The Intertwining Hope of Deuteronomy 32:43
Deuteronomy 32 and the Intertwining Hope of Israel, the Saints, the Nations, and the Cosmos
Take heart, saints of the living God: the curse enveloping God’s creation is about to expire. And, expire it will, but not a slow and lingering death, but an immediate and climactic execution. From the beginning, God has promised that He would – through the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15) – crush the head of the curse-inducing-and-embodying serpent. Yet, how would it all play out? Who is this “seed of the woman,” from where does He come, and what earthly, real terra-firma context would He crush the serpent and the curse?
Yes, you know the answer and answers to that most important of questions, Bible-saturated saints. God will crush evil through a people (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), who become a nation – but not just a nation God is “for.” This nation is one God has eternally bound Himself to by covenantal betrothal (Ex. 24) and consummating marriage (Hos. 2:19 and Rev. 19).
Yet, is God’s victory only a benefit to this one nation? Is God’s love only for this particular people? What about the nations? What about the rest of God’s good creation? Easily misconstrued is the manifold direction of God’s love. Yes, He has particular and special love for Israel. Yet, His special covenantal relationship with Israel serves furthermore as the means, the channel through which God will win back, redeem, and demonstrate His salvific love for all the nations in direct assault and victory over the rebelling gods, the principalities and powers currently residing in authority over all the nations of the earth. When He does this, oh, let the nations be glad. Yet, and this is a big “yet,” we must understand God’s order. All the nations will not be blessed in the Rock of Israel until Israel, herself, is freed from the bondage of sin, and all turn to Him. So, when will that happen? Moses tells us in this great and utmost
important chapter in the Bible – Deuteronomy 32, specifically verse 43:
Deuteronomy 32:43 CSB
[43] Rejoice, you nations, concerning his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries; he will purify his land and his people.
Notice the nations are rejoicing in specific regard to God’s people, Israel, in which distinction is being made from the Gentile nations. The Gentile nations are now rejoicing in reference to God’s power towards and through Israel. Why? Because God has taken vengeance on His adversaries, and in doing so He has avenged the blood of Israel, His servants, and furthermore in doing so has “purified” His people and His Land – that’s why the nations are rejoicing. So very clearly we see: in the time of the “last days,” God’s enemies and Israel’s enemies – even in her blindness – are synonymous. At a particular point in real time-space-history, God comes down from heaven (like He did at the Red Sea Crossing and Sinai in Ex. 14-19) to avenge Israel and destroy His enemies. Simultaneously, God is purifying “His Land and His people.” This, as we’ll see, is every hope of every nation. Yet, in our day, just as Israel herself is blind to this hope, so concurrently are all the nations – but the saints are alive to this hope, amen?
On that Day, when God saves and purifies His people Israel, then, and only then, can all the nations be glad (Psalm 67) because God has, finally, come down from heaven in flaming fire, destroyed His enemies, and completely and wholly saved a remnant of Israel – who, now, all believe and have finally entered into His everlasting (or, “New”) covenant in which they will never turn away. Now that Israel sees, all the nations can now see. The Abrahamic Blessing is no longer dammed up by Israel’s hardness of heart. Now, there is a free-flowing channel of revelation and glory to all the nations (Hab. 2:14) who are now dwelling under the literal feet of God in Messiah on Zion (Isaiah. 2:1-4). As to this, all the prophets agree. Let us gaze upon only
a sampling from the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 44:23 CSB
[23] Rejoice, heavens, for the LORD has acted; shout, depths of the earth. Break out into singing, mountains, forest, and every tree in it. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and
glorifies himself through Israel.
This, as you can see, is a direct expansion of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:43, and the same principle is seen in the Spirit – the blindness, darkness, and rebellion has ended because the “LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorifies Himself through Israel.” Isaiah gloriously expounds, that not only will the nations be rejoicing in this moment, but the entirety of God’s creation is rejoicing when Israel is redeemed. See also this verse from Isaiah:
Isaiah 49:13 CSB
[13] Shout for joy, you heavens! Earth, rejoice! Mountains break into joyful shouts! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
All the nations are glad when the LORD finally comforts His people. In other words, when all Israel is saved, then all the nations are blessed. Is this not what Jeremiah says, explicitly?
Jeremiah 4:1-2 CSB
[1] If you return, Israel- this is the LORD's declaration- you will return to me, if you remove your abhorrent idols from my presence and do not waver, [2] then you can swear, "As the LORD lives," in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by him and will pride themselves in him.
Of all tasks, most important in this moment is to define what the prophets see, here. First, all the prophets agree: Israel will remain in blindness and hardness of heart for the entirety of the fallen age. It is almost as if Israel serves as the poster-children for the curse. As long as the curse remains domineering in God’s creation, so Israel is in blindness. But, at the end of the age, the covenant-crises come to a climactic head, and a remnant of Israel after “Jacob’s trouble” will not just enter into a revival – but they will all believe and be saved. All of their hearts will be circumcised (Deut. 30:6), the Word of God will written on all their hearts (Jer. 31:33-34), and neither they, nor their children, nor their grandchildren will ever turn away again (Is. 59:21).
Well, when does this happen? Might the New Testament and the hope of the saints give us insight into this moment of divine vindication? See Paul’s understanding of Israel’s salvation in relationship to the resurrection of the dead at the end of the age:
Romans 11:15 CSB
[15] For if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
In other words, when Israel believes, then the saints will receive their glorified bodies. Get this – Israel’s total belief results in the resurrection from the dead! Wait, you may ask, is the
New Testament not clear that the resurrection occurs at Jesus’s return? Why, yes, of course. Are we uncovering a divine convergence here? An ultimate and glorious intertwining of covenantal hopes? Indeed, we are. We, the saints, do not receive our inheritance (new bodies) until all Israel receives her inheritance (a whole nation of priests in the kingdom of God). All the prophets agree - all Israel is not saved until the end of the age, when they “look upon Me whom they pierced” (Zech. 12:10), the moment of which all the apostles agree – this is the return of Jesus. We’re on to something here: all Israel is saved and the saints are resurrected at the singular appointed “time to favor Zion (Ps. 102:13) – that great Day seen by all the prophets which has come to be known, preciously, by the saints as the return of Jesus Christ. And, who is this Messiah Jesus? As we see in Deuteronomy 32:43, He is a mystery. How does He both crush and purify? How will he bring such atonement and purification? Will God sacrifice bulls and goats for His people? Oh, the mystery of Christ! He has already come in the middle of history, only to return at the end of history with the scars of redemption on His body. The very one to take vengeance on Israel’s and His enemies is the one who came 2000+ years earlier as a suffering servant to bear the very curse of sin, blindness, and hardness – He, yes Him, the very Lamb of God! The very sin and curse He died for, Israel still remains in – that old blindness and hardness… until they see Him. When they see Him, they don’t only see Him according to the flesh (a great and terrifying man shining like the sun, descending to war and judge), they see Him according to the Spirit – “There He is, our God of Israel, the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus Messiah, whom WE pierced, yet His piercing was for OUR transgressions!” What a moment.
In this moment, in this hope, does all creation hope. Besides the real distinct Israel in the earth, the foremost of these ultimate beneficiaries of Israel’s redemption are the saints of the living God, the One New Man in Christ across every generation of both Jew and Gentile, waiting on the blessed hope of His appearing. The hope of Israel is the hope of the saints. The marriage supper promised to Israel is shared with all those who have “looked upon [Him] whom they [all sinners] pierced,” both Jew and Gentile alike. Together, as one Bride and one Olive Tree will we walk unto Him, our Bridegroom, on that great Day – Jesus’s Wedding Day – in the most ultimate wedding venue ever conceived: Mount Zion.
Then, and only then, will the resurrected saints, saved Israel, and the nations coming in sing that old, old song from the man in the desert:
Revelation 15:3-4 CSB
[3] They sang the song of God's servant Moses and the song of the Lamb: Great and awe-inspiring are your works, Lord God, the Almighty; just and true are your ways, King of the nations. [4] Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you because your righteous acts have been revealed.
Together, forever, worshiping and glorying in the God who saves, the God who raises the dead. The God who took on flesh, bore the weight of the curse and the wrath of God, died, was resurrected, ascended for 2000+ years to gather unto Himself Bride-co-reigners, and who has finally returned in full vindication of absolutely every promise He made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David; to the saints, great and small; to Adam and Eve on that dark day in the garden. He’s coming to save. He’s coming to redeem. He will crush evil. He will restore. And we, again, will live with Him in the eternal Garden-Kingdom. Except, this time and forevermore, He won’t only visit us from time to time in the form of a man. The Father is with us, forever, by and through the Son – the man, Christ Jesus. The Son, who is one of us, who bears the marks on His body of the curse He bore on our behalf. The scars of our redemption. Along, too, the Spirit will eternally reside amongst and in us, fully seen and enjoyed in the fully justified, sanctified, and glorified saints, which is the perfecting work of the Spirit. In this Spirit, we confess, to the glory of God the Father, “Jesus Christ is Lord!”:
Revelation 19:1-2 CSB
[1] After this I heard something like the loud voice of a vast multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God, [2] because his judgments are true and righteous, because he has judged the notorious prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality; and he has avenged the blood of his servants that was on her hands.
Yes, you know the answer and answers to that most important of questions, Bible-saturated saints. God will crush evil through a people (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), who become a nation – but not just a nation God is “for.” This nation is one God has eternally bound Himself to by covenantal betrothal (Ex. 24) and consummating marriage (Hos. 2:19 and Rev. 19).
Yet, is God’s victory only a benefit to this one nation? Is God’s love only for this particular people? What about the nations? What about the rest of God’s good creation? Easily misconstrued is the manifold direction of God’s love. Yes, He has particular and special love for Israel. Yet, His special covenantal relationship with Israel serves furthermore as the means, the channel through which God will win back, redeem, and demonstrate His salvific love for all the nations in direct assault and victory over the rebelling gods, the principalities and powers currently residing in authority over all the nations of the earth. When He does this, oh, let the nations be glad. Yet, and this is a big “yet,” we must understand God’s order. All the nations will not be blessed in the Rock of Israel until Israel, herself, is freed from the bondage of sin, and all turn to Him. So, when will that happen? Moses tells us in this great and utmost
important chapter in the Bible – Deuteronomy 32, specifically verse 43:
Deuteronomy 32:43 CSB
[43] Rejoice, you nations, concerning his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries; he will purify his land and his people.
Notice the nations are rejoicing in specific regard to God’s people, Israel, in which distinction is being made from the Gentile nations. The Gentile nations are now rejoicing in reference to God’s power towards and through Israel. Why? Because God has taken vengeance on His adversaries, and in doing so He has avenged the blood of Israel, His servants, and furthermore in doing so has “purified” His people and His Land – that’s why the nations are rejoicing. So very clearly we see: in the time of the “last days,” God’s enemies and Israel’s enemies – even in her blindness – are synonymous. At a particular point in real time-space-history, God comes down from heaven (like He did at the Red Sea Crossing and Sinai in Ex. 14-19) to avenge Israel and destroy His enemies. Simultaneously, God is purifying “His Land and His people.” This, as we’ll see, is every hope of every nation. Yet, in our day, just as Israel herself is blind to this hope, so concurrently are all the nations – but the saints are alive to this hope, amen?
On that Day, when God saves and purifies His people Israel, then, and only then, can all the nations be glad (Psalm 67) because God has, finally, come down from heaven in flaming fire, destroyed His enemies, and completely and wholly saved a remnant of Israel – who, now, all believe and have finally entered into His everlasting (or, “New”) covenant in which they will never turn away. Now that Israel sees, all the nations can now see. The Abrahamic Blessing is no longer dammed up by Israel’s hardness of heart. Now, there is a free-flowing channel of revelation and glory to all the nations (Hab. 2:14) who are now dwelling under the literal feet of God in Messiah on Zion (Isaiah. 2:1-4). As to this, all the prophets agree. Let us gaze upon only
a sampling from the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 44:23 CSB
[23] Rejoice, heavens, for the LORD has acted; shout, depths of the earth. Break out into singing, mountains, forest, and every tree in it. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and
glorifies himself through Israel.
This, as you can see, is a direct expansion of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:43, and the same principle is seen in the Spirit – the blindness, darkness, and rebellion has ended because the “LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorifies Himself through Israel.” Isaiah gloriously expounds, that not only will the nations be rejoicing in this moment, but the entirety of God’s creation is rejoicing when Israel is redeemed. See also this verse from Isaiah:
Isaiah 49:13 CSB
[13] Shout for joy, you heavens! Earth, rejoice! Mountains break into joyful shouts! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
All the nations are glad when the LORD finally comforts His people. In other words, when all Israel is saved, then all the nations are blessed. Is this not what Jeremiah says, explicitly?
Jeremiah 4:1-2 CSB
[1] If you return, Israel- this is the LORD's declaration- you will return to me, if you remove your abhorrent idols from my presence and do not waver, [2] then you can swear, "As the LORD lives," in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by him and will pride themselves in him.
Of all tasks, most important in this moment is to define what the prophets see, here. First, all the prophets agree: Israel will remain in blindness and hardness of heart for the entirety of the fallen age. It is almost as if Israel serves as the poster-children for the curse. As long as the curse remains domineering in God’s creation, so Israel is in blindness. But, at the end of the age, the covenant-crises come to a climactic head, and a remnant of Israel after “Jacob’s trouble” will not just enter into a revival – but they will all believe and be saved. All of their hearts will be circumcised (Deut. 30:6), the Word of God will written on all their hearts (Jer. 31:33-34), and neither they, nor their children, nor their grandchildren will ever turn away again (Is. 59:21).
Well, when does this happen? Might the New Testament and the hope of the saints give us insight into this moment of divine vindication? See Paul’s understanding of Israel’s salvation in relationship to the resurrection of the dead at the end of the age:
Romans 11:15 CSB
[15] For if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
In other words, when Israel believes, then the saints will receive their glorified bodies. Get this – Israel’s total belief results in the resurrection from the dead! Wait, you may ask, is the
New Testament not clear that the resurrection occurs at Jesus’s return? Why, yes, of course. Are we uncovering a divine convergence here? An ultimate and glorious intertwining of covenantal hopes? Indeed, we are. We, the saints, do not receive our inheritance (new bodies) until all Israel receives her inheritance (a whole nation of priests in the kingdom of God). All the prophets agree - all Israel is not saved until the end of the age, when they “look upon Me whom they pierced” (Zech. 12:10), the moment of which all the apostles agree – this is the return of Jesus. We’re on to something here: all Israel is saved and the saints are resurrected at the singular appointed “time to favor Zion (Ps. 102:13) – that great Day seen by all the prophets which has come to be known, preciously, by the saints as the return of Jesus Christ. And, who is this Messiah Jesus? As we see in Deuteronomy 32:43, He is a mystery. How does He both crush and purify? How will he bring such atonement and purification? Will God sacrifice bulls and goats for His people? Oh, the mystery of Christ! He has already come in the middle of history, only to return at the end of history with the scars of redemption on His body. The very one to take vengeance on Israel’s and His enemies is the one who came 2000+ years earlier as a suffering servant to bear the very curse of sin, blindness, and hardness – He, yes Him, the very Lamb of God! The very sin and curse He died for, Israel still remains in – that old blindness and hardness… until they see Him. When they see Him, they don’t only see Him according to the flesh (a great and terrifying man shining like the sun, descending to war and judge), they see Him according to the Spirit – “There He is, our God of Israel, the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus Messiah, whom WE pierced, yet His piercing was for OUR transgressions!” What a moment.
In this moment, in this hope, does all creation hope. Besides the real distinct Israel in the earth, the foremost of these ultimate beneficiaries of Israel’s redemption are the saints of the living God, the One New Man in Christ across every generation of both Jew and Gentile, waiting on the blessed hope of His appearing. The hope of Israel is the hope of the saints. The marriage supper promised to Israel is shared with all those who have “looked upon [Him] whom they [all sinners] pierced,” both Jew and Gentile alike. Together, as one Bride and one Olive Tree will we walk unto Him, our Bridegroom, on that great Day – Jesus’s Wedding Day – in the most ultimate wedding venue ever conceived: Mount Zion.
Then, and only then, will the resurrected saints, saved Israel, and the nations coming in sing that old, old song from the man in the desert:
Revelation 15:3-4 CSB
[3] They sang the song of God's servant Moses and the song of the Lamb: Great and awe-inspiring are your works, Lord God, the Almighty; just and true are your ways, King of the nations. [4] Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you because your righteous acts have been revealed.
Together, forever, worshiping and glorying in the God who saves, the God who raises the dead. The God who took on flesh, bore the weight of the curse and the wrath of God, died, was resurrected, ascended for 2000+ years to gather unto Himself Bride-co-reigners, and who has finally returned in full vindication of absolutely every promise He made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David; to the saints, great and small; to Adam and Eve on that dark day in the garden. He’s coming to save. He’s coming to redeem. He will crush evil. He will restore. And we, again, will live with Him in the eternal Garden-Kingdom. Except, this time and forevermore, He won’t only visit us from time to time in the form of a man. The Father is with us, forever, by and through the Son – the man, Christ Jesus. The Son, who is one of us, who bears the marks on His body of the curse He bore on our behalf. The scars of our redemption. Along, too, the Spirit will eternally reside amongst and in us, fully seen and enjoyed in the fully justified, sanctified, and glorified saints, which is the perfecting work of the Spirit. In this Spirit, we confess, to the glory of God the Father, “Jesus Christ is Lord!”:
Revelation 19:1-2 CSB
[1] After this I heard something like the loud voice of a vast multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God, [2] because his judgments are true and righteous, because he has judged the notorious prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality; and he has avenged the blood of his servants that was on her hands.
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2 Comments
Praise God! Israel's salvation is our salvation, for we also know that Israel's enemies are our enemies. God will have the final say on that great day. It will be so glorious! Thanks for this encouragement, Keith.
Wow!! Wow!! Wow!! Makes me want to shout!! What a Day that will be! We can only imagine the grandeur! Can you imagine the sound that will make when all the mountains, trees, oceans, and all the animals break out in praise?! I think about when you're in the movie theater and the simulated sounds of earthquakes and thunder give you chills...multiply that by a million!!? I'm so glad to be on the winning side! I will gladly play my tambourine and/or lyre while He gains the Victory!!! Maranatha!!???