“For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.” — 2 Corinthians 3:11

What is the “end” here in mind? This has to be in reference to the law of Moses (as a means of justification!), not the law itself. Am I correct in stating this?

I think the law ends, not as instruction, or its divine use to drive the sinner to Christ, but as a killing letter ministering death.

That has ended by a death, His death, of course, but also our death to the law as an accusing power, threatening the conscience with all the thunderclaps and black terrors of Sinai.

This ministration of death ends with the ministration of the Spirit of liberty!

Until the Spirit comes, until He is given on the sole basis of the gift of faith in Christ’s perfected obedience under the law offered up in His atoning death, we are dead in our sins. Regardless what admirable virtues or piety we may seem to have, we are yet in the flesh, and therefore alive to the law and dead to Christ.

This is the condition of every heart that has not been born again, Christian or Jew, that trusts in anything more or other than Christ’s righteousness and His finished work “ALONE”. To add anything of our own doing is to spoil, rob, and nullify the efficacy of Christ (whole letter to the Galatians).

Romans 7:4, 6

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God … But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Galatians 2:19

For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

Also, I do not favor any interpretation that leaves the impression that the OT saints were saved by the law and now that’s all done away as a means of salvation. The law was NEVER a means of salvation! Nor did it contribute towards salvation by any partial obedience to it.

Christ was always the only Savior, since it was impossible at anytime to know Yahweh (born by the Word, union with the divine nature, Spirit of Christ “IN them”, see 1Pet 1:23; 2Pet 1:4, 11) except by the quickening of the Spirit’s revelation of Him to the Word and Spirit-humbled heart. And this is as much true of the born again OT believer as the NT believer, since to know the Father “BY THE SPIRIT” was also to know the Son by the same Spirit because these are one. It is impossible to “know” (intimate experiential union) the one without knowing the other.

So when the spiritually alive OT saints knew God, they necessarily knew the Son (“kiss the Son” – David’s Lord) though not yet revealed in His humanity in history and the full revelation of the mystery of the gospel.

So we’re done with the law ONLY in the sense that we’re done with the flesh, since we now put no confidence in the flesh (human ability) to contribute anything to what Christ has finished once for all, and what the Spirit alone can quicken and reveal to the dead spirit of unregenerate man.

Our object now is to trust not in ourselves but in the God who raises the dead, which is impossible apart from the Spirit’s gift and power.

2 Corinthians 1:9

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

That’s impossible for the flesh. Believe me, I’ve tried.

Affectionately yours in the Beloved, Reggie

The post The End of the Law appeared first on Mystery of Israel.

Before Art’s passing, the goal of the planned ‘table talks’ for the following summer was to bring together the scriptures that would establish an overview of the key themes of prophecy. He wanted to find something that would “pull the strands together” into a kind of synthesis, and then to use that synthesis to address and answer the classic Jewish objections to the faith.

What follows is an expansion on a brief overview sent to a brother with whom I shared a plan of presentation that aims to simplify many of the sometimes complex issues of prophecy. It also provides a convenient grid of reference for anyone wanting to present the case for Christ and the mystery of Israel from the Old Testament.

I first present some ideas for an initial introduction. This can be used with great versatility and comparative simplicity, depending on the situation. For those who want to take the subject further, I offer further suggestions on how this initial introductory outline can be used to go deeper, as understanding and maturity permits.

I believe that what I present here came in answer to prayer. For years I have looked to the Lord for a means to “make plain upon tables” (Dan 12:4; Hab 2:2-3) an appreciable amount of otherwise difficult and controversial subject matter. The goal is simplicity and clarity for the average person, regardless of academic background. But the real power of the truths that follow lies in the scriptures themselves. They are specific target passages that merit closest attention.

The approach builds around the well known story of Joseph, as type and parable of both comings of Christ to Israel. The idea is to begin with a couple of key portions of Old Testament prophecy in order to establish a simple outline of the prophetic future, particularly as it pertains to the relationship of Christ’s two comings to Israel. This will provide a convenient frame of reference that can enable and equip any believer to make the case for the mystery of the gospel in the Old Testament, particularly in its relationship to Israel and the events that conclude the age.

To open the subject, I sometimes begin with the familiar story of Bethlehem as an opportunity to show the amazing prophecy of Mic 5:2, pointing out its great antiquity (8th century contemporary of Isaiah). I then point out the lesser known feature of the prophecy the follows in the next verse. “Therefore (for this cause) will He (Yahweh) ‘give them up’ UNTIL the time that she who travails has brought forth; then shall the remnant of His brethren return to the children of Israel (Mic 5:3). The chosen nation is to be “given up UNTIL …”. This is the language of divine abandonment. What are the implications? What provocation was so great as to evoke such ominous language, anticipating the tragic nature of Jewish history?

The next verse shows that the return of “His brethren” coincides with the universal dominion of the ruler from Bethlehem. Exile ends forever with the Davidic king’s rod-iron rule over all nations that begins when His enemies are made His footstool with the destruction of the last invader of the gentiles (Ps 2:6-9; 110:1-6; Mic 5:4-6). This is the arch-persecutor whom Paul, citing Isa 11:4, will call, ‘the man of sin’, (compare Paul’s use of the Septuagint’s translation, “the Ungodly One” with the KJV’s, “that Wicked; 2Thes 2:8).

That verse 2 speaks of Israel’s promised Messiah from David’s line is undisputed by the Rabbis who freely acknowledge the Messiah’s pre-existence but do not accept any inference of deity. Indeed, the Hebrew does not require it, as examples can be shown where the language means only the days of old, but it is also understood that were a kind of divine son-ship in view, as in Christian theology, there is no other terminology in the Hebrew language that could more definitely indicate deity and co-eternality. Yet, if we compare Isaiah’s use of very similar language for the Davidic Messiah (Isa 7:14; 9:6-7 from Gen 3:15; Ps 2:7; 110:1-4), the evidence begins to mount in the direction of a divine figure.

By connecting verse 1 with verse 3 it becomes evident that the reason for the abandonment of verse 3, (“He shall give them up”), is that the smitten judge of verse 1 was not, as usually assumed, a mere humiliation of Israel’s contemporary king by the invading army (whether Hezekiah by the Assyrians, or Zedekiah by the Babylonians, as variously suggested), but the smitten judge was, in fact, the Messiah from Bethlehem who was rejected by “His brethren” (keeping in mind the Joseph analogy).

It has been well said that when we see a “therefore” in scripture, we need to pay close attention to what it’s ‘there for! ‘Therefore’ marks the transition from what is said and what the results or consequences are of what has been said. In this instance, I point out that the “therefore” (‘for this cause’) of verse 3 stands in causal connection to the smiting of the ruler of Israel in verse 1. The insertion of verse 2 between the cause of verse 1 and the effect of verse 3 explains the enormity of the offense that brings the judgement of Yahweh’s abandonment of the chosen people. It is because the smitten judge of verse 1 is not just any king or governor of Israel. He is the ruler from David’s line who has no beginning who brings the kingdom that has no end. The time in view is NOT the time of His birth, nor His ascension to the right hand of God, but when He comes (returns?) to destroy the final enemy (Ps 110:1-2; Isa 11:4; Mic 5:5-6).

The degree of punishment implies a greater crime than the more common sins of idolatry and covenant disloyalty from which there would a measure of recovery and revival, as under the prophets, Zechariah and Haggai, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Rather, the enormity of the punishment implies something more than sins in general, but a particular, consummate offense. This is evident in Hos 5:15-6:2 where the end of exile and the resurrection of the nation to begin the messianic age awaits acknowledgement, not simply of sins, or guilt in general, but of one offense in particular (compare also Zech 12:10, and Mt 23:39; Jn 19:37; Rev 1:7).

Such a long and unremitting experience of exile can only be explained by an offense that is on the scale of the national rejection (smiting) of God’s Messiah, the Davidic king whom He calls His son in Ps 2:7. It should not be lost on our attention that the prophet Isaiah, who is notably a contemporary of Micah, uses the same language to describe the suffering servant of Isa 50 and 53 who is likewise smitten by both the nation and by God as an atonement for sin. (compare, Job 16:10; Ps 69:26; Isa 50:6; 53:4, 10; Mic 5:1; Zech 13:7; Lam 3:30; Mt 26:31, 67-68; 27:30). .

Because it is so important to be clear on Israel’s predestined restoration to covenant favor, we are careful to emphasize that the “giving up” of Israel is never permanent, but only “UNTIL” the time of ‘Zion’s travail’. It is also important to point out that Micah’s reference to Israel’s travail is typical OT language for the great and unequaled tribulation (“Jacob’s trouble”) that ends in the spiritual birth or resurrection of the nation (compare Deut 4:30; Isa 13:8; 26:16-17; 66:8; Jer 30:6-7; Dan 12:1; Hos 5:15; Mic 5:3).

Most will have heard of the coming “great tribulation”, referred to in popular idiom as ‘the apocalypse’. The concept of a final great tribulation of unequaled severity was once a common theme in the eschatology of Judaism. The transition from exile to redemption was understood to follow a time of great and unequaled tribulation, which the Rabbis called “the messianic woes,” or “the footsteps of the Messiah.”

The Micah passage is only the first plank of evidence. The strength of the argument is in the cumulative evidence for a foretold prophetic mystery that is distributed here and there throughout the writings of the prophets (Isa 8:14-17; 28:9-13; 29:11; Dan 9:24; 12:9; 1Pet 1:11; Ro 16:25-26).

Pointing out the implications of Micah 5:1-4 for both comings of Messiah to Israel provides the perfect opportunity to turn to another significant “until” passage from the Old Testament, Hos 5:15-6:2. Here again, a time of divine desertion is in view, which can be shown to correspond to the two days of exile and the age long chastisement that ends with Israel’s national repentance and resurrection (Hos 6:2 with Isa 26:19-20; Eze 37:5, 11-12; Dan 12:1-2; Hos 13:13-14).

Notice that in both the Hosea passage and the Micah passage; the cause for divine desertion is blamed, not on guilt or transgression in general, but on a singular ‘offense’ or transgression. The nation’s release from the judgment of exile and tribulation comes when this particular offense is acknowledged (Hos 5:15; Zech 12:10; with Mt 23:39; Acts 3:19-21; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7). Once again, we see that the transition comes “in their affliction” (Deut 4:30; Isa 48:10; Jer 30:6-7; Dan 12:1). It is important to stress that the day of national deliverance is always depicted as coming after a brief, but unequaled time of national birth pangs, affliction, or tribulation called “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Deut 4:30; 32:36; Isa 13:6-8; 26:17-18; 66:8; Mic 4:9; 5:3; Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1, 7; Mt 24:21).

Significantly, Hosea depicts the departure and return of God in language that fits the presence, departure, and return of the Messiah to His former place in heaven, as now ‘sit down’ (term of completion) at God’s right hand, “waiting till His enemies are made His footstool when He shall begin His rod-iron rule out of Zion (Ps 2:8-9; 110:1-2; Hos 5:15; Heb 10:12-13). It is important to point out that the One who departs to His place, returns when the offense that provoked His departure is finally acknowledged. This corresponds to Zech 12:10. “They shall look up Me whom they have pierced.” The manifest analogy with Joseph becomes even more compelling in light of Mt 23:39. “You will not see me again ‘till’ you will say, “Blessed is He who comes …”  Zech 12:10, used with Mt 23:39, takes on glorious force in relationship to the prophetic type of Joseph’s reunion with his estranged brethren. It is the fitting dénouement to the most costly, fiercely pursued love story ever conceived.

The smiting of the divine son of David is the key to determining when the two days of Hos 6:2 begins. The time of Israel’s final giving up conincides with the two days that begins when the smitten ruler returns to His place at the Father’s right hand, expecting till His enemies are made His footstool at Antichrist’s destruction and the return of the kingdom to Israel. (compare Mic 5:1-5; Hos 5:15-6:3). This is the ultimate provocation that caused the One who “came to His own” but was ‘despised’ of the nation (Ps 22:6; Isa 49:7; 53:3; Hos 9:7; Jn 1:11) to “go away and return to His place” (Hos 5:15 w/ Ps 110:1-3; Mt 22:44; 26:64; Acts 1:11; 2:34; 3:21; 7:56; Ro 8:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2). You can see how amazingly well Mic 5:1-4 and Hos 5:15-6:2 go together in setting forth this basic outline of prophetic history.

The order and the way one proceeds from here will be a matter of personal adaptation and choice, but at this point, I like to point out that the unexpected interval between two distinct comings of Messiah covers, not only the full time that God is hiding His face in disapproval (Deut 31:17-18; 32:20; Isa 8:17; Eze 39:24, 29), but it particularly marks the time that the Deuteronomic threat would be fulfilled that during Israel’s estrangement from covenant favor, another people, a ‘not a people’, would be called to make Israel jealous. (Deut 32:21; Isa Isa 49:5; 65:1; with Mt 21:43; Acts 14:27; 15:14; Ro 10:19; 11:11; 1Pet 2:9-10). This is the time of Messiah’s session at God’s right while His face remains hidden, as the vision and prophecy remains sealed from the errant nation who have not yet come into the everlasting righteousness of the New Covenant sealed by the ascended Redeemer’s blood (Ps 110:1-2; Isa 8:14-17; Isa 59:20-21; Jer 32:40; Dan 9:24).

This great and unexpected reversal begins with rejection of the ‘corner stone’ (Isa 8:14-15; 28:16; Mt 21:42; Acts 4:11; 1Pet 2:8) and continues until the Spirit is poured out upon the surviving remnant (Ezek 39:28-29; Joel 2:28; Zech 12:10). “From that day and forward the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God (Ezek 39:22). “And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God” (Ezek 39:29; compare also Isa 8:17; 59:19-21; Ro 11:25-27). This basic order of ongoing covenant discipline and the hiding of God’s face between the advents needs to be brought to Jewish attention, so that what many refuse to consider now, they will consider perfectly. “In the latter days, you will consider it perfectly” (see Deut 32:29; Isa 1:3; 42:22-25; Jer 23:30; 30:24)

After the two days of divine absence (Mt 23:39) that perfectly parallels the age long “giving up” of Israel described in Mic 5:3 and Hos 5:15-6:2, the rejected ruler from Bethlehem returns to revive the blinded nation by a miracle of revelation and regeneration that accomplishes the return and reunion of His estranged brethren (the broken off branches). With this, the covenant with Israel is vindicated, as Messiah begins His universal, rod-iron rule over the nations from a restored Zion (Mic 5:4). Notice how the language, “then the remnant of His brethren shall return” is so profoundly evocative of Joseph’s family reunion at the moment of his self revelation to his brethren who had formerly rejected and sold him.

If I am speaking to Christians who have heard of the millennium, I point out that the Jews are raised to live out the third day in His sight as a newly born / newly revived, now entirely regenerate nation (Isa 54:13; 59:21; 60:21; Jer 31:34 et al). Thus, the third day in which the resurrected nation lives in His sight, corresponds perfectly to the NT revelation of the thousand year reign that follows Messiah’s return.

With the national confession and repentance that concludes the second day, the resurrected nation then lives out the third day of millennial glory as an all living (fully regenerate) nation that has now come into the ‘everlasting righteousness’ of covenant promise (Jer 32:40; Dan 9:24). With the new heart and spirit that is no longer the experience of only a remnant (Eze 18:31), but now the entirety of a fully regenerate with none left among them who do not know the Lord (Jer 31:34; Eze 39:22), never again to depart (Isa 54:10; 59:21; Jer 32:40), the Land can now be kept in  guaranteed security, forever beyond the threat of curse and exile (2Sam 7:10; 1Chron 17:9; Isa 54:15-17; Jer 24:6-7; Eze 37:25-28; Am 9:14-15).

At this point, I will typically share my personal conviction that the two days should be reckoned from the point of the Lord’s return “to His place”.  The time of abandonment begins, not with the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D., but when Jesus returned to His former glory in heaven, to take His seat of authority and rule at the Father’s right hand. There He remains until another great ‘until’ of prophecy, “until His enemies are made His footstool” (see Ps 110:1-2), and from thence He will return “at the set time to favor Zion” (Ps 102:13; 110:3). The following verse, Ps 110:3, shows that the same time Messiah’s enemies are made His footstool, the nation, long apostate, is made ‘willing in the day of His power” (i.e., the day of the Lord). With this, the long captivity is over forever, as the times of the gentiles close with the Deliverer’s descent out of Zion to turn ungodliness from Jacob (Lk 21:24; Ro 11:25-29).

In His parting words, Jesus declares to the nation who would not be gathered, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mt 23:38-39). With Israel’s fall, a “door of faith” would now be opened to the gentiles (Deut 32:21; Isa 49:5; 65:1; Acts 14:27; 15:14; Mt 21:43; Ro 1:5; 10:19; 16:25-26; 1Pet 2:9).

The death of Jesus would mark an unexpected extension of the long night of exilic judgment that must continue “UNTIL the times of the gentiles be fulfilled” (Lk 21:24). In the meantime, something completely unexpected would interpose itself into the eschatological time line. That is the present calling out of the gentiles a people for His name (Mt 24:14; 28:19; Acts 14:27; 15:14; Ro 16:26). This was, of course, very much expected but only in connection with the ‘end’ of exile, never as a result of Israel’s greater fall and further hardening (Ro 11:11). Though fully ‘written’ and foretold in the prophetic writings, all of this belonged to the mystery hidden in other ages (Isa 8:16; 29:11; Acts 26:22; Ro 16:25-26; 1Cor 2:7-8; 1Pet 1:11).

Astonishingly, before Israel’s regeneration and return, before the tribulation (Zion’s travail; Isa 66:7-8), not with Israel’s deliverance and exaltation, but “through their fall” (Ro 11:11). This unexpected turn took everyone by surprise. “Though Israel be NOT gathered”, yet,  Messiah’s labors would not be in vain, but receive a more immediate reward and vindication among the gentiles (Isa 49:5-6; 65:1). Even while the saved remnant will continue to ‘wait on Him who hides His face from Israel’ (Isa 8:17), the sealed vision, what Paul calls the ‘hidden wisdom’ is ‘bound up and sealed among My disciples’ (Isa 8:16). It is the ‘mystery of the gospel’ by which the gentiles are made fellow partakers and joint heirs with the household of faith (Ro 16:25-26; Eph 2:19; 3:5-6; 6:18).

Paradox of paradox, only in this way could the Deuteronomic threat of Moses be fulfilled, that for a certain season, during the nation had been ‘given up’, another people (‘not a people’ / gentiles) would be blessed in their place. How better to understand the great extension of exilic judgment than by the nation’s failure to recognize “the time of their visitation” resulting in the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus? (Mt 23:39 with Lk 19:44; Acts 2:23). In this light, few things uttered by mortal lips could be more chilling and prophetic than the tragic self-imprecation invoked in Pilate’s judgment hall, “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Mt 27:24-25).

By following through, using, and underlining for emphasis, the highly significant ‘tills’ and ‘untils’ of prophecy, the way is made clear to show that Israel’s blindness and exile is both temporary and everywhere connected to their national resurrection at Messiah’s return. With the question raised as to what great offense would be sufficient to condemn the nation to such an extended exile, one might turn to compare in Dan 9:26, where one called a ‘messiah’ is ‘cut off’, noting the same language is used to describe Isaiah’s suffering servant in Isa 53:8. Like Micah’s smitten king, He is likewise smitten, stricken, and despised of His own brethren (Isa 49:7; 50:6; 53:3-4). This comparison shows that the anonymous Servant in Isa 53 and the anointed Prince of Dan 9:26, are one and the same. He is the seed of the woman through whom the curse would be reversed by atoning substitution.

It is important to understand that the prophets well knew the implications of this most pregnant promise. Only one not under the curse could conceivably reverse it. Through unfolding revelation of David’s discernment of the significance of Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek and his own investing of his future greater son with transcendent attributes of deity at God’s right hand (without “beginning of days”; Ps 110:4; Mic 5:2; Heb 7:3, or ‘end of days’; Isa 9:6-7), we may be very sure that the prophets foresaw, not only the sufferings of Messiah and the glories that would follow (1Pet 1:11), but also His necessary sinlessness and divine nature (Ps 2:7; 110:1, 4; Isa 7:14; 9:6-7; Mic 5:2; Jer 23:6).

As contemporaries in the southern kingdom of Judah, both Isaiah and Micah saw and foretold that the ruler from David’s line would be (in significant pattern with the sufferings of the rejected Joseph and the afflictions of David), rejected, despised, and ‘smitten’ by “His own brethren” (Ps 22:6, 16; Isa 49:7; 50:6; 53:3-4; Mic 5:1-3; Zech 12:10; Jn 19:37; Rev 1:7). They understood that before Messiah would enter into His glory, He would first be made a trap and snare for pride and unbelief, as the divinely ordained stone of stumbling (Isa 8:14; 28:6; Mk 12:10-11; Acts 4:11; Ro 9:32-33; 1Cor 1:23; 2Cor 2:16; 1Pet 2:4-8).  But it is just here, at the point of Israel’s greater fall by the rejection of their Messiah, that both Micah and Hosea, also contemporaries, speak of an extended time of divine abandonment (Mic 5:3; Hos 5:15).

Among the covenant curses of Deuteronomy it is written that while God’s face would be hidden from the nation (Deut 31:17-18), at the same time, He would be provoking them to jealousy by another people, a ‘not a people’, a ‘foolish nation’ (Deut 32:20-21). The foretold surrender of Israel over to an age long hardening (Job 34:29; Isa 6:9-11; 29:11) would never be more than partial, of course, since God would always preserve to Himself a remnant.

God’s face was never hidden from the remnant, but the prophets looked to the time when, not only a remnant, but all Israel would be saved, entirely, and without exception, all would be righteous and their children after them preserved in righteousness forever (Isa 4:3; 45:25; 54:13; 50:21; 60:21; Jer 31:34; 32:40 et al), when the face of God would no longer be hidden from any part of the now fully redeemed nation (Isa 8:17; Eze 39:22, 28-29).

This situation of a lively remnant in abiding contrast with a disobedient nation under judgment would continue only ‘UNTIL’ the Spirit is poured upon us from on high …” (Isa 32:15-17). Not the concurrence of the pouring out of the Spirit with the spiritual birth of the nation in one day (Isa 66:8; Zech 3:9; Eze 39:22) whereupon the erring nation will at last and forever enter into everlasting righteousness of the New Covenant (Isa 66:8; Jer 31:3131-34; Eze 11:19; 36:26-27). But note; a new spirit was always in times past available to the remnant who would turn to the Lord in repentance (Prov 1:23; Isa 55:1-3; Eze 18:31).

Not knowing the mystery of Messiah’s two comings and the purpose of God for the gentiles during an unexpected inter-advent period, nor the expansion of the remnant to include the wild branches from among the gentiles during an extended exile between the advents, the pouring out of the Spirit was always associated with the end of the final tribulation at the day of the Lord. The hiding of God’s face, not from the remnant, from whom His face was never hidden, but from the nation as a whole, ends forever with pouring out of the Spirit upon the newly born (Isa 66:8), resurrected (Isa 25:8; 26:19; Eze 37:12; Hos 6:2; 13:14) , and now entirely regenerate nation of penitent survivors at the end of the great and final tribulation (Isa 8:17; Isa 54:7-8; 57:17-18; 59:21; 64:7; Eze 36:26-27; 37:14; 39:8, 13; 22-24, 39; Joel 2:29-31; Zech 12:10).

Not only had Moses foretold the great anomaly of gentile salvation at the very time the face of God would be hidden from the larger nation, but Isaiah is just as clear, particularly when an exceptionally stubborn and much debated textual variant is duly considered. Time forbids giving an account and full documentation of the argumentation that has passed between both Jewish and Christian scholars, but the wording that is actually present in our surviving manuscripts (Kethiv) for Isa 49:5, but also questioned by the marginal reading (Quere) in some manuscripts, requires us to understand that Messiah’s mission to gather the tribes Israel would meet with momentary disappointment and seeming failure (“though Israel be NOT gathered”; see note below).

This momentary disappointment would be vindicated by the more immediate expansion of Messiah’s mission to bring the light of salvation to the nations and isles afar off (Isa 42:1; 49:1, 6), not AFTER Israel has been restored, but during the time that Israel is NOT gathered. Such a reading, along with Isa 65:1, suggests that the gathering of the gentiles would not be limited to the post-tribulational salvation of the nation, (which is no less true and forthcoming), but to the time that follows the rejection of Messiah, Jesus (Isa 49:7; 53:3; Mic 5:1; Zech 12:10).

This is just an opening for all the many evidences that can then, time permitting, be added to demonstrate the gospel in the Old Testament. Not only as a mystery that pertains to Christ’s two comings, but as a mystery that reveals God’s plan in all its glorious relationship to the fall and rising again of Israel. As I said, it provides a port of entrance by which one can move freely, fitting each additional piece into the framework that the mystery establishes of Messiah’s two comings and the extended judgment of exile that continues until His return.

It is certainly well known that the two comings of Christ were foretold in prophecy, but the approach that I am commending here underscores and proves the relation of the second coming to Israel in particular. Then all the great points of divine contention that the end events will press to ultimate intensity can be considered in their proper context. This is something much more than the mere acknowledgement of prophetic fulfillment. It raises all the great issues of God that surface when we understand that the end of the age comes in relation to what Isaiah calls the “controversy of Zion” (Isa 34:8; Zech 12:2-3).

By demonstrating this structural outline of the mystery of Christ and Israel, one is able to verify from OT prophecy, that between the comings of Christ, the face of God is hidden from the nation at the very same time that God is provoking the Jew to jealousy by another people (the preponderantly Gentile church; Deut 32:21; Isa 49:5; 65:1 with Mt 21:43; Ro 10:19; 11:11). These scriptures establish the context and time for the calling out of a people from among the Gentiles (Acts 14:27; 15:14-18; Ro 11:15-17, 25) during the time that God is hiding His face from the nation as a whole (Deut 31:17-18; 32:20; Isa 8:17; Ezek 39:29; Mic 3:4).

I say “the nation as a whole,” because the face of God is not hidden from the elect remnant, among whom the testimony is “sealed up and bound” (Isa 8:16). The Spirit has already revealed the mystery of the gospel to the church (Ro 16:25-26 w/ Dan 11:32-33; 12:3, 10). What is waiting is for the Spirit to be poured out “in the whole house of Israel” at the day of the Lord (Isa 44:3; 59:21; Ezek 37:11, 14; 39:25, 29; Joel 2:28-29; Zech 12:10). Then will the ‘sealed vision’ be revealed to the penitent remnant of Israel by the outpoured Spirit of God (compare Isa 8:16-17 w/ Dan 9:24; Ezek 39:29; Zech 12:10) in the same way that the gospel was revealed by the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 3:18-21 w/ 1Pet 1:11-12). From this we can see that Israel’s national regeneration “in one day” (Isa 66:8; Ezek 39:22; Zech 3:9; 12:10) stands in remarkable analogy to the amazing sovereignty of Christ’s revelation of Himself to Paul on the Damascus road (Gal 1:15-16 w/ Ps 102:13).

Ezekiel is clear that “from that day and forward” (Ezek 39:22), God’s face will never more be hidden from any part of the whole house of Israel (Ezek 39:28-29). From that time, every living Jewish survivor of the last tribulation (Jer 31:34), and every child ever born to Jewish parentage (Isa 54:13; 59:21), will ‘all’ know the Lord in the glory of the everlasting covenant (Isa 60:21; Jer 31:34). This is the covenant background behind Paul’s statement, “And so ‘all’ Israel shall be saved” (Ro 11:26).

The gentile believer, no less than the Jewish believer, needs to be prepared to show the evidence of the gospel as a prophetic mystery contained in the Old Testament, not only for the useful goal of personal salvation, but because God has literally ‘commanded’ that the mystery of the gospel should be made known to all nations (not only to Jews) “by the scriptures of the prophets” (Acts 18:28; Ro 16:26). Prophecy is God’s own chosen method of witness (Isa 41:21-22; 42:9; 43:10-12; 44:7-8; 45:11; 46:9-10; Rev 19:10). It is like Paul’s reference to the weakness and ‘foolishness” of preaching; it is the approach that has “pleased God.”

From the standpoint of evangelism, the early church made a point to proclaim the gospel as a revelation a mystery (Eph 6:19) that was completely foretold in the Old Testament (Acts 26:22), but yet kept secret until the set time of revelation (Isa 8:16; 29:11; Ro 16:25-26). Should this also be our approach to evangelism? I believe it should for the following reasons:

Among Jews of the first century, the test for any truth claim was the question: “Does it stand written?” The revelation of the gospel was commended, by the apostles, to Israel on one basis only, namely, its agreement with what Moses and the prophets foretold. Approaching the witnessing task in this way does some very important things. At the same time that it validates the gospel, it also shows decisive evidence for the miracle of prophecy. The demonstration of the divine purpose of God in prophecy gives purpose and meaning to history, which opens a door of hope to the hopeless, even as it removes the intellectual excuse. (Even when our witness does not result in someone’s salvation, God has willed the removal of the “hiding place” for purposes of clarity in His judgment (Ps 51:4; Isa 6:10; 28:13; Jn 15:22).

This original approach to evangelism also accomplishes something else that is very important but too slightly considered in modern times. It establishes the gospel as a mystery that was intentionally hidden until the time of its full revelation with the advent of the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 3:18-21; Ro 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:11-12). We need to understand why the gospel of Christ was a mystery, because it bears greatly on how we understand the last days of this age.

There was a divine strategy to expose and defeat the principalities and powers of this present age by keeping the mystery of God’s hidden wisdom concerning Christ secret until after its accomplishment (compare Mk 8:30; 9:9; “see you tell no man;” w/ 1Cor 2:7-8; “For had they (the principalities and powers) known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”. The mystery was a divinely prepared trap and snare against all self sufficient presumption, both human and demonic (Ps 69:22 w/ Isa 8:14-15; 28:16; Mt 21:42; 1Pet 2:6-8). In that sense, it was hidden for judgment (Jn 9:39).

Before its revelation, the gospel, though completely foretold, was a divinely designed mystery (the sealed testimony or vision; Isa 8:16; 29:11; Dan 9:24; 12:4, 9) prepared to function not only as revelation to the repentant, but as judgment to the impenitent. The church needs to present the gospel for the mystery that it was, and also for the revelation that it will yet be to the penitent survivors of Jacob’s trouble at the future day of the Lord.

The mystery of the gospel includes both comings of Christ, and the second coming is inextricably related to literal-physical Israel and all that pertains to the Antichrist, the tribulation, and Christ’s return at the day of the Lord. The greater mystery of God (Rev 10:7), “the mystery of His will” (Eph 1:9), or “the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ” (Eph 1:11), reveals God’s predestined means of fulfilling in literal detail His everlasting covenant with Israel. That is why it is so essential that the church understand its relationship to Israel’s future grace, since it is the same covenant of sure mercies, as established with Abraham and David.

In order for the hidden wisdom of God’s prophetic purpose in Christ to be concealed from the demonic realm, it was also necessary that it be hidden from man as well (Mt 13:35; Ro 16:25; Eph 3:5). Even after the mystery of the gospel has been revealed to the church in its outward form, its inner essence remains hidden and inaccessible to pride (Mt 11:25; 1Cor 2:14). It is not enough that the outward form of the gospel be only understood with the mind; it must be quickened by the Spirit, as only revelation by the Spirit is sufficient to create lasting inward transformation (2Cor 3:18). Enough evidence will make even a devil “believe” (Ja 2:19), but true trust in God is foreign to our nature. It must be in-wrought by the life giving Spirit of God.

This understanding of the ways of God in mystery as judgment, and through revelation as mercy, saves the church from taking for granted the extravagant cost and scope of the work of God with both Jew and gentile in His continual war against the pride of self-reliance. It brings into view a further aspect of God’s ability to accomplish both judgment and salvation by His wise use of a prophetic mystery that is at once His glory and special delight.

Paul spoke about the “fellowship of the mystery” (Eph 3:9 KJV), as a “hidden wisdom, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (1 Cor 2:7). This carries huge implications for the church, not only for its more intelligent appreciation of the cost and glory of the gospel, but for its understanding of the modern crisis of Israel as we approach the concluding stages of the same prophetic mystery, as this mystery will again confront Israel (Isa 28:11-18), the church (Ro 11:25; 1Pet 4:17), and the nations (Ps 2:1-2, 6; Isa 29:7-8; 34:2, 8; Dan 11:28, 30; 40-45; Joel 3:2; Zeph 3:8; Zech 12:2-3, 9; 14:2-3).

It raises the issue of God’s employment of mystery and revelation in His conquest of Satan (Dan 10:12-13; 1Cor 2:7-8; Rev 12:7-10), as it also tests and exposes the hearts of men. Although the prophetic mystery that stumbled Israel is now an open secret, it remains hidden from the pride of impenitence (Isa 28:21). Such a concept of revealed mystery by a God who “hides Himself” (Isa 45:15) provides a radical readjustment of how God is perceived in this aspect of His judgment upon all human and demonic autonomy. If the ultra religious sects of Israel was not spared in the day of an unrecognized visitation (Lk 19:44), how shall the pride of the church be spared (Ro 11:21; 1Pet 4:17), as we near the time that the “the mystery of God” (Rev 10:7) is about to be finished?

In conclusion, this plan of presentation shows the basic outline of history in prophecy, and makes sense of the unexpectedly long interval that has already passed between the first and second comings, which brings us now full circle again to an imminent world crisis over Jerusalem as a modern cup of trembling, evoking all the great issues of God that conclude the age. It makes sense out of all that has followed in Jewish history.

The case for a future tribulation that is focused primarily on the nation of Israel opens up opportunity to call attention to the contemporary fulfillment of prophecy and to draw out the implications of current trends. Time permitting, particularly when witnessing to Jews; one could expand on the ancient contention of the covenant (Lev 26; Deut 28-32; Ezek 20:37), and the explanation this provides for the mystery of Jewish suffering throughout history. The way is then made to show that the great goal of the covenant and the solution to the crisis of Jewish history is the revelation of the righteousness of God in Christ. This is the crux; all else is secondary by comparison. The entire New Testament is occupied to expound the righteousness promised to Israel in the everlasting covenant. (“For therein (the gospel) is the righteousness of God revealed… But now the righteousness of God is manifested …; Ro 1:17; 3:21-22, 25-26; 10:3-4; 16:26).

In covenant and prophecy, all lines lead to the revelation of Messiah as “the Lord our righteousness” (Jer 23:6). No other righteousness is adequate to fulfill the law and no other sacrifice is acceptable to assuage divine wrath. The imputed righteousness of Christ is the “the everlasting righteousness” (Isa 26:12; 45:24-25; 54:17; Jer 23:6; 32:40; Dan 9:24) of covenant promise that will enable Israel to keep the Land forever. It is the righteousness revealed to the church at the end 69th week of Daniel, as it will be revealed to the penitent remnant of Israel at the end of Daniel’s seventieth week, fitting the newly born nation (Isa 66:8) for its millennial inheritance.

The gap that the above scriptures expose between Christ’s two advents can be discerned in Daniel’s famous prophecy of the seventy weeks (Dan 9:24-27). A hidden age between the advents is a common characteristic of Old Testament prophecy, where both comings of Christ are often blended in the same prophecy without clear distinction. The phenomenon also appears in many passages where near and distant aspects of prophecy are combined.

We need to understand that God deliberately concealed the foretold gospel of Christ in the form of a prophetic mystery, revealed in parts and pieces (“here a little, and there a little”) throughout the prophetic writings of the Old Testament (Ro 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:11-12). This needs to be underscored, because Daniel’s mysterious prophecy of the seventy weeks constitutes a perfect example of the OT mystery of Messiah’s coming, departure, and return to Israel, as a secret, divinely sealed and ‘kept under wraps’, or ‘encrypted’ (the Hebrew sense of Isa 8:16 according to Keil and Delitzsch) until its revelation by the Spirit (compare also Dan 9:24; 12:4, 9; Ro 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:11-12 etc.)

This is not the place to make the full case, but the seventy weeks are strategically constructed around the two great mysteries of incarnation (the woman’s and the serpent’s seed of Gen 3:15) that mark the beginning and the end of this present age. In One (“Messiah the Prince”), the mystery of godliness is revealed (1Tim 3:16). In the other, “the prince that shall come” heads up the mystery of iniquity, which Paul shows must be revealed before Christ can return (2Thes 2:7).

It can be demonstrated beyond reasonable dispute that the final week (Dan 9:27) of Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks (Dan 9:24-27) is not in reference to Christ but the Antichrist. Therefore, a gap is necessarily observed between the 69th and 70th weeks. The controversy over whether the 70th week of Daniel is future, resolves itself into one decisive question: “Which of the two princes stops the daily sacrifice?” If the evidence within the immediate context of the book is given due priority, the answer is irrefutable. It is “the one who exalts himself” (compare Dan 8:11 w/ Dan 11:31-37; 2Thes 2:4).

Furthermore, chapter 12 of Daniel is particularly decisive in making the case for the futurity of Daniel’s final week, because it makes clear that the sacrifice that is stopped in “the middle of the week” in Dan 9:27, happens approximately 3 ½ years (1290 days) before the resurrection of the dead (compare Dan 12:1-2 with Dan 12:11; see also, Dan 7:25; 12:7; Rev 11:2-3; 12:16, 14; 13:5). To suppose that the 70th week of Daniel follows the 69th in unbroken succession is to ignore the internal evidence within the book, but worse, it is to miss the divinely intended mystery that will continue to offend the rationalism of higher criticism.

So the great tribulation is clearly the second half of the last seven years that starts with a covenant or league (Dan 9:27; 11:23) that is made with “the prince that shall come.” He is the Antichrist (“little horn” or “Man of Sin”) who makes the “covenant with death hell” that seduces Israel into a false sense of security (Isa 28:15-18; Dan 11:24 ASV). The false security that results from this ill-fated peace treaty (Ezek 38:8, 11, 14) prepares the way for the “sudden destruction” (1Thes 5:3) of Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Mt 24:21). Therefore, the tribulation starts at the mid point of the week when the Antichrist violates the covenant that he earlier confirmed at the start of the week (Dan 9:27; 11:23-31).

No single prophecy could ever be more important for the end time church to understand (“Let the reader understand;” Mt 24:15) than Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks (Dan 9:24-27). Careful attention to Daniel is vital for opening up and showing so much else that is critically relevant for the church’s preparation for its role in these last days towards Israel and the nations (Dan 11:33; 12:3, 10). The specific chronology of Daniel is particularly dreaded by Satan, because his eviction by Michael in the middle of week (Rev 12:9-10) is directly related to the prophetic countdown of events that start with the beginning of Daniel’s seventieth week.

[Note 1: We have followed K and 4QIsd in reading lo‘ (‘not’; cf also Vg, Sym, Th), rather than Q and 1QIsa lô (‘to him’; cf also LXX, Tg, Syr). The latter reading implies the meaning ‘and so that Israel might be gathered to him’, which makes easier sense but thus seems to be a correction. Goldingay, J., & Payne, D. (2006). A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Isaiah 40–55. (G. I. Davies & G. N. Stanton, Eds.) (Vol. 2, p. 162). London; New York: T&T Clark.

[Note 2: That the book of Daniel has suffered greater attack by liberal scholarship than any other book of the Bible should alert the conservative believer to Satan’s special fear and hatred of its contents. (see Sir Robert Anderson’s, “Daniel in the Critics Den.” More recently, Josh McDowell has written an update of Anderson’s material by the same title.)]

[Note 3: The futurity of the entire seven years of Daniel’s seventieth week was specifically affirmed by Hippolytus (170-236 AD) in his “Treatise on Christ and Antichrist” (Ante Nicene Fathers Vol 5, Pt. 2:43). Hippolytus was a disciple of Irenaeus, who was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John. So the really presumptuous allegation that the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel is an invention of modern 19th century dispensationalism is patently false. On the contrary, the much maligned “gap theory” is intrinsic to the mystery of Christ in the Old Testament.]

Reggie

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I’ve been listening to your commentary on Isaiah 28 and you said at one point:

“Didn’t He tell you He would make you jealous by a foolish people?”
and
“Didn’t He tell you that while He’s hiding his face there is a secret….?”

I know the first is from Dt 32:21. What scripture were you referencing in the second?

Deuteronomy 32:21 is not the only verse that implies the calling out of gentiles before the millennium during one of the stages of Israel’s covenant judgement. It was well known that Israel’s exaltation from the death of exile would abound to the salvation of the nations, but that this would come during the exile and even BECAUSE of Israel’s fall was not expected and constitutes the great anomaly that is at the heart of the mystery. I hope to find those scriptures that compliment Deut 32 in showing salvation extending to the gentiles, not after but during the time of Israel’s fall and estrangement.

The scripture on the mystery that I was speaking of in particular was Isa 8:14-17. It appears by inference in Isa 28, and strongly by name in Isa 29:11. It is the ‘sealed vision’ or ‘testimony’ (really essentially the gospel of Christ’s two comings) that is shut up (Heb. ‘kept under wraps’) “among MY (not Isaiah’s, but the Lord’s) disciples (the nascent church).

I’m just now noticing how nearly some of the language in Isa 29 parallels Habakkuk, where the prophetic testimony is called ‘the vision’ that many will “run” with at the end, as shown by Daniel (Dan 8:26; 9:24; 12:4, 9) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:2-3), reaching all the way back to Deut 32:34 where God speaks of His sealed treasure, and that treasure is in how He has determined to convert corporate Israel to His image by appointing the time when their power will be gone (Deut 32:36). In other words, it is the glory of His pre-determined wisdom and plan to accomplish the vindication of His covenant purpose with the very people who have been such a grief to His heart. See what I mean?

So when Daniel speaks of the sealing of vision and prophecy, and speaks particularly of its unsealing at the time of the end, it has reference to two basic points of time that bound this present, formerly hidden, age. The sealed vision of Isaiah, Habakkuk, and Daniel is the gospel that has been unsealed for these last days. I see the term, ‘last days,’ as covering the whole time between our Lord’s two advents. That is why the early apostles could follow Jesus’ language of a “mystery” of the kingdom with language of the “mystery of the gospel” (Ro 16:25; Eph 6:19), which was hidden from the powers (1Cor 2:7-8) as strategic to their defeat. But there is also the capping off of the vision towards the very end in the final acts that surround the revelation of the mystery of iniquity in the final man of sin and the fullness that comes to the church when these final pieces come into place.

So although the mystery is mostly revealed in terms of the two advents and the future day of the Lord that can now be seen as the return of a Messiah who has made atonement, still, there is more to be unsealed, particularly, I suspect, with the last days’ controversy of Zion, which I expect will have all to do with how the issue of the land is seen in relation to a people that are not yet righteous in Christ.

That is what I expect will be a centerpiece of controversy and testing of the heart. I believe God is testing the hearts of men over the issue of His covenant promise and declared determination with regards to Israel and the Land. This is what I see as a principal if not THE principal stumbling block of the mystery in its last stage of fulfillment.

In short, the mystery that was hid in other ages is no longer hidden in one sense. It is an open secret in terms of open availability. There was a time when it was hidden from all flesh, even the righteous. Now it is only hidden from them that are lost, but it is available to anyone through the Spirit. But though it’s been once and for all revealed in that sense, there remains some aspects of the closing act at the end that is not fully unsealed until that time.

So, in a way, the end of the ages has come. We are in the ‘last days’ but the ‘end’ has not come, and when Daniel speaks of ‘the end,’ he has in view the time of the unequaled tribulation that ends in the deliverance of his people (Dan 12:1). This means that what has been revealed to the church (the maskilim / disciples), will not be revealed to the larger nation until the end of the time that God’s face is hidden from the nation, as whole. In the meantime, though available through the Spirit’s revelation, the mystery is hidden from the pride of the fleshpride, even Christian pride and complacency towards God’s covenant determination with Israel (Ro 11:25), but for those who stand in His full counsel, the vision gets clearer to the perfect day. It will be even further ‘unsealed’ at the time of “the end” in that stricter meaning of Daniel’s use of the phrase, “the end.” See what I mean?

Reggie

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Would you say that the “everlasting covenant” is synonymous with the “new covenant,” and are there any details you would give to fill in the meaning of that covenant?

I would say that there is no difference. In the prophets the Everlasting / New Covenant (‘covenant of peace’ etc.) is envisioned in connection with the salvation of the day of the Lord that follows a time of great transition that may be called, ‘Zion’s travail’ (Deut 4:30; Isa 13:5-8; 26:16-17; 66:8; Mic 5:3; Hos 5:15; 6:1-2). This is the time that Jeremiah would call, ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ (Jer 30:6-7), and Daniel would call, ‘a time of trouble, unequaled since there was nation.’ (Dan 12:1). Jesus uses very nearly the same language of Jeremiah and Daniel to speak of the unequaled ‘great tribulation’ (Mt 24:21) that ends in His return in clouds of glory (Mt 24:29-30; Rev 1:7). Likewise, Daniel is very clear that the unequaled tribulation ends in the deliverance of Israel and the resurrection of the righteous (Dan 12:1-2, 13). Finally, John in the Revelation will speak of ‘the tribulation, the great one’ (Rev 7:14). We see then that in both testaments the tribulation without equal marks the transition between this age and the age to come. The rabbis would call this time, ‘the footsteps’ or ‘birth pangs of the Messiah.’

From the standpoint of the prophets, the everlasting covenant is established when the Spirit of the Lord is poured out in connection with the post-tribulational deliverance of Israel (Isa 32:15-18; 59:21; Eze 36:26-28; 39:29; Joel 2:29-30; 3:15-16, 20-21; Zech 12:10). The day of national regeneration (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22) is followed by a final and complete return to the Land that leaves no Jewish survivor behind (Isa 27:12-13; Eze 39:28). “From that day and forward” (Eze 39:22), the face of God is no more hidden from the nation (Eze 39:28-29). Every penitent Jewish survivor, and all the children born to them after the renewal, will ALL know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, so that never again will a Jewish inhabitant of the Land need to be evangelized (Isa 54:13; 59:21; 66:22; Jer 31:34). Moreover, none of the seed of Israel will ever again depart from this blessed estate (Isa 59:21; Jer 32:40). This is how the covenant can guarantee permanent security in the Land without further threat of exile (2Sam 7:10; Isa 32:17-18; 54:9-10, 14, 17; Jer 23:6; 30:10; 31:40; 32:37; Eze 34:25, 27-28; Hos 2:18; Amos 9:15; Zeph 3:13).

Paul’s expectation of the necessary reattachment of the natural branches is based on the covenant language of Isa 27:9; 59:21; Jer 31:34 with Ro 11:26-29. For Paul, the NC is not completely fulfilled until it has reached its climax in the day of the Lord salvation of ‘all Israel’ (Ro 11:26). This controversial phrase has been understood in a number of ways. Perhaps the most common interpretation is that Paul has in view the full gathering of all the elect, which some see as including a further ‘fullness’ of elect Jews from among the natural branches (Ro 11:12, 15). Because the landward side of the covenant has been so ignored by the church, belief in a future fullness for the Jewish branches is seldom associated with national salvation and return to the Land. This ought not so to be, since the landward side of the promise is an inalienable feature of the everlasting / new covenant, a ‘without which not’ of its ultimate fulfillment (Ps 105:10-11; Isa 60:21; 61:7-9; Jer 31:36; 32:39-41; Eze 37:25-26).

Our view is that Paul’s use of the phrase envisions precisely what the prophets envisioned, namely, the spectacle of an entirely saved Jewish nation (Isa 4:3; 54:13; 60:21; 59:21; Jer 31:34), serving the nations whose populations are not so uniformly born again. In contrast with the perennial presence of a remnant that would go into exile with the nation, the eternal salvation of the nation in its entirety (Isa 45:17, 25) assures of everlasting continuance in the Land (Mic 5:4). This is the ‘eschatology of the covenant’ from the OT perspective. .

When we come to the NT, the revelation of the ‘mystery of the gospel’ brings to light the ground and basis of the NC in what the writer of Hebrews will call, “the blood of the everlasting covenant.” The revelation of the mystery of the gospel does not, however, cancel or alter the full reach of the covenant promise in the ‘necessary’ covenanted salvation of ‘all Israel.’

This two stage aspect of the NC belongs to the mystery of Christ’s twofold advent, which introduces the ‘already and not yet’ pattern of NT fulfillment. The revelation of the basis of the NC in the death of Christ fulfills the promise of everlasting life reaching to the resurrection of the body for every regenerate believer. However, according to Paul, the NC has not reached its full goal until ‘all Israel’ dwells securely in their land as an entirely regenerate nation. The time of this great transition is clearly the future day of the Lord when the Deliverer comes out of Zion (Ro 11:25-27 with Isa 59:16-21; 63:4-5). The day of the Lord concludes the time that Paul calls, “the fullness of the gentiles” (Ro 11:25 with Eze 30:3; Lk 21:24). In contrast to ‘the times of the gentiles,’ or ‘the fullness of the gentiles,’ it is the time of “THEIR fullness” (Ro 11:12). Hence, the salvation of ‘all Israel’ is the end and open vindication of the everlasting covenant in the sight of all nations.

So we see the NC in two principal stages in the same way we see the salvation of Christ in two stages according the revelation of His twofold advent. It is the ‘already and the not yet’ pattern of NT fulfillment that is introduced by the revelation of the mystery of the gospel, which had been concealed in other ages in the prophetic writings (Ro 16:25-26; Eph 6:19). Unfortunately, the mystery has often been perverted to change and cancel what remains to yet be established with Israel. On the contrary, the NT no less than the OT anticipates the ‘restoration of all things,’ which the NT reveals as the time of Messiah’s second appearing (Acts 3:21; Heb 9:28). David spoke of a ‘set time’ to favor Zion (Ps 102:13), which the prophets would see in connection with a final travail of the nation that would end in the climactic day of the Lord (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22).

When Jesus returns at the post-tribulational day of the Lord (Mt 24:29; Acts 2:20), the elect remnant that will have survived the terrors of the great tribulation will then look (by revelation and not only sight) upon Him whom they pierced (Zech 12:10) in tender analogy to Joseph’s self-disclosure to his brethren (Mic 5:3-4; Mt 23:39). The beleaguered remnant, now at the end of their power (Deut 32:36; Dan 12:7), will be born “at once … in one day” (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7). We may note how such sudden and radical transformation of spiritual re-birth and resurrection bears remarkable analogy to Paul’s sovereign arrest on the Damascus road. It is now to be imagined what a nation of Pauls will mean for the further evangelization of the nations. This seems precisely what Paul anticipates in Ro 11:12, 15 (compare Isa 27:6; 60:3, 5; Mic 4:2; Zech 8:23).

Therefore, we conclude that for Paul, no less than the prophets, the everlasting covenant has not attained the full reach of its promise until it has arrived at the salvation of ‘all Israel.’ We have seen that this requires, as a covenanted necessity, the salvation of all the nation and not merely a larger remnant. This means that in order for the everlasting / new covenant to be fulfilled in all of its literal language and covenanted provisions, the prophets see a time on this present earth (after a final and unequaled tribulation) when there will not exist a single Jewish person that is unsaved. Admittedly, that is a radical proposition. It is certainly ‘against all odds,’ but a careful review of the above scriptures, if interpreted literally in their native context, seem to admit of no other explanation.

Yours in the Beloved, Reggie

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That title made me think that truly, the history of redemption from start to finish is ‘against all odds’. It was meant to be (Ro 8:20). Anything less would have never so greatly magnified the power, grace, and unlimited sovereignty of our covenant God (Ro 8:28).

God has chosen to embody His glory in weak, helpless, and even naturally hostile, jars of clay, not away in an invisible realm, but right here, right now, on earth, “in the presence of His enemies,” against all odds. As Spurgeon well said, “considering all things, those who hold out to the end in the way of holiness will be “men wondered at.” Indeed, our final perseverance will be to the wonderment of the angels.

Even more wondrous (though not more miraculous) is the really extravagant hope of a kingdom come to THIS earth, not off in the realm of the invisible, out of sight and beyond evidence, but here, on this earth, against all odds. The glory of God will be put on public display when in the same real, space-time history that witnessed the fall, all nations will be compelled to witness the very public resurrection and rebirth of Israel ‘in one day’ (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9).

After generations of wandering and exile, the Jew has returned to the Land, but the blindness that brought the exile continues for all but a very small remnant. For all the marvelous wonder that this represents for those who were expecting the literal fulfillment of prophecy, this is not the kingdom promised by the prophets. Although back in the Land after nineteen and a half centuries, Israel is still not saved. Therefore, Satan is not yet bound, nor is he silenced, as the question still rages, “Has God really said?”

That question is not finally answered by the revelation of the mystery of a first coming of Messiah that brings the kingdom in its spiritual essence. The ‘already’ of present fulfillment is only the earnest or first-fruits of the ‘not yet’ of a far greater number of highly detailed covenant promises that envision a kingdom of righteousness here on this earth, as all the formidable powers of the present evil age are broken and forced under its sway and authority.

What will be the proof that this kingdom has come on earth? Since the first century revelation of Christ’s twofold coming, that question has a new answer. That age will not begin when Messiah comes, but when He returns. Yet, in another sense, the powers of that coming day have already broken into this age by the revelation of the Spirit, but not to the exclusion of a further conquest of Satan’s kingdom awaits the final revelation of the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the great tribulation that precedes Christ’s return (2Thes 2:3, 7-8; Rev 10:7; 12:12).

The mystery of the gospel revealed an unexpected anomaly. The long awaited messianic salvation would be accomplished by the incarnation and atoning death of a twice coming Messiah (Isa 53:8; Dan 9:26; Zech 12:10) BEFORE the brief and unequaled tribulation (Deut 4:30; Hos 5:15; Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1). We lose the force of the formidable mystery that confronted first century Israel if we fail to observe that these passages in their original setting and language were not as clearly messianic as they now appear to the believer in retrospect.

Though fully foretold in the prophetic writings (Acts 3:18-21; 26:22), the mystery of Messiah’s twofold advent was not revealed until after Pentecost (Acts 3:21; Ro 16:25-26; 1Cor 2:7-8 with 1Pet 1:11). It is therefore not surprising that with the exception of John the Baptist (Jn 1:29), few, if any, would have been prepared to consider that the “man child” of Gen 3:15 would be born of a virgin and deal the fatal blow to the serpent’s head BEFORE Israel’s day of national deliverance.

Because the messianic deliverance was commonly (and rightly) expected to come AFTER the tribulation of ‘Jacob’s trouble’ and ‘Zion’s travail’ (compare Isa 13:8; 26:16-17; 66:7-8; Mic 5:3; Hos 5:15; Jer 30:6-7), the happenings in association with a necessary first coming to accomplish atonement and ascension to God’s right hand, were unknown until the revelation that came in the days following the resurrection (Lk 24:25-27; Acts 1:6), and first publicly proclaimed in Spirit and power at Pentecost (Acts 2:32-33; 3:18-21; 1Pet 1:12).

In view of such an unexpected, but demonstrably foretold order of events, we may be sure that the evidence for a salvation that would precede the post-tribulational day of the Lord would have been invoked as a centerpiece of Christian apologetic in the first century. This is evident by the way the book of Revelation contrasts the pre-tribulational birth and ascent of the man child with Satan’s unprecedented assault against the woman in the time of the brief tribulation (Rev 12:5, 12-14). Note also the amazing mystery implied in the significant use of the term, “before,” in Isa 66:7, in contrast with “as soon as” in Isa 66:8).

Contrary to the popular theology of replacement that has reigned in the church since the second century, the revelation of the mystery of the gospel did nothing to cancel or change the prophets’ vision of a restored Jewish nation after the tribulation. Instead, it revealed the greater glory of the nature and means of that “everlasting righteousness” promised in the covenant (Jer 32:40; Dan 9:24). The gospel reveals that particular kind of righteousness by which alone the kingdom is established in both in the heart and on the earth.  After the final tribulation (Dan 7:25; 12:1, 7), the kingdom of the heart will fill the whole earth (Dan 2:35, 44; 7:27).

The “mystery of the kingdom” reveals that God’s conquest of Satan is accomplished in stages. Since the cross, the legal ground of Satan’s final destruction has been accomplished, and his final defeat set in irreversible motion (1Jn 3:8). But notice, Satan’s final eviction from heaven does not come until the very beginning of the last and brief tribulation (Rev 12:9-10). Note that this eviction happens 3 1/2 years before Satan is bound to begin the millennium (Rev 20:2). Both of these further stages of his defeat are manifestly future. We judge then that the Spirit’s full enforcement of Christ’s conquest over Satan is accomplished in stages at predestined points of crisis and transition.

This implies that the Accuser’s continued access to heaven, though now illicit, is somehow related to the believer’s conscience. This brings the really interesting question of what it will mean for the Accuser to be finally cast down by Michael at the beginning of the tribulation (Dan 12:1 with Rev 12:7, 9-10, 12, 14). As a principle, the finished victory of Christ over the accuser of the brethren can be more deeply apprehended and appropriated, as the strength of the flesh is further broken through a similar pattern of crisis and transformational revelation, not only in the history of redemption, but also in the personal and corporate experience of the saints (Jn 16:21; Acts 14:22).

The accuser of the brethren is cast down by the revelation and / or deeper apprehension of Christ, as “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”. When this is truly and deeply apprehended by the Spirit of revelation, Satan’s ability to legislate his accusations against the believer’s conscience is broken, and there is fullness of joy, regardless of the circumstance.

The revelation of the gospel that was contained in a mystery in the prophetic scriptures (Ro 16:25-26), that has come already to the church (the maskilim) will come to Israel ‘in one day’ at the end of the tribulation (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9; 12:10). That is why, “In His (Messiah’s) days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer 23:6).

This is why it is an ‘everlasting righteousness’. It is nothing else than the righteousness of God Himself, as perfected in one place only. Our righteousness was perfected in the humanity of Jesus, not only by His death, but necessarily through His perfect fulfillment of the law. This is the righteousness that is counted to the believer, by which alone the transforming and empowering Spirit is given to the one “accepted ‘in’ the Beloved”.

It is a righteousness that is much to be distinguished for what it is and what it is not. It is all His and nothing of our own (Isa 54:17; with Ro 10:3; Phil 3:9). It will not bear mixture (Ro 11:6; Gal 2:16, 21). To presume to come before God in such a ‘mingled garment’ (Lev 19:19) is doomed to meet with a terrible divine intolerance (Mt 22:11-13; 7:22-23;  2Cor 5:11; ). “All other ground is sinking sand.”

This righteousness of God by faith which has come to the elect of this age must come to the nation of the long exile at the end of the last and unequaled trouble (Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1). The ‘everlasting righteousness’ that was brought in with the death of Christ at the end of Daniel’s 69th week, will break upon the understanding of the penitent remnant of Israel at the end of the 70th week. Then will the vision and prophecy that was unsealed to the church at Christ’s first advent (Isa 8:14-17; 29:11) will be unsealed to all Israel at the time of His return (Mic 5:3; Dan 9:24; 12:4, 9; Hos 5:15; Zech 12:10; Rev 10:7).   This is the full ‘bringing in of an ‘everlasting righteousness’ (Ps 119:42; Dan 9:24) anticipated in all the prophets, not only for a remnant, as always before, but now for “all Israel’, as a nation on this earth with an entirely saved population (Isa 4:3; 26:12; 43:7; 45:25; 54:13, 17; 59:21; 60:21; 61:9; 65:23; 66:22; Jer 31:34; 32:40; Zeph 3:9, 13 etc. et al).

Little wonder that theologians see this as only possible of fulfillment in heaven. For such enduring salvation to be received by the entirety of a nation made up of the actual descendants of the inquisitions and the death camps ‘s, dwelling in real physical bodies on this present earth is most especially, ‘against all odds’. Yet his is precisely what the prophets have in view when they speak of “the everlasting covenant” (Isa 61:8; Jer 32:40; Eze 16:60; 37:26). It is also what Paul has in mind when he says, “and so all Israel shall be saved” (Ro 11:26).

This is the climax of the covenant. It is God’s self appointed “mission impossible” in history. When THIS “impossible” nation (who is less impossible?) is restored to THIS Land in THIS righteousness, then the earth will enter its Sabbath rest in glorious public vindication of the everlasting covenant foretold by all the prophets. For this the creation groans in travail, as does also the church that knows the scriptures and the power of God.

It is much to be noted that Christ’s return, the binding of Satan, and the finishing of the mystery of God (Rev 10:7) happens in significant connection with the sudden regeneration of the surviving remnant of (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9; 12:10; Ro 11:26). It is clear that Paul stands in the tradition of the prophets in his insistence that their return is essential to the fulfillment of the covenant (compare Ro 11:26-27; Isa 27:9; 59:21; Jer 31:33-3). At “the set time”(Ps 102:13), “in the day of His power” (Ps 110:3), He will vindicate His “covenant with THEM” (Isa 59:21; Ro 11:27) openly, in the sight of all nations, “for God is able to graft them in again” (Ro 11:23), against all odds.

As we so often say, how we see God’s covenant with the natural branches in their pitiable enmity and unbelief (Ro 11:28-29), is so much the index of how we understand the nature of that grace that arrested Paul and will arrest His elect nation “at once” and “in one day” (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9; 12:10; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:21; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7).

Though perhaps not so outwardly dramatic, it is the same powerful working of grace that has drawn and regenerated all the elect seed of Messiah Jesus (Ps 89:29-34; Isa 45:25; 53:10; Isa 61:9; 65:23; Jer 331:26-27; Jn 6:37, 39, 44-45, 65; Ro 4:16; compare especially Isa 54:13, 17 with Jn 6:45).

Reggie

The post Against All Odds appeared first on Mystery of Israel.

Thank you (and thank God!) for the piece I just re-read on “The Mystery of the Gospel”. The matter of the gem and its setting explains so succinctly the transition that my wife and I have undergone, as I have tried to express before, in this regard. But, once the gem is appreciated in its chosen setting, can it ever seem right to separate what God has joined? We’ve been looking at the relatedness of Rom 16:25 and Rom 11:25 over here and considering other NT passages containing mysterion ((the Greek word translated Mystery is used 27 times in the NT and means that which, being outside the unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by divine revelation.)), including Ephesians. In regards to Romans, it is hard to miss the pride of place given to this theme, being effectively highlighted in the crescendo to the Rom 11 doxology and Rom 16 benediction; the language of the latter leads me to question whether the church can ever really be “established” in the absence of the appreciation of the “mystery kept hidden, but now revealed”. I’d like to try and write something down about this.

Kind regards in the Lord
CN

Thanks for sharing your appreciation. I see from your remarks that you are making some insightful connections, and I think, definitely the right ones. I believe it is important to show the evidence without overly directing conclusions (Jn 6:45; 1Jn 2:27).

This theme of mystery, and “the God who hides Himself” (Isa 45:15) is rarely considered. You rightly detect its central importance in the apostolic understanding of the gospel, as a revealed secret, aimed to trap and expose the principalities and powers, and to judge pride. At the same time, it reveals the ‘hidden wisdom ordained to the believer’s glory” (1Cor 2:7-8). Yet, this hidden plan of God was fully laid out in the OT Scriptures (Acts 3:18-21; Ro 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:11). According to Paul, it was not foretold in the part, but in the whole (Acts 26:22). However, it was foretold in such a way, that its full unveiling would be guarded until the time appointed.

This is truly amazing. It is awesome to consider how this mystery could be so perfectly and fully foretold in the prophetic writings (Acts 26:22; Ro 16:25-26) in such a way as to remain hidden from the demonic powers (1Cor 1:8), even as it presented an insoluble puzzle, not only to John the Baptist and the disciples (Mt 16:22; Lk 17:19; 18:34; Acts 8:34), but no less to the very prophets to whom the scripture was first revealed (1Pet 1:11-12).

The mystery of Christ and the gospel (Eph 3:4; 6:19; Col 4:3) became the new watershed of division in Israel. It has remained the ultimate and insurmountable point of division between church and synagogue. Though once hidden beyond human or angelic ability to discern, the revelation of the gospel can be shown to be “none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come” (Acts 26:22). This is a marvelous phenomenon, which proves, beyond reasonable dispute, that the gospel reveals a secret that was fully foretold in the prophetic scriptures of the OT, which can be fully demonstrated (Ro 16:26).

Paul is careful to distinguish his gospel as “according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest.” It is to be made known to all nations by means of the prophetic writings, thus effecting the obedience that is of faith (Ro 16:25-26). All of this, says Paul, is “according to the commandment of the everlasting God.” This is how the earliest disciples presented the basic proclamation of the gospel, as seen all throughout the book of Acts. The powerful evidence of prophecy, confirmed by the mighty acts of the Spirit in the church, removed the cloak that would leave Israel without excuse, and ripe for judgment.

This brings us to ask, if Israel was confronted by such a well hidden mystery, will the nations escape the same deep searching? Will the church escape? If the mystery was ordained to bring judgment on the pride of Israel, what will it mean for the nations? More particularly, what will it mean for a professing church that has perennially boasted against the branches on its way to a final “great falling away”?

It is my studied conviction that the same prophetic mystery will have a yet future working in the days leading into the final tribulation. Once more, it will confront not only Israel, but the nations and the church in the nations in the form of “the controversy of Zion” (Isa 34:8; Zech 12:2-3; Hab 1:5). Then will the hiding place be uncovered, not only for Israel, but for all nations and for the church of the great apostasy. It is the same rock of offense that should have been “for a sanctuary” (Isa 8:14-17). “This is the rest and the refreshing that Israel will once again dismiss as foolish and unworthy of consideration (Isa 28:12-17). But when the overflowing scourge of the invading armies of Antichrist will come in like a flood, this vision will speak to Israel throughout the time of Jacob’s trouble until the day of their repentance. “In the latter days, you will consider it” (compare Deut 4:30, 39 with Jer 23:20; 30:24).

The mystery is simply the gospel, but as this section of scripture shows, it takes the form of a “line upon line, here a little, there a little” message in the time of the final Antichrist, of which the Assyrian was only a type. We should take note that this end time testimony is voiced to Israel by gentiles (stammering lips and another tongue was idiomatic for gentiles; see Deut 28:49; Isa 33:19). Perhaps this is part of the reason it is so confidently dismissed. Notice also that Isaiah describes this prophetic testimony of warning by language that the NT writers will later use to distinguish the milk of the Word from the meat of the Word (compare, Isa 28:9; Mt 24:45; with Heb 5:12; 1Pet 2:2).

Although the secret is now open and capable of clear doctrinal formulation, its inward character can only be savingly apprehended by the quickening of the Spirit. Even now, the line of division in the professing church is not mere consent to the creed, however accurate, but whether Christ has been revealed to the heart by the Spirit. The latter produces saving faith, whereas the former produces a dangerous false security that will be manifest in the great falling away.

When Jesus said, “Upon this Rock I will build my church,” I don’t believe he was speaking only of Peter’s confession, but the grace of “revelation” which cannot come by flesh and blood. It is the “revelation” of Christ by the Spirit that separates between the living and the dead. It is possible to have a correct creed and an unchanged heart, but it is not possible to behold His glory by the revelation of the Spirit and remained unchanged (2Cor 3:18). Here is an important principle. “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1Jn 3:2). The seeing that will be perfect and complete in that day is also the issue of present transformation.

True spiritual change is a matter of revelation. It is more than the issue of accurate information, as in all the works religions; it is the living apprehension of the truth by the Spirit of truth. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You have never heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form” (Jn 5:37). To see is to live. “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life …” (Jn 6:40). His image is formed in us, as we “see Him as He is.” Since “it is the Spirit who makes alive; the flesh profits nothing” (Jn 6:63), we may be sure that it is only the Spirit quickened Word that can divide between soul and spirit (Heb 4:12). This is the seeing and the hearing that regenerates.

The prophets foretold that Israel would stumble at the sealed vision (Isa 8:14-15; 16-17; 28:9, 12-13, 16; 29:10-11, 14; Dan 9:24; 12:4). Only in hindsight could it be seen that this would come about by the rejection of the Messiah (Isa 49:7; 50:6; 53:3-4; Mic 5:1, 2; Dan 9:26). Until the fulfillment, who would have thought that Israel’s fall would come through a mystery that was fully foretold in the writings of the prophets, albeit in such a way as to elude both men and angels until after it had been fulfilled? (Mk 8:30; 9:9; 1Cor 2:8). Who would have thought that the blessing of the nations would come, not through Israel’s post-tribulational exaltation, as commonly expected, but through Israel’s fall, as completely unexpected?

Who could have considered that the Messiah would appear to bring in the promised “everlasting righteousness” (Jer 32:40 with Dan 9:24) by His atoning death (Isa 53:8; Dan 9:26), and that He should rise and ascend in the midst of history? Even if such an one as John the Baptist might advanced so far as to see that Messiah was to suffer (“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”), who could have imagined that Messiah would rise and ascend in the midst of history before the great transition of Zion’s travail and the Day of the Lord (Isa 13:7-8; 66:7-8; Mic 5:3 with Jer 30:6-7; Rev 12:2-6)? This was a mystery of the first magnitude.

Jesus was the lone custodian of the secret (Isa 53:11). Until the appointed time of revelation, the ‘mystery of the gospel’ (Eph 6:19) was kept as a divinely guarded secret (Ro 16:25), concealed from both men and angels (Isa 8:16; 53:1; Mk 4:11; 8:30; 9:9 with 1Cor 2:8). But where was the mystery concealed? It was concealed in the prophetic scriptures of the Hebrew Bible (Acts 3:18-21; 26:22; Ro 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:11). That is why that after the mystery was revealed by the Spirit at Pentecost (compare Jn 16:13; 1Cor 2:10; Eph 3:5; 1Pet 1:12), the prophetic scriptures of the OT would become the greatest evidence that God had determined, from the beginning, to turn the worst of evils into the greatest possible good, but at the greatest conceivable cost. Staggering thought! What can be more humbling, than to apprehend in some measure the unspeakable cost of our salvation?

What wisdom! What precise symmetry of foretold prophetic unfolding! What beauty and glory beyond description! Yet, at what an awful and imponderable divine cost. The ruler from Bethlehem will be abhorred and smitten (Isa 49:7; 53:3; Mic 5:1-2). “An anointed prince” (literal Hebrew) shall be “cut off” (Isa 53:8; Dan 9:26). Because they will smite the Davidic ruler from Bethlehem “with a rod upon the cheek” (idiom for the Messiah’s death at the hands of His brethren), King Messiah’s brethren (the Jews) would be “given up”. Not forever, but only until the time when she who travails has brought forth” (compare Mic 5:3 with Isa 13:8; 66:8; Jer 30:6-7; Dan 12:1; Mt 24:15; Rev 12:2, 6).

During this unknown ‘time between the times’, God would be hiding his face from the larger nation (Deut 31:17-18; 32:20; Isa 8:17; Ezek 39:29), while a “not a people” is grafted in to provoke Israel to jealousy (Deut 32:20-21; Ro 10:19; 11:11). At last, in the latter days, in the time of greatest affliction, the temporarily deserted nation (I will return to my place”; Hos 5:15 with Mt 23:39) makes penitent acknowledgement of some consummate “offense” (singular, not plural; Hos 5:15 with Mic 5:1; Isa 53:3, 8; Dan 9:26). With this, they are raised to live in His sight the full balance of the third day. Notice the amazing parallel of pattern between the trajectory of the nation and the life of Jesus. Like the nation, Jesus comes up out of Egypt and into the wilderness to be finally raised out of death to exalted glory. This is just part of “the fellowship of the mystery” (Eph 3:9), which God ordained before the world unto our glory” (1Cor 2:7).

In one stroke, the same mystery that brings in the “everlasting righteousness” (Jer 32:40; Dan 9:24-26), sets a trap that defeats the powers, by turning their wisdom upon them, to their utter destruction (Isa 8:14-15; 28:13 with 1Cor 2:8). Christ’s crucifixion signifies the public exposure of the wisdom of the principalities and powers of this age, which lose their power when the flesh loses its power. We might say that the power of the powers is broken when the power of the flesh is broken. Significantly, their power is ended when man (‘Jacob’) comes to an end of his power (Deut 32:36; Dan 12:7). That’s why brokenness in the Christian life is such a sign that the powers have lost their sway with an individual. It is the same with the corporate life of the body, and it will be the same with the servant nation, Israel, in the coming millennium.

In NT perspective, revelation of mystery is a strategy of divine warfare that casts down, or takes captive, the false rulers of this age (2Cor 10:5; Eph 4:8; 6:12; Col 2:15; Rev 12:10). The powers know that they have been defeated, but their sway over the nations continues until the mystery of God is finished at the end of the great tribulation (Rev 10:7; 12:12; 20:2-4).

At Christ’s return, Satan is bound, but only until there is a further divine purpose for his momentary release at the end of the thousand years (Rev 20:2-3, 7-8). This shows that no power, might, or dominion can exist that is not fitted into the service of the greater glory of God’s eternal purpose in Christ (Ps 76:10; Jn 19:11; Ro 9:17). “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him” (Col 1:16; Rev 4:11).

The content of the mystery is not confined to Christ’s first advent. It reaches to the second coming (Rev 10:7). It includes the events that lead up to the post-tribulational deliverance of Israel (Isa 28-29 etc.). In its final stage, it will take the form of ‘the controversy of Zion’ (Isa 34:8) that is ordained to sweep all nations into its irresistible vortex (Zech 12:2-3).

Though once and for all revealed by the Spirit sent down from heaven (Jn 16:13; 1Pet 1:12), the mystery still has its working as a two edged sword for both judgment and the revelation of glory and grace. It remains a stone of stumbling and rock of offense (Isa 8:14-15; 28:16; Ro 9:31). The same mystery that made Jesus such an offense to Israel, will crowd all nations into another great crisis of decision.

The last day’s form of this mystery will evoke all the great issues of the faith. Scripture is clear that it will come as a cup to the nations in the form of the Jerusalem question (“the holy covenant”; see Dan 11:28, 30). Through the crisis of Jerusalem all the great issues of divine contention will become ultimately intense, as the world is drawn inexorably into the unequaled time of tribulation, called, “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer 30:7 with Dan 12:1; Mt 24:21).

This is necessary to “finish the transgression” (Dan 8:13; 9:24) in the final treading down of Jerusalem (Isa 63:18; Rev 11:2). The mystery of iniquity must be revealed in a final war against the covenant before Christ can return to finish the mystery of God (2Thes 2:3, 7-8; Rev 10:7) in the resurrection of the saints and in the deliverance of Israel (Isa 59:19-21 with Dan 12:1-2; Ro 11:26). Clearly, the mystery is not limited to the person and work of Jesus, but comprehends both comings. It is the mystery of Christ’s coming, departure, and return “to Israel,” with the emphasis on Israel.

Recently, I went over much of this with the teenage son of a close friend. He was able to grasp very well all the basic parts. I drew the basic outline out on a table napkin. I showed him the mystery of the Christ two comings to Israel in Mic 5:1-5 with Hos 5:15 – 6:2; Zech 12:10 with Mt 23:39; and Dan 9:26 with Isa 53:8. He could see the clear analogy with Joseph, as a type of Christ’s self revelation to his brethren by comparing Mic 5:3-4 with Hos 5:15, and Mt 23:39 in light of Zech 12:10.

By comparing Hos 5:15-6:2 with Mic 5:3, he was able to see that the nation was “given up” for their smiting of the ruler from Bethlehem with a ‘rod upon the cheek’ in Mic 5:1. With this, God returns to His place (Hos 5:15) and there abides “until” they acknowledge their offense (not “offenses” plural, but “offense” singular). This happens at a time of great affliction (“until the time when she which travails has brought forth”). I explained that this language matches the many references in the prophets to a final travail or tribulation for Israel, which Jeremiah called, “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” a time like no other (Jer 30:6-7), which both Daniel and Jesus refers to as the unequaled tribulation; Dan 12:1; Mt 24:21, and John as, “the tribulation, the great one,” Rev 7:14).

Then, we looked at the two days of Hos 6:2. I suggested that this is the time span between the nation’s great transgression and the deliverance that comes at the end of Jacob’s trouble. Scholars say that Christ rose on the morning of the third day. In like analogy, after two days (two thousand years), the nation of the dry bones is “revived” by the Spirit of grace (Isa 66:8; Ezek 39:22, 29; Zech 12:10) to live out the third day (the thousand year reign of Christ) “in His sight”, as a living, all righteous nation, none saying to his neighbor, “know the Lord” (Jer 31:34).

According to Hos 5:15, the one who came to His own would depart and return to His place, “until,” in a time of great affliction (Jacob’s trouble), the nation would make penitent acknowledgement of its “offense” (not just guilt in general, but a particular great transgression; see Mt 23:39 with Zech 12:10; Rev 1:7). The young fellow, along with his dad, were both amazed at God had foretold all things in a mystery.

Who can deny that this is no contrivance, or reading into the text? It is a mystery, built right into the prophecies, to be seen in hindsight, to the profound confirmation of the truth of the gospel. We knew we were looking at a divine masterpiece! No wonder Paul wanted all men to see the fellowship of this mystery. It’s the glory of the gospel! Nothing less or other.

We then looked at the many places where this gap appears between the advents (see Deut 32:20-21 with Isa 8:16-17 with Ezek 39:29 and Ro 10:19-20; 11:11, 25), marking all the glorious ‘until’s’ of prophecy. We saw in 1Pet 1:11-12 how the prophets, who received the initial revelation of the scriptures, were aware that they were ministering these things to us, who would receive the fuller understanding of these things by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven (1Pet 1:12).

This is why Jesus did not explain the mystery before the time, but constantly commanded silence until after His passion would be accomplished at Jerusalem. By His knowledge the Servant would justify the many (Isa 53:11). But notice, that He left it all to the Spirit to reveal, just as He promised (Jn 16:13). He was the lone guardian of the secret, as in the song by Michael W. Smith, “nobody knew His secret intention was to give His life away.” What a glory to see Jesus in complete command of the messianic secret, dropping hints and clues all along the way that would make it clear in hindsight, that He knew all things, and was walking in the finished works of God. Glory to His name!

At Pentecost, for the first time, two distinct comings and their distinctive purpose had now come to full light. This was not only the time of the Spirit’s gifts and special empowerment; it was the time that the mystery of the gospel was revealed in its full aspect of both comings (Acts 3:18-21). Other mysteries would be revealed, but the revelation of Messiah’s twofold coming to Israel would be the foundational revelation that would be the basis for all other ‘mysteries’, such as those revealed particularly to Paul (Eph 3:4; 2Thes 2:7).

Before Pentecost, questions such as, “will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” or, “of whom does the prophet speak, of himself or some other?” puzzled both believer and unbeliever alike. Why? Well, the mystery had not been revealed. But after Pentecost, such questions were all answered in the revelation of the ‘mystery of the gospel’ (Eph 6:19), because now, for the first time, two distinct comings could be clearly distinguished, and this opened up the flood gates of revelation on many things.

We looked at how, according to Isaiah and Daniel, God ordained that this mystery should be sealed (‘kept under wraps’; Isa 8:16, Keil and Delitzsch), until the time that God will no longer be hiding His face from Israel (Isa 8:17 with Ezek 39:29). We noted that in all of these places there was a hidden age between that could not be seen between the two comings of Christ, which were often blended together in the same prophecy, with no clear distinction concerning “what or what manner of time” (1Pet 1:11). Only in hindsight does all become clear in the face of Jesus Christ. What a wonderful wisdom ordained for our glory! It’s like when Jesus said, ‘come and see’. Come and see the fellowship of this mystery!

God has done something wonderful, by hiding His mystery from the wisdom of this age, while so graciously revealing it to babes (Mt 11:25), and confirming it by prophecy’s witness to the manifold wisdom of God, not only conceived in God, but fully foretold in the scriptures of the prophets (Acts 26:22; Ro 16:26).

Since none are babes by nature, it is encouragement to even the chief of sinners that the revelation of the gospel is able to turn the most self assured religionist in Israel into a babe, by a sovereign act of revelation, that came unsolicited on the road to Damascus (see Gal 1:15-16). What a mighty God, who will turn again the captivity of Israel, at the set time, by the same might hand! (Ps 102:13; 110:3).

Yours in His precious service, Reggie

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I hope soon to take that up in a my more extensive statement, but for now I want to just point out that the mystery is at once an open secret but yet still hidden from the natural man, not in terms of its external form, but its inner nature. Though it is once and for all revealed, and can be put into a doctrinal or ‘creedal’ form, it remains elusive to pride, and still requires the help and grace of the Spirit to grasp and apprehend, as with all that belongs to the new creation.

There was a time when not only men, but also the principalities and powers had no access to this mystery. It contained the secret of their defeat. “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1Cor 2:7-8). I believe a case can be made that the phrase, “princes of this ‘age'” has more in view than Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate, but the principalities and powers that stand behind earthly rulers.

Not only was the mystery hidden from Satan and the rulers of this world’s darkness, it was hidden from all flesh, not only the wicked but also the righteous (Ro 16:25-26; Eph 3:5; 1Pet 1:9-12) until the appointed time. There was a divine strategy that required this. That strategy does not end with the revelation of the mystery, but reaches to the end (Rev 10:7). Not only did this mystery stumble pride, it took a miracle of divine revelation for even a John the Baptist, or a Peter to see it, even in the part.

Only with the advent of the Spirit at Pentecost did the whole picture of Messiah’s coming, departure, and return to Israel come into view. I say this to point out that it wasn’t easy. Though entirely foretold in scripture, it was profoundly hidden, so much so that it was impossible to see before the time. Jesus alone was custodian of this secret, and He deliberately withheld it, leaving its revelation to the Spirit who would come at Pentecost, when the question, “will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel” would be answered by the revelation of the atoning gospel of a twofold appearing, which no one expected.

In retrospect it makes compelling sense, and becomes a powerful apologetic of evidence that makes unbelief inexcusable. But the church is foolish in its imagination if it believes that Israel should so easily have seen and understood the mystery before the time. How could they? God had hidden it. “To whom is the arm of the Lord REVEALED?”

Before its revelation, the mystery of an anonymous suffering servant (let alone two distinct comings) would only raise such questions as those put by the Ethiopian eunuch, “Of whom does the prophet speak? Of himself or some other man?” Therefore, the church is foolish and perverse to exalt itself over Israel, imputing to the Jew a special stubbornness for not seeing what was plainer than the nose on their face. This is a self righteous presumption that understands nothing of what confronted Israel. It is the same perverse superficiality that prevails in the church’s facile comparison of itself with the stereotype of the Pharisee. When it is seen what the Pharisee actually represented in the context of that generation, a discerning believer would not exalt or glory over them, but cry out, “who is sufficient?!” But that’s another subject, though not unrelated.

Since Pentecost, the mystery has been openly revealed and made universally available, albeit only in the sense of its outward form. It still takes a miracle of mercy and grace to truly apprehend it in terms of its glorious implications. In this sense, it remains, by its very nature, elusive to pride, even in its revealed form. It was hidden for a twofold purpose: 1). It is hidden so that when it is seen, we may know that it is mercy indeed, and nothing of ourselves that has made us to differ from Israel, or anyone else for that matter.

And 2). It was hidden for judgment. God prepared the mystery in such a way, so that something entirely foretold in the very scriptures of the prophets (Acts 26:22; Ro 16:26; 1Pet 1:11), would also be sufficiently hidden in order to accomplish a strategy of judgement on the pride of autonomy, both human and angelic (Mt 11:25-27; 1Cor 2:8), particularly that pride which presumes to approach God’s holy requirements by something OF or IN man. That was the point at which Israel stumbled (Ro 9:32), and it is the same point at which much that calls itself church has stumbled, and this despite its “better creed”, utterly failing to perceive the nature and implications of the mystery in its inner nature and overall purpose in God’s eternal purpose.

Once the mystery was hidden not only from Satan and the children of pride, but also from the righteous (Eph 3:5). Now it is revealed and universally proclaimed. However, the inward nature and full significance of the mystery of the gospel remains hidden from pride. Regardless of how admirably articulated in it outward form, the gospel cannot be apprehended apart from the quickening grace of the Spirit’s revelation (Mt 16:17; Jn 6:63; 14:17; 1Cor 2:14). Though once and for all revealed, the gospel is still foolishness to pride. But then, who is without pride? As in the case of Paul, pride comes down when the Spirit reveals Him as He is. This is where flesh and blood, however well informed, must utterly fail. Hence, in all things, we are always shut up to mercy in order to see, receive, or escape anything.

In the end, everything is calculated and calibrated of God to shut us up to the mercy of the Spirit to reveal Him as He is. Everything is calculated to drive us off of our natural, and innate confidence in the flesh. The breaking of that false confidence is what removes the veil. That is why the Jews must be brought to the end of “their power” (compare Deut 32:36; Dan 12:7). It is in our weakness (a weakness to which we are brought by grace) that we can behold with open face the glory of Jesus. This always and invariably transforms the inner man into Christ likeness. This kind of ‘seeing’ guarantees change in ever increasing degree, as the light that shines brighter to the perfect day. In that sense, we become what we see, so that His fullness in us is to the measure that we have seen His true glory by the Spirit of revelation.

Once we can agree with God concerning what is NOT in man – – when once we can see that God has literally and deliberately ordained that this whole thing is “impossible with man” for an all glorious purpose to magnify the riches of His grace – – and when we have been made to feel our helpless and hopeless impotence, so that we cry out, “who is sufficient?!” – – then we have only to ask a faithful and good Father who never never never rewards the earnest request for bread with a stone. He will even help us believe (Mk 9:24), which is no less a gift that is given to us through grace (Eph 2:8; Phil 1:29). Hence, everything depends on our dependence on His grace to give the Spirit to them who ask, trusting only to His goodness and nothing to our own righteousness, which counts for nothing. In fact, it is only a divided confidence that leans on something of man that can rob us of the blessing.

Besides, we have all the “by this we know’s” of 1Jn 1-5 and elsewhere, so that we can test ourselves to see if the love for God that is in us is indeed the true “love of God that is only shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” of true regeneration. I am quite sure that yours is the true and everlasting kind of love from which you can never be separated. So whatever the mystery is or isn’t, you may surely rest that you have plenty enough revelation of it to glory in your Lord forever.

Sure, we should seek the fuller meaning and import of God’s mysteries, just as we should seek a deeper fullness for ourselves and the body. But remember, the once and for all revelation of the mystery of the gospel is what makes the church the church. It has been my concern to show this in relation to Israel, because it is only as the church sees what the mystery implies in its relation to Israel, that the church can be saved from its propensity to glory over a blinded Israel. Rather, they would see that only through this amazing means of divine wisdom could the gentiles ever find equal standing in the everlasting covenant. That by another great eschatological act of sovereign grace and mercy, will Israel return by the same power that opened a door of faith to the gentiles.

The mystery, rightly perceived, would make the church see and feel that it differs nothing from Israel except for a revelation that came as much by grace, as Paul’s encounter on the Damascus road. Because the same mercy that so sovereignly arrested Paul on the Damascus road, and will yet arrest a nation in one day (Isa 59:21; 66:8; Ezek 39:22; Zech 3:9), when they will see the sealed vision (the mystery of the gospel) at the appointed time (compare Isa 8:16-17; 29:11; Dan 9:24; 12:9; Ps 102:13 with Gal 1:15-16).

In short, a true apprehension of the mystery intends the destruction of all the ground of boasting. It would utterly blast the church’s triumphal propensity to boast against the branches, that pitiable but precious race appointed to a predestined glory, which all nations will be required to acknowledge and honor. The revelation of the righteousness of God in the gospel, as “the Lord our righteousness” (Jer 23:5-6), makes us debtor to all men, because we know how freely (apart from ourselves) it has come to us, we have assurance of its power to prevail with even the chief of sinners. “Freely you have received, freely give.” Such revelation forms Christ in us, who always takes “the form of a servant”.

So take comfort. You already have plenty enough of the revelation of the gospel to rejoice evermore, but there is nothing wrong with seeing that there is much more that many of us, and most of the church, has not yet apprehended. The last days are ordained to fill up that deficit to the further defeat and displacement of Satan at the middle point of Daniel’s seventieth week. As we discussed at the Ohio conference, God has ordained a tribulational fullness for the church that will accomplish His full eschatalogical purpose to make Israel jealous by the Spirit of glory resting on gentile believers. as their overwhelmed hearts are prepared for reunion with their brother Joseph. This will come not only with the time, but with the fuller apprehension of the mystery, since there is a marked relationship in scripture between Satan’s defeat and the Spirit’s revelation of hidden truth (hidden only from pride).

The “mystery” is indeed the chosen context by which God has ordained to reveal His highest glory, but just as a precious gem does not require its proper and best setting to be of glorious beauty and value, just so, one does not have to see the whole picture to enjoy a glorious measure of the precious revelation of Jesus. However, we must covet earnestly the greater glory that is most excellently revealed in its divinely chosen context, not only for our sakes, but most especially for His.

Your brother in His precious service, Reggie

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Question: In studying every scripture offered [in the previous post on Apostolic Evangelism] etc I’ve come across this portion that need be better explained.

Pointing out the implications of Micah 5:1-4 for both comings of Messiah to Israel provides the perfect opportunity to turn to another significant “until” passage from the Old Testament, Hos 5:15-6:2. Here again, a time of divine desertion is in view, which can be shown to correspond to the two days of exile and chastisement that ends with Israel’s national repentance and resurrection.

Need be better explained (as many in the theological world will discredit what you and I do believe is sound) it’s this necessary contextual relationship to earlier events that gives ground to objections based on the larger context.

Hos 5:13-6:2 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue. I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. 6 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

You’re right; the larger context of that passage reflects an imminent and near fulfillment that is blended and combined with the long range perspective that ends in the final redemption. It is a common characteristic of OT prophecy. This characteristic of prophecy is a contributing factor in making the gospel the mystery that it was to first century Israel.

If these things weren’t so well hidden from the academic world, the church’s conversation with Israel would not be nearly so difficult. Truly, God has ordained a mystery.

When it comes to Israel’s unbelief, it is amazing to see all that conspires to reinforce it. Not only centuries of “Christian” antisemitic behavior, but even how certain verses are translated, let alone interpreted, compounds the distance between church and synagogue. Take for example the Jewish translation of Zech 12:10. Compare it with most Christian translations and you will see what I mean. Of course, Christian linguists, such as Walter Kaiser in his book, “the Messiah in the Old Testament” argues the translation question with decisive evidence for the messianic interpretation. But the average believer must take considerable pains to be informed. It may be effective on some occasions, but it’s not always quite as easy as quoting Zech 12:10 as proof that the Jewish nation pierced their own Messiah. .

Or take Dan 9:25-26. Our translations stress our Christian conviction that the anointed one that is “cut off” is the Messiah by capitalizing the word for anointed and translating the passage with a definite article, “the Messiah the Prince”. This is all legitimate, but the informed Jewish position sees this as speaking only of “an anointed prince,” which they typically interpret as referring to Onias III, the officiating high priest who was murdered when Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the Jewish alter in the 2nd century B.C, who, of course, became the great archetype of the Antichrist in later apocalyptic literature.

Of course, it can be well argued on other grounds that the Messiah is in view, but I point this out as only one example of many, that when it comes to reaching across centuries of cumulative antisemitism to show Jews the evidence from prophecy that Jesus is the Messiah, nothing comes easy, particularly if the anti-missionaries have prepared them against the Christian witness.

I have found it best to stick at first with the issue of the broken covenant and the age long exile that must continue “UNTIL” the final redemption, which significantly follows the predetermined time of unequaled severity called Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:6-7 w/ Dan 12:1-2). It then becomes possible to more reasonably suggest that generations of covenant revolt might have resulted in an ultimate judgement, as God would present Himself in the person of His Son to be destroyed as an ultimate exposure of what is in man. To see this is to see. To this end, God hid His purpose in a foretold prophetic mystery, sufficient to give evidence, but calculated to remain hidden from the self secure pride of man.

Through a mystery designed to stumble pride, Israel would miss the time of their visitation, and then the wrath of the unfulfilled covenant would be poured out upon them to the uttermost (see 1Thes 2:16). The perennial resistance of the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51) and rejection of the prophets would quite logically consummate in the rejection of God Himself in the person of His Son (Mt 21:37).

In other words, I reason back from Israel’s historical condition as explained first by the curses of threatened exile, which manifestly still continues, to the nation’s acknowledgement of its corporate condition, a condition that exposed itself in an ultimate provocation of wrath in the rejection of its national son as prefigured in Joseph. It is this consummate and all revealing act of ‘offense’ that crowns an entire history of covenant defection.

I also make great point of the fact that the promise is never fulfilled short of the salvation of ‘all’ Israel. A mere remnant can never fulfill the promise of a fulfilled covenant and abiding possession of the Land. In view of the Holocaust and a history of tragedy, this brings the ominous question, “what’s it gonna take?’ From there, I make the case for a final time of divine pleading called Jacob’s trouble. Anyway, you get the idea; it all adds up to Jesus as the rejected and returning Joseph. What the church can sew of this seed will have its working throughout the entire time of deepening crisis until the point of national revelation and regeneration, as in the case of Paul on the road to Damascus.

To hide from pride and reveal to babes (Mt 11:25), this was the purpose of the mystery to be kept in waiting “as a mystery”. It was divinely intended to be kept sealed (Isa 8:15-16; Mk 8:30; 9:9; 1Cor 2:7-8) until after Israel (essential ‘man’) had stumbled and its true heart condition and natural enmity exposed. In this way, the ultimate revelation of what is in man became the place of the ultimate revelation of the ground of all salvation, past and future. Talk about divine irony! Talk about turning what “you meant for evil” into glory!

It all comes back to God’s strategic use of mystery as an instrument to overthrow the pride of self sufficiency while at the same time demonstrating grace by “an impossible with man” revelation to “whom He will” on the basis of a grace that admits no mixture, so as to exclude natural advantage, and so that grace might appear mercy indeed to those that receive it “agains all odds.”

It is the picture that Israel needs to have sewn into their consciousness by the witness of believers who make the intellectual side of the argument believable by what they demonstrate in terms of a heavenly wisdom, “even the hidden wisdom that God ordained to our glory.’ However, and here’s the rub; this wisdom has its embodiment, not only in Jesus, but to some real measure in all the people of the Spirit.

It is the mystery of incarnation, as Christ is formed in us, not by outward conformity to the law, but by an inward transformation that comes by revelation, often at the end of righteous spiritual travail (Gal 4:19). This gives the world a people who are taught of God to put no confidence in the flesh (2Cor 1:9).

In short, the church can forget about the effectiveness of even its most well reasoned apologetical defense of the gospel to Jews until it demonstrates this reality in an undeniable love to one another (“By this …” Jn 13:5). That is the only real signal to the powers that they have lost their claims on the people of God (1Jn 3:14).

Obviously, the church that falls short of “this” demonstration is kidding itself about moving the Jew to jealousy. God is not so clumsy as to conclude the age on no other basis than that the church finally got its theological ducks all lined up (although our superficial theology is no doubt a partial reflection of our condition). No, God requires a demonstration before principalities and powers in the real stuff of life.

Until the church (true and living, of course) attains to this corporate demonstration, the age cannot end, regardless of how much time ticks off. The church is called to be the living demonstration that in Christ “God was manifest in the flesh.” Because the church, so far as it the church, is the living embodiment of the reality of a humanly impossible life and wisdom by the same mystery of incarnation of Word and Spirit (Col 1:27; Pet 1:23). But the ultimate test of this reality is not even martyrdom (as per Islam, etc.; 1Cor 13:3); it is the love of the brethren.

Even if perfectly true (1Cor 13:2), any doctrine or knowledge that does not translate into the inward formation of Christ, as the ‘corporate’ “Servant of the Lord” in true incarnation in the church, will not be entrusted with any heroic eschatalogical task towards Jews. It doesn’t work that way. That would be works. It is the thing we do most unconsciously and spontaneously that defines us (“when saw we thee?”)

God is jealous and guarded that the only church that will be entrusted to move Israel to jealousy in the time of Jacob’s trouble is the church that is just as instant to show the same mercy “to the least of these My brethren” in the gritty and undramatic here and now. I am quite certain that the term, “the least of these My brethren,” is not limited to the Jews in flight in the final tribulation (though it would contextually apply). It speaks no less of our fellow member of Christ’s body.

I am disturbed by how many that give themselves to conscious and deliberate end time preparation to hide the Jews are failing the test when it comes to the way we pass up the opportunity to treat with deference, patience, and kindness that that God may indeed know will be counted in the day of the judgment as, “the least of these my brethren.”

In His precious service, Reggie

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