I wonder whether the most dangerous aspect of envy is not simply that it wants what another possesses, but that it attempts to transform God’s sovereign generosity into a moral obligation.
Once that happens, the creature is no longer merely dissatisfied with his appointed place. He begins to regard God’s freedom as an offense.That seems to me to be a fruitful connection between the serpent’s insinuation in Genesis 3, the evil eye in Matthew 20, the accusation in Job, and Paul’s challenge in Romans 9.
And it leaves us with a searching question:Can a creature truly worship God as sovereign while reserving the right to condemn His choices whenever His mercy is distributed differently from what that creature considers fair? – text from Adam S.
Excepting the perennial “remnant according to the election of grace” (Ro 11:5), the prophets knew that despite regular appeals to turn and live, the nation would never “turn” (teshuvah), as a nation, until the future DOL when God Himself would turn them (“turn us and we shall be turned”; Ps 83:3, 7, 19; 85:4; Lam 5:21; Isa 63:17; Jer 31:18; Eze 20:33-44).
If history’s inerrant confirmation of prophetic revelation has taught us anything, it is that if the fulfillment of the promise were waiting on Israel’s compliance, it would be waiting forever. But God has DETERMINED the “set time” to favor Zion (Ps 102:13). He has not left the end to human cooperation, but with unalterable, unavoidable certainty (Dan 11:36), He has “determined” its nature and set the limits of its duration (Dan 7:25; 8:19; 9:24; 11:27, 35; 12:7; 2Thes 2:3, 6-8).
It is only by such an irrevocable divine determinism that every word of God can be guaranteed of certain fulfillment (Mt 5:18; 24:35). Obviously, something much more than mere foreknowledge working with the not so malleable nature of man is at play here.
And while it is true that only a willing people will enter the millennial age with the new heart and new spirit, this prerequisite is made certain, not because Israel finally decided to cooperate with God, but on one basis only: “Your people will be willing in the day of Your power” (Ps 110:3), and not a moment sooner (cf. Ps 102:13; Isa 30:18; Gal 1:15-16).
God has determined to bring the constraints and inducements necessary to incline a deeply disinclined last generation of Jewish tribulation survivors to seek the Lord with a whole heart (Deut 4:29-31: 29:4; 30:1-6). He has said this will be done by His determination to bring them to “the end of their power” (Deut 32:36; Dan 12:7), which is also the place where the veil is removed (Isa 25:7).
When the Holy Spirit has shattered self-reliance, the liberating revelation of grace is not far away. It will be so with Israel when at the end of power, the veil over the heart gives way to the transforming revelation of their returning Redeemer’s “everlasting love” (Jer 31:3).
Knowing the power that arrested him on the road to Damascus, Paul knew the unlimited power and wisdom necessary to turn the unturnable heart of any sinner, and so he asks his gentile readers at Rome cannot be more difficult for God to graft in the natural branches in the time of their appointed “fullness” (Ro 11:12, 25-27) than it was for him to graft in the wild branches contrary to nature (Ro 11:24).
The analogy of Paul’s own conversion to the sudden DOL revelation of Christ to Israel is clear proof of His power to turn an otherwise unturnable nation “at once, and in one day” (Ps 102:13; 110:3; Isa 66:8; Zech 3:9). God’s abiding “covenant with them” assures him that God will not relent in His pursuit until He has conquered the natural resistance of a judicially blinded nation’s historic resistance to the Spirit and therefore the gospel (Acts 7:51; Ro 11:28).
This is what is being displayed by what God has declared He will accomplish with this particular people, the unique and special heirs of that particular Land at the time He has “set” / “determined”.
Something more profound than we typically tend to contemplate is at work here in the implications of this great, cosmic drama. What, besides a mighty demonstration before nations, and the great controversy that engages the great angelic contest can possibly account for such a plan with such an ending? This is eternal instruction that will reverberate throughout eternity.
Not a mere remnant, but “all Israel” shall be saved despite every conceivable impediment that history, and all the host of hell has thrown up to defy, not only the coming in, but the keeping in of this most miraculously resilient nation. Nothing could possibly be more “against all odds”. I call it God’s self chosen “mission impossible”. And that’s precisely the point!
Grace and mercy is magnified when “this (salvation) is impossible with man.” As surely as the miracle boy, Isaac, would be born at “the set time” (Gen 17:21; 18:14; 21:22), so surely will the nation of promise be “born in one day” (Isa 66:8 with Zech 3:9; Eze 39:22, 25), at the “set / appointed time” (Heb. “moed”; Ps 102:13; Dan 8:19; 11:27, 29; 11:35; 12:7).
On that eternally pre-determined day “all Israel shall be saved”. “It shall be ONE DAY, which shall be known to the Lord” (Zech 14:5-7).This is “the day” when the Deliverer / Redeemer roars out of Zion to turn away ungodliness from Jacob (Isa 27:6, 9; 59:20-21; Joel 3:16).
This great moment of national repentance is NOT a process! It happens “at once”, in “one day” (Isa 66:8; Zech 3:9; 14:7) at the spiritually transforming sight of the One whom they pierced (Zech 12:10; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:19-21; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7). It is the great day of God Almighty (compare Eze 39:8 with Rev 16:12-17).
The event is sudden and “at once” (Isa 66:8). It is the same moment the Antichrist (pre-typified by the Assyrian) is destroyed in “one moment” / “one hour” by the breath / sword / voice of the Lord’s mouth (compare Isa 9:14; 10:5, 17, 24; 11:4; 14:25; 30:30-31; 31:8; 42:14; 47:9: 66:8; Mic 5:5-6; Dan 7:11; 8:24-25; 11:45; 2Thes 2:3, 8; Rev 13:2; 19:15, 21; Rev 18:8, 10, 17, 19; 19:15, 20-21).
After “that day”, and “from that day and forward” (Eze 39:22), the unprecedentedly large remnant of Jewish survivors begin their trek back to the Land from every land as an entirely regenerate nation (Isa 59:21; 60:21; Jer 31:34). Such uniform salvation of an entire population will not be commonplace among other nations that will still stand in need of ongoing evangelism (Isa 2:3-4; 26:10; 60:5; 66:19-20; Zech 8:23).
This deeply revealing convergence of foretold events designs an eternally instructive spectacle before men and angels of God’s power and faithfulness to keep His irrevocable, unilateral covenant oath to a people devoid of any kind of merit in themselves (Eze 36:22, 31-32).
How else, in light of the biblical doctrine of regeneration, could it be expected that Israel would ever become willing (certainly never on such a scale), unless powerfully induced by “a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out” (Eze 20:33). But why has the Lord been required to “wait” till this set time (Ps 102:13) to do what all of history has waited for Him to do?
Isaiah 30:18
And therefore will the Lord WAIT, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
Why has divine success in bringing Israel back required, not one but two comings of the King to Jerusalem? (Isa 49:4-7 KJV). What hath God wrought? Why has the gap between the comings lasted nearly two thousand years? (Mic 5:1-4; Hos 5:15-6:2, Mt 23:39; Ro 11:11-12, 15).
Could Israel have ever come by any lesser exertion of divine power, such as never before taken to such a degree, to secure such an end at the very time He had “determined” from the beginning? (Isa 46:10; Acts 3:21; 15:8).
If it was marvelous in our eyes to see the Jewish people become a nation again after 19 centuries of absence, how much more when the onlooking nations are required to see and acknowledge and honor (Isa 60; Zech 14) that the God who miraculously preserved this people against all odds, has brought them back again, yet again, another cruel invasion and scattering (Joel 3:2), this time with many penitent suppliants and worshippers from among the nations being joined to them (Isa 55:5; 56:8; 60:10; 61:5; Zech 8:23).
Unlike the return from Babylon and the modern return, the full and final return after the tribulation will leave none behind. (Eze 39:28). Unlike times past when the return home left them still exposed to the danger of apostasy and the abiding threat of covenant judgement, this time they will not only be home, but “home free”, never again to be plucked up out of their Land, or harassed by surrounding enemies (2Sam 7:10; Am 9:15: Isa 32:15-18; 60:18). This is because they will “never again” depart from the everlasting righteousness of the new covenant (Isa 59:21; Jer 31:31-34; 32:40).
Abiding peace and prosperity in the Land could never be secure when only a remnant is obedient while the larger nation slips back into apostasy and covenant jeopardy. For this cause, the prophets recognized that only an intervention on the scale of a great day of the Lord would ever be sufficient to rectify this habitual tendency to test the threshold of divine tolerance.
This is why the prophets looked to “that day” when “all Israel” would be “all righteous” with the promised continuance in the very righteousness of the Lord Himself (Isa 45:24; 54:17; Jer 23:5-6), since only the “everlasting” righteousnessness of the everlasting covenant, (not of a few, but “all Israel”), could ever finally secure enduring continuance in the Land.
That a Spirit filled people, yet in their natural bodies, having children, building and planting, and ministering to the nations can only be securely sustained in the Land forever if there is a righteousness that is forever. This will be the great miracle of history on a scale with the birth of the miracle child, Isaac.
For a thousand years of visible, verifiable embodiment, God is making an ultimately revealing statement by a demonstration on this present earth that is calculated to silence every tongue.
As much as God could say to Satan, “have you considered My servant Job?”, in the millennium God will still be instructing principalities and powers by the church (Eph 3:10), because all the saved of the millennium will be no less the body of Christ baptized into the one body by the same Spirit that was promised to come upon all Israel in that day (Joel 2:27-32; Eze 39:29; Zech 12:10).
Since we do not subscribe to dispensationalism’s ecclesiology that separates the saved of millennial Israel, we see no discrepancy if Israel’s millennial stewardship is purposefully distinct. This does nothing to obstruct or hinder the unity of the Spirit among the living members of the body of Christ gathered in assemblies throughout the millennial earth.
This being so, it follows that the re-engrafted saved from among the natural branches in the coming salvation of all Israel will be no less a further stage in the history of the body of Christ. Why should it be any less “glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end? (Eph 3:21). Is it not glory upon glory when the long estranged chosen nation will be in the chosen Land, witnessing and serving with the the gentile members of the same body among the nations in the unity and fellowship of the Spirit with all who call on the name of the Lord? (Isa 2:2-3; 19:20, 23-25; Am 9:11-12 with Acts 15:17 and others).
God is putting on public display, here on this present earth (the “scene of the crime”), an open and manifest embodiment of His power to not only bring an intractable people into the Land, but through the glory of the grace promised in the New Covenant and gift of the outpoured Holy Spirit, to keep them in the Land, forever safe and secure throughout the thousand of fully witnessed covenant vindication by nations that will be required to acknowledge and honor the despised claim of Israel’s special election and object of irrevocable divine love, the very thing that was so in doubt, opposed and under siege by the demonic realm.
This goes far to explain the meaning behind God’s covenant resolve to set this astonishing demonstration before all nations in the weakness of frail jars of clay for a thousand years of open, visible witness, and rebuke of every gainsaying spirit. Then comes the end, the final, post-millennial perfection of the new heavens and earth that will include the resurrection of all who were not raised at the first resurrection.
But first, for a thousand years of sustained, invincible security (Isa 54:17), “all Israel” will abide in undisturbed “safety” and “security” in the Land (Lev 26:40-42; Jer 23:6; 31:40; 32:37; 33:16; Eze 34:25, 28; 38:8, 11, 14; Hos 2:18-19; Zech 14:11), eternally secure in the “everlasting righteousness” (Dan 9:24) of the “everlasting covenant” (Jer 32:40).
“From that day and forward”, not a mere remnant, but “ALL” will know Him, with all the children that will be born to them throughout the thousand years of continued child bearing (Isa 44:3; 54:13; 59:21; 60:21; 65:23; 66:22; Jer 31:34; 32:38-40; Eze 37:25; 39:22, 28-29; Zeph 3:13, etc.). Not one of their number will ever again depart from the power that keeps them in the grace of the new covenant, “world without end” (Isa 45:17; 54:13; 59:21; 60:21).
Contrary to popular conception, due in no small part to the tragic neglect of the OT, the scripture is clear that un-raptured but deeply humbled (Isa 26:9) gentile survivors will assist the Jews in their post-tribulational return to the Land from all nations (Isa 14:2; 49:22; 60:9; 66:20).
As the dust of the great world upheaval is starting settle after the Lord’s return, it is said that “ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you (Zech 8:23 with Eze 28:5; 39:23, 27 and many).
These are gentile survivors who were obviously not translated at the last trump, and manifestly did not take the mark. Gentiles assist the “escaped / preserved / outcasts of Israel” in their post-tribulational return to the Land (Ps 147:2; Isa 4:2; 11:12; 16:3-4; 27:12-13; 49:6; 56:8). Notice this is not relocation by rapture or translation into glorified immortality.
The post-tribulation revelation of Jesus to the surviving remnant is the moment of their initial salvation. They were not translated at the last trumpet with the living saints who were already born again at the time of the rapture. With the Lord’s bodily appearance in manifest glory, the surviving remnant is only now seeing Him whom they pierced and repenting, as person of every family goes apart to mourn (Zech 12:10).
So some short while after the Lord’s return in the clouds of glory (Mt 24:27, 29-31; Rev 1:7), a newly born again, Spirit filled nation of Jewish survivors begin their journey home, assisted by gentile survivors who count it an offering to the Lord to lend their ships, and every accessible mode of natural transport (Isa 49:22; 60:9; 66:20). Obviously, if literal, non-metaphorical language is to have any meaning, this is not a return to the Land by means of rapture and translation.
It cannot be without purpose that the scripture makes it a point to inform us that the penitent Jewish survivors of the great tribulation will return home over the dried up river beds of some of the great waterways of the middle east (Isa 11:15-16; 19:4-10; 27:12:13; Zech 10:9-11). This implies the great natural disasters that both testaments show take place during the great tribulation, especially at its close (Isa 2:2:21; 24; Joel 2:30; DAn 11:45; Mt 24:22; Rev 11:18-19; 16:12, 18).
The returning remnant of Israel is obviously not caught up in Elijah-like translation as the church at the last trumpet, but church’s translation will mark the time the surviving remnant sees Jesus and repents in deep contrition.
This seeing cannot be only natural eyes, but of necessity, the transformative revelation of the Spirit. A careful comparison of Isa 27:12-13 with Zech 12:10; Mt 23:39; 24:29-31; Acts 3:21; Ro 11:26; 1Cor 15:52; Rev 1:7; 10:7; 11:15 will make clear that the revelation of Jesus to the beleaguered survivors of the tribulation takes place in immediate connection with the Lord’s post-tribulational return.
After a short time of repentance, “the redeemed of the Lord” (Isa 51:11: 62:12) begin their return home from all places of hiding and refuge “with everlasting joy upon their heads”.
The great question in all of this is why? What is God’s investment in such a demonstration in the sight of nations and the angels?
What does our God mean to say through such an extravagant drama, that has chosen to showcase a deeply strategic purpose? That the blessing of the nations should be mediated through a chosen people, whose very fall would be turned to the salvation of many gentiles, and whose appointed national resurrection would surpass all that went before it in bringing the blessing of Abraham to the nations, so that “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14).
Such a Divinely determined demonstration, both of the just severity and the sovereign mercy of God, can only be intended as a two-edged sword to humble pride, and encourage even the chief of sinners that with God, nothing shall be impossible.
