING here]

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^2b and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien [Gentiles] shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.”

According to Luke 4:16-21, Isaiah 61:1 and verse 2a were fulfilled during Christ’s earthly ministry. But verse 2b, through verse 6 - has yet to come to pass:

“the day of vengeance of our God,” (God’s wrath) refers to the seven-year Tribulation, and Jesus’ return to comfort of “all that mourn” in the subsequent 1,000-year earthly kingdom where the curse on creation will be removed, Israel will look upon Him (Zech 12:10) and be converted, and dwell in her land safely.

• Verses 3 through 6 describe the earthly millennial reign of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. Israel will be restored and comforted, dwelling in peace and prosperity. These Jews will be the “Priests of the LORD” and “Ministers of our God” (Isa 61:6).

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6)

Israel will not be a kingdom of priests until Christ returns and sets up His Millennial Kingdom. This is in perfect accord with Exo. 19:5-6, 1Peter 2:5, 9-10, Rev. 1:6, 5:10. Then, in this future kingdom, lost Gentiles will seek JEHOVAH, but the only way they can then approach Him is to come through Israel and her program under “the Law”! Jews will be the mediators between Gentiles and God Almighty (see Zech. 8:20-23, Isa. 42:1-6; 60:1-3, and Matt. 28:18-20, etc.).

Note that none of these Scriptures relate to us today because we are not the nation Israel and we are not living in her Prophetic program, we are “not under the Law but under grace.” (Rom. 6:14) In fact, Peter, writing of a time after “the body of Christ” is Raptured from planet earth, tells us that these Jewish believers “in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Peter 2:10) “Not God’s people” (describing Israel today) (Hos. 1:9; Rom. 10:1-3).  For Israel is currently still “fallen” and “cast away,” (Rom. 11:10-11).

In the future, when Israel is restored in the Kingdom at Christ’s 2^nd coming to earth, then our “dispensation of the grace of God” will itself be seen as something of “time past.”

Where Do We as Grace Believers Today Fit in as Priests? WE DON’T!  As members of “the Church the Body of Christ,” we are not “priests” and never will be.

Then, what are we?

We need to go to our Apostle Paul, “the [one] apostle of the Gentile” for the answer. He is God’s Apostle and spokesman to us (Rom. 11:13; 15:16; 2 Tim. 1:11). Never does Paul use the term “priests” to describe us believers of this age of Grace. We today are “His body” members, serving as “ambassadors of Christ” (2Cor 5:16-20), offering “reconciliation” in Christ to the lost.

¹⁶ That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:16 (KJV)

(NOTE: The corrupt Modern Bibles (E.g. NIV, NASB, NRSV, ESV, etc.) erroneously insert the word “priest” into Rom. 15:16. Was Paul ever a priest? NO! Then, why do modern Bibles say that he was? It is because they are ignorant or being dishonest, corrupting “the word of truth”!)

The Apostle Paul speaks of us today in 2 Cor. 5:20 as Christ’s “ambassadors.” An “ambassador” is one who is in a foreign territory (earth) representing his or her homeland (heaven). As Christian ambassadors, our lives (should) represent heaven: “For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven” (Phili. 3:20). Furthermore, we are not a kingdom because Jesus Christ, though King over all, is not our King; He is Israel’s King. Paul wrote that Jesus Christ is our “Head,” the Head of “the Church, which is His Body” (Eph. 1:22-23; 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18; 2:19).

As members of “His body” we are not “a kingdom of priests;” we are His body of ambassadors.’

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. ¹⁸ And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. ²⁰ Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5:17- 20 (KJV)