The Prophets and the Peoples

How the prophets envision the inclusion of all nations in Israel’s blessings.

A number of prophetic books include sections devoted to prophecies regarding the nations surrounding Israel. The scope of these predictions is quite extensive, including declarations regarding the future of Egypt, Cush, Damascus, Assyria, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Moab, and Ammon.[i] In a most fitting fashion, focus centers ultimately on Babylon as the epitome of animosity against God’s people.[ii]

Several distinctive elements constitute the substance of these proclamations of Israel’s prophets concerning neighboring nations: (1) the nations will be judged by God, particularly for their sins of brutality, idolatry, and pride; (2) the various peoples of the world will be called to account by God in accordance with their treatment of God’s Israel; and (3) the nations eventually will share in the redemption provided for Israel.

Perhaps most remarkable is the consistency of prediction concerning the ultimate salvation that these nations will share along with Israel. The extensiveness of this element in the prophetic anticipation regarding the future is often overlooked. But rightly perceiving this aspect of the prophetic message is essential for understanding the prophetic picture of the future. Despite the constant mistreatment and devastation that the nations brought on Israel, the message comes through clearly at every new stage in the nation’s history. The peoples of the world will share in the redemption and the restoration promised to Israel. This amazing truth may be considered from the perspective of prophets anticipating the awesome experience of the exile, from the perspective of prophets who were actually experiencing exile, and from the perspective of prophets who had returned from exile.

Gentile Inclusion from the Perspective of Prophets Anticipating Exile

Quite amazing is the fact that even in the midst of repeatedly announcing the devastation that neighboring nations will bring on Israel, the preexilic prophets regularly proclaim the blessings from God that will come to these same nations. Hosea describes Israel’s severest judgment in terms of their being turned back to their original state of “gentilishness.” They will become Lo-Ammi, “Not-my-people” (Hos. 1:9). But then God in his sovereign grace will transform these newly made Gentiles back again into Ammi, “My-people” (Hos. 2:1, 23). When this declaration of transformation from Israelite to Gentile to Israelite again is taken seriously, then it becomes understandable that this prophecy of Hosea properly functions as a basis for Paul’s ministry to the Gentile nations. The ten tribes that constituted the northern kingdom have been swallowed up, assimilated into the vast world of the Gentiles. But by Christ’s calling Gentile peoples to himself, the promised restoration of the Israel of God is being accomplished (Rom. 9:24–26).

Amos mercilessly pounds Israel with the message of God’s coming judgment on them. But in the end he predicts the restoration of the fallen booth of David and the conversion of alien Edom into people called by God’s name, making them participants in God’s electing grace in the same way as was Israel (Amos 9:11–12; cf. Deut. 28:9–10, where the identical phrase indicates Israel’s election). This declaration of Gentile inclusion as proclaimed by Amos ultimately provides the church of the new covenant with a basis for resolving the question regarding how Gentiles who have received the Holy Spirit are to be received into the community of the new covenant (Acts 15:15–19).

In Jonah’s case, every instinct of national loyalty forbids him to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian kingdom that will ultimately devastate Israel’s northern tribes. Yet as a consequence of his preaching, the whole city repents, and the Lord shows his mercy by sparing its populace (Jon. 3:6–10).

But the award for the most glorious description of the inclusion of the Gentile world by a prophet anticipating Israel’s exile must go to Isaiah. In all the various sections of the book the grand expanse of the coming kingdom of God incorporates the teeming multitudes of the Gentile nations. Early in the first portion of his prophecy, Isaiah declares that in the last days many peoples will come to the mountain of the Covenant Lord. He will judge among the nations and settle disputes for many peoples, turning their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks (Isa. 2:2–4). The second half of the book opens with the announcement that at the time of the new exodus, the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind will see it together (Isa. 40:5). The messianic king of David’s line will serve as light for the darkened land of the Gentiles, and “will stand as a banner for the peoples”; and “the nations will rally to him.” He will not only gather the exiles of Israel; he will also “raise a banner for the nations” (Isa. 9:1–2, 6–7; 11:10, 12; cf. Matt. 4:12–17).

The second great figure of Isaiah that stands alongside the restored Davidic ruler is made known through the songs of the servant. This servant of the Lord will not only restore the people of Israel; he will also serve the Gentile world. He will bring justice to the nations, and in his law the most distant islands will put their hope (Isa. 42:1, 4). If it appears to be too small a thing for this select servant to restore the tribes of Israel, he will have an even larger task to perform. God will make him a “light for the Gentiles” that he may bring salvation “to the ends of the earth” (Isa. 49:6). Despite his being brought so low, he will be highly exalted, so that he will “sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him” (Isa. 52:13, 15). All these songs of the servant bear testimony to the universalistic dimension of God’s intention in restoring a fallen world, and are regularly cited for this very reason by various portions of the new covenant documents (Matt. 12:13–21; Acts 8:32–35; 13:46–48).

And yet there is more. This visionary prophet looks squarely at Egypt and Assyria, the prime national enemies of his day to the south and the north, and dares to place them alongside his own nation of Israel as belonging to the Lord. Can you imagine it! An altar to Yahweh the Covenant Lord of Israel “in the heart of Egypt” (Isa. 19:19). A highway running directly from Egypt to Assyria, so that these two enemies of Israel conveniently travel back and forth, bypassing Jerusalem, to worship the Covenant Lord together in their own countries (Isa. 19:23). As a consequence: “Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. Yahweh the Covenant Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritances’” (Isa. 19:24–25).

Still further confirmation of this universalistic dimension of the futuristic expectation of Isaiah is found in his declaration that God’s house will be called “a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56:7b; cf. Mark 11:17). No foreigner will ever be excluded from belonging to his people. For God himself will take the initiative in bringing to his house all foreigners who love his name, and will give them joy in his house of prayer (Isa. 56:6–7a).

That these predictions of the wholehearted inclusion of Gentile nations with his people should be offered during the very days in which the brutal nation of Assyria was invading the land of Israel is nothing less than astounding. Yet it would not be appropriate to arbitrarily assign these predictions of the inclusion of the Gentiles to a subsequent era of Israelite history. In any event, these passages from the different portions of Isaiah offer strong testimony to the genuine expectation of Israel’s prophets regarding the future inclusion of the Gentile world into the very heart of the chosen nation’s worship and life.[iii]

This tradition of Gentile inclusion in the Lord’s future blessings is continued unbroken in the testimony of the seventh-century prophets who were even closer to the reality of exile. Now the kingdom of Judah is on the brink of devastation by the Babylonians. Because the nation in its hour of deepest distress became the object of Moab’s ridicule, Jeremiah pronounces the Lord’s “Woe to you” over that nation (Jer. 48:1–46). Yet after forty-six verses of the severest condemnation, a sudden turn of perspective introduces the prediction that the Lord will “restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come” (Jer. 48:47). The same startling projected turn in the future appears in the Lord’s word concerning Ammon and Elam (Jer. 49:6, 39).

This concept of the Lord’s restoring the fortunes of non-Israelite nations is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that Jeremiah regularly uses this same expression to describe the restoration of his people Israel (Jer. 30:18; 32:44; 33:11, 25–26). Whatever blessings of restoration belong to the nation of Israel, the Lord offers equally and exactly to every other nation and people that come into existence across the history of the world.

The anticipation of God’s restoring the fortunes of non-Israelite nations is not restricted to these specific cases, but finds programmatic expression. Jeremiah applies his key term uprooting to all the wicked neighbors who have seized Israel’s land. “But,” says the Lord, “after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country. And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name . . . then they will be established among my people” (Jer. 12:15–16).

How amazing is this perspective on the future by the prophet Jeremiah! Unequivocally offered to all nations without discrimination is the opportunity to be restored to God’s favor and established among his elect people. Particularly those nations that have sinned most heinously in their brutal treatment of God’s people in their hour of greatest need are declared to be the prime recipients of these promises of restoration. Still further, the Lord announces that if at any time any nation or kingdom repents of its evil, then the Lord will not inflict on it the disaster he had planned (Jer. 18:7–8). These people were altogether worthy of destruction at the hand of the Lord, but in his compassion he stood ready to forgive them if they would only repent of their evil. Jeremiah personally witnessed their ruthless treatment of God’s own people, and yet in the Lord’s name he offers them the same salvation as Israel.

Little if anything in terms of this promise of restoration for the nations of the world is found in Nahum and Habakkuk. But in a fashion similar to Jeremiah, his contemporary Zephaniah predicts the Lord’s judgment that will fall on Moab and Ammon. Yet he concludes that “the nations on every shore will worship him, everyone in its own land” (Zeph. 2:11b). But looking even further to the most distant horizons, this prophet anticipates the day in which after the purging judgments of the Lord, the lips of the peoples will be purified, “that all of them may call on the name of the Covenant Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder” (Zeph. 3:9). Deep into the continent of Africa, “beyond the rivers of Cush,” the Lord’s true worshipers will present to him their offerings (Zeph. 3:10).

So despite their certain experience and expectation of the devastations heaped on God’s people by brutal neighboring nations, the preexilic prophets uniformly testify to the grace of God in ordering restoration for these same nations. Israel will by no means be the only people restored after divine judgment. This promise and this hope are available to all the nations of the world, even the cruelest of peoples.

Gentile Inclusion from the Perspective of Prophets Experiencing Exile

Ezekiel and Daniel, Israel’s prophets who personally participated in the nation’s exile, obviously view the nations of the world from a different perspective than did the prophets who never underwent the horrors of exile themselves. Rather than looking at the world’s nations from within the borders of the land of promise, these two servants of the Lord fulfil their prophetic ministry while living within the territory of a non-Israelite nation. They have, as it were, been swallowed up in the vast regions of the great world empires of their day. How then do they view the inclusion of nations that are many times larger and much more powerful than their own nation of Israel?

Just as the preexilic prophets, Ezekiel anticipates a future for Egypt that involves scattering and gathering, exile and restoration, in a way similar to Israel’s experience. Because of their blasphemous declaration “The Nile is mine; I made it,” the Egyptians will be dispersed among the nations and scattered through the countries (Ezek. 29:9b, 12b). But after forty years, the Egyptians will be gathered again to their own land. Yet Egypt will remain forever a “lowly kingdom . . . and will never again exalt itself above the other nations” (Ezek. 29:14–15). As a consequence, Egypt will never again be a source of confidence for the people of Israel, and will be a reminder of the nation’s sin in looking to human powers rather than to God (Ezek. 29:16).

This exile and restoration of Egypt in a way similar to the Lord’s treatment of Israel anticipates Ezekiel’s final vision of a new temple with a corresponding new allotment of land for God’s people. Now the visionary apportionments of the land must include equal treatment of foreigners within Israel. The land must be allotted as an inheritance for the Israelites “and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children” (Ezek. 47:22a). Not merely as a temporary measure, but for the generations to come, Gentiles will share in Israel’s inheritance. But even more specifically, “You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel” (Ezek. 47:22b). Not in some sort of Gentile ghetto arrangement, but “in whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance” (Ezek. 47:23). The foreigner is not to be simply tolerated among the restored people of God. Instead, he is to have equal inheritance alongside a restored Israel.

So according to Ezekiel, the final state of things will see the inclusion of Gentiles alongside Israel. His prediction of the future, though cast in the only mold he knew—the mold of old covenant types—strains to break out into the totally different mold of new covenant realities. So a tension exists between the inclusion of Gentiles and the exclusiveness of old covenant Israel. This tension becomes apparent by a comparison of Ezekiel’s earlier vision of the glory of God manifesting itself within the territory of Babylon with the final vision of the return of the glory to the restored temple, a temple that cannot be contained within the confining space of Jerusalem’s Mount Zion (Ezek. 1:1–3; 42:15–19, Hebrew text). So the exilic prophecy of Ezekiel may be seen as playing a transitional role between the coming of God’s restorative blessing on the Gentile world and the continuation of Israel’s old covenant exclusivism.

“Beastly” might suit the description that Daniel gave to the concentrations of human despotism that he experienced as an exile within the massive empire of Babylon. For in his dream he sees four great beasts, each different from the others, coming up out of the sea (Dan. 7:3). These beasts depict the power of earthly kingdoms, manifesting the speed of a leopard and an eagle, along with the ferocity of a bear and a lion (Dan. 7:4–6). These monsters terrify and frighten, crush and devour (Dan. 7:7). But the Ancient of Days takes his sovereign seat, the divine court goes into session, the beasts are stripped of all authority, and their ultimate representative figure is slain, with its body thrown into a blazing fire (Dan. 7:9–12). Then one comparable to the first Adam (“one like a son of man”) comes in the splendor of heaven’s clouds (Dan. 7:13). He is triumphantly led into the presence of the Ancient of Days, and then “he was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Dan. 7:14).

So what exactly is it that exiled Daniel foresees in terms of the future of the nations of the world? He predicts days in which govern-mental powers will crush, devour, and trample underfoot other nations of the world, while at the same time waging war against the saints of God and defeating them (Dan. 7:19, 21). These suffering saints will be handed over to the beast “for a time, times and half a time” (Dan. 7:25). But in the end, the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all these kingdoms will be taken from them and handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High (Dan. 7:26–27a). This climactic kingdom will endure forever, and all rulers will worship and obey the Most High God (Dan. 7:27b).

Like Daniel, the book of Revelation anticipates a succession of beastly governmental powers arising out of the mass of humanity that war against the people of God across the ages, and conquer them (Rev. 13:7). Yet in the end, the indestructible kingdom of God prevails, and peoples from all nations are brought in submission to one comparable to the first Adam (“one like a son of man”) (Rev. 14:14). Eventually the nations walk by the light which is identified with the lamb of God, and kings of the earth bring their splendor to his temple (Rev. 21:22–24). Old covenant consummate shadows have found their fulfilment in new covenant consummate realities.

 Gentile Inclusion according to the Prophets Restored after Exile

“Little things” may serve as an apt description of the nation, the temple, and the people of the restoration period (Zech. 4:10). The nation was confined to a very small portion of the previous empire of Judah, the tiny dimensions of the restored temple brought tears to eyes that had seen the magnificence of Solomon’s, and the people numbered only slightly more than forty-nine thousand total. This struggling community that had displayed the willingness to risk returning to their devastated land had no choice but to remain a puppet government under the thumb of Persian, then Greek, then Roman dominance. The revolt under the leadership of the Maccabees was only a brief blip in the screen of their ongoing subjugation. Survival with a distinctive identity was about all they could reasonably strive for. So what were the attitude, the expectation, the prediction of the prophets of the restoration era at the beginning of this six-hundred-year period which ended in the total destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in a.d. 70?

The remainder of Zechariah’s famous statement about “little things” sets the tone. The people of the restoration must not despise the day of little things (Zech. 4:10). Instead, the daughter of Zion must shout and rejoice, for the Lord is coming. As a consequence, many nations will be joined to the Lord, and will become God’s people (Zech. 2:10–11). “Those who are far away,” most likely referring to Gentile peoples, will come and help build the temple of the Lord (Zech. 6:15). As Haggai, the prophet contemporary with Zechariah, explains, God will cause a cataclysmic shaking of all nations, and the wealth of the nations will fill the Lord’s house in Jerusalem with glory (Hag. 2:7).

What audacity! What a bold anticipation of the future by these prophets who lived in the postexilic days of little things. Living in the midst of continued dominance by the world’s super-power, the prediction of these prophets is that nations throughout the world will concretely pledge their allegiance to Israel’s God so that they will become his people alongside the Jews. In similar fashion, Malachi as the last prophetic voice of the old covenant era reinforces the same message, though with a distinctive twist. The name of Yahweh the Covenant Lord of Israel “will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun.” In every place in the world, not simply in Jerusalem, pure offerings will be brought in the name of Yahweh, “because my name will be great among the nations” (Mal. 1:11).

So did these prophets of the restoration overstep their bounds? Did they speak in extravagant terms that never could find fulfilment? Certainly if politico-ethnic-geographic realization of these prophecies is demanded, history over the past twenty-five hundred years will have to draw a blank. But if it is allowed that the shadowy form of the kingdom of God finds its proper fulfilment in the realities of the new covenant kingdom as defined by Jesus as the Christ of God, then every age since his coming has seen an increased realization of that predicted expansion of the kingdom of God’s covenants. A new heart, a Spirit poured out on all flesh, a purified people full of good works have sprung up in virtually every corner of this universe. From the time of the apostles’ ministry to the known world of their day until the present hour, people from essentially every nationality have worshiped the Covenant Lord of Israel as he has come to be known in the person of Jesus Christ.

In further reflection on this overview of the inclusion of the Gentile nations at Israel’s redemption and restoration, the legitimate question may be asked: What then is the mystery about Gentile inclusion to which Paul refers (Eph. 3:3–4)? This apostle to the Gentiles plainly states that what was happening in his day regarding the inclusion of the Gentiles “was not made known to men in other generations” (Eph. 3:5). Yet clearly the prophets of the old covenant at every new stage of Israel’s history continually predicted a wondrous inclusion of Gentile nations. So what is the mystery to which he refers? Obviously it was not a mystery to the prophets that the Gentiles would be redeemed and restored along with Israel.

Paul himself spells out the nature of this “mystery” unknown to the prophets by a threefold repetition of the same concept. His explanation of the “mystery” is that Gentile believers have become heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and participants together in the promises of God (Eph. 3:6). Not in any sense partial participants in the promises to Israel, but fully, equally, altogether one as sharers with Jewish believers in the promises of God.

This was the truth that the prophets of old could not perceive, even though the seed of the future reality was inherent in their predictions. It proved to be the most difficult doctrine of the new covenant for even the apostles of Jesus themselves to grasp. Even today the church has the greatest difficulty understanding the full implications of this fact of the spread of the gospel throughout the Gentile world. Every promise made to Israel now belongs equally to every Gentile believer who has been grafted into Christ. Nothing in terms of redemptive and restorative promises remains the exclusive possession of the Jewish people. Anything in the future that belongs to Jewish believers belongs equally and altogether to Gentile believers.

Even today readers of Paul’s words have difficulty assimilating their full significance, despite two thousand years that have verified their truthfulness. The church has been conditioned for so long to assume that some special dispensation belongs distinctively to the Israelite people that it continues to propagate this erroneous idea. Yet the declarations of the inspired apostle are plain. Gentiles are fellow-inheritors, fellow-participants, fellow-possessors of the promises of God along with Jewish believers (Eph. 3:6). This is the mystery that needs to be fully comprehended by the church today if it is to properly communicate to the nations of the world the great gospel of the new covenant.

The extravagant description of the inclusion of the Gentiles leads naturally to the final consideration of prophecy that embraces the various peoples of the world, and even the world itself.

 Predictions of the Prophets concerning the Consummate State

The concern of Israel’s prophets with respect to the future was by no means restricted to their own contemporary circumstances. Contrary to the old idea that the prophets were exclusively men of their times, these visionaries for the Lord regularly anticipated events that were to unfold at an unspecified time in the future. It is rather short-sighted to suggest that anticipations of the unspecified, though possibly distant future, must be viewed as basic irrelevancies with respect to the practical, day-to-day lives of people. Every person’s conscience alerts him that on some unknown day in the future he will give account for everything he has done, whether good or bad. A person may choose to ignore these inherent warnings of his psyche. But the fact that this day of reckoning will become reality at some time in the unknown future hardly makes the prospective announcement of the coming day irrelevant. Indeed, the Roman governor Felix trembled before his prisoner Paul when he spoke of righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come (Acts 24:25).

Even though the Christian message of accountability before God leaves the precise time of God’s judgment as an event of the undefined future, the concept of that critical day can have a powerful effect on people’s everyday behavior. Still further, the matter of imminence with respect to human accountability must also be taken into account. From the prophetic perspective, no one knows the hour or the day when the chain of events related to the last days will come to their climax. As a matter of fact, the drama of the end-times has already begun (Heb. 1:2; 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20). So the prospect of the termination of time as it is presently experienced is an ever-present factor to be reckoned with. For this reason, predictions with respect to the unknown though possibly long-term future will be relevant in every generation, even as they were in the days of Israel’s prophets.

These predictions of the prophets about the unspecified, possibly long-term future are by no means restricted to the latter days of Old Testament prophecy. The idea of a late-developing apocalyptic genre that replaces more traditional prophetic forms simply does not fit the evidence of the prophets themselves. Early Amos envisions the sun going down at noon and the darkening of the earth in broad daylight (Amos 8:9), Isaiah depicts the stars of heaven dissolving and the sky being rolled up like a scroll on the day God judges all the nations (Isa. 34:4), and Joel anticipates blood, fire, and smoke in connection with the day when God pours out his Spirit on all flesh (Joel 2:28–31). All these cataclysmic predictions speak of the undefined future of God’s redemptive working in the world. Yet though distributed widely throughout the whole of the two-hundred-year-long period of Israel’s literary prophetic activity, certain abiding characteristics of these longer-term predictions may be noted.

First, these prophetic anticipations of the unspecified, possibly distant future are regularly eschatological, terminal, and often cataclysmic in nature. They involve supernatural transformations of the world as it is currently known. One recurring feature in these prophecies is a disturbance of the heavenly bodies. Sun, moon, and stars cease to shine (Amos 8:9; Isa. 13:10, 13 [cf. Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24–25]; Isa. 24:23; 30:26; 34:4; 60:19–20; Joel 2:30; 3:15; Ezek. 32:7–8 [cf. 2 Peter 3:10; Rev. 21:23]). Simultaneously, the earth shakes as it undergoes cataclysmic transformations (Isa. 2:19c, 21c; 5:25b; Joel 2:10; Hag. 2:6–7, 21–22; Zech. 14:4–6). The fertility of the earth increases so that it produces immeasurable quantities. The harvest is so great that the reaper does not have adequate time to gather his abundant harvest before the plowman begins to break soil for the next season of planting (Amos 9:13). The deserts of Palestine are transformed so that trees, plants, and animals flourish where once only barrenness prevailed (Isa. 35:1–2, 6–7). Mount Zion ascends from its lowly altitude so that it towers above surrounding mountains, while the Mount of Olives splits in half opening a valley from Jerusalem that leads to the Dead Sea (Isa. 2:2; Zech. 14:4–5, 10). A stream flows from the temple in Jerusalem, expands to the largest imaginable dimensions in the Judean desert, and purifies the Salt Sea so that the once-dead body of water teems with every possible species of fish (Ezek. 47:1–12; Zech. 14:8).

While the term apocalyptic has regularly been used to identify prophecy of this sort, the word cataclysmic may function as a better descriptive term. The idea of “apocalyptic” has taken on something of an unreal aura that does not properly suit the genuine expectations of the biblical prophets.[iv] While a number of factors indicate that the prophets would not have expected their poetic images of the future to undergo literal fulfilment, enough indicators of anticipated reality permeate these prophecies to require that they be taken as pointing to genuine expectations of a cataclysmic nature. Joel may not have expected that the moon would have actually turned from rock to blood, but he did anticipate genuine cosmic revolution (Joel 2:31). Ezekiel may never have thought that his plan for a restored temple would be carried out according to the preciseness of his details, but he did expect that in the future God would dwell in the midst of his people in a dramatically different way than he had done at any time in the past (Ezek. 48:35). These predictions of the prophets pointed to real supernatural events that could be accomplished only by direct divine intervention in ways similar to the Almighty’s activity during his original creation of the universe (2 Peter 3:10, 13).

The prophetic expectation of the Day of the Lord may be properly evaluated in this same context. Origins of the concept of the day continue to be debated, although a good case may be made for tracing its roots not specifically to the imagery of God as a warrior but more precisely to God as covenant-maker and covenant-enforcer.[v] Man, beast, bird, and fish along with the whole of the inanimate creation are bound to the Almighty by the covenants he has established across the ages (Hos. 2:18–23; Zeph. 1:2–3). These covenantal commitments that began with creation will find their consummate realization in the Day in which the Lord of the Covenant renews the earth even as he brings all mankind under the edicts of his final judgment. Not as a twenty-four-hour period, but as both an era and a point in time in which the Lord enforces the blessings and the curses of his covenant will the Day be realized.[vi]

So the unknown future of humanity and the universe will find its consummate realization by the cataclysmic, supernatural intervention of the almighty creator God when he finally brings to fulfilment his eternal purposes. The prophets consistently looked for an extraordinary manifestation of divine involvement in the course of this world at the climax of the ages.

Second, this prophetic anticipation of a total transformation of the world’s order is at the same time firmly rooted in history and the previous framework of God’s redemptive activity. Ezekiel and Daniel had witnessed for themselves through dream and vision the Lord’s intention to work out his redemptive purposes in the broader realm of the Gentile empires. Yet their expectation of the future eventually turns back more specifically to Israel as a land and a people. Ezekiel’s visionary temple is located on a “very high mountain” in the land of Israel (Ezek. 40:2). Daniel’s climactic vision of the seventy weeks that anticipates the whole course of human history begins with his aware-ness that the seventy years of Israel’s exile as predicted by Jeremiah is about to come to an end, so that the captive people are about to return to their own land of promise. This orientation toward Israel as land and people is regularly reflected in the writings of the prophets as they anticipate the cosmic events affecting the future. The Lord’s supernatural, cataclysmic intervention in the future will occur within time and history, and in closest connection with his past relations with the seed of Abraham, the descendants of David, the city of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel.

But then how could the prophets of old have framed their expectations of the future in any other way? They spoke about the unknown future in accordance with what they knew from the past. The God of their past would in the future carry forward his original purposes to their consummate realization. So it could be assumed that these divine goals would be realized in a similar fashion to the nation’s experience of redemption in the past. The prophets could not and should not be expected to speak apart from the context of the old covenant shadows that were their complete frame of reference. For the language of the new covenant realities was not yet known to them.

At the same time, their expectations of the future broke the bonds of the greatest of old covenant possibilities. Ezekiel’s temple cannot fit on the peak of Mount Zion, but spills across the Kidron and the Tyropoeon valleys because of its mammoth size (Ezek. 42:15–19, Hebrew text). Zechariah depicts the future Jerusalem as a city without walls because of the number of its inhabitants while simultaneously describing a wall of fire that surrounds it (Zech. 2:2–5). This very way of expressing themselves with respect to the consummate future meant that while anchoring their expectations in the traditional pattern of God’s previous redemptive workings, these prophets also under-stood that something greater and larger than their past was ahead of them. The tension between the limited character of the already and the boundless expectations of the not yet did not first occur with the arrival of new covenant eschatology. Its roots are firmly grounded in the end-time expectations of the prophets of the old covenant.

A third element of the long-term expectations of Israel’s prophets is that they themselves were not capable of grasping altogether the scope of their own messages. At the conclusion of receiving his revelation concerning the restoration of Israel after their exile, the prophet Jeremiah is informed: “In days to come you will understand this” (Jer. 30:24c). This statement clearly implies that the prophet’s full apprehension of his own prediction would have to await its fulfilment. On a shorter-term basis, Jeremiah displays his bafflement over the significance of the Lord’s word to him regarding the purchase of his uncle’s property even as the Babylonians are about to take Jerusalem as the last of Judah’s strongholds. He puzzles over the rationale for the Lord’s illogical command: “Though [as you have decreed] the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, you, O Sovereign Covenant Lord, say to me, ‘Buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed’” (Jer. 32:25).

Jeremiah has no doubt that this instruction comes from the Lord. But he cannot understand it. Why should he invest the little silver he has as a prophet presently under house arrest, when at this very moment the whole of the nation’s land is being taken over by the Babylonians, with its inhabitants being shipped to foreign countries? He doesn’t comprehend the point of his own prophecy.

Understanding for Jeremiah comes only later. The Lord speaks again and explains that though the people will be driven from their land, they will eventually return. They will possess land again. Proper-ties will be bought and sold once more (Jer. 32:42–44). So eventually Jeremiah understands his purchase as a symbolic action anticipating the future restoration of Israel’s fortunes. But the prophet himself did not at first grasp the significance of his own prophetic action.

This rather domestic incident in the life of one prophet may serve to illustrate the larger picture. The predictions of the future that anticipated the consummation of divine purposes were not always understood by the prophet himself. This principle shows itself to be at work in several of the long-term prophecies of Daniel. Though even as a youth he was especially gifted with wisdom, Daniel had serious difficulty comprehending his own messages about the end-time. After his vision of the four beasts, the Ancient of Days, and the son of man, Daniel admitted that he was “troubled in spirit,” and his visions disturbed him. So he was bold enough to inquire about the “true meaning” of this vision (Dan. 7:15–16). After further explanation, he still wanted to know the true meaning of additional aspects of his vision (Dan. 7:19–20). At the end of the process, he remained deeply troubled by his thoughts, and his face turned pale (Dan. 7:28).

Again, at the end of his vision of the two-horned ram and the goat, Daniel receives assurance that the vision is true. But then he is instructed to “seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future” (Dan. 8:26). In response, Daniel remains overwhelmed for several days. He subsequently testifies that he was “appalled by the vision,” for it was “beyond understanding” (Dan. 8:27). So in this case, his vision of the distant future is not clear to him. He is furthermore instructed to seal up the vision, implying that it had significance for the future that could not be grasped in his own day.

At the end of his book, Daniel is instructed to “close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end” (Dan. 12:4). Many would search here and there to come to a proper understanding of this revelation regarding the future. Overhearing the message that these astonishing things would be fulfilled in “time, times and half a time,” Daniel indicates that he heard, but “did not understand” (Dan. 12:7–8). In response to a further request for clarification, Daniel is told that the words are “closed up and sealed until the time of the end” (Dan. 12:9). Yet he is assured that even though none of the wicked would be able to comprehend his message, the wise would understand (Dan. 12:10).

So the long-term predictions about the future take on a peculiar characteristic. By divine design, they will not be fully comprehended until that time when they are actually in process of being fulfilled. The general thrust of the prophetic message may be understood. But the details will remain sealed until the time has come. This perspective on eschatological prophecy is confirmed by the comment of the new covenant scriptures that the prophets “searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1 Peter 1:10–11).

While this aspect of predictive prophecy concerning the end-time must be a factor to be recognized, it never should serve as an excuse for dismissing selected prophetic utterances as incomprehensible. For always some basic aspects of the revelatory vision will be understandable and applicable.

So what precisely is the central message of the prophets concerning the long-term future? What is it that is embodied in the bulk of their predictions? The analysis of this aspect of the predictive message of the prophets will be developed next as the core concern of prediction in the prophets is considered. This central focus of predictive prophecy may be summarized as follows: the messiah together with his people will undergo utter devastation followed by glorious restoration through exile and return. For of all the topics treated in predictive prophecy, exile and restoration of the messiah and his people is by far the most permeating, the most far-reaching, and the most significant.

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[i] For a sampling of these prophecies concerning neighboring nations, see Joel 3; Amos 1:3–2:3; Obadiah; Isa. 13–21, 34, 47; Jer. 46–51; Nahum; Hab. 2:4–20; Zeph. 2:4–15; Ezek. 25–32; Zech. 1:18–21; 9:1–8; 14.

[ii] Isa. 13; 14:3–23; 21:1–10; 47; Jer. 50–51; Hab. 2:4–20.

[iii] The passages explicitly discussed from Isaiah by no means exhaust his predictions concerning Gentile inclusion. Other passages include Isa. 14:1; 17:7–8; 18:7; 23:18; 24:14–16; 25:6–8; 27:6; 60:3–16; 66:19–21.

[iv] The relation between “prophetic” and “apocalyptic” is difficult to define. Childs, Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments, discusses the recent efforts “to trace the historical growth from exilic prophecy, through proto-apocalyptic writings, to full-blown apocalypticism” (p. 182). He concludes: “In sum, the biblical tradition itself does not provide the needed information by which to trace precisely the growth from prophecy to apocalyptic” (p. 183). For bibliography of apocalyptic literature in general, see van Gemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word, 410–11, 523 n. 32. With regard to major transformations of the heavens and the earth in the visions of the prophets, the term cataclysmic better suits the supernatural changes they assumed would accompany the arrival of the age to come rather than the more obscure term apocalyptic, which removes these expectations one step away from reality.

[v] Cf. von Rad, “The Origin of the Concept of the Day of Yahweh,” 97–108. Von Rad’s proposal to find the origin of the day in the imagery of God as a warrior cannot encompass all the universe-transforming aspects of the day. For the suggestion that the covenant in its moments of inauguration and enforcement provides the source of the day, see Robertson, The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, 266–69. The Day of the Covenant Lord is that time when he declares and enforces his lordship, which is equivalent to the day in which he inaugurates and enforces his covenantal relationship with his people, humanity, and the world.

[vi] Principal passages from the old covenant scriptures dealing with the Day of the Covenant Lord appear regularly across the centuries: Amos 5:18–20 and Isaiah 2:12–21 (8th cent.); Zephaniah 1:7, 14–18 (7th century); Malachi 4 (fifth century). Joel’s references (Joel 1:15; 2:1–17) may be dated among the earliest or the latest of Israel’s prophets, though an earlier date is to be preferred. Reference in the scriptures of the new covenant include Acts 2:17–21 (quoting Joel 2:28–32); 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2; 1 Cor. 1:8; 5:5; 2 Cor. 1:14; 2 Tim. 4:8; 2 Peter 2:9; 3:10.

An excerpt from O. Palmer Robertson, Christ of the Prophets, Abridged. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2008, pp. 329-347.