Both amillennialism and premillennialism are eschatological systems of interpreting prophetic and apocalyptic thought. The prediction of near and far-term future events is expressed in written or verbal form to describe forthcoming fulfillment. All the way back to the Edenic garden to the Apostle John’s revelation on the island of Patmos, the biblical reader finds prophecy throughout Scripture. Whether concerning the messianic promise, impending judgment, or eschatological prophecies, many future events were declared with many now fulfilled. As time continues to move forward, all of Creation draws closer to complete fulfillment while reaching toward end-time events.
Centered around Revelation 20:1-6, attempts are made to describe when and where Christ will reign. People who hold to amillennialist views believe that there is no reign of Christ on the Earth after His second coming. Instead, the amillennialist view believes His reign is in Heaven with believers as they pass away and go to be with Him. To the amillennialist, the kingdom reign written about in Revelation 20:1-6 is symbolic and not literal. Whereas this reign written about is in the kingdom of Heaven, and not a kingdom on the Earth as premillennial interpreters believe. The second coming of Christ to Earth is after this period in Heaven. Premillennialists hold to the view that the second coming of Christ occurs before a 1000-year (millennial) reign on Earth.
So, the two systems’ differences appear to rest on where Christ will reign and when. He either reigns in Heaven for 1000 years symbolically or on Earth literally, and the second coming of Christ occurs either after His reign in Heaven or before His reign on Earth. The former is the amillennialist interpretation, and the latter is the premillennialist view. Both systems are categories of how people recognize and conclude what is to occur in the future, as interpreted from Revelation 20:1-6.
Further within the premillennial view of prophecy, there is classic dispensational premillennialism, progressive dispensational millennialism, and historical premillennialism. Each of these bears out distinctions from the other and the entirely separate millennial systems of thought. Dispensational premillennialists believe that the rapture written about in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 will occur before a 7-year great tribulation as prophesied as the 70th week in the book of Daniel. Once the tribulation is concluded, the second coming of Christ occurs, and He begins His millennial reign with His church. In contrast to dispensational premillennialists, historical premillennialists hold that the rapture occurs after the 7-year tribulation (also known as the post-tribulation view).
Both systems recognize the 1000-year reign, whereas one views the period as symbolic and the other literal. So to reiterate, Amillennialists view the 1000-year reign symbolically in Heaven and Premillennialists view the 1000-year reign literally on Earth. Amillennialists view the return of Jesus to Earth after this period in Heaven. Premillennialists of all types view the return of Jesus before His 1000-year reign on Earth.
To see if there is anything of more value from Scripture in terms of the overall prophetic message of those before us, we have many examples as offered by the historical records. Specifically, to get a look into the character of God, by what He says and does. From His judgment, and his mercy, we have historical accounts of what happened to Israel and Judah while they were in open rebellion against Him. So, to see further how God thinks and acts while people reject Him, here is the basic three-part message of His prophets and their indictments.
You have broken the covenant, and you had better repent
The people of Yahweh (Israel and Judah) were guilty of violating their covenant oath with Him. Their egregious behaviors specifically were concerning idolatry, social injustice, and religious ritualism. Therefore, the pre-exilic prophets were highly active in confronting the people for these offenses with explicit and specific details about where they were in rebellion and error. Their continued and stored up sin before Yahweh was at the root of their objection, and they were pressed upon the people to name names, specific conditions and incidents, and the depravity they were engaged in.
The three indictments of God through the prophets were as follows:
Idolatry
They were actively worshiping the idols of Baal and Asherah. The people were desecrating the temple, defiling themselves, and serving pagan false gods that were forbidden according to the Mosaic covenant with Yahweh.
Biblical Injustice
There were people oppressed, neglected, abused, and mistreated among the people of Yahweh. In violation of covenant stipulations given in Deuteronomy, the people were not abiding by the terms of their agreement with God. To care for the needy, support those in poverty, feed the hungry, care for the orphan, and plead the widow’s cause.
Religious Ritualism
The people exchanged their relationship with Yahweh for rote religious practices that included sacrifices and going through the motions of ceremonies, offerings, and fasting.
If you do not repent, you and other nations will be judged
The prophet’s direct and clear message was to inform offenders that their impending doom is certain unless they turn back and return to Yahweh. If they do not, they will be destroyed by violence, enslavement, disease, hunger, and disaster.
There is hope beyond judgment
For Israel, Judah, and the nations, there is hope for restoration in the future beyond judgment. Relationships will overshadow ritual and legalism. A new exodus will occur through a new covenant, and the Lord will dwell in the hearts of His people.
There are numerous types of poetic and literary expressions read among the prophetic writings to articulate what Yahweh both directly and indirectly says. He is either actively in direct discourse with His people or He speaks solely through His prophets to convey His messages in a way He deems suitable.
It is sometimes recognized that with rhyme, there is the ease of recall. So, for memory retention and recollection, people can bring back to mind what they hear and learn. Through the various forms of verbal and written expression, people can internalize and repeat what messages they hear from Yahweh or His prophets in terms of what they read or hear. Structurally, words and meanings become assembled to support comprehension and reinforce sense where there is a lasting effect. At times messages are phonetically repeatable to drive home a point expressed. Easier shared and brought back to mind with others as instructions and lessons are learned.
A certain cause and effect occur with the verbal and literary language that unfold through the prophets. This cause and effect bring about a certain impact to effectively reach people where a more passive expression may not entirely be retained or sink in. For example, if Yahweh intends to bring fear and distress among people, He can choose to use language in any form He sees fit to convey an unmistakable meaning. It is a type of speech-act that corresponds to the circumstances which require attention, correction, or a new direction because of an offense of error.
At times Yahweh has used language to deliver theological messaging about the hardness of heart concerning people who reject Him. Given over to an inability to hear, see, or perceive what Yahweh would say through His prophets or in His word, people cannot receive what is communicated for their recovery and benefit. They eventually become their undoing and destruction without a possibility of reconciliation.
The prophets and poetry go hand-in-hand. While at times there is prose to narrate events or story, the use of poetry is often applied to prophetic messages in figures of speech and literary morphology of various types that comprise of an anthology, or a body of overall work. It is not for philosophical purposes, but to dispense truth in a way that reaches people’s literal realities. Through figurative language, analogies, metaphors, anthropomorphism, hyperbole, and other figures of speech, poetry is the currency by which Biblical prophets transmit and receive messages to correct, form, or cultivate relationships. Namely between Yahweh and His people and between themselves and their listeners.
Back from Adam through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David, there were covenants that were formed between Yahweh and His chosen people. None of which contradicted another, but in some respects superseded or reiterated the promises of Yahweh’s blessings in exchange for the continued love and honor of His people. He would dwell among them, guide them, protect them, and prosper them as a kingdom that would bring His people and humanity a path to reconciliation and restoration.
Over the centuries, God’s people forgot about Him, rejected Him, disobeyed Him, and sought other gods through their idolatry. Over time, His people broke their covenant with Him and continued their rebellion apart from God as His chosen people. This is the brief backstory and the conditions by which the prophets operated under during their own time. The Lord’s people were in open rebellion against Him, and they betrayed their covenant oath again and again. Ultimately, they were to become again enslaved to the Assyrians and Babylonians just as they were to the Egyptians many years before.
The history of the prophetic era became interwoven throughout the historical circumstances of the Hebrews, God’s people. He called specific individuals across time to deliver His warnings and messages concerning the betrayal of their covenant. They violated the Mosaic law taken with them as they entered their inherited land. So, the people, its tribes, and its leadership went about their daily lives, they intermingled with existing populations and were influenced by surrounding nations. To corrupt their desires, actions, and interest, they progressively separated themselves from God. Without the intervention of God through His prophets, His people would have been forever lost. A people of promise would have been otherwise given over to the oblivion of evil indistinct from the surrounding nations.
The prophets were situated according to their purpose. How they operated, where they went, who they were, what they did, and why they existed surrounds a biblically coherent rationale to make sure the fulfillment of God’s promises to His chosen people—beginning with the patriarchal fathers. The latter went before the people under judgment. The prophet’s function and message were intended to make right the course of history for Yahweh’s people to repent and return to Him. While they catastrophically failed repeatedly, the horrific consequences were borne out with plenty of warning and clarity for corrective action. Moreover, people warned through the prophets had the full perspective of historical events that took place among their ancestors. The people of Israel and Judah had the religious and traditional hindsight that gave them the certainty needed to understand what fate would befall them. Yet they chose not to return to Yahweh as He desired of them.
As a theological principle, those who hold themselves out as a “prophet” or “seer” today really eventually run in contradiction to God and what is in His word. This post concerns the reasons false prophets are a problem.
Within the Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern historical context of Canaan, Israel and Judah’s kings established for themselves “court prophets” who served the interests of their royal leadership. A leadership that was disloyal and disobedient to Yahweh sought to install for themselves prophets of Yahweh and foreign gods to offset the pressures from true prophets of Yahweh who spoke God’s Word. The ancient Biblical kings of Judah and Israel appointed prophets beholden to them and served their interests as a priority and not according to the truth of what Yahweh revealed in His word through the Deuterocanonical covenant and His prophets that would appear before them.
These were prophets selected and put into position as the Kings of Israel and Judah observed what the kings of other nations did to organize and put their prophets of false gods before them, and their people. As the people of Yahweh sought to put a King before them to be like other nations, the kings of Israel and Judah put false prophets before them to be like other nations. In essence, this was yet another rejection of the God, His Word, and the covenant that was formed between Him and them as His people. The kings of Israel and Judah knew that the false prophets and priests would bring pagan gods to them and their people to worship and serve. Still, their rejection of God in this way was not fully complete in the absence of outright contradiction and opposition to what the prophets of Yahweh advised, instructed, or decreed on His behalf.
The historical and biblical case of Jeremiah 28:5-11 illustrates this matter clearly. The confusion and uncertainty caused by Hananiah eventually brought confrontation between him and Jeremiah. Moreover, the false prophet Hananiah caused people to trust a lie and not the truth of God’s message through Jeremiah. While it appeared that Yahweh’s message through Jeremiah was temporarily thwarted, He used adverse circumstances to make a clear theological point about obstruction and dishonest behavior as an agent of God’s interests and His message.
As false prophets place their loyalties and obligations across competing interests, people of all levels within their Ancient Near Eastern context commit idolatry. Before Yahweh, a grievous sin facilitated by the kings, priests, prophets, and others to live an idolatrous lifestyle and live a lie that would eventually contribute to their demise. Judah, who was in Babylon’s captivity, were there because of their outright rejection of God, which included idolatry. Those who remained in Israel and Judah were still steeped in the practice of rebellion while learning nothing about the circumstances that befell their people according to God’s warnings and judgment.
The leadership that sets in place people, systems, and processes that cause God’s people to sin against Him and each other is condemned with severe repudiation, judgment, and punishment. From a Biblical perspective, passage after passage, there is no uncertainty about it or a shortage of stories to articulate the harshest of condemnation.
Samuel (150 years before 900 BC) is considered the first prophet. Credited with starting the various schools of the prophets.
The prophetic voice fell silent with Malachi at about 400 BC.
There are both writing prophets and non-writing prophets and prophetesses. The writing prophets are those who are read within Scripture.
There are three parts to the Hebrew Bible:
1.) The Law, Books of Moses, Pentateuch (Torah)
Means more instruction rather than law. Includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
2.) The Prophets (Nevi’im)
a.) The former or early prophets: Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings b.) The latter prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, The Scroll of the Twelve (Amos, Hosea, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)
3.) The Writings (Ketuvim)
a.) Psalms, Job, Proverbs b.) Ruth, Song of Songs (Song of Solomon), Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther c.) Daniel*, Ezra-Nehemiah, 1-2 Chronicles
* Daniel was unique as a prophet in that he did not experience a call (compared to the Nevi’im).
The Jewish or Hebrew Bible is referred to as the Tanakh.
T – Torah a N – Nevi’im a K – Ketuvim h
Protestant Old Testament
Pentateuch
Historical Books
Poetry and Wisdom
Prophetic Books
Genesis
Joshua
Job
Isaiah
Exodus
Judges
Psalms
Jeremiah
Leviticus
Ruth
Proverbs
Lamentations
Numbers
1 Samuel
Ecclesiastes
Ezekiel
Deuteronomy
2 Samuel
Song of Solomon
Daniel*
1 Kings
Hosea
2 Kings
Joel
1 Chronicles
Amos
1 Chronicles
Obadiah
Ezra
Jonah
Nehemiah
Micah
Esther
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Definition of a Prophet
Hebrew: navi (plural nevi’im), or “one who is called” / “one who announces”
Prophets are a link between the people and God. As compared to a priest. Priests represent humanity to God whereas a Prophet represents God to humanity. See Deuteronomy 18:15-22 for details concerning initial conditions for a prophet in general as designated to assigned people.
Scriptural gives a sense of prophet functions as both deliveries of prediction and preaching. Prediction to the future generation(s) and preaching to the current generation(s). Their role was to first know and proclaim God’s will under immediate circumstances. Specifically, in a coherent fashion as understood by an appointed audience where they can respond.
Generally, the purpose of a prophet is to return people to obedience to God’s word, the Torah. Without people’s obedience, the prophet specifies punishment.
Female prophets throughout Scripture include Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Noadiah, and non-writing (spoken) prophetesses.
Prophetic Patterns
Yahweh requires exclusive worship. There is only one God.
Yahweh can not be illustrated, carved, or sculpted as a likeness. To attempt a constructed likeness is to become guilty of idolatry.
Yahweh demands justice. He requires care for the poor, powerless, and vulnerable.
The intensity of anger among prophets was commensurate with the disobedience of people.
Prophets prior to exile into Babylon emphasized doom and gloom, while subsequent prophets delivered messages of comfort, hope, and restoration.
Prophetic Illustration
Isaiah: Wore loin cloth attire over his nudity to illustrate the shame, humiliation, and ruin of God’s people.
Jeremiah: Wore yokes of wood and iron to symbolically express coming Babylonian oppression and enslavement.
Ezekiel: Cooked meals over human dung to symbolically express the types of food God’s people will eat while in exile. Ezekiel lay bound and tied on one side for 190-days to communicate the 190 years of Israel’s exile. The 40-days on the other side show how long in years that Judah would remain in captivity.
Instructions to draw the attention of Yahweh’s people came from extreme physical illustration, demonstration, and role-play.
Prophetic Literary Forms
Poetic & Narrative
Written and oral poetic expression by meter and prose
Parallelism categories include synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic types
Simile, metaphorical, and allegorical
King James Version does not present an English translation layout in poetic format or structure
Later translations, or versions, including poems written in separate lines, bring into view parallelism. With para-graphical spaces between separate oracles
This is an open-ended posting. It will become edited and further developed over time as more research is carried out through the course of personal theological studies.
Purpose & Background
Notes, observations, and a working cumulative draft of the topic. These notes constitute the thoughts, conversations, articles, and books surrounding the subject. To include Reformed (covenant or dispensational), Catholic, and Orthodox perspectives. No consideration is given to deconstructionist (progressive) perspectives for various reasons concerning their denial of the supremacy and authority of Scripture and the original meaning intended by its authors.
There are no conclusions drawn from these notes. Only posted here is material from self-discovery that corresponds to what is roughly interpreted from Scripture and speculated by tradition, historical/literary records, teachings, and books or texts with reference to primary and secondary sources. These notes and observations are simply here to assemble a coherent set of personal reflections concerning what exists in the Spirit realm and the bearing they may have upon people. There is no claim to full credibility assumed or accepted here. This is a dangerous subject matter.
Context & Attestation
“The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons (daimonia; supernatural being hostile to God and anyone allied to Him) are subject to us in Your name. And He said to them:”
“I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.
Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits (pneuma; a supernatural self-aware entity with powers) are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
Christ Jesus, Luke 10:17-20
Points of Concern
Associative Thoughts
Creation of a demonic entry point where there becomes a connection between an individual and an evil spirit. A manifestation doesn’t always take place to indicate its presence as inhabitation persists.
There is no such thing as “ghosts.” A visual experience of a presence that someone has is with an evil spirit 99% of occurrences (Lampert)1.
All true magic at its core is inherently evil. Material consumed that is not consistent with the Christian faith should be filtered out (music, movies, literature).
If a person dies when possessed, the spiritual connection ends and the soul that is a free agent of its own begins disembodied eternity as such. Minors under the age of 7 (age of reason) are unable to bring about demonic possession on their own.
Demons that have nothing to gain from individuals who are already in disbelief likely would not commonly inhabit those who dismiss their existence. Evil spirits attack where they stand to gain something. Demons are understood as “happy” or content apart from where disbelief resides.
Demons can become instruments of an individual’s sanctification.
They only detract from sanctification when an individual gives in to them.
To those affected, building virtue, through prayer, the Word, fellowship, and worship work contrary to their interests.
The weakness comes from vicious persistence (vices) where they are the cause or root. They can also become contributing participants in addition to a person’s own predilections, mental health, or circumstances.
Excellence in grace (abundant sanctifying grace) is the indwelling Spirit of God in the soul of your being. This is the adornment of the soul of all of the virtues.
Building virtue and perfection in the process of sanctification can come from diabolical influences in a person’s life.
As there are differences in the genetic makeup of an individual, there are different degrees of virtue that God permits or develops. God delights in variety.
We should be working harder at those areas we’ve fallen to attain perfection.
God allows demonic activity and possession for purposes of sanctification.
Believers, those who are authentically in Christ on a path of sanctification, can become an instrument of humiliation and justice among demons. The humiliation is decreed as constant (Gen 3:14). The sin of pride brings the just punishment of the adversary in a continued and intentional way. “You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.”
Gen 3:19 – memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris. “Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return.” Also, see Isaiah 26:19.
As with the dispersal of nations at Babel when the population’s languages were divided, the rulership of evil spirits (Eph 6:12) was appointed over them.4 So it is with the fall of humanity. Both the fallen and the adversary were to join together in suffering. Whereas, the adversary eventually becomes the object of humiliation and suffering through the redemption, justification, sanctification, and glorification of the elect (those who trust in Christ).
By denying and fighting the adversary we also become instruments of justice and punishment.
Activity Types
Infestation
Oppression
Presence (location)
Presence (object)
Vexation (physical) Self-harm, or self-inflicted suffering of some type.
Obsession (mental) Preoccupation, or persistent thought activity around evil. Its presence can fracture, rupture, or cause slippage of an individual’s mind distinct from psychological distress.
Possession (inhabitation)
Degrees of Spiritual Conflict
Temptation (Ordinary)
Evil spirits introduce into our imagination images brought together from prior visual or mental states. Demons cannot make a blind man see or imagine color (Aquinas). They have to work with something that is already there.
God permitting, demons can use what imagination or visual history exists. Demons cannot do anything that God does not permit. Demons are on a short leash (degrees and types of temptation). Restrictions exist surrounding the nature of possession. The adversary often knows when they are removed or required to leave.
God does not hear the prayers of the adversary, demons, or evil spirits.
Everyone is a slave of Christ either willingly or unwillingly.
Temptations can appear in good, bad, or innocuous forms. Demons can suggest good things to good people to cause damage. Knowing what to do and not to do during spiritual conflict is a gift (discernment, counsel). Humility is necessary to keep perspective. Suggestions that form are subtle with increasing levels of intensity. To produce fear in order for a person to fixate or ruminate about a matter to figure out how to escape.
Where a person recognizes he/she could fall within temptation, that is where the hole is. That hole is the demonic target beginning with subtlety. It is precisely here that in faith the prayer must be to call out for deliverance, confidence, and protection.
Oppression
People are attacked from the outside, or by external means.
a.) Direct – Relationships, finances, property, health On a personal level, directly responsible for evil actions that invite demonic activity.
b.) Indirect – Policies, rules, ordinances, laws, regulations, etc.
When other people do evil things to get demons involved in culture, society, church, etc. It is necessary to be in the Word, prayer, worship, humility, and repentance to keep clear of influences in these areas.
They work in the areas of despair, distress, and disappointment
Obsession
Psychological or mental state where a person cannot think outside of fear, lust, anger, or other thoughts around pressure, harm, or the works of the flesh (Gal 5:19-25).
Consistent thoughts that are psychological and habitual become intellectual vice (e.g. mental illness). They are set in motion or effect by external means (what someone or something does or says to a person). By comparison, diabolical obsession is set on or off without external stimulus.
When or if a demonic obsession is permitted, it at times can become a form of punishment. Where a person is unwilling to repent, or wants to sin in a certain area (or will allow something to happen) that in turn provides an opening for a state of demonic affliction as a product of sin. The proper effect of every mortal sin is possession. While the numbers of people who are diabolically influenced are high, the percentage of people who are possessed is very low (less than a fraction of a percentage). So even if someone opens the door to influence or possession, it is God who permits or denies entry. It is very rare that a demon is allowed into a person as a form of punishment (Ripperger)2.
The more sin people commit, the more empowered demons become and the worse spiritual conflict can get with specific individuals, cultures, or societies.
Possession
Very rare with occurrences at a fraction of a percentage (Ripperger)3.
People have periods of lucidity, but at other times they feel or experience what the evil spirit does. Yet some others blackout the whole experience.
A confession is a form of exorcism because any legal hold the demonic has on person breaks. Every time there is a decision to sin, and the inhabited person sins, that person attaches himself/herself to the evil spirit(s) within. When a person confesses sin, repents, and draws near to God through Christ, that legal hold is broken and the removal of evil becomes certain.
People who are partially possessed can be swayed to avoid spiritual disciplines and confession through influence and suggestion. It is assumed that positive emotional reactions are of God (which is what Luther thought). Demons who have access to human emotions can wreak havoc on individuals. This is another reason emotions are untrustworthy. They are able to cause positive emotions to certain pious practices, or they can block them. So it is necessary instead to follow reason enlightened by faith.
To keep people from being willing to suffer, demons will use any and all forms of influence and cause emotions possible or at their disposal (including fear). If an individual goes about seeking the demonic in an effort to root out influence, they will find that individual. So it is necessary to avoid seeking them out. Only deal with the situation when it surfaces, not before. Don’t go looking for a fight.
It is speculated that the highest level of spiritual warfare is with persons possessed and have decided to cooperate with the will of God and fight their way through it. It is through the spiritual war that contributes to a certain level of holiness is attained (compare Eph 2:10 and elsewhere to validate).
Permanency
“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.]* “If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.]* “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.
– Christ Jesus, Mark 9:43-48, NASB
*Vv 44 and 46, which are identical to v 48, are not found in the early manuscripts
Citations
1. Lampert, Capturing Christianity, Interview with an Exorcist – (YouTube, October 22, 2020). Accessed 10/22/2020. https://youtu.be/nhhi7Fk3ueI 2. Ripperger, Sensus Fidelium, Levels of Spiritual Warfare – (YouTube, November 12, 2018). Accessed 10/15/2020. https://youtu.be/TMcvZaiBwe4 3. Ibid. 4. Heiser, Michael. The Unseen Realm. (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2015), 110. Heiser, Michael. Demons. What the Bible Really Says About the Powers of Darkness. (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2020), 213. 5. The Horrible Doctrine – Discipleship Journal Article. Issue 34. – https://exavius.com/2017/04/26/the-horrible-doctrine/. Accessed 10/15/2020.
The geographical relevance of Canaan compared to the surrounding territories of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Media, Persia, Anatolia, Crete, Cyprus, and others has often unrecognized spiritual significance throughout Scripture. To view the assembly of land and the chronologically ordered border formations as purely physical, natural, or socially constructed misses the deeper historical narrative about the emergence of the Kingdom of God and the messianic reign to come. People, places, and circumstances were supernaturally orchestrated together through geological, genealogical, and sovereign processes to bring about the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15. Where sovereign circumstances over time gradually converged at Pentecost (Acts 2:1) from since the divergence of Babel (Gen 11:8) intentionally situated within the cradle of civilization.1
As the Gentile nations surrounding Israel were first disinherited at Babel located in early Mesopotamia, they were scattered and placed under the spiritual rulership of the sons of God (Dt 32:8-9). Rulership, who were the fallen elohim,2 who became cursed (1 Enoch 6:1-8) and separated from immortality as they were to eventually die like men (Ps 82:7) due to their corruption, neglect, and harm brought to humanity. At Babel, they were given charge over the nations (Gen 11:7, Ps 82:1) with Yahweh’s reserved people as is portion or inheritance among them (Dt 4:19-20, 1 Sam 26:17-19). Through the suzerain-vassal treaty formed as the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants of land, seed, and blessings, it becomes clear that Yahweh had chosen Canaan as Israel’s strategic location as sacred space to implement His redemptive work and replace the corrupted sons of God (Jn 1:12-13, Rm 8:14,19, Gal 4:5-6). A location set as a “land bridge” centered among surrounding nations between Asia, Europe, and African continents3 while governed by the corrupt and fallen rulers who were to eventually become adversaries judged (Gen 6:2, 1 Cor 2:6-8). With the arrival, ministry, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and coronation of Christ, the Kingdom of God was again placed upon this earth to intersect with the Kingdom of Heaven (Heb 10:12-13).
With the Lord’s calling of Abraham, it is no coincidence that overlapping divine covenants squarely placed at the center of the nations as an intersection between natural and supernatural interests. Through what would progressively develop as a spiritual war between good and evil (Eph 6:12), the kingdom of God was to assert its position among Gentile nations as prepared territory reclaimed. Starting in Jerusalem, extending to Asia Minor, and then out to the rest of the earth (Rome, Greece, India, and beyond) before the second coming of Christ toward the fullness of time (Eph 1:10). Just as the people of Israel were by eternal covenant chosen by the Most-High and set aside as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation (Ex 19:6), they organized around their wilderness tabernacle as tribes. A temporary situation that echoed further in time as Zion in Jerusalem served as a central point in which all other tribes of Israel intentionally distributed throughout Canaan. The temple mount of Moriah became ground zero where the Gentile nation’s rulers in a spiritual sense would surrender or cede their territory (the souls of humanity) through the redemptive work of Christ. Yes, a kingdom of historical and geological relevance, but more significantly, profoundly spiritual with redemptive or damning trajectories. As the tribes of Israel were concentrically distributed, so it was with surrounding nations and beyond until they reached the entire circumference of the earth (Mt 28:18-19). With nations reclaimed (Ps 82:2-4), a harvest was made ready through the prevailing conquest of Christ, a new Joshua, as He said of His royalty over Christendom, “My kingdom is not of this world (Jn 18:36).”
Israel occupied sacred physical space or holy ground as Yahweh had chosen the land of Canaan as the territory of His people (Deut 32:49). Just as the tabernacle and the temple became designed and built to set aside and reserve space as holy to Yahweh and His people, He would dwell among them (Deut 29:46). As the Lord’s people were to be representatives of the nations, other nations governed by the corrupted sons of god were to surround Israel. So as holy people upon the holy land placed into position, a messianic king would arise through Judah4 to plunge a dagger into the heart of the spiritual enemy among nations (1 Pet 3:18-22). The chosen among the nations would become redeemed in a nonlinear fashion across millennia both backward and forward in time.
To make a punctuated distinction between holy ground and enemy territory, consider the Scriptural inferences that traverse between Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army (1 Sam 26:17-19), and two demonic encounters upon Jesus as revealed within Scripture. First, it was Namaan who recognized before Elijah that the ground he worshiped on was holy (2 Kings 5:15-19). With Elijah’s consent, Naaman gathered up dirt from holy ground and loaded a mule to carry it off with him to worship Yahweh. A worship ritual to Yahweh, before the god Rimmon under false pretenses, while in enemy territory (2 Kings 5:18). Naaman knew there was no other God in all the earth except Yahweh (2 Kings 5:15), nor was there holy ground in Syria, the country in which he resides. An idol or false god Rimmon was possibly inhabited by a corrupted son of God who craved worship (Deut 32:16-17).
What does this ancient historical narrative have to do with Jesus?
As recorded by the author of Matthew, Jesus and His apostles encounter a man inhabited by many demons from Bashan (Mt 17:14, Mk 5:1). They were from Gentile territory (spiritual enemy), and they as Legion accordingly referred to Jesus as “Son of the Most High God” (Mk 5:7). In relativistic parlance, they address Jesus to acknowledge Him as above the sons of God. Both in rank and incomparability. They were in East Galilee in the territory of Bashan, known as the abode of the dead and territory of evil spirits.5 Specifically, the spirits of the dead Rephaim written about during the conquest led by Joshua.
Shortly after, by comparison, when Jesus and His Apostles arrived in Capernaum, they again encountered another man possessed by numerous demons. This time, they were located in Israel, on holy ground where the demon-possessed man called our Lord, “Jesus of Nazareth (Mk 1:24).” A subtle difference between “Son of the Most High God,” and “Jesus of Nazareth” as theological distinctions concerning the origination and status of spiritual beings within the separate territories they occupied and recognized.
Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. The Kingdom of God is here, now. We have our marching orders, and they are to share the gospel and make disciples. To recover humanity wherever it is claimed within a world that is governed by corrupted rule until reconciliation, or final judgment.
Citations
[1] Dr. Michael Grisanti, BTS512 History of the Covenant People Course Notes, 9. [2] Dr. Michael Heiser, Reversing Hermon: Enoch, The Watchers & the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ. (Crane: Defender Publishing), 38-43. [3] Dr. Paul Lee Tan, Hal Lindsay, Section 3394 Strategic Importance inEncyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times. (Bible Communications, 1996), 796. [4] Dr. Michael Grisanti, BTS512 History of the Covenant People Course Notes, 37. [5] Karel van der Toorn, et.al., Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd Ed. (Boston: Eerdmans Publishing, 1999), 161.
In continuity with the Adamic and Abrahamic covenants, the Mosaic covenant was formed by God to accomplish several outcomes. First, it was to further the Abrahamic covenant in fulfillment of given offspring (seed), land, and blessings. Second, it was delivered to implement the Mosaic Law, where the eventual redemption of Christ would come about (Hebrews 10:1-18). Third, the Mosaic covenant was to bring awareness about an increasing abundance of sin (Rom 5:20, Rom 7:7) and to imprison people in sin until Christ so that we could become justified by faith in Him (Gal 3:19-24).1 Finally, the Mosaic covenant was formed and implemented to demonstrate that it is impossible to achieve salvation by the works of obedience, worship, and service. The Mosaic covenant was a precursor to the new covenant of grace put into place by God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
What occurred at Mt Sinai, brought about the law of Yahweh to His people as mediated through Moses. The Ten Commandments served as the basis of the moral law by which the right conduct was of obedience before God and others. The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, were distinct from the civil and ceremonial law. They were written about in Scripture to identify them as words of the covenant, also referred to as the “tablets of the covenant (Dt. 9:9, 11, 15)” and “testimony” of the covenant (Ex. 31.18; 32:15; 34:29), they were universally recognized as integral to the covenant delivered by Yahweh at Mt Sinai. Namely, the Decalogue says what worshipers of Yahweh are not to do while the Deuteronomic Law is in contrast about what they are to do.2
The Structure of the Mosaic Covenant
Formed was the conditional nature of the Mosaic covenant to provide a comprehensive view of its kind and effect. William D. Barrick, Professor of Old Testament, at The Master’s Seminary, presented a compilation of two separate structural outlines of the Mosaic covenant to compare ancient near eastern suzerainty treaties. Both drafts were introduced by John J. Davis3 and Paul R. House4, to become merged into two structures of the Mosaic covenant forming a single interpretation as follows:5
Mosaic Covenant Outline & Structure
#
Section
Scripture
1.
Historical Prologue
Exodus 19:1-4
2.
Preamble
Exodus 19:5-6
3.
Stipulations
Exodus 20:3-23:19
4.
Provision for Reading
Exodus 24:4-7
5.
Blessing & Curses
Exodus 23:20-23
Central to this interpreted outline, the stipulations of the covenant appear to suggest that it was conditional upon the obedience of Israel. Necessary for obtaining the blessings of God through their obedience to the Mosaic Law, it was upon them to attain their well-being, prosperity, and safety by acceptable moral conduct according to the Ten Commandments, including the civil and ceremonial laws at the time. Central to their blessings and inherited promised land, their obedience was paramount as they were to begin their journey to Canaan.
While Yahweh’s ability to fulfill His promises to the forefathers of Moses was not limited to the obedience or moral performance of the Israelites during the Exodus, He would undoubtedly accomplish His perfect will either through blessings or curses upon His people. As we later read in the following books of the law, the original exodus population does not enter into the promised land. Instead, they were left in the wilderness to perish due to their distrust of God. It would not be until the next generation of Israelites they would enter the land of Canaan to demonstrate that Yahweh’s plan remained perpetually on course toward fulfillment. So, either way, even while the Mosaic covenant is more conditional compared to other covenants in the Old Testament, His purposes remain unthwarted with a covenant renewal to follow in the Book of Deuteronomy.
It must be recognized that while Israel demonstrated a rebellious nature, they were unfaithful and cantankerous during their time in the wilderness while Yahweh traveled with them and gave them His care, protection, and guidance. Throughout Exodus, the Mosaic covenant carried with it the presence of the law among God’s people. Disobedience to that law would eventually require a permanent recognition of their desperate and perilous status before God as the people of Israel became more aware of their sinful behavior and their need for God to attain blessings. Not to mention what they were unable to demonstrate trust and a sincere love relationship with Him and each other. As experienced by Yahweh, Moses, Aaron, and others throughout the covenant in effect, the failure of the Israelite people was made clear and sure by the terms of the covenant itself. As a covenant people, they needed One who would circumcise their hearts to make it possible for them to trust and obey their God. Necessary to make that clear, Yahweh’s divine sovereignty placed into effect a set of requirements that set them apart as a holy nation of priests to draw His people to Him eventually.
The Purpose of the Deuteronomic Covenant
The forthcoming capture and occupation of Canaan required a renewal of the Mosaic covenant. Life in Canaan was expectedly different due to the peoples inhabiting the land and what dangers they put upon Israel. Since the children of the exodus generation were to face the pressures and risks of idolatry and cohabitation, it was necessary to set before them a covenant to keep the original agreement made at Mt. Sinai. To renew the Mosaic covenant, with refinements to include the Decalogue. The renewal was with the children of the exodus generation, and they agreed to abide by the agreement formed and offered by Yahweh.
The Structure of the Deuteronomic Covenant
Once again, as with the prior Mosaic covenant, stipulations were at the core of the Deuteronomic agreement. This time it is a renewal of the first covenant because of the next generation’s presence before the land of Canaan. They were about to enter the land promised to them from many generations before their arrival, and it was necessary to reiterate the Decalogue and various laws concerning civil matters and justice. The prior generation were the parents of the people who were before Yahweh to enter into a renewed second covenant. The title of the tome is relevant because the actual name of the Book of Deuteronomy is a mistranslation from the Septuagint with the phrase “a copy of this law” (Dt. 17:18) where the Greek phrase deuteronomion touto refers more accurately to “this second law.” According to a more traditional Hebrew interpretation, the name devārîm translates into English as “words,” after: “These are the words which Moses spoke” (Dt. 1:1). 6
The structural outline of Deuteronomy still follows a suzerainty type of covenant or treaty as earlier compared to the Mosaic Covenant. The Suzerain, in this instance, is Yahweh, who is over the vassal-nation of Israel. Through the vassal-lord, Moses, the covenant, or treaty as mediated whereby the all-powerful God governs and controls His people. The nation of Israel, as a subservient people obligated through the agreement to Yahweh and abide by His statutes. In exchange for blessings, and the fulfillment of His covenant promises. As follows within the table below, the covenant structure of Deuteronomy lists in sequential order according to the historically documented series of events. As terms and conditions formed throughout the biblical account in the Book of Deuteronomy, but what I offer in this table is distinct from the sections proposed by Alexander7 and Gentry.8 I suggest a final section of Witnesses.
Deuteronomic Covenant Outline
#
Section
Scripture
1.
Preamble
Deuteronomy 1:1-5
2.
Historical Prologue
Deuteronomy 1:6 – 3:29
3.
General Stipulations
Deuteronomy 4:1-40; 5:1-11:32
4
Detailed Stipulations
Deuteronomy 12:1-26:19
5.
Document Clause
Deuteronomy 27:1-26
6.
Blessings & Curses
Deuteronomy 28:1-68
7.
Witnesses
Deuteronomy 30:19, 33:1-4
In contrast, they both offer two different alternatives concerning those who experienced what occurred at Sinai and Moab during the dispensing of both the Mosaic and Deuteronomic covenants. Including the Ten Commandments before the nation of Israel across both generations. Separately on both occasions, the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic law were delivered before the people of Israel. At Sinai before the exodus generation, then at Moab before their children. From Exodus 24:9-11, at the delivery of the Mosaic law on Sinai, we are presented with a supernatural scene of God’s presence. Along with Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, the 70 elders who witnessed the Lord there in human form, I propose the angels or divine beings served as witnesses to the dispensing of the law. As third-party witnesses, even in the tradition of the ANE vassal-treaty format, they served as a separate group of beings before Yahweh and His people. 9
Just as the Lord Yahweh’s domain intersected between His dwelling place and the Edenic garden during the delivery of the Adamic covenant, I also suggest that we encounter a similar intersection at Sinai during the birth of the Mosaic law (Ex. 24:9-11). The same on the plains of Moab (Dt. 30:19, 33:1-4) referring back to the first covenant, we have again ratified through the witness of “his holy ones” (v.2). These holy ones “was probably a reference to the angels who assisted God.” 10 So just as the angels, or elohim, who were witnesses to the sealing of the covenant were at Sinai, there were witnesses there at Moab as Moses references back to the Sinaitic occurrence in Dt 33:1-4. Moreover, the reference of Moses calling heaven and earth as witnesses of the covenant brings further clarity about the presence of holy ones to the Deuteronomic agreement (Dt. 30:19).
To further reinforce this proposal, consider the revealing of Jesus’s divine nature on top of Mt Hermon (or traditional Mt Tabor) during His transfiguration. A meeting place, again, between Moses, Elijah, and the Apostles, Peter, James, and John, they were witnesses of the new covenant as Jesus was the new Moses. Atop Mt Hermon, a place of intersection where the Savior, Messiah, King, and God Most High delivers the new covenant and brings the Kingdom of God and His redemptive path to humanity. The eventual indwelling of the Holy Spirit from Pentecost and afterward is the seal of the new covenant of grace after the death, resurrection, ascension, and coronation of Christ (2 Cor. 1:21-22). All covenants in succession where Yahweh delivers on His promises. To redeem His creation for this glory and to demonstrate His nature. As written within the Book of Deuteronomy, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Dt. 6:4), He has through His covenants fulfilled His promises to return His people to Him.
Conclusion
Between the Mosaic and Deuteronomic covenants, it is clear that the people of God were unable to fulfill their obligations as stipulated. From Sinai to the renewal at Moab, Israel was propelled forward to their promised land. From out of slavery in Egypt to captivity of another sort. Generations became captive to the obligations of the Mosaic law before their received inheritance of Canaan. While delivered from bondage, they were unable to fulfill their end of the agreement until Yahweh was to bring about a new kind of covenant. Not of the law structured for obedience and loyalty, but of grace and a “circumcision of the heart” to enable His people to love, honor, worship, and serve Him for their well-being, and as He desires.
As we today abide by the moral law, the Ten Commandments, we are no longer bound by the civil and ceremonial laws set in place. However, the covenants that precede the covenant of grace today, we are given a necessary depth of conviction about our inability to satisfy the requirements of the law, or the agreements set about by Yahweh. Through grace, because of the Mosaic law and its renewal, we are given a new kind of freedom and capability. To meet our Lord where He is and know that He is God by all that He has done.
Citations
1. Brian Collins, Lexham Survey of Theology, The Abrahamic Covenant (Bellingham, Lexham Press, 2018). 2. John H. Walton, The Decalogue Structure of the Deuteronomic Law. (2012), 99. 3. John J. Davis, Moses, and the Gods of Egypt: Studies in the Book of Exodus. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1971). 4. Paul R. House, Old Testament Theology. (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018). 5. William D. Barrick, The Mosaic Covenant, The Master’s Seminary Journal, 1999: 223. 6. Kline, Meredith G. Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy: Studies and Commentary (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2012), 47. 7. Alexander, T. Desmond. From Paradise to the Promised Land. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012). 289. 8. Peter J. Gentry, “The Relationship of Deuteronomy to the Covenant at Sinai.” (Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, 2014), 39. 9. Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm. (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2015), 166-169. 10. MacArthur, John. MacArthur Study Bible NASB. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006. Dt. 33:2 Commentary.
Bibliography
Alexander, T. Desmond. From Paradise to the Promised Land. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012. Barrick, William D. “The Mosaic Covenant.” The Master’s Seminary Journal, 1999: 213-232. Collins, Brian. Lexham Survey of Theology. Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2018. Davis, John J. Moses and the Gods of Egypt: Studies in the Book of Exodus. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1971. Gentry, Peter J. “The Relationship of Deuteronomy to the Covenant at Sinai.” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, 2014: 35-57. Heiser, Michael. The Unseen Realm. Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2015. House, Paul R. Old Testament Theology. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018. Kline, Meredith G. Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy: Studies and Commentary. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2012. MacArthur, John. MacArthur Study Bible NASB. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006. Walton, John H. Interpreting Deuteronomy: Issues and Approaches. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2012.
The following post is about the framework and structure of Deuteronomy with highlighted details concerning the Sinaitic and Mosaic covenants among His people from the adults of the exodus who perished in the wilderness to their children; there is a renewal of the covenant. Specifically for them and to codify the covenant agreement pertinent to the circumstances before the new generation entering Canaan.
Theological Highlights of Deuteronomy Concerning Structure & Total Method of Salvation
Probably the most amazing text of Gentry’s paper concerning the Deuteronomic Law is this quote from within the Solemn Oath Ceremony section of Deuteronomy (Dt. 28:69-30:20).
“This tension is described by the meta-comment on the whole section in Deuteronomy 29:29: “The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this tôrâ.” According to this meta-comment, there is a tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Israel is called to absolute loyalty to Yahweh in the Covenant, but the plot structure to this point in the OT shows that the human partner is incapable of faithfulness, something that will be given by divine grace at a future time.” – Gentry, P. J. (2014). The Relationship of Deuteronomy to the Covenant at Sinai. Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, 35-57.
The Wilderness Sanctuary – The Tabernacle / Portable Temple.
Ancient Near Eastern suzerain-vassal treaty in structure and format.1
Two participants, one strong and one weak emulate the relationship between God and Israel.
The ‘gods’ as witnesses, according to the divine council worldview, corresponds to the Vassal treaty contrary to what Alexander outlines on page 289.1 The Septuagint includes the witnesses of gods or divine beings at the giving of the law whereas the Hebrew text does not.2
The book of Deuteronomy often reads like a sermon. 3
The relationship between God and Israel resembles a marriage. Whereas love and loyalty are the substance of the marriage rather than the ceremony, or the ratified agreement between them.
The Decalogue says what worshipers of Yahweh are not to do; The Deuteronomic Law is in contrast to what they are to do.4
Scholars have noted the close relationship between Deut. 13 and the Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon.5
The Deuteronomic Law reads more like a covenant than a legal document modeled after parallel ANE legal texts.6
Worshipers forbidden to worship or offer gifts and sacrifices through mediating imagery and icons are instead given a ‘name theology’ to accomplish worship, honor, and duty to Yahweh only at the central sanctuary.7
“At the core of Deuteronomy is a theology of the supremacy of Yahweh, expressed in the life of Israel through adherence to Torah (Hamilton, 27; quoting Peter Vogt in Deuteronomic Theology, 5-6).” 8
Deuteronomy is an exposition of the Ten Commandments. Through judgment comes salvation.9 These are instructions by which Israel carries out its love of Yahweh, according to the SHEMA.
The covenant formulation of Deuteronomy involves a “circumcision of the heart” (Deut. 30:6). To which there is the tension described in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this tôrâ.” —Israel was unable to completely fulfill Covenant obligations without circumcision of the heart that comes from Yahweh at a future time as written in Deuteronomy 30:6).
Deuteronomy is laid out in literary structure patterned by a Hittite treaty from the Fourteenth to Thirteenth centuries B.C.10
Citations
1 T. Desmond Alexander, From Paradise to the Promised Land. An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Third Edition. (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2012), 289. 2 Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm. (Bellingham, Lexham Press, 2015), 165-166. For a survey of ancient Jewish texts (before and after the New Testament) relating to the connection of the law and angels, see Terrance Callan, “Pauline Midrash: The Exegetical Background of Gal. 3:19b,” Journal of Biblical Literature 99.4 (December 1980): 549-67. 3 Ibid. Alexander, 287. 4 John H. Walton, The Decalogue Structure of the Deuteronomic Law. (2012), 99. 5 Ibid. Walton, 100. 6 Ibid. Walton, 101-104. 7 Ibid. Walton, 105. 8 James M. Hamilton, J. (2014). The Glory of God in Salvation through Judgment in Deuteronomy. Southern Baptist Theological Journal, 19-33. 9 Ibid. Hamilton, 30. 10 Gentry, P. J. (2014). The Relationship of Deuteronomy to the Covenant at Sinai. Southern Baptist Theological Journal, 35-57.
Assembled here is a survey of each chapter in Deuteronomy. A few sentences for each chapter to summarize the core content and meaning of the fourth and final book of the Mosaic law. All thirty-four chapters are put together here to assemble a coherent view of the Book of Deuteronomy as a whole. These summaries were not written from a historical, poetic, literal, or figurative interpretative view. These summaries are merely content produced within the valid, authoritative, sufficient, infallible, and inerrant strength of God’s word.
The Theme of Deuteronomy: The appeal of Moses for Israel to form an everlasting covenant with Yahweh and to remain faithful to Him. Numerous reminders about God’s protection and faithfulness urge Israel to choose life and the Lord. To choose blessings rather than curses through loving God as evidenced by obedience to the law.
Deuteronomy 1: Moses reviews with the Israeli people what had occurred in their history leading up to the conquest of Canaan. A review of God’s command to enter Canaan in addition to additional historical details. Leaders appointed, spies return from Canaan with a mixed report, Israel refuses to enter Canaan, Israel generation condemned to remain in the wilderness, Israel decides to enter Canaan on their own and is defeated.
Deuteronomy 2: Moses’ review continues. Israel remained in the wilderness and was instructed not to war with Moab. The conquest begins, and Israel defeats Sihon. Tribes begin to claim land East of the Jordan river outside Canaan.
Deuteronomy 3: Israel defeats the territory of Bashan. Joshua was introduced as the new leader of Israel.
Deuteronomy 4: Israel exhorted to obey God. Idolatry was declared forbidden as the Lord alone is God. Moses introduced the law to Israel.
Deuteronomy 5: Moses reminds Israel of the ten commandments as delivered to Israel. Israel has seen the glory of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 6: The SHEMA is introduced to Israel. A command to love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. Israel is required to serve and fear the Lord.
Deuteronomy 7: The Lord has chosen Israel as His people and commands them to destroy all occupants of the land given to them. The Lord commands His people to destroy all carved images of the occupants.
Deuteronomy 8: Israel was reminded to remember God and all He has done for Israel from Egypt onward. Man shall live by every word of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 9: The nation of Israel passes over into the promised land. A recollection of the golden calf the Israelite people made for themselves to worship.
Deuteronomy 10: New tablets of stone cut for the ten commandments and God writes His law on them. The Lord requires His people to keep His commandments, serve Him, and hold fast to Him.
Deuteronomy 11: Further instruction to love and serve the Lord. Set before His people a blessing through obedience and a curse through disobedience.
Deuteronomy 12: Further instructions were given to Israel that they must destroy foreign objects of worship. With a follow-up warning about idolatry.
Deuteronomy 13: Israel was given further instructions that they must destroy false prophets and idolatrous cities.
Deuteronomy 14: Reiteration of laws detailing clean and unclean foods. Further laws about tithing.
Deuteronomy 15: Laws concerning the sabbatical year as creditors release debtors—instructions concerning the poor and the freedom of servants.
Deuteronomy 16: Observance of Passover plus feast of weeks and feast of booths. Further instructions about judges over the people of Israel.
Deuteronomy 17: Reserved portion of inheritances for Priest and Levites. Laws about the forbidden practices of divination.
Deuteronomy 18: Notice is given of a new prophet to supersede Moses. Warnings about listening to prophets of false gods or imposters who attempt to speak on Moses’ behalf.
Deuteronomy 19: Laws concerning cities of refuge for protection against avengers of accidental killings. Requirements of multiple witnesses about crimes committed among the people.
Deuteronomy 20: Given laws about how to engage in war, exemptions, wars with nations outside of Canaan, and populations of peoples among cities within Canaan. Occupants of Canaan were to be utterly destroyed.
Deuteronomy 21: Various civil laws and regulations about murder, marriage, inheritance, rebellious children and capital punishment are outlined.
Deuteronomy 22: Numerous additional laws concerning property, female attire, male and female relationships, sexual immorality, and others.
Deuteronomy 23: Additional laws about the isolation of foreigners, uncleanness in the camp, usuries, and vows outlined.
Deuteronomy 24: Additional laws about divorce and domestic relations.
Deuteronomy 25: Further laws about people relationships, familial responsibilities of a deceased husband’s brother. Additional regulations concerning fights between men and a wife’s involvement. Laws about cheating or fraud. A requirement to destroy Amalek and any trace of its identity.
Deuteronomy 26: Requirements to offer first of produce and livestock. A further requirement to offer a tithe of income.
Deuteronomy 27: Moses’ command to build an altar upon Mt Ebal. Moses commands a separation of tribes on top of Mt Gerizim and Mt Ebal to proclaim blessings and curses centered around the Mosaic moral code.
Deuteronomy 28: Yahweh has promised to bless Israel if they observe and obey His commandments. He will give blessings and protection to them. There are curses, plagues, pestilence, famine, enslavement, and exile for the people who reject God and what He requires. Without peace or rest, they will sink into sorry without any peace or rest.
Deuteronomy 29: Further reinforced is God’s covenant with Israel. The Lord’s people Israel enters into a covenant with Him. Knowing that there will be curses to follow if and when they abandon Him and the covenant.
Deuteronomy 30: A choice of life and death is set before the people of Israel. Moses urges the people to choose life by loving and honoring God. With repentance, there is mercy and forgiveness in God who loves His people.
Deuteronomy 31: Moses encourages Israel and assures them of God’s promise to remain faithful to His covenant with His people. Moses encourages Israel. He and Joshua appear before God to hand leadership over to Joshua. The Lord commands Moses to write a song for Israel for it to be a witness against them when they forsake their God.
Deuteronomy 32: The song of Moses is recited concerning a just and right God, His jealousy, and the pride of Israel’s future captors. Yahweh is a God of vengeance, but also a God of Mercy. Moses is sent to Mt. Nebo to die.
Deuteronomy 33: Moses gives his final blessing to the tribes is Israel. The nation of Israel is granted peace and safety for a time while they remain faithful to their covenant.
Deuteronomy 34: Moses was permitted to view the promised land before he died on Mt Nebo. The Lord buried Moses in the land of Moab. Joshua took leadership of Israel full of the spirit of wisdom. The Lord was with him.
Through craft and subtly, Satan led Adam and Eve to their physical and spiritual death. In the form of a serpent that he inhabited in literal or literary form, the enemy spoke these words to them along these lines: “Is it true that God has restricted you from the delights of this place? This is not like one who is truly good and kind. There must be some mistake.”1 While it is explicit that Satan lied to both the man and woman created by God (“you shall not die” – Gen 3:4), it is within the realm of deception that this enemy is capable of seducing you to lie to yourself and others. Leading yourself and others to unwanted outcomes or horrific consequences.
Sin & Suffering
Notice in Genesis 3 that God did not curse Adam and Eve. He cursed Satan and the ground that they both walked upon. The consequences for their sin were physical and spiritual death which includes separation from God their maker. Their eyes were opened and their existence fundamentally changed, but they were both corrupted. They were the first of billions of people who would experience death through sin and suffering because of the betrayal and disobedience that entered into God’s creation. The Lord YHWH permitted the damage Satan has caused yet provided a way and certainty of recovery to demonstrate the all-powerful sovereignty and dominion of God Most High.
Within the proclamation of judgment and curses, Genesis gives us the very first look at how God provided a way of recovery for mankind and His creation. The promised messiah first appears in Genesis 3:15 to reveal the supreme goodness, mercy, and love of God. Even as He was betrayed by people He formed to walk with Him and abide with Him, He chose to provide us a way back to Him.
Facts & Observations
• Genesis 3:15 is a messianic prophecy where the entire biblical narrative of redemption begins from there. A prophecy about the rescue from the consequences of sin.2
• The seed of the woman is mankind’s only hope.3
• The singular form of “he” in the verse, is a reference to an individual who represents the seed (Gen 3:15 KJV).4 This is a literal historical reference to the offspring (ESV) of a woman.
• Jesus crushes the head of the serpent, while the servant bruises His heel. God, in His judgment, mercy, and wisdom bestowed upon His creation, gave a pronouncement concerning the coming messiah through the seed of the woman.5
• The Lord God Himself brings enmity between the seed of Satan and the woman and her seed (or offspring).6
• The descendants of Adam and Eve, throughout biblical history, are opposed to the serpent (Satan) through the seed of the woman.
• Jesus, the seed of the woman and the second Adam overcomes sin and death to defeat Satan.7
Key Messianic Prophecies in the Old Testament
REFERENCE
PROPHECY
VERSE TEXT (ESV)
Gen 3:15
Messiah to reconcile men to God; fully human, born of woman, He will utterly defeat Satan.
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Gen 22:18
He will be of the family of Abraham.
"and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Gen 49:10
He will be of the kingly tribe of Judah.
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples."
Deut. 18:15
He will be a prophet who, like Moses, revealed the Word of God.
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—"
Ps. 2:1-2
He will be tried by Gentile rulers and condemned by His own Jewish people.
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,"
Ps. 16:10
Through resurrection, by the Father, Jesus' body will not see corruption.
"For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption."
Ps. 22:1
He will experience the rejection of the Father at His death.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
Ps. 22:6-7
He will be mocked at His crucifixion.
"But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;"
Ps. 22:22
Christ will glorify God in His church after His resurrection.
"I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:"
Ps. 40:6-8
Christ delight in all the Father's will.
"In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
Ps. 69:7-12
Christ would be rejected by men.
"For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons. For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me."
Ps. 69:21
Christ would drink gall at His crucifixion.
"They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink."
Ps. 89:4
Christ will be of the eternal seed of David.
‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’ ”
Ps. 89:26-28
Christ will be God's eternal son, His unique firstborn.
"He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him."
Ps. 110:1
He will ascend to the right hand of the Father and be coronated.
"The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
Ps. 110:4
His priesthood will be eternal, after the manner of Melchizedek.
"The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
Ps. 132.11
He will be of the lineage of David.
"The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne."
Isa. 7:14
Christ will have a virgin birth; He will be called Immanuel.
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
Isa. 7:15-16
He will grow up in a land dominated by a foreign power.
"He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted."
Isa. 9:1-2
He will minister in Galilee.
"But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone."
Isa. 9:7
He will be of the line of David, but His kingship will be eternal and He will be the Son of God.
"Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."
Isa. 11:2
He will be anointed with The Holy Spirit
"And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD."
Isa. 11:4
He will minister perfect justice regarding the poor and he meek.
"but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked."
Isa. 24:16
Christ will offer salvation to the entire world.
"From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. But I say, “I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me! For the traitors have betrayed, with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”
Isa. 40:3
He will have a forerunner.
"A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
Isa. 42:1
Christ will be the great anointed Servant of Yahweh.
"Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations."
Isa. 42:2
His ministry will be gentle.
"He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;"
Isa. 42:6
Christ will be the fulfillment of God's covenant.
“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,"
Isa. 49:6
Christ will be a light to the Gentile.
"he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Isa. 52:14
He would be disfigured by the abuses He suffered prior to crucifixion.
"As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—"
Isa. 53:4
Christ will bear all our diseases.
"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted."
Isa. 53:5
He will provide atonement for sin.
"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed."
Isa. 53:9
He will be buried in a rich man's tomb.
"And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth."
Isa. 53:10
The Father will prolong Christ's days by resurrecting Him from the dead.
"Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand."
Dan. 9:24
His public ministr to begin in A.D. 26, which would be 483 years after the decree to Ezra to rebuild Jerusalem; 3 1/2 years later (in the middle of the seven year "week") the Messiah would be crucified while atoning for sin as the "Most Holy" One.
“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place."
Mic. 5:2
Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.
"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days."
Zech. 9:9
He would enter Jerusalem on a donkey's colt.
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
Zech. 11:12
Christ would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
"Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver."
Zech. 12:10
He would be pierced for our transgressions
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn."
Citations
1. John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Ge 3:1. 2. William Varner, The Seed and Schaeffer, What Happened in the Garden, (Grand Rapids, Kregel Academic, 2016), 155. 3. Ibid. 159. 4. Ibid. 159. 5. Ibid. 163. 6. Ibid. 155. 7. Ibid. 167. 8. Gleason Archer, Jr., A Survey of the Old Testament Introduction, (Chicago, Moody Publishers, 2007), 326.
