In John 17, Jesus made these two statements: “I have finished the work which you gave me to do.” And, “Now I am no more in the world.” He was still here, and still had the cross to endure.
Do you think these words pivot off what Revelation so surprisingly tells us, that Jesus was “Slain from before the foundation of the world”?

Above and behind all the contingencies of time that seem so contingent and uncertain to us, Jesus lived and walked in a whole other place. He walked in the works that had been finished already before the foundation of the world. He walked, lived and labored out of the rest (Heb 4:3, 11). ).

With the cross still before Him, and even before He would plead that the cup be somehow removed, even while knowing this would be impossible, since for this cause He came into the world. This seeming contradiction between a predestined inevitably and the Son’s appeal as though some lingering ignorance of an unavoidable certainty had come over Him.

This is no contradiction at all!, as some wicked gainsayers have suggested. On the contrary, this is the nexus of the glory of the incarnation, of the One who so emptied Himself to be exalted, as a man!, to the highest preeminence, even equality with God! Precisely here is the greatest demonstration of the perfect convergence of a fully poured out humanity in a final act of perfectly voluntary submission to the will of His Father in the face of the unbearable and incomprehensible.

Consider: He knew He was not just about to die but take on Himself the full punishment of divine wrath due the sin of the world. Certainly He would ask the cup be removed, “if possible”. He wouldn’t be human if He did not stagger beneath the weight of all that His prophetic senses could only contemplate with an intensity beyond our capacity to imagine. Let’s ponder this for a moment.

He knew He was asking the impossible, but the scripture wanted us to see the glory of a fully submitted humanity that would not be human if it did not shudder and shrink in horror at what now lay just before Him.

In the words of the grand old hymn, “did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?” I would ask, did e’er such humanity and deity meet, or the Father’s love and glory more surround?

If we could only know the power of weakness, we could begin to understand the glory of that one word, “nevertheless”. “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.” When that heart of utter submission dwells in a person, it is a piece of incarnation, as it reflects living witness to the mystery of the incarnation itself. Why? Because this kind of love, and voluntary submission in the face of such sacrifice on behalf of another, particularly an enemy, is “impossible with man”. This is why martyrdom is so central to the faith. It is not human heroics; it is submitted love. But back to the point.

It is so amazing to contemplate that the one who could say outside the grave of Lazarus …

And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. John 11:42

comes now to Gethsemane, with a request that though gloriously heard, could never be granted, and Jesus knew it only too well. Still, His very humanity required expression in the impossible request, and the scripture was unwilling that we should fail to hear it.

But lest anyone vainly imagine that for something to be an inevitable and predestined certainty that it is somehow automatic or mechanical, look again. Jesus did nothing by external constraint or necessity, but only by the liberty of the Spirit. It was very necessary that no man take His life from Him (though men would be the witless agency), but that He lay it down “FREELY” of His own accord. Freedom, the God kind of freedom, is also at the very heart of a predestined incarnation of the Spirit of liberty.

Even while seeing, I know I don’t see. The glory of this is blinding. It would take a very uncommon revelation to begin to even conceive, let alone grasp.

The reason for this is very much to your question.

As no one else has ever walked, Jesus walked in perfect, unfettered faith in works that were finished (predestined) — already accomplished, before the foundation of the world. He lived in the past tense in the sense that He saw His future as already accomplished. Still, He prayed and groaned and travailed in prayer for the birthing and coming forth of God’s predestined future.

No contradiction here, just our mortal minds faced with the incomprehensible power of God to balance freedom, responsibility, and a fixed and unalterable predestination. And aren’t we glad God is in control of every sparrow that falls? Pity those who are afraid to embrace their best friend — the predestining power of God.

Imagine rising up in the morning, knowing you will be walking in works that were predestined before creation? Jesus lived with this consciousness. He lived each day as predestined, and in that sense past. Each day was predicted by a certainty that could not be stopped, though all hell should make it all the more glorious in the futile attempt.

We live in all the uncertain contingencies of the natural world around us, we struggle in suspense of all the maybes and what if’s of this life. Jesus lived in the consciousness that everything, literally everything concerning Him was on a predestined timeline. Is there something here for us?

The free actions and seemingly free decisions of men, enemies and disciples alike, would all fall into perfect service of a predestined plan that was perfectly ordained and utterly impossible to thwart or alter. In the words of my beloved brother, Art. “How’s them apples?”

How does that work? Exactly! We cannot grasp such a concept. Why strain and break our brain. Such paradox should not be cause for debates over philosophical, theological questions over freedom and determination, but amazement and worship at the power of grace to win the battle despite all the gates of hell, freedom and contingency notwithstanding. We can only bow and worship at such wonders that defy comprehension.

It all had to be just so, with no part (cog) missing or out of its appointed place, because the whole original purpose for creation depended on it. And not only the cross at just some eventuality along the way, but by a predestined set time under the equally ordained (pre-set) circumstances, with every player in place, yet with no violence to the will of responsible individuals. But precisely at this time, under no other possible set of circumstances. How do you do that? Only God!, which is precisely the point.

I’m now coming to the verse that I think speaks most to your question, but first one more verse that is very much like it.

John 13:3-4
Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He rises from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself …

Here is the Lamb of God’s grand exit from this world, and what does He do? He stoops to wash our feet! Take that in. This is astonishing! This is His statement that will only begin to be conceived or understood in retrospect.

Jesus said and did a lot that would only be understood in retrospect, but oh, the glory of looking back in hindsight at all that the Father was so perfectly controlling to the tiniest detail. What part could have been left out? Even the human editing of every word of the four gospel accounts is part of a perfectly sovereign, utterly superintendence, right down to the finest detail. As Jesus said, “not one jot or tittle can pass from the Torah unfulfilled.” Now that’s micro-management! Yes, God is all about the details and the small print. He guards the jots and the tittles as all a piece with the ‘seamless garment’ of the sacred trust of our divinely sent canon, perfectly supervised in its preservation and transmission.

Only Jesus could see how a perfectly predestined future was not put in doubt by the necessity of the indispensable, equally predestined travail of holy intercession that was no less voluntary, but constrained by the grace of the Spirit. We must note how nothing of what God ordains is dispensable. Prayer is the ordained means to all of God’s ordained ends. There is no conflict between a predestined outcome and the equally predestined means to its birthing into the creation, even though the works were finished before the foundation of the world. Big thoughts for our little minds! But back to the verse that is to your question.

“And now I am in the world …” These are words that look at the present from the eternal perspective above time, that sees by the “Spirit of prophecy” what is to come as though already accomplished. This is a common characteristic of Hebrew prophecy. Scholars call it the “prophetic past tense”. This is a common characteristic of Hebrew prophecy which can accomodate temporal conditionality and contingency based on response with an absolute predestination that assures a certain response at a certain, foretold time. That’s sovereignty!, where nothing of the tension is lost, but nothing is left to uncertainty. This is because the whole, with all its moving parts, is being perfectly controlled towards a predestined end, and that end, and the perfectly foretold process leading to it, is never put at the mercy of mere foresight alone.

The logic of all that the scripture says of God’s attributes in the Trinity of persons concerning an eternal purpose that had no beginning in time but always existed in the Godhead (as one brother put it, “from all eternity, there was a cross in the Godhead), leads us to conclude that the Father and the Son were enjoying the end of the timeline as already finished before it started. It was done before it began. That’s what this language, especially here in John is intended to convey. Now for those final two verses that bring this out most perfectly, also here in Jn 17, in what has been called, “Jesus’ high priestly prayer”.

John 17:4-5
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. (Spoken as already finished when the cross still lay ahead)

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

If that isn’t glorious Trinitarian language, I don’t know what would be!

From His perspective, Jesus has already been here and returned to the Father. This glory that the eternal Son had with the Father before the creation always existed in full finished certainty and fellowship of mutual enjoyment, and all on the basis of what was now, just about to be accomplished in time.

In the words of Fanny J. Crosby, “I scarce can take it in!” Think about it. The cross, and all the things of time that would be constructed around this great, eternally centermost event that was not only known and predestined in God, but the object of eternal, pre-temporal fellowship and enjoyment of infinite glory in the Godhead before anything had been created. It was finished before it began, but it all depended on that one center-most event of time — the cross.

Seen this way, Jesus’ last words from the cross. “It is finished!”, takes on a meaning that reverberates through all time and eternity from the Alpaha to the Omega.

That is who He is. He’s everything! All things have been put in His hands and only the Father Himself can weigh His worth!!’

Reggie

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Before it’s greater conquest of the kingdoms of this world, the kingdom is first and foremost where Jesus sits as King on the throne of the heart. When the heart is fully possessed by the High King of Heaven, there is the kingdom of God in its mightiest display of sovereign power. Part of the “mystery of the kingdom” in its present hidden form is that it is no less powerful in its present working as it will be in the day when it will fill all of redeemed creation. Until then, with the exception of certain occasional demonstrations of outward power, the kingdom in its present working must appear to the world as weak and contemptible. This, since at its center is the scandal of the cross, not just as a historic event of redemptive necessity, but in its character as a cruciform way of life where the kingdom is not only entered once, but continually ‘being’ entered.

Not only when the kingdom began to be preached by John and Jesus, but no less since, “the violent take it by force” (Mt 11:12). Or, as in Luke’s version, “every man presses into it” (Lk 16:16). It cannot be otherwise! The straight gate of the kingdom that only few will ever enter will not swing open to casual interest (Mt 7:13). It requires a violence of desperation to enter at all cost (Mk 9:47), and none can presume to have entered if its value and priceless beauty has not far exceeded and eclipsed all else (Mt 13:45-46). The kingdom can brook no rival in the heart. It is all or nothing, and the fruits of the life of the kingdom will demonstrate this radical singleness of eye and heart in the life of it’s true heirs (Mt 6:22-23).

Where the conditions of this reality are met in truth, the triumph of the kingdom is as sure and secure in its present mystery form as in its future completion. But this security becomes a treacherous false security if the firm requirements for entering the kingdom have not been met in the real fruits that demonstrate the presence and power of the life of the kingdom, which is the character and nature of the King. Ultimately then, the call to enter the kingdom is the call to regeneration. But if regeneration is not defined and understood by its kingdom context, it risks being greatly perverted.

The call to make every effort to enter the kingdom at all cost becomes the call to be “made partakers of His divine nature”. It is union with God’s life, which is the life of the new creation, the life of the age to come. It’s subjects are no mere servants under its authority and jurisdiction, but but free children who share in the very nature and character of the King through the mysterious miracle of the new birth, also compared to resurrection (Eph 2:1).

Only as Jesus’ message of the kingdom in all it’s high demand is kept in close, inseparable connection with Paul’s gospel of grace can error be avoided. Only be holding both together in faithful tension and and agreement is the true nature of regeneration rightly defined and understood. But to relax or compromise the desperate urgency of entering the kingdom at all cost through submission to its high demands is to pervert the gospel of grace into another gospel, tilting either towards license and casual compromise or the equally deadly trap of legalism. Grace works! The watchword of the Reformation guarding against this common perversion says, “whereas we are justified by faith alone, the faith that justifies is never alone”.

Every seed produces after its own kind, and when the seed of the kingdom has germinated into true union with the life of the indwelling divine nature that was most perfectly incarnated in Jesus, the result is that one has now been “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever (1Pet 1:23).

To be born of that seed is also to live and abide and forever, but the cost to enter is the full and free exchange of anything and everything that might compete in loyalty or affection. Jesus warns that only the comparative few will ever enter. The straight gate of the kingdom is the straight gate of true and abiding regeneration, a much greater rarity than many seem willing to consider. Once entered, the cost for continuance is not conveniently lowered. This is why Peter will say, “take diligence to make your calling and election sure”.

For the sake of His steadfast covenant with “all the seed”, He MUST require that first things be first. This is why when we begin to neglect or forget, as certainly as we are true sons and daughters, we may be sure that we are on our way to the wood shed, till what counts most counts most again. This is why “judgement must begin at the house of God” (1Pet 4:17 with 1Cor 11:22).

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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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This is more than a predicted event of the end time; it is a principle of the Spirit. The veil that hides Christ is only as strong as the pride of human self sufficiency. Christ is revealed at the end of strength! The one obstruction to revelation is the veil of the flesh, which speaks of the strength that must be broken of “the pride of its power” (Lev 26:19). That is why Christ is the end (goal) of the law for righteousness, because the law was given to take away this perverse presumption of power.

If the last days are indeed the shaking of all things, we may be sure that the church that will speak to Jacob in the wilderness is not one that is a stranger to the lengths that God will go to remove this deceitful kind of power. What kind of power is this that requires such severe dealings, even, and particularly with religious man at his best? Are we right to suppose that this power is lodged more deeply in the religious humanism of Judaism than in Christianity? Hardly.

Will Christ be fully formed in the church of the last witness apart from a deep travail of the Spirit sufficient to ‘cast down’ this hidden conceit of the heart? (see Gal 4:19). What will press the church to this? If the church, as the pillar and ground of the truth, will be the prophetic voice to Israel in the tribulation (Dan 11:32-33; 12:3, 10; Rev 12:10), what kind of shaking must surely come in advance of that time in order to deeply empty the servant people that will speak to Jacob in his distress?

Christ was crucified in weakness and raised in power. Paul meant this not only descriptively of Jesus but prescriptively for the church. It is a statement of our corporate calling to Israel and the nations. This is why Jesus had more than a few isolated predictions in mind when He said, “Ought not Christ to have suffered …?” He was referring to the much larger pattern of the many servant sons (Joseph, David, etc.) who anticipated in their sufferings the preeminent Servant. This is how we must speak to Israel.

Must Jacob bear his tribulation alone and all the church go free? Are we to suppose that those sealed servants of God who will suffer with Israel during her wilderness flight have been only recently saved after an alleged pre-trib rapture? No, they are servants with a history in God who know the fellowship of His sufferings and the power of His resurrection. It seems that prophetic logic would forbid that God would speak to Jacob through any lesser agency than a corporate servant son who has passed through death to know and testify to “the God who raises the dead.” Only by such a church would God speak / prophesy to Jacob in the day of his calamity. This is why I am led to expect some deep dealings that will shake and humble the church in necessary advance of Jacob’s trouble, not only individually, but corporately.

As things threaten almost daily to bring radical changes to the world as we’ve known it, it is only a matter of time till the dam breaks, not in the final form of the last 3 ½ years of “the final and unequaled tribulation,” as many falsely expect, but in the form of seismic changes that must precede and prepare for that time. This too will be costly, but it is this time that I believe God will be doing His great work of preparation in the church for the final thrust of witness and evangelism (Dan 11:32-33; 12:3), which, according to Rev 7:9, 14 will result in the greatest harvest of souls the world has ever seen. So the last witness of the tribulation church is guaranteed unprecedented success by the inerrant Word of prophecy. If our eye will be made utterly single in the pursuit of His glory, we will count it privilege to suffer for His sake, as a supreme gift of grace (Phil 1:29).

I am hoping for just a little time to probe this question together in our upcoming conference.

Yours in the Beloved, Reggie

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Excellent, my brother! This whole essay… point[s] to 1 Cor 4:7 long before your reference to it. Reminds me of Paul saying “if there be…”

God is orchestrating our walk as if He were The Puppeteer and we merely shadows. Though we can’t say we cast a very good imitation of The Master; hopefully we will grow more to sound the echo and less an off key resonance.

You probably don’t realize how pleasing your words and even your assessment of your own situation is to the Lord right now. I believe you are taking all of this in the right way and with the right heart, and that counts more in those heavenly places where principalities and powers are being educated through you, so much more than we tend to know.

Remember, Satan is called the accuser of the brethren for a reason. He is the supreme legalist, a prosecuting attorney of the highest skill. He is always renouncing and questioning the legality of God’s right to justify and glorify us in Christ, particularly since he can “see” so clearly all of our shame and regret in the flesh.

Since the angels, even the good angels, can only ‘desire to look into’ (1Pet 1:12) the revealed glories of the gospel, it just now occurred to me that Satan, being an angel, cannot receive the things of the Spirit anymore than the unaided flesh of the natural man. Certainly, he knows the outward form of the truth, as one on the outside looking in; but that’s just it; the heart and spirit of the truth can only be apprehended from within by the quickening of a new creation. The flesh can’t get it.  In that sense, even revealed truth remains a mystery to the flesh.

Just as the sinner cannot really see the greatness of his sin apart from revelation, it is only by the Spirit that the believer can know the greatness and glory of the righteousness that has been imputed. It is none other than the very righteousness that was perfected in the humanity of Jesus. This is staggering.  This “everlasting righteousness” by which even the least believer is fully justified is not from hence. It is nothing of our own (Phil 3:9).

The righteousness that justifies must fulfill the law in all points perfectly. That is why it cannot be a partial righteousness that is only beginning in its development. No, it must be imputed in the whole, as at once altogether perfect and complete. It cannot be less than that righteousness that was tested under the law and approved in all points. No other righteousness can stand in the judgment, because no other can stand in the presence of unveiled holiness. This is the dreadful point that Jesus makes in His parable of the wedding feast concerning the man that presumed to come in before the king without the designated wedding garment (Mt 22:11-13).  

The prince of this world had nothing in Him, precisely because He fulfilled the law in all points. Over 33 1/2 years of active obedience, the Lamb was examined and fully approved. Even Moses who gave the law was cut off bythe law in that he died, because the law had said, “he that does it (perfectly by the Spirit) shall live in it” (Lev 18:5). That is not just a maxim of the law; it is a prophecy of the coming of the just One, since only Jesus so perfectly fulfilled the law as to not be cut off by it.

This is why Paul shows that the blessing of Abraham, strictly understood, can only bless the One (‘not seeds, as of many, but ‘Seed’, as of one). Paul sees that the word seed signifies something more than a line of descendants. It speaks of a nature, even the divine nature of Christ in all the children of God (since no one ever lived unto God apart from the indwelling Spirit of Christ (Mk 12:27; 1Pet 1:11).

That seed (nature) could only dwell in the righteous by faith on the legal basis of the perfection of that nature (seed) in the representative humanity of the divine Son. Though they did not know the mystery of how God would accomplish this (it wasn’t time), it was only through the imputation of the blood of the eternally slain Lamb that the pre-incarnate Spirit of Christ could take up lawful and holy residence in the OT believer. Apart from the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, the Spirit could not lawfully be given.

Whether Old or New Testament believer, it is only by the imputation of this one, perfect, ‘wholly other’ kind of righteousness, that anyone is counted just in the sight of God. It is certainly NOT because of ‘their’ faith, since this too is a gift. It is because of the sovereign drawing power of the Spirit that works a living faith in whosoever is willing to receive Him as their only hope of righteousness (“I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name”).

To have this righteousness imputed is also to receive the quickening of the divine nature, which is the nature of Christ, the Seed. Hence it is that the Seed inherits all things, and we in Him and He in us. That is how the promise can be infallibly sure to all the seed (Ro 4:16) apart from human works of righteousness.

This righteousness may be more fully active in a greater sanctification, but it can never be more perfect and complete in one more than another in the sense of justification and standing. The degree of sanctification is relative; but justification and standing is absolute and never a matter of degree. Therefore, the justifying righteousness of Christ extends equally to all the seed. In this way, “he that is least in the kingdom is greater than John.”

I differ here from many of the commentaries that do not see John as standing already within the sphere of the kingdom. By no means is Jesus speaking here of the millennial kingdom, as in the Scofield notes. There are clear references that show that the kingdom was already present and being entered by many (Mt 11:12; 23:13; Lk 16:16). John was certainly in the kingdom, else how were many entering in by his preaching? No, Jesus is saying something much more profound than comparing some future state with the greatness of John.

Though in a somewhat different way, I believe Jesus is making the same essential point here that He is making when He makes the really shocking statement that “unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.” For the average Jew, nothing could have sounded more forbidding. For the average Jew, to exceed the piety and discipline of a Pharisee might as well be Mount Everest. In other words, it was a divinely intended recipe for despair. It was another instance of the Lord’s necessary preliminary work of demolition to prepare the way of the Lord (Jer 1:10).

The Lord’s reference to John intends something of the same, as this is either the worst or the best of news. Let me explain. Jesus knew the popular sentiment and estimation of John was very high. John represented the highest example, not only of godliness, but of spiritual anointing. Jesus commends John, but in order to send home His point with fullest force, He goes much further to make the really astonishing statement that “of all who have been born of women, there is none greater than John.” What is He doing here?

I submit that he is using the example of John to show that the highest example of righteousness is not high enough. Jesus points His hearers to both a requirement and a promise that takes them well beyond even the highest estimation of anything that might be associated with even the greatest among God’s servants. This would include Abraham, Moses, Daniel etc. This is simply amazing.

Jesus is saying that the kingdom requires and promises a greatness that is greater than the greatest. But a greatness of what kind? What kind of greatness is this that exceeds John’s greatness by even the least one in the kingdom? I believe it is nothing less or other than the ‘everlasting righteousness’ of covenant promise (Dan 9:24; Jer 32:40). It is an eternal standing in the kingdom that is based on the imputation of the righteousness that was perfected in one place only, the un-fallen humanity of Jesus. This is righteousness of another kind, and that is why it is greatness of another kind. The least one in the kingdom has this righteousness, as no lesser righteousness can be acceptable.

This is glorious news to the destitute; it is disastrous news to those that presume to come into the wedding feast with a mixed garment. In this way, the very least in the kingdom of heaven stands in a righteousness that exceeds anything that can be associated with the strictest Pharisee, or even the most saintly of saints. It is nothing less than the eternal and indestructible righteousness of Christ. When this revelation dawns on the destitute, in one moment of time, the last is made first.

No wonder the catholic theologians of Trent called this a “legal fiction”. It sounds illegal. It is simply too good to believe. But if God can make Him to be sin who knew no sin; is it harder for Him to count me the very righteousness of God in Him? If that is a legal fiction, then it is one that God has purchased at an awful price. God can now be just while justifying the unjust, “calling the things that are not as though they were” (Ro 4:17). With holy blood He purchased this right for Himself. Let none in their ignorance blaspheme the holiness of this just and glorious exchange.

This is not some ‘positional’ make believe. The righteousness of the believer in Christ is as real and actual as the Word that brought the worlds into being. That Word says we ‘ARE’ a new creation, not just on the way to becoming a new creation. Oh for grace to apprehend the power of those words of John: “Beloved, NOW are we the sons of God, and it doesn’t yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jn 3:2). In the words of Fanny J. Crosby, “I scarce can take it in.” Hallelujah! What a Savior!

His choicest blessings overtake you, Reggie

The post The Lamb Examined and Fully Approved appeared first on Mystery of Israel.

Reggie,

I have a question about the Cross, namely how to introduce the topic of the Suffering Servant and the centrality of the Cross for a paper:-) Typically a statement from a brother or an erroneous doctrine will trigger something. But I have been struggling to unite all the threads that we have spoken about in the last couple of weeks to a single precise statement! Which may take years I know:-) Once it pleases the Lord to give us a launching point, I am certain the rest will flow!

Remember that we are speaking here of a particular mystery with a particular source, namely, the writings of the OT prophets. Paul made a careful point of using the prophetic scriptures to make the mystery known, because he understood this approach as God’s specifically appointed means of verification (compare Acts 26:22; Ro 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:11). This was Paul’s method of evangelism, and if you’ll look closely, it appears from Ro 16:25-26 that Paul is saying that this particular method and approach is “according to the everlasting commandment.” In other words, it is the divinely appointed means employed to make all nations obedient. It’s not just one means; it is THE commanded means. So it’s not just that prophecy was useful as proof of Jesus’ messiahship, but that the gospel of a twofold advent was / is to be preached AS a mystery contained in the prophets to be revealed at a set time. But why was it necessary that the prophetic plan of God be so strategically hidden? What is accomplished by such a hiding work? Most people never think of something being hidden for a divine purpose. But if so, what is that purpose?

The revelation of the mystery opens up (‘exegetes’) the mingled prophecies of the two comings, the dual application between the near and far patterns of fulfillment, and the mysterious parenthesis that imposes itself between the two comings of Christ, as also between the typical events of antiquity (near fulfillment) and the anti-typical events of eschatology (ultimate fulfillment; see Dan 9:24-27; Mic 5:1-7; Hos 5:15- 6:2 et al).

By revealing such a mysterious space between foretold events, the mystery of Christ also discovers to our attention an unexpected interim (a hidden age). This time fulfills the mysterious threat of Moses that the elect nation would be moved to envy by a ‘not a people’, and made angry by a ‘foolish nation’ (Deut 32:21). Contrary to replacement views, this is not a permanent state of affairs, but one of the judgments of the curse that continues only UNTIL the time of of Israel’s post-tribulational repentance and restoration (Deut 32:36, 43; Dan 12:7; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:21; Ro 11:25-29).

That is only the ‘linear’ aspects of the mystery. There is also its cosmic and eternal aspect, which finds an everlasting covenant, not only in Israel’s future (as formerly understood), but an eternal covenant that reaches back before the beginning of creation. This opens the Trinitarian issue of Messiah’s pre-existence and deity (Isa 9:5; Mic 5:2; 1Tim 3:16), which in turn opens the soteriological ((Soteriology is the study of the doctrine of salvation as effected by Jesus Christ. It helps us to understand the doctrines of redemption, justification, sanctification, propitiation, and the substitutionary atonement. It is derived from the Greek soterion “salvation”. )) aspect of the promised eschatological ((Eschatology is the study of the ultimate or final things, such as death, the destiny of humanity, the Second Coming, or the Last Judgment.)) righteousness (Isa 45:17, 25; Jer 23:6; 32:40; Dan 9:24 et al). This is perhaps the most glorious of all that pertains to the mystery of Christ, because it means that the very righteousness of God Himself, as perfected in Messiah’s sinless humanity and offered up (Isa 53; Mic 5:2; Dan 9:26; Zech 12:10; 13:7) is freely imputed to the very least justified believer. That is simply staggering! No wonder it is so little understood, believed, adequately appreciated, and rejoiced in forevermore. In the words of Fanny J. Crosby, “I scarce can take it in.” Or, in the words of my beloved Bunyan, “Indeed, this is one of the greatest mysteries in the world; namely, that a righteousness that resides with a person in heaven should justify me, a sinner, on earth!”

Then there is what Paul calls “the mystery of the faith,” which, while it includes all the above, includes also the pattern of resurrection of death, of deliverance out of affliction and weakness. We see it in Joseph, David, Daniel, all the prophets, and ultimately and perfectly in Christ as the suffering Servant of servants. I call it the Jacob’s trouble principle, whereby Christ is always revealed at the end of strength (see Deut 32:36; Dan 12:7). This is how it is that “the just shall live by faith” This is particularly the issue in tracing the character and necessity of Israel’s king as coming first in the form of the suffering Servant. This is the pattern seen so clearly in both Joseph and David, and in Zechariah’s prophecy that sees the Messiah as a priest upon His throne (Zech 6:13). It is the tremendous mystery of the incarnation of the seed of the woman in the poor and afflicted. This should be to some real measure evident in every believer, since it is the mystery of “Christ in you” (Col 1:27), just as it was no less the mystery of “the Spirit of Christ which was in them” (1Pet 1:11).

Indeed, the mystery is so rich and manifold. It is all so glorious and expansive. Its waters only deepen with every new measure (Ezek 47:3-5). It’s glory cannot be contained, so it is understandable why it is not easy to see all of its parts at once in full conspectus ((Conspectus – usually a brief summary of an extensive subject, often providing an overall view.)) This explains why the all inclusive “mystery of God” that comes to completion at the time of Christ’s return (Rev 10:7; 11:15) is treated by Paul in so many different aspects. This gives the superficial impression of multiple mysteries. When really, most of Paul’s references to one mystery or another is just one more aspect of the greater mystery of God and Christ (Col 2:2), which he calls the “mystery of His will” (Eph 1:9) or the “eternal purpose” (Eph 3:11).

The important thing to note, and which makes it impossible to associate Paul’s use of the term with any supposed borrowing from notions of Greek gnosticism (as alleged by certain liberal theologians) is that Paul insists that the mystery that he preached was fully foretold in the prophets (Acts 26:22; Ro 16:25-26). This casts serious question on any alleged Pauline mystery that cannot authenticated by what was foretold in the prophets. The fall and rising again of Israel is built around this core mystery of Christ’s twofold advent. The calling out of the gentiles is also predicated on the same essential revelation.

So why subscribe to a theology that denies the resurrection and restoration of Israel at Christ’s return? That’s not the mystery that Paul preached. And why subscribe to a so-called “mystery church age”, which demands an entirely separate entity with a separate destiny from Israel? This, of course, requires its own sub set of mysteries, such as a special rapture, which amounts to a separate resurrection that is seven years earlier from the faithful of Israel (see Job 19:25; Isa 25:7; 26:19; Dan 12:2; Jn 6:39-40, 44, 54; 11:24; 12:48). No such mystery can be shown or verified by anything foretold in the prophets.

It was apostolic policy that if the testimony did not conform to what stood written in the OT scriptures, it was not to be believed. Any other alleged mystery would have been dismissed as characteristic of the Greek mysteries, which were a far remove from Paul’s use of the term. No, his approach to the mystery of the gospel (Eph 6:19) was the same as the ‘mystery of the kingdom’ introduced by Jesus, which could only be understood in light of His twofold coming. Then, of course, there was Isaiah’s testimony of a secret Torah (teaching) or ‘sealed book’ that was to be “shut up and sealed (Heb. “held under wraps” Keil and Delitzch) among my disciples (Isa 8:14-17; 28:9-18; 29:10-14; Hab 2:2-3; Dan 9:24; 12:4, 9). The question is: who’s disciples? Isaiah’s or Christ’s? Christ, of course. I see this as OT background to the Lord’s explanation that the parables were not for “those outside” but for His disciples only (Mk 4:11). This theme of the so-called ‘messianic secret’ that runs all through the gospels has been a real source of speculation and puzzlement among NT scholars with many inadequate and unsatisfying solutions proposed.

It cannot be denied that Jesus was the custodian of a hidden knowledge by which He would justify the many (Isa 53:11). The secret would be revealed to the disciples by the Holy Spirit only AFTER its accomplishment. Until then, it was strictly ‘see thou tell no man’ (Mk 8:4, 30; 9:9). This is the God of Israel who hides Himself (Isa 45:15) from both the pride man (Mt 11:25; 1Cor 2:14), and the angelic rulers that stand behind all worldly powers. “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). This means that while Satan knew a great deal, he did not know the mystery of God’s secret intention. By the time he knew it, it was too late.

The mystery was hidden even from the righteous until the appointed time (Mt 16:22; Acts 1:6; 3:18-21; Ro 16:25; Eph 3:5; Col 1:26; 1Pet 1:11-12). Now that the mystery of Christ is an ‘open seceret’ to be proclaimed from the house tops to every creature under heaven, we should not lose appreciation for the glory of God’s awesome strategy in its execution both then and at the end, since it is still hidden from the natural man (1Cor 2:14).

True knowledge of God’s eternal purpose and the strategy by which it is accomplished does not encourage pride, as in the esoteric knowledge of the Greek Gnostics. Paul’s understanding of the term mystery comes from a completely Jewish background and is of a very different nature. I find no point of intersection with Greek thought at all. You’ll see some of this discussed in your studies of NT backgrounds. Rather, the quickened apprehension of true revelation of the mysteries of God makes one a privileged servant and steward (1Cor 4:1; 9:17; Eph 3:2; Col 1:25) ).

But most of all, insight and understanding of the glory of God’s hidden wisdom designs to cast down pride (Isa 6:5; Acts 9:4; Zech 12:10-11) and exalt the glory of God into new realms of praise and worship (Ro 11:33-36). God’s mystery is not for the wise and prudent but for babes (Mt 11:25). It is not for the world (Jn 14:17); the secret of the Lord is simply for the friends of God (compare Gen 18:17; Isa 41:8; Ps 25:15; Prov 25:2; Amos 3:7; Dan 2:30; Mt 13:11; Jn 15:15; Rev 10:7).

It is the glory of “this mystery” (Ro 11:25) that breaks so powerfully upon Paul (Ro 11:33-36) as he traces the paradoxical twists and turns of salvation history in his grand overview in Ro 9-11. Thus, true revelation of the hidden wisdom of God (of which the cross must always be the centerpiece), should not minister pride, but awed worship of the glory of God. If there is pride, it is testimony that the true nature of God’s mystery has not really been apprehended in truth, since to ‘see’ truly guarantees change into greater degrees of Christ likeness (2Cor 3:18). To truly see is to be truly changed. It is one thing to know a lot ‘about’ something; it is something else altogether to be apprehended by a true seeing. That is why I know that when Daniel speaks of those that “understand among the people,” he means something far more profound than a mere knowledge of end time happenings.

That’s some seed for thought. I’m going to send this out on my list of contacts, not only to give others a peak at what we’ve been discussing over the phone, but to invite their input. If God’s people help each other, no telling what we can enjoy in the way of greater clarity and simplicity in these rich but often difficult themes and truths. No wonder Paul begged the prayers of the church that he would be granted “utterance to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph 6:18-19), and to make all men see “the fellowship of the mystery” (Eph 3:9). I personally believe that a clear grasp and prepared understanding of the mystery in its major parts would transform the church’s witness to Israel, and no less the nations. I have that conviction, so we labor in faith.

Your ever devoted brother, Reggie

PS.

After our review over the phone of the basic structure of the mystery, the ‘already and the not yet’ etc. What do you propose as a central thesis statement that can be a starting point from which to “unite all the threads”? I used to talk to Art all the time about the need to pull all the strands together into a coherent whole. He loved that kind of talk and that was his aspiration in what we were planning in the way of what we called “table talks” planned for that following summer. So how do you propose we proceed to make this vision plain upon tables (simplified) so that everyone that reads (truly reads) is constrained to become a runner?

The post The Mystery of the Gospel Hidden in the Old Testament appeared first on Mystery of Israel.

Hello Reggie,

I have a question for you that was asked to me by a friend of mine. The question was:

“It seems to me that Calvinists seem to make more of big deal about election than they do about the cross – the glory of God in His sovereignty is even above the cross. Isn’t the glory of God all about the cross, and Christ crucified, and everything else is a lesser glory?”

I thought it was a good question, and I think I know how I would answer it. Of course, the explanation for this is in part because: even though Christ has died for our sins, a person is not saved unless God elects them to see and believe the good news, which in a real sense makes the sovereignty of God the catalyst for salvation, and the emphasis of our praise can shift. What are your thoughts, brother? What is the relationship between the two, and to what belongs the ultimate glory of God?

Your fellow-laborer,

There is always excess and extremes with any doctrine, particularly with one that is notoriously difficult and controversial. In this case, it is not either / or, but “what God has joined.”

It all depends on how we understand the cross, since its true nature is defined by its context. The cross is certainly centermost, but it is strategically placed in a very select and predestined context. In order for the cross to make the full statement and to have the full impact that God intends, it must be interpreted within its divinely chosen context; else it is hardly the same cross.

So what does the cross say? Certainly it declares the unfathomable extent of God’s incomprehensible love for sinners, but let’s consider what is less considered. The cross also says that anything and everything of man is insufficient, yea, utterly rejected. It removes all hope of human righteousness and guards paradise by a drawn sword. It is the ultimate renouncement of all that is ‘in’ man or ‘of’ man. The cross is not only the statement of who God is, but of what man is. This is particularly shown in Paul, since Jesus was not crucified by scoundrels, but by the most earnest and devout in Israel, who performed history’s greatest evil in total, albeit zealous and well meaning, ignorance (compare Lk 23:34; Acts 3:17; 26:9; Ro 10:2; 1Cor 2:8; 1Tim 1:13).

Election says much of the same thing. It too denies all natural claim on divine justice through works, to the end that no flesh might glory. It too puts to death any presumption of divine obligation. It too removes the ground of carnal confidence and shuts all persons up to he necessity of undeserved mercy through a faith that is itself a divine gift (Jn 6:29; Eph 2:8; Phil 1:29). This is not mere belief, since the devils believe and tremble. The “faith of God’s elect” is not something that is self generated. It is quickened from above; it is a sign of spiritual resurrection in one that was dead. It comes to those who have despaired of their own ability. The truth of divine election (i.e., the right of God to choose as He will choose without respect of persons) weakens the flesh of its deep presumption of any natural claim on God and this prepares the way for mercy.

Finally, consider where it is that we find one of the most exalted hymns of praise and exalted worship in all of scripture. It is at the end of Ro 11 (vss. 33-36). But notice what precedes. It is a highly predestinarian overview of salvation history that begins in Ro 9, actually even earlier at the end of Ro 8. Here as elsewhere, the cross is the underlying presupposition and center of all. But behold the setting! It is bounded by the election of Israel at one end (Ro 9) and the re-election of Israel at the other (Ro 11:25-29), with a called out number from all nations in between. It is only through this particular predestined plan that the cross shines brightest. Even a beautiful diamond shines by itself, but never so brightly as when it is placed in the particular setting that was specially created for its greatest adornment. Thus, the cross is best seen and admired in the context of the sovereignty of God’s eternal purpose.

Your friend might consider that many times what seems an exaggerated over emphasis of one thing to the seeming neglect of another might have something to do with a sense of need to shore up a deficit where some point of divine revelation has been especially neglected, undervalued, or opposed, as compared to something that is more generally agreed and acknowledged. Still, there is the ever present danger to become so caught up in the heat of controversy, so that zeal for some particular point of truth becomes disproportionate to the Lord’s purpose. To be moved ‘off center’ is to become eccentric and this tendency is a great loss to the cause of Christ. That’s when they say someone has “gone to seed” over some particular doctrine or burden. It’s a difficult tendency to avoid, particularly when God has revealed something that is tremendously important but equally unpopular.

Anyhow, that’s just what comes to mind. Hope this adds something useful to your own thought. By the way, what was your thought on the question?

In the Beloved, Reggie

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