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CHAPTER 9 THE GOD OF HISTORY
From the Holocaust to Ha-Mashiach
And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you and you shall be a blessing Zech.8:13
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem" Isa.2:2-3
Human history is proceeding according to a divine plan. God is working out a specific purpose for humanity which can be discerned in the occurrence of historical events. We are right now in the "latter days" of Bible prophecy. The signs preceding the return of Christ, and the establishment of the kingdom are given in Matthew 24. The general condition of the world is to be one of war, famines, and pestilences. Today we face global destruction through war, and the world has been beset by unprecedented famines and plagues in recent decades. Names like Biafra, Bangladesh, Kampuchea, and Ethiopia and Somalia, have become by-words for starvation on a massive scale. At what other time in history has there been such a sequence of devastating famines. On top of this, we now face a global epidemic with AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Who could deny that we have entered the time prophesied by Christ for his return?
God has created man in his own image and likeness because it is human destiny to become sons of God and inherit a new world ruled over by God. This is why there is so much emphasis in the sayings of Christ on the kingdom of God, the new world order that he will personally usher in. The ultimate destination of man is not heaven as many think - but life on a renewed earth, ruled over by Jesus Christ and his resurrected human followers. When we read about the "kingdom of Heaven" in the New Testament as the reward of the saved, it should be borne in mind that this term is used only in the gospel of Matthew (as do many observant Jews, Matthew avoided using the word "God" wherever possible in his writings). By contrast, the other gospels use the term "kingdom of God". This is the kingdom which is bequeathed to us by heaven. The kingdom of Heaven is no more in heaven than the kingdom of God is "in God"! The Jews have always lived in expectation of an earthly Messiah. In the Lord’s prayer Christ says "Thy kingdom come". If the kingdom of God is heaven, why then does it need to "come" anywhere? The essentially earthly nature of the kingdom is reflected in the gospel of Matthew itself (v.26:29):
I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.
The Jewish people are to play a key role in the establishment of this new age in world history. The Jewish understanding of religion proceeds largely in accordance with the idea of a God who operates in history. Christian theology is not clear on this point, partly as a result of not understanding the Jewish foundations of Christian belief. It is not possible to fully comprehend God’s purpose for mankind without acknowledging this prophetical/historical dimension of Bible truth.
The idea of wafting up to heaven is very un-Jewish - and accordingly very un-Christian, when the pure and original teachings of Christ are properly placed within their Jewish context. Much of this thinking relies on the entirely baseless assumption that man has been endowed by God with an "immortal soul". The New Testament in fact teaches a resurrection from the dead in the future, in contrast to the continuance of life immediately upon death. Before resurrecting Lazarus, Christ declared that "our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep" (John 11:11). While, in Daniel 12:2 it is written that "many of those who SLEEP in the DUST OF THE EARTH shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt". The implication seems to be that the latter do not have eternal life, whether in "Hell" or anywhere else. If we go to heaven or hell when we die how do we understand the raising of Lazarus? If he was in "hell" there should have been no escape. If he was in heaven, why bring him back to the trials and tribulations of human existence?
Any lingering doubts about this issue should be dispelled by recalling the story of man’s fall in the Garden of Eden recorded in the first few pages of the Bible. After discovering the sin of Adam and Eve in eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God declares in Gen. 3:22 (NIV):
The man...must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.
Any Christian who thinks he has been born with an immortal soul did not get it from Adam, the father of the human race.
Traditional beliefs about Heaven and Hell as the destination of humanity do not begin to address the question of exactly why God created humanity. Are his purposes served by consigning the majority of the human race to hellfire (as orthodox Christianity seems happily to accept)? The striking thing about the conventional version of the hellfire doctrine is that there is no actual teaching anywhere in the Bible on this point. There is a total lack of any explanation or argumentation of a concept of "eternal suffering". Contrast this with the dire warnings of earthly punishments to be meted out to the people of Israel elaborately set out in Deut.28 and Lev.26. How much more important is the issue of one’s eternal destiny! The traditional ideas on this subject are an obstacle to belief in God, and to an understanding of the divine purpose of human existence. The humanly devised eternal torment doctrine of mainstream Christian theology originated in the mind of Satan, not in the mind of God. Satan wants to drive people away from God, and he uses teachings about Hell propagated by the traditional churches to do it.
Should there not be a full and unambiguous statement in the scriptures on a subject of such supreme importance? Instead, we are informed by the traditionalists that "eternal torment" is taught in scriptures like the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, and Rev.14:11 and 20:10. The first two scriptures make no mention at all of the concept of humans suffering eternally in Hell, whilst Rev.14:11 speaks only of an eternally burning fire which torments the worshippers of the Beast at the coming of Christ. This is a once only event involving a particular class of people in the end times, not a final judgment on humanity. In Jude 7 there is reference to Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed by "eternal fire". It is apparent that these cities to the south of the Dead Sea in modern day Israel are no longer still aflame. The "eternal fire" is obviously a reference to the eternal nature of the punishment suffered, not the fire itself. In the case of Rev.20:10, this passage deals only with the Devil himself (the word "they" in connection with the Beast and the False Prophet has been added in by translators).
Christ certainly teaches eternal punishment in "Gehenna" fire, but this is not the same as eternal torment. The punishment simply consists of a permanent cessation of life. In Mat.25:41, Christ specifically states that the "eternal fire" has been prepared for "the devil and his angels" - not, be it noted, "the devil and his angels and human beings"! The prophet Malachi plainly teaches that the wicked shall be burnt to stubble "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch" (Mal.4:1), while John states, in possibly the most well-known passage in the Bible:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
This hardly supports ideas of the immortality of the soul and eternal life (albeit in Hell) for unrepentant sinners! In accordance with John’s words, and the teachings of Christ throughout his ministry, the biblical scheme of salvation is plainly one of resurrection to life for those who choose to live God’s way, and death for those who do not. The desire to read concepts of eternal hellfire into the Bible represents nothing more than conformity with the religious traditions of the Christian churches and has nothing to do with Bible truth. Why read these things into the Bible when they are not there?
In contrast to these ideas, the traditional Jewish formulation of salvation and man’s ultimate destiny is very much more earth-centred than is taught in traditional Christianity. Mankind is like a global scientific experiment in which God is taking base raw materials and through a tortuous and laborious refining process turning them into something incomparably more noble. When a craftsman makes a sword he takes a block of metal and then subjects it to punishing physical abuse in which he repeatedly hammers and twists it into shape and then plunges the red-hot metal into cold water in order to produce something hard, tough, and suitable for his purposes. This is not unlike the way in which God is dealing with us. In our case the object of God’s attention is the human heart (1Thes.2:4).
This is the very meaning of human life and also the explanation for the greatest problem man has in trying to understand the will and purpose of God in the world, which is the problem of evil. We live in a world dominated by the forces of evil because God in his wisdom has devised a plan of creation in which his finest accomplishment must be put through the most rigorous testing process. To reach the greatest heights God takes his creation to the lowest depths, and puts it through the severest tribulations.
God has taken ultimate responsibility for his creation by transforming himself into a human being and submitting himself to the worst the world has to offer when he was crucified. It is because he sacrificed himself for mankind that he is able to reconcile himself to all men. This is the real basis for the Christian doctrine of "grace" - a much bandied about term which has little meaning to ordinary people.
People question why God permits an evil world, but they have only half of the story. People in general do not realise the fantastic potential of human life, which is to become almost God-like rulers of a renewed earth. Is this really the promise of the Bible?
Consider the following propositions:
People to become eternally living beings:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
... to become spirit-beings like angels:
For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Mark 12:25
But some one will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. 1 Cor.15:35-53
... to be called sons (or children) of God
your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High Luke 6:35
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God John 1:12
... destined to inherit and rule over the world:
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth Mat.5:5
Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Mat.19:28
"Well done, good servant! ... you shall have authority over cities". And the second came ... And he said to him, "And you are to be over five cities." Luke 19:17-19
He who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him power over the nations Rev.2:26
[You have] made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth. Rev.5:10
The world to come will be the mirror image of today’s world. It will be as good as today’s world is bad. For the first thousand years of the new era there will be a small degree of lingering evil. This is implied in Christ’s statement that he would rule the nations with a "rod of iron" (Rev.19:15), and passages such as Zech.14:17. Furthermore, the above statement in Rev. 19:15 suggests that in the final catastrophe before the coming of Christ not all people in the world will be destroyed, and that some will survive in order to be ruled over by Christ and his followers.
It is even possible that mankind as a whole will ultimately be reconciled to God, and obtain salvation, since the final enemy to be destroyed by Christ will be death itself (1 Cor.15:26)! Does this not imply that everyone who has ever died will achieve eternal life in the end? If more people understood these facts they would be less likely to dismiss the wisdom of God’s ways, or be willing to see in the problem of evil a rationale for atheism. These aspects of Bible teaching have not been taught by the orthodox churches but they are central to the meaning of the Christian religion.
It is precisely these considerations which underlie the significance of the Jewish people, and just as the above scheme of divine purpose tends to be overlooked in Christianity, so also does its neglect obscure the meaning of Jewish history.
People, particularly the Jews themselves, puzzle over the mystery of Jewish suffering through the ages and do not discern the purpose of God. In fact, Christian teachings as outlined above and the Jewish experience complement each other.
There are parallels in some of the most fundamental aspects of Christianity and Jewish history, and it is my contention that in his own way each truly called individual Christian is an heir to the same kind of problematical existence on a personal level, as that experienced by the Jews historically.
One could sum this up in a formula which I call: choseness, destruction, and redemption.
There is no more striking illustration of this idea than the comparison between the national experience of the Jews and the Messiah himself.
In the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah appears the figure known as the suffering servant. Christians of course see in this personality a representation of Christ on earth. To the Jews however he is a symbol of Israel, and the suffering of God’s chosen people. In fact both views are correct. Of course the parallels are not absolutely exact. No-one could argue that like Christ the Jews have been entirely innocent sacrificial lambs, but the basic thrust is still the same - that of the chosen of God being made to suffer in fulfilment of the divine plan of creation.
Israel, in the form of the Jews, has been especially chosen to fulfil the divine will by adhering to the covenant. In this they have been found to be lax and unobservant. They have suffered more than all other nations, not because they are especially sinful, but because they have departed from the covenant, which has put them on a special plane in the eyes of God (Isa.5:7), and given them a special responsibility for their actions in the moral and spiritual realm.
Israel went astray from the earliest times in the land of Canaan, going after other Gods, and indulging themselves in the worship of pagan idols and other abominable practices. They subsequently suffered national destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, and have been in exile ever since. It was prophesied that this nation would be scattered among the nations and this prophecy has come to pass just as it was foretold (Jer.9:16, Hos.9:17).
From the time when the covenant was made between the Israelites and their God at Sinai the dire warning was given to them that the nation would suffer unspeakable punishments for deviating from the covenant relationship as expressed in the writings of the law and the prophets (the Christian Old Testament)
In the book of Deuteronomy it is stated:
"But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
"The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and frustration, in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your doings, because you have forsaken me. The LORD will make the pestilence cleave to you until he has consumed you off the land which you are entering to take possession of it. The LORD will smite you with consumption, and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought, and with blasting, and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. And the heavens over your head shall be brass, and the earth under you shall be iron. The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down upon you until you are destroyed.
"The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them, and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. And your dead body shall be food for all the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and there shall be no one to frighten them away. The LORD will smite you with the boils of Egypt, and with the ulcers and the scurvy and the itch, of which you cannot be healed. The LORD will smite you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind; and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways; and you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. You shall betroth a wife, and another man will lie with her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and you shall not use the fruit of it. Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it; your ass shall be violently taken away before your face, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and there shall be no one to help you. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all the day; and it shall not be in the power of your hand to prevent it. A nation which you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labours; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually; so that you shall be driven mad by the sight which your eyes shall see. The LORD will smite you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
"The LORD will bring you, and your king whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone. And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away. You shall carry much seed into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off. You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. All your trees and the fruit of your ground the locust shall possess. The sojourner who is among you shall mount above you higher and higher; and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you, till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. They shall be upon you as a sign and a wonder, and upon your descendants forever.
"Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and in want of all things; and he will put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he has destroyed you. The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you do not understand, a nation of stern countenance, who shall not regard the person of the old or show favour to the young, and shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; who also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish. They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you. And you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you. The man who is the most tender and delicately bred among you will grudge food to his brother, to the wife of his bosom, and to the last of the children who remain to him; so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children who he is eating, because he has nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns. The most tender and delicately bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will grudge to the husband of her bosom, to her son and to her daughter, her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because she will eat them secretly, for want of all things, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.
"If you are not careful to do all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awful name, the LORD your God, then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, which you were afraid of; and they shall cleave to you. Every sickness also, and every affliction which is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. Whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude, you shall be left few in number; because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God. And as the LORD took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you; and you shall be plucked off the land which you are entering to take possession of it. And the LORD will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And among these nations you shall find no ease, there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the LORD will give you a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and a languishing soul; your life shall hang in doubt before you; night and day you shall be in dread, and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘Would it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say,’Would it were morning!’ because of the dread which your heart shall fear, and the sights which your eyes shall see. And the LORD will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey which I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no man will buy you." Deut.28:15-68
So much for disobedience to the will of God by the chosen people!
The Jewish people cannot understand the meaning behind their national sufferings because they do not believe the truth of these words! It is the failure to see the seriousness of their choseness that blinds Jews to the consequences of their rejection of God and his covenant. Modern Jews should read passages such as that reproduced above, and study each word carefully, then decide for themselves whether history has indeed treated them so unjustly!
The theme continues in Leviticus:
"But if you will not hearken to me, and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, I will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it; I will set my face against you, and you shall be smitten before your enemies; those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when non pursues you. And if in spite of this you will not hearken to me, then I will chastise you again sevenfold for your sins, and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like brass; and your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
"Then if you walk contrary to me, and will not hearken to me, I will bring more plagues upon you, sevenfold as many as your sins. And I will let loose the wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number, so that your ways shall become desolate.
"And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will smite you sevenfold for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant; and if you gather within your cities I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and shall deliver your bread again by weight; and you shall eat, and not be satisfied.
"And if in spite of this you will not hearken to me, but walk contrary to me, then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and chastise you myself sevenfold for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you. And I will lay your cities waste, and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing odours. And I will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be waste." Lev.26:14-33
This is the heritage of those whom God has chosen to be his people and who have rejected his covenant. The above passages make it quite clear what the Hebrews could expect by way of punishment for their iniquities and rebellion. In the events of Jewish history the reality of God’s power is demonstrated; in the incredible suffering of the Jewish people Bible prophecy is seen to be fulfilled.
