All Israel Will Be Saved (Part 4 of 3)

  

This is a supplement to a previous post in January 2015, entitled, “All Israel Will Be Saved?”  The blog was addressing the question, of why the Patriarchs are consistently referred to as “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Matt 22:32), and not “Abraham, Isaac, and Israel” the names given by God to each man.  Over the weekend I stumbled onto three references in scripture where God is called “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.”  Chronologically, the first time is found in a prayer of David around the time Solomon was made king over Israel,

“O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people and direct their heart to you,” (1 Chron 29:18). 

The next time is found in a prayer of Elijah after he build the altar next to the prophets of Baal and was preparing to call down fire from heaven,

“O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word,”

(1 Kings 18:36). 

Immediately after Elijah’s prayer, God sent down fire from heaven to consume the offering.  The final time was when King Hezekiah restored the temple worship and called all of the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover saying,

“O sons of Israel, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to those of you who escaped and are left from the hand of the kings of Assyria,”

(2 Chon 30:6).

It is fascinating that all these references have Messianic connections.  Elijah is the prophet that prepares the way of the LORD, as John the Baptist did in the first century.  Jesus is a descendant of David Who will reign on the throne of David, and Hezekiah is a king that called the nation to repent.  Some initially thought Hezekiah could be the Messiah, but he ultimately became a type of the Messiah calling the nation to repentance, which saved the nation from the Assyrians.

These passages seem to foretell of a future time when the nation comes to believe in Jesus as Messiah, a time when “All Israel will be saved,” (Rom 11:26).  At that time, the Patriarchs may then be referred to as “Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.” 

As discussed in the previous blogs, “Israel” is the name used in scripture for the believing remnant, while “Jacob” is often associated with unbelief.  Israel is the name given to Jacob after he struggles with and comes to know God, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed,” (Gen 32:28, NASB).  The NIV translates the verse this way, “…you have striven with God and with humans and have overcome.”

The NIV use of the word “overcome” brings to mind the use of the term “overcome” in reference to each of the seven churches of Revelation, “To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God,” (Rev 2:7-Ephesus, 2:11-Smyrna, 2:17-Pergmum, 2:26-Tyatira, 3:5-Sardis, 3:12-Philadelphia, 3:21-Laodicea).  These references in Revelation seem to allude to the words in Genesis, when Jacob acquired the name Israel.  Like Jacob, believers who overcome become part of the believing remnant of Israel, and “All Israel will be saved.”

--Scott

An Alternate Order For the Books of the Greek Text???

As has been previously proposed on this blog (Was Mom Right After All? – March 2013), the inspired books of the Bible have a hierarchy of authority, as Jesus said, “Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms,” (Luke 24:44).  The hierarchy is based on the nearness of the author to the Creator; Moses “face to face” (Ex 33:11), while to the Lord made Himself known to the prophets “in a vision…in a dream,” (Num 12:6).  As a general principle, the words of the Prophets cannot take precedence over the words of Moses.  Therefore, all of the Hebrew text must be viewed through the eyes of the Moses, the highest authority. 

In the book order of the original Hebrew canon, which preceded the order of the Hebrew canon in the Christian Bible by 200-300 years, the Hebrew Sages arranged the books in order of authority, highest to lowest.  Compare this order to the arrangement of the modern Christian Bible.

The Tanakh (Common Hebrew Order)	Old Testament (Common Gentile Order)
Law of Moses (Torah): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy	Law of Moses (Torah): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
The Prophets (Neviim): Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malichi	History and Major Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel,
The Writings (Ketuvim): Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles	Minor Prophets: Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malichi

The English translators did not adopt the order of the Hebrew Sages, but elected to rearrange the Hebrew canon in chronological (historical) order following the pattern common to Greek thought.  As a result, the Hebrew text of the Christian Bible often reads more like a history book, which emphasizes people, places and events, rather than the living and abiding word of God, “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work,” (2 Tim 3:16-17).  

If Jesus is a prophet after the pattern of Moses (Duet 18:15), Who beheld the very form of God, (Num 12:8)(John 1:18, 6:46), and Whose face was illuminated from being in the presence of God (Ex 34:29)(Matt 17:12), than the words of Jesus should be elevated to a higher level of authority than words of the apostles who beheld the LORD in dreams and visions (Acts 2:17), not “face to face” (1 Cor 13:12), but on a level like the prophets of old, (Num 12:6-7).  In this hierarchy of authority, the Greek text should be read through the eyes of Jesus, where all the words of the apostles are consistent with the original words spoken by Jesus. 

Unlike the Hebrew text of the Christian Bible, the Greek text is not entirely arranged in chronological order.  Further, the words of the apostles are sometimes seen as superior to the words of Jesus because they come later.  Finally, the epistles of Paul, arranged from longest to shortest, appear before the epistles of all other authors.  So the other day, I was contemplating how the Greek text would be ordered if arranged on the basis of authority, like the Hebrew text is ordered in the Tanak.  Here’s my pass to provoke your thoughts.

The Greek Text (Common Gentile Order)	The Greek Text (If Ordered by Authority)
Words of Jesus (Torah): Matthew, Mark, Luke, John	Words of Jesus (Torah): Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
Acts and Paul: Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians  2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon,	The Prophets (Neviim): Galatians, James, 1 Thessalonians  2 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians, Philemon, Colossians, Philippians, 1 Timothy, Titus, 2 Timothy, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Jude, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Revelation
The Other Apostles and Revelation: Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation	The Writings (Ketuvim): Acts, Hebrews

I am not arguing for a reordering of the Christian New Testament.  I am only suggesting a rethinking of how we read the text.  The New Testament should always be read through the eyes of Jesus and not the typical approach of many believers, who read the New Testament through our own culture and the eyes of Paul.  In other words, make our lives and the words of Paul consistent with the words of Jesus, not the reverse.  For scripture says, “Walk in the same manner as He (Jesus) walked,” (1 John 2:6).

It was great seeing everyone.  May God bless you in the coming days,  Scott

The Downfall of Dan

On Tuesday (8/18/15), I read Judges 18:1-31, a story I did not remember, which tells of the “tribe of Danites” who sought an inheritance in the land like the other sons of Jacob.  The Danites secured an inheritance with the assistance of a Levite name Micah, who was a priest, but also a person who possessed, “household idols and the molten image,” (Jud 18:17).  This week’s (8/8/15) Parashah reading specifically addresses this issue.

“If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as you own soul, entice  you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other god’s’…you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him…So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery.  Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.” (Deut 13: 6-11)

Rather than destroy all these idols and the people in accordance with this week’s Parashah reading, the “sons of Dan” instead robbed and then “set up for themselves the graven image,” (Jud 18:30).

These events seemed to be the beginning of the apostasy and downfall of the tribe of Dan.  With apparently little resistance, Jeroboam later set up “the golden calves…at Dan,” (2 Kings 10:29).  Ultimately, the tribe of Dan failed to make the list of tribes among the 144,000 in Revelation 7:4-8, possibly because of their apostasy. 

All this happened because the tribe of Dan did not follow the commandments of the Lord.  Yet, even in this condition, there remains a pathway back to God called “repentance.”  As Rabbi Heshy Kleinman encourages the reader in his book The Power of Teshuvah (Repentance,

“While other mitzvos must be performed in their entirety to accomplish their particular spiritual function, teshuvah is different.  That is because it is, at its core, a healing process…each improvement is valuable…In fact, incremental progress in teshuvah is an important source of motivation for further advances.  Once we begin to feel an increased sense of God’s closeness, our desire to sin becomes commensurately weaker.”

Please remember to devote some time each day to repentance leading up to the “Days of Awe” and Yom Kippur.  All the best, Scott

A New Commandment

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34)(1 John 2:7-8)(2 John 1:5)

If scholars are correct, John wrote his gospel near the end of the first century (~95 A.D.).  Writing 30-40 years after the other gospel accounts gave John a unique historical perspective.  When John wrote of Peter’s death (John 21:25), he recorded the event as a historical fact (Peter was executed around 67 A.D.) not a prophetic utterance.  By the end of the first century, the temple had been destroyed (70 A.D.), and the ruling Sadducees killed or dispersed from the land.  John makes no reference to the Sadducees, while they are mentioned 15 times in the other gospel accounts.  Absent the Sadducees, only “the Jews” and “Pharisees” remained to blame for the hatred that led to the crucifixion, the Jewish revolt, and the destruction of the temple. 

John refers to “the Jews” 62 times, while the phrase only occurs 15 times in the other three gospel accounts combined.  In the context of John’s gospel, the term “the Jews” primarily refers to the ruling class of individuals living in Jerusalem and Judea, i.e., the chief priests, Caiaphas, and Annas, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees.  Too often believers have read John’s words as a general condemnation of the entire race, forgetting that Jesus, the apostles and the original believers were all Jews.  Although the Pharisees also receive criticism, John records the acts of those faithful Pharisees who both approached Jesus with an open heart (John 3:1), and who became disciples that buried Jesus in accordance with the customs based on the commandments, (John 19:38-39).

Only in the gospel account of John (and his epistles) do we read of Jesus’ “new commandment” to “love one another” as “I have loved you”.  The “new commandment” is similar to the original commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18), but built on a better foundation.  The original commandment was limited to the degree an individual loved himself and often we do not love ourselves.  We are prone to the physical abuse of our bodies and treat with contempt the relationships God has given to support and encourage us.  The coming of Jesus brought an unalterable higher standard; a standard not compromised by the evil inclination and the general failings of the flesh.  Just as the Law was given as the ultimate standard because a man’s conscience could be corrupted, so also, Jesus established a standard of loving one another not limited by individual weakness.  Under the original commandment, a person would rarely be motivated to love in a sacrificial manner because such action is seemingly contrary to loving oneself.  Not so with the “new commandment” of Jesus.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:12-13)

So why did God not originally give this commandment at Mount Sinai?  It had to wait until One could come and live the pattern and say the words, “just as I have loved you.”

 

Scott

 

Protecting the Image of God

 
The recent decision by the Supreme Court is very disheartening because it nationally sanctions a relationship that corrupts the image of the God.  Although we cannot control the decision of the Court, we can control our response and use this time as an opportunity to re-examine our own walk to ensure that we are living a life that honors God following the walk of Jesus.   After all, homosexuality is just one sin found among the extensive lists of transgressions contained in Leviticus 18:1-30 and First Corinthians 6:9-10.  If believers had been more faithful to our own marriages over the past century, loving our wives and honoring our spouses, then the door might never have opened to the Supreme Court.  In some ways, the Supreme Court is only reflecting a generation of people discouraged by the heartache and disappointment of divided homes and broken marriages.  Yet, the word of God remains true, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 
 
Sexual sins are especially grievous to God, “Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body,” (1 Cor 6:19).  While other sins are often transgressions against our fellow man, sexual sins, including homosexuality, can be seen as a direct attack on the very image of the Creator because, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created him,” (Gen 1:27).  Not man singularly, but the union of man and woman in marriage represents a restoration of the original Adam created in the image of God.  “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  So they are no longer two, but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, let man separate,” (Matt 19:5-6). 
 
Since the union of man and woman becomes a picture of the Creator, any deviation from this pattern is seen as a perversion to the very image of God.  For this reason, the Bible goes to great length in describing numerous types of prohibited sexual relationships (see Leviticus 18:1-30), all referred to as “abominations.”  The distortion of God’s image is seen as the gravest type of sin in scripture, whether the distortion occurs in the form of prohibited sexual relationships, the killing of a human being who has been created in the image of God, or the worshiping of an idol, such as the golden calf, formed to represent God.  The prohibitions given by the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 address these concerns to protect the image of God.
 
Marriage is a great "mystery", a gift from above to teach mankind truth about the Creator.  The Hebrew word for “joined” (Gen 2:24)(Matt 19:5) is “dabaq”, the same word used in scripture for “holding fast” to the LORD God, (Duet 30:20)(Heb 3:14).  Not only does marriage provide us with a picture of God, it teaches us the relationship the Creator desires with His creation.

Have a blessed holiday - Scott