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CHAPTER SEVEN

THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD AND THOSE, HIS PEOPLE:

THE KING, THE COVENANT, THE CONTRADICTION
AND THE CORONATION

There is in man a tendency to go to extremes. Balance is the key word for some, but it is not so much balance, as if one were walking on a tight-rope, when you come to the word, work and ways of the Lord for man,
but exhaustive care in following the whole counsel of God
and not going off on a tangent.

In the case of Israel, we have often had occasion to consider its biblical case, and in particular to look at amillenialism with its trend to divorce the Book of the Lord from the current episodes of the defined land, which it covers to the end (Amos 3:7, Romans 11), while admirably stressing the constancy of the divine nature and way, and dispensationalism, with its commendable vigour in insisting that Israel when defined, means nothing else, but its deplorable failure to consider the constraint of other components bearing on this topic,
equally found in the word of God.

It is a genuine cause for lament that so much scholarship on both sides should in this regard be so wasted, each omitting what the other sees, each going to an extreme with what it sees, not doing full justice to all that is written.

The result is clear. Neither party historically 'gives in' for each is in possession of vital data, and each is by fidelity to its position (alas, often taken as an -ism instead of the whole counsel of God), and to those elements in it that are true, incapable it almost seems, of a broader and eventually mutually encompassing realisation, which is there all the time, in the Bible.

Thus the amillienialists are adamant about ONE Gospel and ONE body of the Lord who is changeless and constant; and they are right. God's ways are everlasting as the prophet declares (Habakkuk 3:6), and they do not change. It has always been a matter  of finding grace in the eyes of the Lord, whether in Noah or Paul. The Cross is the ultimate, and there is no revision or reversion from that (Ephesians 1:10, Galatians 6:14) On the other hand, the dispensationalists are justifiably adamant that there is no question of a definable entity, of a unique kind, called Israel, being something else.

Of course the term 'Israel' or indeed 'Jew', can be essentialised, like many other terms,  the latter used with special intent as in Romans 2, the former in Galatians 6, in parallel; and there is a sense in which the Israel from the first before God, was in principle an obedient, believing one, prevailing with God (in the person of Jacob), and  finding grace in the sight of the Lord, whereas Israel the nation could become so abominable that by no stretch of the imagination could it share that original and basic sense. This comes to a climax in Isaiah 30:8ff., where Isaiah is instructed to write in a tablet and note on a scroll FOR EVER AND EVER (no cessation here), that Israel is "a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear  the law of the Lord." That passage continues even more sharply!

No glory will ever come distinctively Israel's way; but to the 'remnant' (Isaiah 11:10), to those believing (Isaiah 53:1,10), there will assuredly come a glory when the very walls of the city are salvation (Isaiah 60) and not by virtue of the things of the Old Covenant, where even animal sacrifice becomes utterly abhorrent in the light of the culminating, comprehensive and adequate sacrifice of the Lord (Isaiah 53, 66:3), but by virtue of their King to whom as in Jeremiah 3, the nations will come.

It is not a side-show. It is the Salvation City which counts, where in this there is no glory but that of the Lord, where the people are "all righteous" (Isaiah 60:21), for that is the nature of the city, where the rule of the Lord is so absolute and entire (as in Isaiah 33), that nationalistic panache or psychic self-exaltation is as foreign as are the Great Lakes of the USA and Canada, from the Sahara, and from Israel as in  the reality of Isaiah 19:19-25.

With the Lord to come and reign in the midst of Jerusalem, Himself the criterion of the Gospel, the King of glory, what had been despised, this Jerusalem, becomes a posting for peace and a place of divine residence and presidency. "Violence shall no more be heard in your land"  for the rule of the Lord (as in Psalm 2) will be so intense and immense that force is irrelevant (Isaiah 60:18). Its role will be archaic for the millenium, as much as any exaltation of Israel or anyone else; and when it ends (as in Revelation 20:7-10), heaven simply devoured them. It seems hard for an old Satanic dog to learn new tricks. When it comes to crucifying Christ, once is enough (Hebrews 9), as all should be now have realised!

Thus, in that very land of His death and resurrection, of the world's scorn while it despised and harassed, persecuted and downgraded Israel, as if the word of God and the mission of His people were a mere nothing, this world will find, as in part it has found already (cf. Zechariah 11), that a divine nut, even if scorched by sin, cannot be broken by human jaws.

The cosmic clutch of evil, this world's ruler and his minions, these will find something. It is this: that not by Israel but by God will the land to which the humiliated and humbled Israel, the rebel, returned by divine grace, be saved, first territorially (as in Ezekiel 36) and then spiritually (as in Ezekiel 37 cf.  It Bubbles ... Ch. 10). Israel will again be the place of divine peace and power (Micah 4); but this as exalting God, the Gospel and His historic promises, which do not denigrate His covenant, or its fulfilment, but apply it!

It is sad that each side goes too far, either to virtually obliterate the clearly defined Israel in its promises, or to degrade the clearly defined and unalterable culmination of revealed and pardoning truth in the Gospel, by recidivist antics.

Nevertheless, despite the extremes to which both parties go, either compromising the Gospel and contradicting the word of God, or compromising the plan of the Lord (as in Romans 11) and so contradicting the word of God, there is a cumulative result. Each having made a valid contribution, there is a scriptural basis to which one returns, in which these contributions inhere, and from which these extremes are excluded.

Alas, exactly as with Wesley and Calvin^*1, there are essential points which each had, and there were horrific errors both made; and neither party is keen to move towards the other, since it is getting near  to horrific shoals, perilous indeed; but when these are avoided, and one sails in the passage between them, a place for spiritual shipping, then each bell of warning is heeded, and the safe and deep passage can be taken. As bells, each does well; but as a place to dwell, neither is biblically adequate. In this case, it is not a rocky plateau in the Bible which is offered by each contestant; it is a sharp and pointed rock, shaped by man from the divine material, and apt to pierce the ships which pass.

On this, see Deliver us from Dispensation, and SMR Appendix A with the numerous additives on both topics, to be found in the Index for the one, as for the other. See especially, and more broadly, Bay of Retractable Islands, Mission to the Mainland    19.

In fact, neither the King nor the Kingdom of Heaven, nor His ways nor His Gospel will ever change; for God did not come to this earth in order to be superseded, but to make His ways clear (Ephesians 1:10). Christ in the Book of Life is not a Chapter but the Crux, and the author of salvation (Hebrews 12).

When HE acts in the end, then judgment is its name, and indeed the whole world with its works is to go. Sin makes man such, and God is not such. Force is never the mainspring of faith, nor are its ways interwoven. John 18:36ff. remains, and the kingdom of heaven remains and will remain; and while the Messiah as in Psalm 2 and 110, will end the revolt of man, yet it is with a different heart and another spirit than that which moves man by force, that His government will be (Isaiah 9:7, 11, Psalm 72). Never again will nation be elevated or force advanced, or pride permitted or pre-eminence shared! (Isaiah 2:4-5). It is the LORD who will control EVERY nation and NO nation will be able to impose itself at all. Isaiah 19 sets the tone nobly.

THE DEPICTION

Let us look back.

In retrospect for Israel, there was a species of glory in the time of Solomon, but by contrast, look at its end, even for him! (Man in Retrospect, in Prospect and in Bold Relief Ch. 5). There was also something near it in the days of David, but look at his humiliation (Psalm 51). It was to show forth the praises of God, not its own glory, that the land was commissioned (Isaiah 43:21). As Isaiah 30 displays, for itself as itself, Israel will never have glory. As a component, however, in the saving grace of God, it will be made to shine, with all others, and having its own particular message, for no good thing is forgotten. It is as in Isaiah 60, in that city where the very walls of which are salvation, its historic site in the Christian Church of which it will largely become a component. This does not annul the prophecies, but fulfils them. As Paul says of the law, this does not abrogate it, but establishes it. It is all to be seen in the changeless perspective of Christ, where indeed, the Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all, is the quintessence of the place of salvation, in Christ.

It is in this way that a land of loss, of a defiled Messiah,  never to be a subject of glory as such, becomes with all others, each in his or her own domain, a contribution of the grace of God which as the light of eternity shines through its flimsy cover, exhibiting His glory through its very place, name and grace; for there He wrought eternal security through one sacrifice, that He might be Lord of all, saving some.

To think that GOD should do THAT for THEM is always the theme, whether for Israel or any other, and the perpetual place for Israel is gained only by grace, only by the submergence of the proto-covenant in the ultimate and eternal one. As Jeremiah 3:15-16 puts it, in perfect conformity with John 3:16 and Hebrews 8:12-13:

"And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. Then it will come to pass when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days, 'says the Lord, 'that they will say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord.' It will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they visit it, nor will it be made anymore."

Hence the Old Covenant with its feasts and procedures being obsolete, and God forbidding now and onwards any glorying except in the Cross of Christ (excluding thereby the killing of animals), and the very centre-pieces of the sacrificial law being archaic, and this being the nature of the Israel returned, even to the Lord (as in Romans 11:25, following its physical return, as in Ezekiel 37 and Zechariah 12-13), and this being as in Jeremiah 3:17, where the old things do not even come to mind: there is no place for lapses, but all place for the consummative cross of the Lord and all it means. Here is the situation when Jerusalem is called the throne of the Lord, when the nations are gathered there to the NAME OF THE LORD, and there is Israel the remnant with all the rest in the city of salvation. That ? It is as Isaiah 52-53; 60 shows it to be with its walls of salvation and its gates praise.

Indeed, with "all righteous" in that city, as in Isaiah 60, we move to Paul's depiction of the "Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26). Indeed, in this very place Paul cites Isaiah 54:1 where following the sacrifice for ALL races (as in Isaiah 42:6, 49:6), the Christ, the light to the Gentiles, it being too small a thing to be done for Israel alone, as the Lord declares, one finds it necessary to extend the pegs of the tent, to increase the size of the spiritual community involved. This is that Jerusalem.

Here is the prelude in Isaiah to the consummation in Revelation 20-21. Here is the domain of faith, the term 'Jerusalem' in Galatians astutely and deliberately reaching both upwards and backwards, onwards and to the pith and kernel of faith such as was always in Noah, in Abraham, who "received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised" (Romans 4:11-12).

Thus, he, giving glory to God, and  "being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able to perform", had this result: "It was accounted to him for righteousness". It was not, Paul continues in Romans 4:23, "written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our offences, and was raised for our justification."

There is the one Gospel, the one Lord who alone receives the glory (as in Jeremiah 9:23-24). God is no royal recidivist but forbids ANY glory outside His crowning defilement in this same Jerusalem, in the vicarious victory at which for fallen man, He is exalted.

It is the same faith in the same God who has the same power to deal with the individual saint in terms of the same grace by which the same righteousness is imputed without works, to those who believe, so that Abraham quite expressly becomes a father of both arms, Old and New, in terms of justifying faith. In him is the prelude and the ram of Genesis 22:13 is the depiction, caught in the thicket and supplied freely for the sacrifice, so that (as in Psalm 49) there is no folly of imagining anything at all in this matter may be wrought in the flesh (cf. John 1:12, Romans 3:23ff.). On the contrary it is wrought by the gracious, giving hand of God only to faith only through sacrifice only supplied by God only.

The Jerusalem, like the pictorial sacrifices of old shown in Leviticus, is therefore in Galatians an archetype for what is to come, and just as it became the site of the solemn significance of the Temple with its patterns, as Hebrews calls them, of redemption, so it will become a scene and site of His regal rule who has come and will come again to fulfil the ancient and modern, the Old and the New Testament exhibition of both His sufferings and His glory, as He told the disciples, shown in Luke 24. Each has come or will come; and both illustrate the grace of God, and in each is the germ of eternity, for the moment depicted on earth in transition.

When therefore Paul speaks of the Jerusalem which is above, he is moving to the finale and reality which has been typified in various stages, and it is here that all are righteous, for the scene moves from the site of reigning power in the millenium to the sight of the glory of God in the finality itself, so that in Isaiah 60 you see suffused salvation, Israel now placed in the Messiah, and the remnant of Israel at that, for these are "all righteous". No exception mars the sight of this site, and no sin spoils its beauty. In such a city, the very walls ARE salvation! Its environs have been increased indeed as in Isaiah 54, and its inclusion is not only of the Gentile believers (as implicit  in Isaiah 65:13-15 where Israel becomes a name for repudiation in terms of its unbelieving attitude, whereas the servants of God by CONTRADISTINCTION are inheriting the very earnest of heaven), but of ALL as Paul puts it.

So does Isaiah move from dimension to dimension, from depth to depth, contradicting nothing, adding brilliant light to further fields and wonders, the waters of life descending with the sparkling light of diverse phases and stages, and yet shown to be but ONE light from ONE Lord who has ONE plan, with its many expressions coming to culmination in Christ, in terms of whom ALL are to be gathered in one (Ephesians 1:10).

THE CONTRADICTION

It is of course true that neither Jesus nor the New Testament aborted the promises of God towards Israel as one dispensationalist has recently written (Israel My Glory, September-October 2007, p. 30^*2). It is equally true that those promises were multi-faceted. Thus at the first, not only would the land be given Israel, but through the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12,17). Not only would Israel be regathered (cf. Ezekiel 36-37 and SMR Appendix A), but it would be ashamed of its waywardness (Ezekiel 36:22), be characterised for ever for its waywardness (Isaiah 30) and be one with two other nations in the topographical realities of the Middle East (Isaiah 19), so that their conversion (Zechariah 12-13) in great numbers (as also in Romans 11), so far from bringing on a national pre-eminence for Jewishness (contrary to Isaiah 30), would reconvene Israel in an international part of the body of the once rejected Messiah to whom they come in humble reconciliation.

Thus is the unity magnificent (Romans 11), and the plan of God perfected.

To be sure, the land of Israel will be a central feature in the millenium, the feet of Christ Himself coming to this earth once more on the so-significant Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:5); but the glory is not for any but Himself (Isaiah 42:8), and no flesh will glory in His presence (Isaiah 2). Israel will assuredly be back, be covenantally shepherded, but only as a part of the Church of Jesus Christ, to which a REMNANT of it (Isaiah 11) rather belatedly comes, at the national level. Of course they had through the apostles and many thousands involved in the founding of the Christian Church, already heavily been involved in Christianity as Paul shows in Romans 9. For those saved by grace, there is no place for race in the dimensions of salvation and its rule (a point missed by the ardent dispensationalist). Instead,  the race emphasis in on the consummate fidelity of God (Ezekiel 36:22, Galatians 3), who despite all, DOES WHAT HE SAYS (the point missed by the amillenialist) to the jot and the tittle.

It is not that Israel must be lowered, or indeed the rest of the body of Christ, but that HE must be elevated (Colossians 1:18). It is the Gentiles who from the first are to share in this blessing, and to them has it gone as foretold in the Old Testament so clearly (Genesis 12:1-3, Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, Jeremiah 16:19-21).

NO nation will be glorified AS SUCH (Isaiah 2), for all have fallen. EACH nation will be brought on in its own way, particular promises in the light of the divine premises being fulfilled according to their type. Thus of course Israel had to return in order to be no more downtrodden (Luke 21:24), and of course it is eminently clear that the only body which was once IN as a nation, then OUT from the Lord, and then to come IN again is Israel properly and normally so-called. It is clear that the mighty triumphs, fulfilled in 1948, 1967, 1973, are indeed for Israel and that their protection is an affair of the Lord. He has done precisely what He said of Israel the nation, certifiably defined, in this period of territorial return, still outside grace.

What is neither clear nor true is that in the process, at the millenium or any other time in the New Covenant, is there to be any ruling segment, more glorified component (Galatians 3:28, Romans 11), for the body of Christ, though it have two arms and two legs, has only one Head; and all you are equal as brethren. It has to be taken seriously that this business of seeking to possess the pre-eminence is not of the Lord. The restoration of Israel, ashamed and received, and the fulfilment of the property provisions is a matter of fact; the elevation of Israel above its brethren is neither in accord with biblical principles in both Testaments, nor with biblical statements. Man is not like that. The glory and the victory is the Lord's. In the end, not only is it true that "the haughtiness of man will be bowed down," but also that "the Lord alone will be exalted in that day" - Isaiah 2:11.

That is what He says; and if there is one person one can trust to the iota, it is God: not a phrase, not a word or intimation, but it is true. Not a foretelling, but it is done. Not a shrug, not a glance, but its meaning is wrought.

THE CORONATION OF THE KING
IN THE HEARTS OF THE KINGDOM PEOPLE

Jerusalem will be exalted as the city of the great KING (Jesus, not Jew), the great sacrifice accomplished there (Galatians 6:14), none other having place. Israel will have place in power with the rest of God's children, all redeemed, NONE having anything about which to glorify itself. All will rejoice in a godly repentance from which there is no repentance, by the Redeemer whose alone is all power, authority and dominion. The chosen Israel of old is received back on precisely the same ONE GOSPEL terms as any of the Gentile, though there be a distinction in the mode in the case of the different pathology which has been in view for Israel, and the historical wonder of its long secession. Yet this is followed by this same accession into this same grace as is the case for each one, however lowly, who receives the Lord and is received by Him.

Israel will now be in its remnant, mixed with the remnant of the Gentiles, to become one body, with one faith and one Lord, none lording itself over another, none exalted by race or gender or any other thing, but each placed as is to be, by the Lord in His individual relation to His entourage.

Israel will not cease to be Israel, nor will the Gospel cease to be the Gospel, nor will the humility of all in ONE HEAD cease to be operational. It is as a humble people, and a meek, that Israel will be restored (Zephaniah 3:12-18), with the glory being of the Lord, where it belongs, enshrouding the place of His Cross, and of His history on earth with His own glory. Thus is it, that he who glories, he will glory in the Lord, for there is no other glory (I Corinthians 1:26-31, II Corinthians 10:17, Jeremiah 17). While GOD will be vindicated, Israel will merely be delivered (Ezekiel 39:27-28).

While this special material fact, and this glorious spiritual recovery will VINDICATE GOD, any glory will be as with all other Christians, that of the moon reflecting that of the Sun of righteousness who will come with healing in His wings, for one and for all; for there is no difference (Malachi 4:1-2, Romans 3:9ff., 3:39ff., 3:22ff.).

When Israel is denounced forever as in Isaiah 30, there is no occasion to have it glorified ever. It is glorified, if glory there be, WITH the Gentiles by the SAME LIGHT of the SAME GRACE, its only credit the works of Christ, for by the works of the Law NO flesh will be so much as justified. God will declare His own righteousness and every gift by His grace is answerable to Him, as another, all talents of one, for One.

That there is room for a segment of the body of Christ exhibiting His glory in this, when the massive movement in the heart of Israel at last comes as in Romans 11, that having returned, they stay after all the fray, is one matter. Any reversion to what is obsolete (Hebrews 8:13) or away from the explicit and express glory of Christ in the Cross as the only thing in the end for glory (Galatians 6:14) is another: it is as unthinkable as any other anti-scriptural attribution of anything to anyone!

The acidulous removal of any ground for pride of place in Israel is conspicuous in Isaiah 19 as in Isaiah 30, and in the latter it is not restricted as to time; and indeed, generically it is the same for all, as in Galatians 3 and Isaiah 2. The ONLY pre-eminence is that of Christ, by whom and whom alone, as to merit and purity, initiative and power, regality and majesty, pardon and princeliness, is there so much as an ENTRY into the kingdom of heaven - forget elevation!

Israel will indeed with all the body of the one Christ, that one body, be exalted in Him by that glorious liberty of love and grandeur of grace, but not as an element, rather as a part of a plurality in which, as in the case of any limb in a body, there is an integrality for and to Him who is the head of ALL!

As such with all the saints there will be a light of the glory of the Lord upon it, in fulfilling as in Romans 11, His grand enterprise by which the rise and fall of Israel, and the fall and rise of the Gentiles, become but as components of a mighty, triumphant and victorious enterprise of God in the human race, all of which is saved by grace, each promise to which is fulfilled; while each part of it,  having served its day, finds in Him and Him alone, its glory, read in the consummation of the Cross.

What does Paul say:  (I Corinthians 1:29-31). That no flesh should glory in his presence. Indeed, he declares it precisely in this way:  "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord."

Thus the retrospect gives just what is provided by the prospect both for man and for Israel. There is no change. Features are given higher focus as time passes, symbols are interpreted, history means history and essential meaning means the same. Keys are required for interpretation as in any study, and must be applied. The bold relief for man is the same as in Genesis 3:15, and the work of bruising the serpent's head is as singularly that of the Messiah as it ever was, the glory His as exhibited from the first; and He needs no heels to help Him, or His own. It and it alone does the job, and He and He alone gets the glory.

He and He alone will be glorified in that day. Let us thank God for that!

NOTES

*1

See for example:

Cascade of Truth, Torrent of Mercy Ch.   9;

Dizzy Dashes ... Chs.    5,  6;

Gratitude for His Glorious  Grace Appendix,

Tender Times for Timely Truth Ch.   2, End-note  1,

Christ's Ineffable Peace ... Ch. 2.

*2

The writer of the article in IMG, cites with approval the statement of David L. Larsen, to the effect that neither John the Baptist nor the Lord Jesus redefined the Kingdom promise. Further, he adds, they did not transfer it or cancel it for Israel. But the premises and promises for both are very varied, exceedingly deep and marvellous in scope.

As it stands, this statement then is true, for it encompasses Zephaniah 3 as much as any other, Psalm 72 as much as Isaiah 59. Further, both the essence and the nature of the promise, as in other matters, was further expressed in the New Testament, just as Isaiah did relative to the Psalms of David on the atonement. God has chosen a progressive revelation, but not a self-contradictory one! He has drilled the earth with His truth, as with many oil wells, all the same oil, all the same drill. No well fails - the point of the dispensationalist, who does not survey all, and all wells have the divine oil which does not change, the point of the amillenialist who is so keen on this vital point, that the individual wells receive too little geographical and episodic attention.

As to Israel, the Old Testament has many phases and facets to explore. 

	Sometimes it moves  from Israel to the essence of salvation in Christ (as in Isaiah 60),
	sometimes looking beyond the symbol to the spiritual significance (as in Isaiah 66),
	sometimes abjuring Israel (as in Isaiah 30),
	sometimes showing its remnant among the saved (thus delivered from the negative national outcome per  se as in Isaiah 65:13-15, but this in terms of  the believing remnant, as in Zechariah 12:10-13:1), who in the grace of God will join with all the saints (as in Zechariah 14:5), who will accompany the Lord to the earth for His rule (cf. I Thessalonians 3:13).

Thus do they all come from the wedding of the entire bride (not a leg or two or three members), so that the whole complement of the saints is at the actual wedding of the actual bride (there is no bigamy), none lost, and the coming of all the saints with Him who is the only Head, to whom is all the glory. In this way is there glory for the counsel of the Lord who has brought all under condemnation that in unity as in Romans 11, to the astonished delight of Paul, their bonding is brought into beauty and God is both honoured and glorified.

There is indeed to be a 'new name' by which the Lord will call His servants (Isaiah 62), leaving the unbelieving Israel to its shame, from which He then rescues first the nation, by restoration as in Ezekiel 36, and then through salvation for many, as in Ezekiel 37. There is of course for Jew and  Gentile the swamp marsh (Ezekiel 47). Many will fail to come to Him, both Jew and Gentile, but when the Israel component forsakes what has become to it as precious as the worship of a piece of bread (there is no warrant for making it into a god far less God -  cf. John 6:60ff.) to others, namely its nationalistic fervour, traditionalistic obscurantism, blindness to Christ - then the people of the Lord will rejoice at their new brothers, and the land will be blessed which houses such a change, and attests the solemn faithfulness of the God who not only fulfils some promises and premises, but ALL.

It is quite true as Herzig continues to say, that the correct approach in defining the term 'Israel' is derived from an "historical grammatical interpretation of God's word". That is the area of failure of the amillenialists as of many fanciful recreators of history, thrust back in extreme cases, into God's own mouth, as if afraid to hear Him. This however relates to EACH context in its place, and there is no more good in generalising about ALL contexts in the Old Testament, than all stars in the heavens. They have much in common, and diversification allocations as well. The word of God must be examined, each jot and tittle, as well as the entire thrust of major passages and minor alike in their generalities where these apply, so that the whole counsel of God may be both found and taught.

Excluding some elements is as bad for the ideologically perverse as for the intensively intentioned. Only when all of the Biblical premises on Israel, its meanings, its usages, its castigations, its blessings, its establishment and its divine derogations and exclusion clauses, is applied, does truth result in any theology.

The scripture is as varied as the hills on which the early light of morning dawning plays with tender solicitude; and the reader who would teach must examine each one, before making any gross statement about light, dawn or  hills; and while some stand out as summits, the entirety has its totality of beauty. Truth is like that. You cannot take it for granted, but when you come to it cap in hand, it fills the heart, rejoices the mind and traverses territories far broader than the mere impressions of the esoteric, and more precise than the hoped for homilies of the impact brigade.

See especially, Deliver us from Dispensation, and SMR Appendix A with the numerous additives on both topics, to be found in the Index for the one, as for the other. See especially, and more broadly, Bay of Retractable Islands, Mission to the Mainland    19 with 11, The Kingdom of Heaven Ch. 2. See also Barbs ... 17, TMR  Ch. 3 and SMR pp. 502-519.