by Brian Godawa
Acts 15:13–19
13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written.
Acts 26:23
[Paul:] 23 that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”
The “ingathering” was based upon the unity of belief in Jesus as Messiah. Isaiah had prophesied that when Messiah first came (the branch of Jesse), in that very day, the Lord would “recover the remnant that remains of his people,” from all the nations. “In that day,” the root of Jesse would be “raised (resurrected) as a signal for the nations,” and would “assemble the banished of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isa 11:1-2, 10-12). According to the prophecy, the gathering of the remnant and the Gentiles would occur at the first coming of Messiah, when Jesus was resurrected, not the second coming. In that day of Messiah’s arrival and resurrection (his raising as a signal), he would draw both the remnant of Israel as well as Gentile believers. This will not start in our future, it already started in the book of Acts! Paul likened that raising of the signal to Christ’s resurrection, and confirmed this Isaianic promise as already being fulfilled during his ministry:
Romans 15:8–9, 12
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy…12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.
What were the promises given to the patriarchs that Paul says were confirmed (“verified”) in Christ’s resurrection? All of them, including the regathering (Acts 3:24; 32; 15:13-15; 24:24; 26:6). In fact, most of the prophecies about the regathering of Israel almost always add the inclusion of Gentiles as a simultaneous event (See more below). But the point is that the book of Romans says explicitly that the Isaianic prophecy about the gathering of the remnant along with the Gentiles was already being fulfilled in his own day. This is not an eschatological system demanding something must be fulfilled in the future, this is the New Testament itself saying the prophecy was fulfilled in the first century, in that day.
One of the ways that Dispensationalists seek to deny the fulfillment of the regathering is to suggest that the inclusion of the Gentiles has been fulfilled in Christ, but the gathering of Israel has not yet been fulfilled. They argue that “confirmation” of promises to the patriarchs is not the same as “fulfillment.” God only verified the promises to Israel, not fulfilled them. They see this split because they do not see an earthly nation called Israel regathered into the land in the way that they expect it to be. But their problem is that, as we have seen, the gathering of the Jews was simultaneous with the gathering of the Gentiles. If we return to Acts 2, the holy Scripture says again that both the gathering and Gentile inclusion were being fulfilled in their day.
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Gischala quotes from: Zechariah 14:2, 5.
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Gischala is quoting from: Zechariah 13:8; 14:1-5.
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Alexander is remembering:
Micah 1:3–5
3 For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. 4 And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place. 5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
God judging his tools of judgment, and God striking the earth:
Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle (14:3).
“After using Rome as His rod to smite Jerusalem, God turns on Rome in judgment. Once again, Assyria is the model: "I send it against a godless nation and commission it against the people of My fury to capture booty and to seize plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets . . . . So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, 'I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness'" (Isa. 10:56, 1213). "It is significant that the decline of the Roman Empire dates from the fall of Jerusalem."4 Thomas Scott concurs: "It is also observable, that the Romans after having been thus made the executioners of divine vengeance on the Jewish nation, never prospered as they had done before; but the Lord evidently fought against them, and all the nations which composed their overgrown empire; till at last it was subverted, and their fairest cities and provinces were ravaged by barbarous invaders."
And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south (Zech. 14:4).
“It is this passage that dispensationalists use to support their view that Jesus will touch down on planet earth and set up His millennial kingdom. Numerous times in the Bible we read of Jehovah "coming down" to meet with His people. In most instances His coming is one of judgment; in no case was He physically present. Notice how many times God's coming is associated with mountains.
"And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. . . . Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech" (Gen. 11:5, 7).
"So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. . . (Ex. 3:8).
"Then Thou didst come down on Mount Sinai, and didst speak with them from heaven. . . (Neh. 9:13a).
"Bow Thy heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke" (Psalm 144:5).
"For thus says the LORD to me, 'As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey, against which a band of shepherds is called out, will not be terrified at their voice, nor disturbed at their noise, so will the LORD of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill'" (Isa. 31:4).
"Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Thy presence" (Isa. 64:1).
"When Thou didst awesome things which we did not expect, Thou didst come down, the mountains quaked at Thy presence" (Isa. 64:3).
“In Micah 1:3 we are told that God "is coming forth from His place" to "come down and tread on the high places of the earth." How is this descriptive language different from the Lord standing on the Mount of Olives with the result that it will split? Micah says "the mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will be split, like wax before the fire, like water poured down a steep place" (1:4). "It was not uncommon for prophets to use figurative expressions about the Lord 'coming' down, mountains trembling, being scattered, and hills bowing (Hab. 3:6, 10); mountains flowing down at his presence (Isaiah 64:1, 3); or mountains and hills singing and the trees clapping their hands (Isaiah 55:12)."6
“What is the Bible trying to teach us with this descriptive language of the Mount of Olives "split in its middle"? The earliest Christian writers applied Zechariah 14:4 to the work of Christ in His day. Tertullian (A.D. 145220) wrote: "'But at night He went out to the Mount of Olives.' For thus had Zechariah pointed out: 'And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives' [Zech. xiv. 4]."7 Tertullian was alluding to the fact that the Olivet prophecy set the stage for the judgment-coming of Christ that would once for all break down the Jewish/Gentile division. Matthew Henry explains the theology behind the prophecy:
“The partition-wall between Jew and Gentiles shall be t
aken away. The mountains about Jerusalem, and particularly this, signified it to be an enclosure, and that it stood in the way of those who would approach to it. Between the Gentiles and Jerusalem this mountain of Bether, of division, stood, Cant. ii. 17. But by the destruction of Jerusalem this mountain shall be made to cleave in the midst, and so the Jewish pale shall be taken down, and the church laid in common with the Gentiles, who were made one with the Jews by the breaking down of this middle wall of partition, Eph. ii. 14.8”
Gary DeMar, “Zechariah 14 and the Coming of Christ,” The Preterist Archive online. https://www.preteristarchive.com/Modern/2001_demar_zechariah-14.html
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John’s thematic verse in Revelation is a quote from Zechariah 12:10-12:
Revelation 1:7
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
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Alexander quotes from: Zechariah 12:10 and 8:12.
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Alexander quotes from: Zechariah 14:8, 11.
Living water of Zechariah is the Holy Spirit of the New Covenant:
John 4:10, 13-14
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”…
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 7:37–39
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
The shaking of heavens and earth was the change of covenants. The writer of Hebrews explains that the old covenant was about to end and the new covenant would remain with the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
Hebrews 12:26–28
26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken – that is, things that have been made – in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken…
Hebrews 9:8 (NKJV)
8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
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Elijah’s Day of the Lord included both salvation and judgment:
Malachi 3:1–5
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? … 5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment.
Malachi 4:5–6
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Elijah was fulfilled in John the Baptist who also declared the coming wrath of AD 70 upon Jerusalem:
Matthew 3:1–12
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ”… he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
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Isaiah’s prophecy of Messiah coming to bring Jubilee cleansing also included judgment:
Isaiah 61:1–2
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
Jesus claimed to fulfill the first half of Isaiah’s prophecy in his ministry, and then later, proclaimed the “day of vengeance” would be fulfilled in AD 70:
Luke 4:18–21
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 21:20–24
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, 22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. 23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
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Mercy and justice united in Christ:
Psalm 85:9–10
9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
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CHAPTER 24
Christ as first fruits of resurrection:
1 Corinthians 15:20–26
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
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Elihu quotes from: Daniel 12:2.
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Daniel’s resurrection as typological:
“The resurrection of verse 2 seems to connect to the evangelistic and teaching ministry spoken of in verse 3; thus, it is some kind of historical resurrection that is spoken of, a resurrectional event in this world, in our history.
“The solution to our difficulty is found in Ezekiel 37. There the prophet is told to prophesy to th
e dead bones of the idolaters scattered all over the mountains of Israel (see Ezekiel 6:5). Ezekiel prophesies and the bones come to life again. This is explained in Ezekiel 37:11 as the national resurrection of Israel after the captivity. The language used by God is very “literal sounding,” to wit: “I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves” (vv. 12–13). Yet, this graphic language refers to the spiritual resurrection of the nation.
“Now clearly, the resurrection of the whole nation does not mean the salvation of each individual. Thus, Daniel 12:2 tells us that in the days of Jesus the nation will undergo a last spiritual resurrection, but some will not persevere and their resurrection will only be unto destruction. The Parable of the Soils fits here (Matthew 13:3–23): three different kinds of people come to life, but only one of the three kinds is awakened to persevering, everlasting life.
“During His ministry, Jesus raised the nation back to life. He healed the sick, cleansed the unclean, brought dead people back to life, restored the Law, entered the Temple as King, etc. Then, as always, the restored people fell into sin, and crucified Him.