There are plenty of examples in the Bible of God appearing to change His mind or plan in response to events or regretting decisions He had made. At least, that is the way it is presented in Scripture37 even if from the theological standpoint God foreknew everything in detail. But since He never goes back on His unconditional promises of blessing, His assurances regarding places and people, even if re-ordered will be fulfilled. What for practical purposes might be referred to as Plan A (i.e., what the prophets foretold in the Old Testament) regarding the restoration of the world based on the Jews inheriting the Kingdom is set out most clearly in Isaiah:
“It will happen in the final days that the mountain of JHWE’s house will rise higher than the mountains and tower above the heights. Then all the nations will stream to it, many peoples will come to it and say, “Come let us go up to the mountain of JHWE, to the house of the God of Jacob that He may teach us his ways so that we might walk in his paths”. For the Law will issue from Zion and the word of JHWE from Jerusalem. Then
He will judge between the nations and arbitrate between many peoples. They will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation, no longer will they learn how to make war” 38
God’s Plan according to the Old Testament was to establish a holy nation of kings and priests amongst whom He would personally reside, initially through His spiritual presence in the Ark, later through the physical presence of His Son Emmanuel (God with us).
The nations who had oppressed His people were to be judged, but as outlined in Joel, the Spirit would be poured out and the Good News of the Kingdom proclaimed as a witness to all nations before the final judgement came. Many Gentiles “would come to Israel’s light and their kings to the brightness of her rising” 39. At such a time “ten men from different nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’”40. In God’s plan as revealed in the Old Testament, the Jews were to be the world’s enlighteners whilst the holistic package we know of as gospel salvation was not intended for Gentile nations at all in the current age. As confirmed in the eleventh chapter of Paul’s letter to the Roman Church it is only through the disobedience of the Jews that Gentiles have any immediate part in it41.
This is not so extraordinary as it may appear for internal sanctifying communion with Christ was not possible even to God’s chosen people before the Saviour was incarnated, shed His blood, was resurrected and made way for the Holy Spirit. Whilst sin could be forgiven it could not yet be taken away42 for a fountain had yet to be opened for sin and uncleanness43. Salvation in the gospel sense is healing of the soul44 resulting in life of an eternal quality45 even whilst the soul still resides within the “body of this death”46 as the 37 E.g. Gen6:7; Gen18:21,26; Ex32:14; 1Sam15:11,35; Mt2:19-22
38 Is2:1-4
39 Is60:3
40 Zech8:23
41 Rom11:11-13,30
42 Heb10:4 Greek “aphairein”
43 Zech13:1
44 cf. 1Pet1:9
45 Jn17:3
46 Rom7:24
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apostle aptly describes the earthen vessel inherited from our father’s loins corrupted through “original sin”. The purpose of this salvation is for a people to become “holiness to the Lord and the first fruits of His increase”47: the people the Jewish nation were prophesied to become for the enlightenment and healing of the world. Then, in the age to come, having shared in His suffering, such would share in His glory48, having been conformed to His image and likeness through spiritual gifts, cruciform service and personal discipleship.
The Jew’s intended role as God’s original choice to establish His Kingdom on earth should be equally clear concerning how Jesus regarded His own ministry:
“And suddenly out came a Canaanite woman from the district and started shouting, “Lord, Son of David take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil”. But He said not a word in answer to her. And His disciples went and pleaded with Him, saying
“Give her what she wants, because she keeps shouting after us. He said in reply. “I was
sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” But the woman had come up and was bowing low before Him. “Lord”, she said, “Help me.” He replied, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to little dogs”49
Jesus makes it clear that He had been sent to the Jews (the lost sheep of Israel) so that they might be fitted for the Kingdom role promised for them in Scripture; that is why He initially refused to heal this Gentile woman’s daughter. What He had spoken He had spoken. He was not “testing the woman’s faith” – He confirmed the matter with His
disciples: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”. Because of His great compassion He was prepared to help such Gentile folk who came to Him. But it is obvious if one reads carefully through the gospel narratives that John the Baptist, Jesus and initially His disciples ministered and preached almost exclusively to the Jews50. Through their avoidable failure, the privileges they were to inherit are to be shared with elect individuals drawn from every nation through elective grace.
The kingdom of God – under new management
The Jewish religious elite had expected to be leading the work of God’s coming Kingdom under their Messiah, but the Kingdom role was taken from them and given to a people “who would produce its fruit”51. The leadership would be handed over to His personally trained squad of twelve intimate followers. But these were still exclusively Jewish; it was the Jews who were the natural branches whereas elect Gentiles were later grafted in against nature52. Jesus had come “as a minister of the circumcision for the truth to confirm the promises of the fathers and also that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy”53 The Gentiles being the “and-also’s” were to be shown mercy under Christ’s rule with His people and glorify God for it, but now they could be the equals with that same people and share the inheritance reserved for those who were to be sanctified 54. Once one grasps (i.e., takes literally) what Paul was saying in the eleventh chapter of Romans, 47 Jer2:3
48 Rom8:17 (cf. Greek); 1Pet5:10; 2Thes2:14
49 Mt15:22-26
50 cf. Mt10:5-6
51 Mt21:43
52 Rom11:24
53 Rom15:8-9
54 Acts26:18
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particularly vv11, 15 and 30, it explains the opaque nature of our Lord’s eschatological narrative; not least, the Olivet discourse, in which Jesus appeared to link the destruction of the temple within a generation to His second coming. For the expectation had been that having carried out retribution to Israel’s enemies and destroyed the wicked, the Good News of Jesus Christ’s kingship referred to as “this gospel of the Kingdom”55 would be announced as a witness to the Gentile nations so that if they acknowledged Him, at His coming they could be shown mercy through His name and become citizens in His Kingdom. But that is not what we have come to understand as “gospel salvation”. It is not a restoration of the soul for immediate intimate divine communion56. It is not the same gift of eternal life57.
Although absent from Old Testament Scripture, such fulness of salvation had been anticipated for the Gentile nations in the parables of Jesus – God’s vineyard taken from the Jews and given to another “nation”58 and the wedding feast to which the intended guests failed to turn up59. So, whilst the Gentile nations’ Kingdom inheritance had been foreordained by God before the foundation of the world60, both Jesus and Paul inferred that the only historical reason the Gentiles were to be offered eternal life and a role as priests and kings in God’s Kingdom was because of the intended nation’s unworthiness and unbelief. Such was God’s secret plan, the profound providential (not to mention dispensational) implications of which may be beginning to filter into the reader’s mind. In which case congratulations are in order, for it had eluded the most influential formulator of Western biblical theology.