The Law and all of the Prophets
The History of Israel from Judges to Jesus
The History of Israel from Judges to Jesus
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Chapter Seven
At times, God expresses himself to man in a manner that requires more than a strict, traditional theology view to understand. Many believers become rather uneasy when God uses a word like “if.” In the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, God explains that “if” Israel has faith they will be blessed, but “if” they do not have faith, they will be cursed.
“If”? It seems to be a rather inappropriate word for a God who knows all. Exodus 4:2 is noteworthy because God asks Moses for information, “What’s that in your hand?” He asks. Even more noteworthy, Moses confidently gives God the information He seeks. “A staff,” Moses replied. In Mark 9:21, Jesus also requests information. “How long has he been like this?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. If Jesus asked a believer today such a question, they might be thrown into a fit of doctrinal anxiety. Isn’t the Lord all-knowing?
Certainly God has the power to know all. If God has the power to know all, He must surely also have the power not to know something if He so chooses. That’s why God tells Israel “if” they have faith they will be blessed. Using that word is not an expression of an inability on the part of God to know something, but rather is the expression of his decision that Israel will play a central role, via faith, in the accomplishment of God’s will for His people.
God is giving the nation a portion of responsibility. They are going to play a central role in the outcome. It is the same parameters that enveloped the relationship of Adam and Eve with God. “If” they had kept the commandment, they would have had life.
God relates to the chosen people in this manner because he has not changed his Master Plan. Thus, their faith in the laws, decrees, and commandments of God is the pathway to the fulfillment of God’s Will. That Will must be for a blessed Israel to be realized. An Israel that “is the head and never is the tail.”
God’s expresses clearly what is his will for Israel in Deuteronomy 30:19:
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.
Deuteronomy 30:19 should dispel any notion that God is indifferent to the course Israel chooses.
The process of restoration places Israel in “the midway position.” Thus, they need to set up a condition to stand on God’s side. This is the meaning of the laws, decrees and commandments. It is the condition necessary to come to God’s side. However, if the Israelites break faith with God, they will have to set a secondary course of indemnity.
This twofold potential centering on Israel’s responsibility is what established a primary and secondary course in God’s providence of restoration. God’s primary Will for his people is that they receive His Word and keep faith. God’s secondary Will for his people is, “if” they fail, that they set up a course of indemnity to restore their previous position and status. (1Samuel 14:14). God does not determine the outcome without man’s participation, that is, the fulfillment or failure in his portion of responsibility.
The more we can see the manifestation of this primary and secondary dynamic in the history leading up to Jesus, the more we will be able to recognize Jesus’ own ministry within that same matrix. Thus, “if” Israel fulfills its responsibility and keeps faith, God will be able to lead the nation toward its destiny “to be the head” and not the tail. This is God’s primary will. However, “if” Israel rejects the laws, decrees and commandments of God and moves down the path toward curses, God would send a prophet to implore the rebellious people to repent and return to the original path.
No prophet ever appeared when the people of Israel were headed properly to the destiny of “blessing.” The secondary (or consequential) path is always less preferred. In fact, it is not preferred at all. Look what God says about that course in Ezekiel 33:11
Say to them, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?”
This shows that when Israel turned from its primary destiny, God would intervene through a prophet’s voice to encourage repentance and return. God “takes no pleasure” in having to invoke the tragic course of the secondary path of indemnity. God also indicates that if ever the curse is invoked upon Israel, it will not be because of His “Will” but rather as a result of Israel failing in its role of responsibility. See Deuteronomy 29:24-25
All the nations will ask: "Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?" And the answer will be: "It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.”
In Isaiah 5:1-4, we can see this self-imposed line that God will not cross with regard to man’s portion of responsibility:
I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
"Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?
God did all that He could do and yet He did not get the result of His desire and Will. How could that be? Is God weak? Not at all.
“If”? It seems to be a rather inappropriate word for a God who knows all. Exodus 4:2 is noteworthy because God asks Moses for information, “What’s that in your hand?” He asks. Even more noteworthy, Moses confidently gives God the information He seeks. “A staff,” Moses replied. In Mark 9:21, Jesus also requests information. “How long has he been like this?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. If Jesus asked a believer today such a question, they might be thrown into a fit of doctrinal anxiety. Isn’t the Lord all-knowing?
Certainly God has the power to know all. If God has the power to know all, He must surely also have the power not to know something if He so chooses. That’s why God tells Israel “if” they have faith they will be blessed. Using that word is not an expression of an inability on the part of God to know something, but rather is the expression of his decision that Israel will play a central role, via faith, in the accomplishment of God’s will for His people.
God is giving the nation a portion of responsibility. They are going to play a central role in the outcome. It is the same parameters that enveloped the relationship of Adam and Eve with God. “If” they had kept the commandment, they would have had life.
God relates to the chosen people in this manner because he has not changed his Master Plan. Thus, their faith in the laws, decrees, and commandments of God is the pathway to the fulfillment of God’s Will. That Will must be for a blessed Israel to be realized. An Israel that “is the head and never is the tail.”
God’s expresses clearly what is his will for Israel in Deuteronomy 30:19:
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.
Deuteronomy 30:19 should dispel any notion that God is indifferent to the course Israel chooses.
The process of restoration places Israel in “the midway position.” Thus, they need to set up a condition to stand on God’s side. This is the meaning of the laws, decrees and commandments. It is the condition necessary to come to God’s side. However, if the Israelites break faith with God, they will have to set a secondary course of indemnity.
This twofold potential centering on Israel’s responsibility is what established a primary and secondary course in God’s providence of restoration. God’s primary Will for his people is that they receive His Word and keep faith. God’s secondary Will for his people is, “if” they fail, that they set up a course of indemnity to restore their previous position and status. (1Samuel 14:14). God does not determine the outcome without man’s participation, that is, the fulfillment or failure in his portion of responsibility.
The more we can see the manifestation of this primary and secondary dynamic in the history leading up to Jesus, the more we will be able to recognize Jesus’ own ministry within that same matrix. Thus, “if” Israel fulfills its responsibility and keeps faith, God will be able to lead the nation toward its destiny “to be the head” and not the tail. This is God’s primary will. However, “if” Israel rejects the laws, decrees and commandments of God and moves down the path toward curses, God would send a prophet to implore the rebellious people to repent and return to the original path.
No prophet ever appeared when the people of Israel were headed properly to the destiny of “blessing.” The secondary (or consequential) path is always less preferred. In fact, it is not preferred at all. Look what God says about that course in Ezekiel 33:11
Say to them, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?”
This shows that when Israel turned from its primary destiny, God would intervene through a prophet’s voice to encourage repentance and return. God “takes no pleasure” in having to invoke the tragic course of the secondary path of indemnity. God also indicates that if ever the curse is invoked upon Israel, it will not be because of His “Will” but rather as a result of Israel failing in its role of responsibility. See Deuteronomy 29:24-25
All the nations will ask: "Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?" And the answer will be: "It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.”
In Isaiah 5:1-4, we can see this self-imposed line that God will not cross with regard to man’s portion of responsibility:
I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
"Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?
God did all that He could do and yet He did not get the result of His desire and Will. How could that be? Is God weak? Not at all.
