6. Relating the Prophecies
of Israel’s Restoration
Central
to the confusion between natural and Eternal Israel are the Old Covenant
prophecies of Israel’s restoration. The prophets to a man say God will one day
restore Israel to favor and return them to His Land in connection with a
deliverer—a Messiah. The word restore
means to return something to its former
state.
At
face value, these prophecies refer to natural Israel in their first estate
under Moses. The original prediction of restored inheritance was by Moses
himself—built into the Mosaic Covenant, then amplified through the later
prophets. Because of these prophecies, the Jews’ messianic expectation was and
remains of a Restorer who is to reconstruct
the original order set up under Moses with the power known under David.
This
was an issue for the disciples during Yeshua’s ministry. They asked about the
scribal teaching that Elijah must first “restore
all things” before Messiah comes. Once Yeshua arose, they again asked, “Will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Even after Pentecost, Peter was preaching to the Jews about the Restoration.
But
Yeshua never directly answered the disciples’ questions. He did not answer them
because there was more to the word restore
than met their eye and than they were prepared to receive.
- Reconstruction vs. Regeneration
If
the divine meaning of restore were as
plain as it seems, there never would have been nor would there now be confusion
over the Messiah, His role and the destiny of natural Israel. But the reason
for controversy over Messiah then and Israel’s repatriation now is because
there is a difference between what the
Holy Spirit prophetically means by “restoration” and what the word ordinarily
means.
In
the mind of Christ, to restore does
not mean to reconstruct an old order
back to the way it was. It means to regenerate
it (birth it again) by revealing an entirely
new order out of the previous
order. It carries a vision of forward development in unfolding purpose, not a
rearview vision to reestablishing a past purpose.
Describing
Israel’s restoration to the disciples on His own terms, Yeshua specifically
chooses the word regeneration rather
than restoration (Mt. 19:28). Regeneration is not about reconstruction (putting
the broken pieces of something back together again), but rather of
metamorphosis and transformation—the way a caterpillar changes into a
butterfly.
When
the Old Covenant prophets predicted Israel’s restoration, they were—by the
Spirit’s Mind—prophesying a new order
into which Israel was to be reborn
from the ashes of its old order—one in which Israel itself was to become substantially re-identified. They were
prophesying a national identity
metamorphosis by the Spirit—one having overlapping fulfillments between
natural and spiritual realms over the progress of the transformation. They were
essentially prophesying the birth of
Eternal Israel out of natural Israel.
But
it’s not as if the prophets understood this. Peter says the prophets inwardly
wrestled to understand the nature of what they were prophesying. They largely
did not perceive the regenerative meaning of “restore.” And their hearers
certainly did not. All expected a reconstructive
restoration of the original order—and with it a reconstructionist Messiah who
would bring it to pass.
-
Resolving Prophetic
Confusion through Regenerative Perception
Restoration
prophecy is a multi-layered, interwoven tapestry of spiritual invective, promise
and prediction laced with historic narrative. Regenerative perception discerns
between these layers and facets to explain much that is otherwise confusing
from a superficial reconstructionist reading. It explains, for example, the
apparent inconsistency where the prophets say God will return Israel to its “former” estate, but the estate they
describe doesn’t resemble the former experience with all its failings. It far
exceeds it.
Regeneration understands that prophetic promises and predictions can have overlapping applications in natural and glorified reality. Phrases pertaining to different realities may intertwine, or even occupy the same “prophetic space.” This means one prophecy can have dual or even multiple fulfillments in different ages on different levels.19
Regeneration
explains then how prophecies can have parallel
meanings between natural and Eternal
Israel; where the fulfillments regarding mortal Israel never really measure up to the Restoration prophesied. While a
prophecy may find measured superficial fulfillment in these temporal ages, it
is really predicting realities that pertain to the glorified age (the age of
resurrection), and therefore were not fulfilled in history, are not being
fulfilled now, nor can be until the age of glory is actually birthed.
The
return from Babylon is a case in point. Pre-exile prophecies by Isaiah,
Jeremiah and Ezekiel foretelling the Jews’ eventual release from Babylon and a
new temple found a measure of fulfillment in BC 538, but carry overtones and
predict conditions that can find literal fulfillment only in a glorified
earthly state.
In
the face of such prophecies, Haggai—laboring among the dejected reconstruction
minded returnees—laments how the newly “restored” temple under Zerubbabel is “as nothing” compared to Solomon’s temple
(2:3). It just didn’t fulfill the reconstructionist expectation of glorious
restoration promised, even though the Jews’ return and temple rebuild did
weakly fulfill something of the prophecies.
To
compensate, Haggai follows by declaring how the glory of the “latter house” will be “greater than the former” (Solomon’s).
This is definitely not “restoration” as ordinarily meant. It is regeneration—something far different and
greater than what had been before. Haggai is really prophesying of Christ’s
temple, Eternal Israel (“a greater than
Solomon is here”)—the temple detailed by the apostles as Christ’s body20—to
one-day stand in the Promised Land in manifest reality as Ezekiel saw it.21
- The Offense
of Regenerative Restoration
Again
though, the prophets’ hearers did not understand the Regeneration. They
expected a rebuilding of a previous order by a reconstructionist Messiah. But
when the reconstructionist mind encounters the forward-looking regenerative
Mind of the Spirit, a major offense occurs toward God—and toward anyone
proclaiming regeneration.
So, when John the Immerser and Yeshua presented Israel’s restoration in terms of regeneration, clash with the Jewish reconstructionist mind was inevitable. To be clear: the new birth John and Yeshua preached was not only about individual regeneration. They were preaching Israel’s corporate regeneration—a national “new creation in Christ,” a New Israel born of faith from among all peoples.22
They were preaching the birth of Eternal Israel.Predictably,
natural expectations disabled the Jews from receiving Yeshua. As a regenerative
Messiah, Yeshua fulfilled some prophecies on terms that didn’t meet the natural
eye while leaving others unfulfilled for a later time in the transformation. In
no case did He satisfy the human expectation for the fiery judge who would
drive out the Gentile Romans and rebuild Israel’s original order. For this He
was crucified—itself a part of God’s plan to further the eternal regeneration even more!
·
Regenerative
Perception Today
Today,
the same “restoration clash” as surrounded Messiah’s first coming has come back
to life over the Jews’ return to the Promised Land. At stake again is the
meaning of the restoration prophecies. While the prophets indeed foretell
Israel’s return, rule and everlasting inheritance, the question remains: Of
what Israel are they speaking—of what
kind of restoration —and to what degree do today’s events fulfill them or
should be expected to?
Are the prophecies speaking
of natural Israel? Eternal Israel? Some of both? Who? When? Under what
conditions? As with Messiah’s first coming, so today the “obvious” answer may
not be the right answer. Careful discernment according to the Spirit’s regenerative mind is required.
19
In
some cases, a single phrase within the body of a larger prophetic description
may have a unique fulfillment reserved for a different age. The New Testament
assigns unique “out of context” applications of numerous restoration prophecies
to events in Yeshua’s life and other New Covenant realities (e.g., Jer. 31:15).
20 The regenerative relationship between the prophesied
restored temple and the New Testament temple is also specifically seen between
Zechariah’s prediction that Messiah will build the Lord’s temple (6:12-13) and
Yeshua’s confession that He is to build His church (Mt. 16:18). In contrast to
all this, reconstructionists assert that the “latter house” to which Haggai
refers is Herod’s temple.
While from a
perspective of human “glory” this might appear true, Herod’s reconstruction did
not fulfill the contextual conditions of restored glory described by Haggai
(2:6-9). The Lord’s own glory never inhabited Herod’s temple nor was Herod’s
project commissioned by the Lord like Solomon’s. And hardly can Rome’s
occupation of Jerusalem through Herod’s war-wracked reign fulfill the context
of “peace” marking Haggai’s latter house!
Significantly, Yeshua
never acknowledges Herod’s greatness (He does not say, “A greater than Herod is here”) and only refers to Herod’s temple
negatively as a “den of thieves and
robbers” and to its eventual destruction. (Given the complete context of
Herod’s reign—that he was an Edomite
appointed king by Rome; that his murder-plagued reign led to the
attempt to kill Yeshua Himself; and that his motive for the temple rebuild was
that of his own glory [from whose
pinnacle satan himself offered Yeshua opportunity to receive the same kind of
glory]—not only does the reconstructionist interpretation of Haggai’s prophecy
become exceedingly untenable [unless one believes God would ordain a personification of satan to build His
temple], but it becomes very probable Yeshua’s statement about the “den of
thieves” rightly applies to Herod’s entire
reconstruction project from its
beginning.)
In any case, Herod’s
reconstruction is an excellent example of how an apparent earth-plane
fulfillment of a restoration prophecy does not really fulfill what was
prophesied. (We will discuss the three different temple realms at length in the
second treatise.)
21 I will discuss the specific issues regarding Ezekiel’s glorified temple vision (Ezk. 40-48) in the second treatise.
22 The New Israel John and Yeshua envisioned was not just of
Jewish people, but included Samaritans, Roman centurions, Syro-Phoenician
women, (even “stones” if necessary!)—in short, anyone of any origin who believed (meaning, who received the
regenerative word into their being by faith).