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Chapter 0
by George Sidney Hurd
“The God who said, ‘Out of darkness the light shall shine!’ is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory
shining in the face of Christ,
…who is the exact likeness of God.”
(2 Cor 4:6,4b)
In the appointed time of the Father, God became flesh in the person of the Son and dwelt among us. The invisible God became visible in Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God in such a manner that Jesus could say, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 1:14,18;14:9).
In prior generations God had spoken through the intermediate agency of the prophets, but in Jesus Christ He spoke to us in person (Heb 1:1-2). For this reason, when Jesus was transfigured upon the mount and was speaking with Moses and Elijah in the presence of His disciples Peter James and John, when Peter interrupted, suggesting that they make three tabernacles, one where they could gather and listen to Moses, another where they could listen to Elijah and another where they could listen to Jesus, the Father spoke from heaven saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matt 17:5).
That is not to depreciate what He had previously spoken through others, as some have mistakenly assumed, but rather that we are now to look to Jesus and learn from Him. In Him all previous truths concealed in Scripture are now revealed to our understanding in a new and fresh way. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus (Rev 19:10). In order to rightly understand Moses and the Prophets we need to hear Him and learn of Him.
This way of seeing Scriptures through the lens of Jesus Christ has been referred to as the Christocentric hermeneutic since the early days of the Church. Martin Luther emphasized the need for the centrality of the cross, or a crucicentric hermeneutic, in order to rightly understand and apply the Scriptures.
However, there is a modern trend away from the historic faith of the Fathers. While still speaking of the centrality of Christ, their presentation of Christ and His teachings is selective, failing to take into account the totality of His life and teachings. Likewise, while using terms such as “cruciformity,” they have redefined the cross and what Christ accomplished in His atoning death on our behalf.
They approach the Scriptures with the presupposition that, since God is love, He is entirely non-violent. Using this presupposition as a filter, they proceed to reject or reinterpret all portrayals of the Father and even Jesus Himself found in the Scriptures when they present them as intolerant towards sinful human behavior or acting in violence to correct or punish it.
Based upon this presupposition they must also redefine the cross. Since the cross involved violence, and God is totally nonviolent (according to them), it cannot be true that it was God’s hand and eternal purpose that predetermined that His crucifixion should occur in order to bring about our redemption through His blood, as the Scriptures state (Acts 4:27-29; 2:23; Isa 53:5-6,10-11; Eph 1:6-7). These and other passages are either ignored or rejected by them in order to present the cross as nothing more than an act of wicked men against Jesus with no redemptive value in God’s eyes. I consider the implications of the atonement in my blog: “Did Christ’s sacrifice on the cross change God’s attitude towards us?” and also in my book: “The Ways of God (As seen through the eyes of a Conservative Restorationist).”
Having stripped the cross of all redemptive value before God for the remission of sins, saying that it was nothing more than Jesus passively absorbing the collective violence of mankind into Himself as He unconditionally forgave them, they then apply what they call the “cruciform hermeneutic” to the Scriptures. What that means is that any portrayal of God in Scripture that is not passive and nonviolent is deemed contrary to the love of God shown on the cross – it is not cruciform, and therefore is to be rejected as nothing more than primitive Near-Eastern misconceptions of God imposed upon the Scriptures by depraved human authors such as Moses, David and the prophets (cf. 2Peter 1:21).
This “cruciform hermeneutic” is not only applied by them to the Old Testament authors but also to the New Testament. Some even question the very words of Jesus if they do not fit into their cruciform mold, reasoning that since we already know that God is cruciform (non-violent and tolerant towards sin), any human author saying otherwise must have falsely attributed such words or actions to Jesus.
However, once we bring into question the very words and deeds of Christ recorded for us in the New Testament Scriptures, then every concrete basis for the knowledge of Him is lost in a sea of relativity. In this blog I will argue from the presupposition that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and that it is therefore an accurate revelation of who Jesus Christ is and therefore who the Father is, since Jesus said that if we have seen Him we have seen the Father and that He and the Father are one (Jn 14:9; 10:30).
Jesus validated the entirety of the Old Testament Scriptures
The infallibility of the Scriptures is not an arbitrary starting point since Jesus Himself affirmed it (Jn 17:17, cf. Ps 119:160; Matt 5:18; 4:4; Jn 10:35). In these circles it is common to hear someone say something like: “I am a follower of Jesus – not a follower of the Scriptures.” However, it is impossible to be a true follower of Jesus and not have the same regard for the Scriptures as He did.
Jesus validated the writings of Moses and the Prophets
Far from depreciating Moses and the Prophets or deauthorizing them, Jesus said that not one jot nor tittle could pass from the Law or the Prophets without them first being fulfilled. (Matt 5:17-18). This is based upon the fact that all Scripture is inspired of God, having proceeded from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4; 2Tim 3:16). Since every word of it proceeded from the mouth of God, it cannot return unto Him void but must be fulfilled (Isa 55:11).
After Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples, He explained to them that all that which was written in the Law and the Prophets had to be fulfilled. He said, “it is written, and thus it was necessary” (Luke 24:44-46). What was necessary due to it having been written? That He should suffer. It happened to Him just as God’s hand and purpose had previously determined should be done to Him (Acts 4:27-28). According to Jesus, if it was written it had to occur.
Jesus equated the words of Moses with the very commands of God Himself, including the non-cruciform punishments prescribed in the Law for disobedience:
“All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother; and, He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’” (Mark 7:9-10)
According to the “cruciform hermeneutic,” all violent depictions attributed to God must be filtered out of the Scriptures. Yet here we see Christ Himself including the death penalty as part of the commandment of God rather than considering it to be merely Moses’ projection of his mistaken vision of Ancient Near-Eastern deities upon Jehovah.
Jesus said that those who truly believed Moses would also believe Him, since Moses wrote about Him (Jn 5:45-46). He said of the brothers of the rich man in hades that if they didn’t believe Moses, then nothing could persuade them to believe – not even someone raising from the dead (Luke 16:31). Sadly, this same refusal to believe Moses is still characteristic of many so-called Progressive thinkers today.
Jesus repeatedly endorsed Moses and the Prophets. He said that the people were to observe and do whatever the scribes and Pharisees told them to do since they sat in Moses’ seat (Matt 23:2-3, cf. Matt 8:4). Nowhere does Jesus give place for us to question or sit in judgment concerning the validity of any portions of the writings of Moses or the Prophets as many so lightly do today. On the contrary, He equates the commands of Moses with the commands of God Himself and warns that those who invalidate the least of them and influence others to do the same will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:19).
Some erroneously insist that Jesus Himself does just that in His very next breath. Just two verses later in Matthew 5:19 through to the end of the chapter, five times Jesus repeats the phrases: “You have heard it said… But I say…” They misconstrue this as meaning that Jesus was setting aside the Law and presenting something new.
However, it should be obvious that Jesus isn’t contradicting what He just said concerning the writings of Moses. When Jesus referred to the writings of Moses, as He did when tempted by Satan in the previous chapter, He always said, “it is written,” referring to Scripture as final incontrovertible truth (Matt 4:4,6-7). In contrast, in each of these instances in Matthew 5, Jesus is confronting, not the Law, but the misapplications of the Law of Moses made by the Rabbis of that day. Rather than saying: “It is written… But I say…” He instead says, “You have heard… But I say…”
While space doesn’t allow me to cover each instance in detail, the careful reader will notice that nowhere does Jesus teach contrary to the Law of Moses. Rather, He confronts the Rabbi’s misapplication of the Law. In the first four instances – that of murder (5:21-22), adultery (5:27-28), divorce (5:31-32) and oaths (5:33-37), Jesus raises the bar which the Rabbis had lowered, using loopholes in order to get around fully fulfilling the Law.
Then in the fifth one Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’” (Matt 5:43). The command to love your neighbor is in the Law (Lev 19:18), but the rabbinical loophole “and hate your enemy” is not. On the contrary, the Law told them to show kindness towards their enemies (Ex 23:4).
So we see that, rather than Jesus invalidating the Law and teaching others to do the same (something He forbade them from doing in verse 19), He elevated the Law back to its rightful place. The Law was given to reveal our sin and need for grace, but the Pharisees had lowered the standard and created loopholes in order to make it appear as though they were fulfilling the Law when in reality they were breaking it. In elevating the Law to its rightful place, we all become convicted as transgressors and must look to Him for grace and mercy.
Jesus validated the Psalms
In order to demonstrate to the Pharisees that He was not only a descendant of David according to the flesh, but also the Son of God, Jesus appealed to the Psalms as the final authority. When the Pharisees said that the Messiah would be the son of David He replied:
“How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool?’ If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” (Matt 22:43-45)
Here Jesus appeals to the Psalms as authoritative, being what the psalmist said in the Spirit. Just as He confronted Satan with the authoritative written word saying, “It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” thereby authenticating Moses’ writings as having proceeded from God, so also here He authenticates the Psalms, saying that they were spoken in the Spirit (Matt 4:4, cf. Dt 8:3). Also He referenced the Psalms referring to the manner of His death, saying that what was written in the Psalms concerning Him had to be fulfilled (Luke 24:44).
In the same manner, Peter also referred to the imprecatory Psalms as having to be fulfilled, even within New Covenant contexts. In reference to Judas, Peter said concerning his punishment for having betrayed Jesus:
“For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it'; and, ‘Let another take his office.’” (Acts 1:20 cf. Ps 69:25; 109:8).
Most of those who say that they are followers of Jesus rather than the Bible throw out the imprecatory Psalms. But both of the Psalms here cited by Peter as authoritative are non-cruciform imprecatory Psalms. The immediate followers of Jesus still considered the written Word to be authoritative – including the imprecatory Psalms. Who are most likely to be followers of the true Jesus, the original Apostles themselves, or modern Progressive scholars who reject all the writings of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms that don’t fit their cruciform model?
Likewise Paul cited the imprecatory Psalms as being authoritative and fulfilled in our times. Concerning Israel’s temporary judgment, he cites Psalm 69:22-23 in the following manner:
“And David says: ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.’” (Rom 11:9-10)
Jesus and vengeance
On the surface we would all agree that Jesus accurately revealed the Father in all that He said and did. Yet those who insist that Jesus revealed a God who always acts in a cruciform manner must ignore or reject many sayings of Jesus which present God as actively punishing evil. Jesus presents God as the Avenger of evil and injustice. He says of the Father:
“And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” (Luke 18:7-8)
Jesus Himself says that God will avenge those who oppress His elect. This is why He said that it would be better for one to hang a millstone around their neck and drown in the depth of the sea than to cause one of those who believe in Him to stumble (Matt 18:6). This is why the martyrs under the heavenly alter were not out of line when they cried out to God saying: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev 6:10).
The word “vengeance” at first seems to be incompatible with God’s revealed nature which is love. Vengeance as we commonly understand it is a personal vendetta where an individual becomes obsessed with getting back at someone for an offense suffered. However, the Greek word often rendered “vengeance” is ekdikesis which is a composite of dikeo, meaning “justice.” The word ekdikesis would be better translated, “to fully execute justice.”
It is not for the offended individual to avenge himself, but rather he is told to leave vengeance (the full execution of justice) to God the Judge of all (Rom 12:19). God has also established governing authorities who are appointed to avenge evil (Rom 13:4; 1Pet 2:13-14). However, we as individuals are not to act as vigilantes.
Those who think that God’s wrath and vengeance against evil and injustice is incompatible with His love, fail to adequately contemplate what our fallen world would be like if God’s love were merely a passive tolerant “cruciform” love that simply says “peace be unto you” to a terrorist as he proceeds to blow up a building full of innocent victims. Paul poses the question: “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?” (Rom 3:5-6).
Most of us know intuitively that a father who says that he loves his little daughter and yet would stand by passively while she is being raped in front of him doesn’t really love her at all. True love is angered by evil and takes appropriate action against the evildoer.
Jesus repeatedly presents God as avenging evil (Luke 13:3-5; 12:46-48, etc.). In the parable of the ungrateful servant who was forgiven a debt he couldn’t pay, only to turn around and refuse to forgive his neighbor a lesser debt, we see that God fully executes justice against those who refuse to forgive the offenses of others against them:
“And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matt 18:34-35)
So, when we say that Jesus reveals the Father we must be careful to give attention to all that Jesus says and does, rather than looking at Him through rose colored glasses or what Gregory Boyd refers to as the “magic eye” or the “cruciform hermeneutic,” which they use to justify filtering out all parts of the Bible that do not fit the passive nonviolent form of love demonstrated by Jesus on the cross.
Jesus in His Second Coming
Jesus said that immediately after the Great Tribulation He will come again and gather His elect unto Himself, and then He will sit upon His throne and separate the sheep of the nations from the workers of iniquity (Matt 24:29,31; 25:31-32; 7:23). The sheep will be granted entrance into the life of the Millennial age (zoen aionion), but He will send the goats into eonian fire (pur aionion) or the correction of the age (kolasin aionion) (Matt 25:41,46)[1] When Christ returns the nations will realize that their time of judgment has come and they will flee from Him:
“And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Rev 6:15-17)
I realize that many reading this blog may be Preterists and therefore believe that this was fulfilled in the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. I present my arguments in favor of a Futurist understanding of the book of Revelation in my book, “Last Days – Past or Present.” However, for the subject at hand, one’s eschatology does not change the fact that both God the Father and God the Son are here presented in a non-cruciform manner, since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. They are no different now than they were in 70 A.D. Those who present a filtered incomplete image of Jesus and hence of the Father, will be in for a rude awakening in the day of reckoning, as will be their followers. The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also presents both the Father and the Son in a manner which could not be defined as cruciform by any stretch of the imagination. He said:
“it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 IN FLAMING FIRE TAKING VENGEANCE on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished (tino, “pay the penalty of”) with everlasting destruction (olethron aionion, “eonian destruction”) from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.” (2Thess 1:6-10)
When Christ comes in the Day of the Lord, He will not appear a second time as the suffering Servant. He will come with power and great glory as Judge to execute justice, and as King to reign with a rod of iron (Matt 16:27; Rev 11:15; Rev 19:11,15-16). Many, failing to see the distinction between His first coming as the suffering Servant to give Himself a ransom for sin, and His final coming to judge and reign upon the earth with a rod of iron, think that His Second Coming (third for the Partial Preterist) will be similar in nature to His first coming.
When Jesus began His ministry, He went into the Synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath and read the portion in Isaiah 61 which described His ministry. However, He intentionally read only the part that referred to His earthly ministry in His first coming. He stood up to read. Then Luke says:
“And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’ 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.” (Luke 4:17-20)
It is not without significance that Jesus stopped mid-sentence and closed the scroll in Isaiah 61:2. In Isaiah the verse reads, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.” Why did Jesus close the scroll mid-sentence? It was obviously intentional, but what was His intention? Those who would apply a “cruciform hermeneutic” must say that Jesus was invalidating the second part of the verse since it presents Him as violent and judgmental. However, such reasoning is inconsistent with His statements such as “your word is truth,” and “the Scriptures cannot be broken” (Jn 10:35; 17:17). Also, just a few chapters earlier, in Isaiah 55:11, God said, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Therefore, it is unreasonable to argue that Jesus Himself was here setting aside or making void the very Scriptures that He said could not be broken.
The obvious reason that He stopped reading mid-sentence is because the first half of the verse referred to His first coming as the suffering Servant, whereas the second half referred to His Second Coming as Judge of the living and the dead and as King of kings and Lord of lords to execute justice and reign upon the earth (2Tim 4:1; Rev 11:15-18). The separation between His first and second comings was a mystery hidden until Israel had formally rejected Christ’s offer of the kingdom (Matt 23:37-39).
Even now, during this present Dispensation of Grace, we see Christ intervening in a non-cruciform manner, correcting and judging unrepentant sin within the churches. To the church of Thyatira Jesus said:
“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.” (Rev 2:20-23)
Here we see Jesus warning a prophetess and false teacher within the church whom He calls by the name of Jezebel, telling her that if she doesn’t repent of her false teaching and sexual immorality that He will afflict her with sickness and punish those who partake with her with great tribulation. He even warns He will kill her children if she obstinately persists in that lifestyle. Many who have given themselves over to sexual immorality fail to take into consideration the fact that the sicknesses that comes upon them as a result of their immorality can also end up taking the lives of their own children.
To the careful student of the Word it is evident that there is no discontinuity between the God of the Old Testament and the God revealed in the person and teachings of Jesus or in the New Testament, including the book of Revelation.
I realize that the Jesus of the Bible is offensive to many in this present generation, but we must not for that reason shun from declaring the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-30). The true Jesus will always be a rock of offense to those who are unwilling to repent and submit to the Word. As Peter said:
“Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected as become the chief cornerstone, 8 and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” (1 Peter 2:7-8)
Paul spoke of our time when he said:
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Tim 4:2-5 cf. 2Thess 2:10-12)
Especially we as teachers of the Word of God have a tremendous responsibility to proclaim the whole counsel of God, rather than trying to accommodate those who are unwilling to repent of their sins and obey God (Jas 3:1). We must avoid catering to those who are not receptive to the truth but simply heap to themselves teachers who will tickle their ears with convoluted nuances of truth and vain philosophy designed to take the edge off of the Word of God which is the sword of the Spirit. As Paul said:
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Col 2:8-10)
Today, perhaps more than ever before, we are seeing a generation that cannot endure sound biblical doctrine. Our generation has become one in which there is more knowledge than ever before, but it is a learning without ever coming to a knowledge of the truth (2Tim 3:7,8). Instead of becoming proficient in the Word of God, they live on a steady diet of philosophy and the teachings of men who offer them new and novel twists which subvert the plain and obvious meaning of Scripture. They are more interested in traditions of men or what the Church Fathers had to say than what the Scriptures themselves say. The Emergent Church Movement actually adapts their beliefs to the changing cultural climate in order to accommodate the world, rather than confronting the changing culture with the timeless truths of God’s Word, calling men to repentance.
I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but at 74 years of age, after 54 years of being involved in church and ministry, just within that last few years I have witnessed a departure from the Bible – the faith once and for all delivered to the saints, on a scale I could have never imagined just 24 years ago when I left the civilized world to be a missionary in the Amazon jungle. We as followers of Jesus need to return to the Jesus of the Bible. We need to put aside all the inflated convoluted rhetoric of philosophers and the empty deceit of teachers with their fancy nuances on words which deprive men of the truth. We should instead endeavor to become proficient in the Word of God. As the writer of Hebrews says, some of us have become dull of hearing,
“Concerning this subject we have much to say but it is hard to explain, since you have become sluggish in your hearing. 12 For now you ought to be teachers by this time, but you again need someone to teach you the fundamental principles of the words of God from the beginning and you have become needy of milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who shares milk is inexperienced in the teaching about righteousness, for he is a baby: 14 but solid food is for the mature saints, those who have exercised for themselves the senses that are trained by practice for distinguishing both good and evil.” (Heb 5:11-14)
Sadly, we now have a generation of giants in rhetoric and philosophy who are spiritual babes, due to their neglect of the Bible and their lack of hunger for every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. What this generation needs is not more philosophy or more novel convoluted deconstructions of truth, but a renewed love of the truth and a renewed appetite for sound doctrine based upon a thoughtful and prayerful exegesis of the sacred text (2Tim 3:15).
[1] For a more detailed treatment of this subject see my book “The Triumph of Mercy.”
“The God who said, ‘Out of darkness the light shall shine!’ is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory
shining in the face of Christ,
…who is the exact likeness of God.”
(2 Cor 4:6,4b)
In the appointed time of the Father, God became flesh in the person of the Son and dwelt among us. The invisible God became visible in Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God in such a manner that Jesus could say, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 1:14,18;14:9).
In prior generations God had spoken through the intermediate agency of the prophets, but in Jesus Christ He spoke to us in person (Heb 1:1-2). For this reason, when Jesus was transfigured upon the mount and was speaking with Moses and Elijah in the presence of His disciples Peter James and John, when Peter interrupted, suggesting that they make three tabernacles, one where they could gather and listen to Moses, another where they could listen to Elijah and another where they could listen to Jesus, the Father spoke from heaven saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matt 17:5).
That is not to depreciate what He had previously spoken through others, as some have mistakenly assumed, but rather that we are now to look to Jesus and learn from Him. In Him all previous truths concealed in Scripture are now revealed to our understanding in a new and fresh way. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus (Rev 19:10). In order to rightly understand Moses and the Prophets we need to hear Him and learn of Him.
This way of seeing Scriptures through the lens of Jesus Christ has been referred to as the Christocentric hermeneutic since the early days of the Church. Martin Luther emphasized the need for the centrality of the cross, or a crucicentric hermeneutic, in order to rightly understand and apply the Scriptures.
However, there is a modern trend away from the historic faith of the Fathers. While still speaking of the centrality of Christ, their presentation of Christ and His teachings is selective, failing to take into account the totality of His life and teachings. Likewise, while using terms such as “cruciformity,” they have redefined the cross and what Christ accomplished in His atoning death on our behalf.
They approach the Scriptures with the presupposition that, since God is love, He is entirely non-violent. Using this presupposition as a filter, they proceed to reject or reinterpret all portrayals of the Father and even Jesus Himself found in the Scriptures when they present them as intolerant towards sinful human behavior or acting in violence to correct or punish it.
Based upon this presupposition they must also redefine the cross. Since the cross involved violence, and God is totally nonviolent (according to them), it cannot be true that it was God’s hand and eternal purpose that predetermined that His crucifixion should occur in order to bring about our redemption through His blood, as the Scriptures state (Acts 4:27-29; 2:23; Isa 53:5-6,10-11; Eph 1:6-7). These and other passages are either ignored or rejected by them in order to present the cross as nothing more than an act of wicked men against Jesus with no redemptive value in God’s eyes. I consider the implications of the atonement in my blog: “Did Christ’s sacrifice on the cross change God’s attitude towards us?” and also in my book: “The Ways of God (As seen through the eyes of a Conservative Restorationist).”
Having stripped the cross of all redemptive value before God for the remission of sins, saying that it was nothing more than Jesus passively absorbing the collective violence of mankind into Himself as He unconditionally forgave them, they then apply what they call the “cruciform hermeneutic” to the Scriptures. What that means is that any portrayal of God in Scripture that is not passive and nonviolent is deemed contrary to the love of God shown on the cross – it is not cruciform, and therefore is to be rejected as nothing more than primitive Near-Eastern misconceptions of God imposed upon the Scriptures by depraved human authors such as Moses, David and the prophets (cf. 2Peter 1:21).
This “cruciform hermeneutic” is not only applied by them to the Old Testament authors but also to the New Testament. Some even question the very words of Jesus if they do not fit into their cruciform mold, reasoning that since we already know that God is cruciform (non-violent and tolerant towards sin), any human author saying otherwise must have falsely attributed such words or actions to Jesus.
However, once we bring into question the very words and deeds of Christ recorded for us in the New Testament Scriptures, then every concrete basis for the knowledge of Him is lost in a sea of relativity. In this blog I will argue from the presupposition that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and that it is therefore an accurate revelation of who Jesus Christ is and therefore who the Father is, since Jesus said that if we have seen Him we have seen the Father and that He and the Father are one (Jn 14:9; 10:30).
Jesus validated the entirety of the Old Testament Scriptures
The infallibility of the Scriptures is not an arbitrary starting point since Jesus Himself affirmed it (Jn 17:17, cf. Ps 119:160; Matt 5:18; 4:4; Jn 10:35). In these circles it is common to hear someone say something like: “I am a follower of Jesus – not a follower of the Scriptures.” However, it is impossible to be a true follower of Jesus and not have the same regard for the Scriptures as He did.
Jesus validated the writings of Moses and the Prophets
Far from depreciating Moses and the Prophets or deauthorizing them, Jesus said that not one jot nor tittle could pass from the Law or the Prophets without them first being fulfilled. (Matt 5:17-18). This is based upon the fact that all Scripture is inspired of God, having proceeded from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4; 2Tim 3:16). Since every word of it proceeded from the mouth of God, it cannot return unto Him void but must be fulfilled (Isa 55:11).
After Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples, He explained to them that all that which was written in the Law and the Prophets had to be fulfilled. He said, “it is written, and thus it was necessary” (Luke 24:44-46). What was necessary due to it having been written? That He should suffer. It happened to Him just as God’s hand and purpose had previously determined should be done to Him (Acts 4:27-28). According to Jesus, if it was written it had to occur.
Jesus equated the words of Moses with the very commands of God Himself, including the non-cruciform punishments prescribed in the Law for disobedience:
“All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother; and, He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’” (Mark 7:9-10)
According to the “cruciform hermeneutic,” all violent depictions attributed to God must be filtered out of the Scriptures. Yet here we see Christ Himself including the death penalty as part of the commandment of God rather than considering it to be merely Moses’ projection of his mistaken vision of Ancient Near-Eastern deities upon Jehovah.
Jesus said that those who truly believed Moses would also believe Him, since Moses wrote about Him (Jn 5:45-46). He said of the brothers of the rich man in hades that if they didn’t believe Moses, then nothing could persuade them to believe – not even someone raising from the dead (Luke 16:31). Sadly, this same refusal to believe Moses is still characteristic of many so-called Progressive thinkers today.
Jesus repeatedly endorsed Moses and the Prophets. He said that the people were to observe and do whatever the scribes and Pharisees told them to do since they sat in Moses’ seat (Matt 23:2-3, cf. Matt 8:4). Nowhere does Jesus give place for us to question or sit in judgment concerning the validity of any portions of the writings of Moses or the Prophets as many so lightly do today. On the contrary, He equates the commands of Moses with the commands of God Himself and warns that those who invalidate the least of them and influence others to do the same will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:19).
Some erroneously insist that Jesus Himself does just that in His very next breath. Just two verses later in Matthew 5:19 through to the end of the chapter, five times Jesus repeats the phrases: “You have heard it said… But I say…” They misconstrue this as meaning that Jesus was setting aside the Law and presenting something new.
However, it should be obvious that Jesus isn’t contradicting what He just said concerning the writings of Moses. When Jesus referred to the writings of Moses, as He did when tempted by Satan in the previous chapter, He always said, “it is written,” referring to Scripture as final incontrovertible truth (Matt 4:4,6-7). In contrast, in each of these instances in Matthew 5, Jesus is confronting, not the Law, but the misapplications of the Law of Moses made by the Rabbis of that day. Rather than saying: “It is written… But I say…” He instead says, “You have heard… But I say…”
While space doesn’t allow me to cover each instance in detail, the careful reader will notice that nowhere does Jesus teach contrary to the Law of Moses. Rather, He confronts the Rabbi’s misapplication of the Law. In the first four instances – that of murder (5:21-22), adultery (5:27-28), divorce (5:31-32) and oaths (5:33-37), Jesus raises the bar which the Rabbis had lowered, using loopholes in order to get around fully fulfilling the Law.
Then in the fifth one Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’” (Matt 5:43). The command to love your neighbor is in the Law (Lev 19:18), but the rabbinical loophole “and hate your enemy” is not. On the contrary, the Law told them to show kindness towards their enemies (Ex 23:4).
So we see that, rather than Jesus invalidating the Law and teaching others to do the same (something He forbade them from doing in verse 19), He elevated the Law back to its rightful place. The Law was given to reveal our sin and need for grace, but the Pharisees had lowered the standard and created loopholes in order to make it appear as though they were fulfilling the Law when in reality they were breaking it. In elevating the Law to its rightful place, we all become convicted as transgressors and must look to Him for grace and mercy.
Jesus validated the Psalms
In order to demonstrate to the Pharisees that He was not only a descendant of David according to the flesh, but also the Son of God, Jesus appealed to the Psalms as the final authority. When the Pharisees said that the Messiah would be the son of David He replied:
“How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool?’ If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” (Matt 22:43-45)
Here Jesus appeals to the Psalms as authoritative, being what the psalmist said in the Spirit. Just as He confronted Satan with the authoritative written word saying, “It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” thereby authenticating Moses’ writings as having proceeded from God, so also here He authenticates the Psalms, saying that they were spoken in the Spirit (Matt 4:4, cf. Dt 8:3). Also He referenced the Psalms referring to the manner of His death, saying that what was written in the Psalms concerning Him had to be fulfilled (Luke 24:44).
In the same manner, Peter also referred to the imprecatory Psalms as having to be fulfilled, even within New Covenant contexts. In reference to Judas, Peter said concerning his punishment for having betrayed Jesus:
“For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it'; and, ‘Let another take his office.’” (Acts 1:20 cf. Ps 69:25; 109:8).
Most of those who say that they are followers of Jesus rather than the Bible throw out the imprecatory Psalms. But both of the Psalms here cited by Peter as authoritative are non-cruciform imprecatory Psalms. The immediate followers of Jesus still considered the written Word to be authoritative – including the imprecatory Psalms. Who are most likely to be followers of the true Jesus, the original Apostles themselves, or modern Progressive scholars who reject all the writings of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms that don’t fit their cruciform model?
Likewise Paul cited the imprecatory Psalms as being authoritative and fulfilled in our times. Concerning Israel’s temporary judgment, he cites Psalm 69:22-23 in the following manner:
“And David says: ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.’” (Rom 11:9-10)
Jesus and vengeance
On the surface we would all agree that Jesus accurately revealed the Father in all that He said and did. Yet those who insist that Jesus revealed a God who always acts in a cruciform manner must ignore or reject many sayings of Jesus which present God as actively punishing evil. Jesus presents God as the Avenger of evil and injustice. He says of the Father:
“And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” (Luke 18:7-8)
Jesus Himself says that God will avenge those who oppress His elect. This is why He said that it would be better for one to hang a millstone around their neck and drown in the depth of the sea than to cause one of those who believe in Him to stumble (Matt 18:6). This is why the martyrs under the heavenly alter were not out of line when they cried out to God saying: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev 6:10).
The word “vengeance” at first seems to be incompatible with God’s revealed nature which is love. Vengeance as we commonly understand it is a personal vendetta where an individual becomes obsessed with getting back at someone for an offense suffered. However, the Greek word often rendered “vengeance” is ekdikesis which is a composite of dikeo, meaning “justice.” The word ekdikesis would be better translated, “to fully execute justice.”
It is not for the offended individual to avenge himself, but rather he is told to leave vengeance (the full execution of justice) to God the Judge of all (Rom 12:19). God has also established governing authorities who are appointed to avenge evil (Rom 13:4; 1Pet 2:13-14). However, we as individuals are not to act as vigilantes.
Those who think that God’s wrath and vengeance against evil and injustice is incompatible with His love, fail to adequately contemplate what our fallen world would be like if God’s love were merely a passive tolerant “cruciform” love that simply says “peace be unto you” to a terrorist as he proceeds to blow up a building full of innocent victims. Paul poses the question: “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?” (Rom 3:5-6).
Most of us know intuitively that a father who says that he loves his little daughter and yet would stand by passively while she is being raped in front of him doesn’t really love her at all. True love is angered by evil and takes appropriate action against the evildoer.
Jesus repeatedly presents God as avenging evil (Luke 13:3-5; 12:46-48, etc.). In the parable of the ungrateful servant who was forgiven a debt he couldn’t pay, only to turn around and refuse to forgive his neighbor a lesser debt, we see that God fully executes justice against those who refuse to forgive the offenses of others against them:
“And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matt 18:34-35)
So, when we say that Jesus reveals the Father we must be careful to give attention to all that Jesus says and does, rather than looking at Him through rose colored glasses or what Gregory Boyd refers to as the “magic eye” or the “cruciform hermeneutic,” which they use to justify filtering out all parts of the Bible that do not fit the passive nonviolent form of love demonstrated by Jesus on the cross.
Jesus in His Second Coming
Jesus said that immediately after the Great Tribulation He will come again and gather His elect unto Himself, and then He will sit upon His throne and separate the sheep of the nations from the workers of iniquity (Matt 24:29,31; 25:31-32; 7:23). The sheep will be granted entrance into the life of the Millennial age (zoen aionion), but He will send the goats into eonian fire (pur aionion) or the correction of the age (kolasin aionion) (Matt 25:41,46)[1] When Christ returns the nations will realize that their time of judgment has come and they will flee from Him:
“And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Rev 6:15-17)
I realize that many reading this blog may be Preterists and therefore believe that this was fulfilled in the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. I present my arguments in favor of a Futurist understanding of the book of Revelation in my book, “Last Days – Past or Present.” However, for the subject at hand, one’s eschatology does not change the fact that both God the Father and God the Son are here presented in a non-cruciform manner, since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. They are no different now than they were in 70 A.D. Those who present a filtered incomplete image of Jesus and hence of the Father, will be in for a rude awakening in the day of reckoning, as will be their followers. The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also presents both the Father and the Son in a manner which could not be defined as cruciform by any stretch of the imagination. He said:
“it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 IN FLAMING FIRE TAKING VENGEANCE on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished (tino, “pay the penalty of”) with everlasting destruction (olethron aionion, “eonian destruction”) from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.” (2Thess 1:6-10)
When Christ comes in the Day of the Lord, He will not appear a second time as the suffering Servant. He will come with power and great glory as Judge to execute justice, and as King to reign with a rod of iron (Matt 16:27; Rev 11:15; Rev 19:11,15-16). Many, failing to see the distinction between His first coming as the suffering Servant to give Himself a ransom for sin, and His final coming to judge and reign upon the earth with a rod of iron, think that His Second Coming (third for the Partial Preterist) will be similar in nature to His first coming.
When Jesus began His ministry, He went into the Synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath and read the portion in Isaiah 61 which described His ministry. However, He intentionally read only the part that referred to His earthly ministry in His first coming. He stood up to read. Then Luke says:
“And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’ 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.” (Luke 4:17-20)
It is not without significance that Jesus stopped mid-sentence and closed the scroll in Isaiah 61:2. In Isaiah the verse reads, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.” Why did Jesus close the scroll mid-sentence? It was obviously intentional, but what was His intention? Those who would apply a “cruciform hermeneutic” must say that Jesus was invalidating the second part of the verse since it presents Him as violent and judgmental. However, such reasoning is inconsistent with His statements such as “your word is truth,” and “the Scriptures cannot be broken” (Jn 10:35; 17:17). Also, just a few chapters earlier, in Isaiah 55:11, God said, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Therefore, it is unreasonable to argue that Jesus Himself was here setting aside or making void the very Scriptures that He said could not be broken.
The obvious reason that He stopped reading mid-sentence is because the first half of the verse referred to His first coming as the suffering Servant, whereas the second half referred to His Second Coming as Judge of the living and the dead and as King of kings and Lord of lords to execute justice and reign upon the earth (2Tim 4:1; Rev 11:15-18). The separation between His first and second comings was a mystery hidden until Israel had formally rejected Christ’s offer of the kingdom (Matt 23:37-39).
Even now, during this present Dispensation of Grace, we see Christ intervening in a non-cruciform manner, correcting and judging unrepentant sin within the churches. To the church of Thyatira Jesus said:
“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.” (Rev 2:20-23)
Here we see Jesus warning a prophetess and false teacher within the church whom He calls by the name of Jezebel, telling her that if she doesn’t repent of her false teaching and sexual immorality that He will afflict her with sickness and punish those who partake with her with great tribulation. He even warns He will kill her children if she obstinately persists in that lifestyle. Many who have given themselves over to sexual immorality fail to take into consideration the fact that the sicknesses that comes upon them as a result of their immorality can also end up taking the lives of their own children.
To the careful student of the Word it is evident that there is no discontinuity between the God of the Old Testament and the God revealed in the person and teachings of Jesus or in the New Testament, including the book of Revelation.
I realize that the Jesus of the Bible is offensive to many in this present generation, but we must not for that reason shun from declaring the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-30). The true Jesus will always be a rock of offense to those who are unwilling to repent and submit to the Word. As Peter said:
“Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected as become the chief cornerstone, 8 and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” (1 Peter 2:7-8)
Paul spoke of our time when he said:
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Tim 4:2-5 cf. 2Thess 2:10-12)
Especially we as teachers of the Word of God have a tremendous responsibility to proclaim the whole counsel of God, rather than trying to accommodate those who are unwilling to repent of their sins and obey God (Jas 3:1). We must avoid catering to those who are not receptive to the truth but simply heap to themselves teachers who will tickle their ears with convoluted nuances of truth and vain philosophy designed to take the edge off of the Word of God which is the sword of the Spirit. As Paul said:
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Col 2:8-10)
Today, perhaps more than ever before, we are seeing a generation that cannot endure sound biblical doctrine. Our generation has become one in which there is more knowledge than ever before, but it is a learning without ever coming to a knowledge of the truth (2Tim 3:7,8). Instead of becoming proficient in the Word of God, they live on a steady diet of philosophy and the teachings of men who offer them new and novel twists which subvert the plain and obvious meaning of Scripture. They are more interested in traditions of men or what the Church Fathers had to say than what the Scriptures themselves say. The Emergent Church Movement actually adapts their beliefs to the changing cultural climate in order to accommodate the world, rather than confronting the changing culture with the timeless truths of God’s Word, calling men to repentance.
I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but at 74 years of age, after 54 years of being involved in church and ministry, just within that last few years I have witnessed a departure from the Bible – the faith once and for all delivered to the saints, on a scale I could have never imagined just 24 years ago when I left the civilized world to be a missionary in the Amazon jungle. We as followers of Jesus need to return to the Jesus of the Bible. We need to put aside all the inflated convoluted rhetoric of philosophers and the empty deceit of teachers with their fancy nuances on words which deprive men of the truth. We should instead endeavor to become proficient in the Word of God. As the writer of Hebrews says, some of us have become dull of hearing,
“Concerning this subject we have much to say but it is hard to explain, since you have become sluggish in your hearing. 12 For now you ought to be teachers by this time, but you again need someone to teach you the fundamental principles of the words of God from the beginning and you have become needy of milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who shares milk is inexperienced in the teaching about righteousness, for he is a baby: 14 but solid food is for the mature saints, those who have exercised for themselves the senses that are trained by practice for distinguishing both good and evil.” (Heb 5:11-14)
Sadly, we now have a generation of giants in rhetoric and philosophy who are spiritual babes, due to their neglect of the Bible and their lack of hunger for every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. What this generation needs is not more philosophy or more novel convoluted deconstructions of truth, but a renewed love of the truth and a renewed appetite for sound doctrine based upon a thoughtful and prayerful exegesis of the sacred text (2Tim 3:15).
[1] For a more detailed treatment of this subject see my book “The Triumph of Mercy.”
- Published on
as seen from the perspective of a
Conservative Dispensational
Restorationist
Conservative Dispensational
Restorationist
by George Sidney Hurd
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I realize that the subtitle for this blog, combined with the above dispensational chart, puts me at a great disadvantage with most readers, since Dispensationalism has been so greatly criticized in recent years, not to mention the doctrine of a Universal Restoration. However, I believe that a balanced dispensational perspective reveals God’s plan for the ages, culminating in the final restoration of all, in a manner much more glorious, logical and consistent with the nature of divine revelation, than that of Covenant Theology or any other interpretive scheme developed thus far.
Covenant Theologians seek to discredit Dispensationalism based upon its recent origins. A fully developed dispensational interpretive system did not exist prior to 1830 when John Nelson Darby first developed it (perhaps overdeveloped it). However, Covenant Theology as we now know it wasn’t fully developed prior to the mid-17th century, less than two hundred years prior to Darby. Both schools of interpretation are of relatively recent development. New isn’t always bad. Often a more recent interpretive framework comes into existence because of the inadequacy of previous interpretive methods.
Most would acknowledge that the Reformation is still in progress and that we haven’t fully recovered all the truths lost to the Church during the Dark Ages. While a systematic theology wasn’t developed by the Early Church Fathers, Justin Martyr (110 – 165 A.D.), Irenaeus (130 – 200 A.D.) Clement of Alexandria (150 – 420 A.D.) and Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 A.D.) made some distinctions between different dispensations within the Scriptures. Early Post-Reformation scholars such as Jonathan Edwards (1637 – 1716), Pierre Poirot (1646 – 1710) and Isaac Watts (1674 – 1748) also made dispensational distinctions.
Also, we easily forget that Dispensational Theology, Covenant Theology (or Replacement Theology) and New Covenant Theology, along with all their nuanced variations, are not infallible but simply interpretive frameworks formulated in order to assist us in rightly understanding the overall revelation of Scripture. Dispensationalists see the ages as being characterized by distinguishable dispensations or divine administrations, whereas Covenant Theologians deny dispensational distinctions, seeing God as relating to man based solely upon covenants. Their covenants are usually three in number: the covenant of redemption, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.
Covenant Theologians would say that dispensations are not explicitly delineated in the Bible and therefore were imposed upon the Scriptures by Dispensationalists. However, in reality it is the covenants of redemption, works and grace which are not named in Scripture. Nevertheless, they would counter, saying that, while not mentioned by name, they are nonetheless implicit in the Scriptures.
However, it is not true that dispensations are not mentioned in the Scriptures. The word oikonomía, which is translated “dispensation” four times in the King James Version, appears in the New Testament nine times, and its cognates oikonomos and oikonoméo are used eleven times. The word oikonomos is a compound of oikos, “house,” and nomos “law or rule.” Strongs defines oikonomía as: “administration (of a household or estate); specifically, a (religious) ‘economy.’” What is confusing to some is that “dispensation,” being an old English word, is rendered “administration” or some other similar word. What Dispensationalists seek to emphasize by the use of the term is that God has been progressively revealing Himself to us through distinct administrations or dispensations in which God governs and relates to His people, or those of His household, in distinct manners through distinct progressive stages of development and revelation.
The dispensations of God are comparable to a father who has a different relationship and household rules for each of his children at distinct stages of their development. A parent does not relate to his adult son in the same manner as he did when he was a toddler, nor does he have the same house-rules for his son as a teenager that he did when he was eight years old. In the same manner, God’s dispensational government of humanity has been progressively changing according to our development from infancy in Eden to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:13).
I believe that even Covenant Theologians would acknowledge that God’s relationship with His people is distinct now from what it was, for example, in the days of Noah or in the days of Moses. However, they fail to recognize that God brought them from there to here in progressive stages or dispensations, as they incrementally learned and developed in revelational knowledge of Him and an understanding of the futility of a life lived independently from Him.
While it is true that not all dispensations are specifically named in the Bible, the two most significant ones are – the present Dispensation of Grace and the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times. We will be examining these with more detail later, but here I would just like to point them out. Paul says concerning the great and final dispensation – the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times:
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Eph 1:9-10)
To Paul the mystery was revealed that in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, God is going to reunite all in Christ, both which are in heaven and on the earth. While this will be looked at in more detail later, the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times is the greatest dispensation of all, since it is the culmination of all dispensations. The truth of this mystery remains hidden even to most dispensationalists who tend to mistake the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times for the the Millennium.
However, the Millennium, just as with all previous dispensations, ends in human failure and judgment. The mystery that was revealed to Paul is that it has always been God’s intention to reunite all in Christ – including all in heaven, on earth and even under the earth (cf. Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22,28; Php 2:10; Rev 5:13). I present the scriptural basis for the final restoration of all in my book, “The Triumph of Mercy.” This mystery remains hidden even to the Traditional Dispensationalist who teaches that the final dispensation will end with the vast majority of mankind eternally separated from Christ, rather than all being reunited under the headship of Christ.
In Ephesians we see concerning the present Dispensation of Grace that it was primarily Paul who was entrusted with its stewardship (oikonomía). He said:
“if indeed you have heard of the dispensation (oikonomía) of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship (oikonomía, “dispensation”) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.” (Eph 3:2-9)
So, we see that Paul was entrusted with the new economy or Dispensation of Grace, also referred to as “the mystery of Christ” which was something unknown in prior ages. There was a change in the dispensation or economy of God. The previous Dispensation of the Law was given through Moses. It was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but now that we are in Christ we are no longer under the old schoolmaster or Dispensation of the Law (Gal 3:24-26; Rom 7:4,6). The Dispensation of the Law was administered through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, and Paul was entrusted with the stewardship of the Dispensation of Grace, which is nothing less than the life of Jesus, who is now our life, being lived out in and through us. The newly revealed mystery of this dispensation is “Christ in us,” and the stewardship of this mystery was given to Paul. He said:
“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship (oikonomía) from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of THIS MYSTERY among the Gentiles: which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:24-27)
There is a great contrast between the prior administration or Dispensation of the Law and the Dispensation of Grace. The former brought death, whereas the latter gave life. The former ministered death to all hopes of self-salvation through the works of its Law, being called “the ministration of death” (2Cor 3:6-8). The latter Dispensation of Grace gives us the very life of Christ as our life (Gal 2:20-21; Col 3:4).
So, we have already seen that there are at least three distinct dispensations with each one progressively building upon the other until we finally all obtain to the fullness of Christ in the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times. Without discounting the fact that God also relates to His people through covenants, we can see that dispensations have an essential role to play in bringing to full fruition God’s glorious plan for the ages which culminates in Him being all in all in eternity (1 Cor 15:28).
The question remains as to how many dispensations or distinct administrations can be found in the Scriptures, and also what we can learn from them. Basically, a new dispensation is introduced when God establishes a distinct administration or new set of household rules in relationship to His people. Based upon this definition of oikonomía, Dispensationalists have generally seen seven dispensations from creation to the consummation. However, taking into account the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, which is the culmination of all dispensations – the first day of the new creation, I see eight distinguishable administrations in God’s plan for the ages. In the next blog we will seek to understand the eternal lessons which can be gleaned from each one of them.
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I realize that the subtitle for this blog, combined with the above dispensational chart, puts me at a great disadvantage with most readers, since Dispensationalism has been so greatly criticized in recent years, not to mention the doctrine of a Universal Restoration. However, I believe that a balanced dispensational perspective reveals God’s plan for the ages, culminating in the final restoration of all, in a manner much more glorious, logical and consistent with the nature of divine revelation, than that of Covenant Theology or any other interpretive scheme developed thus far.
Covenant Theologians seek to discredit Dispensationalism based upon its recent origins. A fully developed dispensational interpretive system did not exist prior to 1830 when John Nelson Darby first developed it (perhaps overdeveloped it). However, Covenant Theology as we now know it wasn’t fully developed prior to the mid-17th century, less than two hundred years prior to Darby. Both schools of interpretation are of relatively recent development. New isn’t always bad. Often a more recent interpretive framework comes into existence because of the inadequacy of previous interpretive methods.
Most would acknowledge that the Reformation is still in progress and that we haven’t fully recovered all the truths lost to the Church during the Dark Ages. While a systematic theology wasn’t developed by the Early Church Fathers, Justin Martyr (110 – 165 A.D.), Irenaeus (130 – 200 A.D.) Clement of Alexandria (150 – 420 A.D.) and Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 A.D.) made some distinctions between different dispensations within the Scriptures. Early Post-Reformation scholars such as Jonathan Edwards (1637 – 1716), Pierre Poirot (1646 – 1710) and Isaac Watts (1674 – 1748) also made dispensational distinctions.
Also, we easily forget that Dispensational Theology, Covenant Theology (or Replacement Theology) and New Covenant Theology, along with all their nuanced variations, are not infallible but simply interpretive frameworks formulated in order to assist us in rightly understanding the overall revelation of Scripture. Dispensationalists see the ages as being characterized by distinguishable dispensations or divine administrations, whereas Covenant Theologians deny dispensational distinctions, seeing God as relating to man based solely upon covenants. Their covenants are usually three in number: the covenant of redemption, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.
Covenant Theologians would say that dispensations are not explicitly delineated in the Bible and therefore were imposed upon the Scriptures by Dispensationalists. However, in reality it is the covenants of redemption, works and grace which are not named in Scripture. Nevertheless, they would counter, saying that, while not mentioned by name, they are nonetheless implicit in the Scriptures.
However, it is not true that dispensations are not mentioned in the Scriptures. The word oikonomía, which is translated “dispensation” four times in the King James Version, appears in the New Testament nine times, and its cognates oikonomos and oikonoméo are used eleven times. The word oikonomos is a compound of oikos, “house,” and nomos “law or rule.” Strongs defines oikonomía as: “administration (of a household or estate); specifically, a (religious) ‘economy.’” What is confusing to some is that “dispensation,” being an old English word, is rendered “administration” or some other similar word. What Dispensationalists seek to emphasize by the use of the term is that God has been progressively revealing Himself to us through distinct administrations or dispensations in which God governs and relates to His people, or those of His household, in distinct manners through distinct progressive stages of development and revelation.
The dispensations of God are comparable to a father who has a different relationship and household rules for each of his children at distinct stages of their development. A parent does not relate to his adult son in the same manner as he did when he was a toddler, nor does he have the same house-rules for his son as a teenager that he did when he was eight years old. In the same manner, God’s dispensational government of humanity has been progressively changing according to our development from infancy in Eden to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:13).
I believe that even Covenant Theologians would acknowledge that God’s relationship with His people is distinct now from what it was, for example, in the days of Noah or in the days of Moses. However, they fail to recognize that God brought them from there to here in progressive stages or dispensations, as they incrementally learned and developed in revelational knowledge of Him and an understanding of the futility of a life lived independently from Him.
While it is true that not all dispensations are specifically named in the Bible, the two most significant ones are – the present Dispensation of Grace and the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times. We will be examining these with more detail later, but here I would just like to point them out. Paul says concerning the great and final dispensation – the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times:
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Eph 1:9-10)
To Paul the mystery was revealed that in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, God is going to reunite all in Christ, both which are in heaven and on the earth. While this will be looked at in more detail later, the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times is the greatest dispensation of all, since it is the culmination of all dispensations. The truth of this mystery remains hidden even to most dispensationalists who tend to mistake the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times for the the Millennium.
However, the Millennium, just as with all previous dispensations, ends in human failure and judgment. The mystery that was revealed to Paul is that it has always been God’s intention to reunite all in Christ – including all in heaven, on earth and even under the earth (cf. Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22,28; Php 2:10; Rev 5:13). I present the scriptural basis for the final restoration of all in my book, “The Triumph of Mercy.” This mystery remains hidden even to the Traditional Dispensationalist who teaches that the final dispensation will end with the vast majority of mankind eternally separated from Christ, rather than all being reunited under the headship of Christ.
In Ephesians we see concerning the present Dispensation of Grace that it was primarily Paul who was entrusted with its stewardship (oikonomía). He said:
“if indeed you have heard of the dispensation (oikonomía) of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship (oikonomía, “dispensation”) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.” (Eph 3:2-9)
So, we see that Paul was entrusted with the new economy or Dispensation of Grace, also referred to as “the mystery of Christ” which was something unknown in prior ages. There was a change in the dispensation or economy of God. The previous Dispensation of the Law was given through Moses. It was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but now that we are in Christ we are no longer under the old schoolmaster or Dispensation of the Law (Gal 3:24-26; Rom 7:4,6). The Dispensation of the Law was administered through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, and Paul was entrusted with the stewardship of the Dispensation of Grace, which is nothing less than the life of Jesus, who is now our life, being lived out in and through us. The newly revealed mystery of this dispensation is “Christ in us,” and the stewardship of this mystery was given to Paul. He said:
“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship (oikonomía) from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of THIS MYSTERY among the Gentiles: which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:24-27)
There is a great contrast between the prior administration or Dispensation of the Law and the Dispensation of Grace. The former brought death, whereas the latter gave life. The former ministered death to all hopes of self-salvation through the works of its Law, being called “the ministration of death” (2Cor 3:6-8). The latter Dispensation of Grace gives us the very life of Christ as our life (Gal 2:20-21; Col 3:4).
So, we have already seen that there are at least three distinct dispensations with each one progressively building upon the other until we finally all obtain to the fullness of Christ in the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times. Without discounting the fact that God also relates to His people through covenants, we can see that dispensations have an essential role to play in bringing to full fruition God’s glorious plan for the ages which culminates in Him being all in all in eternity (1 Cor 15:28).
The question remains as to how many dispensations or distinct administrations can be found in the Scriptures, and also what we can learn from them. Basically, a new dispensation is introduced when God establishes a distinct administration or new set of household rules in relationship to His people. Based upon this definition of oikonomía, Dispensationalists have generally seen seven dispensations from creation to the consummation. However, taking into account the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, which is the culmination of all dispensations – the first day of the new creation, I see eight distinguishable administrations in God’s plan for the ages. In the next blog we will seek to understand the eternal lessons which can be gleaned from each one of them.
- Published on
as seen from the perspective of a
Conservative Dispensational
Restorationist
Conservative Dispensational
Restorationist
by George Sidney Hurd
In the previous blog, while not giving a detailed defense of Dispensationalism, I sought to encourage those who may have a predisposition against Dispensationalism to reconsider the viability of a dispensational understanding of God’s plan for the ages. To me, it is not only an interpretational framework which is justifiable from the Scriptures, but also, rightly understood, it captures the progressive nature of God’s all-wise plan for the ages, culminating in the final restoration of all in a manner consistent with His revealed nature which is love (1Jn 4:8).
To me, dispensations throughout the ages are a glorious learning experience of eternal value to all generations. When we arrive at the end of the ages and pass into eternity, the whole panorama of the ages will ever be in our view. They contain a progressive revelation of the heart of God not possible without the fall and failure of man. Each stage or dispensation reveals something about man and about God which we could have never known apart from the fall and subsequent redemption.
Some mistakenly think that God will reformat our minds, erasing our memory once we are glorified. They say that it couldn’t be said that there will be no more sorrow or crying if we were able to remember all our departed loved ones who will be eternally lost. If in fact our loved ones were to be lost forever, then God would indeed have to either erase our memories or else somehow remove all natural affection from us.
However, as I point out in “The Triumph of Mercy,” God’s glorious plan for the ages ends well, rather than ending in an unending disaster for the majority of those whom He created in His own image and likeness. God doesn’t induce permanent amnesia in order to make eternity bearable for us. Neither does He deprive us of natural affection so as to be forever beyond feeling. Our weeping will be exchanged for perpetual joy when all are restored and reunited in Christ in the consummation of the ages (Acts 3:21; Eph 1:10; Isa 60:4-5).
The Greek word oikonomía, often translated “dispensation” in the King James Version, speaks of the economy, administration or house rules of a government, institution or household. As with any administration, God’s administrations involve rules and responsibilities, often administered by a steward or administrator, along with consequences or judgments for failure to be subject to the particular administration or household rules.
Some Liberal and Progressive teachers have sought to remove all human responsibility from the equation. Wm. Paul Young, author of “The Shack” argues against any human responsibility towards God, arguing from the fact that the actual word “responsibility” does not appear in the Scriptures.[1] However, the fact that the word “responsibility,” being a later word from the French language, does not appear in the Scriptures in no way leaves us without responsibility before God for what we say and do. The word “responsibility” is defined in Webster’s dictionary as: “The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable.” The concept of human responsibility is everywhere present in the Scriptures. How can anyone with even a basic understanding of the Bible say that we are not accountable nor answerable to God for our words and deeds?
Quite to the contrary, Jesus said, “for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt 12:36-37). Paul Young says that, rather than speaking of responsibility, the Lord speaks of our ability to respond. However, that is just a semantical play on words. In the Scriptures our ability to respond also carries with it the responsibility to respond and we will have to give an account in the day of judgment for having acted irresponsibly in life.
So, the main thing we should look for in determining distinct dispensations in Scripture are new administrative rules or some change in the manner in which God relates to His people. Each dispensation is designed to give us a progressive revelation in our knowledge of Him and also of the limitations of our own finite human condition, ultimately leading us from infancy in Eden into a life of perfect union in intimate relationship with Him as His huioi or “mature adult sons” (Gal 4:1-7).
1. The Dispensation of Innocence
Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God without flaw. They were perfect at their stage of development, much as a baby who is born without defects. Yet, as with an infant, that was only the first stage in their development. They were innocent and sinless, yet they did not yet possess a positive righteousness since positive righteousness is choosing that which is right, as opposed to that which is wrong or evil, and as yet they had no concept of good and evil.
They knew that God had told them not to eat of the tree of good and evil and that if they did it would result in their death. But not having ever seen or experienced death, it is doubtful that they had any real comprehension of what it meant to die. I visualize them as being comparable to a toddler who is told to not touch the hot woodstove lest he be burned. Not until they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, did they experience spiritual death, or death towards God. The first physical death by bloodshed they witnessed was the shed blood of animals to cover their nakedness, but they never fully knew the pain of physical death until Cain slew Abel.
Some view God as one who had a wonderful plan for mankind, but then the serpent came along and deceived Eve and she ate of the tree. And then Adam followed suit, totally foiling God’s original plan. Then, in order to salvage as much of mankind as possible, God came up with plan B, sending His Son.
However, the Scriptures reveal to us that there is no such thing as a plan B with God. God inhabits eternity and works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11). God does nothing ad lib. Neither is He learning as He goes, just as Acts 15:18 says: “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” [2] Before the creation and the fall, God had predetermined every detail of our redemption and final restoration (Acts 4:27-28; 3:21). Jesus was the Lamb slain from before creation according to the predetermined will of God (Rev 13:8).
The fall of man, as well as every other detail of history up until the final consummation of His creation story, is perfectly known and ordained to occur according to His eternal plan for the ages. Some things He causes while other things He allows, but He is sovereign Lord of all, and interweaves all things together, whether good or bad, in such a manner that they all ultimately work together for our greater good and to His glory.
His glorious masterplan for the ages was conceived out of His infinite wisdom and essential nature which is love. It is an incremental plan, going from glory to glory, culminating in the consummation when all will have been saved, purified and restored, resulting in all having been reunited in Christ and God being all in all (Jn 4:42; 1Jn 2:2; 1Tim 4:10; Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22,28).
God’s plan for the ages is incremental and progressive. Rather than creation being plan A and the fall requiring plan B, the fall is more like A-1, followed by A-2, etc. The major incremental stages in the outworking of God’s eternal plan can be seen as the different dispensations or administrations.
Adam and Eve were given the responsibility of tending the garden, multiplying and filling the earth and exercising dominion over it. The only prohibition was against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As with all subsequent dispensations, it ends with human failure and judgment – that is, all dispensations except for the final eighth dispensation - the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times which culminates in all being restored and reunited in Christ, by whom and for whom all things were created in the beginning (Col 1:16; Eph 1:10).
The Dispensation of Innocence ended with man’s failure and the entrance of sin and death to the human race – something previously unknown to Adam and Eve. For the first time they knew what it was to be spiritually dead – separated from God. Their God-consciousness was replaced with self-consciousness and for the first time they were naked and felt ashamed and afraid.
In judgment they were expelled from the garden, but God in His mercy set a guard to keep them from partaking from the tree of life in their fallen state which would have made them immortal in their sinful condition. The ground was cursed for Adam’s sake, introducing hard labor to the human race, and because Eve ate of the fruit of the tree, physical pain would be experienced for the first time. The woman’s pain in childbirth was multiplied, but we see God’s mercy in judgment when He afterwards promised that her seed would gain the victory over the serpent on the behalf of mankind.
We know that God didn’t place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the garden and allow the serpent to tempt Eve in order to discover what decision they would make. God already knew that they would fall into temptation and eat of the tree before He even began creation. So, what was God’s purpose in allowing them to fall and bring sin and death to the human race?
There are many things about God and ourselves that we would have never known apart from the fall. We love and long for His presence because we have experienced what it is like to be without Him. We would have never known what true joy was without experiencing sorrow and pain. We would never know to love righteousness without first coming to hate evil. We would have never known the multifaceted love of God in the form of grace and mercy if we had never been in need of His grace and mercy. I believe that Paul in part refers to this when he says: “For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.” (Rom 11:32). Jesus said that those who are forgiven much love much (Luke 7:41-47). So while God did not cause man’s fall, we can see His wisdom and good purpose in including it in His eternal plan for the ages.
2. The Dispensation of Conscience
Due to man’s failure under the Dispensation of Innocence, a spiritual death or separation from God occurred and man’s spirit died in the sense of being separated from God. It would not be until after the cross and Pentecost that those who come to God through Christ are regenerated, becoming one spirit with the Lord (Jn 17:21;1Cor 6:17; 1Cor 12:13; Eph 5:30).
After becoming separated and independent from God and losing their innocence, God then introduced the next stage of mankind’s learning process – the Dispensation of Conscience in which He left man to govern themselves according to their own conscience, doing that which they deemed to be right in their own eyes.
This dispensation was obviously intended to teach us that the way of man is not in himself, and that it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps (Jer 10:23), and that the heart of man separate from God is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, to such a degree that only God can truly know one’s thoughts and intentions (Jer 17:9,10). With this understanding we come to see our need for God who alone knows our hearts and is able to correct us and direct our steps (Ps 139:23-24).
Once again, we see man’s failure under the Dispensation of Conscience. The first man to die was murdered by his own brother when Cain slew Abel, following the inclination of his own heart. Left to themselves, man became so wicked and degenerate that every thought and intention of their hearts was only evil continually (Gen 6:5). Also, during this time some of the angels left their proper abode as angels in order to take to themselves wives of the daughters of men and engendered a race of Nephilim or giants upon the earth (Gen 6:4; Jude 6). The situation degenerated to the point that only Noah and his family hadn’t corrupted themselves, making it necessary for God to intervene with the judgment of the flood.
So, we can learn from this dispensation that man, left to the dictates of his own conscience, will go astray, being inclined to evil. Man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in man to direct his steps. We need communion with God who by His Spirit illuminates our path through His Word. While our conscience is God-given, it can become seared and callused by repeatedly violating it. Some have violated their conscience so many times that they are beyond feeling (1Tim 4:2; 2Tim 3:8; Rom 1:28). The lowest points in Israel’s history was when they did that which was right in their own eyes (Dt 12:8; Jdg 17:6; Pr 16:2).
It is common to hear someone say something like, “let your conscience be your guide,” or “just follow your heart.” However, the Dispensation of Conscience demonstrates that the heart of man is deceitful and therefore we need to take heed to the Word of God rather than simply doing what seems right in our own eyes (Ps 119:9,105).
3. The Dispensation of Human Government
Having demonstrated through the Dispensation of Conscience what man is capable of left to himself with each one simply doing what seems right in their own eyes, God then establishes the next dispensation or administration – the Dispensation of Human Government. One of the distinctives of this new dispensation is that they may eat of every living thing that moves, but they were not permitted to shed man’s blood. If anyone took another’s life, they were to receive the death penalty:
“Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” (Gen 9:6)
This is distinct from what we saw under the Dispensation of Conscience where God actually set a mark on Cain lest anyone finding him should kill him, avenging Abel’s blood. Remember, in that time everyone on the planet was either Abel’s child, grandchild, niece or nephew, and no doubt many would have been seeking justice – life for life.
The reason God gives for requiring capital punishment for taking a human life is that man was made in the image of God and therefore each one of us is of great value to Him. Prior to the flood there were Nephilim on the earth, and human life was genetically altered and devalued to the point of being regarded as mere animals. The Book of Enoch, which, although not in the Canon, is quoted in Scripture [3] and tells of how the Angels who cohabited with women prior to the flood engendered giants who treated human life as common livestock:
“Who (the giants) consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.” (Enoch 7:3-6).
Originally in Eden there was no death, and Adam and Eve were vegetarians (Gen 1:29). Left to govern themselves in the Dispensation of Conscience, they degenerated to the point of wholesale cannibalism. Now, under the Dispensation of Human Government, mankind was permitted to eat of all flesh save that of human flesh. This regulation required human government in order to enforce the law against manslaughter.
Also, God commanded Noah and his sons to multiply and fill the earth. However, instead of filling the earth they settled in the plain of Shinar and sought to build a tower that would reach unto heaven (Gen 11:2-4). As a result, God in judgment confounded their languages, resulting in them being dispersed throughout the earth as He had originally commanded.
By the time of Abraham, when the Dispensation of Human Government gave way to the Dispensation of Promise, men were worshipping the spirits of the Nephilim or demons who were regarded by them as demigods and they offered up human sacrifices to placate them. As with all prior dispensations, the Dispensation of Human Government ended in man’s failure and resulting judgment.
4. The Dispensation of Promise
The Dispensation of Promise does not encompass all of humanity as did the previous ones. It seems that Paul was referring to this turn in history when he said of mankind in general: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” (Rom 1:28). From this point forward until the Millennial reign of Christ during which time the saints will reign with Christ over the nations, God enters into a covenant relationship with the elect only, and the dispensational economies or household rules only apply to His elect people.
The Dispensation of Promise began with the call of Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees to a land which the Lord would show Him (Gen 12:1). The administrative change becomes evident in Genesis 12 where the Lord promised Abraham, saying:
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3)
Being a stranger in a strange land, advanced in years with a sterile wife, the fulfillment of this promise was clearly impossible, humanly speaking. When Abraham asked God how he could know that the promise would be fulfilled, the Lord told him to prepare for a ceremony common to the Chaldeans when they were going to make a solemn oath (Gen 15). In this ceremony they cut animals in half and laid the halves on the ground with a path between them. Then the two individuals who were making the solemn oath would pass together between the halves, saying: “May the same be done to me if I break this covenant.”
However, when the moment came to walk between the animals, God caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep and He walked alone between them, indicating that the fulfillment of the promise wasn’t contingent upon Abraham nor his descendants – that God Himself would bring it to pass. It was an unconditional promise because He by Himself had sworn that Abraham would be a great nation, that he would inherit the land, and that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed.
This dispensation was distinct from the previous ones in that the administrative mandate for God’s household was simply to continue believing in God’s unconditional promises, even when their fulfillment seemed humanly impossible. While the key word for man’s responsibility under the Dispensation of the Law, which would come 430 years later at Sinai, was “do,” the key word for man under the Dispensation of Promise was simply “believe.”
At this stage in God’s progressive, incremental plan for the ages, God is developing faith in His people, giving them unconditional covenant promises which were so far beyond man’s possibility to accomplish that all they could do was continue calling those things that were not as though they were until God brought them to pass (Rom 4:18; Heb 11:8-10, 17-19). Many of the promises given to Abraham and his descendants have yet to be fully fulfilled but they are sure promises which will come to pass whether we believe them or not since they are based upon His faithfulness rather than man’s.
Many of God’s people have ceased believing that God’s covenantal promises to Abraham and his descendants will be fulfilled due to Israel’s unfaithfulness. But Paul responds to this saying: “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.” (Rom 3:3-4). Abraham’s descendants, Israel, will indeed yet become a great nation and will finally possess the entirety of the land which God promised them because the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant depends upon the faithfulness of God and not on the faithfulness of Israel.
Another aspect of the promise to Abraham which many of God’s people have failed to believe – in part because it is so great and all-inclusive in its implications, is the promise that in him “all the families of the earth will be blessed.” This promise requires a universal restoration of all mankind for its fulfillment. God didn’t say that “some” families of the earth would be blessed, but “all” the families of the earth. That cannot merely refer to all families living on the earth in Abraham’s time, or all families living on the earth when Jesus returns, but all families of all time, from Adam and Eve’s family to the family of the last child born to mankind. Otherwise, not all the families of the earth could be said to be blessed.
Those who fail to see that in the final dispensation – the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, absolutely all will be reunited in Christ, whether in heaven or on earth, cannot say that in Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed. They must postulate that God will instead somehow induce amnesia or else desensitize from all natural affection those few privileged to hear the gospel and positively respond to it before the Second Coming of Christ, since there is no entire family line in which all will have been saved in life, and therefore some family members will be tormented forever or exterminated, according to their belief. A family cannot truly be said to be blessed if they have the knowledge that one of them is in unending torments or had been exterminated.
However, those who believe in the final restoration of all can understand and wait in hopeful expectation for the full literal fulfillment of God’s promise that in Abraham’s seed all the families of the earth will be blessed. Even their most wayward sons or daughters will be finally restored after a time in the purifying Lake of Fire in the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times (Eph 1:10; 1Cor 3:15; Isa 60:4-5). Every knee will bow, and every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ as Lord, including those presently under the earth or in hades. And when the last enemy has become subject to Christ, then Christ will subject Himself to the Father and God will be all in all (Php 2:10-11; 1Cor 15:28).
As with all prior dispensations, the Dispensation of Promise ends in human failure. Israel ultimately failed to trust in God’s unconditional commitment to fulfill His covenant promises to them as a nation. Even after seeing God’s mighty hand through the ten plagues against Pharaoh, as soon as they faced the Red Sea, they accused God of taking them into the desert only to die there (Ex 14:10-12). Three days after rejoicing over God’s deliverance from Pharaoh’s armies at the Red Sea, instead of looking to the Lord to provide water for them they complained against Him, and God in His grace miraculously provided water for them. Then a month and a half after leaving Egypt their food supply ran out, and again they accused God rather than looking to Him for provision. They complained to Moses saying:
“Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Ex 16:3)
Just a couple days later they were out of water and again accused Moses of leading them into the desert only to die there of thirst (Ex 17:3). Rather than resting by faith in the unconditional promises made to their fathers concerning them, remembering all of His mighty works bringing them out of Egypt, they time and time again accused God of plotting with Moses for their destruction. The desert was their final exam under the Dispensation of Promise, and they failed miserably. But rather than leaving them to repeat the fourth grade He passed them on to the next dispensation – the Dispensation of the Law.
5. The Dispensation of the Law
The children of Israel failed to trust in the unconditional promises of God under the Dispensation of Promise, even as man had failed under every previous dispensation. Now, under the following Dispensation of the Law, God is going to teach mankind something more about Himself and also about the limitations of their own sinful nature. Through the Dispensation of the Law He teaches us how holy He is and how incapable we are of living a life of holiness independently from Him.
It is not that the promise under the Abrahamic Covenant ceased with the introduction of the Law. The Abrahamic Covenant was an unconditional and perpetual covenant, whereas the Covenant of the Law was a conditional covenant which was added alongside of the Abrahamic Covenant until Christ, the promised Seed, should come. Paul makes this clear when he said:
“And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later (after the promise), cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect… 19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of (charin “for the sake of”) transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.” (Gal 3:17,19)
It says in the New King James Version that the Law was added “because of transgressions.” However, the word translated “because of” is charin from the word charis or “grace.” The idea expressed is, “for the benefit of or for the sake of.” The New American Standard Updated Version captures the idea in their margin where they add, “or for the sake of defining.” The Darby Version renders it, “for the sake of transgressions.” God’s Word Version says, “to identify what wrongdoing is” and Weymouth reads, “for the sake of defining sin.”
Sin is always sin, but sin is not a “transgression” in the absence of a law to transgress. Paul said that sin was not imputed as a transgression between Adam and Moses since there was no law to transgress (Rom 5:13). He said that he would not have known covetousness if the Law hadn’t said “you shall not covet” (Rom 7:7).
In the giving of the Law at Sinai they passed from being governed by God’s unconditional covenant of promise to a conditional “if you…then I…” covenant. Prior to the Law, the children of Israel were blessed by pure grace, but under the law, although they were still saved by grace, they were blessed or conversely cursed based upon their fulfillment of the works of the Law. We can see this major transition enacted at Sinai. The Lord told Moses to present this new conditional covenant to the people saying:
“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Ex 19:4-6)
God first reminds them how that, up to that moment, He had dealt with them purely by grace. He said, “you have seen how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.” In spite of their murmuring against Him at the Red Sea, God graciously opened up the sea so they could pass through on dry ground and destroyed Pharaoh’s army behind them. When they complained about the water and the food God graciously provided for them without any reproaches. Time and time again, they were unconditionally blessed in spite of their unbelief and lack of gratitude. Not once did He respond in severe judgments as we see later under the Covenant of the Law.
After Moses presented the conditions of the covenant to the people, they all answered with one voice: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” (verse 8). In contrast with the Abrahamic Covenant, the Law was a conditional covenant which required the consent of both parties. The Children of Israel, without any further reflection upon their sinful condition, lightly responded: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” A little self-reflection would have led them to plead with God to remain under the Dispensation of Promise, but they had yet to learn the limitations of their own fallen sinful nature and their need for grace.
Immediately after agreeing to the conditions of the Covenant of the Law there was a drastic change in relationship. The relationship was no longer as that of a mother eagle bearing her young on her wings, but with thundering and lightning and a thick cloud so that the people trembled for fear. God said that whoever touched the mountain would surely be put to death.
Moses went up the mountain to receive the ten commandments written on stone, which were a sign of the Covenant of the Law made between God and the Children of Israel, but even before he came down from the mountain with the tables of stone, they had already broken the first two commandments, making a golden calf and worshipping it. Now being under the Law, 3,000 of them died that same day as a consequence of having transgressed it (Ex 32:28).
Israel chose to put themselves under the Dispensation of the Law when they accepted the terms of the Law saying: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” But they were never able to fulfill their covenant promise to obey all the things contained in the Law to do them. Before giving them the Law, God knew they wouldn’t be able to keep it. The Dispensation of the Law was designed to reveal the sinful nature of man so that in the next dispensation – the Dispensation of Grace, they would have already comprehended the depths of their own depravity and need for His grace provided through Christ’s redemptive sacrifice.
The Dispensation of the Law was given by God to reveal our own sinfulness so that when the appointed time came for the grace of God to be revealed through Jesus Christ, they would have come to despair of all hopes of attaining to the righteous requirements of the Law, eagerly receiving the free gift of the righteousness of God in Christ. Paul clearly states God’s purpose in giving the Law from its inception. He said:
“Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” (Rom 5:20)
The Law was added for the sake of revealing our sins as transgressions, but only until Christ the promised Seed should come (Gal 3:19). Paul next compares the Law to a schoolmaster who is charged with teaching children until they reach adulthood:
“Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons (huios “adult sons”) of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:21-26)
The Law cannot give life. On the contrary, it was the ministration of death (2Cor 3:7). It confined all under sin so that we would then look to Christ and receive His righteousness as a gift of grace. In Romans, before presenting the gift of the righteousness of God in Christ, Paul makes it clear that we cannot attain to the righteous demands of the Law. Its purpose was simply to reveal our sin:
“Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 BUT NOW the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:20-24)
So, what was the purpose of the Law? To reveal our sin. The Law is like a mirror that reveals our true condition but cannot change it. The Law could not give life, but only condemn since it required perfect obedience (Gal 3:21; Jas 2:10). It is called “the ministry of condemnation” since its purpose was to make sin become an infraction or transgression of the Law, resulting in the condemnation of every transgressor in order that the condemned might look to Christ as their only means of justification (2Cor 3:9).
To this very day many still think that the Law was given for us to live by, but it was not given to live by, but to die by. Paul called it the “ministration of death, written and engraved in stones.” (2Cor 3:7). He said that when the commandment “you shall not covet” came to his attention, sin revived and him and he died (Rom 7:9). The only place where the words, “you shall not covet” appear is on the two tables of stone, so one cannot reasonably argue that it is only referring to the ceremonial law as that which passed with the introduction of the New Covenant. In God’s infinite wisdom He placed Israel under the Dispensation of the Law in order to reveal the depravity of man in preparation for the subsequent revelation of the grace of God in Christ.
6. The Dispensation of Grace
Israel miserably failed under the Dispensation of the Law, continually breaking the covenant that they had made with God at Sinai. After the northern 10 tribes of Israel had been conquered and dispersed in judgment for their abominations and idolatries at a time when the inhabitants of Jerusalem were also being taken into captivity for continually breaking covenant with the Lord, Jeremiah prophesied of a new covenant which would usher in an entirely new and different administration or dispensation based upon promises. He said:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — 32 NOT ACCORDING TO the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer 31:31-34)
Contrary to what Covenant Theologians would have us believe, the Covenant of the Law is not merely a continuation of the Abrahamic Covenant, nor does the Law carry over into the New Covenant as a rule of life. It is specifically said of the New Covenant that it is “not according to” the Old Covenant of the Law. The Old Covenant said, “If you… then I….” However, when He introduced the New Covenant He said, “They did not… therefore I disregarded them” (Heb 8:9).
The Old Covenant was composed of external rules given to a people of a wicked and deceitful heart. It was added to the Abrahamic Covenant until Christ, the promised Seed, should come. Under the New Covenant God regenerates our spirit, giving us a new heart that is according to godliness, as Paul said:
“But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Rom 7:6)
While the Law still serves its original purpose of convicting sinners of their sins, it is explicitly said to not be applicable to the believer in this dispensation. The New Testament clearly states that we are no longer under the Law but under grace (Rom 6:14-15). Paul exposed false teachers who misapplied the Law, trying to put believers under it in this Dispensation of Grace. He said of them:
“desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. 8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.” (1Tim 1:6-11)
While the Law still convicts the sinner of his need for Christ, we as believers are not under the Law but under Grace as a rule of life (dispensationally speaking). The righteousness of the Law is now fulfilled in the believer by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:4). The new life principal for the believer under this Dispensation of Grace is the very resurrection life of Jesus being lived out in and through us (Gal 2:20; 2Cor 4:10-11; Php 1:21).
In the Gospel of John, we see this marked contrast between the old Dispensation of the Law and the new Dispensation of Grace in the person of Jesus Christ:
“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)
The contrast between these two distinct life principles – Law and Grace, is very marked. It says of the Law that it “was given,” whereas grace and truth “came.” The Law was given “through angels by the hand of a mediator” in order to “bring us to Christ.” (Gal 3:19,24). But Grace and Truth came to us personified in Jesus Christ. It is interesting how John 1:17 is constructed. Normally the double subject “grace and truth” would require that the verb “came” be in plural - “they came.” However it is in the singular, making it say, “Grace and Truth He came through the person of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is Grace and Truth personified. Grace in the new Dispensation of Grace is nothing other than Christ in us (Col 1:27). He is the Truth that makes us free indeed (Jn 8:32; 14:6). I treat this subject in more depth in my book “The True Grace of God.”
Even the Dispensation of Grace ends in failure on the part of the Church in general. Very few believers in this age have availed themselves of the grace available to them through the life of Christ within them, walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Instead, many within the Church have fallen from the grace-walk in Jesus, continuing instead in the oldness of the letter, trying to observe the Old Covenant Law through external religious observance.
Many more, burned out on religion, have converted the grace of God into licentiousness, calling it Christian liberty. Paul said that in the latter days many who profess Christ will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons (1Tim 4:1). Jesus posed the question: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). The conditions upon the earth at the close of this dispensation will reach the point where, if Christ were to delay His coming, no flesh would be saved, and yet at the same time God will have purified His elect Church (Matt 24:22, c.f. Eph 5:27; Mark 13:27).
While most earlier Dispensationalists believed that the Church had to be raptured at the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week 7 years prior to the Second Coming of Christ, there is no reference in Scripture to a rapture of the Church 7 years separated from Christ’s Second Coming.
They often insist that God cannot deal with Israel at the same time as the Church. If it could be demonstrated that God does not, or will not, deal with the Church and Israel at the same time, then this argument might carry some weight. But the fact is that God has been dealing with both groups concurrently since the beginning of the Church. The kingdom was still being offered to Israel in the early days of the Church (Acts 3:19-21). If the nation as a whole had repented, the kingdom would have been set up. Yet the Church was already in existence. God was dealing with national Israel in 70 A.D. when Titus and his armies destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Since the destruction of Jerusalem, God has been dealing with Israel in judgment through their dispersion as predicted in the Old Testament and by Jesus Christ (Hosea 3:4; Lk.21:24).
Even today we are witnessing Israel being re-gathered as predicted in Ezekiel 37; Ezekiel 38:8; Jeremiah 23:1-8 and many other passages. When they are re-gathered to the land in unbelief God's judgment of Israel will reach its climax (Ezek. 20:33-38). This is the judgment of the tribulation — the time of Jacob’s trouble. So, it can be seen that God has never ceased to deal with Israel as a nation. Since God has been carrying on two programs at the same time – one of blessing for the Church and the other in judgment upon Israel, it is not correct to say that God must remove the Church before He can resume His program with Israel.
It should also be pointed out that God will not be dealing with national Israel as a saved people in the tribulation. He will continue dealing with them in judgment. It is not until the Second Advent that national Israel will be saved. In Romans 11:25—27 Paul says that Israel's blindness will continue until the Second Advent. It will be the Deliverer coming out of Zion who will turn away ungodliness from Israel. He will establish the new covenant with them and take away their sins. This all takes place when Christ comes and sets up His kingdom and not before.
While the Great Tribulation is referred to as “Jacob’s Trouble” (Jer 30:7), and will be a time of unprecedented persecution of the Jews, it will also be a time of tribulation for those believers within the Church in need of purification (Rev 12:17; 7:14). I cover the subject of the rapture and other eschatological events in relation to the Second Coming of Christ in my book “Focusing in on End-Time Events.”
7. The Millennial Dispensation
The final lesson for mankind before the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times will be learned during the Dispensation of the Millennium – a thousand year period in which Christ will be reigning with the glorified saints upon the earth and Satan will be bound in the abyss.
It is common to hear the excuse “the devil made me do it,” but during this dispensation that excuse for sinning will be removed, for Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit (Rev 20:2-3). Men often justify their lack of submission to authority, saying that those in authority are corrupt. but in that day, rebellion against authority will be shown to be a condition of the heart rather than something external since Christ Himself will be reigning along with His glorified saints (Rev 20:4; 2Tim 2:12; Rom 8:17).
Many today justify stealing, saying that it is the only way they can survive, but in the Millennium the conditions will be so ideal that the plowman will overtake the harvester, meaning that crops are planted and harvested continually rather than seasonally (Amos 9:13). While animals, just as mortal men, will continue to live and die as now, their lives will be greatly extended, and the animals will no longer prey on man nor upon each other as Isaiah prophecies of that time:
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa 11:6-9)
The knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth like the waters of the sea and the earth’s conditions will be restored to such a degree that the lifespan of the mortals inhabiting the earth will be as it was prior to the flood. Even the animals will cease to devour flesh just as it was in Eden and they will no longer be aggressive:
“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed… 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says the Lord.” (Isa 65:20,25)
At Christ’s Second Coming, the Jews will look upon Him whom they pierced; God will pour out upon them the Spirit of grace and supplication, and a nation will be born in a day (Zec 12:10; Isa 66:8; Rom 11:26). Christ will at that time separate those of the nations who remain upon the earth after the Church has been glorified and caught up to meet the Lord in the air at His coming. The sheep will be granted entrance into the Millennial kingdom as mortals to repopulate the earth, whereas the goats will be sent into eonian correction.
The Dispensation of the Millennial reign of Christ demonstrates that even under the most ideal external conditions, man is depraved beyond reformation. The only answer is a new creation, since the former creation – the old man which we were in the first Adam, is unreformable. The only answer is a new creation in Christ (Gal 6:15; 2Cor 5:17).
In order to demonstrate this for all generations to see, Satan will be loosed from his prison for a short time and will manage to deceive the nations and make war against Christ and His kingdom (Rev 20:2,7,8). Even after 1,000 years under the most ideal conditions, we see that the flesh profits nothing. Doubtlessly, many will receive Christ in the Millennium and their names will therefore be found written in the book of life at the White Throne Judgment, which judgment will close the Dispensation of the Millennium. However, those still outside of Christ will be judged according to their works and will receive their part in the purifying Lake of Fire (Rev 20:12-15). In the new Dispensation all will eventually be reunited in Christ and then God will be all in all in the eternal state.
8. The Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times
Once the Dispensation of the Millennium closes with human failure followed by the White Throne Judgment, the heavenly city or the Church – the New Jerusalem, will descend upon the new earth (Rev 21:1). In contrast with the previous dispensations, this dispensation culminates in absolutely all being reunited in Christ – both those in heaven as well as those on earth:
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together (anakephalaiomai) in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Eph 1:9-10) [4]
The phrase: “gather together in one” is a composite word made up of ana which normally means “again” and kephalaioo, which means “to head up or sum up,” and is best translated as “to reunite or unite again under one head,” since only this rendering retains the meaning of the prefix ana. [5] Thayer’s Greek Lexicon actually comments as to the meaning of the word in this context, saying:
“God is said…to bring together again for himself (note the middle) all things and beings (hitherto disunited by sin) into one combined state of fellowship in Christ.” [6]
The terms “gather together” or “bring together again” when referring to those formerly at enmity, as is the case with mankind towards God, is relational and inseparable from reconciliation. Therefore, this passage, just as Colossians 1:16-20, clearly speaks of a universal reconciliation. The mystery of His will which is being revealed here in Ephesians 1:9,10 is the final restoration of all when all creation will be eternally reunited in Christ, and God will then be all in all (1Cor 15:28).
This is also what Paul declared in summary form in Romans 11:36 saying: “For of (ek “out of”) Him and through (dia) Him and to (eis “into”) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” As Colossians 1:16 says, everything and everyone was created by Him. Then in verse 20 it says that this same “all” was reconciled to (eis “into”) Him through the cross (Col 1:16,20). In Ephesians 1:9,10 it says that all will be finally reunited in Him in the dispensation of the fullness of the times. “For of Him and through Him and TO (eis “into”) Him are all things.” Paul could not have made it any clearer.
In the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times we see that the gates of the New Jerusalem are never shut, but no one is permitted to enter unless their names are first written in the book of life (Rev 21:25-26). Those outside who cannot enter through the gates are said to be those who defile or those who cause an abomination or lie. Within the New Jerusalem is the river of the water of life and the tree of life with its leaves which are “for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:1-2).
Why would there still be those of the nations still in need of healing if indeed it is referring to the eternal state when all have either been perfected and glorified or are eternally in the Lake of Fire as traditionally believed? The nations are not the Bride, the Church, but the rest of mankind who will have repopulated the earth during the Millennium, as well as those consigned to the Lake of Fire at the White Throne Judgment.
During the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, in the coming ages, the Church, which became the Bride of Christ at His Second Coming, will be put on display to the rest of mankind to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 2:7). They will be extending the invitation to those outside in the Lake of Fire, calling upon them to wash their robes so as to be able to enter the gates of the New Jerusalem, eating of the tree of life and drinking freely of the water of life:
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood… 17 The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.” (Rev 22:14-15,17 RSV)
Here in the new earth, after the Great White Throne Judgment, we see the Spirit and the Bride extending the invitation to those outside to wash their robes so as to be able to enter the New Jerusalem, freely drinking from the water of life. We know it isn’t referring to the Church extending the invitation now in this age, since the Church is never called “the Bride” until the wedding feast at Christ’s return. The term “bride” (numphe) refers to the bride at the marriage ceremony in the bridechamber (numphon), or to the subsequent young wife, and is never used of the Church before the wedding feast. Before the wedding feast we are said to be “betrothed” or “espoused” (2Cor 11:2 Gr. harmoso), but not yet the Bride.
Here in Revelation 22:17 we see the Bride, who at this time inhabits the New Jerusalem, inviting those outside its gates to wash their robes so as to be able to enter into the heavenly city where she abides, and drink freely of the water of life that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb within the city. This invitation to “come” inside the city must have application to the post White Throne era since the New Jerusalem had not yet descended upon the new earth prior to this. And those outside can be none other than those who were consigned to the outer darkness in the purifying Lake of Fire.
The Lake of Fire has been traditionally thought to last forever since the days of Augustine in the 4th century. However, rightly understood it is a figurative purifying fire which extends into the “ages of the ages” or for the duration of the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, culminating in all being restored and reunited in Christ, at which time God shall be all in all (Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22-28). The Lake of Fire extends through the ages of the ages and not “forever and ever” as the Greek phrase eis tous aionos ton aiónon (lit. “into the ages of the ages”) has been mistranslated to say. Its purpose is purification and not unending vindictive torture, as traditionally taught (see my blog: Sulfur, Salt and the Refiner’s Fire for an explanation of the Lake of Fire).
Those who are judged at the White Throne Judgment will be judged “according to their works,” receiving “their part” or “portion” (meros) in the Lake of Fire. Such terminology does not correspond to unending torments. Additionally, Jesus said of post-mortem judgments that they will not get out of there “until” (Matt 5:26;18:34). “Until” requires an end. He also said that some would receive “many stripes,” while others will receive “few” (Luke 12:47). “Few” as opposed to “many” speaks of limited duration and is incompatible with the Traditional doctrine of endless stripes.
And most significantly, it could not be said that all will be restored (Acts 3:21); that all will be saved (1Tim 4:10; Jn 4:42); that all will be reconciled (Col 1:16,20; 2Cor 5:19); and that all will be reunited in Christ in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, resulting in all being made alive and God being all in all (Eph 1:10; 1Cor 15:22-28), if in fact some are forever lost. Jesus said that He would effectually draw (helcuo) all men unto Himself and that He came to seek and save the lost until the last lost sheep has been found and saved (Luke 19:10; 15:4). The great and final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times will culminate in every knee bowing and every tongue confessing Jesus as Lord, to the glory of God the Father, and not under duress as some present it (Php 2:10; Isa 45:22-24).
While this has not been an exhaustive treatment of the dispensations, I hope that it has served to demonstrate that God’s eternal plan for the ages is characterized by distinguishable stages which incrementally take mankind from infancy in Eden to full maturity in the consummation at the end of the ages in preparation for eternity when God shall be all in all. God’s creation story truly ends well, rather than devolving into an eternal dualism resulting in unending tragedy for most of mankind. God’s plan for the ages goes from glory to glory rather than from bad to worse. What God begins, He perfects.
[1] http://wmpaulyoung.com/a-word-that-is-not-in-the-bible/
[2] The NKJV rendering is according to the reading of the Greek Majority Text.
[3] Jude 14 cf. Enoch 1:9
[4] Our English word “things” does not have an equivalent in Greek. Neither does the neuter form in Greek always indicate objects as in English. When the translators insert “things” in contexts that are evidently referring primarily to persons and not inanimate objects I take the liberty to cross it out in order to keep the focus where it belongs.
[5] Other examples of composite words with ana prefixed where ana clearly means “again or re…” are as follows: anagennao, “to be born again”; anaginosko, lit. “to know again,” or “to read”; anagnosis, “(the act of) reading”; anazao, “to live again”; anazopureo, to re-enkindle; anathallo, “to revive”; anakainoo, “to renew”; anamnesis, “to remember”; ananeoo, “to reform”; anastauroo, to recrucify, crucify again”; anapsuxis, “a recovery of breath, (figuratively) revival” anapsucho, “to relieve.”
[6] Thayer's Greek Lexicon: NT. 346
In the previous blog, while not giving a detailed defense of Dispensationalism, I sought to encourage those who may have a predisposition against Dispensationalism to reconsider the viability of a dispensational understanding of God’s plan for the ages. To me, it is not only an interpretational framework which is justifiable from the Scriptures, but also, rightly understood, it captures the progressive nature of God’s all-wise plan for the ages, culminating in the final restoration of all in a manner consistent with His revealed nature which is love (1Jn 4:8).
To me, dispensations throughout the ages are a glorious learning experience of eternal value to all generations. When we arrive at the end of the ages and pass into eternity, the whole panorama of the ages will ever be in our view. They contain a progressive revelation of the heart of God not possible without the fall and failure of man. Each stage or dispensation reveals something about man and about God which we could have never known apart from the fall and subsequent redemption.
Some mistakenly think that God will reformat our minds, erasing our memory once we are glorified. They say that it couldn’t be said that there will be no more sorrow or crying if we were able to remember all our departed loved ones who will be eternally lost. If in fact our loved ones were to be lost forever, then God would indeed have to either erase our memories or else somehow remove all natural affection from us.
However, as I point out in “The Triumph of Mercy,” God’s glorious plan for the ages ends well, rather than ending in an unending disaster for the majority of those whom He created in His own image and likeness. God doesn’t induce permanent amnesia in order to make eternity bearable for us. Neither does He deprive us of natural affection so as to be forever beyond feeling. Our weeping will be exchanged for perpetual joy when all are restored and reunited in Christ in the consummation of the ages (Acts 3:21; Eph 1:10; Isa 60:4-5).
The Greek word oikonomía, often translated “dispensation” in the King James Version, speaks of the economy, administration or house rules of a government, institution or household. As with any administration, God’s administrations involve rules and responsibilities, often administered by a steward or administrator, along with consequences or judgments for failure to be subject to the particular administration or household rules.
Some Liberal and Progressive teachers have sought to remove all human responsibility from the equation. Wm. Paul Young, author of “The Shack” argues against any human responsibility towards God, arguing from the fact that the actual word “responsibility” does not appear in the Scriptures.[1] However, the fact that the word “responsibility,” being a later word from the French language, does not appear in the Scriptures in no way leaves us without responsibility before God for what we say and do. The word “responsibility” is defined in Webster’s dictionary as: “The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable.” The concept of human responsibility is everywhere present in the Scriptures. How can anyone with even a basic understanding of the Bible say that we are not accountable nor answerable to God for our words and deeds?
Quite to the contrary, Jesus said, “for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt 12:36-37). Paul Young says that, rather than speaking of responsibility, the Lord speaks of our ability to respond. However, that is just a semantical play on words. In the Scriptures our ability to respond also carries with it the responsibility to respond and we will have to give an account in the day of judgment for having acted irresponsibly in life.
So, the main thing we should look for in determining distinct dispensations in Scripture are new administrative rules or some change in the manner in which God relates to His people. Each dispensation is designed to give us a progressive revelation in our knowledge of Him and also of the limitations of our own finite human condition, ultimately leading us from infancy in Eden into a life of perfect union in intimate relationship with Him as His huioi or “mature adult sons” (Gal 4:1-7).
1. The Dispensation of Innocence
Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God without flaw. They were perfect at their stage of development, much as a baby who is born without defects. Yet, as with an infant, that was only the first stage in their development. They were innocent and sinless, yet they did not yet possess a positive righteousness since positive righteousness is choosing that which is right, as opposed to that which is wrong or evil, and as yet they had no concept of good and evil.
They knew that God had told them not to eat of the tree of good and evil and that if they did it would result in their death. But not having ever seen or experienced death, it is doubtful that they had any real comprehension of what it meant to die. I visualize them as being comparable to a toddler who is told to not touch the hot woodstove lest he be burned. Not until they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, did they experience spiritual death, or death towards God. The first physical death by bloodshed they witnessed was the shed blood of animals to cover their nakedness, but they never fully knew the pain of physical death until Cain slew Abel.
Some view God as one who had a wonderful plan for mankind, but then the serpent came along and deceived Eve and she ate of the tree. And then Adam followed suit, totally foiling God’s original plan. Then, in order to salvage as much of mankind as possible, God came up with plan B, sending His Son.
However, the Scriptures reveal to us that there is no such thing as a plan B with God. God inhabits eternity and works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11). God does nothing ad lib. Neither is He learning as He goes, just as Acts 15:18 says: “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” [2] Before the creation and the fall, God had predetermined every detail of our redemption and final restoration (Acts 4:27-28; 3:21). Jesus was the Lamb slain from before creation according to the predetermined will of God (Rev 13:8).
The fall of man, as well as every other detail of history up until the final consummation of His creation story, is perfectly known and ordained to occur according to His eternal plan for the ages. Some things He causes while other things He allows, but He is sovereign Lord of all, and interweaves all things together, whether good or bad, in such a manner that they all ultimately work together for our greater good and to His glory.
His glorious masterplan for the ages was conceived out of His infinite wisdom and essential nature which is love. It is an incremental plan, going from glory to glory, culminating in the consummation when all will have been saved, purified and restored, resulting in all having been reunited in Christ and God being all in all (Jn 4:42; 1Jn 2:2; 1Tim 4:10; Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22,28).
God’s plan for the ages is incremental and progressive. Rather than creation being plan A and the fall requiring plan B, the fall is more like A-1, followed by A-2, etc. The major incremental stages in the outworking of God’s eternal plan can be seen as the different dispensations or administrations.
Adam and Eve were given the responsibility of tending the garden, multiplying and filling the earth and exercising dominion over it. The only prohibition was against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As with all subsequent dispensations, it ends with human failure and judgment – that is, all dispensations except for the final eighth dispensation - the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times which culminates in all being restored and reunited in Christ, by whom and for whom all things were created in the beginning (Col 1:16; Eph 1:10).
The Dispensation of Innocence ended with man’s failure and the entrance of sin and death to the human race – something previously unknown to Adam and Eve. For the first time they knew what it was to be spiritually dead – separated from God. Their God-consciousness was replaced with self-consciousness and for the first time they were naked and felt ashamed and afraid.
In judgment they were expelled from the garden, but God in His mercy set a guard to keep them from partaking from the tree of life in their fallen state which would have made them immortal in their sinful condition. The ground was cursed for Adam’s sake, introducing hard labor to the human race, and because Eve ate of the fruit of the tree, physical pain would be experienced for the first time. The woman’s pain in childbirth was multiplied, but we see God’s mercy in judgment when He afterwards promised that her seed would gain the victory over the serpent on the behalf of mankind.
We know that God didn’t place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the garden and allow the serpent to tempt Eve in order to discover what decision they would make. God already knew that they would fall into temptation and eat of the tree before He even began creation. So, what was God’s purpose in allowing them to fall and bring sin and death to the human race?
There are many things about God and ourselves that we would have never known apart from the fall. We love and long for His presence because we have experienced what it is like to be without Him. We would have never known what true joy was without experiencing sorrow and pain. We would never know to love righteousness without first coming to hate evil. We would have never known the multifaceted love of God in the form of grace and mercy if we had never been in need of His grace and mercy. I believe that Paul in part refers to this when he says: “For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.” (Rom 11:32). Jesus said that those who are forgiven much love much (Luke 7:41-47). So while God did not cause man’s fall, we can see His wisdom and good purpose in including it in His eternal plan for the ages.
2. The Dispensation of Conscience
Due to man’s failure under the Dispensation of Innocence, a spiritual death or separation from God occurred and man’s spirit died in the sense of being separated from God. It would not be until after the cross and Pentecost that those who come to God through Christ are regenerated, becoming one spirit with the Lord (Jn 17:21;1Cor 6:17; 1Cor 12:13; Eph 5:30).
After becoming separated and independent from God and losing their innocence, God then introduced the next stage of mankind’s learning process – the Dispensation of Conscience in which He left man to govern themselves according to their own conscience, doing that which they deemed to be right in their own eyes.
This dispensation was obviously intended to teach us that the way of man is not in himself, and that it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps (Jer 10:23), and that the heart of man separate from God is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, to such a degree that only God can truly know one’s thoughts and intentions (Jer 17:9,10). With this understanding we come to see our need for God who alone knows our hearts and is able to correct us and direct our steps (Ps 139:23-24).
Once again, we see man’s failure under the Dispensation of Conscience. The first man to die was murdered by his own brother when Cain slew Abel, following the inclination of his own heart. Left to themselves, man became so wicked and degenerate that every thought and intention of their hearts was only evil continually (Gen 6:5). Also, during this time some of the angels left their proper abode as angels in order to take to themselves wives of the daughters of men and engendered a race of Nephilim or giants upon the earth (Gen 6:4; Jude 6). The situation degenerated to the point that only Noah and his family hadn’t corrupted themselves, making it necessary for God to intervene with the judgment of the flood.
So, we can learn from this dispensation that man, left to the dictates of his own conscience, will go astray, being inclined to evil. Man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in man to direct his steps. We need communion with God who by His Spirit illuminates our path through His Word. While our conscience is God-given, it can become seared and callused by repeatedly violating it. Some have violated their conscience so many times that they are beyond feeling (1Tim 4:2; 2Tim 3:8; Rom 1:28). The lowest points in Israel’s history was when they did that which was right in their own eyes (Dt 12:8; Jdg 17:6; Pr 16:2).
It is common to hear someone say something like, “let your conscience be your guide,” or “just follow your heart.” However, the Dispensation of Conscience demonstrates that the heart of man is deceitful and therefore we need to take heed to the Word of God rather than simply doing what seems right in our own eyes (Ps 119:9,105).
3. The Dispensation of Human Government
Having demonstrated through the Dispensation of Conscience what man is capable of left to himself with each one simply doing what seems right in their own eyes, God then establishes the next dispensation or administration – the Dispensation of Human Government. One of the distinctives of this new dispensation is that they may eat of every living thing that moves, but they were not permitted to shed man’s blood. If anyone took another’s life, they were to receive the death penalty:
“Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” (Gen 9:6)
This is distinct from what we saw under the Dispensation of Conscience where God actually set a mark on Cain lest anyone finding him should kill him, avenging Abel’s blood. Remember, in that time everyone on the planet was either Abel’s child, grandchild, niece or nephew, and no doubt many would have been seeking justice – life for life.
The reason God gives for requiring capital punishment for taking a human life is that man was made in the image of God and therefore each one of us is of great value to Him. Prior to the flood there were Nephilim on the earth, and human life was genetically altered and devalued to the point of being regarded as mere animals. The Book of Enoch, which, although not in the Canon, is quoted in Scripture [3] and tells of how the Angels who cohabited with women prior to the flood engendered giants who treated human life as common livestock:
“Who (the giants) consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.” (Enoch 7:3-6).
Originally in Eden there was no death, and Adam and Eve were vegetarians (Gen 1:29). Left to govern themselves in the Dispensation of Conscience, they degenerated to the point of wholesale cannibalism. Now, under the Dispensation of Human Government, mankind was permitted to eat of all flesh save that of human flesh. This regulation required human government in order to enforce the law against manslaughter.
Also, God commanded Noah and his sons to multiply and fill the earth. However, instead of filling the earth they settled in the plain of Shinar and sought to build a tower that would reach unto heaven (Gen 11:2-4). As a result, God in judgment confounded their languages, resulting in them being dispersed throughout the earth as He had originally commanded.
By the time of Abraham, when the Dispensation of Human Government gave way to the Dispensation of Promise, men were worshipping the spirits of the Nephilim or demons who were regarded by them as demigods and they offered up human sacrifices to placate them. As with all prior dispensations, the Dispensation of Human Government ended in man’s failure and resulting judgment.
4. The Dispensation of Promise
The Dispensation of Promise does not encompass all of humanity as did the previous ones. It seems that Paul was referring to this turn in history when he said of mankind in general: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” (Rom 1:28). From this point forward until the Millennial reign of Christ during which time the saints will reign with Christ over the nations, God enters into a covenant relationship with the elect only, and the dispensational economies or household rules only apply to His elect people.
The Dispensation of Promise began with the call of Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees to a land which the Lord would show Him (Gen 12:1). The administrative change becomes evident in Genesis 12 where the Lord promised Abraham, saying:
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3)
Being a stranger in a strange land, advanced in years with a sterile wife, the fulfillment of this promise was clearly impossible, humanly speaking. When Abraham asked God how he could know that the promise would be fulfilled, the Lord told him to prepare for a ceremony common to the Chaldeans when they were going to make a solemn oath (Gen 15). In this ceremony they cut animals in half and laid the halves on the ground with a path between them. Then the two individuals who were making the solemn oath would pass together between the halves, saying: “May the same be done to me if I break this covenant.”
However, when the moment came to walk between the animals, God caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep and He walked alone between them, indicating that the fulfillment of the promise wasn’t contingent upon Abraham nor his descendants – that God Himself would bring it to pass. It was an unconditional promise because He by Himself had sworn that Abraham would be a great nation, that he would inherit the land, and that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed.
This dispensation was distinct from the previous ones in that the administrative mandate for God’s household was simply to continue believing in God’s unconditional promises, even when their fulfillment seemed humanly impossible. While the key word for man’s responsibility under the Dispensation of the Law, which would come 430 years later at Sinai, was “do,” the key word for man under the Dispensation of Promise was simply “believe.”
At this stage in God’s progressive, incremental plan for the ages, God is developing faith in His people, giving them unconditional covenant promises which were so far beyond man’s possibility to accomplish that all they could do was continue calling those things that were not as though they were until God brought them to pass (Rom 4:18; Heb 11:8-10, 17-19). Many of the promises given to Abraham and his descendants have yet to be fully fulfilled but they are sure promises which will come to pass whether we believe them or not since they are based upon His faithfulness rather than man’s.
Many of God’s people have ceased believing that God’s covenantal promises to Abraham and his descendants will be fulfilled due to Israel’s unfaithfulness. But Paul responds to this saying: “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.” (Rom 3:3-4). Abraham’s descendants, Israel, will indeed yet become a great nation and will finally possess the entirety of the land which God promised them because the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant depends upon the faithfulness of God and not on the faithfulness of Israel.
Another aspect of the promise to Abraham which many of God’s people have failed to believe – in part because it is so great and all-inclusive in its implications, is the promise that in him “all the families of the earth will be blessed.” This promise requires a universal restoration of all mankind for its fulfillment. God didn’t say that “some” families of the earth would be blessed, but “all” the families of the earth. That cannot merely refer to all families living on the earth in Abraham’s time, or all families living on the earth when Jesus returns, but all families of all time, from Adam and Eve’s family to the family of the last child born to mankind. Otherwise, not all the families of the earth could be said to be blessed.
Those who fail to see that in the final dispensation – the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, absolutely all will be reunited in Christ, whether in heaven or on earth, cannot say that in Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed. They must postulate that God will instead somehow induce amnesia or else desensitize from all natural affection those few privileged to hear the gospel and positively respond to it before the Second Coming of Christ, since there is no entire family line in which all will have been saved in life, and therefore some family members will be tormented forever or exterminated, according to their belief. A family cannot truly be said to be blessed if they have the knowledge that one of them is in unending torments or had been exterminated.
However, those who believe in the final restoration of all can understand and wait in hopeful expectation for the full literal fulfillment of God’s promise that in Abraham’s seed all the families of the earth will be blessed. Even their most wayward sons or daughters will be finally restored after a time in the purifying Lake of Fire in the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times (Eph 1:10; 1Cor 3:15; Isa 60:4-5). Every knee will bow, and every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ as Lord, including those presently under the earth or in hades. And when the last enemy has become subject to Christ, then Christ will subject Himself to the Father and God will be all in all (Php 2:10-11; 1Cor 15:28).
As with all prior dispensations, the Dispensation of Promise ends in human failure. Israel ultimately failed to trust in God’s unconditional commitment to fulfill His covenant promises to them as a nation. Even after seeing God’s mighty hand through the ten plagues against Pharaoh, as soon as they faced the Red Sea, they accused God of taking them into the desert only to die there (Ex 14:10-12). Three days after rejoicing over God’s deliverance from Pharaoh’s armies at the Red Sea, instead of looking to the Lord to provide water for them they complained against Him, and God in His grace miraculously provided water for them. Then a month and a half after leaving Egypt their food supply ran out, and again they accused God rather than looking to Him for provision. They complained to Moses saying:
“Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Ex 16:3)
Just a couple days later they were out of water and again accused Moses of leading them into the desert only to die there of thirst (Ex 17:3). Rather than resting by faith in the unconditional promises made to their fathers concerning them, remembering all of His mighty works bringing them out of Egypt, they time and time again accused God of plotting with Moses for their destruction. The desert was their final exam under the Dispensation of Promise, and they failed miserably. But rather than leaving them to repeat the fourth grade He passed them on to the next dispensation – the Dispensation of the Law.
5. The Dispensation of the Law
The children of Israel failed to trust in the unconditional promises of God under the Dispensation of Promise, even as man had failed under every previous dispensation. Now, under the following Dispensation of the Law, God is going to teach mankind something more about Himself and also about the limitations of their own sinful nature. Through the Dispensation of the Law He teaches us how holy He is and how incapable we are of living a life of holiness independently from Him.
It is not that the promise under the Abrahamic Covenant ceased with the introduction of the Law. The Abrahamic Covenant was an unconditional and perpetual covenant, whereas the Covenant of the Law was a conditional covenant which was added alongside of the Abrahamic Covenant until Christ, the promised Seed, should come. Paul makes this clear when he said:
“And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later (after the promise), cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect… 19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of (charin “for the sake of”) transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.” (Gal 3:17,19)
It says in the New King James Version that the Law was added “because of transgressions.” However, the word translated “because of” is charin from the word charis or “grace.” The idea expressed is, “for the benefit of or for the sake of.” The New American Standard Updated Version captures the idea in their margin where they add, “or for the sake of defining.” The Darby Version renders it, “for the sake of transgressions.” God’s Word Version says, “to identify what wrongdoing is” and Weymouth reads, “for the sake of defining sin.”
Sin is always sin, but sin is not a “transgression” in the absence of a law to transgress. Paul said that sin was not imputed as a transgression between Adam and Moses since there was no law to transgress (Rom 5:13). He said that he would not have known covetousness if the Law hadn’t said “you shall not covet” (Rom 7:7).
In the giving of the Law at Sinai they passed from being governed by God’s unconditional covenant of promise to a conditional “if you…then I…” covenant. Prior to the Law, the children of Israel were blessed by pure grace, but under the law, although they were still saved by grace, they were blessed or conversely cursed based upon their fulfillment of the works of the Law. We can see this major transition enacted at Sinai. The Lord told Moses to present this new conditional covenant to the people saying:
“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Ex 19:4-6)
God first reminds them how that, up to that moment, He had dealt with them purely by grace. He said, “you have seen how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.” In spite of their murmuring against Him at the Red Sea, God graciously opened up the sea so they could pass through on dry ground and destroyed Pharaoh’s army behind them. When they complained about the water and the food God graciously provided for them without any reproaches. Time and time again, they were unconditionally blessed in spite of their unbelief and lack of gratitude. Not once did He respond in severe judgments as we see later under the Covenant of the Law.
After Moses presented the conditions of the covenant to the people, they all answered with one voice: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” (verse 8). In contrast with the Abrahamic Covenant, the Law was a conditional covenant which required the consent of both parties. The Children of Israel, without any further reflection upon their sinful condition, lightly responded: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” A little self-reflection would have led them to plead with God to remain under the Dispensation of Promise, but they had yet to learn the limitations of their own fallen sinful nature and their need for grace.
Immediately after agreeing to the conditions of the Covenant of the Law there was a drastic change in relationship. The relationship was no longer as that of a mother eagle bearing her young on her wings, but with thundering and lightning and a thick cloud so that the people trembled for fear. God said that whoever touched the mountain would surely be put to death.
Moses went up the mountain to receive the ten commandments written on stone, which were a sign of the Covenant of the Law made between God and the Children of Israel, but even before he came down from the mountain with the tables of stone, they had already broken the first two commandments, making a golden calf and worshipping it. Now being under the Law, 3,000 of them died that same day as a consequence of having transgressed it (Ex 32:28).
Israel chose to put themselves under the Dispensation of the Law when they accepted the terms of the Law saying: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” But they were never able to fulfill their covenant promise to obey all the things contained in the Law to do them. Before giving them the Law, God knew they wouldn’t be able to keep it. The Dispensation of the Law was designed to reveal the sinful nature of man so that in the next dispensation – the Dispensation of Grace, they would have already comprehended the depths of their own depravity and need for His grace provided through Christ’s redemptive sacrifice.
The Dispensation of the Law was given by God to reveal our own sinfulness so that when the appointed time came for the grace of God to be revealed through Jesus Christ, they would have come to despair of all hopes of attaining to the righteous requirements of the Law, eagerly receiving the free gift of the righteousness of God in Christ. Paul clearly states God’s purpose in giving the Law from its inception. He said:
“Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” (Rom 5:20)
The Law was added for the sake of revealing our sins as transgressions, but only until Christ the promised Seed should come (Gal 3:19). Paul next compares the Law to a schoolmaster who is charged with teaching children until they reach adulthood:
“Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons (huios “adult sons”) of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:21-26)
The Law cannot give life. On the contrary, it was the ministration of death (2Cor 3:7). It confined all under sin so that we would then look to Christ and receive His righteousness as a gift of grace. In Romans, before presenting the gift of the righteousness of God in Christ, Paul makes it clear that we cannot attain to the righteous demands of the Law. Its purpose was simply to reveal our sin:
“Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 BUT NOW the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:20-24)
So, what was the purpose of the Law? To reveal our sin. The Law is like a mirror that reveals our true condition but cannot change it. The Law could not give life, but only condemn since it required perfect obedience (Gal 3:21; Jas 2:10). It is called “the ministry of condemnation” since its purpose was to make sin become an infraction or transgression of the Law, resulting in the condemnation of every transgressor in order that the condemned might look to Christ as their only means of justification (2Cor 3:9).
To this very day many still think that the Law was given for us to live by, but it was not given to live by, but to die by. Paul called it the “ministration of death, written and engraved in stones.” (2Cor 3:7). He said that when the commandment “you shall not covet” came to his attention, sin revived and him and he died (Rom 7:9). The only place where the words, “you shall not covet” appear is on the two tables of stone, so one cannot reasonably argue that it is only referring to the ceremonial law as that which passed with the introduction of the New Covenant. In God’s infinite wisdom He placed Israel under the Dispensation of the Law in order to reveal the depravity of man in preparation for the subsequent revelation of the grace of God in Christ.
6. The Dispensation of Grace
Israel miserably failed under the Dispensation of the Law, continually breaking the covenant that they had made with God at Sinai. After the northern 10 tribes of Israel had been conquered and dispersed in judgment for their abominations and idolatries at a time when the inhabitants of Jerusalem were also being taken into captivity for continually breaking covenant with the Lord, Jeremiah prophesied of a new covenant which would usher in an entirely new and different administration or dispensation based upon promises. He said:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — 32 NOT ACCORDING TO the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer 31:31-34)
Contrary to what Covenant Theologians would have us believe, the Covenant of the Law is not merely a continuation of the Abrahamic Covenant, nor does the Law carry over into the New Covenant as a rule of life. It is specifically said of the New Covenant that it is “not according to” the Old Covenant of the Law. The Old Covenant said, “If you… then I….” However, when He introduced the New Covenant He said, “They did not… therefore I disregarded them” (Heb 8:9).
The Old Covenant was composed of external rules given to a people of a wicked and deceitful heart. It was added to the Abrahamic Covenant until Christ, the promised Seed, should come. Under the New Covenant God regenerates our spirit, giving us a new heart that is according to godliness, as Paul said:
“But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Rom 7:6)
While the Law still serves its original purpose of convicting sinners of their sins, it is explicitly said to not be applicable to the believer in this dispensation. The New Testament clearly states that we are no longer under the Law but under grace (Rom 6:14-15). Paul exposed false teachers who misapplied the Law, trying to put believers under it in this Dispensation of Grace. He said of them:
“desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. 8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.” (1Tim 1:6-11)
While the Law still convicts the sinner of his need for Christ, we as believers are not under the Law but under Grace as a rule of life (dispensationally speaking). The righteousness of the Law is now fulfilled in the believer by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:4). The new life principal for the believer under this Dispensation of Grace is the very resurrection life of Jesus being lived out in and through us (Gal 2:20; 2Cor 4:10-11; Php 1:21).
In the Gospel of John, we see this marked contrast between the old Dispensation of the Law and the new Dispensation of Grace in the person of Jesus Christ:
“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)
The contrast between these two distinct life principles – Law and Grace, is very marked. It says of the Law that it “was given,” whereas grace and truth “came.” The Law was given “through angels by the hand of a mediator” in order to “bring us to Christ.” (Gal 3:19,24). But Grace and Truth came to us personified in Jesus Christ. It is interesting how John 1:17 is constructed. Normally the double subject “grace and truth” would require that the verb “came” be in plural - “they came.” However it is in the singular, making it say, “Grace and Truth He came through the person of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is Grace and Truth personified. Grace in the new Dispensation of Grace is nothing other than Christ in us (Col 1:27). He is the Truth that makes us free indeed (Jn 8:32; 14:6). I treat this subject in more depth in my book “The True Grace of God.”
Even the Dispensation of Grace ends in failure on the part of the Church in general. Very few believers in this age have availed themselves of the grace available to them through the life of Christ within them, walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Instead, many within the Church have fallen from the grace-walk in Jesus, continuing instead in the oldness of the letter, trying to observe the Old Covenant Law through external religious observance.
Many more, burned out on religion, have converted the grace of God into licentiousness, calling it Christian liberty. Paul said that in the latter days many who profess Christ will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons (1Tim 4:1). Jesus posed the question: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). The conditions upon the earth at the close of this dispensation will reach the point where, if Christ were to delay His coming, no flesh would be saved, and yet at the same time God will have purified His elect Church (Matt 24:22, c.f. Eph 5:27; Mark 13:27).
While most earlier Dispensationalists believed that the Church had to be raptured at the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week 7 years prior to the Second Coming of Christ, there is no reference in Scripture to a rapture of the Church 7 years separated from Christ’s Second Coming.
They often insist that God cannot deal with Israel at the same time as the Church. If it could be demonstrated that God does not, or will not, deal with the Church and Israel at the same time, then this argument might carry some weight. But the fact is that God has been dealing with both groups concurrently since the beginning of the Church. The kingdom was still being offered to Israel in the early days of the Church (Acts 3:19-21). If the nation as a whole had repented, the kingdom would have been set up. Yet the Church was already in existence. God was dealing with national Israel in 70 A.D. when Titus and his armies destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Since the destruction of Jerusalem, God has been dealing with Israel in judgment through their dispersion as predicted in the Old Testament and by Jesus Christ (Hosea 3:4; Lk.21:24).
Even today we are witnessing Israel being re-gathered as predicted in Ezekiel 37; Ezekiel 38:8; Jeremiah 23:1-8 and many other passages. When they are re-gathered to the land in unbelief God's judgment of Israel will reach its climax (Ezek. 20:33-38). This is the judgment of the tribulation — the time of Jacob’s trouble. So, it can be seen that God has never ceased to deal with Israel as a nation. Since God has been carrying on two programs at the same time – one of blessing for the Church and the other in judgment upon Israel, it is not correct to say that God must remove the Church before He can resume His program with Israel.
It should also be pointed out that God will not be dealing with national Israel as a saved people in the tribulation. He will continue dealing with them in judgment. It is not until the Second Advent that national Israel will be saved. In Romans 11:25—27 Paul says that Israel's blindness will continue until the Second Advent. It will be the Deliverer coming out of Zion who will turn away ungodliness from Israel. He will establish the new covenant with them and take away their sins. This all takes place when Christ comes and sets up His kingdom and not before.
While the Great Tribulation is referred to as “Jacob’s Trouble” (Jer 30:7), and will be a time of unprecedented persecution of the Jews, it will also be a time of tribulation for those believers within the Church in need of purification (Rev 12:17; 7:14). I cover the subject of the rapture and other eschatological events in relation to the Second Coming of Christ in my book “Focusing in on End-Time Events.”
7. The Millennial Dispensation
The final lesson for mankind before the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times will be learned during the Dispensation of the Millennium – a thousand year period in which Christ will be reigning with the glorified saints upon the earth and Satan will be bound in the abyss.
It is common to hear the excuse “the devil made me do it,” but during this dispensation that excuse for sinning will be removed, for Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit (Rev 20:2-3). Men often justify their lack of submission to authority, saying that those in authority are corrupt. but in that day, rebellion against authority will be shown to be a condition of the heart rather than something external since Christ Himself will be reigning along with His glorified saints (Rev 20:4; 2Tim 2:12; Rom 8:17).
Many today justify stealing, saying that it is the only way they can survive, but in the Millennium the conditions will be so ideal that the plowman will overtake the harvester, meaning that crops are planted and harvested continually rather than seasonally (Amos 9:13). While animals, just as mortal men, will continue to live and die as now, their lives will be greatly extended, and the animals will no longer prey on man nor upon each other as Isaiah prophecies of that time:
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa 11:6-9)
The knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth like the waters of the sea and the earth’s conditions will be restored to such a degree that the lifespan of the mortals inhabiting the earth will be as it was prior to the flood. Even the animals will cease to devour flesh just as it was in Eden and they will no longer be aggressive:
“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed… 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says the Lord.” (Isa 65:20,25)
At Christ’s Second Coming, the Jews will look upon Him whom they pierced; God will pour out upon them the Spirit of grace and supplication, and a nation will be born in a day (Zec 12:10; Isa 66:8; Rom 11:26). Christ will at that time separate those of the nations who remain upon the earth after the Church has been glorified and caught up to meet the Lord in the air at His coming. The sheep will be granted entrance into the Millennial kingdom as mortals to repopulate the earth, whereas the goats will be sent into eonian correction.
The Dispensation of the Millennial reign of Christ demonstrates that even under the most ideal external conditions, man is depraved beyond reformation. The only answer is a new creation, since the former creation – the old man which we were in the first Adam, is unreformable. The only answer is a new creation in Christ (Gal 6:15; 2Cor 5:17).
In order to demonstrate this for all generations to see, Satan will be loosed from his prison for a short time and will manage to deceive the nations and make war against Christ and His kingdom (Rev 20:2,7,8). Even after 1,000 years under the most ideal conditions, we see that the flesh profits nothing. Doubtlessly, many will receive Christ in the Millennium and their names will therefore be found written in the book of life at the White Throne Judgment, which judgment will close the Dispensation of the Millennium. However, those still outside of Christ will be judged according to their works and will receive their part in the purifying Lake of Fire (Rev 20:12-15). In the new Dispensation all will eventually be reunited in Christ and then God will be all in all in the eternal state.
8. The Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times
Once the Dispensation of the Millennium closes with human failure followed by the White Throne Judgment, the heavenly city or the Church – the New Jerusalem, will descend upon the new earth (Rev 21:1). In contrast with the previous dispensations, this dispensation culminates in absolutely all being reunited in Christ – both those in heaven as well as those on earth:
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together (anakephalaiomai) in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Eph 1:9-10) [4]
The phrase: “gather together in one” is a composite word made up of ana which normally means “again” and kephalaioo, which means “to head up or sum up,” and is best translated as “to reunite or unite again under one head,” since only this rendering retains the meaning of the prefix ana. [5] Thayer’s Greek Lexicon actually comments as to the meaning of the word in this context, saying:
“God is said…to bring together again for himself (note the middle) all things and beings (hitherto disunited by sin) into one combined state of fellowship in Christ.” [6]
The terms “gather together” or “bring together again” when referring to those formerly at enmity, as is the case with mankind towards God, is relational and inseparable from reconciliation. Therefore, this passage, just as Colossians 1:16-20, clearly speaks of a universal reconciliation. The mystery of His will which is being revealed here in Ephesians 1:9,10 is the final restoration of all when all creation will be eternally reunited in Christ, and God will then be all in all (1Cor 15:28).
This is also what Paul declared in summary form in Romans 11:36 saying: “For of (ek “out of”) Him and through (dia) Him and to (eis “into”) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” As Colossians 1:16 says, everything and everyone was created by Him. Then in verse 20 it says that this same “all” was reconciled to (eis “into”) Him through the cross (Col 1:16,20). In Ephesians 1:9,10 it says that all will be finally reunited in Him in the dispensation of the fullness of the times. “For of Him and through Him and TO (eis “into”) Him are all things.” Paul could not have made it any clearer.
In the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times we see that the gates of the New Jerusalem are never shut, but no one is permitted to enter unless their names are first written in the book of life (Rev 21:25-26). Those outside who cannot enter through the gates are said to be those who defile or those who cause an abomination or lie. Within the New Jerusalem is the river of the water of life and the tree of life with its leaves which are “for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:1-2).
Why would there still be those of the nations still in need of healing if indeed it is referring to the eternal state when all have either been perfected and glorified or are eternally in the Lake of Fire as traditionally believed? The nations are not the Bride, the Church, but the rest of mankind who will have repopulated the earth during the Millennium, as well as those consigned to the Lake of Fire at the White Throne Judgment.
During the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, in the coming ages, the Church, which became the Bride of Christ at His Second Coming, will be put on display to the rest of mankind to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 2:7). They will be extending the invitation to those outside in the Lake of Fire, calling upon them to wash their robes so as to be able to enter the gates of the New Jerusalem, eating of the tree of life and drinking freely of the water of life:
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood… 17 The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.” (Rev 22:14-15,17 RSV)
Here in the new earth, after the Great White Throne Judgment, we see the Spirit and the Bride extending the invitation to those outside to wash their robes so as to be able to enter the New Jerusalem, freely drinking from the water of life. We know it isn’t referring to the Church extending the invitation now in this age, since the Church is never called “the Bride” until the wedding feast at Christ’s return. The term “bride” (numphe) refers to the bride at the marriage ceremony in the bridechamber (numphon), or to the subsequent young wife, and is never used of the Church before the wedding feast. Before the wedding feast we are said to be “betrothed” or “espoused” (2Cor 11:2 Gr. harmoso), but not yet the Bride.
Here in Revelation 22:17 we see the Bride, who at this time inhabits the New Jerusalem, inviting those outside its gates to wash their robes so as to be able to enter into the heavenly city where she abides, and drink freely of the water of life that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb within the city. This invitation to “come” inside the city must have application to the post White Throne era since the New Jerusalem had not yet descended upon the new earth prior to this. And those outside can be none other than those who were consigned to the outer darkness in the purifying Lake of Fire.
The Lake of Fire has been traditionally thought to last forever since the days of Augustine in the 4th century. However, rightly understood it is a figurative purifying fire which extends into the “ages of the ages” or for the duration of the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, culminating in all being restored and reunited in Christ, at which time God shall be all in all (Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22-28). The Lake of Fire extends through the ages of the ages and not “forever and ever” as the Greek phrase eis tous aionos ton aiónon (lit. “into the ages of the ages”) has been mistranslated to say. Its purpose is purification and not unending vindictive torture, as traditionally taught (see my blog: Sulfur, Salt and the Refiner’s Fire for an explanation of the Lake of Fire).
Those who are judged at the White Throne Judgment will be judged “according to their works,” receiving “their part” or “portion” (meros) in the Lake of Fire. Such terminology does not correspond to unending torments. Additionally, Jesus said of post-mortem judgments that they will not get out of there “until” (Matt 5:26;18:34). “Until” requires an end. He also said that some would receive “many stripes,” while others will receive “few” (Luke 12:47). “Few” as opposed to “many” speaks of limited duration and is incompatible with the Traditional doctrine of endless stripes.
And most significantly, it could not be said that all will be restored (Acts 3:21); that all will be saved (1Tim 4:10; Jn 4:42); that all will be reconciled (Col 1:16,20; 2Cor 5:19); and that all will be reunited in Christ in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, resulting in all being made alive and God being all in all (Eph 1:10; 1Cor 15:22-28), if in fact some are forever lost. Jesus said that He would effectually draw (helcuo) all men unto Himself and that He came to seek and save the lost until the last lost sheep has been found and saved (Luke 19:10; 15:4). The great and final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times will culminate in every knee bowing and every tongue confessing Jesus as Lord, to the glory of God the Father, and not under duress as some present it (Php 2:10; Isa 45:22-24).
While this has not been an exhaustive treatment of the dispensations, I hope that it has served to demonstrate that God’s eternal plan for the ages is characterized by distinguishable stages which incrementally take mankind from infancy in Eden to full maturity in the consummation at the end of the ages in preparation for eternity when God shall be all in all. God’s creation story truly ends well, rather than devolving into an eternal dualism resulting in unending tragedy for most of mankind. God’s plan for the ages goes from glory to glory rather than from bad to worse. What God begins, He perfects.
[1] http://wmpaulyoung.com/a-word-that-is-not-in-the-bible/
[2] The NKJV rendering is according to the reading of the Greek Majority Text.
[3] Jude 14 cf. Enoch 1:9
[4] Our English word “things” does not have an equivalent in Greek. Neither does the neuter form in Greek always indicate objects as in English. When the translators insert “things” in contexts that are evidently referring primarily to persons and not inanimate objects I take the liberty to cross it out in order to keep the focus where it belongs.
[5] Other examples of composite words with ana prefixed where ana clearly means “again or re…” are as follows: anagennao, “to be born again”; anaginosko, lit. “to know again,” or “to read”; anagnosis, “(the act of) reading”; anazao, “to live again”; anazopureo, to re-enkindle; anathallo, “to revive”; anakainoo, “to renew”; anamnesis, “to remember”; ananeoo, “to reform”; anastauroo, to recrucify, crucify again”; anapsuxis, “a recovery of breath, (figuratively) revival” anapsucho, “to relieve.”
[6] Thayer's Greek Lexicon: NT. 346
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5Open Theism Does God know my Tomorrow? (1 of 2)
The Immutable Things of God
by George Sidney Hurd
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Until recent years Christians have universally believed that God has always had perfect knowledge concerning the future of each and every individual, just as the Psalmist declares: “You saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in your book before any of them ever began” (Ps 139:16). Many of us have received promises from God and have rested in the full assurance that we have already received that which He promised because of our belief that He who knows our future and possesses all power will fulfill that which He promised.
When the future looks bleak and we can’t see what tomorrow holds we are reassured by the knowledge that God is working all things together for our good according to the counsel of His will which was ordained for us before the ages (Rom 8:28; Eph 1:11; 1Cor 2:7). An old melody that I often find myself singing when I am going through great difficulties and the future looks dim is:
“There are things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand, but I know who holds the future and I know who holds my hand.”
Most of us have peace of mind, knowing that God, who holds our future, will not let go of our hand. But try to imagine a world in which our Father, the Creator and Sustainer of all things has no real knowledge of our future – a world in which ultimately you are the master of your own fate and God is actually learning along with you as time progresses. Imagine being in relationship with a god who, although he loves you and desires the best for you, can only guess what will take place tomorrow, since he doesn’t know any more about your future than you do.
You have just visualized the cosmovision of a growing number of people who, consciously or unconsciously, have come to believe a new doctrine commonly known as “Open Theism” or “Freewill Theism.”
In a nutshell, Open Theism claims that, either the future cannot be known by God since the future doesn’t exist – not even to Him, or else that God, out of respect for our own libertarian freewill, has somehow limited His “omniscience” so as not to know what our future choices will be. It is a very recent doctrine with no substantial historical precedent in Church history until the 1994 publication of “The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God,” coauthored by Clark Pinnock, Richard Rice, John Sanders, William Hasker, and David Basinger.
Most of these scholars would be unknown to the average Christian today. However, some of today’s most influential authors and speakers such as Gregory Boyd, Bradley Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Philip Yancey and most notoriously Wm. Paul Young, author of “The Shack,” have embraced Open Theism and are promoting it in their books and lectures.
Often, they will not publicly or directly challenge the historic belief that God in His omniscience possesses exhaustive knowledge of the future. Rather, they subtly imply it in a way designed to cause one to question God’s ability to see from eternity and work all things according to His will as traditionally believed, presenting Him instead as one trying to make the best of unforeseen events which at times get out of hand due to His inability to anticipate or intervene in the freewill acts of man.
Wm. Paul Young’s novel and movie “The Shack” so masterfully intertwined Open Theism into the narrative that few were even conscious of its underlying message. However, in his later book, “Lies We Believe About God,” while not directly expounding upon Open Theism, he is more direct in revealing its implications. He says:
“What if there is no ‘plan’ for your life but rather a relationship in which God constantly invites us to co-create, respectfully submitting to the choices we bring to the table?... God submits rather than controls and joins us in the resulting mess of relationship, to participate in co-creating the possibility of life, even in the face of death.” (emphasis mine) [i]
Instead of us seeking wisdom and understanding as to what the will of the Lord is and submitting to God’s plan for our lives, the tables are turned in such a way that it is now God who respectfully submits to us, following our lead as we co-create our own future!
It is not that they do not have proof-texts to support their position. Indeed, some passages taken literally do at first sight seem to present God as not possessing all knowledge of the future and therefore changing His mind. He is even depicted as though He needed someone like Moses or Abraham to persuade Him to show mercy, or as though He were forgetful and needed the rainbow to remind Him not to destroy the earth again by a flood (Gen 9:13-15). However, as I hope to establish, these demonstrably anthropomorphic expressions must be understood in the light of texts which clearly define God’s infinite essential attributes such as His eternality, omnipotence and omniscience, and not the other way around. This has been the understanding of all students of the Bible from the scholar to the simplest devout readers throughout history.
I believe, and hope to demonstrate, that Open Theists are guilty of attempting to conform the infinite God to the image of finite man rather than recognizing that we were made in the image of God and not the other way around. While we have been created in His image and likeness and therefore are capable of knowing Him and experiencing intimacy with Him, we must acknowledge that He infinitely transcends us and therefore, at least in the present, He has chosen to use anthropomorphic terms in order to better relate to us.
An anthropomorphism is when finite human characteristics are attributed to God. An expression in the Bible can be determined to be an anthropomorphism using the following definition: “A biblical ascription to God is anthropomorphic when the Bible elsewhere teaches that God transcends the very finite characteristics being attributed to Him, (examples: ‘the arm of the Lord,’ the eyes of the Lord,’ ‘the Lord repented,’ ‘the Lord remembered,’ ‘the Lord looked and saw,’ etc.).” Likewise, if God inhabits eternity, then all temporal limitations attributed to God are only true as it relates to us as part of His temporal creation since God transcends temporal limitations.
The Eternality of God
In order for Open Theism to be viable it is necessary that they first demonstrate that God is timebound and therefore unable to see the future. They usually argue that God cannot see the future since the future doesn’t exist for anyone, not even for God. However, if God is eternal and transcends time – existing above and apart from time, then all events, past, present and future, would ever be in His view. It would be impossible that God should not know the future if indeed He is eternal.
Some Open Theists, recognizing this problem, would say that God could see the future, but in order to preserve man’s libertarian freedom He chose to “limit His omniscience” so as to be unable to see our future decisions. However, it is an oxymoron to say that God limits His omniscience. To be omniscient is to know everything. He either knows all things or He doesn’t. Since God’s omniscience is immutable, it is not possible that He should somehow not know what He knows. And if indeed He doesn’t know the future, then He would not be omniscient.
Historically, the Church has generally held that God is atemporal. That is, that God’s existence not only precedes time, but He exists outside of time, while at the same time being imminent and involved in our time/space world without being subject to its limitations. While the Hebrew language did not have a word equivalent to “eternal” in our modern Platonic understanding of the word, we nevertheless see God’s eternality expressed by the use of the present tense of the verb “to be” when applied to God. The Psalmist says:
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting (from olam to olam), You ARE God.” (Ps 90:2)
The phrase “from olam to olam you ARE (present tense) God” says in so many words what we can now express by simply saying “God is eternal” – i.e. God always IS. Also when Moses asked God: "when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" (Ex 3:13), God responded saying that He is the eternal God but in words that seem strange to us since we now have “eternal” in our vocabulary and we don’t need to use so many words to express His eternality: “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you” (v. 14). In our vocabulary today we would simply say “I AM the Eternal One – He who always IS.” His name Jehovah means: “He who exists” or “The eternal one.”
In continuation, after saying that God IS (present tense) both in the past and the future in Psalm 90:2, the Psalmist says in Psalm 90:4: “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.” Some have here mistaken this as implying that God’s existence is temporal. However, taking into account what he said in verse 2, it is evident that it is merely a poetic way of saying that, although God interacts with us in time, He is not bound by time as we are.
Also, we see that He is eternal since before the mountains were brought forth – before time itself was created with its ages, years, months and days, God IS. Before creation, time did not exist, but God always exists. We also see God’s transcendent relation to time in the response Jesus gave to those who asked Him how He could have seen Abraham. He said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). Only the One who has His existence outside of the bounds of time could have made such a declaration.
In His humanity Jesus was confined to space and time, but as God He is imminent or ever-present in all of time, even as we see His omnipresence revealed in His statement to Nicodemus: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man WHO IS IN HEAVEN” (John 3:13). Just after telling Nicodemus that he had to be born again in order to see the kingdom of heaven – something he was struggling to grasp, Jesus made the amazing statement that the very One who was speaking to him was at that same moment in heaven. These are truths that transcend our ability to fully fathom, yet they are nonetheless divine truths which should be embraced and marveled at, rather than attempting to reduce the divine to the level of mere men.
While all finite attempts to illustrate God’s infinite attributes come dreadfully short, God’s perspective of time could be illustrated as that of one who is viewing a parade from a helicopter. From that perspective the entire procession is in view from beginning to end. He could communicate to the spectators of the procession on the ground what they will be seeing in their future before they themselves are able to see it since he can see the whole procession all at once.
Likewise, we understand that God exists above and outside of our time/space confines, since He would not otherwise be able to tell us what will take place in our future – especially in the distant future in a world with so many variables which include man’s volitional decisions. The exhaustive foreknowledge of all future events which is attributed to God in Scripture, would be impossible for a temporal being to possess.
God’s Foreknowledge
Having seen that God’s eternality, combined with His omniscience, requires that He should have an exhaustive knowledge of all things, including all future events, we can now look to the Scriptures to see if such knowledge is attributed to God and demonstrated by fulfilled prophecies.
God demonstrates He is God by declaring things to come
In Isaiah chapters 41 thru 48 God challenges all the false gods to prove themselves by declaring that which will take place in the future. Time and time again He contrasts false gods with Himself, and His exclusive knowledge of the future is presented as one of the proofs that only He is God. Since they also refute the Open Theist’s claim that God doesn’t know the future, I will here cite the main ones, highlighting key phrases:
“Let them (your false gods) bring forth and show us what will happen; let them show the former things, what they were, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare to us things to come. 23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; yes, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and see it together. 24 Indeed you are nothing, and your work is nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.” (Isa 41:22-24)
Here God challenges the false gods Israel was worshipping to prove themselves by revealing what will take place in the future. Then He mockingly says, “at least do something, whether it be good or evil so that your followers can marvel.” At their silence He says, “you are nothing and cannot accomplish anything.”
He then says that all who would choose such a god are an abomination. According to God’s own criteria, a god who doesn’t know the future is a false god of one’s own making and those who worship such a god are an abomination in His sight. This should be enough to make Open Theists who think that God cannot know the future stop in their tracks. He then calls upon Israel to repent and return to Him – the only true God who knows their future and works all things according to the counsel of His will:
“Remember this, and show yourselves men; recall to mind, o you transgressors. 9 Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'MY COUNSEL SHALL STAND, AND I WILL DO ALL MY PLEASURE.” (Isa 46:8-10)
In Isaiah 45, the Lord calls king Cyrus by name many years before he had even been born. It was some 150 years after Isaiah’s prophecy that Cyrus took Babylon. Then, in the first year of Cyrus’ reign, after the 70 years of captivity was fulfilled as prophesied in Jeremiah 25:11-12, the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus to issue a decree setting the Jews free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple (2Chron 36:22-23). The Lord said in Isaiah 45:
“Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held… 4 For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me… 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other… 13 I have raised him up (Cyrus) in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city and let My exiles go free, not for price nor reward, says the Lord of hosts.” (Isa 45:1,4,6,13 cf. Isa 48:3-5)
Why did God name Cyrus before he was born? So that His people Israel would know that He is the Lord and there is no other beside Him. None other than the omniscient God who knows the end from the beginning could declare with such precision what would occur generations later. Even if God had a good idea that the Persians would rise to power and conquer the Babylonians after the Jews had fulfilled exactly 70 years of captivity, what is the likelihood that a child would be born, receiving the name of Cyrus and coming to power in the very year God said the captivity would come to an end? Cyrus was the least likely to become king. His grandfather Astyages ordered that he be put to death as an infant, but those he charged with killing him instead hid him where he was raised in obscurity. It was his courage and genius in battle that led to his rise to power in spite of all obstacles. [ii] Cyrus himself recognized what Open Theists fail to acknowledge – that God knows everything about us before we are even born. David the Psalmist also clearly understood that God knew every detail of his life even before he was formed in his mother’s womb. He said:
“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them… 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.” (Ps 139: 16,4)
Open Theists have yet to explain how it is possible for God to have seen David’s substance and fashioned each of his days before he was even formed in the womb if indeed God didn’t know what would happen in David’s future, not to mention the question of how He could know what we are going to say before we say it.
The fact that God knows what we are going to say before we say it is demonstrated by Jesus when He said to Peter, “this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times” (Matt 26:34). This would require that He foreknew, not only what Peter was going to say that very night in spite of his insistence that he was willing to die for Him, but also the entire chain of events that would transpire, including the words that would provoke His denials and also that the rooster would crow at the very moment of Peter’s third denial.
The circumstances of Christ’s crucifixion also clearly illustrate God’s exhaustive foreknowledge. Numerous Old Testament prophecies describing His betrayal and crucifixion were fulfilled including a detailed description of His death on a cross long before the Romans came to power and invented that form of torture (Ps 22:14-18). Most Open Theists would deny that God foresaw Christ’s crucifixion, but it was clearly and emphatically said to have been foreknown by Him. Christ was the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). Not only was it foreknown by God from the very moment of creation, but it was also predetermined to take place exactly the way it did. Peter said:
“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together (passive voice) 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.” (Acts 4:27-28)
How could God predetermine Christ’s death on our behalf according to His purpose which He established from creation if He cannot know and determine the future? Here we see that, not only was Christ’s crucifixion predetermined by God, but also that all the volitional choices of each and every individual involved were foreseen, including Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel, and they were included in God’s predetermined plan for the ages. If either Herod or Pilate had chosen to act differently, the crucifixion would have never taken place. If the Jews had asked that Jesus be released instead of Barabbas, He would not have been crucified. Each of them did exactly what God had predetermined would take place. The same is true concerning the details of Judas’ betrayal (Matt 26:24;27:9). This is in agreement with Acts 15:18 where it says: “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” [iii]
Example after example could be presented showing that God from eternity is working all things according to the counsel of His will and this of necessity would require that He possess an exhaustive knowledge of all future events, as well as all future volitional choices made by men. However, these few examples should be sufficient to establish that God’s omniscience is infinite and exhaustive, including all future events as well as all the future thoughts and choices of His creatures, and also that He is working all things according to His predetermined plan.
This foundational truth will later help us recognize the various anthropomorphisms for what they are – God limiting His vocabulary to “baby talk” (so to speak), so that the most simple among us can relate to Him rather than Him talking over our heads. While we can relate to God through anthropomorphisms, we must seek to understand His nature and attributes applying the more definitive transcendental truths revealed in Scripture rather than limiting Him by defining Him based upon His anthropomorphisms or “baby talk” as the Open Theists attempt to do.
God’s Predetermined Plan and Man’s Freewill
Open Theists argue that If God had exhaustive knowledge of the future and everything were predetermined according to His eternal decree, then there would be no place for man’s freewill decisions. For example, they say that If God’s decree were fixed, being based upon His exhaustive foreknowledge, and He has decreed that I will finish this blog tomorrow at 4:03 p.m., then I would not be free to do otherwise. However, that is immaterial since I would have indeed finished it freely at that time without any divine coercion. As with most of our volitional actions, it would be more correct to say that if God has decreed that I will finish it by 4:03 p.m., then I will finish it, rather than thinking of it as something I must finish.
The fact that God foreknows our volitional choices and, in His wisdom, weaves them into His eternal plan for the ages, should in no way be seen as a violation of our will. God’s determinative decree according to His exhaustive foreknowledge is not incompatible with my freewill decisions unless my freewill decisions fly in the face of that which He has determined. In such a case God would indeed disallow my freewill, for who has resisted His will (Rom 9:19). Our own self-determination is subject to God’s permissive will. That is why, instead of saying, “Today or tomorrow we will do such and such,” we should say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that” (James 4:13-16).
God is our Father, and we are His creation – not a programmer’s computer simulation. We were created as emotional rational and volitional beings, capable of enjoying communion with Him. God does not want automatons programmed to do His every bidding, nor does He want self-willed libertarians who independently live as little gods unto themselves. As our Father, God allows His children to make free decisions within controlled parameters for their own development. However, God works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure and when we obstinately defy Him or go against His determined will, He as our Father, often intervenes in a way contrary to our will for our correction (Php 2:12; 1Cor 11:31-32).
I might add that man’s insistence upon unrestricted libertarian freedom is a result of the fall and falls far short of God’s perfect will for our lives. While God does not dictate our every decision, we are called to the higher life in which we surrender our independence and bring our will into subjection to the Father of spirits (Heb 12:9). We are called to a life of surrender, not a life of libertarian freedom in which God submits to us as we co-create our own future, as Wm. Paul Young and other Open Theists would have us believe.
While God foreknows every human decision, even including decisions we would have made given different circumstances (Ezek 3:5-6; Matt 11:21-23; Luke 10:13), He does not dictate our every decision, but rather governs as the Sovereign God, working all things together for good according to the counsel of His will (Rom 8:28; Eph 1:11). The end result will be that every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ as Lord, at which time the Son also will subject Himself to the Father, culminating in the restoration of all when God shall be all in all (Php 2:10-11; Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:28).
The Immutability of God
Another characteristic of God’s essential nature and attributes which needs consideration for the subject at hand is His immutability. In other words, God, being eternal, never changes as to who and what He is – He remains the same as to His being and qualities:
“For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” (Mal 3:6)
In contrast to the capricious implacable pagan gods whom the Israelites were following after at the time, God said that it was because of His unchangeableness that they were not consumed in spite of their abominations.
Contrary to traditional thought, God as to His essential nature is love (1Jn 4:8). Some would object, saying that it also says that God is holy (Lev 11:45; 1Peter 1:16). However, “love,” agápe, is a noun (substantive), defining God’s substantial essence, whereas “holy,” hágios, is an adjective, describing a characteristic of God’s essential nature which is defined by the noun “love.” Holy means “set apart.” God is holy or set apart from all so-called gods. And what is it that sets Him apart from all others? His love. God is set apart from all others because He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and possesses all wisdom, but what sets Him apart from others more than His attributes is His essential nature which is love. He declares Himself to be separate from all others precisely because of His lovingkindness:
“I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not come with terror.” (Hos 11:9)
Here we see that His holiness or set-apartness is evidenced by the fact that in love He shows mercy rather than executing the fierceness of His wrath. So, His holiness – rather than restricting His love, characterizes His love as being set-apart in that, even in His wrath, He remembers mercy (Hab 3:2). God’s nature is indivisible – His wrath is in reality Love acting against evil. His holiness is likewise inseparable from His love – not in tension with it. Justice and mercy are not in conflict, since righteousness and peace kissed each other at the cross (Ps 85:10). From God’s perspective His holiness and love have never been in conflict with one another since He inhabits eternity and therefore the propitiatory work of Christ on the cross is ever before Him.
True holiness is love and true love is holiness. Love is the fulfilling of all righteousness (Matt 22:37-40; Rom 13:9-10; 1Tim 1:5). Just as love without holiness is not true love, holiness without love is not true holiness. Love separate from holiness is Libertinism while holiness separate from love is Pharisaiism (Pharisee is from the Hebrew word parush “separatist or holy one”). The Pharisees mistakenly thought that holiness was distinct from love, and they ended up crucifying the Lord of glory in the name of holiness.
While God is immutable in His essential nature which is love, His love manifests in manifold ways in relation to His fallen creatures in the realm of time. While Traditionalists are guilty of presenting God’s nature and attributes as though His holiness and His love were in conflict with each other, many Open Theists are guilty of reducing God’s love to a passive cruciform love. While God’s essential nature is not divided, it is manifold in its manifestations and not always “cruciform.”
God’s paternal love is not cruciform. Whom He loves He disciplines and scourges. Also, His love manifests in the form of anger and wrath in the face of evil and injustice. His love often manifests in the form of judgment against those who oppress the innocent. His love will even abandon for a time in order that the children of men might seek Him (Hosea 5:15-6:2; Lam 3:31-33). However, that which is immutable is His love – not its temporal manifestations in response to evil. While God is angered by sin, His anger and wrath only endure for a time (Ps 103:8-9; 30:5; Jer 3:12-13; Mic 7:18). And while He may cast off the obstinately wicked in judgment, He will not cast them off forever, because it is His love that is immutable and endures forever, not its temporal manifestations in the face of sin and injustice (1Cor 13:8; Lam 3:31-33). Even under the Old Covenant the phrase “His lovingkindness (chesed) endures forever” is repeated over 40 times. But not even once in all of Scripture is God’s wrath said to endure forever since all evil will one day cease to exist and God will then be all in all in eternity (Rev 21:4-5; 1Cor 15:28).
God is also immutable as to His omniscience. This means that God has never learned anything because there is nothing that He hasn’t always known, and His perfect knowledge cannot be diminished or added to. As it says, “Known to God from eternity are all His works” (Acts 15:18). He works all things according to the counsel of His will, predetermined from the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4,11). Because His omniscient all-comprehensive plan for the ages is immutable, the Psalmist could say, “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations” (Ps 33:11).
Contrary to Open Theist’s claim that God submits to us as we co-create the future, Jeremiah humbly says: “I know, O Lord, that a man's way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps” (Jer 10:23). Without violating man’s choices and still holding each one responsible for their deeds, the Lord nevertheless knows the end from the beginning, and in His infinite wisdom He works all things together for good according to the predetermined counsel of His will:
“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do ALL My pleasure.’” (Isa 46:10)
According to these clear foundational statements of Scripture, God is not growing in knowledge or improvising, as Open Theists affirm. As it is said of our Lord, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8).
That is not to say that God’s eternal plan does not include changes such as dispensations, covenants or even what to us may seem to be unexpected turns of events. Indeed, from our perspective there are many changes which God has made throughout the ages with many more changes predicted in the ages to come. However, they are only changes from our perspective and in relation to us, and not changes for God, since all is going according to His eternal plan.
God does not change, nor do His plans change. He has no such thing as a plan B. What He has is one immutable and eternally decreed plan for the ages which is progressively unfolding. Instead of the fall resulting in plan B, we see that the Lamb of God had already been slain from the very foundation of the world before the fall of man (Rev 13:8). Instead of plan A changing to plan B, what we see is Plan A going to A1, A2, A3, successively, with each stage working together according to the counsel of His will and culminating in God being all in all. All that which had its beginning in Him is ultimately drawn back into Him, having been brought to perfection in Him:
“For of (ek “out of as to source) Him and through Him and to (eis “into”) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom 11:36)
So, we can see that God is immutable as to His essential nature and attributes and therefore with Him there is no variation nor shadow of turning (James 1:17). This is a foundational truth. All anthropomorphisms or other statements which may at first appear to be saying otherwise must be interpreted in the light of Gods eternality, His exhaustive foreknowledge and the immutability of His nature and attributes.
Having laid a solid foundation of eternal immovable truths concerning God’s nature and His fixed eternal plan for the ages, we can now examine the texts of Scripture which the Open Theists present as evidence that God does not know what course we will take in the future and that He is writing the script as we ourselves create it.
[i] Young, Wm. Paul. Lies We Believe About God. Kindle Edition. Location 333,361
[ii] McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia: Cyrus
[iii] The NKJV wording of Acts 15:18 is based upon the Majority Text of the Greek New Testament.
by George Sidney Hurd
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Until recent years Christians have universally believed that God has always had perfect knowledge concerning the future of each and every individual, just as the Psalmist declares: “You saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in your book before any of them ever began” (Ps 139:16). Many of us have received promises from God and have rested in the full assurance that we have already received that which He promised because of our belief that He who knows our future and possesses all power will fulfill that which He promised.
When the future looks bleak and we can’t see what tomorrow holds we are reassured by the knowledge that God is working all things together for our good according to the counsel of His will which was ordained for us before the ages (Rom 8:28; Eph 1:11; 1Cor 2:7). An old melody that I often find myself singing when I am going through great difficulties and the future looks dim is:
“There are things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand, but I know who holds the future and I know who holds my hand.”
Most of us have peace of mind, knowing that God, who holds our future, will not let go of our hand. But try to imagine a world in which our Father, the Creator and Sustainer of all things has no real knowledge of our future – a world in which ultimately you are the master of your own fate and God is actually learning along with you as time progresses. Imagine being in relationship with a god who, although he loves you and desires the best for you, can only guess what will take place tomorrow, since he doesn’t know any more about your future than you do.
You have just visualized the cosmovision of a growing number of people who, consciously or unconsciously, have come to believe a new doctrine commonly known as “Open Theism” or “Freewill Theism.”
In a nutshell, Open Theism claims that, either the future cannot be known by God since the future doesn’t exist – not even to Him, or else that God, out of respect for our own libertarian freewill, has somehow limited His “omniscience” so as not to know what our future choices will be. It is a very recent doctrine with no substantial historical precedent in Church history until the 1994 publication of “The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God,” coauthored by Clark Pinnock, Richard Rice, John Sanders, William Hasker, and David Basinger.
Most of these scholars would be unknown to the average Christian today. However, some of today’s most influential authors and speakers such as Gregory Boyd, Bradley Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Philip Yancey and most notoriously Wm. Paul Young, author of “The Shack,” have embraced Open Theism and are promoting it in their books and lectures.
Often, they will not publicly or directly challenge the historic belief that God in His omniscience possesses exhaustive knowledge of the future. Rather, they subtly imply it in a way designed to cause one to question God’s ability to see from eternity and work all things according to His will as traditionally believed, presenting Him instead as one trying to make the best of unforeseen events which at times get out of hand due to His inability to anticipate or intervene in the freewill acts of man.
Wm. Paul Young’s novel and movie “The Shack” so masterfully intertwined Open Theism into the narrative that few were even conscious of its underlying message. However, in his later book, “Lies We Believe About God,” while not directly expounding upon Open Theism, he is more direct in revealing its implications. He says:
“What if there is no ‘plan’ for your life but rather a relationship in which God constantly invites us to co-create, respectfully submitting to the choices we bring to the table?... God submits rather than controls and joins us in the resulting mess of relationship, to participate in co-creating the possibility of life, even in the face of death.” (emphasis mine) [i]
Instead of us seeking wisdom and understanding as to what the will of the Lord is and submitting to God’s plan for our lives, the tables are turned in such a way that it is now God who respectfully submits to us, following our lead as we co-create our own future!
It is not that they do not have proof-texts to support their position. Indeed, some passages taken literally do at first sight seem to present God as not possessing all knowledge of the future and therefore changing His mind. He is even depicted as though He needed someone like Moses or Abraham to persuade Him to show mercy, or as though He were forgetful and needed the rainbow to remind Him not to destroy the earth again by a flood (Gen 9:13-15). However, as I hope to establish, these demonstrably anthropomorphic expressions must be understood in the light of texts which clearly define God’s infinite essential attributes such as His eternality, omnipotence and omniscience, and not the other way around. This has been the understanding of all students of the Bible from the scholar to the simplest devout readers throughout history.
I believe, and hope to demonstrate, that Open Theists are guilty of attempting to conform the infinite God to the image of finite man rather than recognizing that we were made in the image of God and not the other way around. While we have been created in His image and likeness and therefore are capable of knowing Him and experiencing intimacy with Him, we must acknowledge that He infinitely transcends us and therefore, at least in the present, He has chosen to use anthropomorphic terms in order to better relate to us.
An anthropomorphism is when finite human characteristics are attributed to God. An expression in the Bible can be determined to be an anthropomorphism using the following definition: “A biblical ascription to God is anthropomorphic when the Bible elsewhere teaches that God transcends the very finite characteristics being attributed to Him, (examples: ‘the arm of the Lord,’ the eyes of the Lord,’ ‘the Lord repented,’ ‘the Lord remembered,’ ‘the Lord looked and saw,’ etc.).” Likewise, if God inhabits eternity, then all temporal limitations attributed to God are only true as it relates to us as part of His temporal creation since God transcends temporal limitations.
The Eternality of God
In order for Open Theism to be viable it is necessary that they first demonstrate that God is timebound and therefore unable to see the future. They usually argue that God cannot see the future since the future doesn’t exist for anyone, not even for God. However, if God is eternal and transcends time – existing above and apart from time, then all events, past, present and future, would ever be in His view. It would be impossible that God should not know the future if indeed He is eternal.
Some Open Theists, recognizing this problem, would say that God could see the future, but in order to preserve man’s libertarian freedom He chose to “limit His omniscience” so as to be unable to see our future decisions. However, it is an oxymoron to say that God limits His omniscience. To be omniscient is to know everything. He either knows all things or He doesn’t. Since God’s omniscience is immutable, it is not possible that He should somehow not know what He knows. And if indeed He doesn’t know the future, then He would not be omniscient.
Historically, the Church has generally held that God is atemporal. That is, that God’s existence not only precedes time, but He exists outside of time, while at the same time being imminent and involved in our time/space world without being subject to its limitations. While the Hebrew language did not have a word equivalent to “eternal” in our modern Platonic understanding of the word, we nevertheless see God’s eternality expressed by the use of the present tense of the verb “to be” when applied to God. The Psalmist says:
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting (from olam to olam), You ARE God.” (Ps 90:2)
The phrase “from olam to olam you ARE (present tense) God” says in so many words what we can now express by simply saying “God is eternal” – i.e. God always IS. Also when Moses asked God: "when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" (Ex 3:13), God responded saying that He is the eternal God but in words that seem strange to us since we now have “eternal” in our vocabulary and we don’t need to use so many words to express His eternality: “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you” (v. 14). In our vocabulary today we would simply say “I AM the Eternal One – He who always IS.” His name Jehovah means: “He who exists” or “The eternal one.”
In continuation, after saying that God IS (present tense) both in the past and the future in Psalm 90:2, the Psalmist says in Psalm 90:4: “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.” Some have here mistaken this as implying that God’s existence is temporal. However, taking into account what he said in verse 2, it is evident that it is merely a poetic way of saying that, although God interacts with us in time, He is not bound by time as we are.
Also, we see that He is eternal since before the mountains were brought forth – before time itself was created with its ages, years, months and days, God IS. Before creation, time did not exist, but God always exists. We also see God’s transcendent relation to time in the response Jesus gave to those who asked Him how He could have seen Abraham. He said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). Only the One who has His existence outside of the bounds of time could have made such a declaration.
In His humanity Jesus was confined to space and time, but as God He is imminent or ever-present in all of time, even as we see His omnipresence revealed in His statement to Nicodemus: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man WHO IS IN HEAVEN” (John 3:13). Just after telling Nicodemus that he had to be born again in order to see the kingdom of heaven – something he was struggling to grasp, Jesus made the amazing statement that the very One who was speaking to him was at that same moment in heaven. These are truths that transcend our ability to fully fathom, yet they are nonetheless divine truths which should be embraced and marveled at, rather than attempting to reduce the divine to the level of mere men.
While all finite attempts to illustrate God’s infinite attributes come dreadfully short, God’s perspective of time could be illustrated as that of one who is viewing a parade from a helicopter. From that perspective the entire procession is in view from beginning to end. He could communicate to the spectators of the procession on the ground what they will be seeing in their future before they themselves are able to see it since he can see the whole procession all at once.
Likewise, we understand that God exists above and outside of our time/space confines, since He would not otherwise be able to tell us what will take place in our future – especially in the distant future in a world with so many variables which include man’s volitional decisions. The exhaustive foreknowledge of all future events which is attributed to God in Scripture, would be impossible for a temporal being to possess.
God’s Foreknowledge
Having seen that God’s eternality, combined with His omniscience, requires that He should have an exhaustive knowledge of all things, including all future events, we can now look to the Scriptures to see if such knowledge is attributed to God and demonstrated by fulfilled prophecies.
God demonstrates He is God by declaring things to come
In Isaiah chapters 41 thru 48 God challenges all the false gods to prove themselves by declaring that which will take place in the future. Time and time again He contrasts false gods with Himself, and His exclusive knowledge of the future is presented as one of the proofs that only He is God. Since they also refute the Open Theist’s claim that God doesn’t know the future, I will here cite the main ones, highlighting key phrases:
“Let them (your false gods) bring forth and show us what will happen; let them show the former things, what they were, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare to us things to come. 23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; yes, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and see it together. 24 Indeed you are nothing, and your work is nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.” (Isa 41:22-24)
Here God challenges the false gods Israel was worshipping to prove themselves by revealing what will take place in the future. Then He mockingly says, “at least do something, whether it be good or evil so that your followers can marvel.” At their silence He says, “you are nothing and cannot accomplish anything.”
He then says that all who would choose such a god are an abomination. According to God’s own criteria, a god who doesn’t know the future is a false god of one’s own making and those who worship such a god are an abomination in His sight. This should be enough to make Open Theists who think that God cannot know the future stop in their tracks. He then calls upon Israel to repent and return to Him – the only true God who knows their future and works all things according to the counsel of His will:
“Remember this, and show yourselves men; recall to mind, o you transgressors. 9 Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'MY COUNSEL SHALL STAND, AND I WILL DO ALL MY PLEASURE.” (Isa 46:8-10)
In Isaiah 45, the Lord calls king Cyrus by name many years before he had even been born. It was some 150 years after Isaiah’s prophecy that Cyrus took Babylon. Then, in the first year of Cyrus’ reign, after the 70 years of captivity was fulfilled as prophesied in Jeremiah 25:11-12, the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus to issue a decree setting the Jews free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple (2Chron 36:22-23). The Lord said in Isaiah 45:
“Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held… 4 For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me… 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other… 13 I have raised him up (Cyrus) in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city and let My exiles go free, not for price nor reward, says the Lord of hosts.” (Isa 45:1,4,6,13 cf. Isa 48:3-5)
Why did God name Cyrus before he was born? So that His people Israel would know that He is the Lord and there is no other beside Him. None other than the omniscient God who knows the end from the beginning could declare with such precision what would occur generations later. Even if God had a good idea that the Persians would rise to power and conquer the Babylonians after the Jews had fulfilled exactly 70 years of captivity, what is the likelihood that a child would be born, receiving the name of Cyrus and coming to power in the very year God said the captivity would come to an end? Cyrus was the least likely to become king. His grandfather Astyages ordered that he be put to death as an infant, but those he charged with killing him instead hid him where he was raised in obscurity. It was his courage and genius in battle that led to his rise to power in spite of all obstacles. [ii] Cyrus himself recognized what Open Theists fail to acknowledge – that God knows everything about us before we are even born. David the Psalmist also clearly understood that God knew every detail of his life even before he was formed in his mother’s womb. He said:
“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them… 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.” (Ps 139: 16,4)
Open Theists have yet to explain how it is possible for God to have seen David’s substance and fashioned each of his days before he was even formed in the womb if indeed God didn’t know what would happen in David’s future, not to mention the question of how He could know what we are going to say before we say it.
The fact that God knows what we are going to say before we say it is demonstrated by Jesus when He said to Peter, “this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times” (Matt 26:34). This would require that He foreknew, not only what Peter was going to say that very night in spite of his insistence that he was willing to die for Him, but also the entire chain of events that would transpire, including the words that would provoke His denials and also that the rooster would crow at the very moment of Peter’s third denial.
The circumstances of Christ’s crucifixion also clearly illustrate God’s exhaustive foreknowledge. Numerous Old Testament prophecies describing His betrayal and crucifixion were fulfilled including a detailed description of His death on a cross long before the Romans came to power and invented that form of torture (Ps 22:14-18). Most Open Theists would deny that God foresaw Christ’s crucifixion, but it was clearly and emphatically said to have been foreknown by Him. Christ was the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). Not only was it foreknown by God from the very moment of creation, but it was also predetermined to take place exactly the way it did. Peter said:
“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together (passive voice) 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.” (Acts 4:27-28)
How could God predetermine Christ’s death on our behalf according to His purpose which He established from creation if He cannot know and determine the future? Here we see that, not only was Christ’s crucifixion predetermined by God, but also that all the volitional choices of each and every individual involved were foreseen, including Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel, and they were included in God’s predetermined plan for the ages. If either Herod or Pilate had chosen to act differently, the crucifixion would have never taken place. If the Jews had asked that Jesus be released instead of Barabbas, He would not have been crucified. Each of them did exactly what God had predetermined would take place. The same is true concerning the details of Judas’ betrayal (Matt 26:24;27:9). This is in agreement with Acts 15:18 where it says: “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” [iii]
Example after example could be presented showing that God from eternity is working all things according to the counsel of His will and this of necessity would require that He possess an exhaustive knowledge of all future events, as well as all future volitional choices made by men. However, these few examples should be sufficient to establish that God’s omniscience is infinite and exhaustive, including all future events as well as all the future thoughts and choices of His creatures, and also that He is working all things according to His predetermined plan.
This foundational truth will later help us recognize the various anthropomorphisms for what they are – God limiting His vocabulary to “baby talk” (so to speak), so that the most simple among us can relate to Him rather than Him talking over our heads. While we can relate to God through anthropomorphisms, we must seek to understand His nature and attributes applying the more definitive transcendental truths revealed in Scripture rather than limiting Him by defining Him based upon His anthropomorphisms or “baby talk” as the Open Theists attempt to do.
God’s Predetermined Plan and Man’s Freewill
Open Theists argue that If God had exhaustive knowledge of the future and everything were predetermined according to His eternal decree, then there would be no place for man’s freewill decisions. For example, they say that If God’s decree were fixed, being based upon His exhaustive foreknowledge, and He has decreed that I will finish this blog tomorrow at 4:03 p.m., then I would not be free to do otherwise. However, that is immaterial since I would have indeed finished it freely at that time without any divine coercion. As with most of our volitional actions, it would be more correct to say that if God has decreed that I will finish it by 4:03 p.m., then I will finish it, rather than thinking of it as something I must finish.
The fact that God foreknows our volitional choices and, in His wisdom, weaves them into His eternal plan for the ages, should in no way be seen as a violation of our will. God’s determinative decree according to His exhaustive foreknowledge is not incompatible with my freewill decisions unless my freewill decisions fly in the face of that which He has determined. In such a case God would indeed disallow my freewill, for who has resisted His will (Rom 9:19). Our own self-determination is subject to God’s permissive will. That is why, instead of saying, “Today or tomorrow we will do such and such,” we should say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that” (James 4:13-16).
God is our Father, and we are His creation – not a programmer’s computer simulation. We were created as emotional rational and volitional beings, capable of enjoying communion with Him. God does not want automatons programmed to do His every bidding, nor does He want self-willed libertarians who independently live as little gods unto themselves. As our Father, God allows His children to make free decisions within controlled parameters for their own development. However, God works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure and when we obstinately defy Him or go against His determined will, He as our Father, often intervenes in a way contrary to our will for our correction (Php 2:12; 1Cor 11:31-32).
I might add that man’s insistence upon unrestricted libertarian freedom is a result of the fall and falls far short of God’s perfect will for our lives. While God does not dictate our every decision, we are called to the higher life in which we surrender our independence and bring our will into subjection to the Father of spirits (Heb 12:9). We are called to a life of surrender, not a life of libertarian freedom in which God submits to us as we co-create our own future, as Wm. Paul Young and other Open Theists would have us believe.
While God foreknows every human decision, even including decisions we would have made given different circumstances (Ezek 3:5-6; Matt 11:21-23; Luke 10:13), He does not dictate our every decision, but rather governs as the Sovereign God, working all things together for good according to the counsel of His will (Rom 8:28; Eph 1:11). The end result will be that every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ as Lord, at which time the Son also will subject Himself to the Father, culminating in the restoration of all when God shall be all in all (Php 2:10-11; Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:28).
The Immutability of God
Another characteristic of God’s essential nature and attributes which needs consideration for the subject at hand is His immutability. In other words, God, being eternal, never changes as to who and what He is – He remains the same as to His being and qualities:
“For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” (Mal 3:6)
In contrast to the capricious implacable pagan gods whom the Israelites were following after at the time, God said that it was because of His unchangeableness that they were not consumed in spite of their abominations.
Contrary to traditional thought, God as to His essential nature is love (1Jn 4:8). Some would object, saying that it also says that God is holy (Lev 11:45; 1Peter 1:16). However, “love,” agápe, is a noun (substantive), defining God’s substantial essence, whereas “holy,” hágios, is an adjective, describing a characteristic of God’s essential nature which is defined by the noun “love.” Holy means “set apart.” God is holy or set apart from all so-called gods. And what is it that sets Him apart from all others? His love. God is set apart from all others because He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and possesses all wisdom, but what sets Him apart from others more than His attributes is His essential nature which is love. He declares Himself to be separate from all others precisely because of His lovingkindness:
“I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not come with terror.” (Hos 11:9)
Here we see that His holiness or set-apartness is evidenced by the fact that in love He shows mercy rather than executing the fierceness of His wrath. So, His holiness – rather than restricting His love, characterizes His love as being set-apart in that, even in His wrath, He remembers mercy (Hab 3:2). God’s nature is indivisible – His wrath is in reality Love acting against evil. His holiness is likewise inseparable from His love – not in tension with it. Justice and mercy are not in conflict, since righteousness and peace kissed each other at the cross (Ps 85:10). From God’s perspective His holiness and love have never been in conflict with one another since He inhabits eternity and therefore the propitiatory work of Christ on the cross is ever before Him.
True holiness is love and true love is holiness. Love is the fulfilling of all righteousness (Matt 22:37-40; Rom 13:9-10; 1Tim 1:5). Just as love without holiness is not true love, holiness without love is not true holiness. Love separate from holiness is Libertinism while holiness separate from love is Pharisaiism (Pharisee is from the Hebrew word parush “separatist or holy one”). The Pharisees mistakenly thought that holiness was distinct from love, and they ended up crucifying the Lord of glory in the name of holiness.
While God is immutable in His essential nature which is love, His love manifests in manifold ways in relation to His fallen creatures in the realm of time. While Traditionalists are guilty of presenting God’s nature and attributes as though His holiness and His love were in conflict with each other, many Open Theists are guilty of reducing God’s love to a passive cruciform love. While God’s essential nature is not divided, it is manifold in its manifestations and not always “cruciform.”
God’s paternal love is not cruciform. Whom He loves He disciplines and scourges. Also, His love manifests in the form of anger and wrath in the face of evil and injustice. His love often manifests in the form of judgment against those who oppress the innocent. His love will even abandon for a time in order that the children of men might seek Him (Hosea 5:15-6:2; Lam 3:31-33). However, that which is immutable is His love – not its temporal manifestations in response to evil. While God is angered by sin, His anger and wrath only endure for a time (Ps 103:8-9; 30:5; Jer 3:12-13; Mic 7:18). And while He may cast off the obstinately wicked in judgment, He will not cast them off forever, because it is His love that is immutable and endures forever, not its temporal manifestations in the face of sin and injustice (1Cor 13:8; Lam 3:31-33). Even under the Old Covenant the phrase “His lovingkindness (chesed) endures forever” is repeated over 40 times. But not even once in all of Scripture is God’s wrath said to endure forever since all evil will one day cease to exist and God will then be all in all in eternity (Rev 21:4-5; 1Cor 15:28).
God is also immutable as to His omniscience. This means that God has never learned anything because there is nothing that He hasn’t always known, and His perfect knowledge cannot be diminished or added to. As it says, “Known to God from eternity are all His works” (Acts 15:18). He works all things according to the counsel of His will, predetermined from the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4,11). Because His omniscient all-comprehensive plan for the ages is immutable, the Psalmist could say, “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations” (Ps 33:11).
Contrary to Open Theist’s claim that God submits to us as we co-create the future, Jeremiah humbly says: “I know, O Lord, that a man's way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps” (Jer 10:23). Without violating man’s choices and still holding each one responsible for their deeds, the Lord nevertheless knows the end from the beginning, and in His infinite wisdom He works all things together for good according to the predetermined counsel of His will:
“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do ALL My pleasure.’” (Isa 46:10)
According to these clear foundational statements of Scripture, God is not growing in knowledge or improvising, as Open Theists affirm. As it is said of our Lord, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8).
That is not to say that God’s eternal plan does not include changes such as dispensations, covenants or even what to us may seem to be unexpected turns of events. Indeed, from our perspective there are many changes which God has made throughout the ages with many more changes predicted in the ages to come. However, they are only changes from our perspective and in relation to us, and not changes for God, since all is going according to His eternal plan.
God does not change, nor do His plans change. He has no such thing as a plan B. What He has is one immutable and eternally decreed plan for the ages which is progressively unfolding. Instead of the fall resulting in plan B, we see that the Lamb of God had already been slain from the very foundation of the world before the fall of man (Rev 13:8). Instead of plan A changing to plan B, what we see is Plan A going to A1, A2, A3, successively, with each stage working together according to the counsel of His will and culminating in God being all in all. All that which had its beginning in Him is ultimately drawn back into Him, having been brought to perfection in Him:
“For of (ek “out of as to source) Him and through Him and to (eis “into”) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom 11:36)
So, we can see that God is immutable as to His essential nature and attributes and therefore with Him there is no variation nor shadow of turning (James 1:17). This is a foundational truth. All anthropomorphisms or other statements which may at first appear to be saying otherwise must be interpreted in the light of Gods eternality, His exhaustive foreknowledge and the immutability of His nature and attributes.
Having laid a solid foundation of eternal immovable truths concerning God’s nature and His fixed eternal plan for the ages, we can now examine the texts of Scripture which the Open Theists present as evidence that God does not know what course we will take in the future and that He is writing the script as we ourselves create it.
[i] Young, Wm. Paul. Lies We Believe About God. Kindle Edition. Location 333,361
[ii] McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia: Cyrus
[iii] The NKJV wording of Acts 15:18 is based upon the Majority Text of the Greek New Testament.
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Open Theism (2 of 2)
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The Mutable Things of God
by George Sidney Hurd
While God is immutable in His essential nature and attributes and therefore is unchangeable in those fundamental aspects, He nevertheless interacts with us in our time/space world. While He inhabits eternity and transcends His creation, He is nevertheless not far from any one of us (Acts 17:27-28; Col 1:17; Heb 1:3; Ps 139:7-8).
Since God exists outside of time and He always IS before time began, the ages from beginning to end have ever been in His view and always will be (temporally speaking). Since He is omniscient, it is impossible that He should not always know all things from beginning to end. Since He is all-wise love, it is impossible that He should not have an all-comprehensive plan for the ages whose culmination is better and greater that its beginning (Eph 1:11).
As we saw in the last blog, God’s exhaustive foreknowledge and predetermined plan for the ages, which also encompasses every detail of our lives individually, is in no way incompatible with our volitional choices. While He guides and oversees our decisions as any good father would, He does not dictate them. While He works in us to will and to do His good pleasure, He normally does not force His will upon us.
A few notable exceptions in history are the flood, the confounding of the languages at Babel, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. These interventions have taken place at a predetermined time, at a moment when a further delay of divine intervention would have led to humanity’s self-destruction. In the case of the flood, things had degenerated to the point that only Noah’s family had not utterly corrupted themselves. In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, there were not even ten righteous remaining. As to Christ’s intervention at His Second Coming, Jesus said that if those days were not cut short then no flesh would be saved (Matt 24:22).
It would go counter to God’s purpose in creating us to dictate our every decision. What is God’s purpose in creation? While it isn’t specifically stated, we can surmise God’s overall purpose by looking at creation’s final outcome. In the consummation of the ages all will have been reunited in Christ and then God will not only be in all, but He will be “all in all” (Eph 1:10; 1Cor 15:22,28; Rom 11:36). In the beginning all things came out of God as to source or origin (2Cor 5:18 <ek theos>). In the consummation all will have been restored into Him – not only that which is in heaven and on earth, but even all who are under the earth (Acts 3:21; Php 2:10 cf. Rev 5:13).
In the beginning God created man in His own image and likeness. However, that was only the beginning. Adam and Eve were innocent but not perfect in their development. It would require the fall and God’s redemption and finally the restoration of all mankind unto Himself for them to be perfected in their experiential knowledge of Him in all His glory. Without the fall we would have never known God’s love as grace, mercy and longsuffering. We would have never known the futility of living independently of Him, according to the will of the flesh, rather than the will of God.
The knowledge of the glory of His grace will result in a depth of adoration and worship never possible before the fall (Rev 5:13). While such a glorious consummation would not be possible according to the Traditional model of eternal torment for the majority, it is clearly the way in which God’s glorious plan for the ages comes to perfection. If the latter end of God’s creation story wasn’t going to be greater than its beginning, He would have never created. What God begins, He perfects.
So, while God knows every decision we will ever make, they are nevertheless our decisions. He masterfully weaves them into His masterplan in order that we might learn life’s lessons, finally coming to experientially know God, living according to His will and not according to the desires of the flesh.
God answers Prayer
Open Theists argue that if God had an exhaustive predetermined plan which includes all future events, then He would not really be answering our prayers. However, that is a strawman argument, since only a few hyper-Calvinists hold to such a rigid determinism that would rule out all free human volitional choices. We have already seen that, although God has a determinative plan, it is not incompatible with human interaction. On the contrary, we see that our interaction is an essential part of that plan.
It is true that our prayers must be according to God’s will, since He will never act in a way contrary to His own will (1John 5:14). Also, in order to pray according to His will, it is necessary that we abide in Christ, walking in obedience and praying in the Spirit rather than praying according to our natural understanding (John 15:7;1John 3:22; Rom 8:26-27; Eph 6:18). We must pray believing that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him (James 1:5-6; Heb 11:6). We must also pray unselfishly and not for self-gratification (James 4:3).
However, our participation is an integral part of His eternal plan, since our spiritual growth and conformity to the image of Christ is central to it (Rom 8:29; Eph 1:4-6). While He knows each and every move we will make before we make it, it is a misconception to see us as merely pawns in His hands. Rather, He as our Father is child-training us, either granting our petitions or denying them according to His good will for us (Gr. paideuo, “chasten, discipline, child-train” Heb 12:6,11). Our Father knows what we need even before we ask Him (Matt 6:8). Nevertheless, it is essential that we come to live a life of dependence upon Him, and prayer is an expression of our faith and dependence.
He calls upon His people to pray and seek His face, promising that He will respond if they seek Him with all their heart (2Chron 7:14-15). As James says: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16). However, it is not that God is changing His eternal plan when He responds to our prayers, but rather He allows circumstances in the temporal realm which cause us to turn and seek Him. He tests our hearts because it is our hearts He wants. Although He is the One who tests us, the testing changes us – not Him or His eternal plan. The changes in His relationship towards us in the temporal realm in response to our prayers is part of His eternal plan, rather than them being in conflict with it.
God repents
In the Old Testament the Lord is often said to “repent.” The Hebrew word often translated as “to repent, to relent or change one’s mind” is nacham. Nacham is used 30 times in reference to the Lord. It often means to feel regret or sorrow. Regret or sorrow refers to emotion rather than a change of mind. While it would be impossible for God to literally change His mind, since that would require a change in His eternal immutable plan, the Scriptures nowhere imply that God is without emotion.
A number of theologians throughout Church history, apparently influenced by Aristotle’s concept of God as the “unmoved Mover,” have insisted that God is impassible. The term impassible is from the Latin, in-, “not,” and passibilis, “able to suffer or experience emotion.” However, only an ivory tower theologian or philosopher could ever conjure up such a stoic concept of God.
While it is true that God is immutable as to His essential nature and attributes, these attributes are immutable in that they always remain constant – not that they are inert or non-existent. For example, His love is immutable in that it is infinite and never diminishes or increases. Nevertheless, His love is manifested to creation in manifold ways. To say that God only condescendingly gives the appearance of acting in love, when in reality He feels no emotion nor pain, is a logical absurdity.
According to this line of reasoning, when we tell someone that God loves them, we must say it tongue-in-cheek if in reality God is emotionally immovable. It would mean that the Father giving His only begotten Son was of no cost to Him since He feels no emotion and knows no pain. How can such reasoning be reconciled with the multiple descriptions of God’s love and tender mercies throughout the Scriptures? For example:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… 19 We love Him because He first loved us." (1John 4:7-11,19)
To me, the doctrine of impassibility finds no support in the Scriptures but rather it is the sterile lofty and vain speculations of stoic philosophers such as Aristotle who never had a genuine encounter with the God of love presented to us in the Scriptures. It is a doctrine of men who never experienced the love of God being poured out in their hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5).
While it is difficult for us to comprehend, the God who inhabits eternity has always had the whole panorama of the ages in His view and He is actively and personally involved with His creation, rather than being distant and removed, as the Deists taught. He somehow experiences emotional pain or grief in the realm of time on account of our sin and rebellion (Gen 6:6; Eph 4:30). Because God is love, He is angered by our persistent sin (Ps 7:11; Rom 1:18; 2:5-6). Because He is love, He is compassionate and longsuffering (Ps 86:15; 1Cor 13:4). It is a logical contradiction to say that God is impassible and at the same time compassionate, or to say that He suffers long without feeling pain. God is also said to rejoice over us (Isa 62:5).
There are literally thousands of passages of Scripture which present God as emotionally identifying with us and suffering as a result of our unfaithfulness and sin. James tells us that the Spirit jealously yearns for us when we commit spiritual adultery, loving the world more than God (James 4:4-5). How can one read Hosea and still believe that God is the “unmoved Mover” who is unaffected by our sin and idolatry? Reading Hosea, one can feel what God feels over the unfaithfulness of His people Israel:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. 9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not come with terror.” (Hos 11:8-9)
Returning to the subject of God’s repentance, we see that the word “repentance” has two distinct uses: one in the emotional sense of feeling sorrow or regret, and the other in the sense of one actually changing their mind – something that Scripture indicates He cannot do any more than He can lie, since His knowledge is perfect.
The Hebrew word nacham is used to refer to both the emotion of regret or sorrow and also an actual change of mind about something. Its meaning depends upon the context in which the word appears. It is worthy of note the choice of words which the LXX translators made when translating nacham from the Hebrew to the Greek the four times it is used in 1Samuel 15. The LXX was translated by 72 Greek speaking Hebrew scholars in the 2nd century B.C. who had a better understanding of the nuances of the Hebrew than we do today. Of the four times the word nacham appears in 1Samuel 15, the first and last occurrences are translated with words which express the emotion of sorrow or regret:
“Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11 "I greatly regret ( Heb. nacham, LXX parakaleo, “to regret”) that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” (1Sam 15:10-11)
“And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted (Heb. nacham, LXX, metameleomai, “to feel regret, to be sorry”) that He had made Saul king over Israel.” (1Sam 15:35)
In both of these references the LXX translators translated nacham into Greek using words which express emotion, not volition. However, when Samuel speaks of God’s declaration that the kingdom had been taken from Saul and given to another, the translators used two other words for nacham, both of which refer to God’s determinative will rather than His emotion of regret:
“And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent (Heb. nacham, LXX apostrepho “to relent or take back, to turn away”). For He is not a man, that He should relent (nacham LXX metanoéo “to repent, to change one’s mind”).” (1Sam 15:29)
Here in the first occurrence of nacham the translators rendered it as apostrepho in Greek which means “to relent or take back what one has said.” Samuel associates going back on one’s word with telling a lie. Just as it is impossible for God to lie, so it is impossible for God to repent in the sense of going back on His word (Heb 6:18). He may regret or feel sorry for having to take a certain course of action in history because He is not without empathy, but it is impossible for Him to act contrary to His eternally decreed will since He has a perfect knowledge of all things and works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11).
In the second occurrence of nacham in verse 29 the LXX translators rendered it metanoéo which literally means “to change one’s mind.” Open Theists must argue that God is continually changing His mind in order to accommodate man’s libertarian freewill, just as we often must do. However, Scripture tells us that God is not a man that He should change His mind since all things are known to Him from eternity (Acts 15:18). Therefore, any apparent change of mind on the part of God is merely an anthropomorphism – God speaking in human terms that even a child can understand.
Something which also needs to be taken into account are the conditional promises given while Israel was under the Old Covenant of the Law. Under the Law, most promises were not unconditional, as was the promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Implicit in the promises under the legal system of the Old Covenant was “If you…then I will...” Due to the conditional nature of His promises under the Law there are instances where God said that He would do something, but then later says “because you did not…I will not…” However, these do not constitute God as being One who goes back on His word since they were conditional promises where man’s unfaithfulness constituted a breach of contract. This was expressly the case with Saul. Samuel said to Saul:
“You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” (1Sam 13:13-14)
Here we see that Saul’s continuance as the king of Israel was conditional and because he disobeyed the Lord’s command, God rejected him as king of Israel. However, while God felt sorrow, He did not change His mind or go back on His word, since all His works are known by Him from eternity.
This is evidenced by the fact that Jacob by the Spirit had long before prophesied over Judah saying that the kingly line would not depart from his house (Gen 49:10). Therefore, God knew all along that Saul would disobey and be rejected, and that David from the tribe of Judah would be placed as king over His people Israel.
Another important point to emphasize is that, in an anthropomorphic sense, looking at it from our perspective, when man repents God relents. Due to God’s immutable nature, which is love, His mercy always goes out towards those who truly repent from their heart, and He relents (so to speak) from the judgment which He pronounces against the unrepentant. This “change of mind” stems from His essential nature of love which reaches out in mercy towards the truly repentant:
“And rend your heart and not your garments. Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.” (Joel 2:13-14)
God’s mercy is an immutable attribute of His essential nature, which is love, and for this reason, when man repents, God in mercy relents in the temporal realm. However, it is not as though He doesn’t already know when one will repent. He who inhabits eternity has sworn that all will someday look to Him and be saved, bowing the knee in repentance, making an oath of allegiance to Him (Isa 45:22-24). He will ultimately convict all of their disobedience in order to have mercy on all (Rom 11:32).
This was something that Jonah understood about God, even before going to Nineveh. Jonah didn’t want to warn Nineveh since they were Israel’s worst enemy at the time, and he knew that God’s intention in announcing judgment upon them was to produce true repentance in the Ninevites so that He could spare them. When Jonah saw that Nineveh repented, he was very angry with God and said:
“Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.” (Jonah 4:2)
It was also apparently something that the king of Nineveh intuitively knew about God’s nature. After hearing Jonah’s proclamation of God’s judgment against the city, the king said to the Ninevites:
“Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?” (Jonah 3:9)
The king of Nineveh also somehow sensed that the God of Israel was a compassionate God who would relent of the calamity declared against the city if they would repent of their evil deeds. And when they repented, God relented of the judgment He had declared against them:
“Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.” (Jonah 3:10)
So, did God actually relent when He saw Nineveh’s repentance? I believe the answer is both yes and no. God is both immutable and transcendent as to His essential nature and is therefore unchangeable as to His nature and predetermined plan for the ages. Yet, at the same time He is also imminent in our time/space world and is continually interacting with us. In real time, when we repent, God relents (so to speak), even though there is no change in His eternal plan since such temporal interactions with us have always been foreknown and predetermined by Him from eternity.
Does God Learn?
Open Theists point to God’s interaction with Abraham after having tested him, telling him to offer up his son Isaac, as evidence that God grows in knowledge. When Abraham was ready to plunge the knife in Isaac’s heart in obedience to the Lord’s command, the Lord intervened saying:
“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen 22:12)
The Lord said, “now I know.” How are we to understand this? In the light of all we have already seen, is it possible that the Lord actually learned something new which was unknown to Him prior to Abraham’s testing? Was it mere coincidence that the ram was caught in the thicket, providing a sacrificial lamb in the place of Isaac at the very moment that the Lord stayed Abraham’s hand? No. The Great I AM inhabits eternity, and therefore “nothing is hid from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Heb 4:13). When the Bible ascribes to God a finite human characteristic which Scripture elsewhere clearly teaches that He transcends, then it must be understood as an anthropomorphism.
When God tests us, it is to reveal our hearts to us, not to Him, since He already knows the hidden motives of the heart (Jer 17:10; John 2:24-25). Time and time again we see in the Scriptures that the Lord knows what we are going to say and do before we do it. Therefore, when finite human characteristics are attributed to God, such as remembering (Gen 8:1; 9:16; Ex 2:24), learning (Deut 8:2; 13:3), going down to see (Gen 11:7; 18:21) etc., we intuitively know that God is expressing Himself using anthropomorphisms so that we can more readily understand Him. Prior to the rise of Open Theism this was generally understood by even the most simple believer reading the Scriptures.
A final example I would like to present which clearly illustrates the anthropomorphic nature of expressions used of God is when the Lord visited Abraham prior to Sodom’s destruction. Even Open Theists are agreed that God is omnipresent, and while they deny that God is omniscient as concerns the future, they would say that He knows all things past and present. Yet God expresses Himself to Abraham in a manner that, if taken literally rather than anthropomorphically, would indicate that He is neither omnipresent nor omniscient. The Lord said:
“Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” (Gen 18:20-21)
We know that God knows all and is everywhere all the time. Yet, He is here described as being far away in heaven where their outcry had to reach Him in order for Him to take notice. Then He is presented as coming to earth in bodily form where He first appears to Abraham. He then presents Himself as one who must first go down to the city in order to determine their true condition. He speaks as one who must investigate by going to a certain locality before knowing something. All of us know that God, being omnipresent and omniscient, was fully aware of the moral condition of the inhabitants of Sodom as well as the intervenient judgment He was going to have to carry out against them.
While there will always be limitations in our ability to comprehend the infinitely incomprehensible God and Creator of all, most of us know instinctively how to distinguish between the transcendental truths of God’s nature and attributes alluded to in Scripture and the condescending anthropomorphic terms He often employs in order to relate to us as finite mortals.
The Inevitable Implications of Open Theism
Many who are attracted to Open Theism have not adequately reflected upon what is being sacrificed. Open Theism was not built upon the firm foundation of sound biblical exegesis but rather upon the philosophical foundation of 19th century Liberal Process Theology. If indeed God does not have perfect knowledge and control of the future, then the Scriptures are not infallible – much less inerrant.
If the future is not perfectly and exhaustively known and predetermined by God from eternity, then the fulfillment of all the declarations concerning future events in the Bible are dubious at best. They become nothing more than that which God hopes to bring to pass if the multiple libertarian choices man makes in the future do not frustrate His plans.
If Open Theism is true, then we are the masters of our own fate, and our salvation ultimately is in our hands rather than God’s. Even though God has sworn that all will look to Him and be saved (Isa 45:22-24), according to Open Theists He is powerless to guarantee such an outcome since our libertarian freedom requires that we be the masters of our own fate. That is why some Open Theists like Gregory Boyd speculate that God will have no other option than to annihilate some (against their freewill), realizing that some will not have exercised their own freewill for their own salvation before the curtains fall at the end of the ages.
In the turbulent times our generation will doubtlessly have to go through, we need more than ever to have the full assurance that God holds the future and that all things are working together according to the counsel of His will, predetermined from eternity. We need to be fully assured that the signs of the times given to us by Jesus in the Gospels through the apostles and in the book of Revelation are an infallible roadmap of the future and that, no matter how severe the tribulations be that we must go through, God’s plan for the ages culminates in all being saved, regenerated and restored unto God.
Rather than exalting human reason as the final measure of truth, we need to submit ourselves to God’s self-revelation in His inspired Word, recognizing the limitations of our ability to fully comprehend the depths of divinity using our own finite understanding. As Paul says:
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?
Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things,
to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
(Rom 11:33-36)
The Mutable Things of God
by George Sidney Hurd
While God is immutable in His essential nature and attributes and therefore is unchangeable in those fundamental aspects, He nevertheless interacts with us in our time/space world. While He inhabits eternity and transcends His creation, He is nevertheless not far from any one of us (Acts 17:27-28; Col 1:17; Heb 1:3; Ps 139:7-8).
Since God exists outside of time and He always IS before time began, the ages from beginning to end have ever been in His view and always will be (temporally speaking). Since He is omniscient, it is impossible that He should not always know all things from beginning to end. Since He is all-wise love, it is impossible that He should not have an all-comprehensive plan for the ages whose culmination is better and greater that its beginning (Eph 1:11).
As we saw in the last blog, God’s exhaustive foreknowledge and predetermined plan for the ages, which also encompasses every detail of our lives individually, is in no way incompatible with our volitional choices. While He guides and oversees our decisions as any good father would, He does not dictate them. While He works in us to will and to do His good pleasure, He normally does not force His will upon us.
A few notable exceptions in history are the flood, the confounding of the languages at Babel, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. These interventions have taken place at a predetermined time, at a moment when a further delay of divine intervention would have led to humanity’s self-destruction. In the case of the flood, things had degenerated to the point that only Noah’s family had not utterly corrupted themselves. In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, there were not even ten righteous remaining. As to Christ’s intervention at His Second Coming, Jesus said that if those days were not cut short then no flesh would be saved (Matt 24:22).
It would go counter to God’s purpose in creating us to dictate our every decision. What is God’s purpose in creation? While it isn’t specifically stated, we can surmise God’s overall purpose by looking at creation’s final outcome. In the consummation of the ages all will have been reunited in Christ and then God will not only be in all, but He will be “all in all” (Eph 1:10; 1Cor 15:22,28; Rom 11:36). In the beginning all things came out of God as to source or origin (2Cor 5:18 <ek theos>). In the consummation all will have been restored into Him – not only that which is in heaven and on earth, but even all who are under the earth (Acts 3:21; Php 2:10 cf. Rev 5:13).
In the beginning God created man in His own image and likeness. However, that was only the beginning. Adam and Eve were innocent but not perfect in their development. It would require the fall and God’s redemption and finally the restoration of all mankind unto Himself for them to be perfected in their experiential knowledge of Him in all His glory. Without the fall we would have never known God’s love as grace, mercy and longsuffering. We would have never known the futility of living independently of Him, according to the will of the flesh, rather than the will of God.
The knowledge of the glory of His grace will result in a depth of adoration and worship never possible before the fall (Rev 5:13). While such a glorious consummation would not be possible according to the Traditional model of eternal torment for the majority, it is clearly the way in which God’s glorious plan for the ages comes to perfection. If the latter end of God’s creation story wasn’t going to be greater than its beginning, He would have never created. What God begins, He perfects.
So, while God knows every decision we will ever make, they are nevertheless our decisions. He masterfully weaves them into His masterplan in order that we might learn life’s lessons, finally coming to experientially know God, living according to His will and not according to the desires of the flesh.
God answers Prayer
Open Theists argue that if God had an exhaustive predetermined plan which includes all future events, then He would not really be answering our prayers. However, that is a strawman argument, since only a few hyper-Calvinists hold to such a rigid determinism that would rule out all free human volitional choices. We have already seen that, although God has a determinative plan, it is not incompatible with human interaction. On the contrary, we see that our interaction is an essential part of that plan.
It is true that our prayers must be according to God’s will, since He will never act in a way contrary to His own will (1John 5:14). Also, in order to pray according to His will, it is necessary that we abide in Christ, walking in obedience and praying in the Spirit rather than praying according to our natural understanding (John 15:7;1John 3:22; Rom 8:26-27; Eph 6:18). We must pray believing that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him (James 1:5-6; Heb 11:6). We must also pray unselfishly and not for self-gratification (James 4:3).
However, our participation is an integral part of His eternal plan, since our spiritual growth and conformity to the image of Christ is central to it (Rom 8:29; Eph 1:4-6). While He knows each and every move we will make before we make it, it is a misconception to see us as merely pawns in His hands. Rather, He as our Father is child-training us, either granting our petitions or denying them according to His good will for us (Gr. paideuo, “chasten, discipline, child-train” Heb 12:6,11). Our Father knows what we need even before we ask Him (Matt 6:8). Nevertheless, it is essential that we come to live a life of dependence upon Him, and prayer is an expression of our faith and dependence.
He calls upon His people to pray and seek His face, promising that He will respond if they seek Him with all their heart (2Chron 7:14-15). As James says: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16). However, it is not that God is changing His eternal plan when He responds to our prayers, but rather He allows circumstances in the temporal realm which cause us to turn and seek Him. He tests our hearts because it is our hearts He wants. Although He is the One who tests us, the testing changes us – not Him or His eternal plan. The changes in His relationship towards us in the temporal realm in response to our prayers is part of His eternal plan, rather than them being in conflict with it.
God repents
In the Old Testament the Lord is often said to “repent.” The Hebrew word often translated as “to repent, to relent or change one’s mind” is nacham. Nacham is used 30 times in reference to the Lord. It often means to feel regret or sorrow. Regret or sorrow refers to emotion rather than a change of mind. While it would be impossible for God to literally change His mind, since that would require a change in His eternal immutable plan, the Scriptures nowhere imply that God is without emotion.
A number of theologians throughout Church history, apparently influenced by Aristotle’s concept of God as the “unmoved Mover,” have insisted that God is impassible. The term impassible is from the Latin, in-, “not,” and passibilis, “able to suffer or experience emotion.” However, only an ivory tower theologian or philosopher could ever conjure up such a stoic concept of God.
While it is true that God is immutable as to His essential nature and attributes, these attributes are immutable in that they always remain constant – not that they are inert or non-existent. For example, His love is immutable in that it is infinite and never diminishes or increases. Nevertheless, His love is manifested to creation in manifold ways. To say that God only condescendingly gives the appearance of acting in love, when in reality He feels no emotion nor pain, is a logical absurdity.
According to this line of reasoning, when we tell someone that God loves them, we must say it tongue-in-cheek if in reality God is emotionally immovable. It would mean that the Father giving His only begotten Son was of no cost to Him since He feels no emotion and knows no pain. How can such reasoning be reconciled with the multiple descriptions of God’s love and tender mercies throughout the Scriptures? For example:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… 19 We love Him because He first loved us." (1John 4:7-11,19)
To me, the doctrine of impassibility finds no support in the Scriptures but rather it is the sterile lofty and vain speculations of stoic philosophers such as Aristotle who never had a genuine encounter with the God of love presented to us in the Scriptures. It is a doctrine of men who never experienced the love of God being poured out in their hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5).
While it is difficult for us to comprehend, the God who inhabits eternity has always had the whole panorama of the ages in His view and He is actively and personally involved with His creation, rather than being distant and removed, as the Deists taught. He somehow experiences emotional pain or grief in the realm of time on account of our sin and rebellion (Gen 6:6; Eph 4:30). Because God is love, He is angered by our persistent sin (Ps 7:11; Rom 1:18; 2:5-6). Because He is love, He is compassionate and longsuffering (Ps 86:15; 1Cor 13:4). It is a logical contradiction to say that God is impassible and at the same time compassionate, or to say that He suffers long without feeling pain. God is also said to rejoice over us (Isa 62:5).
There are literally thousands of passages of Scripture which present God as emotionally identifying with us and suffering as a result of our unfaithfulness and sin. James tells us that the Spirit jealously yearns for us when we commit spiritual adultery, loving the world more than God (James 4:4-5). How can one read Hosea and still believe that God is the “unmoved Mover” who is unaffected by our sin and idolatry? Reading Hosea, one can feel what God feels over the unfaithfulness of His people Israel:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. 9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not come with terror.” (Hos 11:8-9)
Returning to the subject of God’s repentance, we see that the word “repentance” has two distinct uses: one in the emotional sense of feeling sorrow or regret, and the other in the sense of one actually changing their mind – something that Scripture indicates He cannot do any more than He can lie, since His knowledge is perfect.
The Hebrew word nacham is used to refer to both the emotion of regret or sorrow and also an actual change of mind about something. Its meaning depends upon the context in which the word appears. It is worthy of note the choice of words which the LXX translators made when translating nacham from the Hebrew to the Greek the four times it is used in 1Samuel 15. The LXX was translated by 72 Greek speaking Hebrew scholars in the 2nd century B.C. who had a better understanding of the nuances of the Hebrew than we do today. Of the four times the word nacham appears in 1Samuel 15, the first and last occurrences are translated with words which express the emotion of sorrow or regret:
“Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11 "I greatly regret ( Heb. nacham, LXX parakaleo, “to regret”) that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” (1Sam 15:10-11)
“And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted (Heb. nacham, LXX, metameleomai, “to feel regret, to be sorry”) that He had made Saul king over Israel.” (1Sam 15:35)
In both of these references the LXX translators translated nacham into Greek using words which express emotion, not volition. However, when Samuel speaks of God’s declaration that the kingdom had been taken from Saul and given to another, the translators used two other words for nacham, both of which refer to God’s determinative will rather than His emotion of regret:
“And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent (Heb. nacham, LXX apostrepho “to relent or take back, to turn away”). For He is not a man, that He should relent (nacham LXX metanoéo “to repent, to change one’s mind”).” (1Sam 15:29)
Here in the first occurrence of nacham the translators rendered it as apostrepho in Greek which means “to relent or take back what one has said.” Samuel associates going back on one’s word with telling a lie. Just as it is impossible for God to lie, so it is impossible for God to repent in the sense of going back on His word (Heb 6:18). He may regret or feel sorry for having to take a certain course of action in history because He is not without empathy, but it is impossible for Him to act contrary to His eternally decreed will since He has a perfect knowledge of all things and works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11).
In the second occurrence of nacham in verse 29 the LXX translators rendered it metanoéo which literally means “to change one’s mind.” Open Theists must argue that God is continually changing His mind in order to accommodate man’s libertarian freewill, just as we often must do. However, Scripture tells us that God is not a man that He should change His mind since all things are known to Him from eternity (Acts 15:18). Therefore, any apparent change of mind on the part of God is merely an anthropomorphism – God speaking in human terms that even a child can understand.
Something which also needs to be taken into account are the conditional promises given while Israel was under the Old Covenant of the Law. Under the Law, most promises were not unconditional, as was the promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Implicit in the promises under the legal system of the Old Covenant was “If you…then I will...” Due to the conditional nature of His promises under the Law there are instances where God said that He would do something, but then later says “because you did not…I will not…” However, these do not constitute God as being One who goes back on His word since they were conditional promises where man’s unfaithfulness constituted a breach of contract. This was expressly the case with Saul. Samuel said to Saul:
“You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” (1Sam 13:13-14)
Here we see that Saul’s continuance as the king of Israel was conditional and because he disobeyed the Lord’s command, God rejected him as king of Israel. However, while God felt sorrow, He did not change His mind or go back on His word, since all His works are known by Him from eternity.
This is evidenced by the fact that Jacob by the Spirit had long before prophesied over Judah saying that the kingly line would not depart from his house (Gen 49:10). Therefore, God knew all along that Saul would disobey and be rejected, and that David from the tribe of Judah would be placed as king over His people Israel.
Another important point to emphasize is that, in an anthropomorphic sense, looking at it from our perspective, when man repents God relents. Due to God’s immutable nature, which is love, His mercy always goes out towards those who truly repent from their heart, and He relents (so to speak) from the judgment which He pronounces against the unrepentant. This “change of mind” stems from His essential nature of love which reaches out in mercy towards the truly repentant:
“And rend your heart and not your garments. Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.” (Joel 2:13-14)
God’s mercy is an immutable attribute of His essential nature, which is love, and for this reason, when man repents, God in mercy relents in the temporal realm. However, it is not as though He doesn’t already know when one will repent. He who inhabits eternity has sworn that all will someday look to Him and be saved, bowing the knee in repentance, making an oath of allegiance to Him (Isa 45:22-24). He will ultimately convict all of their disobedience in order to have mercy on all (Rom 11:32).
This was something that Jonah understood about God, even before going to Nineveh. Jonah didn’t want to warn Nineveh since they were Israel’s worst enemy at the time, and he knew that God’s intention in announcing judgment upon them was to produce true repentance in the Ninevites so that He could spare them. When Jonah saw that Nineveh repented, he was very angry with God and said:
“Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.” (Jonah 4:2)
It was also apparently something that the king of Nineveh intuitively knew about God’s nature. After hearing Jonah’s proclamation of God’s judgment against the city, the king said to the Ninevites:
“Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?” (Jonah 3:9)
The king of Nineveh also somehow sensed that the God of Israel was a compassionate God who would relent of the calamity declared against the city if they would repent of their evil deeds. And when they repented, God relented of the judgment He had declared against them:
“Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.” (Jonah 3:10)
So, did God actually relent when He saw Nineveh’s repentance? I believe the answer is both yes and no. God is both immutable and transcendent as to His essential nature and is therefore unchangeable as to His nature and predetermined plan for the ages. Yet, at the same time He is also imminent in our time/space world and is continually interacting with us. In real time, when we repent, God relents (so to speak), even though there is no change in His eternal plan since such temporal interactions with us have always been foreknown and predetermined by Him from eternity.
Does God Learn?
Open Theists point to God’s interaction with Abraham after having tested him, telling him to offer up his son Isaac, as evidence that God grows in knowledge. When Abraham was ready to plunge the knife in Isaac’s heart in obedience to the Lord’s command, the Lord intervened saying:
“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen 22:12)
The Lord said, “now I know.” How are we to understand this? In the light of all we have already seen, is it possible that the Lord actually learned something new which was unknown to Him prior to Abraham’s testing? Was it mere coincidence that the ram was caught in the thicket, providing a sacrificial lamb in the place of Isaac at the very moment that the Lord stayed Abraham’s hand? No. The Great I AM inhabits eternity, and therefore “nothing is hid from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Heb 4:13). When the Bible ascribes to God a finite human characteristic which Scripture elsewhere clearly teaches that He transcends, then it must be understood as an anthropomorphism.
When God tests us, it is to reveal our hearts to us, not to Him, since He already knows the hidden motives of the heart (Jer 17:10; John 2:24-25). Time and time again we see in the Scriptures that the Lord knows what we are going to say and do before we do it. Therefore, when finite human characteristics are attributed to God, such as remembering (Gen 8:1; 9:16; Ex 2:24), learning (Deut 8:2; 13:3), going down to see (Gen 11:7; 18:21) etc., we intuitively know that God is expressing Himself using anthropomorphisms so that we can more readily understand Him. Prior to the rise of Open Theism this was generally understood by even the most simple believer reading the Scriptures.
A final example I would like to present which clearly illustrates the anthropomorphic nature of expressions used of God is when the Lord visited Abraham prior to Sodom’s destruction. Even Open Theists are agreed that God is omnipresent, and while they deny that God is omniscient as concerns the future, they would say that He knows all things past and present. Yet God expresses Himself to Abraham in a manner that, if taken literally rather than anthropomorphically, would indicate that He is neither omnipresent nor omniscient. The Lord said:
“Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” (Gen 18:20-21)
We know that God knows all and is everywhere all the time. Yet, He is here described as being far away in heaven where their outcry had to reach Him in order for Him to take notice. Then He is presented as coming to earth in bodily form where He first appears to Abraham. He then presents Himself as one who must first go down to the city in order to determine their true condition. He speaks as one who must investigate by going to a certain locality before knowing something. All of us know that God, being omnipresent and omniscient, was fully aware of the moral condition of the inhabitants of Sodom as well as the intervenient judgment He was going to have to carry out against them.
While there will always be limitations in our ability to comprehend the infinitely incomprehensible God and Creator of all, most of us know instinctively how to distinguish between the transcendental truths of God’s nature and attributes alluded to in Scripture and the condescending anthropomorphic terms He often employs in order to relate to us as finite mortals.
The Inevitable Implications of Open Theism
Many who are attracted to Open Theism have not adequately reflected upon what is being sacrificed. Open Theism was not built upon the firm foundation of sound biblical exegesis but rather upon the philosophical foundation of 19th century Liberal Process Theology. If indeed God does not have perfect knowledge and control of the future, then the Scriptures are not infallible – much less inerrant.
If the future is not perfectly and exhaustively known and predetermined by God from eternity, then the fulfillment of all the declarations concerning future events in the Bible are dubious at best. They become nothing more than that which God hopes to bring to pass if the multiple libertarian choices man makes in the future do not frustrate His plans.
If Open Theism is true, then we are the masters of our own fate, and our salvation ultimately is in our hands rather than God’s. Even though God has sworn that all will look to Him and be saved (Isa 45:22-24), according to Open Theists He is powerless to guarantee such an outcome since our libertarian freedom requires that we be the masters of our own fate. That is why some Open Theists like Gregory Boyd speculate that God will have no other option than to annihilate some (against their freewill), realizing that some will not have exercised their own freewill for their own salvation before the curtains fall at the end of the ages.
In the turbulent times our generation will doubtlessly have to go through, we need more than ever to have the full assurance that God holds the future and that all things are working together according to the counsel of His will, predetermined from eternity. We need to be fully assured that the signs of the times given to us by Jesus in the Gospels through the apostles and in the book of Revelation are an infallible roadmap of the future and that, no matter how severe the tribulations be that we must go through, God’s plan for the ages culminates in all being saved, regenerated and restored unto God.
Rather than exalting human reason as the final measure of truth, we need to submit ourselves to God’s self-revelation in His inspired Word, recognizing the limitations of our ability to fully comprehend the depths of divinity using our own finite understanding. As Paul says:
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?
Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things,
to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
(Rom 11:33-36)
- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3)
In the previous blog we saw that the covenant that God made with Israel was emphatically unconditional and therefore irrevocable. In spite of this, those who hold to Replacement theology would say that the Church has replaced the nation of Israel and therefore all the promises to national Israel were either conditional and forfeited by them upon rejecting their Messiah, or else they somehow became spiritually applicable to the Church only.
Some would say that the promise only applied to Abraham, since the Lord here simply says, “I will bless you.” However, the blessing he received requires that the promise include his descendants as well. In verse 7 the Lord extends it to his descendants when He said: “To your descendants I will give this land.” This promise must be fulfilled through his posterity since he did not himself possess it. In Genesis 17 the Lord reconfirms His covenant in a manner which clearly includes his descendants:
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Gen 17:7-8)
So, we see that the covenant made to Abraham was also made to his descendants. It is important to note that it includes the permanent divine title-deed to the land of Israel which is presently being re-inhabited by the people of Israel in our day. The promise is that the land would be their everlasting (olam) possession. The land has always pertained to the Israelites from the moment God made His covenant promise to Abraham. It is theirs as a permanent possession - not so much because of the use of olam, which simply means “indefinitely,” but because of the irrevocability of God’s unconditional promise to Abraham.
As a matter of fact, the nation of Israel has yet to come into possession of the Promised Land in its entirety. God specified the boundaries of the land which He gave to them:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates — 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Gen 15:18-21)
As one can see, the Israelites have yet to possess all of the land which the Lord has given them. The largest amount of the Promised Land they have possessed so far was during the time of Solomon’s reign but that falls far short of the promise, as we can see in the map below.
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3)
In the previous blog we saw that the covenant that God made with Israel was emphatically unconditional and therefore irrevocable. In spite of this, those who hold to Replacement theology would say that the Church has replaced the nation of Israel and therefore all the promises to national Israel were either conditional and forfeited by them upon rejecting their Messiah, or else they somehow became spiritually applicable to the Church only.
Some would say that the promise only applied to Abraham, since the Lord here simply says, “I will bless you.” However, the blessing he received requires that the promise include his descendants as well. In verse 7 the Lord extends it to his descendants when He said: “To your descendants I will give this land.” This promise must be fulfilled through his posterity since he did not himself possess it. In Genesis 17 the Lord reconfirms His covenant in a manner which clearly includes his descendants:
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Gen 17:7-8)
So, we see that the covenant made to Abraham was also made to his descendants. It is important to note that it includes the permanent divine title-deed to the land of Israel which is presently being re-inhabited by the people of Israel in our day. The promise is that the land would be their everlasting (olam) possession. The land has always pertained to the Israelites from the moment God made His covenant promise to Abraham. It is theirs as a permanent possession - not so much because of the use of olam, which simply means “indefinitely,” but because of the irrevocability of God’s unconditional promise to Abraham.
As a matter of fact, the nation of Israel has yet to come into possession of the Promised Land in its entirety. God specified the boundaries of the land which He gave to them:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates — 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Gen 15:18-21)
As one can see, the Israelites have yet to possess all of the land which the Lord has given them. The largest amount of the Promised Land they have possessed so far was during the time of Solomon’s reign but that falls far short of the promise, as we can see in the map below.
Did God forget His promise to give them all that territory? Did He revoke His promise made to Abraham? No. In Ezequiel God specifies how the land is to be divided among the tribes of Israel in the Millennial kingdom. Before doing so, He reaffirms His covenant faithfulness to Israel in having given the land to Abraham and his descendants:
“You shall inherit it equally with one another; for I raised My hand in an oath to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance.” (Ezek 47:14)
In spite of the irrevocability of God’s promise to give Israel the land, some today still deny that Israel’s presence in the land has any prophetic significance. It is nothing short of a miracle that after 2,000 years of dispersion and over 50 attempted genocides they not only continue as a people group, but the nation of Israel has been reestablished in their own territory with many practicing Jews who speak in their revived ancient Hebrew tongue. Furthermore, all attempts of the surrounding Arab nations to drive them into the Mediterranean have only resulted in Israeli victories of biblical proportions.
Can we reasonably say that all this is nothing more than coincidence? I don’t think so. The Lord said that they would be scattered among the nations and remain without a national identity until the latter days when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lu 21:24; Ezek 38:8; Hos 3:4-5). If this isn’t a fulfillment of prophecy, then what are they doing back in their land? While most of them will continue in unbelief until they look upon Him whom they pierced when the Deliverer comes from Zion, they are being brought back into the land as in Ezekiel’s prophesy of the dry bones and from there they will be brought to life, just as was prophesied (Ezek 37:1-14).
It is understandable that many in the world who do not know God and are ignorant of His promises and the biblical history of Israel could say that the Land of Israel does not rightfully pertain to the Jews. But, how can we as Christians deny their inalienable right to the land which the Lord promised them with an oath? (Ex 13:5-7; Ex 32:13)
So, we have seen that the promise of the land was irrevocable and perpetual, extending beyond Abraham himself to include his posterity. What then about the promise to bless those who bless Abraham and curse those who curse him? Does this promise extend to his posterity as well? I think that both the Scriptures and history clearly indicate that such is indeed the case.
When Isaac blessed Jacob (Israel) he made it clear that the blessing of Abraham was passed on to him and then to his sons who made up the 12 tribes of Israel. The blessing clearly extends beyond Jacob to include all his descendants. In Genesis 27 verse 29 Isaac blessed Jacob or Israel saying:
“Let peoples serve you, (Jacob Israel) and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!”
In what sense could it be said of Jacob that peoples and nations served him and bowed down to him? In what sense did his brethren bow to him and serve him during his lifetime? He had only one brother, Esau. However, his brother had descendants who have always been enemies of the Israelites. To spite his mother, Esau married the daughter of Ismael. Many of the Arab nations who have opposed Israel’s descendants to this day are the descendants of Jacob’s brother, Esau. The majority of those who call themselves Palestinians today are in reality not descended from the Philistines as claimed but are largely the descendants of Ismael and Esau or the brethren of Jacob. At any rate, the promise given to Jacob clearly extends to his posterity since its fulfillment requires descendants. While Esau’s descendants may refuse to serve Israel in this age, we see that all the nations will serve them when the Millennial kingdom is established from Jerusalem. In Isaiah 60 verse 12 it says of that time
“For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.”
Later, when the Israelites approached the Promised Land, Balak asked Balaam to curse Israel so that he could defeat them. However, the Lord told Balaam that he was only to speak the words He gave him to say concerning Israel. Each time he sought to pronounce a curse against Israel he prophesied blessings instead. In his third attempt to curse Israel the word of the Lord that came from his mouth was:
“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel!.. 8 "God brings him out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox; He shall consume the nations, his enemies; He shall break their bones and pierce them with his arrows. 9 He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? 9 Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.” (Num 24:5,8-9)
So, here we see that not even the Mosaic covenant, which was conditional and came four-hundred years after the promise made to Abraham, invalidated His unconditional promise to the house of Israel. When Israel sinned against God, He judged them as His people. Indeed, Israel has been under God’s judgment since the Diaspora. However, even in His judgments He curses the very nations He uses to judge them. He made a full end of the nations of Babylon and Assyria for what they did to Israel even though they ultimately carried out His purposes in the judgment of His people (Jer 20:12; 30:11; 46:28).
To me, God’s judgment of His people is comparable to a father who out of love punishes his child for correction. Imagine if someone were to misinterpret your punishment of your child for hatred and decided to do you a favor and beat-up-on your child. Wouldn’t you become indignant of their attitude and actions against your child? The Lord reassured Israel and Judah in the midst of His judgments against them that He would always be with them and will take vengeance against their enemies saying:
“I have chosen you and have not cast you away: 10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. 11 Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish. 12 You shall seek them and not find them — Those who contended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing.” (Isa 41:9-12, cf. Isa 49:25-26)
Later the Psalmist pronounces blessings of peace and prosperity upon those who love Jerusalem but the curse of ruin and destruction upon those who hate Zion:
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces. For the sake of my brethren and companions… Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back. Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up.” (Ps 122:6-8; 129:5-6)
I would ask the reader: “Do you pray for the nation of Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem?” “Do you love Jerusalem for the sake of our brethren, the Israelites?” I can assure you that if you have hatred and contempt in your heart for Israel you do not have the Lord’s heart for His chosen people. Some would say that they are no longer His people, but Paul still referred to the Israelites as the people of God whom He foreknew or foreloved even in their blinded state. Paul said:
“I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!... God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew (foreloved)… Concerning the election THEY ARE BELOVED for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Rom 11:1-2,28-29)
Should we not fear lest we find ourselves hating those whom God loves? God loves all mankind but seeing from eternity His heart goes out in a particular way to the small despised and oppressed nation of Israel. As the nations in their pride and sin did not want to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to the desires of their sinful hearts, but of Israel He said:
“You only have I known (intimately) of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:2)
As His own, He disciplines them and scourges them when necessary as any good father, but woe to those nations who curse her or rise up against her. Look at history and you will see that the nations or individuals who bless the little nation of Israel are blessed, whereas those who curse her are under a divine curse.
Living in Colombia, bordering with Venezuela, I was grieved upon hearing Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez publicly curse Israel saying: “I seize this opportunity to once again condemn the state of Israel from the depth of my soul and from my very bowels. Accursed be the state of Israel! Be accursed, terrorist and assassin!” A few months later it was announced that he had cancer in the pelvic region. On March 5, 2012, less than two years after cursing Israel, he died. Today, what was just a few years ago the most prosperous nation of South America, is in a state of total collapse. One might argue that it is just a coincidence. However, history shows that God is the avenger of those who come against His people Israel. As Zechariah says of those who come against God’s people, the daughter of Zion, “he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” (Zech 2:8). This was said of His people in a time when they were under His judgments. We should not presume that we are at liberty to curse and abuse the apple of His eye simply because they are presently in unbelief and under God’s disciplinary judgments.
We, as the wild olive branches who were grafted in against nature should not boast as if we were chosen in the place of Israel, but rather we should have a reverent fear, recognizing that God has not permanently rejected the natural branches (Rom 11:19-25). They will be grafted in again and ultimately all Israel will be saved because God has sworn with an oath to bless Israel and as pertains to His promises to Israel, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent” (Num 23:19).
“You shall inherit it equally with one another; for I raised My hand in an oath to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance.” (Ezek 47:14)
In spite of the irrevocability of God’s promise to give Israel the land, some today still deny that Israel’s presence in the land has any prophetic significance. It is nothing short of a miracle that after 2,000 years of dispersion and over 50 attempted genocides they not only continue as a people group, but the nation of Israel has been reestablished in their own territory with many practicing Jews who speak in their revived ancient Hebrew tongue. Furthermore, all attempts of the surrounding Arab nations to drive them into the Mediterranean have only resulted in Israeli victories of biblical proportions.
Can we reasonably say that all this is nothing more than coincidence? I don’t think so. The Lord said that they would be scattered among the nations and remain without a national identity until the latter days when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lu 21:24; Ezek 38:8; Hos 3:4-5). If this isn’t a fulfillment of prophecy, then what are they doing back in their land? While most of them will continue in unbelief until they look upon Him whom they pierced when the Deliverer comes from Zion, they are being brought back into the land as in Ezekiel’s prophesy of the dry bones and from there they will be brought to life, just as was prophesied (Ezek 37:1-14).
It is understandable that many in the world who do not know God and are ignorant of His promises and the biblical history of Israel could say that the Land of Israel does not rightfully pertain to the Jews. But, how can we as Christians deny their inalienable right to the land which the Lord promised them with an oath? (Ex 13:5-7; Ex 32:13)
So, we have seen that the promise of the land was irrevocable and perpetual, extending beyond Abraham himself to include his posterity. What then about the promise to bless those who bless Abraham and curse those who curse him? Does this promise extend to his posterity as well? I think that both the Scriptures and history clearly indicate that such is indeed the case.
When Isaac blessed Jacob (Israel) he made it clear that the blessing of Abraham was passed on to him and then to his sons who made up the 12 tribes of Israel. The blessing clearly extends beyond Jacob to include all his descendants. In Genesis 27 verse 29 Isaac blessed Jacob or Israel saying:
“Let peoples serve you, (Jacob Israel) and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!”
In what sense could it be said of Jacob that peoples and nations served him and bowed down to him? In what sense did his brethren bow to him and serve him during his lifetime? He had only one brother, Esau. However, his brother had descendants who have always been enemies of the Israelites. To spite his mother, Esau married the daughter of Ismael. Many of the Arab nations who have opposed Israel’s descendants to this day are the descendants of Jacob’s brother, Esau. The majority of those who call themselves Palestinians today are in reality not descended from the Philistines as claimed but are largely the descendants of Ismael and Esau or the brethren of Jacob. At any rate, the promise given to Jacob clearly extends to his posterity since its fulfillment requires descendants. While Esau’s descendants may refuse to serve Israel in this age, we see that all the nations will serve them when the Millennial kingdom is established from Jerusalem. In Isaiah 60 verse 12 it says of that time
“For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.”
Later, when the Israelites approached the Promised Land, Balak asked Balaam to curse Israel so that he could defeat them. However, the Lord told Balaam that he was only to speak the words He gave him to say concerning Israel. Each time he sought to pronounce a curse against Israel he prophesied blessings instead. In his third attempt to curse Israel the word of the Lord that came from his mouth was:
“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel!.. 8 "God brings him out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox; He shall consume the nations, his enemies; He shall break their bones and pierce them with his arrows. 9 He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? 9 Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.” (Num 24:5,8-9)
So, here we see that not even the Mosaic covenant, which was conditional and came four-hundred years after the promise made to Abraham, invalidated His unconditional promise to the house of Israel. When Israel sinned against God, He judged them as His people. Indeed, Israel has been under God’s judgment since the Diaspora. However, even in His judgments He curses the very nations He uses to judge them. He made a full end of the nations of Babylon and Assyria for what they did to Israel even though they ultimately carried out His purposes in the judgment of His people (Jer 20:12; 30:11; 46:28).
To me, God’s judgment of His people is comparable to a father who out of love punishes his child for correction. Imagine if someone were to misinterpret your punishment of your child for hatred and decided to do you a favor and beat-up-on your child. Wouldn’t you become indignant of their attitude and actions against your child? The Lord reassured Israel and Judah in the midst of His judgments against them that He would always be with them and will take vengeance against their enemies saying:
“I have chosen you and have not cast you away: 10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. 11 Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish. 12 You shall seek them and not find them — Those who contended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing.” (Isa 41:9-12, cf. Isa 49:25-26)
Later the Psalmist pronounces blessings of peace and prosperity upon those who love Jerusalem but the curse of ruin and destruction upon those who hate Zion:
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces. For the sake of my brethren and companions… Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back. Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up.” (Ps 122:6-8; 129:5-6)
I would ask the reader: “Do you pray for the nation of Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem?” “Do you love Jerusalem for the sake of our brethren, the Israelites?” I can assure you that if you have hatred and contempt in your heart for Israel you do not have the Lord’s heart for His chosen people. Some would say that they are no longer His people, but Paul still referred to the Israelites as the people of God whom He foreknew or foreloved even in their blinded state. Paul said:
“I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!... God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew (foreloved)… Concerning the election THEY ARE BELOVED for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Rom 11:1-2,28-29)
Should we not fear lest we find ourselves hating those whom God loves? God loves all mankind but seeing from eternity His heart goes out in a particular way to the small despised and oppressed nation of Israel. As the nations in their pride and sin did not want to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to the desires of their sinful hearts, but of Israel He said:
“You only have I known (intimately) of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:2)
As His own, He disciplines them and scourges them when necessary as any good father, but woe to those nations who curse her or rise up against her. Look at history and you will see that the nations or individuals who bless the little nation of Israel are blessed, whereas those who curse her are under a divine curse.
Living in Colombia, bordering with Venezuela, I was grieved upon hearing Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez publicly curse Israel saying: “I seize this opportunity to once again condemn the state of Israel from the depth of my soul and from my very bowels. Accursed be the state of Israel! Be accursed, terrorist and assassin!” A few months later it was announced that he had cancer in the pelvic region. On March 5, 2012, less than two years after cursing Israel, he died. Today, what was just a few years ago the most prosperous nation of South America, is in a state of total collapse. One might argue that it is just a coincidence. However, history shows that God is the avenger of those who come against His people Israel. As Zechariah says of those who come against God’s people, the daughter of Zion, “he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” (Zech 2:8). This was said of His people in a time when they were under His judgments. We should not presume that we are at liberty to curse and abuse the apple of His eye simply because they are presently in unbelief and under God’s disciplinary judgments.
We, as the wild olive branches who were grafted in against nature should not boast as if we were chosen in the place of Israel, but rather we should have a reverent fear, recognizing that God has not permanently rejected the natural branches (Rom 11:19-25). They will be grafted in again and ultimately all Israel will be saved because God has sworn with an oath to bless Israel and as pertains to His promises to Israel, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent” (Num 23:19).
- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
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In considering whether or not the Abrahamic promises still apply to the Israelites it is important that we first consider the unconditional nature of God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants.
When the Lord told Abram that he would inherit the land and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven, Abram asked Him: “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” (Gen 15:8). In order to reassure him that the fulfillment of the promise was certain the Lord told him to cut some animals in half, placing the halves opposite of each other. This was the manner in which the Chaldeans of that time made solemn covenants between two persons. The two men would pass between the animals which had been cut in half saying: “May the same be done to the one who breaks this covenant.”
However, in order to emphasize that the fulfillment depended entirely upon His covenant faithfulness, the Lord caused Abram to fall into a deep sleep and He passed alone between the animals. This made it clear to Abram that the fulfillment depended entirely upon God’s covenant faithfulness and not the faithfulness of Abraham or his descendants. After that it says:
“On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates — 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Gen 15:18-21)
There were promises given later under the Law, but they were usually conditional covenants – “If you…then I….” In contrast, the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants was emphatically unconditional. He didn’t say: “If you and your descendants continue in my ways, then I will give you the land.” No. The Lord solemnly swore by Himself with an oath saying: “To your descendants I have given this land.” The fulfillment of the promise was a given, even before Abram had any descendant, and before they had taken possession of the land.
It is significant that the Lord here changed the tense of the verb from “I will give” in 13:14-17 to the perfect tense, “I have given.” From this point forward in Scripture He refers to the Promised Land as “the land I have given to the children of Israel” (Nu 20:24; 20:12; 33:53, etc.). Even when He sent them into captivity among the nations in judgment, He still refers to it as “the land I have given you” and promises to restore them permanently in their land afterwards. After warnings of strong and severe judgments, before removing them from the land, He promised their ultimate restoration saying:
“I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God.” (Amos 9:15)
This speaks of a final restoration of the 10 northern tribes of Israel to the land after their dispersion, never to be removed from it again.
Some would argue that God said that He would restore them to their land, but that was before they had rejected Jesus as their Messiah. However, there is more than one problem with this reasoning. In the first place, God inhabits eternity, is omniscient and therefore knew that Israel would reject their Messiah when He gave the promise to Abraham. He also knew what they were going to do when He told them that He would bring them back into their land forever.
In the second place, as we already saw, His promise to Israel is unconditional and irrevocable. God through Jeremiah reassured Israel and Judah of His covenant faithfulness to them at a time when the 10 tribes of Israel had already been conquered by the Assyrians and dispersed, and Jerusalem was being sieged and its inhabitants taken captive to Babylon. The Lord promised them saying:
“For behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah, says the Lord. And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it… 11 For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I WILL NOT MAKE A COMPLETE END OF YOU. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.” (Jer 30:3,11)
Here God reassures both Israel and Judah that, however severe His judgments may be, they would never permanently lose their national identity as subsequently did the Assyrians and Babylonians and other nations who came against them. The existence of Israel as a people after nearly 2,000 years without a land is a clear indisputable testimony to God’s covenant faithfulness.
It is said that Queen Victoria of England asked Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli for evidence of the existence of God. After a moment of reflection, he replied, “The Jew, your majesty.” Indeed, the only nation of biblical times which still retains its national identity is the nation of Israel. And this in spite of all attempts of anti-Semites to eliminate them throughout the centuries. Israel’s existence is the fulfillment of God’s promise which He most emphatically reiterated a few verses later where, in spite of their sin and apostasy, He swore saying:
“Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): 36 ‘If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.’
37 Thus says the Lord: ‘If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel FOR ALL THAT THEY HAVE DONE, says the Lord.” (Jer 31:35-37)
The Lord’s choice of words here could not have been more emphatic! Nothing Israel has done or might do in the future can cause God to go back on His promise. If the Abrahamic covenant were a conditional covenant, as was the Mosaic Law, then their sins would have constituted a breach of contract and God would be absolved of all responsibility to fulfill His promise. But the Lord by Himself made an unconditional promise to Abraham and his descendants. He then goes on to declare that, when the Messiah returns, the destroyed city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt better than it ever was before:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The surveyor's line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.” (Jer 31:38-40)
Here the unconditional promise continues, declaring that, in the future, Jerusalem will be rebuilt for the Lord, but it describes Jerusalem with a greater glory than it has ever previously known. Even Gehenna, the accursed valley of dead bodies and ashes, will then be holy to the Lord and this new millennial capitol will never be destroyed or conquered again forever. When will this take place? The prophets all speak of it being fulfilled in the latter days. Hosea prophesies:
“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.” (Hos 3:4-5)
God who knows all things before they take place declares that the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord and David their king after a prolonged time of exile, and this will take place “in the latter days.” Again, it is not conditional as merely some potential future event. It doesn’t say, “If they return and seek the Lord,” but rather is a statement of fact, “they shall seek the Lord and fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.”
Also, in Micah 4 we see that “in the latter days” Jerusalem will be the seat of world government and all the nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord (Micah 4:1). In Ezequiel chapter 36 onwards it speaks of the restoration of Israel to their land. In chapter 37 we see the vision of the dry bones which represents “the whole house of Israel” (Ezek 37:11). The dry bones are first gathered together before flesh comes upon them and they live again. This would parallel their present gathering into the Land of Israel while yet in unbelief. In chapters 38 and 39 we see that in “the latter years” the armies of Gog will come against Israel when Israel is dwelling safely in their land, but his armies will be destroyed by God (Ezek 38:8,22,23). The reference to them dwelling safely in their land could possibly be the result of a peace-accord put together by the Antichrist, whom they will welcome, thinking that he is their long-awaited Messiah (Dan 9:27). When the Lord comes from Zion delivering Israel, it says that the whole house of Israel will acknowledge Him as their God, and He will restore them:
“So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward… 28 then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 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 39:22,28-29)
In Ezekiel chapters 40 thru 47 it gives details concerning the Millennial temple in Jerusalem with its measurements and the service of worship. The Millennial temple will not be the third temple that the Jews today are making preparations to build, since their plans are patterned after Herod’s temple and the dimensions do not correspond with the Millennial temple described here in Ezekiel. However, they will apparently rebuild the third temple before the middle of Daniel’s 70th week when the coming prince or the Antichrist causes their sacrifices and offerings to cease (Dan 9:27; Matt 24:15; Rev 11:1-2). After giving the detailed description of the Millennial temple, in the latter part of chapter 47 much detail is given specifying how the restored Land of Israel is to be divided among the 12 tribes.
How do Replacement theologians explain such detailed descriptions of Israel’s restoration in the latter days? Many try to argue against the obvious, saying that the promises were conditional. However, we have already seen that God is very emphatic in stating that His promises to Israel are irrevocable, and that, although He will punish them for their sins, He will never go back on His promises to them.
Another approach is to spiritualize all the passages which speak of Israel’s restoration in an attempt to apply them to the Church. However, the practice of spiritualizing or allegorizing the Scriptures, or any other literature for that matter, is a gross violation of common hermeneutics. An author may choose to make use of allegory or any other form of speech to express himself, but it is a violation of hermeneutics, common sense and the author’s intent to convert what the author has written into allegory.
Some argue for an allegorical hermeneutic, while others insist upon a literal one. However, a sound hermeneutic is neither literal nor allegorical – it is contextual. In other words, we must interpret Scripture according to the nature of the text itself, just as we would do with any other literature. If the author uses literal speech, we should interpret it literally. If he uses allegory or other figures of speech, we should interpret accordingly. This is interpreting according to context or common sense. When Jesus says, “I am the vine,” or “I am the door,” common sense tells us that He is speaking figuratively and therefore, rather than taking Him literally or imagining something beyond the context, we look for the truth expressed within the context itself. On the other hand, when He uses normal speech, we understand Him literally.
The practice of spiritualizing or allegorizing the text in order to accommodate one’s particular doctrinal bias, such as Replacement theology, violates common laws of literature and removes Scripture from the realm of objective, knowable truth. Using such methods, it becomes impossible to reason from the Scriptures as Paul did and as Luke commended the Bereans for doing (Acts 17:2,11). Once we begin to Spiritualize the Scriptures it becomes possible to make the Scriptures say anything we wish. Indeed, the primary reason there are so many divergent doctrines within Christianity is the departure from sound, common-sense hermeneutics – “if the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense.”
Returning to the subject of Replacement theology, many insist that it would be impossible for all Israel to be restored since, according to them, when the 10 northern tribes were dispersed in 722 B.C. they ceased to exist as a people-group. However, the term “ten lost tribes” is erroneous and is never found in Scripture. Even having been conquered and dispersed by the Assyrians, God promised them that He would not make a full end of Israel (Jer 30:11) and that they would never cease from being a nation before Him forever (Jer 31:36).
What many seem to overlook is that all twelve tribes were present and worshipping God at the time of the writing of the New Testament over 700 years after the dispersion. On the day of Pentecost, we see that the devout Jews of the dispersion, representing all the house of Israel, were in Jerusalem for the Passover Feasts:
“And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitudes came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language…. ‘Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know…. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:5, 6, 22, 36)
Here we see that on the day of Pentecost, Jews representative of the whole house of Israel were present in Jerusalem for the Feast (all twelve tribes have been referred to as Jews as well as Israelites since the Babylonian captivity). Paul, speaking before Agrippa, presents in his speech something that was common knowledge – there were devout Jews serving God from all twelve tribes in his time:
“To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews (Acts 26:7).”
James wrote his epistle to all twelve tribes of the Jews of the dispersion:
“James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings (James 1:1).”
Though not all from the ten tribes returned to the land of Israel (that awaits the latter days) they were definitely not all forever lost, nor absorbed by the nations. And of those that apparently are lost, they are only lost to men, not to God. God’s promise was that they would never cease being a nation (Heb. goy “nation or people”) before Him.
The Jewish lineage in biblical times was traced through the father’s line and not the mother’s line. Throughout the Scriptures we see that a child continues to be a Jew even if the child’s mother is non-Jewish as long as the father is Jewish. Joseph married an Egyptian, yet his two sons became the fathers of the two half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Moses married a Midianite. In the messianic genealogy of Matthew chapter one, we see that Rahab the harlot of Jericho was the mother of Boaz, but Boaz continued to be included in the line of Judah. He in turn married Ruth, a Moabite. So, although there were Gentiles in Jesus’ bloodline, that did not exclude Him from being a legitimate descendent of Judah, and thus qualified to be the Messiah as a descendant of David from the tribe of Judah. God knows the paternal descent of every Jew and is fully capable of distinguishing them and drawing them back into the land and unto Himself.
There are millions of devout Jews in the world today who know they are Jews but do not know with certainty of which tribe they are. Some conclude that because their surnames are Levi or Cohen that they are of the tribe of Levi but even that is not conclusive. Genealogical records cannot be traced back more than a few generations. Israelites have been banished from many nations, persecuted, slaughtered, and obligated to embrace Christendom or the Muslim faith, further complicating things (for a timeline showing how the Jews have been trampled underfoot by the Gentiles see the following link: 1 . It is a miracle that they remain a distinct people after so many attempts to destroy them. Many modern-day Jews have continued to practice the Jewish faith as passed down from their ancestors even though they may not know of which tribe they are descended. Be what it may, God knows their paternal descent and will draw them back into their land in the latter days.
When God speaks of His people as “the whole house of Israel” in Ezekiel He is referring to all 12 tribes of Israel and not only the 10 tribes that separated from Benjamin and Judah after the end of king Solomon’s reign. Ezekiel, writing after the 10 tribes had already been dispersed and Judah was captive in Babylon, wrote concerning their future restoration as one nation in their own land. He was commanded to prophesy saying to them:
“Thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.” (Ezek 37:21,22)
The Scriptures are very clear and emphatic concerning God’s promises to Israel and Judah. The promises are so clearly unconditional in nature that any attempt to negate them would make God out to be a liar. They are so detailed and specific that any attempt to make them allegorically apply to the Church would be ludicrous. Those who deny that God’s promises to the nation of Israel still apply to them would do well to heed the declaration God made through Balaam’s prophesy when he wanted to curse Israel: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Num 23:19)
Some, ignoring the context and flow of the book of Hosea, take certain declarations made against Israel in Hosea as evidence that God has once and for all rejected and divorced Israel. Hosea prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam just before the northern kingdom was conquered and dispersed. In order to communicate His heart to unfaithful idolatrous Israel, He told Hosea to marry a harlot. It is a heartrending story of love and betrayal, but most importantly it illustrates God’s covenant faithfulness to unfaithful Israel. Hosea had children with her, but she continued in her adulterous ways and finally left him, returning to her harlotries. She sank so low that she became a sex slave. To illustrate His covenant faithfulness to His adulterous people Israel, the Lord tells Hosea to buy her back and take her unto himself and love her again as his wife. He said to Hosea:
“Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.’ 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. 3 And I said to her, ‘You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man — so, too, will I be toward you.’
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.” (Hos 3)
In Hosea God expresses to adulterous Israel both His jealous anger and His unfailing love and faithfulness to them. Anyone who has deeply loved an unfaithful mate can readily identify with what to others may seem to be contradictory statements in the book of Hosea.
In chapter one the Lord says that He will no longer have mercy on Israel but will utterly take them away (1:6). He told Hosea to tell them: “You are not My people, and I will not be your God.” (1:9). Then in the very next breath He says:
“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘you are not My people,’ there it shall be said to them, ‘you are sons of the living God.’ Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint for themselves one head; and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel! (Jezreel, “the Lord’s sowing.’) Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ and to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’” (1:10 - 2:1)
Right after saying to Israel, “You are not my people and I will not be your God,” He tells both Israel and Judah that in the future they will not only be received by Him as His people but they will be called sons of the living God and that they will be gathered together and come up out of the land because the Lord will sow them there, never to be uprooted from their land again. Then, in the following verse the Lord tells Hosea to say to his brethren that they are His people, and to his sisters that mercy is shown. Even in His wrath God remembers mercy! (Hab 3:2).
Paul later quotes this passage, expanding it to include the Gentiles who are now sons of God and joint heirs through faith in Christ, Abraham’s seed (Rom 9:25). Replacement theologians interpret this as meaning that we are now the people of God to the exclusion of national Israel. However, reading the development of Paul’s argumentation through to Romans chapter 11, it is evident that he is referring to the inclusion of the Gentiles but not to the exclusion of national Israel. We Gentiles, as wild olive branches, were grafted in, but when the Deliverer comes from Zion, removing ungodliness from Jacob, all Israel will be saved and restored (Rom 11:25-28). Israel and Judah will be reunited as one nation and David shall be their king (Hos 3:5; Jer 30:9).
In chapter 2 of Hosea, verses 2 to 13, the Lord renounces Israel as His wife and delivers her over to the consequences of her own adulterous ways. However, once again we see that, beginning in verse 14 through to the end of the chapter, He afterwards allures her and leads her into the wilderness where He speaks words of comfort to her. I believe that the wilderness represents the time of Jacob’s trouble or the Great Tribulation (Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Rev 12:13-14). In their affliction they will seek the Lord (Hosea 5:15-6:1). Then again, as in chapter 1, there is a full reversal in which God takes her back to be His wife forever:
“And it shall be, in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me 'My Husband,' and no longer call Me 'My Master,' I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; 20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.” (Hos 2:16, 19-20)
Again, it is the very same Israel He divorces and casts off that He later betroths forever, rather than it referring to the Church replacing Israel. The Church, the Bride of Christ, will be married for the first time to Christ as a chaste virgin, becoming the wife of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem. In contrast, Israel is here received back as Jehovah’s wife to possess their earthly inheritance in the Land of Israel. This is made abundantly clear in the verses that follow in chapter 3 where it says that they will abide many days without a king but will return to the Lord and to David their king in the latter days. (Hos 3:4-5)
Again, in chapter 5 we see the Lord rejecting not only Israel but also Judah, however not permanently, but only until they seek Him:
“For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. 15 I will return again to My place TILL they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” (Hos 5:14-15)
This is clearly not speaking of Israel being replaced by the Church. It is the same Israel and Judah that are scattered and taken captive who will later seek His face in their affliction. The verses which follow clearly speak of their restoration:
“Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.” (Hos 6:1-2)
Again, it is clearly the same Israel whom the Lord has torn in judgment who will later seek Him for healing and revival. While this and other passages referring to God’s dealings with the people of Israel may have a secondary application to us within the Church, its primary reference is to national Israel and Judah – not spiritual Israel. Many promises and prophesies concerning Israel are first applied to the Church in order to provoke Israel to jealousy, but their full fulfillment awaits the time of their full restitution.
Some Replacement theologians argue that Christ replaced Israel as the true Israel of God since “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Hosea 11:1), is applied to Christ in Matthew where it says: “When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Matt 2:14-15)
However, as we continue reading in Hosea it is evident that, although Christ is identified with Israel, He doesn’t replace Israel. Christ going into Egypt and being called out of Egypt back into the Land of Israel contrasts Israel’s failure upon leaving Egypt with Christ’s obedience much like the contrast between Adam and Christ, the Last Adam, but Christ doesn’t replace Israel. This becomes evident as one continues reading in Hosea. For example, verse 5 says: “He (Israel) shall not return to the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to repent.” Later in the chapter He speaks of how He will not always be angry with Israel but will show mercy towards them in the end:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. 9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not come with terror.” (Hos 11:8-9)
Those who think that God would permanently reject Israel for all that they have done forget that God is a God of mercy who does not cast off forever nor willingly afflict the children of men. In His mercy God promises that He will bring them back into their land from the nations where He scattered them in His anger. He says in the verses that follow:
“They shall walk after the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, then His sons shall come trembling from the west;11 They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria. And I will let them dwell in their houses,’ says the Lord.” (Hos 11:10,11)
In the 19th and early 20th centuries Replacement theologians ridiculed Premillennial Dispensationalists for insisting upon the normal, literal interpretation of these and numerous other passages prophesying the restoration of Israel and Judah in their land in the latter days, but they insisted on believing it simply because the Bible said it, even though it seemed impossible at the time. One would think that now, seeing that Israel is a nation and they are returning to their homeland, all would recognize that God is fulfilling His promise to Israel. But sadly, as with the brothers of the rich man in hades, some will not believe even if one were to rise from the dead.
It should be clear to any unbiased student of the Word that God’s promises to Abraham and his descendants, the children of Israel, are unconditional and irrevocable. We as Gentiles should be thankful that in God’s mercy, we have been grafted into the olive tree, becoming heirs of the blessing of Abraham. But we should not presume to have replaced Israel. God clearly still has a glorious future in store for His people Israel.
[1] http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/HistoryJewishPersecution/
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In considering whether or not the Abrahamic promises still apply to the Israelites it is important that we first consider the unconditional nature of God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants.
When the Lord told Abram that he would inherit the land and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven, Abram asked Him: “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” (Gen 15:8). In order to reassure him that the fulfillment of the promise was certain the Lord told him to cut some animals in half, placing the halves opposite of each other. This was the manner in which the Chaldeans of that time made solemn covenants between two persons. The two men would pass between the animals which had been cut in half saying: “May the same be done to the one who breaks this covenant.”
However, in order to emphasize that the fulfillment depended entirely upon His covenant faithfulness, the Lord caused Abram to fall into a deep sleep and He passed alone between the animals. This made it clear to Abram that the fulfillment depended entirely upon God’s covenant faithfulness and not the faithfulness of Abraham or his descendants. After that it says:
“On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates — 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Gen 15:18-21)
There were promises given later under the Law, but they were usually conditional covenants – “If you…then I….” In contrast, the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants was emphatically unconditional. He didn’t say: “If you and your descendants continue in my ways, then I will give you the land.” No. The Lord solemnly swore by Himself with an oath saying: “To your descendants I have given this land.” The fulfillment of the promise was a given, even before Abram had any descendant, and before they had taken possession of the land.
It is significant that the Lord here changed the tense of the verb from “I will give” in 13:14-17 to the perfect tense, “I have given.” From this point forward in Scripture He refers to the Promised Land as “the land I have given to the children of Israel” (Nu 20:24; 20:12; 33:53, etc.). Even when He sent them into captivity among the nations in judgment, He still refers to it as “the land I have given you” and promises to restore them permanently in their land afterwards. After warnings of strong and severe judgments, before removing them from the land, He promised their ultimate restoration saying:
“I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God.” (Amos 9:15)
This speaks of a final restoration of the 10 northern tribes of Israel to the land after their dispersion, never to be removed from it again.
Some would argue that God said that He would restore them to their land, but that was before they had rejected Jesus as their Messiah. However, there is more than one problem with this reasoning. In the first place, God inhabits eternity, is omniscient and therefore knew that Israel would reject their Messiah when He gave the promise to Abraham. He also knew what they were going to do when He told them that He would bring them back into their land forever.
In the second place, as we already saw, His promise to Israel is unconditional and irrevocable. God through Jeremiah reassured Israel and Judah of His covenant faithfulness to them at a time when the 10 tribes of Israel had already been conquered by the Assyrians and dispersed, and Jerusalem was being sieged and its inhabitants taken captive to Babylon. The Lord promised them saying:
“For behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah, says the Lord. And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it… 11 For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I WILL NOT MAKE A COMPLETE END OF YOU. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.” (Jer 30:3,11)
Here God reassures both Israel and Judah that, however severe His judgments may be, they would never permanently lose their national identity as subsequently did the Assyrians and Babylonians and other nations who came against them. The existence of Israel as a people after nearly 2,000 years without a land is a clear indisputable testimony to God’s covenant faithfulness.
It is said that Queen Victoria of England asked Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli for evidence of the existence of God. After a moment of reflection, he replied, “The Jew, your majesty.” Indeed, the only nation of biblical times which still retains its national identity is the nation of Israel. And this in spite of all attempts of anti-Semites to eliminate them throughout the centuries. Israel’s existence is the fulfillment of God’s promise which He most emphatically reiterated a few verses later where, in spite of their sin and apostasy, He swore saying:
“Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): 36 ‘If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.’
37 Thus says the Lord: ‘If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel FOR ALL THAT THEY HAVE DONE, says the Lord.” (Jer 31:35-37)
The Lord’s choice of words here could not have been more emphatic! Nothing Israel has done or might do in the future can cause God to go back on His promise. If the Abrahamic covenant were a conditional covenant, as was the Mosaic Law, then their sins would have constituted a breach of contract and God would be absolved of all responsibility to fulfill His promise. But the Lord by Himself made an unconditional promise to Abraham and his descendants. He then goes on to declare that, when the Messiah returns, the destroyed city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt better than it ever was before:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The surveyor's line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.” (Jer 31:38-40)
Here the unconditional promise continues, declaring that, in the future, Jerusalem will be rebuilt for the Lord, but it describes Jerusalem with a greater glory than it has ever previously known. Even Gehenna, the accursed valley of dead bodies and ashes, will then be holy to the Lord and this new millennial capitol will never be destroyed or conquered again forever. When will this take place? The prophets all speak of it being fulfilled in the latter days. Hosea prophesies:
“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.” (Hos 3:4-5)
God who knows all things before they take place declares that the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord and David their king after a prolonged time of exile, and this will take place “in the latter days.” Again, it is not conditional as merely some potential future event. It doesn’t say, “If they return and seek the Lord,” but rather is a statement of fact, “they shall seek the Lord and fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.”
Also, in Micah 4 we see that “in the latter days” Jerusalem will be the seat of world government and all the nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord (Micah 4:1). In Ezequiel chapter 36 onwards it speaks of the restoration of Israel to their land. In chapter 37 we see the vision of the dry bones which represents “the whole house of Israel” (Ezek 37:11). The dry bones are first gathered together before flesh comes upon them and they live again. This would parallel their present gathering into the Land of Israel while yet in unbelief. In chapters 38 and 39 we see that in “the latter years” the armies of Gog will come against Israel when Israel is dwelling safely in their land, but his armies will be destroyed by God (Ezek 38:8,22,23). The reference to them dwelling safely in their land could possibly be the result of a peace-accord put together by the Antichrist, whom they will welcome, thinking that he is their long-awaited Messiah (Dan 9:27). When the Lord comes from Zion delivering Israel, it says that the whole house of Israel will acknowledge Him as their God, and He will restore them:
“So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward… 28 then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. 29 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 39:22,28-29)
In Ezekiel chapters 40 thru 47 it gives details concerning the Millennial temple in Jerusalem with its measurements and the service of worship. The Millennial temple will not be the third temple that the Jews today are making preparations to build, since their plans are patterned after Herod’s temple and the dimensions do not correspond with the Millennial temple described here in Ezekiel. However, they will apparently rebuild the third temple before the middle of Daniel’s 70th week when the coming prince or the Antichrist causes their sacrifices and offerings to cease (Dan 9:27; Matt 24:15; Rev 11:1-2). After giving the detailed description of the Millennial temple, in the latter part of chapter 47 much detail is given specifying how the restored Land of Israel is to be divided among the 12 tribes.
How do Replacement theologians explain such detailed descriptions of Israel’s restoration in the latter days? Many try to argue against the obvious, saying that the promises were conditional. However, we have already seen that God is very emphatic in stating that His promises to Israel are irrevocable, and that, although He will punish them for their sins, He will never go back on His promises to them.
Another approach is to spiritualize all the passages which speak of Israel’s restoration in an attempt to apply them to the Church. However, the practice of spiritualizing or allegorizing the Scriptures, or any other literature for that matter, is a gross violation of common hermeneutics. An author may choose to make use of allegory or any other form of speech to express himself, but it is a violation of hermeneutics, common sense and the author’s intent to convert what the author has written into allegory.
Some argue for an allegorical hermeneutic, while others insist upon a literal one. However, a sound hermeneutic is neither literal nor allegorical – it is contextual. In other words, we must interpret Scripture according to the nature of the text itself, just as we would do with any other literature. If the author uses literal speech, we should interpret it literally. If he uses allegory or other figures of speech, we should interpret accordingly. This is interpreting according to context or common sense. When Jesus says, “I am the vine,” or “I am the door,” common sense tells us that He is speaking figuratively and therefore, rather than taking Him literally or imagining something beyond the context, we look for the truth expressed within the context itself. On the other hand, when He uses normal speech, we understand Him literally.
The practice of spiritualizing or allegorizing the text in order to accommodate one’s particular doctrinal bias, such as Replacement theology, violates common laws of literature and removes Scripture from the realm of objective, knowable truth. Using such methods, it becomes impossible to reason from the Scriptures as Paul did and as Luke commended the Bereans for doing (Acts 17:2,11). Once we begin to Spiritualize the Scriptures it becomes possible to make the Scriptures say anything we wish. Indeed, the primary reason there are so many divergent doctrines within Christianity is the departure from sound, common-sense hermeneutics – “if the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense.”
Returning to the subject of Replacement theology, many insist that it would be impossible for all Israel to be restored since, according to them, when the 10 northern tribes were dispersed in 722 B.C. they ceased to exist as a people-group. However, the term “ten lost tribes” is erroneous and is never found in Scripture. Even having been conquered and dispersed by the Assyrians, God promised them that He would not make a full end of Israel (Jer 30:11) and that they would never cease from being a nation before Him forever (Jer 31:36).
What many seem to overlook is that all twelve tribes were present and worshipping God at the time of the writing of the New Testament over 700 years after the dispersion. On the day of Pentecost, we see that the devout Jews of the dispersion, representing all the house of Israel, were in Jerusalem for the Passover Feasts:
“And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitudes came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language…. ‘Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know…. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:5, 6, 22, 36)
Here we see that on the day of Pentecost, Jews representative of the whole house of Israel were present in Jerusalem for the Feast (all twelve tribes have been referred to as Jews as well as Israelites since the Babylonian captivity). Paul, speaking before Agrippa, presents in his speech something that was common knowledge – there were devout Jews serving God from all twelve tribes in his time:
“To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews (Acts 26:7).”
James wrote his epistle to all twelve tribes of the Jews of the dispersion:
“James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings (James 1:1).”
Though not all from the ten tribes returned to the land of Israel (that awaits the latter days) they were definitely not all forever lost, nor absorbed by the nations. And of those that apparently are lost, they are only lost to men, not to God. God’s promise was that they would never cease being a nation (Heb. goy “nation or people”) before Him.
The Jewish lineage in biblical times was traced through the father’s line and not the mother’s line. Throughout the Scriptures we see that a child continues to be a Jew even if the child’s mother is non-Jewish as long as the father is Jewish. Joseph married an Egyptian, yet his two sons became the fathers of the two half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Moses married a Midianite. In the messianic genealogy of Matthew chapter one, we see that Rahab the harlot of Jericho was the mother of Boaz, but Boaz continued to be included in the line of Judah. He in turn married Ruth, a Moabite. So, although there were Gentiles in Jesus’ bloodline, that did not exclude Him from being a legitimate descendent of Judah, and thus qualified to be the Messiah as a descendant of David from the tribe of Judah. God knows the paternal descent of every Jew and is fully capable of distinguishing them and drawing them back into the land and unto Himself.
There are millions of devout Jews in the world today who know they are Jews but do not know with certainty of which tribe they are. Some conclude that because their surnames are Levi or Cohen that they are of the tribe of Levi but even that is not conclusive. Genealogical records cannot be traced back more than a few generations. Israelites have been banished from many nations, persecuted, slaughtered, and obligated to embrace Christendom or the Muslim faith, further complicating things (for a timeline showing how the Jews have been trampled underfoot by the Gentiles see the following link: 1 . It is a miracle that they remain a distinct people after so many attempts to destroy them. Many modern-day Jews have continued to practice the Jewish faith as passed down from their ancestors even though they may not know of which tribe they are descended. Be what it may, God knows their paternal descent and will draw them back into their land in the latter days.
When God speaks of His people as “the whole house of Israel” in Ezekiel He is referring to all 12 tribes of Israel and not only the 10 tribes that separated from Benjamin and Judah after the end of king Solomon’s reign. Ezekiel, writing after the 10 tribes had already been dispersed and Judah was captive in Babylon, wrote concerning their future restoration as one nation in their own land. He was commanded to prophesy saying to them:
“Thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.” (Ezek 37:21,22)
The Scriptures are very clear and emphatic concerning God’s promises to Israel and Judah. The promises are so clearly unconditional in nature that any attempt to negate them would make God out to be a liar. They are so detailed and specific that any attempt to make them allegorically apply to the Church would be ludicrous. Those who deny that God’s promises to the nation of Israel still apply to them would do well to heed the declaration God made through Balaam’s prophesy when he wanted to curse Israel: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Num 23:19)
Some, ignoring the context and flow of the book of Hosea, take certain declarations made against Israel in Hosea as evidence that God has once and for all rejected and divorced Israel. Hosea prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam just before the northern kingdom was conquered and dispersed. In order to communicate His heart to unfaithful idolatrous Israel, He told Hosea to marry a harlot. It is a heartrending story of love and betrayal, but most importantly it illustrates God’s covenant faithfulness to unfaithful Israel. Hosea had children with her, but she continued in her adulterous ways and finally left him, returning to her harlotries. She sank so low that she became a sex slave. To illustrate His covenant faithfulness to His adulterous people Israel, the Lord tells Hosea to buy her back and take her unto himself and love her again as his wife. He said to Hosea:
“Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.’ 2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. 3 And I said to her, ‘You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man — so, too, will I be toward you.’
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.” (Hos 3)
In Hosea God expresses to adulterous Israel both His jealous anger and His unfailing love and faithfulness to them. Anyone who has deeply loved an unfaithful mate can readily identify with what to others may seem to be contradictory statements in the book of Hosea.
In chapter one the Lord says that He will no longer have mercy on Israel but will utterly take them away (1:6). He told Hosea to tell them: “You are not My people, and I will not be your God.” (1:9). Then in the very next breath He says:
“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘you are not My people,’ there it shall be said to them, ‘you are sons of the living God.’ Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint for themselves one head; and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel! (Jezreel, “the Lord’s sowing.’) Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ and to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.’” (1:10 - 2:1)
Right after saying to Israel, “You are not my people and I will not be your God,” He tells both Israel and Judah that in the future they will not only be received by Him as His people but they will be called sons of the living God and that they will be gathered together and come up out of the land because the Lord will sow them there, never to be uprooted from their land again. Then, in the following verse the Lord tells Hosea to say to his brethren that they are His people, and to his sisters that mercy is shown. Even in His wrath God remembers mercy! (Hab 3:2).
Paul later quotes this passage, expanding it to include the Gentiles who are now sons of God and joint heirs through faith in Christ, Abraham’s seed (Rom 9:25). Replacement theologians interpret this as meaning that we are now the people of God to the exclusion of national Israel. However, reading the development of Paul’s argumentation through to Romans chapter 11, it is evident that he is referring to the inclusion of the Gentiles but not to the exclusion of national Israel. We Gentiles, as wild olive branches, were grafted in, but when the Deliverer comes from Zion, removing ungodliness from Jacob, all Israel will be saved and restored (Rom 11:25-28). Israel and Judah will be reunited as one nation and David shall be their king (Hos 3:5; Jer 30:9).
In chapter 2 of Hosea, verses 2 to 13, the Lord renounces Israel as His wife and delivers her over to the consequences of her own adulterous ways. However, once again we see that, beginning in verse 14 through to the end of the chapter, He afterwards allures her and leads her into the wilderness where He speaks words of comfort to her. I believe that the wilderness represents the time of Jacob’s trouble or the Great Tribulation (Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Rev 12:13-14). In their affliction they will seek the Lord (Hosea 5:15-6:1). Then again, as in chapter 1, there is a full reversal in which God takes her back to be His wife forever:
“And it shall be, in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me 'My Husband,' and no longer call Me 'My Master,' I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; 20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.” (Hos 2:16, 19-20)
Again, it is the very same Israel He divorces and casts off that He later betroths forever, rather than it referring to the Church replacing Israel. The Church, the Bride of Christ, will be married for the first time to Christ as a chaste virgin, becoming the wife of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem. In contrast, Israel is here received back as Jehovah’s wife to possess their earthly inheritance in the Land of Israel. This is made abundantly clear in the verses that follow in chapter 3 where it says that they will abide many days without a king but will return to the Lord and to David their king in the latter days. (Hos 3:4-5)
Again, in chapter 5 we see the Lord rejecting not only Israel but also Judah, however not permanently, but only until they seek Him:
“For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. 15 I will return again to My place TILL they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” (Hos 5:14-15)
This is clearly not speaking of Israel being replaced by the Church. It is the same Israel and Judah that are scattered and taken captive who will later seek His face in their affliction. The verses which follow clearly speak of their restoration:
“Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.” (Hos 6:1-2)
Again, it is clearly the same Israel whom the Lord has torn in judgment who will later seek Him for healing and revival. While this and other passages referring to God’s dealings with the people of Israel may have a secondary application to us within the Church, its primary reference is to national Israel and Judah – not spiritual Israel. Many promises and prophesies concerning Israel are first applied to the Church in order to provoke Israel to jealousy, but their full fulfillment awaits the time of their full restitution.
Some Replacement theologians argue that Christ replaced Israel as the true Israel of God since “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Hosea 11:1), is applied to Christ in Matthew where it says: “When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Matt 2:14-15)
However, as we continue reading in Hosea it is evident that, although Christ is identified with Israel, He doesn’t replace Israel. Christ going into Egypt and being called out of Egypt back into the Land of Israel contrasts Israel’s failure upon leaving Egypt with Christ’s obedience much like the contrast between Adam and Christ, the Last Adam, but Christ doesn’t replace Israel. This becomes evident as one continues reading in Hosea. For example, verse 5 says: “He (Israel) shall not return to the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to repent.” Later in the chapter He speaks of how He will not always be angry with Israel but will show mercy towards them in the end:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. 9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not come with terror.” (Hos 11:8-9)
Those who think that God would permanently reject Israel for all that they have done forget that God is a God of mercy who does not cast off forever nor willingly afflict the children of men. In His mercy God promises that He will bring them back into their land from the nations where He scattered them in His anger. He says in the verses that follow:
“They shall walk after the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, then His sons shall come trembling from the west;11 They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria. And I will let them dwell in their houses,’ says the Lord.” (Hos 11:10,11)
In the 19th and early 20th centuries Replacement theologians ridiculed Premillennial Dispensationalists for insisting upon the normal, literal interpretation of these and numerous other passages prophesying the restoration of Israel and Judah in their land in the latter days, but they insisted on believing it simply because the Bible said it, even though it seemed impossible at the time. One would think that now, seeing that Israel is a nation and they are returning to their homeland, all would recognize that God is fulfilling His promise to Israel. But sadly, as with the brothers of the rich man in hades, some will not believe even if one were to rise from the dead.
It should be clear to any unbiased student of the Word that God’s promises to Abraham and his descendants, the children of Israel, are unconditional and irrevocable. We as Gentiles should be thankful that in God’s mercy, we have been grafted into the olive tree, becoming heirs of the blessing of Abraham. But we should not presume to have replaced Israel. God clearly still has a glorious future in store for His people Israel.
[1] http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/HistoryJewishPersecution/
- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
As we have seen, Replacement Theology is the belief that the Church has replaced national Israel. All the promises which had been given to Israel concerning a future kingdom in their land are spiritualized by Replacement theologians in an attempt to make them apply exclusively to the Church in this age.
What makes Replacement Theology particularly deceptive is that it is partially true. It is true that by virtue of our union with Christ – Abraham’s seed, we Gentiles are now also Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. We Gentiles, although we were wild olive branches, have now been grafted in among the true branches, while most of the natural branches (those of natural Israel) were broken off that we might be grafted in (Gal 3:14-16,29; Rom 11:17). As part of the new creation in Christ, we are of the Jerusalem from above and are called the Israel of God as opposed to natural Israel, or Israel after the flesh (Gal 4:26; Gal 6:16; 1Cor 10:18). The Jew/Gentile Body of Christ is the Church of the firstborn ones who are registered in heaven (Heb 12:23).
It is true that Israel has been temporarily set aside for judgment, but as we shall see, they have not been replaced. It is also true that the Church and not national Israel is presently benefitting from the New Covenant which was promised both to Israel and to Judah (Jer 31:31; 2Cor 3:6; Heb 8:6,13). However, Paul makes it clear that the covenant still pertains to them. He said of the Jews:
“I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” (Rom 9:3-5, cf. 15:8-9)
Notice Paul’s use of the present tense throughout. Even though they are under partial temporal blindness, they are still Israelites, and the covenants and promises still pertain to them. In the following verses he anticipates that some may ask why, if the covenants and the promises still pertain to them, are so few Israelites benefitting from them. He explains:
“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” (Rom 9:6-8)
Some would argue from this passage that the Church has replaced Israel since the true Israel of God consists only of those who are of the promise, and in Christ we all, whether Jew or Gentile, are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. However, in the context Paul is speaking of his “countrymen” the “Israelites” (9:3-4). It is best to understand his reference here to those that are the true Israel to be referring to the elect remnant of national Israel. Later in the context he shows how the unbelief of his countrymen Israel led to God showing mercy towards the Gentiles. If “Israel” in verse 8 includes the Gentile believers it would be the exception since Israel is mentioned nine more times in Romans and in every instance it is obvious that Paul is referring to Israel his countrymen, and not the Church (9:4; 9:27; 9:31; 10:19; 10:21; 11:2; 11:7; 11:25; 11:26).
In chapter nine Paul demonstrates that God is sovereign and just in hardening Israel because of their unbelief and showing mercy upon the Gentiles. From 9:30 through 11:10 he explains how the gospel of Jesus Christ is “at the present time” a stumbling-block to all Israel except for a remnant of grace because they seek after a righteousness which is by the works of the Law (Rom 10:3-4; 11:5). God has turned to the Gentiles – a people who didn’t even seek Him, in order to provoke Israel to jealousy (10:19-20). “At the present time” there is a remnant according to grace, but the rest of Israel have been blinded (11:5-8). Beginning in 11:11 through the end of the chapter, Paul speaks of Israel’s future salvation and restoration.
The argument made by Replacement Theologians that the Church permanently replaced Israel falls to the ground in 11:11 through the end of the chapter. Here Paul very emphatically states that Israel’s present condition is only temporary. He then reveals the glorious future which awaits his brethren, the Israelites. This passage speaks for itself and is so important for the issue at hand that I will begin by quoting it here in full:
“I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more THEIR FULLNESS!
13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will THEIR ACCEPTANCE be but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.’ 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins (the New Covenant).’ 28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are IRREVOCABLE. 30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. 33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom 11:11-36) [1]
Paul begins with the question: “Have the Israelites stumbled that they should fall?” For the Replacement doctrine to be true, Paul would have needed to answer in the affirmative, but instead he responds emphatically in the negative: “Certainly not!” Paul then explains that through their transgression God brought salvation to the Gentiles in order to provoke Israel to jealousy.
Some English translations here present an apparent contradiction, using the same word “fall” both times in the verse. However, whereas the first word (pipto), refers to a complete fall, the second word for fall is paraptomati which means “a slip or a transgression.” It was through their transgression that salvation came to the Gentiles. The third occurrence of the word “fall” in verse 12 is paraptoma and likewise simply means “transgression.” However, in spite of the gravity of their failure or transgression, God did not reject them as a nation, but rather turned to the Gentiles in order to provoke Israel to jealousy.
To me, verse 12 presents a glorious truth which is overlooked by many. He speaks of even greater riches for the Gentiles than that which we are presently experiencing after Israel is finally restored. He said: “Now if their fall (transgression) is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more THEIR FULLNESS!” The reference to “their fullness” is definitely speaking of the full restoration of Israel at Christ’s Second Coming. The English Standard Version reads “their full inclusion.” In other words, when “all Israel will be saved” (v. 26).
What many have failed to see is that the Church, made up of a remnant of elect Jews and Gentiles of this age, is only the chosen firstfruits of God’s new creation (Jas 1:18; Heb 12:23; Eph 1:12). In the “times of the restoration of all” (Acts 3:21), when the Deliverer comes out of Zion removing all ungodliness from Jacob, God will begin the process of restoring all of creation unto Himself, resulting in Him being all in all in eternity (1Cor 15:28). I consider the doctrine of the final restoration of all in more detail in my book, “The Triumph of Mercy.”
In verse 15 Paul again emphasizes that Israel’s final restoration will result in the perfection of the restoration of the rest of mankind which commenced in this age. “For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will THEIR ACCEPTANCE be but life from the dead?” Both contrasts in verses 12 and 15 emphasize Israel’s future restoration. Their transgression which resulted in their being cast away culminates in their “full inclusion” and “acceptance” when Israel sees the Deliverer come from Zion and they say, “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 13:35).
In verses 16-24 Paul counters the presumption of some that we, the Church, have permanently displaced Israel. In verse 23 we see that, far from Israel having been permanently rejected by God, the Israelites will be grafted in again once the partial judicial blindness is removed and they are given grace to believe (Zec 12:10-11). Then Paul unveils a mystery which Replacement teachers remain blinded to until this very day. He said:
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness FROM JACOB.” (vv. 25-27)
Paul said that the truth he was about to tell them was a mystery. Some Bible scholars define a mystery as a truth previously hidden but now revealed. In a sense that is true, but in another sense a mystery remains hidden. It remains hidden to the carnal or natural mind. Paul said concerning God’s mysteries:
“…we speak wisdom among those who are mature… we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory…no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God… we have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God… But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God…nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1Cor 2:6-14)
So we see that, while a mystery is indeed something revealed that was previously hidden, it still remains hidden unless it is revealed to our understanding by the Spirit. It remains hidden to the natural carnal mind.
What then is the mystery that Paul reveals concerning Israel? The mystery revealed to us is that Israel’s blindness is both temporary and partial, only lasting until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in – until all the elect firstfruits from among the Gentiles have come into the fold. Once the last elect Gentile has come into the fold the Deliverer will come out of Zion and then all Israel will be saved. Zechariah prophecies concerning Israel’s conversion which will take place in a moment when they look upon Him whom they have pierced:
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zech 12:10)
Many think that those who pierced Him will see Him only to afterwards be destroyed by Him taking vengeance for what they did to Him. However, when they see Him whom they pierced coming in the clouds in glory, instead of destroying them, God pours out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem (the Jews) the Spirit of grace and supplication! The revelation of Jesus Christ is for Israel’s salvation – not for her destruction. The result will be a deep national repentance. A nation will be reborn in a day, just as Isaiah prophesied:
“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children… ‘Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her… For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.” (Isa 66:8,10,12)
Here we see that the nation of Israel will be reborn in one day when the Deliverer comes out of Zion and all those who mourned for her in her affliction will rejoice over her with great joy when the Lord saves and restores Israel. In Isaiah 45:15-17 we see that the nations will be ashamed when they see how the Lord saves Israel with an everlasting salvation. (cf. Isa 54:1-8) Sadly, many within the Church who do not love Jerusalem will also be among those who will be ashamed of ever having hated and rejected God’s chosen people Israel.
In Isaiah 66, just before Israel’s deliverance, when they go from being a persecuted people to becoming a nation in a day, we find mention of some of Israel’s brethren who had shown hatred towards them and had rejected them in their affliction. Isaiah says:
“Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word: Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for My name's sake, said, ‘let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they shall be ashamed.” (Isa 66:5)
The “brethren” here probably has reference to Israel’s brethren the Ishmaelites who have hated and persecuted the Israelites to this very day. But certainly it would also include those within Christendom who have hated the Jews and cast them out, thinking they were doing it in the Lord’s name and for His glory, assuming that the Lord was pleased by their ill-treatment of the Jews. When the Deliverer comes out of Zion, saving all Israel, all those who have hated Israel will be greatly ashamed. Needless to say, very few who hold to Replacement theology love Israel and would wish themselves accursed from Christ for their sake as Paul did (Rom 9:3). Those who harbor hatred in their hearts towards the Jews need to ask themselves whether such hatred has God as its source, or Satan who has always hated God’s chosen people.
In verses 28 and 29 Paul explains that, although they are enemies of the gospel, they are beloved of God, because God’s gifts (referring to the land and other promises made to the fathers) and His election are irrevocable. He said:
“Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are BELOVED for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are IRREVOCABLE.” (Rom 11:28-29)
Some tend to think of God’s election in human terms. We often choose someone based upon our limited knowledge of that person. Then later after coming to know the individual better with all his flaws, we may end up rejecting him and choosing another in his place. However, in contrast to us, God inhabits eternity and elects according to His foreknowledge and omniscience. When He chose the nation of Israel their whole history was before Him, just as is the case with His election of each of us as individuals.
When He chose Israel, He chose them, knowing that they would crucify the Lord of glory. It is impossible for God to go back on His election as we often do, saying, “if I had known that they would do that, I would have never chosen them in the first place.” God chooses with full knowledge, not limited knowledge, and therefore His election is without repentance. From the beginning, before Israel even went in to take possession of the Promised Land, God revealed that He knew the course they would take throughout the entirety of their history. Nearly 1,500 years before Israel rejected their Messiah, Moses said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
“And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you… 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice 31 (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.” (Deut 4:27-31)
So, before even entering into the Promised Land, the Lord told them what would take place in their future. Way back then He told them that in judgment He would scatter them among the nations until the latter days. He assured them that He would never forsake them nor destroy them nor forget His covenant which He made with an oath to their fathers. His gifts and election are irrevocable.
Then, just as he did in the first three chapters of Romans, in verses 30 through 32, Paul again reminds the Gentiles that they were once equally disobedient to God. This is something that those within the Church who condemn the Jews (or any other sinner for that matter), all too easily lose sight of. We all, whether Jew or Gentile, are equally unworthy and in need of mercy. Paul says:
“For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 EVEN SO these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.” (Rom 11:30-32)
Paul says here that even though the Gentile believers were formerly disobedient they received mercy through Israel’s transgression when Israel was set aside for judgment. He then says “even so” or “in the same manner” that the Gentiles received mercy through their disobedience, Israel will also obtain mercy in spite of her disobedience. The very nature of mercy requires disobedience. One who has never disobeyed cannot know God’s love in the form of mercy since mercy is God, in love, not giving us what we deserve. We only know God’s multidimensional love in the form of mercy through the fall and our disobedience.
Verse 32 presents an amazing truth that most have completely overlooked due to the traditional doctrine of eternal torment for all except for the few who repent and receive God’s mercy in this brief lifetime: “For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.” The limiting qualifier “them” is not in the Greek text but was added in the King James Version, giving the impression that only Israel is being referred to. However, in the context of Romans, it is referring to God shutting up absolutely “all” whether Jew or Gentile under disobedience in order to show Himself merciful to all. It is the same “all” who have sinned and come short of the glory of God – the whole “world” of humanity, including both Jews and Gentiles, who are all alike shown to be guilty before God, only to afterwards receive His mercy and be justified freely by His grace upon repenting and putting faith in Jesus (Rom 3:9,19-20,23-24).
The universal reach of God’s mercy is even more clearly stated in verse 36 where he summarizes the whole matter saying, “For of (ek, “out of”) Him and through (dia) Him and to (eis, “into”) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” All who came out of God as to source (which includes absolutely all), exist through Him and will finally be restored or brought back into Him who is their source of being. The word “things” does not have an equivalent in Greek. Even when “all” (pas) is in the neuter form it does not necessarily refer to inanimate objects. Where “all” (pas) is clearly referring to persons, as is the emphasis here in verse 36, it is best to simply translate pas as “all.” Paul summarizes by saying that all, whether Jew or Gentile, will finally receive mercy and be reconciled unto God, resulting in Him being “all in all” in eternity (1Cor 15:28).
So, while it is true that Israel as a nation was set aside for judgment and the Jew/Gentile Church of the elect firstborn has received mercy under the New Covenant promised to the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Jer 31:31), the Church has not replaced Israel. Rather, the Gentiles have been grafted into the tree of the Abrahamic blessings in order to provoke Israel to jealousy. Then all Israel will be saved when the Deliverer comes out of Zion and takes away her sins.
Replacement theology is a gross misapprehension of the infinite grace and mercy of God who does not reject forever, nor willingly afflicts the children of men. As Jeremiah says:
“For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” (Lam 3:31-33)
God is a God of love and compassion who only afflicts us when necessary for our correction. The Lord will not reject Israel forever, nor will he cast off any of the “children of men” forever, for that matter. Israel’s blindness will only last until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. After this, the Deliverer will come from Zion to save Israel and reign from Jerusalem over all the nations of the earth. As we shall see in the next blog, there are numerous irrevocable promises to Israel as a nation which have yet to be fulfilled in the end of days.
[1] The English words “them” and “things” are not in the Greek texts obscure the truth of the final restoration of all, both Jew and Gentile.
- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
The earliest Church Fathers, even though they lived after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., were uniformly Premillennial and therefore anticipated that Christ would save and restore Israel as a nation and reign for 1,000 years from Jerusalem upon the throne of David at His Second Coming. I demonstrate this, citing numerous Fathers in my article, Premillennial Futurism - The Belief of the Early Church. However, as early as the late second century, some Church Fathers began to deny that there would be any future for Israel. They began to spiritualize the Millennium, applying it to the present age and replacing Israel with the Church. As time progressed, some of the Fathers like John Chrysostom (344 – 407 A.D.) waxed eloquent in expressing their contempt for the Jews. Chrysostom said:
“Many, I know, respect the Jews and think that their present way of life is a venerable one. This is why I hasten to uproot and tear out this deadly opinion… The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts… But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left? When God forsakes a place, that place becomes a dwelling of demons.”
By the third century even Origin, who taught that every rational being will ultimately be restored to God whether in heaven or on earth,[2] did not allow for the possibility that the Jews should ever be restored as a nation. He said:
“We may assert in utter confidence that the Jews will not return to their earlier situation, for they have committed the most abominable of crimes in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of the human race…hence the city where Jesus suffered was necessarily destroyed, the Jewish nation was driven from its country, and another people was called by God to the blessed election.”
According to these and other Church Fathers, God has utterly rejected Israel as a nation and the Church has once-and-for-all replaced Israel as the people of God. This doctrine has become known as Replacement Theology or Supersessionism. However, as I hope to demonstrate in the following pages, this was not what Jesus and His Apostles taught. After Jesus presented Himself to Israel as their King and Messiah and was rejected by them, He told them that their house would be left desolate - but not forever. He made it clear that the desolation would only last “until” a certain condition was met. He said: “you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" (Matt 23:39). He said that they would be scattered among the nations, however not forever, but only until such a time as they welcome Him as their Messiah and King. He also said:
“And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Lk 21:24)
As with all God’s judgments, His judgment against His people Israel is temporal, only lasting “until…”, and culminating in restoration - not eternal rejection (Lam 3:31-33). And considering the question Jesus’ disciples asked Him on the Mount of Olives just before He ascended, it seems apparent that they understood the irrevocability of God’s promises to Israel better than most theologians have throughout Church history. They asked Jesus if He would restore Israel at that time (Acts 1:6). If God had permanently rejected Israel as a nation, certainly Jesus would have corrected them, saying that Israel had been permanently rejected and would be replaced by the Church. But He simply said: "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Implied in His reply is the assumption that, in the Father’s time, Israel will indeed be restored as a nation.
The Lord later revealed to Paul that Israel had by no means been cast off, nor had they stumbled so as to fall (Rom 11:1,11). To him was revealed the mystery that the present partial hardening of Israel is only “until” the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the fold. Once the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled and God has called unto Himself His elect firstfruits from among the Gentiles, then all Israel will be saved when the Deliverer (Christ) comes out of Zion, removing all ungodliness from Jacob (Israel), taking away their sins (Rom 11:25-27).
The earliest Church Fathers - in agreement with the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, were Premillennialists and therefore believed that Christ would reign from Jerusalem over the restored twelve tribes of Israel and that the nations of the earth would come to worship in Zion. Indeed, just before going to the cross and knowing that Israel had rejected Him and would soon demand His crucifixion, Jesus made it clear that, in spite of their betrayal, Israel still had a future when He said to His disciples: “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Lk 22:29-30). This promise to His disciples was given after He had told the chief priests and the elders that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another people (Matt 21:43).
The Early Fathers understood from Scriptures like these that, in spite of Israel’s transgression and ensuing judgment, God’s mercy never comes to an end and therefore His unconditional promises concerning the final restoration of the twelve tribes as one nation in their own land were irrevocable. Tertullian (160 to 225 AD) says of national Israel:
“Christ promises to the Jews their primitive condition with the recovery of their country, and after this life's course is over repose in Hades in Abraham's bosom. Oh, most excellent God, when He restores in amnesty what He took away in wrath! Oh, what a God is yours, who both wounds and heals, creates evil and makes peace! Oh, what a God that is merciful even down to Hades!” [3]
The universality of the Premillennial hope among the Early Church Fathers is attested to by the great Church Historian, Phillip Schaff, in spite of the fact that he was not himself premillennial in his eschatology. He says:
“The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is…the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas (died AD 61), Papias (died AD 100), Justin Martyr (AD 100 – 165), Irenaeus (AD 130 – 202), Tertullian (AD 160 – 225), Methodius (died AD 311), and Lactantius (AD 250 – 325); while Caius (third century AD) , Origen (AD 184 – 253), Dionysius the Great (died AD 264), Eusebius (AD 265 – 340) as afterwards Jerome (AD 347 – 420) and Augustin (AD 354 – 430) opposed it….” [4]
However, with the introduction of the spiritual/allegorical approach to the Scriptures, borrowed from the Greek philosophers in the third and fourth centuries by Origin and other Christian scholars, came a departure from the hope for the Premillennial return of Christ to set up His kingdom on earth. The allegorical hermeneutic allowed for creativity in the interpretation of the Scriptures which gave rise to Amillennialism which denied any literal Millennium and Postmillennialism which taught that the millennial kingdom was now. Consequentially, all of the prophecies concerning Israel’s future kingdom were likewise allegorized in such a way as to make them apply to the Church, which, according to them, is presently reigning with Christ on the earth in the place of Israel who has been permanently rejected by God.
The Replacement theory logically led to the open antisemitism or hatred of the Jews, reflected in the writings of so many of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers from the late third century onward. If one believes that God’s wrath against the Jews is eternal and implacable for having rejected and crucified His Son, it is inevitable that they should in like manner come to hate those whom they believe God Himself hates. History has shown that people always become like the God in whom they believe. If the Church had continued in the revelation of God as seen in Jesus Christ and throughout the Scriptures - a God of love and mercy who does not remain angry forever (Jer 3:12), then the history of the Jews would have read much differently than it does today.
The seeds of antisemitism sown by the Replacement Theology of the late Fathers produced a harvest of incomprehensible suffering for the Jewish people wherever they went. They were hunted down and killed or expelled from virtually every country they fled to following the diaspora which began after the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem and culminating in the Diaspora Revolt in 115 A D. Jesus said that this would happen, and that it would continue until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lk 21:24). What to me is tragic is that much of this prophesied suffering has been inflicted at the hands of the predominately Gentile Church in the name of Christ!
This same diabolical hatred of the Jews was adopted and intensified by the Reformed Church under the influence of the reformer Martin Luther himself. In his booklet called, “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies” he referred to them as a venomous, miserable, blind, senseless and accursed people who were lazy thieves and robbers and a great plague to humanity. His proposed solution to the problem of the Jews was to burn their houses, schools and synagogues. He said that they should confiscate their money and possessions along with their Talmudic writings, forbidding their Rabbis to teach and compelling them to forced labor.
It should be no surprise therefore, that the Nazis often quoted Luther in order to promote their pogrom against the Jews. In Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” he said of Martin Luther that he was “a great warrior, a true statesman and a great reformer.” In 1924 Hitler spoke to thousands at a Christian gathering in Berlin. He said of Luther:
“Martin Luther has been the greatest encouragement of my life. Luther was a great man. He was a giant. With one blow he heralded the coming of the new dawn and the new age. He saw clearly that the Jews need to be destroyed, and we’re only beginning to see that we need to carry this work on… I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of Almighty God as I announce the most important work that Christians could undertake — and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of them once and for all.” [5]
Since most of the Christians in Germany at that time believed the Reformed doctrine that God hates the Jews and has forever rejected them as “the Christ killers,” they gave Hitler a standing ovation. While Martin Luther was greatly used of God to restore the truth of justification through faith alone, his propagation of the Replacement doctrine and its resulting antisemitism provoked one of history’s greatest tragedies. At the Nuremberg trials the Nazi leader, Julius Streicher, defended himself by saying, “I have never said anything that Martin Luther did not say.”
We as Christians need to acknowledge that the Holocaust was the evil fruit of Replacement Theology with its resultant antisemitism. Sadly, many Reformed teachers treat Premillennial Dispensational Christians who love and support Israel with the same contempt which they have shown towards the Jews. Many Gentile believers are guilty of boasting against the natural branches, thinking that now that we are called the Israel of God, we have permanently replaced national Israel (Rom 11:17-18). As I hope to demonstrate in the next blog of this series, the idea that the Church has permanently replaced Israel is based primarily upon a misunderstanding of Romans 11 where Paul actually argues the very opposite.
[1] See my book entitled “Last Days, Past or Present?” Chapter two: Premillennial Futurism – The Doctrine of the Early Church.
[2] “It is our conviction that the Word will prevail over all the intelligent creation.” Origin, Against Selsum 8.72.
[3] Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3 Irenaeus: Against Heresies Book 3 Chapter 24
[4] Schaff´s History of the Christian Church, Volume 1, chapter 12,158. Chiliasm.
[5] https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/has-the-church-replaced-israel/
The earliest Church Fathers, even though they lived after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., were uniformly Premillennial and therefore anticipated that Christ would save and restore Israel as a nation and reign for 1,000 years from Jerusalem upon the throne of David at His Second Coming. I demonstrate this, citing numerous Fathers in my article, Premillennial Futurism - The Belief of the Early Church. However, as early as the late second century, some Church Fathers began to deny that there would be any future for Israel. They began to spiritualize the Millennium, applying it to the present age and replacing Israel with the Church. As time progressed, some of the Fathers like John Chrysostom (344 – 407 A.D.) waxed eloquent in expressing their contempt for the Jews. Chrysostom said:
“Many, I know, respect the Jews and think that their present way of life is a venerable one. This is why I hasten to uproot and tear out this deadly opinion… The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts… But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left? When God forsakes a place, that place becomes a dwelling of demons.”
By the third century even Origin, who taught that every rational being will ultimately be restored to God whether in heaven or on earth,[2] did not allow for the possibility that the Jews should ever be restored as a nation. He said:
“We may assert in utter confidence that the Jews will not return to their earlier situation, for they have committed the most abominable of crimes in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of the human race…hence the city where Jesus suffered was necessarily destroyed, the Jewish nation was driven from its country, and another people was called by God to the blessed election.”
According to these and other Church Fathers, God has utterly rejected Israel as a nation and the Church has once-and-for-all replaced Israel as the people of God. This doctrine has become known as Replacement Theology or Supersessionism. However, as I hope to demonstrate in the following pages, this was not what Jesus and His Apostles taught. After Jesus presented Himself to Israel as their King and Messiah and was rejected by them, He told them that their house would be left desolate - but not forever. He made it clear that the desolation would only last “until” a certain condition was met. He said: “you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" (Matt 23:39). He said that they would be scattered among the nations, however not forever, but only until such a time as they welcome Him as their Messiah and King. He also said:
“And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Lk 21:24)
As with all God’s judgments, His judgment against His people Israel is temporal, only lasting “until…”, and culminating in restoration - not eternal rejection (Lam 3:31-33). And considering the question Jesus’ disciples asked Him on the Mount of Olives just before He ascended, it seems apparent that they understood the irrevocability of God’s promises to Israel better than most theologians have throughout Church history. They asked Jesus if He would restore Israel at that time (Acts 1:6). If God had permanently rejected Israel as a nation, certainly Jesus would have corrected them, saying that Israel had been permanently rejected and would be replaced by the Church. But He simply said: "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Implied in His reply is the assumption that, in the Father’s time, Israel will indeed be restored as a nation.
The Lord later revealed to Paul that Israel had by no means been cast off, nor had they stumbled so as to fall (Rom 11:1,11). To him was revealed the mystery that the present partial hardening of Israel is only “until” the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the fold. Once the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled and God has called unto Himself His elect firstfruits from among the Gentiles, then all Israel will be saved when the Deliverer (Christ) comes out of Zion, removing all ungodliness from Jacob (Israel), taking away their sins (Rom 11:25-27).
The earliest Church Fathers - in agreement with the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, were Premillennialists and therefore believed that Christ would reign from Jerusalem over the restored twelve tribes of Israel and that the nations of the earth would come to worship in Zion. Indeed, just before going to the cross and knowing that Israel had rejected Him and would soon demand His crucifixion, Jesus made it clear that, in spite of their betrayal, Israel still had a future when He said to His disciples: “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Lk 22:29-30). This promise to His disciples was given after He had told the chief priests and the elders that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another people (Matt 21:43).
The Early Fathers understood from Scriptures like these that, in spite of Israel’s transgression and ensuing judgment, God’s mercy never comes to an end and therefore His unconditional promises concerning the final restoration of the twelve tribes as one nation in their own land were irrevocable. Tertullian (160 to 225 AD) says of national Israel:
“Christ promises to the Jews their primitive condition with the recovery of their country, and after this life's course is over repose in Hades in Abraham's bosom. Oh, most excellent God, when He restores in amnesty what He took away in wrath! Oh, what a God is yours, who both wounds and heals, creates evil and makes peace! Oh, what a God that is merciful even down to Hades!” [3]
The universality of the Premillennial hope among the Early Church Fathers is attested to by the great Church Historian, Phillip Schaff, in spite of the fact that he was not himself premillennial in his eschatology. He says:
“The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is…the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas (died AD 61), Papias (died AD 100), Justin Martyr (AD 100 – 165), Irenaeus (AD 130 – 202), Tertullian (AD 160 – 225), Methodius (died AD 311), and Lactantius (AD 250 – 325); while Caius (third century AD) , Origen (AD 184 – 253), Dionysius the Great (died AD 264), Eusebius (AD 265 – 340) as afterwards Jerome (AD 347 – 420) and Augustin (AD 354 – 430) opposed it….” [4]
However, with the introduction of the spiritual/allegorical approach to the Scriptures, borrowed from the Greek philosophers in the third and fourth centuries by Origin and other Christian scholars, came a departure from the hope for the Premillennial return of Christ to set up His kingdom on earth. The allegorical hermeneutic allowed for creativity in the interpretation of the Scriptures which gave rise to Amillennialism which denied any literal Millennium and Postmillennialism which taught that the millennial kingdom was now. Consequentially, all of the prophecies concerning Israel’s future kingdom were likewise allegorized in such a way as to make them apply to the Church, which, according to them, is presently reigning with Christ on the earth in the place of Israel who has been permanently rejected by God.
The Replacement theory logically led to the open antisemitism or hatred of the Jews, reflected in the writings of so many of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers from the late third century onward. If one believes that God’s wrath against the Jews is eternal and implacable for having rejected and crucified His Son, it is inevitable that they should in like manner come to hate those whom they believe God Himself hates. History has shown that people always become like the God in whom they believe. If the Church had continued in the revelation of God as seen in Jesus Christ and throughout the Scriptures - a God of love and mercy who does not remain angry forever (Jer 3:12), then the history of the Jews would have read much differently than it does today.
The seeds of antisemitism sown by the Replacement Theology of the late Fathers produced a harvest of incomprehensible suffering for the Jewish people wherever they went. They were hunted down and killed or expelled from virtually every country they fled to following the diaspora which began after the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem and culminating in the Diaspora Revolt in 115 A D. Jesus said that this would happen, and that it would continue until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lk 21:24). What to me is tragic is that much of this prophesied suffering has been inflicted at the hands of the predominately Gentile Church in the name of Christ!
This same diabolical hatred of the Jews was adopted and intensified by the Reformed Church under the influence of the reformer Martin Luther himself. In his booklet called, “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies” he referred to them as a venomous, miserable, blind, senseless and accursed people who were lazy thieves and robbers and a great plague to humanity. His proposed solution to the problem of the Jews was to burn their houses, schools and synagogues. He said that they should confiscate their money and possessions along with their Talmudic writings, forbidding their Rabbis to teach and compelling them to forced labor.
It should be no surprise therefore, that the Nazis often quoted Luther in order to promote their pogrom against the Jews. In Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” he said of Martin Luther that he was “a great warrior, a true statesman and a great reformer.” In 1924 Hitler spoke to thousands at a Christian gathering in Berlin. He said of Luther:
“Martin Luther has been the greatest encouragement of my life. Luther was a great man. He was a giant. With one blow he heralded the coming of the new dawn and the new age. He saw clearly that the Jews need to be destroyed, and we’re only beginning to see that we need to carry this work on… I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of Almighty God as I announce the most important work that Christians could undertake — and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of them once and for all.” [5]
Since most of the Christians in Germany at that time believed the Reformed doctrine that God hates the Jews and has forever rejected them as “the Christ killers,” they gave Hitler a standing ovation. While Martin Luther was greatly used of God to restore the truth of justification through faith alone, his propagation of the Replacement doctrine and its resulting antisemitism provoked one of history’s greatest tragedies. At the Nuremberg trials the Nazi leader, Julius Streicher, defended himself by saying, “I have never said anything that Martin Luther did not say.”
We as Christians need to acknowledge that the Holocaust was the evil fruit of Replacement Theology with its resultant antisemitism. Sadly, many Reformed teachers treat Premillennial Dispensational Christians who love and support Israel with the same contempt which they have shown towards the Jews. Many Gentile believers are guilty of boasting against the natural branches, thinking that now that we are called the Israel of God, we have permanently replaced national Israel (Rom 11:17-18). As I hope to demonstrate in the next blog of this series, the idea that the Church has permanently replaced Israel is based primarily upon a misunderstanding of Romans 11 where Paul actually argues the very opposite.
[1] See my book entitled “Last Days, Past or Present?” Chapter two: Premillennial Futurism – The Doctrine of the Early Church.
[2] “It is our conviction that the Word will prevail over all the intelligent creation.” Origin, Against Selsum 8.72.
[3] Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3 Irenaeus: Against Heresies Book 3 Chapter 24
[4] Schaff´s History of the Christian Church, Volume 1, chapter 12,158. Chiliasm.
[5] https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/has-the-church-replaced-israel/
- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
--
The earliest Church Fathers, even though they lived after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., were uniformly Premillennial and therefore anticipated that Christ would save and restore Israel as a nation and reign for 1,000 years from Jerusalem upon the throne of David at His Second Coming.[1] However, as early as the late second century some Church Fathers began to deny that there would be any future for Israel. They began to spiritualize the Millennium, applying it to the present age and replacing Israel with the Church. As time progressed, some of the Fathers like John Chrysostom (344 – 407 A.D.) waxed eloquent in expressing their contempt for the Jews. Chrysostom said:
“Many, I know, respect the Jews and think that their present way of life is a venerable one. This is why I hasten to uproot and tear out this deadly opinion… The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts… But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left? When God forsakes a place, that place becomes a dwelling of demons.”
By the third century even Origin, who taught that every rational being will ultimately be restored to God whether in heaven or on earth,[2] did not allow for the possibility that the Jews should ever be restored as a nation. He said:
“We may assert in utter confidence that the Jews will not return to their earlier situation, for they have committed the most abominable of crimes in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of the human race…hence the city where Jesus suffered was necessarily destroyed, the Jewish nation was driven from its country, and another people was called by God to the blessed election.”
According to these and other Church Fathers, God has utterly rejected Israel as a nation and the Church has once-and-for-all replaced Israel as the people of God. This doctrine has become known as Replacement Theology or Supersessionism. However, as I hope to demonstrate in the following pages, this was not what Jesus and His Apostles taught. After Jesus presented Himself to Israel as their King and Messiah and was rejected by them, He told them that their house would be left desolate - but not forever. He made it clear that the desolation would only last “until” a certain condition was met. He said: “you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" (Matt 23:39). He said that they would be scattered among the nations, however, not forever but only until such a time as they welcome Him as their Messiah and King. He also said:
“And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Lk 21:24)
As with all God’s judgments, His judgment against His people Israel is temporal, only lasting “until…”, and culminating in restoration - not eternal rejection (Lam 3:31-33). And considering the question Jesus’ disciples asked Him on the Mount of Olives just before He ascended, it seems apparent that they understood the irrevocability of God’s promises to Israel better than most theologians have throughout Church history. They asked Jesus if He would restore Israel at that time (Acts 1:6). If God had permanently rejected Israel as a nation certainly Jesus would have corrected them, saying that Israel had been permanently rejected and would be replaced by the Church. But He simply said: "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Implied in His reply is the assumption that, in the Father’s time, Israel will indeed be restored as a nation.
The Lord later revealed to Paul that Israel had by no means been cast off, nor had they stumbled so as to fall (Rom 11:1,11). To him was revealed the mystery that the present partial hardening of Israel is only “until” the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the fold. Once the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled and God has called unto Himself His elect firstfruits from among the Gentiles, then all Israel will be saved when the Deliverer (Christ) comes out of Zion, removing all ungodliness from Jacob (Israel), taking away their sins (Rom 11:25-27).
The earliest Church Fathers - in agreement with the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, were Premillennialists and therefore believed that Christ would reign from Jerusalem over the restored twelve tribes of Israel and that the nations of the earth would come to worship in Zion. Indeed, just before going to the cross and knowing that Israel had rejected Him and would soon demand His crucifixion, Jesus made it clear that, in spite of their betrayal, Israel still had a future when He said to His disciples: “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Lk 22:29-30). This promise to His disciples was given after He had told the chief priests and the elders that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another people (Matt 21:43).
The Early Fathers understood from Scriptures like these that, in spite of Israel’s transgression and ensuing judgment, God’s mercy never comes to an end and therefore His unconditional promises concerning the final restoration of the twelve tribes as one nation in their own land were irrevocable. Tertullian (160 to 225 AD) says of national Israel:
“Christ promises to the Jews their primitive condition with the recovery of their country, and after this life's course is over repose in Hades in Abraham's bosom. Oh, most excellent God, when He restores in amnesty what He took away in wrath! Oh, what a God is yours, who both wounds and heals, creates evil and makes peace! Oh, what a God, that is merciful even down to Hades!” [3]
The universality of the Premillennial hope among the Early Church Fathers is attested to by the great Church Historian, Phillip Schaff, in spite of the fact that he was not himself premillennial in his eschatology. He says:
“The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is…the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas (died AD 61), Papias (died AD 100), Justin Martyr (AD 100 – 165), Irenaeus (AD 130 – 202), Tertullian (AD 160 – 225), Methodius (died AD 311), and Lactantius (AD 250 – 325); while Caius (third century AD) , Origen (AD 184 – 253), Dionysius the Great (died AD 264), Eusebius (AD 265 – 340) as afterwards Jerome (AD 347 – 420) and Augustin (AD 354 – 430) opposed it….” [4]
However, with the introduction of the spiritual/allegorical approach to the Scriptures, borrowed from the Greek philosophers in the third and fourth centuries by Origin and other Christian scholars, came a departure from the hope for the Premillennial return of Christ to set up His kingdom on earth. The allegorical hermeneutic allowed for creativity in the interpretation of the Scriptures which gave rise to Amillennialism which denied any literal Millennium and Postmillennialism which taught that the millennial kingdom was now. Consequentially, all of the prophecies concerning Israel’s future kingdom were likewise allegorized in such a way as to make them apply to the Church, which, according to them, is presently reigning with Christ on the earth in the place of Israel who has been permanently rejected by God.
The Replacement theory logically led to the open antisemitism or hatred of the Jews, reflected in the writings of so many of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers from the late third century onward. If one believes that God’s wrath against the Jews is eternal and implacable for having rejected and crucified His Son, it is inevitable that they would in like manner come to hate those whom they believe God Himself hates. History has shown that people always become like the God in whom they believe. If the Church had continued in the revelation of God as seen in Jesus Christ and throughout the Scriptures - a God of love and mercy who does not remain angry forever (Jer 3:12), then the history of the Jews would have read much differently than it does today.
The seeds of antisemitism sown by the Replacement Theology of the late Fathers produced a harvest of incomprehensible suffering for the Jewish people wherever they went. They were hunted down and killed or expelled from virtually every country they fled to following the diaspora which began after the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus said that this would happen, and that it would continue until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lk 21:24). What to me is tragic is that much of this prophesied suffering has been inflicted at the hands of the predominately Gentile Church in the name of Christ!
This same diabolical hatred of the Jews was adopted and intensified by the Reformed Church under the influence of the reformer Martin Luther himself. In his booklet called, “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies” he referred to them as a venomous, miserable, blind, senseless and accursed people who were lazy thieves and robbers and a great plague to humanity. His proposed solution to the problem of the Jews was to burn their houses, schools and synagogues. He said that they should confiscate their money and possessions along with their Talmudic writings, forbidding their Rabbis to teach and compelling them to forced labor.
It should be no surprise therefore, that the Nazis often quoted Luther in order to promote their pogrom against the Jews. In Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” he said of Martin Luther that he was “a great warrior, a true statesman and a great reformer.” In 1924 Hitler spoke to thousands at a Christian gathering in Berlin. He said of Luther:
“Martin Luther has been the greatest encouragement of my life. Luther was a great man. He was a giant. With one blow he heralded the coming of the new dawn and the new age. He saw clearly that the Jews need to be destroyed, and we’re only beginning to see that we need to carry this work on… I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of Almighty God as I announce the most important work that Christians could undertake — and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of them once and for all.” [5]
Since most of the Christians in Germany at that time believed the Reformed doctrine that God hates the Jews and has forever rejected them as “the Christ killers” they gave Hitler a standing ovation. While Martin Luther was greatly used of God to restore the truth of justification through faith alone, his propagation of the Replacement doctrine and its resulting antisemitism provoked one of history’s greatest tragedies. At the Nuremberg trials the Nazi leader, Julius Streicher, defended himself by saying, “I have never said anything that Martin Luther did not say.”
We as Christians need to acknowledge that the Holocaust was the evil fruit of Replacement Theology with its resultant antisemitism. Sadly, many Reformed teachers treat Premillennial Dispensational Christians who love and support Israel with the same contempt which they have shown towards the Jews. Many Gentile believers are guilty of boasting against the natural branches, thinking that now that we are called the Israel of God, we have permanently replaced national Israel (Rom 11:17-18). As I hope to demonstrate in the next blog of this series, the idea that the Church has permanently replaced Israel is based primarily upon a misunderstanding of Romans 11 where Paul actually argues the very opposite.
[1] See my book entitled “Last Days, Past or Present?” Chapter two: Premillennial Futurism – The Doctrine of the Early Church.
[2] “It is our conviction that the Word will prevail over all the intelligent creation.” Origin, Against Selsum 8.72.
[3] Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3 Irenaeus: Against Heresies Book 3 Chapter 24
[4] Schaff´s History of the Christian Church, Volume 1, chapter 12,158. Chiliasm.
[5] https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/has-the-church-replaced-israel/
--
The earliest Church Fathers, even though they lived after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., were uniformly Premillennial and therefore anticipated that Christ would save and restore Israel as a nation and reign for 1,000 years from Jerusalem upon the throne of David at His Second Coming.[1] However, as early as the late second century some Church Fathers began to deny that there would be any future for Israel. They began to spiritualize the Millennium, applying it to the present age and replacing Israel with the Church. As time progressed, some of the Fathers like John Chrysostom (344 – 407 A.D.) waxed eloquent in expressing their contempt for the Jews. Chrysostom said:
“Many, I know, respect the Jews and think that their present way of life is a venerable one. This is why I hasten to uproot and tear out this deadly opinion… The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts… But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left? When God forsakes a place, that place becomes a dwelling of demons.”
By the third century even Origin, who taught that every rational being will ultimately be restored to God whether in heaven or on earth,[2] did not allow for the possibility that the Jews should ever be restored as a nation. He said:
“We may assert in utter confidence that the Jews will not return to their earlier situation, for they have committed the most abominable of crimes in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of the human race…hence the city where Jesus suffered was necessarily destroyed, the Jewish nation was driven from its country, and another people was called by God to the blessed election.”
According to these and other Church Fathers, God has utterly rejected Israel as a nation and the Church has once-and-for-all replaced Israel as the people of God. This doctrine has become known as Replacement Theology or Supersessionism. However, as I hope to demonstrate in the following pages, this was not what Jesus and His Apostles taught. After Jesus presented Himself to Israel as their King and Messiah and was rejected by them, He told them that their house would be left desolate - but not forever. He made it clear that the desolation would only last “until” a certain condition was met. He said: “you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" (Matt 23:39). He said that they would be scattered among the nations, however, not forever but only until such a time as they welcome Him as their Messiah and King. He also said:
“And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Lk 21:24)
As with all God’s judgments, His judgment against His people Israel is temporal, only lasting “until…”, and culminating in restoration - not eternal rejection (Lam 3:31-33). And considering the question Jesus’ disciples asked Him on the Mount of Olives just before He ascended, it seems apparent that they understood the irrevocability of God’s promises to Israel better than most theologians have throughout Church history. They asked Jesus if He would restore Israel at that time (Acts 1:6). If God had permanently rejected Israel as a nation certainly Jesus would have corrected them, saying that Israel had been permanently rejected and would be replaced by the Church. But He simply said: "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Implied in His reply is the assumption that, in the Father’s time, Israel will indeed be restored as a nation.
The Lord later revealed to Paul that Israel had by no means been cast off, nor had they stumbled so as to fall (Rom 11:1,11). To him was revealed the mystery that the present partial hardening of Israel is only “until” the fullness of the Gentiles comes into the fold. Once the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled and God has called unto Himself His elect firstfruits from among the Gentiles, then all Israel will be saved when the Deliverer (Christ) comes out of Zion, removing all ungodliness from Jacob (Israel), taking away their sins (Rom 11:25-27).
The earliest Church Fathers - in agreement with the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, were Premillennialists and therefore believed that Christ would reign from Jerusalem over the restored twelve tribes of Israel and that the nations of the earth would come to worship in Zion. Indeed, just before going to the cross and knowing that Israel had rejected Him and would soon demand His crucifixion, Jesus made it clear that, in spite of their betrayal, Israel still had a future when He said to His disciples: “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Lk 22:29-30). This promise to His disciples was given after He had told the chief priests and the elders that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another people (Matt 21:43).
The Early Fathers understood from Scriptures like these that, in spite of Israel’s transgression and ensuing judgment, God’s mercy never comes to an end and therefore His unconditional promises concerning the final restoration of the twelve tribes as one nation in their own land were irrevocable. Tertullian (160 to 225 AD) says of national Israel:
“Christ promises to the Jews their primitive condition with the recovery of their country, and after this life's course is over repose in Hades in Abraham's bosom. Oh, most excellent God, when He restores in amnesty what He took away in wrath! Oh, what a God is yours, who both wounds and heals, creates evil and makes peace! Oh, what a God, that is merciful even down to Hades!” [3]
The universality of the Premillennial hope among the Early Church Fathers is attested to by the great Church Historian, Phillip Schaff, in spite of the fact that he was not himself premillennial in his eschatology. He says:
“The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is…the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas (died AD 61), Papias (died AD 100), Justin Martyr (AD 100 – 165), Irenaeus (AD 130 – 202), Tertullian (AD 160 – 225), Methodius (died AD 311), and Lactantius (AD 250 – 325); while Caius (third century AD) , Origen (AD 184 – 253), Dionysius the Great (died AD 264), Eusebius (AD 265 – 340) as afterwards Jerome (AD 347 – 420) and Augustin (AD 354 – 430) opposed it….” [4]
However, with the introduction of the spiritual/allegorical approach to the Scriptures, borrowed from the Greek philosophers in the third and fourth centuries by Origin and other Christian scholars, came a departure from the hope for the Premillennial return of Christ to set up His kingdom on earth. The allegorical hermeneutic allowed for creativity in the interpretation of the Scriptures which gave rise to Amillennialism which denied any literal Millennium and Postmillennialism which taught that the millennial kingdom was now. Consequentially, all of the prophecies concerning Israel’s future kingdom were likewise allegorized in such a way as to make them apply to the Church, which, according to them, is presently reigning with Christ on the earth in the place of Israel who has been permanently rejected by God.
The Replacement theory logically led to the open antisemitism or hatred of the Jews, reflected in the writings of so many of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers from the late third century onward. If one believes that God’s wrath against the Jews is eternal and implacable for having rejected and crucified His Son, it is inevitable that they would in like manner come to hate those whom they believe God Himself hates. History has shown that people always become like the God in whom they believe. If the Church had continued in the revelation of God as seen in Jesus Christ and throughout the Scriptures - a God of love and mercy who does not remain angry forever (Jer 3:12), then the history of the Jews would have read much differently than it does today.
The seeds of antisemitism sown by the Replacement Theology of the late Fathers produced a harvest of incomprehensible suffering for the Jewish people wherever they went. They were hunted down and killed or expelled from virtually every country they fled to following the diaspora which began after the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus said that this would happen, and that it would continue until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lk 21:24). What to me is tragic is that much of this prophesied suffering has been inflicted at the hands of the predominately Gentile Church in the name of Christ!
This same diabolical hatred of the Jews was adopted and intensified by the Reformed Church under the influence of the reformer Martin Luther himself. In his booklet called, “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies” he referred to them as a venomous, miserable, blind, senseless and accursed people who were lazy thieves and robbers and a great plague to humanity. His proposed solution to the problem of the Jews was to burn their houses, schools and synagogues. He said that they should confiscate their money and possessions along with their Talmudic writings, forbidding their Rabbis to teach and compelling them to forced labor.
It should be no surprise therefore, that the Nazis often quoted Luther in order to promote their pogrom against the Jews. In Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” he said of Martin Luther that he was “a great warrior, a true statesman and a great reformer.” In 1924 Hitler spoke to thousands at a Christian gathering in Berlin. He said of Luther:
“Martin Luther has been the greatest encouragement of my life. Luther was a great man. He was a giant. With one blow he heralded the coming of the new dawn and the new age. He saw clearly that the Jews need to be destroyed, and we’re only beginning to see that we need to carry this work on… I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of Almighty God as I announce the most important work that Christians could undertake — and that is to be against the Jews and get rid of them once and for all.” [5]
Since most of the Christians in Germany at that time believed the Reformed doctrine that God hates the Jews and has forever rejected them as “the Christ killers” they gave Hitler a standing ovation. While Martin Luther was greatly used of God to restore the truth of justification through faith alone, his propagation of the Replacement doctrine and its resulting antisemitism provoked one of history’s greatest tragedies. At the Nuremberg trials the Nazi leader, Julius Streicher, defended himself by saying, “I have never said anything that Martin Luther did not say.”
We as Christians need to acknowledge that the Holocaust was the evil fruit of Replacement Theology with its resultant antisemitism. Sadly, many Reformed teachers treat Premillennial Dispensational Christians who love and support Israel with the same contempt which they have shown towards the Jews. Many Gentile believers are guilty of boasting against the natural branches, thinking that now that we are called the Israel of God, we have permanently replaced national Israel (Rom 11:17-18). As I hope to demonstrate in the next blog of this series, the idea that the Church has permanently replaced Israel is based primarily upon a misunderstanding of Romans 11 where Paul actually argues the very opposite.
[1] See my book entitled “Last Days, Past or Present?” Chapter two: Premillennial Futurism – The Doctrine of the Early Church.
[2] “It is our conviction that the Word will prevail over all the intelligent creation.” Origin, Against Selsum 8.72.
[3] Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3 Irenaeus: Against Heresies Book 3 Chapter 24
[4] Schaff´s History of the Christian Church, Volume 1, chapter 12,158. Chiliasm.
[5] https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/has-the-church-replaced-israel/