THE COVENANT VISION

MINISTRY.

P.O. Box V192.
Mount Druitt Village.
N.S.W. 2770. AUSTRALIA.
Phone: 02-9833-3925. Fax: 02-9833-4397.

E-Mail: fdowsett@idx.com.au

Senior Pastor and Co-Founder:

FRANK W. DOWSETT. J.P.


The Heritage
of
Israel.


By Frank W. Dowsett.


Part Five.

The Glory.  Part Three.


There is a further aspect of “The Glory” which we have not to date studied, and which cannot be overlooked if we are to understand the fullness of The Heritage of Israel.  We read of it in Isaiah 46:13;
 

“I bring near my righteousness: it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.”
 We’ve been studying the subject of the glory of God in Israel, but we have to realise that in addition to this, Israel is also referred to as being God’s glory. We have a designation here that so very few people realise.  This doesn’t apply simply to the fact of realising the existence of the statement, but to the fact of its significance, and the depth of its meaning.  God has said that He will place salvation in Zion “for Israel my glory”.  Israel is referred to as being “God’s glory”.  This fact places a far greater emphasis upon our necessity not only to realise who we really are, but upon the responsibility that has been placed upon our shoulders.  If we, as God’s glory, do not obey God’s Word, and if we do not do what He has destined and ordained us to do, we then cannot remain as, and certainly cannot expect to retain, this exalted position of being God’s glory.  The automatic result is that God’s glory departs from us. The situation is just as clear as that.  I sincerely believe that we must keep this factor very much in mind  when we’re talking with people endeavouring to convince them of our special calling.  As I’ve said many times before, this does not constitute some sort of special favouritism. We’re not simply a favoured people.  We are a chosen people who have been ordained to show forth the glory of God.
 Let us keep in mind the statement which is the basis for this series of studies.  Referring to the statement made in Romans 9:4 regarding the Israelites, we read, “To whom belong the adoption and the glory.”  These days, people, and especially Christians, just don’t seem to have the slightest idea of what that means. We will only achieve the purpose for which God appointed us in the first place when we get back to obedience to God and teach not only our own Israel nations, but the other nations of the world, that therein, and therein only, lies the key to blessing and to righteousness.  The  nations of the world are in a very parlous situation aren’t they?  Now I’m not unsympathetic to the terrible situations that exist in so many non-Israel countries, but I have to confess that I’m more sympathetic to the situation of hundreds and thousands of our own children over here who are also living in pretty desperate circumstances.  Our young people, especially the little kids, have become the victims of the most horrendous sexual and criminal activity, and it truly staggers me to hear of what’s going on in our own country to which we refer as a Christian country, most of the inhabitants of which are Israel descended people.
 We’re just playing around with God’s word. We’re just making it mean anything we like. We are not helping the children of God, and I mean that in a very literal sense. We’ll go to any lengths to help everyone else, and I have no objection in principle to doing this, but when it comes to helping our own, they seem to become a secondary factor.  If half the money sent overseas to help others was directed towards helping our own people, what a difference it would make to our own society.  If half the missionary activity directed today to other nations was expended on converting our own people, we would be in a far greater position to help the other nations and people of the world, simply because they would see the proof of God’s glory and mercy as it became manifest in and through His own people.
  I know that what I am saying may offend some folk, and I assure you that I do not condemn the sincerity of those involved, but I say very deliberately that sincerity is no guarantee of correctness.  If we don’t know what is going on behind the scenes, our sincere efforts can be totally misplaced.  We should never forget that the basic purpose of the enemies of our Christian Faith, and of our inheritance under God, is to destroy our very existence as God’s servant nation and people.  It is clearly documented in Psalm 83:1-5;
 
“Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.  For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.
They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:”
 But the purposes of our enemies do not in any way accord with the purposes of God for us.  We are His glory. He is not only the glory of His people, but he created us to be His glory, and unless we maintain that balance we are never ever going to achieve the purpose for which He called us.
 However, before concluding this portion of our studies, and proceeding to the study of the Covenants and Promises, there is one final designation of which I wish to make mention.  It is not just in regard to the purpose of Israel, but to the destiny of Israel. In Romans 9: 22-28 we read;
 
“What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?  (or nations).
As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:  For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.”
 Now here is God’s Word regarding the destiny of Israel,  and I would like to refer back to the first of those verses we read above, verse 22.
 
“What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known endured, with much long suffering the vessel of wrath fitted for destruction.”
 One of the things we must always keep in mind is that the enemy is only the enemy because God allows them to be the enemy.  He used the enemy to test us.  If God didn’t want to test us He’d have wiped these people out thousands of years ago, they would have never achieved anything.  He deliberately allowed this to happen.  He allowed these ‘vessels of wrath’ as He called them, full authority to operate, in order to show His own wrath and to make His power known.  He did this with much long suffering, knowing that these ‘vessels of wrath’ had been fitted, or appointed, to destruction.  Now you can take that in two ways, and they’re both applicable here by the way.  Let us ask the question.  Did this enemy just appear on the scene accidentally as a result of their anti-God thoughts and subsequent doctrines, and did God just allow this scenario to continue to develop for His own purposes, OR, did God deliberately form this enemy for the express purpose of using them to show forth His own glory and power?

 We remember what God is recorded as having said in Romans  9:17-21;
 

“For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?”
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”          (NIV. Translation).
 Clearly, this enemy developed anti-God thoughts and intents which God allowed, but just as clearly, there were those whom God deliberately formed for the very distinct purpose of becoming His enemies.  There are those whom God has formed to be vessels to dishonour. There are those who were created and formed by God, more than to just be allowed to exist and exercise their own particular ideals.  God formed them as vessels of destruction.  They were deliberately formed by Him to be chosen implements in His hands, and for the accomplishment of His purposes.

 A lot of people just don’t realise this. They think that everything that is happening to us today is as a result of some form of political evolution.  Perhaps it would be appropriate at this stage to read verses 10-13 of Romans chapter 9, which precede those quoted above;
 

“And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;  for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.”
Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.”
 How is it then, that the descendants of this people Esau today are wreaking the havoc that they are upon God’s people, the descendants of Jacob?  Is it because God didn’t know what they were going to do?  Is it just because He allowed them to do their own thing?  Before these twins, who are the chief subject of this whole thing, were even born, God said He’d accepted one of them, Jacob whom He loved, and had rejected the other twin, Esau, whom He hated.  He knew that Esau was going to be the vessel to be used for destruction, and we are informed that God endured the situation with much long suffering and patience. He is still very patient about what’s happening. These people have been used of God, and were in fact deliberately put there by God to do a particular job. And we’ve got to recognise the fact that God appointed them to be a testing mechanism to His people. The tragedy is that we have very, very seriously failed in that test.  And Esau, the one who was despised, has now got the ascendancy over us. Many will recall the incident where Esau so despised his birthright that he sold it to his brother Jacob for a feed.  Realising later on his gross stupidity, and failing to change his father’s mind regarding the bestowal of the birthright, Esau vowed that after his father Isaac died, he would kill his brother in order to regain the birthright for himself.  His attempt to carry out this vow has been the basis of the entire history of Jacob’s descendants from that time right down to the present day.  But this same Esau, the one whom God hates, is also the one whom God has said quite, quite clearly in His Word that He is going to destroy.

 Here is the other application. They’re not only the vessels of wrath to be used against God’s people in order to test us, but they’re the vessels of wrath against whom God is going to move in destruction.   There is a passage of Scripture found in Isaiah 34:1-5 which reads thus;  (NASB Translation);
 

“Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
For the LORD'S indignation is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter.
So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.  And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig tree.

For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom, And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.”

 God has already planned what these people are going to do, and He has already planned what is going to happen to them. He says “I have planned their destruction”  Just as Israel has been appointed by God to be His glory, so the enemies of Israel have been appointed by God to be totally destroyed as the objects of His wrath. And therein I believe lies the secret of knowing who we are, because if we don’t recognise who we are,  we won’t recognise the seriousness of our present situation and we certainly won’t recognise the fact that God is going to destroy this enemy that has infiltrated and is now ruining His people.
 In Romans 8;17 we read of His people;
 
 “And if children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.”
 Because we are the children of God, we have to suffer with Him, that we may be glorified with Him.
 Now what is to be the end result of all this?   Let’s have a look at what God’s Word says.  In Isaiah 60:1-6 we read;
 
“Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness will cover the earth, And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you, And His glory will appear upon you.  And nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.
Lift up your eyes round about, and see; They all gather together, they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, And your daughters will be carried in the arms.
Then you will see and be radiant, And your heart will thrill and rejoice; Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, The wealth of the nations will come to you. They will bring gold and frankincense, And will bear good news of the praises of the LORD.”    (NASB Trans.)
 This is not talking about the Jewish state over in Palestine.  This is talking about God’s Israel people of Anglo-Saxondom where the whole wealth of the world will be brought to them.  Why?  Because we have been elected by God to be His glory and to show forth His glory. This is a reference to the fact that all nations will eventually serve God. And they will bring their substance to the house of God, and to the people of God.  In the 10th and 12th verses of this same chapter we read;
 
“And the sons of strangers shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister under thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour in have I had mercy upon thee.”

“For the nations and the kingdoms that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. . . . Thou shalt suck the milk of the nations, and shall suck the breast of kings: thou shalt know that I the Lord and thy saviour and thy redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thine officers peace, and thine exactor righteousness.”

 What a change from today this will be.
 
 “Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thine mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in its time.”
That is the destiny of Israel.
 Those who are the glory of God.



 

(To be continued).
  

Please for quick link to next article in this Series.