Israel, A Model (Part 2)

See the series here

Reading Part 1 of this series, you may have wondered why it only discusses strategic patterns across The Bible, with no reference at all to Israel. My intent was to lay this  hopefully insightful foundation for Part 2: Repetitive patterns across history, especially those paraded in The Bible, serve as The Lord’s ‘pictures on the box’ of His ‘puzzle pieces’ strategy for humanity.

I perceive His intent is for us to recognize and study His repetitive patterns to discern Who He is, and to decipher what He intends us to learn about His plans for us, collectively and personally. Ignoring His ‘pictures on the box’, we mis-interpret life, mis-read history, and ergo, mis-understand and therefore reject His plan for us. Throughout its ancient history, and even today, Israel did this repeatedly, and continues to do so today. You might correctly think, ‘ALL nations have done that, so why focus on Israel?!’ Here’s why…

A Micro-cosmic Model

Interestingly, there are many references to ‘nations’ (plural) in the first few chapters of The Bible, but only one reference to ‘nation’ (singular, in Genesis 12:2). From Biblical history, we know this singular reference refers to Israel, long before Jacob (whose name The Lord changed to Israel) was born and came into a covenant relationship with The Lord. This early reference to ‘nation’, signaled Heaven’s pre-selection of Jacob’s descendants to project to other nations, a semblance of what it considers as ‘righteousness’. The intent was likely for nations to perceive the significant benefits from lifestyles of Jews, and be curious about, and possibly even adapt some aspects thereof. In other words, Israel was intended to be a micro-cosmic, model nation—to serve, first, as a model among all the ‘observing nations’ across the land promised to Abram’s descendants through Jacob; and subsequently, to serve as a mature, model nation among and to all future, observing nations. Imagine that!

 

To equip it to perform this role, The Lord commissioned Moses to inform the newly-freed Hebrew slaves that they will be a nation of priests to/for Him. (Exodus 19:6) Then, over several centuries, He blessed Israel above all other peoples, to have an intimate relationship with Him, and to learn His ways that were unknowable to other peoples and nations. Israel and Jews effectively became a micro-cosmic representative and projection of all future nations that would eventually and similarly get to know The Lord, ‘up close and personally’, during the pending 5th age of history. Imagine that!!

 

But as national identity and cohesiveness began to erode, the fidelity of subsequent Jewish generations increasingly waned. They eventually rejected the covenants their ancestors had entered into, and broke their intended special relationship with The Lord. This was the exact pattern that played out:

 

    (a) in Heaven when Lucifer, an exalted, holy angel, chose to lead a rebellion of a third of all holy angels against Jesus, The Lord God. They were defeated, and were cast out of Heaven.

    (b) in the garden in Eden when Adam similarly chose to disobey The Lord, and agree to do what his deceived wife wanted to do. They were stripped of their physical (not their spiritual) immortality, and were driven out of the garden. 

 

Problem: Across the millennia, though Israel, as a nation, and Jews, as Jacob’s descendants, did their best to deny and reject their special appointment, they merely flipped the script of Heaven’s unbreakable appointment. Their denial and rejection never annulled:

 

    (1) Heaven’s appointment of them as a model to the nations, or 

    (2) the consequences of them breaking their covenants with The Lord. 

 

As a result, Jacob’s descendants and the governments they formed, effectively became:

    ~ Counterfactual versions of the model The Lord had intended them to be throughout history;  and 

    ~ Generational examples of ‘the flip side’ of a people who once had a unique, treasured relationship with The Almighty Who:

       o still held/holds them accountable for the grief they caused Him (Ezekiel 39:21-29), and 

       o promises only a tiny remnant of their descendants (a third of all Jewish apocalypse survivors) will fully embrace His model nation appointment throughout His pending Millennial Reign—the 5th age of history. (Zechariah 13:8-9)

 

Both nationally and personally, Israel and all descendants of Jacob, were uniquely appointed and fully equipped to model righteousness to nations of the world. But they mostly preferred to focus on:

    ~ Religious rituals, rather than relationship and righteous trust,

    ~ Cultural piety, rather than covenantal purity,

    ~ Legalistic legacy, rather than loving loyalty,

    ~ The ‘letter of the law’, rather than its Grace-leading spirit, and

    ~ Slaying true prophets, rather than staying spiritually attentive.

 

Thus, they generally ended up:

    > Modeling faithlessness,

    > Joining the ‘parade of other nations’ in history that rejected their ‘gods’, and

    > Denying observing nations Heaven’s intended ‘demonstration effects’ of a righteous model.

 

Pedagogic Patterns

 

Israel’s history and presence today, should teach us the benefits of recognizing, studying and learning from Heaven’s intended pedagogic patterns. Most of its patterns are repetitive and cyclical, in response to our persistent abuse of The Lord’s long-term Grace to us. (Ezekiel 14:12-23) As a result, His judgment patterns have repeated cyclically across history. His micro-cosmic ‘demonstration effect’ patterns are far less frequent. They include:

 

    √ Adam and Eve, appointed to be our righteous human models;

    √ Noah’s ark, which ‘testified’ to the pre-flood and post-flood populations during its construction, and after it settled on Mount Ararat;

    √ The global Church, designed as a microcosm of redeemed, righteous saints; and

    √ The Millennial Reign, age as Heaven’s microcosm of what humanity will have missed during the 1st-through-4th ages of history.

 

All of The Lord’s repetitive strategic patterns ultimately point to the culmination of His strategy for humanity, as depicted in the last three chapters of The Book of Revelation. To enhance your interest and ability to perceive His strategic patterns across human history, study those final chapters often, and read the rest of The Bible in context of them.

Stay tuned for Part 3

The Broader Past & Future Context