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KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

“Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God...”

THE OLIVET DISCOURSE

An exposition of Matthew chapter twenty-four and Luke chapter twenty-one

Part III

THE INDIGNATION

Originally published in January 1974

In our next Study we shall begin to consider the fulfillment of the events described in Matthew 24:3-26 and Luke 21:5-24. These particular verses of scripture portray the final dispersion of the ancient nation of Israel among the Gentile nations of earth. This dispersion is here foretold by our Lord in the closing days of His earthly ministry, some forty years before the events began to transpire. This prophecy is one of the most unusual forecasts of events to be found anywhere in the Word. It is especially unusual in its simplicity and in its exactness of detail. But before discussing the dispersion, it is expedient for us to take a look at the background of this event. We need to understand WHY Israel was so judged and dispersed among the nations for such a long period of time. And in order to UNDERSTAND we must go away, back into the beginnings of God’s dealings with man and understand something of God’s original purpose and plan for His saints upon this earth.

ISRAEL’S CHANCE AND ISRAEL’S CHOICE

Here is God’s plan. After the fall of man, when once God’s redemptive plan came into effect, we find in reading the Record, that God’s saints were the masters of the earth. They were respected and honored and feared by all men, because they were God’s sons (Gen. 1:26; Luke 3:38; Gen. 6:1-2, 4; Job 1:6, 2:1), and God blessed them and made them great. God intended it to be that way. For does not the Word tell us that upon God’s saints meeting certain conditions, “all the people of the earth shall… be afraid of thee”? Deut. 28:10. Job, according to the Lord’s estimation of him, was an outstanding man of God. God said there was none like him in all the earth. A perfect and an upright man (Job 1:8, 2:3). And it is also recorded of him that he “was the greatest of all the men of the east” Job 1:3. And here is the reason for his greatness; here is God’s original plan for His people: “Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and do all the commandments… thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee,” Deut. 15:5-6.

Briefly then, God, in the beginning, placed man in Eden and gave him dominion over the beasts, and over the fowls and creeping things. But He had plans for man’s advancement far above that state. He ordained that man should fall so that He could raise those who should be called and chosen and faithful to a higher realm, to the heavenly realm. And then, during their fleeting years on earth, He gave them authority and dominion over all nations of the earth. But here again, as in Eden, man failed miserably. And so God destroyed the whole faithless mass and started afresh with Noah and his seed. But this did not help, for man’s one obsession and inborn trait all through the centuries has been rebellion and backsliding and faithlessness. And so again God made a new provision. So far, His saints had freely mixed with the world. But now He purposed to segregate the from the world. He purposed to remove them from the idolatrous influence of the ungodly. And so, beginning with Abraham, He began this segregation. He called Abraham out from the world and promised him a land, an inheritance. When once in this land his seed were to destroy completely, even to the last man, the heathen who dwelt there. “Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: but thou shalt utterly destroy them,” (See Deut. 20:16-17, 7:2; Judges 9:24).

Here was a truly remarkable and wholly new provision. For in Egypt God took His church and made a nation of them (Gen. 46:3; Deut. 26:5; Acts 7:38). And then He led them out of Egypt with many infallible signs and wonders and miracles. He divided the sea for them: the same sea in which their enemies perished. He gave them a tabernacle and sanctuary, patterned after the true Sanctuary on High, and there He condescended to have His very presence dwell among them continually. He gave them a perfect set of national laws written by the finger of God Himself on stone. He showed them His power. He fed them with manna from heaven. He preserved their clothing and shoes throughout the whole period of forty years of wanderings in the wilderness. And yet, in spite of God’s manifest love and care, their very first act, when Moses left them to go up into the Mount of God, was to make a golden calf and fall down to it! Read the account of their sojourn in the wilderness. Read the accounts of their idolatry after they entered their own land. Yes, the first thing they did upon coming into their promised land was the exact opposite of what God commanded them. Instead of destroying their enemies completely, they began making covenants with them. No wonder God says concerning them, “But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness: they walked not in My statues, and they despised My judgements… and My sabbaths they greatly polluted,” Eze. 20:13. No wonder God says, “I have called and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all My council, and would none of My reproof… they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord,” Prov. 1:24-29. And friend, human nature has not changed one particle in all the years. Saints as a whole (the popular church) are just as wayward and rebellious now as they ever were. God’s church has ever been “a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; a people that provoketh Me to anger continually to My face,” Isa. 65:2-3.

Let us go on. God intended that His saints, as long as they obeyed Him and walked with Him, should be masters of the earth. They were: that is, until God, because of their sins and backslidings had to cut them off. He was very lenient with them. He made more than one new provision following their rebellions from Him. He gave them every consideration and every opportunity to reign over the earth. For did not He tell them that if they would hearken unto Him, “thou shalt be blessed above all people”? Deut. 7:14. “And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be His peculiar people, as He hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all His commandments; and to make thee high above all nations with He hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour,” Deut. 26:18-19. “If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth,” Deut. 28:1. Yes, here was great provision made which would enable God’s people to dominate the whole world! And she did enjoy that heritage of power and honor for a time. Consider the Patriarchs, and Job. Consider Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, of whom God witnessed that they were very great. And then consider King David, and consider King Solomon in all his glory, a glory so resplendent that even the Queen of Sheba witnessed, “Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it, and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard,” I Kings 10:7.

But then there came a change. A new order was introduced. For, in spite of all of God’s provisions and blessings, His people went from bad to worse. And here is the result, foretold by Moses in the wilderness. He told them that if they would not keep God’s commandments then, instead of being masters of the earth, “the Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies… thou… shalt BE REMOVED INTO ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH” Deut. 28:15-25. And then in Leviticus chapter 26 we find one of the most significant statements God ever directed to His ancient people. So important and emphatic was this declaration of the Lord that He repeated it four times in the context of His warning to Israel. Beginning with verse 14, we read that if they would not hearken unto Him, “I will set my face against you, and I will punish you SEVEN TIMES… for your sins.”

THE INDIGNATION

When God says that He will punish Israel SEVEN TIMES for her sins, we must note that the Spirit is employing typical prophetic language. God has always chosen to speak prophetically through the use of symbols. The books of Daniel and Revelation are classic examples of this. In Daniel 9:24 we read, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy city, to finish the transgression… and to anoint the most Holy” (Jesus). Then in verses 25 and 26 we are informed that these “seventy weeks” would stretch from the time of the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem in the days of Ezra, UNTO the coming of the Messiah. A literal seventy weeks would have only been a little more than one year, but even as all the other figures of the book of Daniel were symbols, even so God gave this time prophecy in symbolic language. In the prophetic time symbolism of scripture, a “day” always means a “year.” Therefore, the seventy weeks of Daniel chapter 9, are weeks of years rather than literal weeks. Each day of the week represents one actual year. The Bible year, which must always be used as the basis of reckoning Biblical time prophecies, is the Jewish ecclesiastical year which contains 360 days. The seventy weeks are, therefore, seventy weeks of years, which is 70 x 7 days, or 490 prophetic days, which means 490 world years. So, God was really telling Daniel that from the time when the commandment would go forth to rebuild Jerusalem – that in exactly 490 years from that event – THE MESSIAH WOULD BE REVEALED. The prophecy commenced with the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C., which decree empowered Ezra to go to Jerusalem and begin the restoration of the temple and the city. And adding to this date (457 B.C.) the 70 weeks of years (490 years) brings us to A.D. 34 when the time element of the prophecy was completely fulfilled in every detail. The Messiah (Jesus) came at the beginning of the 69^th week and was “cut off” (killed) in the middle of that week, after 3½ years of ministry, exactly as the prophecy had foretold (Dan. 9:27).

So let us note that prophetic time is generally given in symbolic language, and the measurement of that time is not literal, but symbolic. We have already seen that in Lev. 26:18, 21, 24 and 28, God warned Israel that if they did not hearken unto Him that He would punish them SEVEN TIMES for their sins. Now a “time” in prophecy is always a year (See Dan. 7:25, 12:7; Rev. 12:14 etc. and compare in modern translations.) A “time” is a year, but we must remember that the Bible year is the Jewish ecclesiastical year which contains 360 days. And a prophetical day is a year in world time. Therefore, “seven times” means “seven years,” but each year is made up of 360 prophetical days – each one standing for an actual year of world time! So, “seven times” are 7 x 360 prophetical days, which equals 2520 prophetical days; and these 2520 prophetical days are in world time 2520 YEARS. Therefore, God, in Lev. 26:18, is telling Israel that He will punish her for a period of 2520 years!

So here in Lev. Chapter 26 God established a definite time period in which He chooses to accomplish a specific work. The time period is 2520 years, and the work is to PUNISH ISRAEL. Then in Isa. 10:5 God attaches a name, or title, to this time period and its work in these words: “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is MINE INDIGNATION.” This time of GOD’S INDIGNATION is spoken of throughout the prophecies concerning God’s dealings with the nation of Israel. Men speak much about the time of the “great tribulation,” but God also speaks much of that time of His INDIGNATION. He told Daniel, “Behold, I will make thee to know what shall be in the last end of THE INDIGNATION,” Dan. 8:19. Daniel already knew what was in the beginning of this period, for he saw it fulfilled before his own eyes. He had been born during the time when Israel was still mistress of earth. But the promised judgement fell, and Daniel, together with the rest of his race, was carried away captive to Babylon. Thus, the people of old were cast off because of sin and shame, and God then allowed the heathen nations to rule in her room, which dominion was to continue throughout this period of 2520 years, which He calls the time of His indignation. This period of God’s indignation against the Israel race is also referred to in the Word as the “time of Jacob’s trouble,” and the “times of the Gentiles” (Jer. 30:7; Luke 21:24).

In the scripture quoted previously, God declares that the Assyrian is the rod of His anger and the staff of His indignation. Then looking down through the annuls of time, after one Gentile kingdom after another have fulfilled their roles as the “Assyrian” of their time, God foresees the day when His indignation will turn away from Israel and He will move to save them. God declares, “Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee… for yet a little while, and THE INDIGNATION SHALL CEASE, and mine anger in their (the Assyrian’s) destruction.” Isa. 10:24-25. Again, in Dan. 11:36 God speaks of the termination of His Indignation: “And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till THE INDIGNATION BE ACCOMPLISHED; for that that is determined shall be done.”

THE END OF THE INDIGNATION

Now let us explore a little deeper. If this period of indignation is to run for 2520 years, then in order to find when it must end, all we need to do is to find the date when it began, add to that date 2520 years, and there we have the result, the END of the period, the time when Israel after the flesh should see its dispersion, punishment and tribulation ENDED and when it should become a nation once more – gathered OUT OF all the nations whither she had been scattered for 2520 years.

The complete fall and subjugation of Israel of old took place in 586 B.C., and saw the nation completely crushed and carried into bondage, and bondage from which she never completely recovered. For although Israel of old did return again to her own land, and although she did dwell in that land for several centuries longer (until 70 A.D.), yet she was never free from servitude. She was from that time forward a vassal state, under the dominion of the Gentile world powers. And now, what is the result when we add our 2520-year period to the date of Israel’s complete overthrow? The year 586 B.C. plus 2520 years brings us to the year A.D. 1935. And 1935 is TWO YEARS after Adolf Hitler became dictator of Germany – the very year in which his pogrom against the Jews began to get under way, and the very year the second World War began to break! The year 1935 witnessed specific movements in the earth in relation to the people who for 2520 years had been the object of God’s indignation. The year 1935 saw the beginning of the most terrible and massive persecution of the Jews ever carried out in history. But that beginning in 1935 was THE BEGINNING OF THE END! For that nightmare under the Nazis, when millions of Jews were killed and millions more were driven from their homes to refuge in other lands, was the LAST such persecution to ever be poured out upon the Israel nation. Out of the convulsions of the second World War the nation of Israel was born in 1948 – only 13 years after the beginning of the end of the Indignation. In fact, the events of the second World War and the Nazi vengeance upon the Jews was the very thing God used to bring them forth as a nation! And it was all RIGHT ON SCHEDULE, according to God’s prophetic reckoning and word.

Therefore, let us understand that the time of God’s indignation upon the fleshly Israel has NOW ENDED. There will be a brief time, when it will seem for a moment that Israel will be crushed and once again experience the wrath of the nations against her. This is described in Zechariah, chapter 14. But in the end of the battle Israel will be victorious. Israel cannot again go down in defeat. They cannot again be scattered among the nations. They cannot again suffer the nightmare of persecution and tribulation which has followed them throughout the earth for 2520 long years. They cannot again be ruled over by the Gentile world powers. These things CANNOT HAPPEN AGAIN because the time of THE INDIGNATION HAS ENDED! The “seven times” punishment IS OVER. And furthermore, we are NOT now approaching the “time of Jacob’s trouble,” for Jacob has experienced that time of trouble for 2520 years, and especially during the past 1900 years, since the dispersion of A.D. 70. The time of Jacob’s trouble is NOT COMING. It IS OVER. The indignation is PAST! This is now the hour of ISRAEL’S RESTORATION as a nation – and ultimately her NATIONAL SALVATION. God, who cannot lie, has promised that.

ISRAEL’S NATIONAL SALVATION

The Apostle Paul, in Romans chapter 11, speaks of the casting off and rejection of Israel by God. But he then raises this question: “I say then, hath God cast away (eternally) His people (natural Israel)? God forbid!” In other words, the apostle is asking, “Is there no hope left for the natural seed of Abraham? Is the door closed on them and are they utterly rejected from the favor of God? Are they cast away from salvation, with no promise remaining? He then answers his own question by saying, “God forbid!”

Paul declares, “What then? Israel (natural) hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election (body of Christ) hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it was written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid; but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakes of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, (remember!) thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. But be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again” (Romans 11:6-8, 11-23).

And it is right at this point that the apostle makes a statement that is of tremendous import. He says, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of THIS MYSTERY… that blindness in part is happened to Israel UNTIL THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES BE COME IN” (Rom. 11:25). Listen! Blindness – in part – is happened to (natural) Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. The word “fulness” means literally ALL OF. Weymouth’s translation expresses it, “Partial blindness has fallen upon Israel until the GREAT MASS of the Gentiles has come in.” Or, may we say that blindness has happened unto them until the final fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel in which he declares that in the last days God shall pour out of His Spirit UPON ALL FLESH. When this comes to pass in all its glorious fulness, then the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. The Kingdom of God shall, in that day, begin to fill ALL THE EARTH. When the GREAT MASSES of the Gentiles are converted and come into the Kingdom of God, then shall the kingdoms of this world BECOME the Kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. When MANY NATIONS learn His ways, and walk in His paths, and bring their honor and glory into the City of God – THEN shall the next verse, verse 26 of Romans chapter 11, be fulfilled… “And so ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED!” When shall all Israel be saved? WHEN the great mass of the Gentiles be come in!

Then, Paul concludes his argument saying, “For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through THEIR UNBELIEF: even so have these also now not believed, that THROUGH YOUR MERCY they also may obtain mercy.” Rom. 11:30-31. Do you hear what the scripture says? In time past WE GENTILES did not believe God. And through the UNBELIEF of Israel, WE obtained mercy. Through THEIR UNBELIEF! BUT – since they now don’t believe, they shall THROUGH OUR MERCY, OBTAIN MERCY. They shall be saved, not through our unbelief, but through OUR MERCY! And this shall happen when the great mass of Gentiles has come in!

God shall, in these last days, shake the kingdoms of this world, and through the unveiling of the Sons of God (Rom. 8:18-21) He shall bring the great masses of the nations into the Kingdom of God. Then as this is fulfilled, through our MERCY the natural Israel, already gathered out of the nations and established in their own land, shall see Him Whom they have pierced. They shall SEE HIM, and they shall also SEE HIM in a many-membered Body “when He shall come to be glorified IN HIS SAINTS, and to be admired IN ALL THEM that believe…” (II Thes. 1:10). And they shall be saved! And this work has already begun. Even as God is preparing and raising up a body in the earth which is destined to become the full expression of the Christ; even as God is bringing SONS to glory, even so He has begun the first stage of the restoration of Israel. He is restoring them as a nation now. And soon now, as the Kingdom age dawns, He shall restore them Spiritually, and graft them back into the true Israel of God, circumcising their hearts by faith, that they, along with ALL NATIONS, may prosper and serve God acceptably and joyously – under the gracious and beneficent RULE of the SONS OF GOD!

No, friend, the national salvation of Israel does not mean that THEY shall, because of their flesh line from Abraham, occupy some privileged position in God’s Kingdom, upon the basis of national and fleshly identity. God has made ONE NEW MAN to do this! But God’s INDIGNATION toward Israel has ended. God’s judgement upon them is NOW PAST. This is the day of their RESTORATION as a nation, and the day of their SPIRITUAL SALVATION. But let every Jew and every Gentile alike know that there is a vast difference between BEING SAVED and RULING AS A SON OF GOD. Salvation is by grace. But the High Calling is A PRIZE. There are qualifications involved in winning the prize. ALL NATIONS shall be saved. But to all saved of these nations Jesus says, “To him that OVERCOMETH will I grant to sit with Me IN MY THRONE…” (Rev. 3:21). Again, “TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH, AND KEEPETH MY WORKS UNTO THE END, TO HIM will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron…” (Rev. 2:26-27). “If we suffer (with Him), we shall ALSO REIGN WITH HIM” (II Tim. 2:12). Israel, through the 2520 years of Indignation have never qualified nationally for this. All Israel shall BE SAVED, by God’s glorious grace. But the nation of Israel shall not reign over anything during the Kingdom age. THAT IS GIVEN TO THE SONS OF GOD! (Rev. 21:7; Rom. 8:18-19)

To be continued… J. PRESTON EBY

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