Does God have a future plan for Jews as a distinct people? The answer is found in the reason why He set Abram apart. That act was the outcome of His repeated strategy throughout the Old Testament: divide and conquer.
Divide and conquer
From the events at the tower of Babel, and from Jesus’ prayer in John 17, we know that unity is strength. Our desire for unity is God-given, but any attempt to unite the nations while evading the integrating work of the Spirit of God will be shattered by the jealous God Himself. Division brings confusion, and confusion brings weakness.1This strategy is at the heart of the current machinations by Western globalists. They are using moral relativism to destroy the autonomy of the biological family and thus make every individual … Continue reading
Why does God curse us with weakness? To forge in us the gift of humility. After expounding the significance of Genesis 2 for the separation of Jew and Gentile, Paul might then remind us of 1 Corinthians 7:5, where a husband and wife are temporarily separated for the purpose of devotion to prayer.
Paul would then take us to Genesis 3, where the steps in the training and qualification of Man—the “division” between humble service and exalted rule—were given sacramental form in the two trees in Eden: the priestly Tree of Life which reminded Adam of his continued dependence upon God (as proto-bread: “forming”), and the kingly Tree of Knowledge which would equip Adam for rule as a wise judge between good and evil, a discerner of hearts like Solomon (as proto-wine: “filling”). Enlightenment in its fullness was contained in the fruit, but its seed was contained in the choice. Instead of humbling himself to ask for wisdom and being exalted by God, as Solomon did in his early days, Adam exalted himself and was immediately humbled (Matthew 23:12). Yet, despite their disobedience, instead of the Lord executing them as their righteous king, it was the Lord Himself who served Adam and Eve as their humble priest on that first Yom Kippur, a Day of Coverings.
We know that the prohibition upon the Tree of Knowledge was only temporary because Jesus was tempted in the same way. He humbled Himself, even to death on the cross, and the Father not only gave Him a throne over all nations as a gift, but also, as the Babelites desired, a name that is above every name.
By this principle, we can also understand the temporary nature of the Levitical Law, its strange “divisions” between clean and unclean, holy and common, linen and wool, different kinds of seed, but especially its prohibition of kingly foods. Since Israel was focussed on the relationship between obedience in the Garden (the Tabernacle) and subsequent fruitfulness in the Land, her food would be “domestic” rather than “wild,” vegetarian animals rather than carnivores and scavengers. The same principle can be observed in Daniel’s test of faith concerning the king’s food, a trial which resulted in vindication and authority after a temporary diet of “seeds.”
The principle also explains the humbling of Israel in the wilderness, being fed with manna from heaven in anticipation of the possession of the cities and vineyards of the Land, whose promise was manifested in a taste of the glorious grapes from Eshcol.
In the big picture, the history of Israel was a temporary time of separation and humbling which contained a promise of kingdom, a preparation of a godly “firstfruits” that was meek before God, meek enough to rule over the entire earth (Psalm 37:11; Matthew 5:5). There is always a royal cup hidden in the priestly sack of grain (Genesis 44:2). The question is the same as that posed by Genesis 3: was it something to be stolen or was it ultimately intended as a gift? As in Eden, submission to heaven (the Word of God) brings dominion over the earth (as the hand of God).
The circumcision culminated in the enthronement of Jesus at God’s right hand. Even though the High Priest himself was wrapped only in “burial” linen on the Day of Atonement, for any other ministry he wore a “holy mixture” of materials—animal, vegetable, mineral—because “from him and through him and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36). Robed in this “integrated” way, even the “one nation” Aaronic priesthood (that is, half of the bifurcated Edenic Man, Leviticus 14:14-18) was invested with a promise, a glimpse of the coming “all nations” Melchizedekian priest-kingdom that would come once Israel’s calling was fulfilled and its priestly work had been completed.
Sending division that results in weakness and humility is always done with the goal of bringing true unity and strength for the purpose of conquest and exaltation. Jacob’s limp made him a prince. Like Jesus, Paul was by all human standards a total loser, and yet his few short epistles changed the world. The open wound of the Jew-Gentile divide was a thorn in the flesh of humanity, just as John, Paul, and Jesus were thorns in the flesh of Judaism. Israel’s history from beginning to end was one continual “sawing asunder.”
God divided the nation of Israel from Egypt and prepared them as a priestly people to conquer Canaan and establish a holy kingdom. Israel was set apart from the nations and only restored—in a new and better way—after a period of preparatory discipline in the wilderness. Likewise, Moses was temporarily divided from Israel, David was temporarily divided from Israel, the Ark of the Testimony was temporarily divided from the Tabernacle, Elijah was temporarily divided from Israel, John the Baptist was temporarily divided from Israel, Jesus was temporarily divided from Israel, and even Paul was temporarily divided from Israel. For Moses, Elijah, and Paul, the separation meant a sojourn at Mount Sinai in Arabia.
When Israel’s kings exalted themselves and their syncretism with paganism had filled hearts, houses, and hills with idols, God divided the nation into two kingdoms, a microcosm of the division between Israel and the Gentiles. Judah—with its God-given vocation of Temple and sacrifice—mediated for all Israel in the same way that Israel mediated for all nations. God creates—and thus works—in “fractal” layers. That is why the author of Hebrews alludes to the reunion of Israel and Judah as combined “Jews” via the humiliation of exile (Jeremiah 31:31-40) to illustrate the greater reunion of Jew and Gentile occurring in the first century (Hebrews 8:6-13). The division and the captivity were a necessary humiliation. The Jewish and Gentile ringleaders of idolatry—Manasseh and Nebuchadnezzar—both went through similar processes of exile/division and exaltation/reunion in their personal lives.
The tongue is a fire
So, in the bigger picture, the purpose of Israel (set apart socially by circumcision and then, once mature, for holy, accountable office by the Law of Moses) was its own obsolescence. It was an era to be outgrown. That is why Hebrews 8:13 says “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” As far as God is concerned, Judaism “vanished” in AD70. Like the ruins of old Jerusalem, Judaism is a spiritual museum, a shed skin, an empty shell, and nothing more. It abides only as a testimony in the way that Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt in a city of burning sulfur—a memorial to the barrenness that comes from the hand of God upon those who “look back” (Luke 17:31-32).
For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. (Hebrews 7:18-19)
The division was temporary, but the result is not. The meaning of Romans 9-11 is inseparable from the purpose of the New Testament, which puts to death the weakness and impermanence of the Old Covenant, passing it through the purifying fire of the Spirit to transform it into something mighty and permanent, something that would even outlast heaven and earth (Matthew 24:35).
For instance, the once-for-all lifting up to heaven of Israel’s role of advocacy in the resurrected flesh of Jesus spelled the end of the morning and evening “continual offering” made under the Law on earth. The need for mediation via an unceasing cutting of flesh and shedding of sacrificial blood had continued for four millennia, and, like the washing of our bodies and our clothes, needed to be done continually because it was only a copy of the worship in heaven (Hebrews 8:5). The continual or “standing” sacrifices by the Jews were replaced at the ascension of Christ, seen by John the Levite as the “standing Lamb” in heaven, a once-for-all offering of blameless human blood (Hebrews 9:11-28; Exodus 29:38-39; Revelation 5:6). For this reason, Christian baptism is a once-for-all offering rite that does not need repeating. Division ultimately leads to conquest, and death is swallowed up in victory.
When the victory comes, it comes quickly. This explains why Paul quotes Isaiah when he says “only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the land fully and without delay.” He understood that the window of opportunity for the Jews—as Jews—was fast closing, and that Jesus Himself, with the power to curse and to bless according to the Law of Moses, would soon speak from heaven, “to show to his servants the things that must take place without delay” (Hebrews 12:25; Revelation 1:1).2For an analysis of the “covenantal” shape of Revelation 1, see Revelation – Cycle 1 and Revelation – Cycle 2.
This is why the book of Revelation was structured according to the pattern of all biblical covenants. Like the book of Ezekiel, it was a lawsuit against the rulers of Jerusalem which included warnings to the surrounding Gentile nations of the fallout that would affect the entire region. The prophecy is intimately connected to the rest of the New Testament because the execution of the sentence was the culmination of the warnings of Jesus and the Apostles.3For more discussion, see Michael Bull, Rescuing Revelation. It was a final “serving of papers” whose judicial authority was founded upon earlier decrees. Just as Moses and Aaron came as “repo men” for the wealth Joseph had bestowed upon Egypt, and Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah and Jeremiah, came as “repo men” for the blessings that Yahweh had bestowed upon Israel, so Jesus Himself was coming to take the inheritance of Israel from those who had abused it and bestow it upon those who had been faithful.
Thus, the final prophecy can only be understood in the light of the Law and the Prophets. The New Testament begins with the testimony of a John who was a Levite and ends with the testimony of another John who was also a Levite. This detail concerning these two witnesses is important in architectural terms. Just as Israelites were to bear the sword against the Canaanites and drive them from the Land, Levites bore the sword against disobedient Israelites in the “Garden” (Exodus 32:25-29). The ministries of these two Johns, as hereditary guardians of the Sanctuary, were human cherubim—ev-angels—men who flanked the coming of the flaming sword of the testimony of Jesus. Just as 3,000 Israelites were slain at the first Pentecost for breaking their sworn oaths, so 3,000 were saved at the last Pentecost because Jesus had kept the oath for all men, and become our “Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20; Revelation 3:14). The Law was now the indwelling kingdom of God. Like the Tabernacle and the Temple of Solomon, that which had been formed according to the Mosaic pattern was now being filled with the glory of God.
The fact that, when Jesus came from heaven against Jerusalem, His sword was in his mouth and His name was on His thigh (which is an inversion of what one would expect), is evidence that the Edenic order had been restored: the Tree of Life first and then the Tree of Knowledge, meek submission to heaven first and then possession of the earth, priesthood first and then kingdom, the humble “lamb” camp of the saints and thenthe exalted “leonine” holy city, Adamic obedience (Jesus in the Garden of burning “trees” in Revelation 1) and then bridal glory (the heavenly city in Revelation 19). And between Revelation 1 and Revelation 19 is the bloody spiritual war in which the Body of Christ—the Firstfruits Church—was cut to pieces on the Altar of Israel for the construction of the heavenly Eve.
Because Jesus kept the “oath” of the covenant, His very word is a sword that exposes, circumcises, and rules the heart (Luke 17:21; Hebrews 4:12). The terrifying image of the blood-sprinkled Christ on a warhorse exercising all the authority of heaven over all nations as a Melchizedekian (Noahic) priest-king was a sign that the circumcision was done for. His personal cry of “It is finished” was now the cry of the saints who had suffered at the hand of their Cainite brothers.
The sword that brought unity to the Church now brought division between the Jews and the Gentiles who had conspired together against the Church (in the same way that Herod and Pilate had become “friends” over the sentencing of Christ, that is, in on each other’s plans). We ought to be reminded of the flaming torches of Gideon and the confusion that caused the Midianites to slay each other in the darkness. Jerusalem was destroyed (because judgment begins at the House of God), and Rome was shaken from its foundations to its high places. These are the events that Jesus predicted in His Olivet Discourse, an oral dissertation that was deliberately structured according to the Levitical pattern of the annual harvests to make a theological point: the martyrs and the blasphemers, the wheat and the tares, would be cut down together.
Those who refused to have their hearts cut by the preaching of the apostles were blasphemers who would be entirely cut off from the people of God (Leviticus 24:10-16; Romans 9:24-26) like a foreskin. Blasphemy against the Spirit is not the worst sin, but it is the last sin because it is the rejection of the warnings of the prophets of God (Jude 1:8). The Jews who believed became Christians. The Jews who did not were cut off from among the people of God for blaspheming the final “Levitical” legal testimony of the old order. Thus, all the curses of Deuteronomy 28, right down to its final verse, came upon Israel in its “last days.” Those who reject the New Testament are thus not the people of God, either in the first century, or now.
“Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32)
The completion of the Torah at the conquest of Canaan prefigures the completion of the entire Bible at the end of Israel’s vocation. Just as the walls of the city of Jericho were “circumcised” as a firstfruits of the conquest of the Land, so the harlot city of the Herods was “circumcised” with a Roman trench as the firstfruits of the conquest of the World. In both cases, “all flesh” was cut off.
But before that final act of cutting off, rebellious Israel itself underwent a transformation that was the consequence of “doubling down” in its rejection of the Spirit of God. Clinging to the menorah meant rejecting the reality that the menorah had always represented—the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Thus, even the holy things became idols, and Israel according to the flesh would have its lampstand—and thus its light—removed forever.
“…and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more…
And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
and of all who have been slain on the Land.” (Revelation 18:23-24)
If you are new to this method of interpretation, please visit the Welcome page for some help to get you up to speed.
Art: Lesley Friedmann, Jacob’s Ladder (detail) 2017.
References
| ↑1 | This strategy is at the heart of the current machinations by Western globalists. They are using moral relativism to destroy the autonomy of the biological family and thus make every individual directly vulnerable to state control. They are using identity politics to weaken once Christian cultures by atomizing them into warring ideological tribes. And they are using cultural relativism to destroy the sovereignty of nations: weaponized immigration displaces and dispossesses people and not only makes them weak but also weakens those already dwelling in the places to which they are forcibly moved. So while many Western Christians are claiming that illegal immigrants are “sojourners” who deserve hospitality, the “compassion” of the globalists is a clever guise for the exact strategy employed by Assyria and Babylon in their quest for world domination. Their totalitarian “unity” is not the harmony that the Spirit brings, but a destructive homogeny that destroys the “land and womb” relationships, hierarchies, and networks that were given by God for our nurturing, protection, and historical continuity. Thus, the “divide and conquer” tactics of Saul Alinsky were stolen from the war room of God. |
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| ↑2 | For an analysis of the “covenantal” shape of Revelation 1, see Revelation – Cycle 1 and Revelation – Cycle 2. |
| ↑3 | For more discussion, see Michael Bull, Rescuing Revelation. |
