God’s Plan for Israel God’s plans for the earth and humanity are in motion. His purposes are clear and never coincidental. But to understand God’s heart for mankind, we must acknowledge the unique role God gave to His people Israel. Because His love knows no bounds and is never changing, the covenant-keeping God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob watches carefully over all the nations. A significant leg of His journey with mankind has been in the land of Israel. There, He walked with Abraham. He revealed His laws to Moses. And He sent His Son to this same geographical space in Jewish flesh. In the first verse of Isaiah 53 we see that Israel, for the most part, would reject the Messiah who came to die for her sins. Yet, a future salvation of Israel is promised by God. The day is coming when the eyes of the Jewish people will be opened to see in living color that Jesus of Nazareth is their only Messiah and Savior.
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Israel is identified as God’s “firstborn Son” (Exod.4:22–23). In context, Yahweh calls Israel as his firstborn son. What follows in Exodus is competition to see who is God’s true son. In #delivering children of Abraham from #Egypt, God shows who is the true Son of God. Later revelation identifies exodus where God became father of Israel (Deut. 32:18; Psa. 80:15; Jer. 31:9; Hos. 11:1.) this identification explains how Israel is like Adam—Israel is a “corporate Adam.” What began with Adam is carried on in Israel until it comes to Christ. Matthew identifies Jesus as the True Israel (Hosea11:1, Matt2:13–15) “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” By applying isreals title to Jesus, he explains how Jesus is God’s Son. When Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days he repeats the events of Israel, signifying the son Jesus is- like Israel. But Jesus will not disobey his Father like Israel did; he will prove himself obedient unto death, thus becoming the firstborn -from- the dead. Jesus lived a sinless life, something incapable of humans. God promised a house (dynasty) for David and a son who would sit on an eternal throne and be the son of God- “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son” In the immediate history of Israel, Solomon fulfilled this by ruling with wisdom and justice, bringing peace and blessing to the people by leading from #Zion. Solomon turned away from God to serve #idols... later, David’s heirs broke covenant with God and lost their right to sit on the throne. Still, the mold for a Davidic king who was the son of God was set, as the Prophets lamented the fall of David’s house, they promised a son of David whose #righteousness would #restore the “kingdom to Israel.” In the NT, Jesus is the #son of #David, whose #righteousness under the #law proves he is God’s true son, which brings all the #promises of the new covenant to #fruition. Its instructive that the gospel message is based on promises to David (Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:8). Christ Messiah=delivery from bondage. Yahweh’s identity=in christ=Israel’s identity is redemption in christ=zion. (Yahweh begins in exodus and ends in redemption in christ messiah facilitation Zion).
Paul speaks of Christ receiving the title “Son of God” at his resurrection. Vrs3–4, “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” This passage is best understood of Christ’s exaltation in his resurrection. While Jesus is God the Son throughout his human life, his resurrection assigns him the title “Son of God.” (Acts 13:32–33, Hebrews 5:5–6). Jesus has proven to be God’s true son and worthy of an eternal throne. It is after Jesus’s humanity is “perfected” (through Israel’s unity with him) that he receives the title, “Son of God” (Heb. 5:5–6). This was necessary for the Son to learn obedience through #suffering- (Christ rose from the dead and ascended to the Father’s right hand (fulfilliPsa. 110:1), all creation was put under his feet). In his exaltation, Jesus received right to rule over heaven and earth as the son of David, who is the son of God. What Adam, Israel, and David failed to prove their sonship—Jesus has done. His resurrection proves to be his coronation. Paul identifies the core of the gospel message- God in Christ unites all things in heaven and earth(Eph. 1:10), as the eternal Son of God is recognized as the Son of God to whom redemptive history has been pointing. “When the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4–5). When the divine Son took on humanity he came to fulfill the role marked out for him by Adam, Israel, and David. The #eternal #Word took on #flesh #dwelt among us (Yahweh holy spirit manifesting through Christ’s earthly mission) John identifies Jesus as “the only Son from the Father” and John 5:18 identifies the Son as “equal” with the Father, which led the Jewish leaders to desire Jesus’s death, they didn’t agree. In the Gospels, we find Jesus is not only the son of God, according to his humanity; he is the Son of God, according to his deity. #Jesus #is God’s Son, the one to whom all Scripture *leads, and the one -who is- God and man. “Then I looked, and behold, a #lamb standing on Mount #Zion, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.” Rev-14.1 It is the same for we who are spiritual residents of the kingdom of heaven – the heavenly Jerusalem-#dwelling place of christ #messiah. (Rev14:1) Zion is where Yahweh, the God of Israel, dwells (Isaiah 8:18; Psalm 74:2), the place where he is king (Isaiah 24:23) and where he has installed his king, David (Psalm 2:6). In the Bible, the Land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem are both referred to as Zion. The name refers to both a hill in Jerusalem and to the city itself — also used to mean "holy place" or "kingdom of heaven." After Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, the Israelites could not forget Zion (Psalm 137), and, in the prophecy after the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, Zion is the scene of Yahweh’s -messianic- salvation. It is to Zion that the exiles will be restored (Jeremiah 3:14), and there they will find Yahweh (Jeremiah 31). After the crucifixion, the 2nd temple *falls to destruction from the pagan romans. This is when the same *context of OT scriptures in Judaism and christianity diverge interpretation. The collections of scriptures in the Hebrew cannons were -displaced- of chronological -order- of context and storyline. Because of the destruction of the temple- This Hebrew canon, though somewhat fluid up to the early 2nd century BC, was finally -fixed- by a council of rabbis at Jabneh (Jamnia), now in Israel, c. AD 100. The Oral Torah, transmitted orally, explains the Written Torah- untill written after 70AD. Though scripture is all of the above- because of the reordering and transmission it is only being *seen as being about people, god and land, which in its -entirety- and -order- depicts the unifying picture of *humanity, salvation and *redemption. The Prophets in the Protestant canon include Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel from the Hebrew Latter Prophets. The Minor Prophets (The Twelve) are treated as 12 separate books; thus the Protestant canon has 17 prophetic books. Here- Zion #symbolizes a longing by wandering or lost people for *returning to their safe *homeland -with- God.
Christ the Deliverer Is the Bridge of Understanding and Peace. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. God offers severity to the fallen but kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness to the fallen- for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will the natural branches, be grafted back into their own tree? I want you to understand this mystery, a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Jesus is the “the Deliverer” (ton heruomenon) from God's wrath to come. The closest parallel in the NT to this word “Deliverer” is in Rom11:26, Vers26: “And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, ‘The Deliverer (ho heruomenos) will come from Zion [Jerusalem/heavenly Jerusalem], he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.” This Deliverer is Jesus Christ; the one who will save “all Israel,” and his salvation will be from “the wrath to come.” by “banishing ungodliness from the people,” “He will banish ungodliness from Jacob” from all Israel and will forgive their sins: “And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” Israel will be saved when Jesus Christ, the deliverer, comes from Zion and (1)takes away the ungodliness —that is, the hardening— from Israel and replaces it with faith [if they do not continue in their unbelief , they will be grafted in], and so their sins will be forgiven, they will be grafted into the tree of salvation and promise as one with the Gentiles who believe in Jesus. One Deliverer, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Messiah of Israel, saves us both through faith alone in his finished work on the cross. The bridge from Christ to Israel is found in the hope that Israel trust their Christ. |
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