Archive for Israel
Rev. I.M. Haldeman, D.D. — Cain: A Type Of The Jews
(From How To Study The Bible, The Second Coming, and Other Expositions, 1904)
Cain is a type of the Jew, Abel, of Jesus. Proof of this may be found from reading Hebrews 12: 24.
Here the blood of Jesus is contrasted to that of Abel; the blood of Abel cried aloud from the ground for judgment. The blood of Jesus speaks from the Mercy-seat in heaven for better things, for grace towards the sinner.
Now the point common to Jesus and Abel is the fact that both were slain, and their deaths the results of fratricidal blows: this commonalty is the basis of the type.
Abel slain by his brother after the flesh, is a type of Jesus slain by His brother after the flesh, that is by the Jew. And that the Jew is intended in this contrast is evident from the fact that it occurs in the epistle to the Hebrews, an epistle written especially to the Jews; it sets forth the idea that although the blood of Christ was upon the people even as they invoked it according to Matthew 27: 25, it was not upon them for judgment, but for grace.
The story of Cain’s punishment confirms the thought that Cain is a type of the Jew. Note:
1. He was driven from his home.
2. He could get nothing from tilling the ground.
3. He was to be a wanderer on the face of the earth.
4. A mark was to be put upon him by the world, that all might know him.
5. All hands were to be against him.
6. Although punished of God, God would punish those who killed him.
See how wonderfully these characteristics have been fulfilled in the Jew:
1. Forty years after the crucifixion the Jew is driven out of his own land.
2. He has never succeeded in tilling the ground, he has never succeeded as a farmer.
3. For twenty centuries he has been a wanderer on the face of the earth.
4. For twenty centuries he has been marked by the hand of God, that no matter aamong what nation he may dwell, he cannot hide himself, a Jew is known on sight everywhere.
5. All hands were to be against him.
6. While God punishes him, he is to punish all who maltreat him. Jeremiah 30: 11; Zechariah 2: 8.
All history is in evidence of this. Nations persecuting him have passed away, he remains.
A fearful retribution yet awaits European nations on account of him. (See Matthew 25: 31, 32, 40).
What Moses Saw From Mount Nebo
(Deut. 34: 1-4) “And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan. And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea. And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, and unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.”
In their desperation to maintain the view that the church superseded Israel, Replacement Theologians have made all kinds of false claims respecting the land that God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The popular view is to concede that the inheritance is the literal land of Canaan, but that the promises were fulfilled in Old Testament times. Joshua 21: 43-45 is often quoted as if that text sets the matter at rest.
However, we cannot forget that the land was promised to each of the patriarchs as a personal possession (see Genesis 13: 15; 26: 3; 28: 13; 35: 12). This promise was certainly never made good in their lifetime, for Stephen later affirmed that God “gave [Abraham] none inheritance in it, no not so much as to set his foot on: yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child” (Acts 7: 5).
Paul also refers to land of promise as the country in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sojourned, dwelling in tents (Hebrews 11: 9). From this it is evident that the patriarchs never received any fulfillment of the promise in their own lifetimes. The promise must therefore be made good in resurrection.
True, Paul declares that Abraham looked for “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and Maker is God” (Hebrews 11: 10). However, this same city was later seen, in prophetic vision, descending to earth (Rev. 21: 2). So there is no contradiction between the promise made to the patriarchs, and the ultimate realization of that promise as depicted in the New Testament.
Regardless of what we today may think, the early Christians certainly believed that the land promises would be fulfilled during the Millennium. Irenaeus writes: ”If, then, God promised [Abraham] the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of his sojourn there, it must be, that together with his seed, that is, those who fear God and believe in Him, he shall receive it at the resurrection of the just” (Against Heresies, V. xxxii. 2).
What Moses saw from Nebo certainly confirms the fact that what God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was a literal alotment of land, and not a mere spiritual inheritance! It is our firm belief that what God promised will be made good; and that we, who receive blessings with Abraham will surely inherit the world (Romans 4: 15) and judge angels (1 Cor. 6: 3). In view of these promises, we await the time of our Lord’s return, with joy unspeakable.
Moses Spanks Preterism
Deuteronomy 4: 25When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke Him to anger:
26I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
27And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
28And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto His voice;
31(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto them.
Well, to be truthful, it is less Moses, than the Lord Jehovah Himself Who spanks Preterism in the above passage. The passage teaches, firstly, that the tribulation will have been preceded by a dispersion of the nation; and secondly, that the Lord will never destroy Israel – even in the midst of tribulation. The conclusion is obvious: the scattering must precede the time of tribulation. Ergo, the tribulation cannot be equivalent to the national scattering which took place in A.D. 70. Nor can the scattering amount to any “destruction” of the Jewish nation.
If Deut. 4: 25-31 were only passage that teaches this truth, the conclusion would be at least open to question. But the concept is repeated in Ezekiel 22: 16-22, where the prophet implies that AFTER Israel has been dispersed, they will be gathered into the city of Jerusalem and melted. See also Ezekiel 36: 22-29, which depicts a yet future transaction, in which Israel will be gathered into the land in unbelief, and subsequently sanctified. The result will be the complete fulfillment of the New Covenant promises mentioned in Jeremiah 31: 31-40. The result will be national restoration – not national destruction!
What have we in the New Testament? Certainly a corroboration of the above. In Luke 21: 23-24 Christ predicts the taking of the city, in A.D. 70 at which time Josephus records 97,000 Jews were led away into captivity. If one notes the flow of Christ’s discourse, one cannot help seeing that the second coming must occur long afterwards, when the times of the Gentiles shall have been fulfilled (Luke 21: 24-27).
Hence, as we have pointed out many times, a true harmony of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 will follow the chronological pattern laid down in Daniel 9: 26-27. In that passage, the destruction of the city and sanctuary is followed by the last week of Daniel’s 70, during which time Antichrist stops the daily sacrifice and desecrates the holy place (cf. Dan. 11: 31; 12: 11). Between the desolation of the city and sanctuary (Luke 21: 12-24) and the defilement of the temple (Matthew 24: 15; Mark 13: 14) lies the present dispensation, which was a secret hidden in God (Eph. 3: 9; Col. 1: 26).
Thus, it is clear that mere national dispersion cannot be tantamount to “the tribulation.” In accordance with the Old Testament prophetical motif of melting/refinement, the tribulation will result in the total sanctification of the nation (Isaiah 4: 3-4; Mal. 3: 3-4; Ezekiel 20: 34-38). It will issue in their deliverance, and not their destruction (Jeremiah 30: 7; Daniel 12: 1; Luke 21: 28).
This eschatological purging of Israel, as described so vividly by Moses and the prophets, did not take place at Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of the first temple, inasmuch as neither the 3,023 Jews of the first captivity (Jer. 52: 28) nor the 832 of the second captivity (Jer. 52: 29) were regathered into Jerusalem to be “melted.” The largest captivity took place four years AFTER the destruction of the temple, when 4,600 Jews were carried away (Jer. 52: 30). And as Daniel continued to prophesy long after the destruction of the temple, the restoration passages therefore await future fulfillment.
Preterism is a stone-age theology that must be recognized for what it is. It is an ideological rebellion against God’s purpose to restore the nation of Israel. We are now realizing this for the very first time. When dealing with Preterism, it is essential to remember that it is not ideas under fire, so much as the right of God’s chosen people to inherit the promises of the Abrahamic covenant. Although Preterism asserts otherwise, the law never states that Israel would be cast away – even after the curses of Deut. 28 have been levied (see Deut. 30: 1-10). O fools, and slow of heart to be believe all that the prophets have spoken!
