Hebrews in Light of Grace (Part 4): Divine Government and the Two Created Realms
The Stated Reality: God's Communication in Time Past
To understand any passage of Scripture, the student of the Word must first establish who is speaking, to whom the words are directed, and the specific historical context governing the statement. The opening lines of the Epistle to the Hebrews present a clear, stated reality regarding how the Creator chose to communicate with mankind. God spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, and hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son (Heb.1:1-2).
This distinction between "the fathers" and "us" forms the foundational line of division. The fathers mentioned here are not the universal ancestors of all humanity, nor do they represent the Gentile nations. They are the patriarchs and ancestral leaders of the nation of Israel. When the text speaks of God addressing "us," it refers directly to the immediate descendants of those same fathers—the children of Israel. A quick look back at the historical record reveals why this focus exists. In Genesis chapter eleven, mankind collectively rejected the knowledge of God at the Tower of Babel. In response, God gave the Gentile nations up (Rom.1:24-28), scattering them across the face of the earth and suffering them to walk in their own self-chosen ways (Acts14:16).
From that point forward, divine revelation was narrowed to a single channel. God called Abraham out of heathendom to build a distinct nation, establishing a prophetic line that would communicate His direct words. This order was formally established under Moses, through whom the Law was given, and continued through the period of the judges for four hundred and fifty years until Samuel the prophet. Samuel marked a definitive turning point in Israel's history. Before his ministry, the word of God was rare and precious, with no open vision (1Sam.3:1). From Samuel onward, God maintained an active prophetic voice in Israel. All the law and the prophets prophesied until John the Baptist (Matt.11:13), who marked the absolute end of that Old Testament prophetic era.
When Jesus Christ walked the earth during His earthly ministry, He operated entirely within this national framework. His own testimony declared that He was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt.15:24). When a Canaanite woman approached Him pleading for mercy on behalf of her daughter, Christ initially answered her not a word (Matt.15:23). When He did speak, He stated that it was not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to dogs (Matt.15:26). In the divine economy, Gentiles were categorized as dogs—outsiders who had no legal claim to the covenant promises made to the fathers. The prophetic order mandated that Israel had to be blessed first, filled with the bread of God's kingdom, so that His blessings could subsequently overflow through them to the rest of the world.
The 70 Weeks and the Unprophesied Interruption
The core message delivered by the written prophets from Isaiah through Malachi was extraordinarily consistent. Israel had made a solemn covenant with God, they had broken that covenant, and consequently, judgment was coming upon them. However, that judgment was not intended for their total destruction, but for their purging. After the period of chastisement was complete, the Messiah would appear to purge the nation of its adversaries, save the believing remnant, and establish the promised kingdom under a new covenant.
Through the prophet Daniel, God provided Israel with a detailed, chronological blueprint outlining precisely how this program would unfold. This prophetic timeline was divided into specific time periods determined upon the holy city and its people (Dan.9:24). First came seventy years of captivity in Babylon, followed by forty-nine years dedicated to the return of a remnant and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Following that rebuilding period, four hundred and thirty-four years were appointed under Messiah the Prince (Dan.9:25). During the vast majority of those four centuries, God remained silent, giving no new written or oral prophecies to His people.
That long silence was dramatically shattered by John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness (Matt.3:3; Isa.40:3). Daniel’s prophecy had foretold that at the conclusion of the sixty-two weeks, Messiah would be cut off, but not for Himself (Dan.9:26). When the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified at Calvary, the prophetic clock was paused with exactly one week—a seven-year period—remaining to be fulfilled. This final seven-year span was designed to bring the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer.30:7), the judgment of the world, and the ultimate restoration of the kingdom to Israel under their Messiah.
When the resurrected Christ ascended to heaven, the stage was fully set for those final seven years to begin. The disciples asked Him prior to His ascension whether He would at that time restore again the kingdom to Israel (Acts1:6). While He informed them that it was not for them to know the times or the seasons (Acts1:7), the unfolded history recorded in the Book of Acts reveals the definitive outcome. The kingdom was not restored at that time because the nation of Israel, as a collective whole, rejected the testimony of the Holy Ghost and remained in a state of spiritual stubbornness and unbelief.
The Revelation of the Mystery
Instead of immediately unleashing the final seven years of wrath and bringing the prophetic program to its fiery conclusion, God did something completely unexpected. The history of divine dealing did not stop with the close of the four Gospels, nor did it continue along the expected prophetic path. In the Book of Acts, a dramatic transition occurred. The ascended Lord Jesus Christ returned from heaven to intercept a fierce persecutor of the early believers named Saul of Tarsus.
Saul was not added to the ranks of the twelve apostles. The original twelve had been chosen specifically to sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt.19:28). It was necessary for Matthias to fill the vacancy left by Judas so that the complete number of twelve stood present at Pentecost to offer the kingdom to Israel. But Paul was called out as a completely separate apostle—the apostle of the uncircumcision (Gal.2:7-8; Rom.11:13). While Peter, James, and John held the apostleship of the circumcision (Gal.2:9), Paul was dispatched directly to the Gentile world with a brand-new message.
This new administration was not a replacement of Israel, nor was it a continuation of the old prophetic program. Paul explicitly revealed that what God was doing among the Gentiles was a mystery—a secret that had been kept hidden in God since the world began (Rom.16:25; Eph.3:9). When God spoke in time past through the holy prophets since the world began (Acts3:21), He never spoke of this current dispensation. The prophets detailed the earthly kingdom, the destruction of Gentile oppressors, and Israel’s national exaltation. They knew nothing of a dispensation where national distinctions between Jew and Gentile would be set aside to form one new body (Eph.2:14-16).
Ignorance of this distinction leaves people wise in their own conceits (Rom.11:25), forcing them to spiritualize the Scriptures because they cannot rightly divide them (2Tim.2:15). The current Age of Grace is an unprophesied parenthetical interruption in Israel's timeline. God has not cast away His people (Rom.11:1-2), nor has He revoked the unconditional gifts and callings promised to the fathers (Rom.11:29). Instead, a temporary partial blindness has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in (Rom.11:25). Once God completes His current work in building the Body of Christ, the prophetic clock will resume, and all Israel shall be saved (Rom.11:26) in accordance with every word written in the law and the prophets.
The Two Created Realms and the Adversary’s Plot
To understand why God established both a earthly kingdom program for Israel and a heavenly mystery program for the church, one must examine the original architecture of creation. When God brought the universe into being, He did far more than construct physical matter. He declared that the heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool (Isa.66:1; Acts7:49). Within these two distinct spheres, God created a comprehensive system of angelic and human government, establishing thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers designed to operate under the supreme authority of His Son (Col.1:16).
The adversary, originally created as a covering cherub (Ezek.28:14), recognized this structural administration and devised a bold plan to seize it. In Isaiah chapter fourteen, Lucifer’s rebel heart uttered a fivefold boast that revealed his ultimate goal. He declared that he would ascend into heaven, exalt his throne above the stars of God, sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north, ascend above the heights of the clouds, and ultimately be like the Most High (Isa.14:13-14).
This specific title—the Most High God—identifies the Creator as the possessor of both heaven and earth (Gen.14:19). Satan’s treason was not merely a passive desire for personal glory; it was a active attempt to usurp control over both governmental realms. By seeking to rule the heavenly places above the stars and the earthly realm above the clouds, the adversary positioned himself as an illegal ruler over God's rightful domain.
In response to the earthly dimension of this creation, God created Adam, placing him in the Garden of Eden with a direct mandate. Man was given explicit dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and every living thing that moved upon the earth (Gen.1:28). Adam was commissioned as a king under God, tasked to replenish the earth, fill it with a righteous race, and subdue it under the direct ruler-ship of heaven. However, Adam’s dominion strictly stopped where the birds fly; he was granted no authority over the stellar heavens or the spiritual realms above.
When Satan targeted Adam and engineered his fall through temptation, the adversary successfully pulled the earthly dominion out of man's hands, becoming the functional prince and god of this world system (John12:31; 2Cor.4:4). Yet, in the very moment of man's tragic fall, God spoke directly to the serpent and declared that the seed of the woman would arise to crush his head (Gen.3:15). The struggle for control over God's vast creation had officially begun, setting the stage for a long execution of divine redemption that would ultimate regain every inch of usurped territory.
Redemption from Bondage and the Army of God
Following the fall of Adam, human history descended into steady degradation, ultimately leading to global judgment at the flood and the eventual dispersal of the nations at Babel. Yet, God's promise that the seed of the woman would crush the adversary's head remained active (Gen.3:15). When God called Abraham and promised to make of him a great nation, He laid the physical groundwork for that seed. Through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God promised a specific multiplied seed, a defined piece of land, and an ultimate blessing that would overflow to all families of the earth.
Jacob was eventually instructed to journey down into Egypt, where God fulfilled His word by multiplying the family of seventy souls into a massive population. Satan, operating through the Gentile tyranny of Pharaoh, attempted to thwart God's plan by subjecting Israel to bitter bondage. Knowing that a manchild was destined to crush his authority, Pharaoh issued a dark decree ordering every newborn male child of the Hebrews to be thrown into the river. This was a direct attack by the adversary to wipe out the promised lineage and preserve his illegal grip on the earth.
God heard the groaning of His people, remembered His covenant with the fathers, and raised up Moses to deliver them. Moses was dispatched with a clear command for Pharaoh: Israel is my son, even my firstborn; let my son go, that he may serve me (Ex.4:22-23). When Pharaoh stubbornly refused, God executed devastating judgments upon the land, overthrowing the captors and redeeming His people by blood and power.
As the children of Israel marched out of Egypt on the night of the Passover, the Scriptures record that the Lord brought them forth by their armies (Ex.12:51). God was not merely rescuing refugees; He was organizing a military force. He led His redeemed son into the wilderness, moving them toward the mountain of His inheritance. The goal was to plant them in the very land where God would establish His sanctuary and execute His government. While the adversary spent centuries fortifying the land with giants and walled cities to block their entrance, God's purpose stood firm to establish a holy habitation in the center of the earth.
The Law Covenant and the Loss of the Crown
At Mount Sinai, God brought His redeemed army unto Himself and presented them with a specific proposal. He declared that if they would obey His voice indeed and keep His covenant, they would be a peculiar treasure unto Him above all people, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation (Ex.19:5-6). The Law of Moses was introduced not as a means of personal salvation, but as the constitutional law of God's earthly kingdom.
This covenant was structured entirely on a conditional arrangement. Under the Abrahamic covenant, God had promised "I will," guaranteeing performance based on His own faithfulness. Under the Mosaic Law, God stated "if ye will," conditioning kingdom blessings directly upon Israel's performance (Ex.19:5). Confident in their own strength, the people declared that all the Lord had spoken, they would do (Ex.19:8).
The Law operated as a schoolmaster (Gal.3:24), exposing human weakness and demonstrating Israel's complete inability to establish righteousness by their own efforts. Instead of keeping the covenant, Israel repeatedly fell into idolatry and spiritual rebellion. Consequently, God enacted the courses of chastisement outlined in the Law, culminating in the removal of the nation from their land.
During the Babylonian captivity, the crown fell from Israel's head. The earthly kingdom was suspended, and the times of the Gentiles began (Luke21:24). From the days of Nebuchadnezzar onward, Jerusalem remained under the authority of Gentile powers, leaving Israel as a lawful captive under the overarching dominion of Satan. Yet, even while the nation suffered under Gentile tyranny, the prophets foretold a coming day when God would write His law upon their hearts and restore the kingdom under a new and better covenant.
The Cross and the Reconciliation of All Things
When Jesus Christ entered His earthly ministry, He arrived as the true King of Israel, casting out devils and binding the strong man to demonstrate that the kingdom was at hand. However, His death on the cross accomplished something far greater than the immediate political restoration of Israel. While the salvation of individual souls from hell is an astounding gift, the primary, overarching purpose of the cross is the ultimate reconciliation of all things back to God.
Through the shedding of His precious blood, Jesus Christ purchased the right to reclaim every realm that had been corrupted or usurped by sin. Colossians chapter one establishes that Christ died to reconcile all things unto Himself, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven (Col.1:20). Satan had usurped authority in both spheres, establishing rebellion in the spiritual hierarchy of the heavenly places as well as upon the earth.
Had the princes of this world understood the hidden wisdom of God, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1Cor.2:8). Satan believed that by killing the Heir, he could secure permanent possession of the inheritance. Instead, the cross stripped the powers of darkness of their authority, providing the legal basis for Christ to reclaim total ruler-ship over creation.
During this present administration of grace, Christ is seated at the right hand of God, having formed the Body of Christ. Believers today are quickened, raised up, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph.2:5-6). Our inheritance is not a physical piece of land on earth, but a position of joint-heirship with Christ in the heavenly realm. Through the mystery revealed to Paul, God is securing His future administrative rulers for the heavenly places, while preparing the way for Israel's ultimate restoration on earth.
The Future Restoration of the Kingdom
The temporary setting aside of Israel and the current calling of the Body of Christ in no way nullifies God's unconditional promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Once the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in and the Body of Christ is complete (Rom.11:25), the present parenthetical Age of Grace will conclude. At that point, God will resume His prophetic clock with Israel, executing the remaining seven years of Daniel's seventy-week prophecy.
During that final period of tribulation, Christ will judge the Gentile nations and destroy the usurping forces of darkness. He will return in power and great glory, appearing as a warrior to take physical possession of what was created by Him and for Him. The rebellious armies of the earth will be overthrown, and the adversary will be bound and cast out.
Christ will then establish the long-promised kingdom under the New Covenant, writing His law in the hearts of the believing remnant of Israel. Jerusalem will serve as the city of the great King (Matt.5:35)—the central seat of authority where heaven and earth meet. Israel will finally fulfill its original calling as a kingdom of priests (Ex.19:6), serving as a light to the world and a channel of divine blessing to all nations.
In the dispensation of the fullness of times, God will gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth (Eph.1:10). Every throne, dominion, principality, and power will be brought into complete alignment under His authority. The heavenly places will be administered by the Body of Christ, the earthly realm will be ruled through restored Israel, and the entire creation will bring eternal glory to God the Father through His Son.
An adapted lesson from Paul Lucas here.
