Chapter 22: Full Redemption – In One Day
After such a long endeavor to share the heart of God for the eschatological plan of redemption, we now come to the understanding that Israel is fully redeemed in a single day. First, let us establish the many verses that speak of the full redemption of Israel, and then we shall venture into the texts that describe that it happens in a single day. I’ve asserted previously, but now I show from the Scripture, that when Israel is saved, the nations shall also be saved.
The easiest text to go to is Romans 11:26: “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The deliverer will come out of Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.’” Here we have a quotation from Psalm 14:7. However, this could also be a quotation from Isaiah. Isaiah 59:20 reads, “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins…” We discussed briefly at the end of the previous chapter the destruction of the idols. Isaiah 27:9 speaks of the destruction of the idols, but the first part of that verse reads, “By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin.” It is not simply that the idols need to be cleaned up because God wants to have the Land purged. The destruction of the idols signifies the full redemption of Israel.
While we have been saved by the grace of God, it is not enough to simply say that we are redeemed. There is still something further: the seal of the Holy Spirit. The Nazarenes call this the second work of grace; the Charismatics call it the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The truth is, we can be technically saved without the filling of the Spirit, but our salvation is utter and full when we have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and are now free from all bounds of sin. In the book of Acts, this was accomplished by the laying on of hands by the apostles. In the case of Israel, it is accomplished by the destruction of these idols.
“Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.”{dlxix} “When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul.”{dlxx}
We find that about the time of their regathering, Isaiah prophesied, “The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.”{dlxxi} The Spirit is poured out from on high upon the whole house of Israel. As it is written, “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them.”{dlxxii} What does it mean that they will not break this New Covenant?
Paul answers that in Romans 7. They who are dead are no longer bound to the Law; therefore we who have died with Christ are no longer bound to the Law, but instead are bound to Christ. Israel, while they are currently bound to the law, and therefore bound to death and sin, will be released from their oppression to be made new in Christ. Jeremiah continues: “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” Compare this with Ezekiel 36: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart” – the same heart mentioned before by Jeremiah with the Law written upon it – “and put a new spirit within you” – the sealing of the Holy Spirit unto Christ – “I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
It is significant to note that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was prophesied to an entire nation. While the baptism is marvelous, and we have received a foretaste of things to come, it needs to be recognized that the fulfillment of this prophecy is when Israel is saved to the uttermost. God has given us a foretaste, but we shouldn’t take this as being the end in itself. Neither shall we despise the day of small things. If the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, will not the ministry of the Sprit be even more glorious?{dlxxiii} Now, if the ministry of the Spirit that we have in our midst is “surpassing glory” compared to the Old Covenant made at Sinai, what eternal weight of glory must the accomplishment, the bearing of the fruit of our labors be? We are ministers of a New Covenant,{dlxxiv} given the task of driving Israel to jealousy{dlxxv} by being an offering acceptable unto God,{dlxxvi} sanctified through the Holy Spirit.{dlxxvii}
Isaiah 12:3 speaks of Israel drawing water from the wells of salvation with joy. We know that this water is the living water mentioned in John 7:37-38, of which we as believers of the New Covenant drink (1 Corinthians 12:13 with nostalgic reference to John 4:10). This baptism of the Spirit for Israel takes place at the return unto a land filled with “vile images and detestable idols” which Israel will have to remove. Ezekiel 11 continues from that phrase to say, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and given them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.”{dlxxviii}
Zephaniah adds, “On that day you will not be put to shame for all the wrongs you have done to me, because I will remove from this city those who rejoice in their pride. Never again will you be haughty on my holy hill. But I will leave within you the meek and humble who trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel will do no wrong; they will speak no lies, nor will deceit be found in their mouths. They will eat and lie down and no one will make them afraid.”{dlxxix} Israel shall at this time have a spirit of humility, which is the spirit of Christ. No longer will they be prideful or haughty, not because God will destroy all who have pride and haughtiness, but because God will pour out the Spirit of grace and supplication upon the remnant.{dlxxx} All men are prideful and haughty, thus we cannot say it is somehow that these who survive are not.
We know that it is not because of their lack of pride that they are spared, but rather that God will “judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats.”{dlxxxi} For this reason we have a verse in Zechariah 9:11-12 about God freeing the prisoners from the waterless pit and restoring twice as much to them. It is “because of the blood of my covenant with you” that God redeems Israel. What exactly is that “blood of [His] covenant”? “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”{dlxxxii} The very wine that we drink, the bread we break, as ministers of the New Covenant is the symbol of Israel’s redemption. Not because of their humility, but rather because of Christ’s atonement will God restore them.
They will meet with God in the wilderness, where God has set a table for them, and that table is Christ. We break the bread and we give them the wine of the New Covenant. We display to Israel during her final calamity the reality of the New Heaven and New Earth at work within us – not because God has already established them, but because though we are in the world we are not of the world. While the earthly Jerusalem is currently the son of the slave woman, the heavenly Jerusalem is free.{dlxxxiii} We are not under the bondage of the earthly Jerusalem, but have been freed for freedom’s sake{dlxxxiv} to drive the Jew to envy.{dlxxxv} By our mercy they shall obtain mercy.{dlxxxvi} For this reason, we lay down our lives as living sacrifices.{dlxxxvii} We are the offering. We are the bread broken for them. Our blood is the wine poured out, because Christ is in us, and we are His body. This isn’t to diminish the work of Christ, but all the more to exult it.
When Israel shall taste of that New Covenant wine for the first time after she has been restored, “a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more.”{dlxxxviii} What day is this? It is the day of the return of Christ. Up to this point, Israel has been fed with “the bread of affliction”,{dlxxxix} but now “your teachers will be hidden no more.”{dxc} Who are these teachers Isaiah is speaking of? They are the ministers of the New Covenant – the Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ Jesus our Lord. They are the wise mentioned in Daniel 11:33-35. “With your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, you ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ Then you will defile your idols overlaid in silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, ‘Away with you!’”.
It is for this reason, because their teachers are no longer hidden from their eyes, and because they drink deeply from the well of salvation the eternal Spirit, that Isaiah later says, “But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; you will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting.”{dxci} Obadiah declares, “But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will by holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance.”{dxcii} Of this inheritance, Paul writes concerning the believers, “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.”{dxciii}
Moses asks, “Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?”{dxciv} Zechariah then continues this thought by comparing it to the end time exodus back to the Land: This is what the Lord Almighty says, “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of the people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?”{dxcv} This reminds me of a question that Jesus asked in Luke 18:8. “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
It is the eternal perspective that saves us. It is the love of the truth.{dxcvi} When we see the magnificence of God’s eternal plan, it saves us from being cheap or casual. We have an end to work toward. We are no longer going about by our days wandering through life until we either die or the Lord returns. Now we have a purpose in Christ, and that purpose saves us from pride and deception. Will Christ find faith upon the earth when He returns, or will the majority of His followers be asleep? I have often found it quite astounding that Jesus tells the parable of the ten virgins. All ten of them fell asleep, and woke up just before His coming. It was at that time that the five realized they did not have enough oil, and by that time it was too late to go and buy. How many of us will also be caught doing just a little too little a little too late?
In One Day
We saw in Isaiah 10:20-23 that there would come a time when Israel will no longer rely on him who strikes them down – the Antichrist – but now returns to the Lord. In the verses leading up to this statement, we find verse 17: “The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume his thorns and briers.” In a single day… There are few verses that speak of this, but many that speak of “the Day of the Lord.” Why the “Day” and not the “Days”? Some have speculated that the Day of the Lord is a period of time, and that the Hebrew word yom can have that loose translation. I’m not entirely convinced. There are some references to the Day of the Lord that seem to be outside of the return of Christ, this is true. However, the vast majority can all be found in a single day, or maybe to better word it, can be the result of a single day.
The return of Christ is the Day of the Lord. It is upon that one day that all of history pivots. The two advents of Christ are the two hinges that we understand the entirety of the Bible to swing upon. While we understand that there is more that happens before and after the return of Christ, it does seem as though the defeat of the Antichrist, the locking up of Satan in his prison,{dxcvii} the redemption of Israel, and the banner set up for the nations to behold the glory of God are all accomplished in a single day. From that day, there are other things that might take longer, such as the rebuilding of the ruins, the bringing back of the Diaspora, the destruction of idols, etc. Yet, those things that might take longer than a day to accomplish in no way should be considered factors to speak against the notion of the Day of the Lord being a single day.
For example, we read in Ezekiel 36:33-36 that “on the day I cleanse you from all your sins,” God will resettle their towns, the ruins will be rebuilt, the desolate land will be cultivated, the cities will be fortified, and the land will be replanted. Do we conclude that because it says, “On the day” that all of these things take place in a single day? Of course not. Yet, we also do not consider that because these things take multiple days that God is intending that “on that day” would actually refer to a period of time. When it says in Zechariah 3:9, and is also repeated in 9:16, “I will remove the sin of this land in a single day,” we can be confident that the removal of sin is indeed accomplished in a single day. I was saved on December 14, 2006. Does that mean that because it took me years before I finally broke free of my many sinful addictions and habits that I wasn’t truly saved until 2010 (to give a guess)?
There is an initial vertex from which we see the rest of time and history extending out – both into the past and into the future. There are three points of history that we need to focus upon for proper theology: the two trees in the Garden of Eden, the crucifixion of Christ Jesus, and the return of Christ Jesus. In the Garden of Eden, we find two trees. Mankind ate from the one and was guarded from the way of the tree of life after eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Christ then took that tree from which we have all found death – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – and died upon it, telling His disciples, “Take up your cross and follow me.” From that point forward in history, we come to another time when the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is no longer found; only the tree of life remains from which the nations shall come and eat its fruit for healing. Between Genesis 3 and Revelation 21-22, it is only “life between the trees”.
However, I would even argue that there seems to be a hint of the tree of life being established in the Millennial Kingdom. When Christ Jesus rules upon this earth for 1000 years, there will be a river to flow out from the Temple. It was this Millennial Kingdom that Ezekiel saw. Many of the Old Testament prophets saw the Millennium, and yet spoke of it in a manner that would cause us to think it is the New Heaven and New Earth. It might very well be that the Millennial Kingdom has the tree of life for the nations to come unto. In that case, we find that between Genesis 3 and Revelation 20 is “life between the trees”. All of the curse, sin, death, and what fallen humanity is accommodated with currently is not the reality. There is a reality beyond that – Genesis chapters 1-2, and Revelation 21-22. There are four chapters of humanity that speak past the corruption that we see.
The restoration to that humanity – which is unknown to us – is spoken of as taking place in a single day. One day, and the whole of the creation is restored back to its original intent in God. Isaiah asks the question, “Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?”{dxcviii} Yet, no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. Does God bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery? There is a travail that takes place in the people of God. That travail is the impregnation and birthing of the nation of Israel. This delivery doesn’t take ages, but only moments. It is upon the return of Christ, of which we can hasten His return according to the apostle Peter.{dxcix} One thing is certain: we cannot hasten that day by “doing”. It is not about what we do, nor about attaining higher righteousness. Such mentality is still under the bondage of the law. Our hastening of Christ’s coming can only be done in our intercession on behalf of Israel.
Redemption of Nations
“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.” Psalm 22:27-28 gives us a statement to allow us to see that God does indeed have a prerogative over the nations. One translation renders Psalm 24:1 as, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the nations, and all who live therein.” In the schema of eschatology, we find that the nations have an importance. They are not without their place. In much theology, the nations are left without much mention. However, in the purposes of God, the nations are given high priority. The Lord desires to rule over the nations. He desires that the nations would honor Israel, and thus honor Him. He desires that the nations would be redeemed before Him, and not simply be obligated to perform something that they have no intention of performing.
It is said in Isaiah 26:9 that “when your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.” There is something intrinsic to the redemption of nations to see the judgments of God. In a very real sense, it is not simply that the people Israel are sifted through the nations, but the nations are also being sifted through Israel. In every nation that the people are scattered to, God is looking to see how they might react. He is putting in their sight, plainly before their eyes, a people that are no people. When Christ returns and the nations realize that God has established the very people they wished to destroy, what can the reaction be but either rebellion or repentance?
We read in Isaiah 52:15, regarding Christ, “So will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.” How is it that the nations will see and understand? How is it that they will stop their mouths? How is it that He will sprinkle many nations? We know that the sprinkling here is the same language used of Israel, that God would sprinkle clean water upon them and they would be clean. That water signifies the rebirth of the Spirit – the entrance into the New Covenant. Yet, the way that God achieves this with the nations is not in them seeing Christ as Israel will see Christ. It is instead in them seeing Israel as the son of God – the firstborn son.{dc} It is in beholding Israel and their hour of judgment that the nations will come to God. After they see all that God performs in their midst, they will now see and hear and understand the things that they had previously not seen, heard, or understood.
It is at that time, when Christ restores the kingdom unto Israel,{dci} that “all the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.”{dcii} It is through the sifting of Israel through all nations that God will “make his salvation known and reveal his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”{dciii} It is when Christ restores all things unto them, for Ezekiel prophesies, “Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.”{dciv} Daniel saw the Son of Man coming on the clouds, and writes, “All people, nations and men of every language worshiped him.”{dcv}
It is upon seeing the mercy of God unto Israel that we read in Zechariah 8:20-23, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’ And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty. This is what the Lord Almighty says: In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’” Let us remember the story of the woman who grabbed the hem of Christ’s robe to find healing.{dcvi}
Malachi also says that “My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations…”{dcvii} Why will God’s name be great among the nations? Let us hear the answer from Moses: “Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.”{dcviii} Add to that the psalmist’s cry, “Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.”{dcix}
With the redemption of Israel, the nations also are redeemed. When God avenges the blood of His servants, the nations shall see the glory of God and repent. Isaiah 18:7 and Zechariah 14:16 speak of nations coming from afar to offer gifts and sacrifices to God. Whether there will truly be sacrifices when Christ returns isn’t necessary to debate. The point is still maintained that nations will come from all over to Jerusalem in order to worship God. Isaiah 51:4-5 reads, “Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations.”
“Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.”{dcx} Amos also tells us that Israel shall inherit the nations.{dcxi} In the last chapter of Isaiah, we read, “And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory.”{dcxii} “For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.”{dcxiii}
It was with all of this in mind that Paul wrote to the Romans in the 11th chapter, “Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”{dcxiv}
In this, Paul sets forth one of the most profound texts in all of Scripture. He brings together a massive subject. The nations, though they are currently without God and without hope, will be brought unto salvation in Christ when Israel shall be redeemed. For, “All Israel shall be saved.”{dcxv} And when they are saved, “What will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” They will receive mercy, for “God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”{dcxvi} While it is true that you cannot be saved unless you come to Christ, there is a special relation between God and Israel. As regarding the nation, they are beloved on account of the patriarchs.{dcxvii} God has an end time purpose for them, and that end time purpose is to be the priestly nation to all nations. Remember, “The gifts and callings of God are irrevocable.”{dcxviii} When Israel has come unto God in salvation – when they behold Him whom they have pierced – then shall all nations be saved.