Last Sifting, 01

JACOB’S TROUBLE – THE LAST SIFTING OF ISRAEL
The role of the Church in the drama at the threshold of the Messiah.
By Lars Widerberg

 

Chapter 01
The Kingdom of God and the issue of being chosen

“A lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world.” 1 Pet 1:20

“He hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy…” Eph 1:4

For us there is a “before the foundation of the world”. To hand it over to fantasizing would bring disaster. God’s personal will provides a revealing which fills every available measure. Before the beginning of the world there was a choosing, a choosing to create. Included in the drama of creating, one finds the choosing of men and a nation for priestly purposes. One finds a covenant setting, and more men with broken hearts and unsteady voices speaking up against the breaking of the covenant given to the chosen nation by their God.

Thus saith the LORD, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divideth the sea when its waves roar; If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.” Jer 31:35-57

Before us and ahead of us, we find a “for ever”. It is set in motion and is operative in many realms of reality. It is a heavenly measure, an eternal measure, a measure which holds absolutes. The English vocabulary offers a compact word for this particular kind of measure – “irrevocability”. It is God as He is – a Rock – the Rock of salvation, never changing. The realm which is offered by Heaven is one which will not and cannot change; it exists as an ever present continuum. This realm manifests in a practical manner according to a profound formula: “speaking the truth in love, growing up into Him in all things, who is the head, even Christ”. Items belonging to the eternal realm belonging to the Covenants of the Lord are to be made identifiable, they are to be apprehended and they are to be reckoned as irrevocable markers at the threshold of the Messiah – when the days are made short and time itself reefs and takes in its sails.
Eph 4:15

Eternal measures – expressed in a Davidic framework
“The Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.’ Although my house is not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure.” 2 Sam 23:3-5

The Redeemer, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, presents Himself in a Davidic framework, and He does this also when the redemptive efforts of Heaven is about to come to a conclusion. “These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth…”. “The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose its seven seals.” “I am the root and the offspring of David.” The Gospel of God finds its factual references within a Davidic framework – its good news is to the larger part the announcing of the restoring of the fallen tabernacle of David, based on a new and different covenant which guarantees credible reconciliation at all levels.
Rev 3:7, 5:5, 22:16, Acts 15:16-17

The Redeemer allows, through the Apostle John’s writings, the Church at Philadelphia to become aware of a certain key – a key which when used, doors open to stay open – the key of David. This key is partly an interpretive key which when inserted into the large body of texts and segments of writings brings forth a pattern – a pattern of royal intention with its very focus in Zion, in that strange city which has its existence in two places: in Heaven as well as on Earth. Its existence in Heaven – a walled city with twelve gates, with no impurity, but rather filled with the beauty of holiness and the irrevocable promise of its coming to Earth, which stirs certain emotional reactions – some of them far beyond rationality. Nations rage and the rulers take counsel together against its existence as well as against its values.
Rev 3:7, Ps 2

The everlasting covenant which David, the sweet singer of Israel, found secured for him and his descendants, rests fully in God and in His choosing. Vengeance, a concept which is foreign to the Sunday Church of these last days, stays thoroughly tied to the revulsion and revolt produced among mighty men in their petty kingdoms. The second Psalm allows us to see something in God’s face which defines and substantiates the fate of the haughty mind and its rebellion – a smile. The Son, the coming Redeemer, has already taken His seat in the heavenly realm. He is waiting for the set time to engage with full force, awaiting for “the day of the LORD’S vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion”. For this salvation, including the aspect of vengeance, prophetic men have inquired and searched diligently and so does the maturing Church of the last days. To the Church, defined by “micros dunamis” and by a strict faithfulness to the Word of God, a name will be given – “the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem”.
2 Sam 23:3-5, Isa 34:8, 1 Pet 1:10, Rev 3:12

A better covenant
The letter to the Jews, the letter to the Hebrews, pointed them (and it points us) directly to Zion, to the fullness of the Davidic reality and to the heavenly reality, which is prepared for both the Jew and the Gentile by the sacrificial effort made by the Son in His death and resurrection.

“Ye are come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.”
Hebr 12:22

“Now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” Hebr 8:6-10

The text which is quoted from the letter to the Jews settles at the very central position in all our searching for structure, in regards to the prophetic exposition of the various items and issues related to Christian eschatology, and in regards to the looking into the finalization of the very mystery of God in the last days. The extracting of meaning and timing is pivotal and mandatory. Its content speaks of a “to the Jew first” for the sake of priestly ministry among the Gentiles. Its place in this letter to the Hebrews underlines its vital spiritual function as the promised “New Covenant” announced by Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It is to be, in every sense, regarded as “better”. Twelve verses in this letter holds a vivid comparing between what the Jews were coming from and what they had been brought to in Christ – in Zion. The “New Covenant”, the Jeremiah covenant, is to be regarded and to be enjoyed as something so much better than anything previously encountered. Do we need to add the fact that there is never to come anything which is able to take us any further? Exploring and apprehending the fullness of Christ, and of Zion, belongs to eternity. The kingdom of God, Zion, belongs to that which will last through eternity.
Rom 1:16, Exo 19:6, Jer 31:31-33, Eze 36:24-28, Hebr 7:22, 8:6, 9:10, 10:34

Eschatology, prophetic perspective
The prophetic perspective as well as the prophetic inquiry involves a repeated returning to that which is Davidic in nature. Prophetic men find themselves engaged in royal issues, indeed they are engaged in that which pertain to the returning of the Redeemer. Their main area of inquiry lies revealed in the intriguing apostolic statement: “There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob”. Theirs is a struggle – is the Zion spoken of by the Apostle to be regarded as the heavenly Jerusalem, or may it be regarded as the corporate fellowship of the Saints as constituted by the “fullness of Gentiles”, a fullness expressed according to the following: “we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” The “provoking of the Jew to jealousy” in this corporate expression of truth and mercy is to be constituted as a convincing testimony concerning the realities of redemption, it is set to speak radically both to men and before the powers in the heavenlies.
Rom 11:26, 11:25, Eph 4:13, Rom 11:11-14, Eph 3:10

“I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen…” Zech 1:8

“The angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion’.” Zech1:14

Perspectives are radically changed in the presence of Heaven. Man’s perception is radically altered in the presence of heavenly realities. Not many are made able to see as a Zechariah, not many are willing to watch through the night like the prophetic men of old. Most of our commenting on world affairs and on the many heated issues which cause armed conflicts, on the fact that millions and millions starve and on the complex issue of global warming – all our comments and calculating along with our efforts to compromise and compensate, yet not one of these efforts hold any value as to true change. The night, its thickest darkness holds all of us in the tightest of grips with no one to see with a true seeing.

The beginning of prophetic inquiry has its inception in the choosing of men, in the heavenly choosing of a man to stand in the gap, to “stand in the breach before me for the land”. What men of this caliber see at the outset of their watching is seldom anything but darkness. Habakkuk complained: “Why do you make me see iniquity”. Isaiah was brought to a devastating realization at the very outset of his prophetic work: “Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider”. The very first word of Zechariah had to be one of repentance – a word to bring the nation from darkness to light, from under judgment to a being covered by mercy.
Eze 22:30, Hab 1:3, Isa 1:3, Zech 1:3, 6

Zechariah saw horses among the myrtle-trees, and accompanying him was the angel of interpretation to draw forth meaning and to provide explanations. At the outset of the encounter, the fact that the band of horsemen stayed their ride among myrtle-trees and not among cedars or maple-trees brings light amidst darkness. The myrtle, from the Hebrew root “hadas”, deployed in the name Hadassah, brings to the Jew both the concept of right standing, righteousness secured, and of mercy of the warmest colour. The angel of interpretation signals, by the use of kind-hearted simplification, the perennial activity of the heavenly host – the salvific defense of that which belongs to Heaven.

“The angel that communed with me said to me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.” Zech 1:14
In this next sequence of the encounter, meant for a heavenly seeing amidst gross darkness, there are words of further explanation, even of a commission. The prophet is made acutely aware of God’s own jealousy, a well defined sense of right and wrong, an explicit expression of that which is counted among eternal values – the jealousy for Zion. The words are: “I am very greatly displeased with the heathen” and further: “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built in it” and then the promise: “The LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem”.
Zech 1:14. Jer 31:3

The comforting of Zion and the choosing of Jerusalem reoccurs as a prophetic scenario, as is words regarding the necessity of repentance, as men of spiritual caliber are called into a walk with the angel of interpretation on paths leading through the darkness into vales of myrtle-trees. Ours is a duty to conduct inquiries into the prophetic word of the Lord for the sake of recovering insight into the prophetic scenario which belongs to the last days, and to prepare for distinct trumpet calls unto repentance as well as for rich words of comfort – to the Jew first, and then to the Goyim.

The New Covenant, the point of integration
“He shall sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.”
Isa 52:15

“To whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” Isa 53:1

The formation of a solid apocalyptic outlook requires proper identification regarding timing and stipulated order. Fulfillment of prophecy must be precisely what it is – fulfillment. No freedom is ever granted in the prophetic realm to re-order events, as film-makers do to produce an exciting story. Prophecy provides insight into God’s timing of that which ought to happen to serve His requirements pertaining to vengeance as well as to restoration. The New Covenant, the Jeremiah-covenant, speaks of something that has never occurred – the radical and the total change of hearts of a whole ethnic group. The re-construction of the nation of Israel on the basis of the corporate re-birth of all and every Jew living at a particular point in time, settles the matter of fulfillment. No other event will have the force to fulfill a criteria of this dignity. The initiative lies within the active presence of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Grace and Supplication, as we shall see.

“I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling to all the people around, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people” Zech 12:2-3

The words regarding Jerusalem and the nations seem to find fulfillment unto dispersion and devastation every now and then. But do any of these “fulfillments” cover the full meaning intended? When are the nations to be “sprinkled”? When are they to be brought to that final, in every sense final, insight into the redemptive purposes of God? To use but one single segment from the prophet Ezekiel to underline the necessity of reading the prophetic texts of God literally for the sake of re-covering proper timing: “Then the heathen that are left around you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that which was desolate”. Where are we to place such a word in the apocalyptic perspective? Have the surrounding nations ever recognized Israel’s Redeemer in this way? At what point in time can we expect them to do so? Is such recognition under way? Is such recognition, and the many events tied in with the process unto fulfillment, truly Good News, a preaching of Good tidings, a bringing of hope amidst severest trouble and sifting? Have the nations ever been sprinkled in the fashion intended by this particular prophetic word?
Eze 36:36, Isa 52:15, Isa 53:1

The Jeremiah-covenant – certainly a point of integration
“Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? It is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little.” Isa 28:10-11

“They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” Jer 31:34

Do we carry and harbour an appreciation of what “the angel of interpretation” is able to do for us? Are we truly willing to be led by the Holy Spirit into an understanding of the days when “the mystery of God should be finished”. The fragmentation of the prophetic word, “here a little, there a little”, points to the necessity of a close fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Grace and Supplication. It reveals the unwillingness among the people of God in general for the fairly rough but utterly rewarding labour which is necessary for the understanding of the ways of the Lord. The fragmentation reveals the deep seated unwillingness for the pondering and considering of heavenly protocol unto repentance and for lives lived under the hand of the Holy Spirit. Zechariah commented and described the heavenly presence as “the angel that communed with me”. Ours is the privilege of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit for the sake of a holy life lived and for the understanding of the prophetic protocol of the Lord.
Rev 10:7, Isa 18:10, Zech 12:10, Zech 1:14

Within the framework of the Jeremiah-covenant, the New Covenant, the eternal covenant which secures Davidicness and redemption for the Jew as well as for the Gentile, we are able to gather uniformity of meaning. Heaven’s use, God’s use of words formulates protocol. The Father’s use of words is constant and coherent. When speaking of a day of vengeance, he defines a particular point in time. If any duplicity or if any secondary fulfillments of a concept these are not without markers of identification. For the man who learns to live under the hand of God’s Spirit, it is no wearisome task to sort out the “When”, the “Where” and the “How”. Truth and humility will guide. The man who, in his inquiry, submits to that which belongs to the realm of the spectacular and bizarre, falls prey to his own vanity.

The New Covenant, the Covenant reveled to men like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, speaks terse words in the face of humanism, a not so modern commodity among men. It speaks the necessity of a new heart, a radically different view of man and his capacities, and of the intervening of Heaven into the affairs of rulers and wise men. The new covenant speaks of the religious man and his ritualistic efforts to present righteousness, including rituals and worship, to gain approval and endorsement in Heaven. Instead it speaks of a different approach secured in Christ Jesus, the Messiah. It speaks drastically regarding a possible annulling of the former choosing of Israel’s God of the small piece of geography as a sacred piece of land as the ultimate place of revealing of the purposes and protocol of Heaven. It speaks directly against any kind of replacing the Israel of God. It speaks directly against the formation of a gathering of men before the Lord as a newer and better nation under the name of Israel –a new Israel. This, the Jeremiah-covenant, formulates the commonwealth of Israel, a sacred and spiritual union of men of the new heart – of Jew and Gentile, a company of committed led by the Spirit of Grace and supplication. It is by all means a covenant of heavenly integration.
Jer 31:32, Eph 2:12, Zech 12:10

Lars Widerberg
Apostolicity@gmail.com