The Blessing of The Curse
Posted by Chris McKinny | Posted in | Posted on 12:40 PM
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The following was written in response to a friend of mine's request that I "point to one passage in Scripture to show that the geo-political nation of Israel did not have a planned obsolescence that would cause it to pass away upon the completion of Christ's earthly work, what passage would you point to?"
Well first of all - by way of clarification I should say that I do believe that there is a point in time where Israel as a geo-political entity no longer continues as the emphasized vehicle of God's redemptive plan. In other words there is a time in which geo-political Israel's role will be completely "filled." From my vantage this distinction is seen most clearly in Revelation 21 - when Christ makes "all things new" and brings the final real thing that shatters all of the previous types (i.e. the Heavenly Jerusalem of Revelation 21, the tent of Hebrews 8 versus the earthly tabernacles and temples, even any temple constructed during the Messianic Age). So with that ending in mind and with Genesis 12 (i.e. Abrahamic Covenant) as our beginning we have our field of potential references.
(Sidenote - Honestly, if someone asked me this and I did not know their background I would point to Romans 11, but taking into account our previous discussion - I will go elsewhere.)
The best passage or in this case, book, is Deuteronomy - the whole book is written in the form of a covenant between Yahweh and Israel. Over and over again Moses warns the people of the perils of disobedience - this culminates in the enacting of the covenant/treaty with the recounting of the blessings and cursings (Deut. 27-28). Specifically, I would point to the promises laid out in Deut. 29 and 30.
Consider this passage:
So in brief I would say that for Israel the Mosiac covenant's blessings and cursings are still in effect - they have been in an exile state since 70 CE and should be waiting for their ultimate return with the Messiah. This to me is the ultimate proof that Israel has not become obsolete. Did they fail? Yes. But has their 4,200-year-old expectation been met yet? No. Where they failed Christ triumphed (Hosea 10; Matt 2), but it's not enough for Israel to be merely the genetic pool of the Light, they were promised that they would be the "light to the nations" (Is. 49:6). Christ is both the Light which shone into the darkness of the world (John 1:5) and the Light which will reside at the heart of the Israelite Theocracy. Meaning he succeeded where they failed and will be the result of them succeeding despite their failures. This is one of the core theological values of the Messiah.
I might ask a hypothetical question - If Romans 9-11 were written post-70 CE - would that change anything?
Well first of all - by way of clarification I should say that I do believe that there is a point in time where Israel as a geo-political entity no longer continues as the emphasized vehicle of God's redemptive plan. In other words there is a time in which geo-political Israel's role will be completely "filled." From my vantage this distinction is seen most clearly in Revelation 21 - when Christ makes "all things new" and brings the final real thing that shatters all of the previous types (i.e. the Heavenly Jerusalem of Revelation 21, the tent of Hebrews 8 versus the earthly tabernacles and temples, even any temple constructed during the Messianic Age). So with that ending in mind and with Genesis 12 (i.e. Abrahamic Covenant) as our beginning we have our field of potential references.
(Sidenote - Honestly, if someone asked me this and I did not know their background I would point to Romans 11, but taking into account our previous discussion - I will go elsewhere.)
The best passage or in this case, book, is Deuteronomy - the whole book is written in the form of a covenant between Yahweh and Israel. Over and over again Moses warns the people of the perils of disobedience - this culminates in the enacting of the covenant/treaty with the recounting of the blessings and cursings (Deut. 27-28). Specifically, I would point to the promises laid out in Deut. 29 and 30.
Consider this passage:
“And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the LORD has made it sick— the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and wrath— all the nations will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, and the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as they are this day.’“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.“
And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the LORD your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 29:22–30:10 ESV)Moses promised and expected that the bless and the curse would occur - the ultimate curse was exile, but the result of exile was always return. This was the view of the prophets (too numerous to cite - but here is one Isaiah 10:17-23) and if we were to assume that this expectation ceased post 516 BCE with the return of Zerubabbel and the rebuilding of the temple see Zech. 10:9-12. More so - the disciples continued this expectation see the following reference:
“But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’” (Acts 3:18–25 ESV)In that last sentence Peter invokes not just the Abrahamic covenant, but the whole of the idea of redemptive narrative from Abraham to Prophets - this includes the Mosiac covenant. If we don't have a distinction after the 586 BCE destruction or the resurrection of Christ then why should we setup a dividing wall post-70 CE? The apostles used the same language that Moses and the prophets used.
So in brief I would say that for Israel the Mosiac covenant's blessings and cursings are still in effect - they have been in an exile state since 70 CE and should be waiting for their ultimate return with the Messiah. This to me is the ultimate proof that Israel has not become obsolete. Did they fail? Yes. But has their 4,200-year-old expectation been met yet? No. Where they failed Christ triumphed (Hosea 10; Matt 2), but it's not enough for Israel to be merely the genetic pool of the Light, they were promised that they would be the "light to the nations" (Is. 49:6). Christ is both the Light which shone into the darkness of the world (John 1:5) and the Light which will reside at the heart of the Israelite Theocracy. Meaning he succeeded where they failed and will be the result of them succeeding despite their failures. This is one of the core theological values of the Messiah.
I might ask a hypothetical question - If Romans 9-11 were written post-70 CE - would that change anything?
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