CHAPTER EIGHT

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CHAPTER EIGHT

THE GENTILES AND THE JEW

TERMINAL DIVISION, ENSUING LIFE IN CHRIST

BE SURE YOU ARE OFF WITH THE OLD LOVE,

BEFORE YOU ARE ON WITH THE NEW:

THE NEW TEMPLE … Amos 9

THE DIVINE ZEAL - Amos 9:1-5

There is a resolution because of sustained wickedness that is impervious to change, just as God was impervious to change in His divine resolution to send His only begotten Son, so that WHOEVER believes in Him should not perish (Psalm 40, Hosea 13:14). Just as His pity is consummate, ultimate, so is His wrath irrevocable; for if it is not covered, then neither is the sin which rages and would cause spiritual bushfires on all sides, slaying and maiming, in mind or body or spirit. You did not mean it ? As with bushfires, it is rarely 'meant'; but carelessness kills here as well as elsewhere. Malignancy is something extra.

In this case shown in Amos, the time after centuries had come for Israel to the North. Let them dig into hell, they will not escape (as today by drugs, or sexual disease and disorder, or mental torment in psychological states). They either get clearance or are cleared. God provided no excuse, and there was none. The work of wonder, the Temple, and the Holy City would go; and they went!

God traced the futility of escape, while estranged. They may go to mountain tops, like Carmel, but this is no shield. It is as in Isaiah 2 and 24, a time of devastation, not at that time, for the whole earth, to come, but it was at that time for Israel, the way-shower; just as it is now looming for those who prefer to turn God into a father-Christmas, in a world not of children, but of those who mislead them, pursue one another and act as if God were made of putty for their preferences. Even captivity through their enemies, the prophet Amos declared, would not distance God, now on mission with judgment, and not to be deterred.

Man can be very wilful. Let Him NOT act, and they say: Oh where is God in all this, and why should all this happen! How could He let it happen, they intone: as if their own freedom were not precious to them, and did not have results. If on the other hand, God as here in the case of Jerusalem, is roused very much to act and not to be deterred, they say: How cruel, how could He act!

The main thing often seems to be this: Escape from God with all the goods, one's own will, one's own pleasures, to do whatever appeals, and sack God from His inheritance, using it as one wills, and hope to be free of Him forever, unless of course He wants to give something to amplify the pleasure or the preference.

THE DETERMINATE REJECTION Amos 9:6-10

Identifying Himself as the maker of all things geological and founder of the flood, He challenges Israel, proud in its position as a godly nation, looking back to such as Moses and Joshua, and because they are far from those, and from Him who calls them, this He says: " 'Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me, O children of Israel ?' “Alas, "the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom." As to those who trust in themselves, chance or their gods, "All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, who say, 'The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.' "

That is as now: It is enough to BE a sinner; and we all are of this kind. But to deny the calamity attached, or the sin which creates it, or not to be concerned, and to continue in phlegmatic or even ecstatic self-assurance, as if those wits or work would bring peace with a neglected God whose ways are ignored and whose will is deferred, distanced or deleted to the utmost part, to thrust aside HIS diagnosis, His remedy and continue scornful or dissident: this is the request for malediction, the representation made for calamity, the invitation to deserved shame!

"Because," God says in Jeremiah, "you say 'I have not sinned,' " He will act. Indeed, He will "plead My case against you."

THE NEW TEMPLE - The One to Worship …Amos 9:11 to the end

Then we see in Amos the new Temple, the one raised up (9:11), and worship. Surely, however, someone might protest, you worship IN a temple: you do not worship the Temple itself.

It is true except for one exception: that, it comes where Christ IS the temple. He is spoken of as the foundation stone, in Psalm 118:22ff., as in I Corinthians 3:11, and as the temple itself in Revelation 21:22, where we learn that the Lord and the Redeemer, these are the Temple. The One sends for its construction, the other enables it, and this done, it is God the trinity, HE who is the temple, and therefore, it is that He, the Temple may in this case ONLY be worshipped.

In Isaiah 4:6, we learn that a tabernacle will be for a refuge and hiding place, but in Isaiah 32, we find it is in fact a KING, and the Messiah at that! It is HE who is the Rock who is higher than we, of which David speaks, our resting place and our site for worship; and as Isaiah 11:10 tells us, "the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious. " It is, I can tell you that, as one who has been there, and there remains as privileged participant and guest. When adopted as a child of God, here is your home, in God the Saviour, Redeemer, who has come, conquered and risen from the grave, who by grace has the same for us, which He achieved for all whom He has ransomed through faith by grace (Ephesians 2:1-12). This, it is the work of God (cf. John 8:29), and for one and all (Galatians 3:26-27).

Sacrifices after this, in some stony temple ? Hardly. Does not Hebrews 8 tell us that all that is growing obsolete (v.13), that it is the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9-10) which is the criterion, of Him who once in the end of the Age put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself! This is “everlasting redemption,” from “a more excellent ministry” (9:22, 8:6). That, it was EVEN THEN! How much more now, and when HE Himself comes! Would the solider who went, want puppets ? would he whose friends died want to act out in symbol what had been done in fact! as Zech. 2:8, 6:12-13, 9-11, 12:10-13:1, also foretold! providing the internal key to understanding. Accordingly, we find that irrevocably we have moved from symbols, as in the stone age temple, to substance, in the death of Christ.

Does not Hebrews 8:13 tell us that all that is growing obsolete, that it is the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9-10) which is the criterion, of Him who, having obtained a more excellent ministry, once in the end of the Age put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself! Foul indeed is the dispensationalist mistake, which fails to see that Zechariah 14, as in other places where, the key to see being provided, it is the theme and not the illustration which matters, is by no means suggesting revolt! The result is not, despite Isaiah in 66 declaring that now to sacrifice an animal is like breaking a dog's neck, that yes, it should be done anyway, at Christ's return. The principles already invoked in Isaiah, the Psalms and Zechariah, are not to be ignored. It would be rather like saying to a veteran back from Vietnam, Ah! Harry come and look at this little play about soldiers who would be sent to that country. It is worked with puppets. The symbols meant something, but soldiering itself, especially with THIS Soldier, it is something different. You don't go back to plans, though the forecast here uses them. Instead, you see the point.

The Gospel is incredible, irreversible, requisite, a fulfilment of all the preliminaries which are obsolete in their format and basic symbolism (Galatians 1, Ephesians 1:10, Hebrews 8). Indeed, even in Peter's time, James identified not in a building, but in the Gospel of Christ, the rebuilt temple, the restoration spoken of in Amos 9:11. God does not move backwards after glory, or deny the word of His apostle, or have worship back to the spiritual 'stone age', so to express the site for symbolism. As seen in John 2:17-21, He Himself personally provides the ‘key’ to understanding. It is He who is the Temple to be raised up!

Thus in Hebrews 9:22-10:22, we find these words (colour change added for readier perception).

"Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

“For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another - He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.
To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time,
apart from sin, for salvation.

“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year,
make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered?
For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.
But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

"Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

· "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.
· In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.
· Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
· In the volume of the book it is written of Me - to do Your will, O God.’ "

"Previously saying, 'Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin
You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them' (which are offered according to the law), then He said, 'Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.'

"He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will
we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

“And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

“But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’

“Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

"Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way which He consecrated for us,
through the veil, that is, His flesh,
and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." This last reminds us of John 13:10.

Observe that the first HE has TAKEN AWAY, that is the former mode of animal sacrifice. Note no less than HE has MADE ONE sacrifice for sin for ever.

What GOD has done FOR EVER, let not man do EVER!

There is to be no reversion. This is categorical, a matter of prince and principle, with no room for scheduling in one mode, to be interpreted in some other by a key.

This IS eternal, divine and deletive of all other ways. WHERE there is remission, moreover, there IS NO LONGER an offering for sin. HERE, and for evermore, this IS the case, and SO for evermore there IS NO LONGER an offering for sin. The case is open and it is shut by the hand of the Lord.

Here, in Christ, is the tabernacle of Amos 9:11, which had 'fallen down',
whose damages God the Sender (Isaiah 48:16) declared that He would repair,
raising it from its ruins: and that, it was even Christ, who so described HIMSELF!
(John 2:19-20), declared to be the Son of God with power, by the Spirit of Holiness,
through the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4).

And HERE is the mode of 'possession' (Amos 9:12), in that the Christ, incarnate God,
will rule in the millenium over all, Jerusalem where He was crucified,
a centre for Jew and Gentile alike, with Jewish apostles and Gentile pastors,
people all one and in One (Ephesians 2, 4); and it is here that God will,
in separate fulfilment of unconditional promise, bring back Israel as foretold so often,
as in Ezekiel 36-39, Isaiah 42,49, Micah 7, Amos 9:13-14.

Finally, however, they will be another Israel, a people with a new name (Isaiah 62:1-2),
for their own is now no longer valid for designating salvation (Isaiah 30:8ff., 65:13-15),
God’s servants being definable by another name (Isaiah 62:1-2),
only that of the Messiah sufficing.

So does Paul's vast peon of praise resound among the redeemed assemblage like a field of wheat, its end too distant to see, too extensive to count (cf. Revelation 7). Praise the Lord, that old things have passed away, and this kingdom, this Christ, who makes old things obsolete (Hebrews 8), is for us now and forever. No more will even come to mind the former things, the symbols (Jeremiah 3:16), an Old Testament 3:16, the prelude and assurance of that in John!

As a hand takes a bunch of grapes, within reach, so Christ is very near; but He MUST be taken both as who He is and what He has done, and no other, no imitation, Himself alone; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which they must be saved (Acts 4:11-12). There is no substitute (II Corinthians 11), WHATEVER the name used; just as anyone can write a cheque with a name, but only He whose the account is, may do so with effect. This new Temple, never to be replaced (Ephesians 1:10, Daniel 7:25, Hebrews 13:8, and as above in Hebrews 8-10), it is the one where the Saviour as High Priest offered, but offered HIMSELF, on an unkempt altar, fit for sin, that of the cross: altar, priest and offering, it is HIMSELF the Temple, into which all must come.

As with that of Solomon (I Kings 6:7), who had the vast stones for the first building, quarried far off, and brought to be included silently, as the temple was built, so those who are Christ’s, come to Him far off, but are brought near by the blood of Christ, and committed to their place in the temple, which again is like a body (Ephesians 4).

Indeed, still is it here, and quiet for the heart, which hears the word of God,

“Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen,
I will be exalted on the earth” (Psalm 46).

Rest in Him who wrestled for you, and in Him find your peace, not an anodyne, but an actuality, for man is made to be at peace with His Lord, and in truth, His peace passes all understanding (Philippians 4:1-6), and is touched with joy (John 16:22, I Peter 1:5ff.), as appear the vast oceans, by the clouds, and the mountains by the same, in a sure and fascinating closeness that binds.

v Paul tells of the glorious integration of the ostensibly dissimilar
through the grafting back of Israel that believes,
that consummate conclusion as shown in Romans 11:25ff.,
to the encasing blindness that preceded it for so long, in the case of the nation.

v A vast outpouring of the Spirit of God has the impact to come,
and many will they be who then, in Israel, as often before in vast revivals
amid the Gentile peoples, receive the Lord. Indeed, as Zechariah 12-13:1 shows,
this is to be a movement based in the Messiah, encased in His grace,
and small wonder the apostle Paul in Romans 11 so glorifies God,
almost ecstatic with praise
at the depth of His wisdom and the wonder of His counsel,
who brought in the olive tree, the living foundation, using Israel,
then removed that nation as a branch
and replaced it with the Gentile believers,
at Israel’s spiritual demise as a nation,
and then … ?

v Then He brought them back,
as He will do and has already done in national format,
physically, to Himself as for so long foretold by such prophets
as Hosea, Micah and Ezekiel 36ff.; but it is to be spiritually also.
in the next phase, clearly demarcated in Ezekiel 37 as in Zechariah.
When this comes, He will graft them back into that tree,
the everlasting Gospel now consummated, in lavish liberty.
Here is added the specific intimation of Zechariah 12:10-13:1
It is, to change the imagery, like a vast swath through the nation.

And on what does it concentrate ? Why on this, on God, the Lord who in human format they had pierced; and for this to be seen, the Spirit of grace and supplications will be poured out on them, as Zechariah 12 shows, and cleansing will be vast and visible in action, as shown in Zechariah 13:1.

What glory is to be seen in these features, and how delightful it is that Jew or Gentile, with such vast differences of background nationally, can yet find One Shepherd for One Fold, and rest even in Him who came as foretold in Isaiah 40 and where as shown in Micah 5, and sustains as in 40:27ff., as He has always sustained those who know Him where He is, through the revelation which He has given. It is thus that man may come, is cordially invited indeed, being liberated in freedom of heart and cleanness of spirit, and may know, believe in, trust and delight in the Lord, who is graciously inclined then to give the desires of the heart (Psalm 37:4).

In the end, this world goes, a new heavens and earth comes; but He, the Lord, He is always the same, does not flicker or fade (James 1:17), nor does His salvation (I Peter 1:5-8), nor yet His love alter (Ephesians 3:16-21); and His creativity in making the universe, man, the heart and the spirit of man, the redemption for man and all that pertains to it, continues expressed in perpetuity and wonder.

Small wonder praise is for the Lamb who sits on the throne (Revelation 5:9-11, 21:22, 22:1-5), Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever, in that endless kingdom (Daniel 7:25), alpha and omega, the beginning and the end is He with the Father (Revelation 2:9, 22:13, Ephesians 1:10, Galatians 1), the One sent as for Him who sent Him (Isaiah 48:16), in the power of the Spirit, even the Spirit of truth.

NOTE

The following is adapted and extended from SMR pp. 1097ff.. In this Amos 9:12ff. is given more attention, and matters arising are reviewed. Extension back to the relevant site in SMR is also provided, in due course.

It may with profit be noted that some contexts do indeed open up, in a reasoned fashion to the eye, an increased scope or view. Israel the nation is, as noted, not always the cynosure irrespective of context, though the term 'Israel' indeed be employed. It may be seen (*1) in a setting inclusive of Gentiles, when the correlative qualities of both groups - as distinct from citable contradictory features - are in view. For example, the cooperation of the mass of converted Jews and Christian Gentiles will - after the Jewish return and in its time - duly come (cf. Romans 11:25-26).

Similarly, concerted activity of Jew and Gentile before that time, under the Jew-born Messiah is an apt focus for the term 'Israel,' where the criteria of the context will tolerate such an application.

In Amos 9, for example, we have just such a case. Israel the nation is in view; but the scene in due course comes to centre (Amos 9:11, cf. Isaiah 4:6) in the actively present Jesus Christ and in the manifest sweep of His vindicated power (see Messianic exposition of these elements of prophecy here and frequently in this work). Not here, as Keil points out (Commentary On The Minor Prophets, vol. I, at this point) are we viewing the actual return of Israel to the land, but rather a consolidation of Christ-centred power; and of course, it is power starting at Jerusalem. At once (v.12) the prophecy takes us to the broad spectrum of implications for the Gentiles. Since Christ's salutary authority as the promised Messiah liberates whom it captures, we find a spiritual invasion sweeping forth, Gentiles seeking the Lord and being named in Him!

What then ? Since the Gentiles in this context are specifically mentioned in terms of an out-thrust of a kingdom of Him who is to be a light to the Gentiles, though His own nation in its time "abhorred" Him (Isaiah 49:6-7), we know that in the rigour of His rule (Amos 9:11-12) the Gentiles may assuredly find rest (Isaiah 11:10). They are, after all, statedly involved.

This manifestation of the essence of the predicted kingdom at Jerusalem was, then, to transcend national and typical barriers, even those of the Old Covenant - for the period is that of the New. This doubtless was a major part of its relevance for James (Acts 15) in his application of this Amos prophecy in Jerusalem, to the Gentiles' freedom from circumcision requirements.

In due time, starting in Jewish hearts at Jerusalem, there was indeed in essence the kingship of the Christ manifested ("This Jesus whom you crucified, God has made both Lord and Christ" - said Peter)... visited upon the Gentiles, attested in the outpouring of His Spirit upon them.

To that item of history in the book of Acts, the words of the prophets did indeed agree. This James said. Moreover, it gives occasion to wonder here, as so often elsewhere, to worship and rejoice that God gives His prophets (as here James) such eminent reserve in their interpretation - "to this agree the words of the prophets..." There is no attempt to exhaust the prophecies in one application, to compress them to one item in this field; or to contort divergent contexts into homologous straight-jackets.

Amos goes on - v.13, with fresh vision and further application, to disciplined Israel (vv. 9-10, 14-15), with these words: "Behold, the days come..." Now Israel is seen in particular, gaining access to this New Temple, this Messiah, a people now back within its restored land precisely as in Zechariah 12:10-13:1, but receiving something far greater, to which geography is subservient, but sustained in testimony. Life from the dead is what Paul calls this new access. It is one passing beyond mere (but exceedingly significant, for this world) national restoration, to spiritual life as from the dead (so succinctly presented in Ezekiel 37's second command).

Here we find the caveat, the codicil, yes more, the end to that long and arduous, at times tortuous history of Israel in its rejection phase, for now the land is inhabited through grace once more as foretold in Ezekiel 36-39 (cf. It Bubbles, It Shrieks, He Calls Ch. 10), and in that same grace, expanded to the uttermost, is this vast sweeping movement into the Lord Jesus Christ, on the part of a mass of the people, centring in Jerusalem, as in Zechariah just cited. .

To revert to the Temple terminology: the income from the outpost into the sacred precincts in Christ, is now in the same Living Temple, the Temple of truth, as that found with such joy by the Gentiles in their sojourn (Isaiah 11:10), for so long awaiting the Jewish contribution to be restored! What was agreeable with Amos 9:11 as cited by James, has thus its finale of extension, on the very same principle, but as an end of the Age access, that all might be one in One, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:10, Galatians 3:28, Romans 11:25 to 36).

Hence Israel indeed is in its remnant totality, as divinely envisaged, saved; but this brings it to the envelopment in the olive tree, the same one, but one now grown to its full form in the New Testament era, in Jesus Christ, as that in which so many of the Gentiles have by now long inhered, making of this large and sudden remnant from Israel (Zechariah 12:10-13:1), that is the new Christian component, coming in like fresh botanical troops, (to supplement the metaphors, or a fresh, differently derived but graciously aided branch, to leave the metaphor alone), that of the returnees, in the very same tree.

{It seems good to have the text of the endnote presented in the above, from SMR, for immediate visibility in this Chapter, and hence it follows, somewhat extended. Those who need no more can ignore it; those who need more than this provides, have the hyperlink at the end to refer back to the source of the (here extended) excerpt, in SMR. .

Note to Excerpt

*1

A Treatment of the Light and Shade of
Terminology Prophetically, with special reference to the New Testament

Extension on the Depth of Divine Dealings and the Precision of Divine Announcements

A. New Testament References

Certain New Testament scriptures are of interest in their implications concerning prophecy and its impact.

1) Those in Colossians 1:25-26, Ephesians 3:4-6 and Romans 16:25. The first tells us that "Christ in you" was a mystery hid from ages and from generations. This could be

a) because people did not perceive the teaching, though it was written in the Old Testament or

b) it was not, in that particular element, aspect, fulness, written.

Ephesians 3 tells us that the concept of being fellow-heirs, the Gentiles with the Jews was not indeed known in former times, prior to those of Paul, as it came to be exposed through his own ministry. Obviously, Isaiah 65 tells us of the replacement of Jews (as the explicit, formal exhibit of godliness among the nations) by certain Gentiles - as shown in Ch. 9 supra. The concept of togetherness, however, believing Jews and believing Gentiles, is now highlighted. Romans 16:25 advises us that the preaching of Jesus Christ is now exposed, though the scriptures of the prophets held this news, (as shown indeed so well by Acts 8:29-35 and John 12:41 - and by inspection, as shown in Ch. 9 supra).

The result ? We are advised that:

a) the high-impact wonder, mystery of "Christ in you", the hope of glory: that this particular feature and focus either was written by the former prophets and not grasped, or simply was not written; while

b) on the other hand, the preaching-basis of Jesus Christ Himself was written; and that

c) the togetherness of Jew and Gentile in this new gospel (though as Romans shows, it is old through prediction) is in Paul's day exhibited in a much more patent manner than was formerly the case.

All this is of course abundantly confirmed.

Indeed the Gentile emphasis of Isaiah 66:16-20 is so intense, and the 'priests' and 'Levites' drawn from those who had not even heard God's fame is so provocative (cf. Isaiah 66:3, 65:13-15), allied with the communal phrase ''all of your brethren'', that in the light of the 'new name' for God's servants (65:15) and His 'new' people, it is clear that a certain fellowship is implied between converted Jew and converted Gentile, in the milieu of the newly established Jewish people (Isaiah 66:7-9). These are acceptable by a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31, Ezekiel 16:59-63, Isaiah 65:13-15, 52:13-53:12, 66:4), open freely to all (Isaiah 55:1-6, 53:1,10). This fellowship in the Messiah of Jew and Gentile believers is not proclaimed, not highlighted as by Paul, but it is intimated: and as to that, though the Jews en masse have still to come to their Messiah, it is verified at the time of the return of the nation to its site.

2) Acts 15:13-17. Here James cites Amos 9:12.

The rebuilding of the "tabernacle of David", James finds to be agreeable to this context, which continues (in Amos) to speak of the extension of the kingdom to "all the heathen who are called by My name" (the Lord is speaking). The name for such (Isaiah 65:13-15) is to be 'another', not identical with that held by the Jews, as a mere single nation. Isaiah makes it clear (Isaiah 53:10) that it is to depend (53:1) on whoever believes in the Gospel of the sacrificed Messiah. Isaiah 44:5 also indicates that one will call himself by the name of the God of Jacob, whilst ANOTHER will call himself "the Lord's". To these words of Amos, of course, the activities of the in-bringing of many Gentiles by the very power of God, agree, and do so intimately, richly and strikingly. In terms of Amos 9, the "Son of David" has a far broader tabernacle than that of the Jews, being a "light to the Gentiles" as well (Isaiah 49:6).

What God will choose (viewing it from the time of the speech of James) for the Jews in terms of His unconditional (Genesis 17) real estate contract is not there touched, though Paul uses language which agrees with more of this element in Romans 11:26 (cf. Isaiah 66:6-10 and p. 1111 infra).

Similarly Paul in Romans 9:25-27 quotes from Isaiah 10:20-23 (as well as from Hosea 2:23) in bringing to light the predicted era following the Christ's incarnation (Micah 5:1-3) on earth, and so uses the prophets freely, relative to the salvation of Christ both for Jew and Gentile, for this day of the Lord to which Isaiah so emphatically refers (here in 9:1-7, 11:1-5). The era of course progresses to its finale (Isaiah 9:1-6 to 11:6-16; Micah 5:1-3 to 5:4-15 cf. 7:7-9 to 7:14 ff.; Joel 2:28-32 to 3:1) as is the case indeed in Amos (9:11 steps to 9:13-15), proceeding to the special Jewish segment, in its place in the divine disposal of history. The sequence may proceed indeed to the divine millenial rule, as in Isaiah 65:20 ff., Joel 3:18). In all this, there is no difference to the Gospel given (Isaiah 65:13-15, 66:3 cf. Romans 4), though God has His own order of events (cf. Romans 11:25-26, Zechariah 12:7-14, Luke 24:25-26).

This promised land aspect is important in vindicating God's name to the unbelieving world, which thinks it can apportion things as it will, or that God is merely a Spirit, or unimportant or whatever. (See pp. 514 supra, 1111 infra).

B. The Depths of Divine Dealings in Ezekiel's Bones and Isaiah's Cloud - cf. pp. 794-795 supra

This is made very clear in Ezekiel 36-37, as we see in Ch. 9 (supra) more than once, as God declares that so (i. e. as He replaces the Jews in their land and brings them back to Himself in His time, as He delivers and establishes them there), the nations will learn. (Cf. Isaiah 49:19-21,26, 66:8,15-16 - "for" is even repeated: they learn God's faithfulness and His militant might!) God did it all. His discipline and His deliverance were planned; declared, and are done. (Cf. Ezekiel 36:20-36 - note esp. v.36. God roundly states: "I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.") Further, the Jews too will have a realisation! Paul in Romans 11 makes this most apparent, even magnifying God in wonder at His deep plans! The place is in fact to become 'like the garden of Eden', and with Israel already reputedly exporting some 800,000,000 floral stems annually - the world's third largest flower exporter and one of the smallest pieces of national real estate among the countries: this is already a blooming prophecy.

Their conversion, however, in large numbers is, as seen in Ch. 9 supra, still to come, as is the final tumultuous assault on their nation, by an international force, centred to the North. Thus, in Ezekiel 37 we see an epochal gathering together of the scattered Jews, as if they were dispersed bones, a skeletal army: there is in this exactly the astounding feeling of overcoming the seemingly impossible, frequently evoked by the constant repatriation of Jews with money and aeroplanes quite often, to this day. (Ethiopia and Russia were more romantic sounding exhibits earlier in 1991; then we read of Jewish evacuation from India, and of high sentiment as they leave - why, from their prosperity ? There is a certain call...) The saga continues, expands.

Where will they go ? (exactly fulfilling Isaiah 49:19). How will they be accommodated ? (This calls to mind the use of the West Bank area for Russian Jews, alleviating the 'crush'.) By air they come, notably form Ethiopia, but not from there alone, first in the clandestine operation, and then openly of late; and this agrees with Isaiah 60:8. There is the same theme of wonder, of amazement, of divine bounty, of astonishing results/methods in chapters 66 and 60:

Before she travailed, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? ... Shall a nation be born at once ? (Isaiah 66:7-8).

This is in context with the call to rejoice with Jerusalem (Isaiah 66:10), echoing the cry of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:43 to the nations, the Gentiles to rejoice with the delivered, straying but returning people, the Jews. Again, in Isaiah 60:8, (cf. the poignant reinstatement of vv. 13-15, and the glittering martial drama looming from 59:16-21), we find this similar apostrophe:

Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts ? and

Who has begotten Me these, seeing I have lost my children ... a captive and removing to and fro ... these, where had they been ?

comes the word of prophetic vision and amazement, in Isaiah 49:21.

They returned indeed to their 'roosts', their habitual place long vacated, and they did so in ships, in airships in the most astonishing manner, if you conceive of the time of the prophecy, which speaks of the amazement as if empathising with the audience, at such a strange and exotic development, illustrating both the divine pity, and power to implement the divine decision made of yore, for the Jewish people. Constantly, in return and rebuilding, in things national, transportational, horticultural, confrontational, the saga of fulfilment continues for the Jews, rising to Exodus-style might (Micah 7:7-10, 12,15-18) for a nation once explicitly God-related, but now fallen.

Let us now return to Ezekiel 37, and the army of bones, in a figure representing returning Israel. It is first, then, assembled back in the land.

What now? The 'army' is to be given spiritual life (cf. Zechariah 12:7-14), focussed onto their slain Messiah, mourning for their sins. Walking now with their Messiah (Ezekiel 37:25), they shall have Him in their midst for ever: the phase is ultimate, irreversible (Ezekiel 37:23,27-28). No more will they stray to idolatry! Their King is not only for them, but with them.

C. There is No Analogy to the Power
of the One who uses the Power of Analogy

God at will refers now to Israel the nation, now to the church of believers including the Jew and Gentile components, now to the Jews who will become Christians, now to the essence of Christianity whereby anyone may partake of the "new name" which is stretched out to the Gentiles, and which incorporates the reality of the despised Messiah. He can, in Isaiah 60 (15-18) for example, move through the coming of faithful Jews to the gospel, to the essence of the gospel to which any may come, making clear that the very walls are salvation; so continue in chapter 61 to the poor and to the distressed, in terms of the one and only gospel, working from mercy to later coming judgment.

He may speak in repudiation of the Jewish nation, from any blessed interactive relationship with the Lord, in Isaiah 59:1-18, with one of the most pungent denunciations of all time (resembling not a little Matthew 23, where the Lord Himself is speaking direct), turn to the annunciation of the new name for believers, in Isaiah 65, with the stinging rebuff to a nation which has shown hostility too much and holiness too little; in 62:2 more intimately touch the penitents' return, and in 59:20-21 even such from 'Jacob' (cf. p. 820 supra). He can speak of the tabernacle for all in Amos 9, which after all is built on that descendant of David, the Messiah, to be explicit, and of extending it to Gentiles; and then proceed, in Amos 9:13-15, to predict a new era for Israel itself (''Behold the days come ... '') - for an absent people (v.14) in absence called 'Israel', whom He delivers from captivity. (Cf. Micah 7:14-16's acrid, special kind of deliverance provision after 5:1-3 and 7:13!) Then it will indeed have a national identity which is not merely one of unbelief, but rather one of equal participation.

In that day... ? Why in that day, even Egyptians and Assyrians (Isaiah 19:23 ff.) will find a way to the Lord. God is not really limited to our little ideas of things; we have to expand our horizons to that one gospel of that one Messiah (who is Jewish) who first is rejected by His own and then is preached to those nations who had not been His own, and who with a "new name" is available to "everyone who thirsts" (Isaiah 62:2, 55:1-4), being given as a covenant. For it is too little that the Jews alone should have Him (Isaiah 49:6-7); and indeed too much at the phase of their rejection! but rather He will do all things in His time, repudiate the repudiators, bring them back, preach His one Gospel (cf. Ephesians 4:4) to ALL peoples, and bring back the unbelieving Jews ("not for your sakes, be ashamed...") to their land that the nations may 'know' that He is the Lord, and has disciplined and acted as He would. This He said; this He has done, and in last matters, is currently doing. Apologetics should blare this truth.

He can repudiate nations like Moab also, as in Isaiah 15-16, with great pathos and concern, which yields at length to judgment before a recalcitrant people. Moab, says Jeremiah (48:42) "shall be destroyed as a people". This does not of course, in the same chapter, preclude a latter days diminuendo, remnant style attenuation to the point that a once proud people are allowed some measure of return. As a people, they are destroyed, but persons may return minus dominance and the power of place, in a metamorphosed existence.

It is always necessary to see the context and never permissible to extend the statements. In some ways, it is like science; you must learn to live with particularity and avoid philosophy. It is necessary with the word of God to use no less precision than in any other study, than in science; the word which controls nature is not to be made a play-pen, but a constraint. It is not good enough to hold forth vaguely about thought-of intimations, and ignore the very specific indications of what is actually being said.

If God wants to deem a nation destroyed (looking at its power, hauteur and national panache, sovereign continuity and style) and yet finds it possible to restore them in slender and chastened style in a near ultimate-day act of mercy, this is for Him to say and to define. It is of course quite possible to reduce and humble a team, a man or a nation so that they are 'destroyed' relative to their former pretensions, name and flamboyance; and yet have them, like a Berg or a McEnroe (I speak only of a return after discontinuance in their cases), return without entirely having what made them distinctively what they were, what made their name. In the case of the tennis players, that was a matter of undisputed and maintained pre-eminence.

In the case of nations, it can be their particular prowess and name, likewise. That gone, in God's time, they are permitted at His august will, to clamber back in some style to a form of life. The point is made; the prominence attained is devastated; any return is by Permission and in another mode. (In the case of Babylon, eternal termination is declared - Isaiah 13:20. It is God's option, not our own!)

So the Jews: they too return, but in another mode. Not as with Joshua do they return to their land; and they also, not with their own distinctive name, do come. They come as a people (Ezekiel 36) disgraced, shown bountiful grace in terms of an unconditional aspect of a covenant, by which God shows His sovereignty and they their need of... His grace. This they receive as do all the rest: on His terms, in terms of the new name of the Lord who gives spiritual communality in the gospel to both Jew and Gentile, Moabite and Egyptian, whilst carrying out whatever He has at any time said He would do.

This He does not least as a testimony to truth, integrity and the reliable power of His word, the irreproachable character of His covenants and the distinctive character of His dealings, whether with the Jew or anyone else. Let us hear:

I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it (Ezekiel 36:36).

Then indeed: ''all the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate.''

Again: "Like a flock offered as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem on its feast days, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. Then shall they know that I am the Lord" ( Ezekiel 36:38).

*2 The inviolable character of unilateral divine promises such as Genesis 17:1-8, 22:18 declare (cf. Paul's sustained emphasis on this feature in Galatians 3:15-29, esp. in vv. 15-17) merely confirms the realities of the definition of terms, as shown in this Appendix.

The inviolability of the word of God applies both

1) to the spiritual blessings available to all nations, through Abraham's ''seed'' - Christ (Genesis 3:15 with 22:18, 12:3); and
2) to the geographical blessings specified to Abraham ''I will give to your descendants after you the land ... as an everlasting possession'' (Genesis 17:8); and in detail to the prophets. As Deuteronomy 32 and Ezekiel 36-37 show, even discipline for sin does not here annul, but only involves temporary exile.

Terminological pregnancy however does not give birth to terminological confusion, far less to contradiction in terms.

This insistence on contextual accuracy, on taking each prophetic nugget in its own integrity and not simply assuming this or that, but checking with due care every nuance and perspective as it comes, may perhaps be given a name: PROPHETIC INTEGRITY, as distinct from prophetic promiscuity. It is nothing other than insistence on the priority of divine thought, as put in the word of God, to human thought, as put into the word of God by those surveying it later. It is the former, and this alone, which must speak, and our task is to find it out and present it as it is.

For much more in detailed presentation on this theme, with structured examples of usage, return to the base for this Excerpt in SMR, continuing as here marked. In fact, for a total coverage, the entire Appendix A of SMR might best be read. The above is merely an extension of the basic theme of Chapter 8 of this present volume. In this way, one may at will continue research and study in a given direction.