Category Archives: Unfulfilled Prophecy

Talking About Heaven, Part II of III

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As has been discussed, a world dominated by sin and death is falling apart. In physics it is called the Second Law of Thermodynamics, that is to say, things run down, things decay, and fall apart

We are made so that we need rest.

In rest and in sleep, we can repair some of the loss. Even so our ability to repair loss and ruin and decay is limited. If you stick your finger in a fan and knock some of the skin off of your finger, then your body can over time repair that loss of skin, and restore your finger to like new. However, if that fan actually cuts off part of your finger … well … you will never be able to grow back that finger. We do not have that sort of regenerative capability.

And even our senses run down.

In a world dominated by sin and death that is often a good thing. This means if we are surrounded by death and stinking decay, we may at first accurately sense the stink and the filth. It is nauseating, and we can hardly stand it. But if we are forced to stay around the stink, then after a little while our sense of the stinking decay tends to run down. After a little while, it does not bother us quite so bad. In a world dominated by sin and death that can be a good thing, within limits.

It is the same for many of our very stupid mistakes and slip-ups. At first the shame of how dumb we have been is overwhelming. But fortunately that sense of being so shamefully stupid wears off. Thank God! Imagine how bad it would be if we fully and accurately felt that shame and embarrassment forever! That would be hard to bear. So it is in part a good thing that our senses also run down.

Part of the other side of that of course is when we are trying to fully enjoy something that is good or beautiful. Almost all of us have had times when we came across a song or a piece of music that was so beautiful that we could not get enough of it. We played it, we listened to it over and over and over and seemingly could not get enough of it. Even at our best though, after a while our senses run down, and we can no longer enjoy that music as we once did.

In heaven, in the new universe NOT dominated by
sin and death and decay,

we will be able to perfectly enjoy good things forever. We will be purified from all wickedness and decay forever.

And since things will not run down in this
new universe without sin and death,

we will not need and rest.

“but those who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.”
Isa 40:28-31 WEB

You would not want to miss it for the world!

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Multiple Types of the beast: the Caesars and others.

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The caesars and Rome are definitely in the book of Revelation, and few would bother to deny that. Still, we must realize that Revelation describes what is going on with the early church, and what is going on at the end of this present age. Many an interpretation of Revelation has made a good case for one end of this spectrum or the other, but not both ends of this story.

The caesars did allow themselves to be
set up as “gods.”

The political argument was that Rome needed an empire wide religion, that would give needed political and philosophical unity. The caesars at first accepted such treatment with reluctance, and at times no little embarrassment. Most knew they were not really gods. This was just politics. Domitian was an obnoxious exception in taking all of this very seriously.

Even so, once in place it had to be either enforced or abandoned entirely. So there was persecution of those who refused to appear before the magistrates and offer a pinch of incense on the altar fires, and say “Caesar is Lord.” So far this seems to fit Revelation’s declaration of “things which must happen soon,” Rev 1:1 WEB. However, Jesus also says, “Yes, I come quickly.” Rev 22:20 WEB, and that also is undoubtably true in an eternal perspective.

The liberals treat all of this as very simple.

They say all of this applies to a few of the early caesars, and they give names and dates … However, even the best of these accounts break down upon close examination. Then you are faced with either: discounting their interpretation … OR discounting Revelation as being the Word of the Lord.

Actually there many things missing.

There is much more about Rome and what was missing, in Revealing the Christian Age.
  1. There NEVER WAS any world-wide acknowledgement of the caesars as god, as is clearly pictured of the beast in Rev 13:8. The Romans clearly knew they did NOT rule the entire earth, and they had debates among themselves as to how far it made sense to expand the empire.
  2. They NEVER WAS a “mark” (Rev 13:16) that EVERYONE had to have in order to buy or sell things. Such was imminently expected with so much else going on, but … it NEVER happened. Yet!
  3. The Roman empire did NOT conquer “the saints” as clearly forecast in Rev 13:7. Instead the saints conquered the Roman Empire as clearly forecast in Dan 2:44 and other passages, and this was NOT complete by the end of the first century AD!
  4. Whoever you think was the ultimate beast/caesar was NOT alive to be destroyed by Jesus second coming, as is clearly forecast in 2Thes 2:8 and Rev 19:20.

This is just a short list. Other issues are discussed in Revealing the Christian Age.

So either Revelation is a false prophecy,
a failure in the first century,
OR
The caesars and Rome are merely
types and shadows of
what is yet to come.

The mystery of lawlessness (2Thes 2:7) and Mystery Babylon are Christian Age long entities. All through our age we have had to guard against new attempts at a world-wide antichrist hegemony.

And it hasn’t even discussed two of the main types of the beast: Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and the original “abomination of desolation,” both of which are discussed in detail in the books.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Multiple Types of the beast: Kings of Babylon

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The word “Mystery” in Mystery Babylon seem to indicate her secret or semi-secret nature. The beast and Mystery Babylon seem to work together to suppress Christianity. The beast at the last turns on Babylon the Great and destroys her (Revelation 18), within history because it is the will of God that he do this.

Now Mystery Babylon the Great has no problem
with false gods,

Further it is no exaggeration to say that she loves dictatorships. It is the beast organization (of Rev 13:1-2, and Rev 17:7) that “carries” Mystery Babylon the Great (Rev 17:7) to success.

Now the great harlot sits on seven mountains that are also seven kings, Rev 17:9-10. The beast is one of those seven kings on which the harlot sits, one of the main supports of Babylon the Great. You might say he is one the kings of Mystery Babylon the Great, but he secretly hates the Great Harlot who organizes all the wars and conflicts of this age.

“In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth.”
Rev 18:24 WEB

Clearly Ancient Babylon is a model for Mystery
Babylon the Great.

Both are associated with great power and with great luxury. As Mystery Babylon the Great (working with the beast who has a mortal wound that is healed) overcomes Christianity; so also ancient Babylon conquered the people of God of ancient times: Israel and Judah. There are other points of similarity between the ancient and the entity of Revelation.

Both ancient Babylon and Mystery Babylon the Great are known for their immorality.

Both seem impossible to overcome. Ancient Babylon had great walls and great armies, and plenty of money. Mystery Babylon is seated on a beast with seven heads and ten horns. The beast is one of those seven heads, and those ten horns seems to indicate ten rulers. Also she is seated on “many waters” Rev 17:1, which is “peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages,” Rev 17:15.

Both fall because of their overwhelming immorality.

But back to the Kings of Babylon.

They both employ God’s people in their work. In ancient times it included Daniel and those with him. God’s people are warned to come out of her or they will go down with her (Jer 51:6 and Rev 18:4).

Once again the superiority of God’s ways are clearly demonstrated to the kings of Babylon, through Daniel, and Meshak, Shadrach, and Abednego and others.

Like the other types, the King of Babylon comes
close to complete repentance.

Nebuchadnezzar actually praises God when he writes about what happened to him in Daniel chapter 4. Read his abject confession there. But at the last, repentance doesn’t last, and the kings of Babylon must go down to defeat. So the King of Babylon is pictured as entering the world of dead as almost alive, though deprived of all strength in Isaiah 14, and maggots are his bed and worms are his covering, Isa 14:11.

It seems that the kings of ancient Babylon are types of the beast of Revelation, and this short essay only touches the surface.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Multiple Types of the beast: Ahab, King of Israel

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In most important things, Scripture gives us more than one opportunity to see, and understand, and be ready, for what will be. In prophecy, if something is very important, quite often times God gives us more than one opportunity to understand.

Ahab has a kingdom that is united
around false religion.

Subversion of God’s Holy religions began with the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel. It was all about subverting true religion to serve the political purposes of government. Many rulers, as perhaps mini-types of the beast, fall guilty to such temptations. Ahab then increased the turn to evil religion.

He did “evil in the sight of Yahweh above all that were before him,” 1Kgs 16:30.

Ahab toke as a wife a Sidonian worshipper of Baal: Jezebel. She soon organized the extermination of the prophets of God, 1Kgs 18:4; and Ahab began in Israel the worship of the Mother Earth “goddess” Asherah, the covert passion of the modern ecology movement. It was a fertility cult involving religious prostitution and infanticide.

Elijah responded,

“… As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. ”
1Kgs 17:1 WEB

James tells us,

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.”
Jas 5:17 WEB

That is exactly the amount of time that the beast rules in Revelation. This amount of time is variously expressed as “three years and six months, 1,260 days, forty-two months, or as “time, times, and half a time.”

Also the two witnesses in Revelation 11,
for 1,260 days, Rev 11:3

“have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy.” Rev 11:6 WEB. Indeed, the two witnesses seem a little like Moses, and a little like Elijah.

Elijah even proved to Ahab that Yahweh, the Lord our God, was superior to Baal at the dramatic confrontation on Mont Carmel in 2Kings 18.

And Ahab, multiple times, was close
to true and lasting repentance.

When his conscience afflicted him over the murder of Naboth in 1Kings 21, it says,

“… when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.”
1Kgs 21:27 WEB

His repentance was sincere enough to touch God’s heart, 1Kgs 21:29;

but Ahab never let his repentance last.

So in the end he had to be lured to his death, as is clearly depicted in 1Kings 22. In the end, the dogs of Samaria licked up his blood, 1Kgs 22:38.

Of the beast himself, he is destroyed in the great battle against God at the Second coming of Christ, Revelation 19 and many other passages, and is thrown alive into hell, Rev 19:20, where the worms will eternally eat on them.

“… for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh.”
Isa 66:24 WEB

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Multiple Types of the beast: Pharaoh of the Exodus

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The oppression of Israel began out of fear.

Political fear of these “outsiders” taking over their country, or siding with their enemies. So the Pharaoh said,

“Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.”
Ex 1:9 WEB

So a Egypt far less populous that even in later ancient times, oppressed God’s people and “set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens,” Ex 1:11 WEB. The purpose was not just to use them for labor, but indeed to ruin them with hard labor and oppression. Often in history political fears drive religious oppressions, with genocidal results. Then God sent Moses to secure their release.

It has been briefly discussed in posts on Identifying Types, that the wilderness wanderings are typical (symbolic) of the Christian life, with the Red Sea finally separating Israel from the Egypt of this world. That means: that Egypt is symbolic of this world, and then the Pharaoh is symbolic of the “god of this world,” 2Cor 4:4.

The beast in Revelation 13 is trying to unite a one-world government, with a single religious focus on himself, as the true god of this world! Christians then become obstacles to the political unification of this world. This is indeed like the ancient Caesars as “gods,” but what is pictured in Revelation is far more complete and thorough than anything done in ancient times, and “All who dwell on earth will worship him,” Rev 13:8, even all who are not written in the book of life. The phony man/god will make war on the saints and overcome them, Rev 13:7. However neither ancient Rome nor the caesars ever overcame the church.

Similarly, Pharaoh did overcome and enslave Israel in ancient Egypt.

God’s people are to have their spokesmen.

It was Moses in ancient Egypt. It is the two witnesses in Revelation 11. It seems an attempt is made in both cases to bring this arrogant king to reason. The pattern seen over and over again, is that Moses bargains for freedom for Israel, the Pharaoh responds with greater oppressions, and God responds with increasingly harsh strokes on the beast and his kingdom.

Moses turns the waters of the Nile into blood. The two witnesses “have power over the waters, to turn them to blood,” Rev 11:6. “A great mountain burning with fire” is thrown into the sea and turns it to blood in Rev 8:8 WEB.

Repeatedly the Pharaoh ALMOST relents.

Pharaoh’s servants repeatedly plea “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh,” Ex 10:7. There was frogs, darkness, locusts, hail, and boils on all the people. All of these things have their equivalent in Revelation. At one point the Pharaoh even says,

… “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.”
Ex 9:27 WEB

But the Pharaoh of Egypt will never let
repentance stick.

So in the end he has to be broken and destroyed, when he goes to fight directly against God.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Identifying Some Types, Part 9 of 9

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Ancient Israel has a huge “exodus” from the
Egypt of this world

They had been in bondage in Egypt, a bondage directed by the Pharaoh as a type of the god of this world (2Cor 4:4). Then God personally delivered them from Egypt and bondage, and put a separation between them and the Egypt of this world, and led them into the promised land.

A new “god” of this world will come.

“he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.”
2Thes 2:4 WEB

This man has the entire world worship him.

“All who dwell on the earth will worship him …”
Rev 13:8 WEB

This has obviously NOT happened yet! No one man has been worshipped by “all,” yet! He will be destroyed by Christ’ second coming, 2Thes 2:8, Rev 19:20.

This man will overcome the church.

“It was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.”
Rev 13:7 WEB

I am sorry to tell you this folks. Rome and the caesars did NOT overcome the church. Instead the church overcame Rome and the caesars! But this beast will overcome the church.

And one more time the true church will be forced
out into the wilderness.

The church is pictured as the faithful woman.

“The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty days.”
Rev 12:6 WEB

Hosea speaks of the future of what God “will” do.

““Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
And bring her into the wilderness,
And speak tenderly to her.”
Hos 2:14 WEB

For the days that this vicious beast rules (1,260), the church will be protected in the wilderness (Rev 12:6 above).

God will send plagues on the beast and his kingdom
like the plagues of Egypt.

Read of those plagues in Revelation chapters 15 and 16, and other places in Revelation and the rest of Scripture. They are very much like the plagues God sent on Egypt in 15th century BC, including waters turning to blood, darkness, and hail and all the rest.

Then will come Greater Exodus to Come

Ancient Israel came out of Egypt, into the wilderness, an into a this world promised land. The saints will have an exodus, The Great Exodus into the wilderness, and then into the new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells, 2Pe 3:13.

“16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, 17 then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.”
1The 4:16-17 WEB

The Greater Exodus into the Greater Promised land.

Understanding types is essential for understanding prophecy. This has been some practice.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Men, Angels and the Christ in Prophecy, Part 9 of 9

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The author of Hebrews concludes that the purpose of angels is to serve those who will inherit eternal life, Heb 1:14. Then he turns to the subject of men in chapter two. He quotes part of Psalm 8 by David about “man,” and “the world to come,” Heb 2:5.

“6 … “What is man, that you think of him?
Or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels;
You crowned him with glory and honor.
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” …”
Heb 2:6-8a WEB

This is man made in the very image of God, for now a little lower than the angels, and ordained for great things.

So mankind is SUPPOSED TO HAVE dominance
over ALL.

Then comes those things which we all run into in prophecy. Those things which seem odd or out of place. The author notes it appears nothing is left out of man’s control.

“… For in that he subjected all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. …”
Heb 2:8b WEB

Indeed this is the fabric of much of our lives here on earth. We work at this function or that function in managing this earth, and bringing to usefulness its many resources. Those functions may range from killing flies in the kitchen, to managing water resources, to making useful tools and machines for using these resources.

But then there is that part which just does not fit the facts.

“But now we don’t see all things subjected to him, yet.”
Heb 2:8c

Man does not yet have all of this power. There are things missing. There are holes in man’s dominance. We would like to have control of this or that, but, frustratingly, despite great progress in many arenas, much remains outside our control, just as Heb 2:8c says so clearly!

As my books note, such gaps between what is often prophesied, and what is seen in reality, is often the sign of symbolism in the prophecy, of a “type” or a “prototype”.

So man does not have the mastery he should have, yet.

“But we see him who has been made a little
lower than the angels, Jesus,

“because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone. ”
Heb 2:9 WEB

So Hebrews sees man’s dominance as always to be accomplished through Jesus! Through Jesus man recovers his position before God, and achieves his rightful position over creation. So it is not Satan and his angels, or even angels overall, who will dominate the world to come. It is man.

“Don’t you know that we will judge angels?” 1Cor 6:3.

Permanent punishment is prepared for those that oppose God, whether in heaven or in earth.

“Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;”
Mtt 25:14 WEB

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Men, Angels and the Christ in Prophecy, Part 7 of 9

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In the fall of man, the key conflicts of our age
have been set off.

The serpent of the old has successfully drawn mankind into conflict with the Lord our God. Now on one hand, Satan is described as the the god of this age.

“among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2Cor 4:4 New English Translation,

Here the New English Translation copyright 1995-2005 is more accurate in translating this as “age” (ai?n), but it is sometimes translated as “world.”

“Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out.”
Jn 12:31 WEB

Here the regular word for world is used, kosmos. And Satan has enough power to deceive the whole world.

“The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. ”
Rev 12:9 WEB

“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. ”
1Jn 5:19 WEB

So God ordained that there be opposition, hostility,
between the woman, and Satan.

““I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.””
Gen 3:15 WEB

Now it speaks of warfare between the seed/ offspring/
descendant, of Satan,

and the offspring of the woman. But the Hebrew word (zera) is here singular in both cases. The hostility is between the singular descendant/seed of woman, and the singular descendant/seed of the serpent.

As the fall came through the woman,

so also came the deliverer (Jesus the Christ, the singular seed of woman) through the woman (not through the man).

“4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, 5 that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.”
Gal 4:4-5 WEB

The word that is translated as “bruise” in the WEB and KJV in Gen 3:15 can also be translated as to snatch or grab or seize or a blow per the Hebrew Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Koehler and Bumgartner, 1994,2000. Surely the Bible in Basic English 1965, gives the sense of that last phrase in Gen 3:15 as well as any:

“by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded.”

And the “seed”/offspring of Satan?

He still remains to be revealed in our own day, as it was with the Thessalonians (2Thes 2:6). He is what 2Thes 2:3 calls the “man of lawlessness,” and what Revelation calls “the beast.”

So Gen 3:15 is still in the process of being fulfilled.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Which Jerusalem? Part III of III

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I think it is fair to say that most of the references in Scripture to Jerusalem are about Jerusalem of this present earth. That is to say,

“Jerusalem that exists now,” Gal 4:25 WEB

But when you read prophecy you must ask,
“Of which Jerusalem does
the prophet speak?”

Some are obvious, while others are not as clear.

It is true that there are some incredible things yet to happen with Jerusalem that now exists. Zechariah prophesied during the first return from exile (around 520 BC, Zech 1:1), in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Seemingly speaking of what Paul calls “Jerusalem that now exists,” Zechariah sees a day when,

““… ‘Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”’””
Zech 1:17 WEB

In context he seems to speak of present Jerusalem. He speaks of it as an abundantly prosperous city, Zech 2:4, and a city faithful to God,

“I will strengthen them in Yahweh;
And they will walk up and down in his name,” says Yahweh.”
Zech 10:12 WEB

That clearly has not happened YET! Zechariah clearly pictures ALL the families of Israel (Zech 12:14) being converted to “ to me whom they have pierced;” Zech 12:10 WEB, and in Zechariah 13. This is spoken in Scripture as bringing a world revolution of righteousness (something Mystery Babylon deeply dreads). Paul says of those times.

“Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? ”
Rom 11:12 WEB

So some incredible good things are yet to happen with present Jerusalem.

But Peter says this present universe will vanish.

“… the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth … will be burned up.”
2Pe 3:10

He goes on to say “we look for new heavens and a new earth in which dwells righteousness.” 2Pe 3:13 WEB.

So when it says in Isaiah 65,

“17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.”
Isa 65:17-18 WEB

… in context, the “Jerusalem” in Isa 65:17 is part of that “Jerusalem that is above” of Gal 4:26, and part of the new universe, the “new heavens and a new earth” of 2Pe 3:13.

The “never again”/ “no more” / “neither … any more,” and
all the “forever” sort of passages

are all about “Jerusalem” above, and what we call “heaven.”

So when the prophet David says of Jerusalem, “I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they … be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the first,”
2Sam 7:10 WEB

The prophet really speaks of heaven here. Only heaven is “forever.”

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

The Real and the Type of Circumcision, Part II of III

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So we know that circumcision is symbolic of being clean even in your private parts, even to the extent of cutting off parts of yourself, if they are opposed to holiness and sanctification in the Lord.

If a “type” is involved, often there will be indicators.

I cannot say it is always that way, but it is often that way. If one thing in history is a type, a shadow, a pattern of something else; the clues that symbolism is involved will often come soon in history. Sometimes the tip-off will be little inconsistencies between the text and the example. In the present case, one tip off is in the clear statement made in Deut 10:16.

Israel was early very hard-hearted and stubborn.

She was not even open to what God Himself might command. She wanted to do everything her own way. She trusted not in God, but in herself, and in her ability to do and to perform. Moses commented on these things.

“For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against Yahweh; and how much more after my death?”
Deut 31:27 WEB

Moses of course was right, and this true even to this day. Moses commented on their character.

“ They have dealt corruptly with him, they are not his children, it is their blemish;
They are a perverse and crooked generation.”
Deut 32:5 WEB

What can you say but “Ouch!” This is a judgment of Israel that we hear repeated by both the prophets and the Christ Himself in passages like Mtt 17:7, and many others.

And an important prophecy was given about Israel.

One day God Himself will purify the hearts of Israel after the flesh.

“Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.”
Deut 30:6 WEB

There are many conditional promises in God’s Word.

“and he said, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, … I will …”
Ex 15:26 WEB

And so on. However, Deut 30:6 is NOT a conditional promise. It is rather a statement of what God WILL DO. God WILL perform heart surgery on the Jews.

“and he said, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.””
Ezek 36:26 WEB

And this is for the purpose “that you may live,” Deut 30:6.

Now the Jews have practiced physical
circumcision all along.

But that is not the circumcision that is necessary for life. Circumcision of the heart is the real essential, even in Moses Law. Circumcision was from the first symbolic of cleansing the most private parts of our being: our hearts.

But this circumcision of the hearts of the Jews is yet to happen. But it will. Both Jew and Gentile should look forward to those days.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901