God Has Chosen

God has chosen to glorify Himself through the circumstances of this life so that in the midst of this world, we can come to see His immeasurable love towards His people and the multitude of His kindnesses and deliverances through Christ.

God has chosen that in weakness His strength is made perfect (2 Cor 12:9-10). The thorn in Paul’s flesh was the Jews who buffeted him wherever he went, as they rose up persecution against him. The reign of Christ did not mean that Paul would not suffer, but it did mean that Christ would never fail Paul.

Paul said it is given to us not only to believe on Christ, but also to suffer with Him (Phil 1:29). This suffering is persecution for the gospel. Those who come against Christ come against His people. God did not say that He would prevent this, but He did promise that it would turn to glory for those who are His people. If we say that this suffering shows the devil is not bound, we not understand God’s ways.

God gave Pharaoh a kingdom to bring Him glory by the deliverance of a slave nation. God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and Shechem and allowed Abimelech to prosper until Shechem was judged. When Abimelech’s work was done, a woman dropped a millstone on his head (Judges 9:53). God uses all manner of people and prospers them until His work is done. “In a great house there are vessels of honour and vessels of dishonour.” (2 Tim 2:20).

God is over all. Everybody, including Judas Iscariot, serves His glory. Isaiah said, “I bring forth evil and good, light and darkness”, but He tempts no man (Is 45:6-7, James 1:13). He brings down one kingdom and sets up another, but He is never the author of sin. Satan is bound, but God employs Him at His will until He has finished gathering in His elect.

Prophecies

So what do these Old Testament prophecies about the glory of the New Age mean? Most people see one of three options:

1. They are either about the gospel age we are now in.

2. Or about a future 1,000 year reign of Christ after a resurrection of the church.

3. Or about a coming New Earth and New Heaven in eternity.

The prophecies refer to the gospel age which started when the kingdom of Christ began 2,000 years ago, the age of the gift of the Spirit and continue in eternity when Jesus hands over the kingdom to the Father at the end of this world.

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (Is 43:19).

There is no prophecy in the Old Testament about Jesus returning to reign in a physical Jerusalem at the end of this age. Neither is there in the New Testament. The Jews expected it at His first coming, based on a syncretised understanding of scripture. Jesus made it clear that their expectations were entirely wrong because they failed to understand the scriptures.

New Creation

The new age began with the coming of Christ 2,000 years ago. The old order of the Old Covenant was taken away and God made all things new in Christ. This is what He meant when He said that He makes a New Heaven and a New Earth. The New Covenant is so distinct from the Old that it is a complete renovation of all things in Christ.
If any man be in Christ he is a New Creation, old things have passed away, behold all things are become new and all things are of God…(2 Cor 5:17-18).

We can miss this because even though we are born again, we are still trained to think in Old Covenant terms. The book of Hebrews shows the perfection, completeness and rest that are already in Christ. In Him we have already entered the Promised Land. Blindness to this fits in well with a wrong view of sin and spiritual warfare. If we think that we have not yet overcome sin then we still await the rest. If Christ has not yet conquered all powers, then we view rest as future.