Professor – Well, we’ve come from Adam to Moses, and we’re just in the second book.
Students – We think we’ll progress a lot faster now.
Professor – Really? This I’ve got to see. Go ahead.
Students – Being Jewish, you will probably be familiar with what will follow.
Professor – Well, isn’t Moses next? I know a little about him.
Students – From the time of Abraham to Moses, the nation of Israel (Exhibit H) developed in Egypt as slaves to Pharaoh. When they were released into the wilderness on their way to the land promised to their fathers, they proved to be a people prone to egregious sinfulness, out-of-control debauchery, and wild swings of allegiance, at one point lifting up the golden calf idol as their deliverer. They had to be reigned in or they would have self-destructed. They had to be brought under some serious restraints in order for Yahweh to dwell among them in their portable tabernacle. In short they needed the Law to constrain them on their journey through history until their Messiah would come with his higher, inward Law. They needed a high fence on both sides of their pathway to corral their disobedience and their propensity to wander. This fence was their boundary, their tutor that would eventually lead them to their Messiah and his open pasture where he would become their inner, higher restraint. Once he came, the Law was fulfilled and was to be discarded. In typology Hagar and Ishmael were no longer necessary and had to leave Abraham and Sarah’s house to make room for Isaac, the promised son.
From Isaac came Jacob, who sired twelve sons and at least one daughter. These twelve sons comprised the twelve tribes of the nation that emerged from four hundred years of enslavement in Egypt. Yahweh brought them out of bondage by instructing them to slay lambs and place the blood on their doorposts and lintels to avert the death angel. This requirement was a monumental stroke of prophecy. Yahweh knew he would someday hang from a pole in Jerusalem as the fulfillment and reality of the innocent lambs slain that eventful night in ancient Egypt and every Passover celebration from then on. But for now he had a nation formed in the crucible of Egyptian oppression. There was a lot ahead of them, but they were a nation heading to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It would be there that Yahweh would prepare them as a people to rise above the depravity of the nations of the Earth by keeping the Law of Moses in order to provide a pure human passage for the seed of the woman – their Messiah. However, what should have been a short, 11-day journey from Egypt to the land of promise, the eventful passage through the Red Sea became a 40-year dying off of an unbelieving generation wandering in the wilderness of Arabia.
Embedded in the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the promise that they would have a land. In calling Abram Yahweh told him to go
“to a land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1).
“Unto your seed will I give this land.” (12:7).
“For all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever” (13:15).
“Unto your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (15:18).
“And I will give unto you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession (17:18).
To Isaac:
“Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for unto you, and unto you seed, I will give all these countries” (26:3).
To Jacob, before he went down to Egypt to escape starvation, Yahweh said:
“And, behold, I am with you, and will keep you in all places where ever you go, and will bring you again into this land” (28:15).
With this land Yahweh promised people to fill it. To Abram:
“And I will make of you a great nation . . .” (12:2).
“And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be numbered” (13:16).
“And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you are able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed be” (15:5).
“And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly” (17:2).
“And I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come out of you” (17:6).
“That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore” (22:17).
To Isaac:
“And I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven. . .” (26:4). “ . . . I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham’s sake” (26:24).
To Jacob:
“And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth” (28:14).
Yahweh’s intended the nation to head up all nations of the Earth. To Abraham:
“. . . and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed” (12:3).
“. . . for a father of many nations have I made you” (17:5).
“…and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies” (22:17).
“And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed my voice” (22:18).
To Isaac:
“. . . in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (26:4).
To Jacob from his father:
“Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you: be lord over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you: cursed be every one that curses you, and blessed be he that blesses you” (27:29).
“. . . in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (28:14).
Professor – This may be the most controversial thing you’ve proposed so far. You know how Jews are hated,
Students – We know, but Yahweh chose them. This is according to the book. The question is, did Yahweh write the book?
Professor – Your arguments are strong that he did.
Students – Everything comes down to that.
How is this blessing to the nations executed through the nation of Israel? Israel must have a kingdom, and nations of the Earth must submit to it. That is the only way for the promised blessing to the three fathers to affect the Gentile nations. The blessings must pass through Israel as a ruling nation. Here is what Moses told them just before they crossed over the Jordan River into the land.
The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you. The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them (Deuteronomy 28:7-14).
Yahweh selected Israel to be His testimony on the Earth to all nations. This was the way in which the nations would learn about Yahweh and his ways. They are important to him, otherwise he would never have held out hope to them through the promised blessings in the seed of the woman. Not only was Israel to educate, but also they were to rule. Unfortunately, once they got into the land, they failed to remove the idolatrous tribes that had taken up residence there, including the Nephilim again. Satan’s seed was never far away from Yahweh’s purpose, nor is it today. His people were waiting for Israel before Israel ever got there. The history of the nation is one mess after another. Yahweh had intended them to be a kingdom of priests, but their intransigence brought them judges. The judges lasted only until the people clamored for a king. King Saul was terrible, but David, though flawed, cleansed the land at last of all of Israel’s enemies, leaving peace and security to his son Solomon. When David assumed the kingship over Judah, he right away had to face a civil war with the tribes of Israel who were loyal to the house of Saul. When the fighting ceased and peace prevailed, David ruled over a united kingdom at the age of 30. His reign lasted 40 years, the number of probation and trial. (Moses spent 40 years in the desert after slaying the Egyptian learning the ways of Yahweh, before leading the children of Israel for 40 more years in the wilderness.) One of his first orders of business was to bring the Ark of the Covenant and place it in Zion, called the city of David. His intention was to build the Temple, the house of Yahweh. At this juncture Nathan the prophet spoke the words of Yahweh to David:
“Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever’” (2 Samuel 7:8-17).
Here is the link between Abraham and David. Abraham was the recipient of Yahweh’s covenant, and here it is confirmed to David. David was humbled by this revelation and responded accordingly:
“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future. And this is the custom of man, O Lord God. Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God! For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know. For this reason You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods? For You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, have become their God. Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as You have spoken, that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You. For You, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You. Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant. Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord God, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever” (2 Samuel 7:18-29).
We have the seed of the woman passing through the loins of the first Hebrew, developed into the nation of Israel in the land of promise under the rightful king occupying Jerusalem. Once the house of Yahweh is built, all will be ready for the second of the triune deity – Yahweh – to take on the flesh of a man and to become the Paschal lamb and to be the reigning king of Israel – a descendant of the house of David in the line of Judah that passed from Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. How far the seed of the woman had come! It is a marvelous testimony of the tenacity and care wrought by the hand of Yahweh.
Professor – All this is for Jesus to come?
Students – Yes. If he hadn’t, there would have been no hope for Israel or the nations of the world. The hope of humanity hung on the incarnation.
But there was another seed, ever growing, ever present, ever attempting to frustrate and to thwart the divine purpose. The children of Israel were not even remotely prepared for the next stage – the incarnation of Yahweh. Something in them had to be exposed and eradicated for them to be the proper conduit for the coming of the Son of the Father Elohim.
Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem according to the pattern David issued to him, and all seemed well.
But, like his father, Solomon loved women, and he gathered a thousand around him. These foreign wives led him into idol worship, and, as the leader went, so went the people. The result was the division of Israel into two factions – Judah and Benjamin against the northern ten tribes known as Israel. This was the work of the enemy of the chosen nation. He had reduced to eight souls of pure human stock before the judging flood of Noah. That attempt failed, but the dark lord never rests. After having divided the nation into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom, he utilized the division to attack the line of Messiah.
After the kingdom split, Jehoram, of the line of David, was a desperately wicked king of Judah who, upon ascending the throne, killed his six brothers. He then led Judah into the idolatrous ways of the king and queen of Israel – Ahab and Jezebel – even to the point of marrying their daughter Athaliah. Here is the record of 2 Chronicles 21:5-7:
“Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did (for Ahab’s daughter was his wife), and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant which He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.”
Such was the evil entanglements between the two royal houses. Jehoram’s treachery led to a severe rebuke by the prophet Elijah.
“Thus says the Lord God of your father David, ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father and the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot as the house of Ahab played the harlot, and you have also killed your brothers, your own family, who were better than you, behold, the Lord is going to strike your people, your sons, your wives and all your possessions with a great calamity ; and you will suffer severe sickness, a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness, day by day’” (2 Chronicles 21:12-15).
Only one son was spared Yahweh’s judgment, the youngest named Ahaziah, 22, who took the throne of Judah once his father died. He continued the wicked ways of his father in following Ahab and Jezebel of Israel. It was no wonder, since his counselor was Athaliah his mother and the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.
Jehoram’s six slain brothers had sons who were in the line of David, and were qualified to carry on the passage of Messiah. Jehu, king of Israel, commissioned by Yahweh to purge the house of Ahab, found the royal sons. Instead Ahab murdered him and six royal sons of Judah, leaving only Ahaziah and his sons to carry on the royal, Messianic line. But Ahaziah, who had joined Joram of Israel to fight against Jehu of Israel, met his death at Jehu’s hand. Once Athaliah heard that her son Ahaziah had died, she turned against his sons and destroyed them, apparently wiping out the house of David and the line of the Messiah.
“But Jehoshabeath King Jehoram’s daughter, took Joash the only remaining son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and placed him and his nurse in the bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah so that she would not put him to death. He was hidden with them in the house of God six years while Athaliah reigned over the land” (2 Chronicles 22:11-12).
The line of Messiah had come down to an infant boy Joash one year of age. Interestingly Jehoshabeath means “Yahweh has sworn.” Indeed he had, many times to the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had sworn that through their seed there would be raised up a great nation through whom the families of the Earth would be blessed. That blessing to the nations was none other than the coming Messiah – Yahweh in the flesh of man. Satan had nearly succeeded in thwarting the great and divine plan. But for the foresight of a faithful aunt, Joash the infant would have died, and with him the promise of the “seed of the woman.” It was that close!
Professor – So you’re saying that if that child had been killed, Jesus would not have come?
Students – Yes. His line to Earth would have been severed.
Professor – So Israel would never have had a Messiah, if Jesus was the Messiah?
Students – It all would have ended there.
Professor – Wow! That’s worth looking into.
Students – And we thought it was close with Noah. Anyway, we better plow on.
Because of the flagrant idolatry of the ten northern tribes of Israel, the Assyrians came down and took them into exile to the east. Some years later Yahweh punished the remainder of his people when Nebuchadnezzar captured Judah and Jerusalem, destroying the Temple in the process, and carried away Judah and Benjamin into Babylon for 70 years. Then, after a change of empires, Cyrus the Persian emperor commissioned Ezra to go back and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem; but before that Artaxerxes, also a Persian, sent Nehemiah back to build the city and its walls. Fewer than 50,000 Jews returned to the land and the city to start over. From then to the time of Jesus, the woeful Jews had to contend with the odious Antiochus IV, the Greek, who desecrated the Temple, forcing the Jews into an insurrection that threw off the Greek yoke for 90 years. During this time, they tore down the ruined Temple and built a new one, the one Herod eventually remodeled and enlarged. The Romans superseded the Greeks and ruled over the holy land and the Jews, setting the stage for the arrival of the Jewish Messiah who was to sit upon the throne of his father David.
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David” (Luke 1:32).
Professor – The seed of the woman did not have an easy time getting here.
Students – You are indeed correct. The coming of the King of Israel was not a happy homecoming between Jesus and his people. The Jews demanded relief from the Romans, and when it became apparent that their Messiah had first to redeem them from their sins through his perfect sacrifice, they turned against him and had him executed on a pole. They should have known better, for their prophets had predicted the suffering Messiah’s coming for centuries. Here is a partial list of prophecies of his first advent (Exhibit I) with the Hebrew scriptures references:
• He was of Judah – “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen. 49:10). The New Testament fulfillment is Matthew 1:5-6, 16.
• He was to be born of a virgin – “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). New Testament – Matthew 1:22-23; Luke 1:30, 34-35.
• He was to be born in Bethlehem – “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). New Testament – Luke 2:1-7, 11.
• Herod’s slaughter of the babies – “Thus says the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not” (Jeremiah 31:15). New Testament – Matt. 2:16-18).
• John the Baptist preparing the way for Messiah – “The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 40:3-5). New Testament – Matt. 3:1-3.
• His royal entry into Jerusalem – “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah. 9:9). New Testament – Mark 11:7-11.
• Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple – “… and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined” (Daniel 9:27). New Testament – Matt. 23:37-38.
• Disciples forsake Jesus – “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate,” Declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; And I will turn My hand against the little ones” (Zechariah 13:7). New Testament – Matt. 26:56.
• Jesus is mocked and scorned – “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him” (Psalm 22:7-8). New Testament – Luke 23:35.
• Jesus is beaten and scourged – “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). New Testament – John 19:1-2.
• Jesus is silent before his accusers – “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). New Testament – Mark 14:4-5.
• Jesus is nailed hands and feet to the pole – “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet” (Psalm 22:16). New Testament – John 20:25.
• Jesus takes vinegar for thirst – “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 69:21). New Testament – Matt. 27:34.
• No bone is broken in the execution – “He keeps all his bones: not one of them is broken” (Psalm 34:20). New Testament – John 19:32-36.
• Jesus is laid in a rich man’s tomb – “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:9). New Testament – Matt. 27:57-60.
• Jesus is resurrected – “For you will not leave my soul in hell; neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption.” “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah” (Psalm 16:10; 49:15). New Testament – Acts 2:26-31.
In summation: The Hebrew prophecies foretold his birth as the seed of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3, 22:18), of the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:10), and of the house of David (2 Samuel 7:12f). Micah 5:2 said that he would be born in Bethlehem; that he’d come while the temple was still standing (Malachi 3:1); that he would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14); that he would open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, and cause the lame to walk (Isaiah 35:5-6); that he’d be rejected by his own people (Psalm 118:22). The Scriptures foretold the precise time in history when he would die (Daniel 9:24-26); how he would die (Psalm 22:16-18, Isaiah 53; Zechariah 12:10); and that he would rise from the dead (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27-32).
Professor – Do you have all these Bible passages written down? I’d like to study them.
Students – We do. They’re in our computers. We hope we didn’t overwhelm you.
Professor – No, not at all. Keep going.
Students – Though he offered himself as the Paschal Lamb to be slain on Passover day along with the Temple lambs, Jesus rose from the dead according to the greatest sign of all – the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah spent three days and nights in death before being vomited out of the great fish onto land, so Jesus spent three days and nights in death before returning to the land of the living. The Father was pleased with the work of his son, and that is why he resurrected him. Not only so, in accordance with his great mercy upon Israel, he allowed a 40-year probationary period (as in the wilderness after Egypt) for repentance. The offer of the kingdom was still in play, and had the nation at any time recognized whom they had slain, had repented of their sins, had been baptized for the remission of their sins, and had embraced him, he would have returned to Jerusalem to establish himself upon the throne of David as king of his millennial kingdom. This would have fulfilled the purpose of Israel that began with Abram. It was not to be.
The ministries of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the disciples applied only to the nation of Israel. Matthew explains:
“These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: ‘Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons’” (10:5-8).
This ministry to the house of Israel exclusively remained in play all the way to the murder of Stephen, the first Christian martyr in Acts 8. Israel was to rule with her Messiah as king over all the Earth. This was the original intention when Abram was called out of Ur. That intention and promise has never been rescinded, and it wasn’t even after the Jews, in collusion with the Roman government, executed Jesus. John describes the lead up to the Jews’ final sacrifice.
“Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said, ‘Crucify Him!’ And he said, ‘Why, what evil has He done?’ “So they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar’ (John 19:15).
“When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to that yourselves. And all the people said, ‘His blood shall be on us and on our children!’” (Matt. 27:22-25).
Little did the Jews know how prophetic were their deplorable words. For almost 2000 years of their Diaspora this statement hung over them like a storm cloud. But at this time the offer of the kingdom was viable, and it would remain so for forty years (30 – 70 AD) of the Father’s extended grace upon his people.
However, the Jerusalem Jews made their decision concerning their Messiah by murdering Stephen. This caused a major change in Yahweh’s administration of humankind (Exhibit J), particularly with Israel, a change designed to make Israel jealous.
Professor – You know, of course, that this is a major bone of contention with detractors.
Students – We realize that, but we didn’t make this place in which we find ourselves. We may protest, but that changes nothing. Yahweh spoke it into being, so he has every right to bring it to the conclusion he envisioned.
Professor – But what about our free will?
Students – That is the beauty of it. His sovereignty works in concert with our freedom to choose. His purpose and our volition dance together through history. Said another way, His intentions and our decisions co-exist, and, if we are willing, and even coordinate with him, then we have a thing of beauty.
Professor – That, my friend, is difficult to grasp.
Students – We cannot dispute that, but we can’t throw out one to the expense of the other.
Professor – Okay. Back to Israel.
Students – Had the nation repented and been baptized for the remission of their sins as Peter had preached at Pentecost, a the ascended Messiah would have returned to establish his rule from Jerusalem, and the nation would have gone out evangelizing the Gentile nations as they were commissioned to do. The nations would have come under the blessing of the descendants of Abraham according to the original promise in Genesis to Abram. But the Jews of Jerusalem and Judea rejected the offer in the murder of Stephen, so Peter opened the door to the Gentiles (Acts 10) to join with the believing Jews in local congregations – a grafting in of wild branches into the cultured olive tree (Romans 11). During this change in Yahweh’s dealings with Israel, the offer remained open for the nation to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins in order for the kingdom to come, just as John the Baptist and Jesus had taught, and just as the apostles taught following the Gentile inclusion. The message no longer was to the Jew only as it had been up until Cornelius the Roman; now it was, as Paul taught and practiced,
“to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
In every city he entered to preach the Messiah and his kingdom, he went to the synagogue first to persuade his countrymen, and then on to the Gentiles.
This new way of administration was an addendum to what began in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples of Jesus on the day of the Jewish festival – the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost – 50 days after the Feast of Passover). This was the beginning of the Christian community, and it was for Jews only at that time. The purpose of the descent of the Spirit was to usher in Israel’s kingdom and its King. But the Jews of Judea refused, and the offer was extended to believing Gentiles who would couple with believing Jews in various congregations around the empire, known by Jesus’ description as the “little flock”. This inclusion lasted through the book of Acts and generated letters from James, Peter, and Paul (Hebrews). This offer of the kingdom came to a head in 62 AD when Paul was imprisoned in Rome, and when he summoned the Jewish leaders of the dispersion for a daylong conference, trying one final time to persuade them to repent of their sins, embrace their saving Messiah in order for the kingdom to come. They rejected the final offer, and this forced a major change in the Father’s dealing with his errant children. Through Paul the sentence came down. Here’s how Luke in Acts 28:23-29 describes it:
So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening. And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying,
‘Go to this people and say:
“Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand;
And seeing you will see, and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.” “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves.
At this pivot point of history the Father still waited seven more years in demonstration of his longsuffering toward Israel. Finally, through the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, he suspended the offer of the kingdom to Israel, and that abeyance has remained in effect for over nineteen hundred years. The long Diaspora began to wind down at the end of the 19th century with the rise of Zionism, culminating in 1948 when Israel established statehood, and in 1967 when they captured Jerusalem.
Professor – This is new information.
Students – And important. Very important.
Professor – How so?
Students – Israel, long dormant, showed signs of life in the late 19th century with Zionism, then began returning to Palestine, and finally emerged from the Holocaust of Nazi Germany. Here is a classic illustration of human volition and divine sovereignty dancing together. Though the Nazis made the decision to exterminate the European Jews, out of that horrible decision, Yahweh’s sovereign arrangement used America to restore Israel to her land and city.
Professor – That I find amazing.
Students – So do we. And this brings us to another fascinating development.
Back to the first century. Once the nation of Israel had rejected his son for the last time in Rome, the Father revealed to Paul what no prophet nor apostle had ever seen before. It was a secret, a mystery of monumental proportions that is being worked out right now. What began at Jerusalem at Pentecost to Jews only, proceeded to Cornelius the Roman as “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Gentile),” until in 62 AD when Paul revealed that there was yet another administration of the Christian community hidden in the Father from before the creation. We find the details of this new administration in the letters of Paul. This new economy is summed up in Ephesians 2:14-16:
For He Himself (Christ) is our peace, who has made both one (Jew and Gentile), and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments (the Law of Moses) contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
He further elaborates in the same letter in 3:3-6:
. . . how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery . . . which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.
In the composition of the Body of Christ there are no distinctions, no privileges, no classes. The call is to “whosoever will may come.” Jews are reduced to the same status as Gentiles, and Gentiles are elevated to the same status as Jews. No one is special. How long will this process take to complete? Again, Paul:
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13).
This “perfect (complete) man” is the “new man” of Colossians 3:10-11:
“. . . and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”
This is where Christians are today, and no one knows when the Body of Christ will be mature as that “perfect (complete) man.” Paul does tell us that this third administration began as a secret, as a mystery, hidden in the Father. How it ends is also a mystery, but Paul in Philippians 3:7-14 gives a solid hope to those waiting for the Lord’s appearance:
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have [apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
When the work is complete upon the Body of Christ, there will be an upward call as a prize of faithfulness and obedience. The community of Christians will be translated to the clouds to meet the Savior. Paul explains this in Philippians 3:10-12.
That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in order that I might attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
Professor – It almost seems to me that this Christian community, or, as you call it, the body of Christ, is Israel’s replacement. Is it?
Students – No. Some Christians think so, but that’s a diabolical doctrine. The relationship between Yahweh and his people is eternal. While the Jews were dispersed to the world for over nineteen centuries, the body of Christ has been maturing. Once that process is completed, and the community of Christians removed from the Earth, the final seven years of Israel’s history will begin.
At that point Yahweh’s full attention will revert to national Israel. According to Daniel, Israel was allotted 490 years from the time Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. Here is the passage:
“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate” (Daniel 9:24-27).
The Messiah (Jesus) is executed at the end of 69 weeks, or 483 years, and because Israel refused to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins, the 70th week (final seven years) is suspended into the future. The purpose of the last week is for the purging of the bride of Christ, which is Israel. The nation must make itself ready, primarily through suffering, and through this suffering will come to recognize Messiah and embrace him. Once the bride is ready (at the end of the seven year tribulation), he returns to judge the Earth and to rescue her from the armies of the Antichrist. The book of Revelation details this final seven-year period of Israel’s history, the end of which brings Messiah to Earth to marry his bride and to establish his 1000-year kingdom.
Professor – So that’s the goal of Israel? To be the Bride of Christ?
Students – It is, and the reason we say that is because of the Hebrew Scriptures. They are full of the relationship between husband and wife. There is one whole book devoted to Yahweh as the wooing lover of his woman.
Professor – What book?
Students – The Song of Solomon.
We’ll finish up with a list of prophecies that should affirm our hypothesis.
The second-advent prophecies (Exhibit K) of Jesus Christ are prolific. Hebrew prophets predicted both advents, but distinguished the second by coupling it to the establishment of his kingdom. Here is a sampling:
• Christ will build the kingdom Temple. “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:13).
• He will rule on the throne of his father David. “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore” (Isaiah 9:7).
• He will judge the nations. “The Lord is at Your right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will shatter the chief men over a broad country” (Psalm 110:5-6).
• He will rule the nations with a rod of iron. “Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware” (Psalm 2:8-9).
• He will rule from Jerusalem and punish the nations. “So it will happen in that day, that the Lord will punish the host of heaven on high, and the kings of the earth on earth. They will be gathered together like prisoners in the dungeon, and will be confined in prison; and after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders” (Isaiah 24:21-23).
• He will roar as the Lion of the tribe of Judah from Jerusalem. “The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth tremble. But the Lord is a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will pass through it no more” (Joel 3:16-17).
• He will build up Jerusalem. “Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones and feel pity for her dust. So the nations will fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth Your glory. For the Lord has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory” (Psalm 102:14-16).
• He will bless Israel and the nations during his reign. “The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine. And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 25:6-8).
There are many more prophecies regarding the second advent of Jesus Christ at the end of Israel’s 70th week, but the above should be sufficient as the capstone of the revelation of the entire Bible. The importance of Israel cannot be overstated. Christians have tried through the centuries to diminish her status and to take from her promises and teachings meant only for her, even to the extent that Jews were castigated as “Christ killers” as early as the late first century. This opened the door for serious anti-Semitism that drove Jews into ghettos and caves throughout the centuries of their Diaspora. Not until 1948 did Jews feel safe in their own homeland. This development has set the stage for the final seven years of her history, and, as a consequence, the end of the 6000-year allotment for Elohim to accomplish his purpose in creation before the final 1000-year of Sabbath rest.
Professor – What a journey this has been.
Students – We never tire of talking about this subject. We hope we’ve made a good case for our hypothesis.
Professor – You have, at least from my perspective. I have a lot to consider and reconsider. You kids are smart and well spoken.
Students – You, sir, are a most gracious man. It has been our privilege to share this stage.