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"THE MYSTERY OF ISRAEL' S
BLINDNESS"
from the book
Whispers
of the Mysteries (1)
by Ray and Doris
Prinzing
"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the nations be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." [Romans 11:25-27].
We ought not to be ignorant of this mystery-- literally, to be without
knowledge, because if you are, it will result in your becoming "wise in
your own conceits." This is a very interesting phrase in the Greek text,
for the words "own conceits" simply mean: alongside of yourselves; which
another translation renders as "self-opinionated." When all of our opinions
are formed out of our own selves, and not received through divine revelation,
we are going to be very ignorant of the truth. "HE will guide you
into all truth." [John 16:13]. But the conceited opinions of self will
lead us into error.
Paul was able to say, "I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was
preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither
was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." [Galatians 1:11-12].
He "conferred not with flesh and blood," nor sought out the apostles to
see if he could learn the right doctrines from them, but he went into Arabia,
and waiting before God received that which he could teach with authority.
By the Spirit he was instructed, initiated into the deeper truths of many
things, including that of Israel's blindness.
Blindness came "in part" upon Israel. IN PART-- a division or section.
God has ALWAYS HAD A REMNANT that can see. Always He has had His
little flock who have faithfully followed Him. They have been scorned,
rejected, cast out by the majority, for they were misunderstood completely.
The blind could not see what they saw, therefore rejected their testimony,
and slew the prophets, and tore down their altars. There is no understanding
of the truths of Israel's blindness, and the out workings thereof, without
knowing that He also maintains HIS REMNANT unto Himself.
Then we note the word "blindness," the Greek word is "porosis" and comes
from the root meaning HARDNESS. This links us back to the "mystery
of iniquity" "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and
My wonders in the land of Egypt." [Exodus 7:3]. Every time Pharaoh was
softened by another blow, another plague, and was beginning "to see the
light" God would harden his heart again, to prepare him for the next blow.
And He would continuously harden him until He could utterly smash, crush,
and bring down the Egyptians. "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will
have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth." [Romans 9:18].
This, too,
is included in the workings of our God, who doeth all things well.
Israel is hardened in their relationship to their God. Israel is hardened
in their relationship to their brethren; and Israel is hardened in their
understanding of their own identity and their relationship to the nations
among whom the dwell. It is constantly amazing to hear how Israel speaks
concerning their God. They talk so glibly, "He is the Man upstairs." There
is no awesome reverence, no worship involved. If they get into a real tight
spot they might pray for help, but mostly in the thought that He would
bail them out of the consequences for their wrong-doing. "There is no fear
of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until
his iniquity be found to be hateful." [Psalm 36:1-2].
It is also amazing how Israel is hardened against her own identity. She
has assumed the identity of the nations among whom she has been scattered,
calls herself a "gentile," and knows not the lineage of her fathers. What
a BLINDNESS has happened to them-- a hardness of heart, so that
they refuse to believe, and thus refuse to shoulder the responsibilities
which belong to Israelites, to keep His laws and to walk in His covenants.
We will not condemn them, this has been GOD - ORDAINED, He blinds
and hardens whom He wills. But we do observe the extent to which it covers
His natural Israel people.
Yet it is equally amazing how across our nation God is opening the eyes
of HIS REMNANT to know who they are, both naturally and spiritually.
Israel was called to be "an holy people unto the Lord . . . chosen . .
. to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all the nations that are
upon the earth." [Deuteronomy 14:2].
"Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen:
that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am HE: before
Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I,
am the Lord; and beside Me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have
saved, and I have shewed when there was no strange god among you: therefore
YE
ARE MY WITNESSES, saith the Lord, that
I AM GOD." [Isaiah 43:10-12].
God had revealed Himself to Israel in a way and manner that was not known
by other nations. He lavished His love upon them, fought their battles
for them, provided for their every need, instructed and cared for them.
They knew that there was no other God. He chose them to be HIS WITNESS;
first to experience for themselves of His redemption, His power, His love,
that HE alone is God, and having become firsthand partakers, viewing
and experiencing, then they were to give testimony to the nations of the
God whom they served.
Furthermore, we read, "For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable--
He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change
His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His
call." [Romans 11:29, Amplified].
Backslidings and disobedience do not alter an irrevocable calling, but
they do hinder it from being fulfilled totally, and consciously. Therefore
the more the hardness of their heart is removed, the more they shall be
prepared to fulfill that call in ways and manners beyond all that we have
known. We do praise God, however, for how even the REMNANT have
been obedient, and for what witness has gone forth. Part of the very mystery
however, is the manner after which Israel has been fulfilling much of her
calling, even though unaware of what is happening. For God will fulfill
His purposes, and do it HIS WAY, not after the way and program of
man. HE still controls the entire interplay of good and evil. Indeed,
we find that "the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and weakness of
God is stronger than men." [1 Corinthians 1:25]. Regardless of how
foolish in man's eyes certain workings of God appear, there is a rare wisdom
and plan unfolding, that when our eyes are opened to see HIM, we
marvel at how He truly "works all things together into good."
For all that He does, for all the means He uses, we would bow to give Him
praise. We see man's missionary programs, and we certainly do not condemn
them, but how man sets about to accomplish the task is certainly far different
than what God has been doing all these years. And unless we see by divine
revelation-- we know not what HE has been accomplishing both in
His remnant, and in all the nations of the earth.
Consider the uniqueness of God's operation,
"For God hath concluded
them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all." [Romans 11:
32]. The Greek word here for "concluded" literally means "shut up together."
Israel was called and chosen to be God's special people, and through whom
He would bless all nations. And then comes this rarity of His operation,
He took Israel, scattered her among all nations, hardened their hearts
and shut them up in unbelief with all nations, and then purposes to have
MERCY
UPON ALL-- upon all Israel, and upon all nations among whom they have
been scattered.
"What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the
election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (hardened)." [Romans
11:7]. At present time, only a remnant, an "election of grace," are receiving
that which He has prepared for His people. AND THE REST WERE HARDENED.
Again we emphasize, we must understand that God DOES, and ALWAYS
HAS HAD His little remnant-- "I have reserved to Myself seven thousand
men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal," God said to Elijah,
when he complained that he was the only one left, and they sought his life
also. Then Paul added, "Even so then AT THIS PRESENT TIME
also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace." [Romans 11:4-5]. But
the vast majority are hardened.
Jesus "came unto His own, and His own received Him not." [John 1:11].
"But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on Him: that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which
he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm
of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that
Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart;
that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart,
and be converted, and I should heal them." [John 12: 37-40].
Then John, the beloved apostle, having observed and confirmed all this,
as though needing some additional confirmation, that these words from Isaiah
were true, adds one more statement, "These things said Esaias, when he
saw His glory, and spake of Him." [John 12:41]. It was while he was mightily
blessed and filled with reverence to the Lord, beholding the glory of Him
who "was high and lifted up," that he uttered this profound statement that
it was GOD who blinded the eye, and hardened the heart. This was
not an idea brought forth out of the carnal mind of man, this was truth
which emerged out of a revelation of GOD. How high and holy, how
sovereign He is!
Jesus Himself affirmed this also, "Therefore speak I to them in parables:
because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they
understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias . . . " [Matthew
13:13-14]. To even aid in their blindness, to keep them in their hardened
state, Jesus taught them only in parables, so they would not understand
the truth He declared. It was not TIME for them to believe. God was, and
is, working out a different purpose in this "mystery of Israel's blindness.
"
In fact, after Isaiah gave this prophecy, it is recorded no less than seven
times more in the scriptures, in all four gospels, and three times Paul
makes reference thereto, in Acts 28:26-28, Romans 11, 2 Corinthians 3:13-14,
we quote the latter, "But their minds were blinded (hardened) . . .
even unto this present day."
Back to the original prophecy, so astounded was Isaiah by this word of
the Lord, that He would "make the heart of this people fat, and make their
ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."
That Isaiah answered with the probing question, "Lord, how long?"
And the answer came back, "Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant,
and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate. And the Lord
have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst
of the land." [Isaiah 6:10-12].UNTIL THEY ARE ALL SHUT UP IN BELIEF!
And
yet, the final verse gave promise of that remnant, for He said, "But in
it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: . . . so
the HOLY SEED shall be the substance thereof."
"I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but
through their fall salvation is come unto the nations, for to provoke them
to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the
diminishing of them the riches of the nations; how much more their fullness?"
[Romans 11:11-12].
O, what a mystery, that Israel has been blinded
"till the fullness of
the nations may come in," as Young's Literal Translation gives.
Certainly, "This mystery was never disclosed to human beings in past generations
as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the holy
Spirit. It is this, that the nations are now to be fellow heirs, members
of the same body, and joint partakers sharing in the same divine promise
in Christ through their acceptance of the glad tidings, the gospel." [
Ephesians 3: 5-6, Amplified].
How
tremendous, that God can scatter, and shut up into unbelief, and through
this fall and diminishing of them, use it for the reconciling of the world.
For having promised that He would save "ALL ISRAEL," then with Israel so
scattered among all nations, He must needs save ALL NATIONS while in the
process of restoring His people Israel. This is seen again in the parable
of Jesus, how that "the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in
a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof
goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." [Matthew 13:44].
He found His treasure, Israel, "He found him in a desert land, and in the
waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept
him as the apple of His eye." [ Deuteronomy 32:10]. Then in due time He
hid them in the earth, among all nations-- "For, lo, I will command, and
I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted
in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." [ Amos
9:9 ]. But full well He knows where every one is hidden. And then He goes
about to "sell all that He hath "... for "Himself He emptied, Himself He
made void ..," [ Philippians 2:7, Wuest ] as He came and bought the field.
Now, "the field is the world." [Matthew 13:38]. Therefore, "He is the
propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for THE WHOLE
WORLD." [1 John 2:2 ].
The
nations, accepting the GOOD NEWS, do not become natural Israelites, but
they are permitted, by believing into Christ, to be "partakers of the root
and fatness of the olive tree."
[Romans 11:17]. Through Christ they
will receive all the blessings which God had already purposed for His people.
As an olive tree, Israel stands, and other nations, as branches, are privileged
to be grafted in to partake of the root and fatness that flows through
the tree. Thus fulfilling what God promised to Abraham, "In thee shall
all nations be blessed." [Gal. 3:8].
Paul also gave a caution to those who are grafted in, and becoming partakers
of the blessings, not to boast in themselves, but to remember, "thou bearest
not the root, but the root thee." [ Romans 11:18]. Israel is still the
root, the stump of the tree, regardless of how many branches are grafted
in, and made partakers of the blessings. Furthermore, Paul reminded them,
that if God could break off some branches, diminish them with a fall, and
shut them all up in unbelief, "if God spared not the natural branches,
take heed lest He also spare not thee." [Romans 11:21]. And then Paul goes
on to add that those who are turned from their unbelief shall also be brought
back into the fullness of the life and victory which all share through Jesus
Christ.
We are what we are by the grace of God. If we are natural Israelites,
come into the grace of God, we do not boast in our natural lineage, but
we glory in the grace of God. And those of other races and nations receiving
of the blessings of salvation, these dare not boast, but also only glory
in the grace of God which was extended to them through Jesus Christ, who
"took on Him the seed of Abraham," [Hebrews 2:16], that He might
fulfill all of these promises that through Abraham's seed all nations might
be blessed.
Ah, the mystery of Israel's blindness. That God would harden their hearts,
and then scatter them: that "through their fall salvation is come to
the nations."
Paul's unfolding revelation continues, "And if the first fruit be holy,
then the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches."
[Romans 11:16]. Here the firstfruit is Israel-- "This saith the Lord, Israel
is My son, even My firstborn." [Exodus 4:22]. The word "holy" means to
be set apart, or separated. "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord
thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto
Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." [Deuteronomy
7:6]. While the "lump" bespeaks of the whole MIXED MASS, all the
nations into which Israel was scattered. And the principle remains, "Know
ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" [1 Corinthians 5:6].
So,
because Israel was holy, separated unto God, ultimately to ALL BE SAVED,
when God diminished and scattered them, everywhere they went, they caused
the whole LUMP of all nations to be set apart also for this so great a
salvation. As a little leaven they leavened the whole lump. "And I
will sow them among the people: and they shall remember Me in far countries."
[Zechariah 10:9]. So that as they awaken and remember, and begin to
call upon the Lord-- they become WITNESSES UNTO HIM in all those far
countries, and those nations learn to call upon Him also.
James 1:1, "To the twelve tribes scattered abroad, greeting, My brethren."
While Peter also writes, "to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatla, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father . . ." [1 Peter 1:1-2].There was a common knowledge shared
by all the apostles that is seen in their writing, and that is, they knew
that there were "twelve tribes" of Israel in the earth in their day. Peter
also acknowledged that they were indeed the people "elect according to
the foreknowledge of God." That while God knew they would fall, knew
that they would be shut up in unbelief, yet He had chosen them to fulfill
a purpose.
"to the strangers scattered . . . " The word "stranger" to us means someone
we do not know. But the Greek word that is used here is a composite of
three parts; para, meaning ALONGSIDE; epi, meaning UPON;
and demos, which in Biblical usage means as opposed to the Jew, A PAGAN.
Add the three meanings together, and you have a correct sentence, as translated
by Wuest: "to those who have settled down alongside of a pagan population."
Israel was sifted among all nations, so when Peter was directing a letter
towards them, he wrote it to all those scattered ones who were now settled
down alongside of the pagans, becoming "nationalized" Israelites, according
to whatever nation they were dwelling in.
Peter also used the word "scattered," coming from that Greek word which
means "TO SOW SEED," and having a prefixed preposition meaning "throughout."
Thus we have a picture of those who were sown as seed, providentially placed
there by God. Sowing speaks of design, of purpose, of planning. So while
God put Israel away, sifted her among the nations, it was according to
His perfect design, that in due time, harvest time, He would be able to
gather them again, and while gathering them, would also gather all the
nations wherein they dwelt, though it would be "every man in his own order."
Out of Israel, scattered and forsaken, the Spirit has been taking a spiritual
remnant, election by grace, and preparing them to become that DELIVERER
COMPANY of whom Jesus Christ is the Head. And through them shall come
the establishing of the new covenant, fulfilling every promise which He
hath made unto our fathers long ago.
"And this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel;
after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be
My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." [Jeremiah
31: 33-34].
First, it was in His plan to make their ears dull of hearing, cause their
eyes to see not, and make their heart heavy so they could not understand
the message-- that in their hardened condition, shut up in unbelief, He
might scatter them among all nations. But the time shall come, the promise
is sure, when He will reach out and write upon their hearts and minds of
His laws, and they shall all KNOW HIM from the least to the
greatest. Then "all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto
the Lord; all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee." [Psalm
22:27].
People struggle with their man-made programs of trying to convert the heathen
to the Lord. The minds are blinded, the hearts are dull-- so while every
argument is used, all sorts of enticements and persuasions given, few are
convinced to walk in the way of the Lord. But God has a time which He has
purposed, when HE will restore the whole of creation to find its
one Head in Christ, and "they shall all be taught of God." [John 6:44].
"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of
His ways, and we will walk in His paths." [Isaiah 2:3].
"For lf the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what
shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" [Romans 11:15].
Who
can comprehend what it shall mean, when God begins to restore a nation
that has been scattered and hidden from view all these many years?
But rising out from among the nations He shall receive Israel unto Himself.
And oh, the glory of that restoration, for Israel, as a holy, firstfruit
nation, shall not have died in vain, but all the world shall receive of
her salvation. God has a divine purpose in sowing her as seed, and that
is the MYSTERY which has baffled the theologians. Ignorant of these
things they have become wise in their own conceits, and self-opinionated
they have formed creeds and dogmas which are a gross distortion of the
truth.
No wonder Paul summed up his discourse on this, with the declaration, "O
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable
are His judgments, and His ways past finding out." [Romans 11:33].
With the words of that precious hymn of old, we cry out:
"Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, Ye ransomed from the fall,
Hail Him who saves you by His grace, And crown Him Lord of all.
Let ev'ry kindred, ev'ry tribe, On this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe, And crown Him Lord of all."
________________________________________________________________
(1)
Prinzing,
Ray and Doris. WHISPERS OF THE MYSTERIES. P.O. Box 5822, Boise,
Idaho 83705
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