Understanding and Interpreting the Bible (Part 4A)

Understanding and Interpreting the Bible

(Part 4A --- Dividing the AGENCIES)

Dividing the REALMS, defined in the previous post of this series, by phrases like, heaven and earth, and spiritual and physical, provide an understanding of the end point of God's great redemption plan. However, leading up to this end point, there will be an agency to occupy the heavens and fill it with the glory of Jesus Christ, and there will be an agency to occupy the earth and fill it with the glory of Jesus Christ. The end of it all would be as the scriptures say,

Col.1:19-20 For God [the Father] was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him [Christ], 20 and through Him [Christ] to reconcile to Himself [the Father] all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood* of His [Christ] cross.

Eph.1:9-10 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth —in Him.

1 Cor.15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto Him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

So, the realms determine the end of the redemption plan, and the purpose of the plan is to glorify Christ in all of creation. But what about the agencies, and the dealings of these agencies to fulfil the plan of God? Let's get into them, to identify them, and clarify, as per the purpose of this study, that they are to be divided from each other in the context of God's redemption plan for humanity.

The Beginning of the Two Agencies

By looking at the timeline in the top banner of this blog page, you will notice that Israel was extracted out of the proverbial river of rebellious and immoral humanity. God called Abram (Gen.12:1-2), who responded in faith and did what God instructed. Because of his faith, God made a covenant with Him and promised him land and descendants, who would eventually become the nation of Israel. This account is well known in the Bible, but there is a particular part of scripture I want to bring to your attention. Let's read the following,

Gen.22:15-17 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore;

Do you see it? Do you see the two agencies? ———If you don't know about the truth of right dividing and you don't have a general grasp on the 'BIG picture' of God's redemption plan (as laid out in the timeline), you'll never see it, and overlook this truth every time! BUT, if you do know how God's redemption plan fits together, you'll see it shouting out at you ———two agencies, two people groups, two parts of a greater plan, time to divide!

Now, can I just make one thing clear here before I get back to our point in question. The two agencies were never in prophecy. The Old Testament knew NOTHING about two agencies. From Exodus to the end of the Gospels we learn of Israel and their purpose and destiny, but Gentiles were NEVER in the picture, barring prophecy that they would be saved through the light and blessing of Israel. The fact that Gentiles were not on God's radar at that time is made clear by Paul's reference in Ephesians,

Eph.2:11-13  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;  12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:  13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

So, with this in mind, its an incredible revelation to see how God subtly reveals a truth here that was never understood until Paul revealed it! God kept this mystery hidden (in plain sight) throughout scripture, only revealing its full truth when Paul started writing about the blinding of the Jews and the setting up of a new agency; the Body of Christ,

Rom.11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Let's get back on point! What's so incredible about Genesis 22:17? Let's read it again,

Gen.22:17 ...blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore;

Because of the incredible faith that Abraham put in the Lord, the Lord promised to Abraham that He would multiple his descendants as countless as the stars of heaven and the sand on the seashore. But in doing so, God was also hinting (secretly) about two agencies. Effectively, God was saying that from out of Abraham would come a people as countless as the stars, and another people as countless as the sand. The small word 'and' that joins these two descriptions is important to understand and effectively means the following; 

• AND represents 2 people groups, each with a very specific comparison (or destination). In other words, if there was only 1 people group, they couldn't represent both stars and sand at the same time. There has to be 2 people groups, one for each destination. Do you get it?

If 'and' was the word 'or', it would mean something very different,

• OR represents 1 people group with 2 comparisons. That single people group could be compared to stars, being countless in the sky, or as sand, being countless on the seashore. In other words, either this or that!

God was hiding a truth at this early time, (since God had not yet revealed His plan to use two agencies in His redemption plan, this truth would not really be understood back then), but for us, on this side of the plan, having the blessing of the whole scripture and hindsight, we can clearly see that this is in reference to two specific people groups who would have a role to play in the outcome of His plan. The stars of heaven would represent the church, the body of Christ in this day of grace, and the sand would represent Israel, as those under the law during Jesus earthly ministry and before. We, as the stars, and a spiritual body, would be destined to inherit the heavens (Phil.3:20; Eph.2:6 ), while physical Israel, as the sand, would inherit the earth according to many Biblical prophecies (Gen.15:7).

To be continued in Part 4B...