The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Dispensationalism & Land Promises

On God’s Sovereignty vs. Evil: Gerstner taught that God decrees all things, including the actions of evil beings, for His ultimate glory.

I believe there are several serious problems with it that have nothing to do with John Darby or Dispensationalism.

Rather it has EVERYTHING to do with what the Bible itself says happened on the day of Christ's crucifixion, on the day of Pentecost after Christ's Resurrection, and what will happen during the Millennium.

I think I have already outlined that God's promise to Israel (as a NATION) includes all of the land between the Nile and the Euphrates and between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea (a much larger land area than they have ever yet inherited because of repeated disobedience to God) but this land area was nevertheless appointed by God to be Israel's inheritance AS A NATION.

So what happened was that because they tired of war and allowed some of the former Canaanites to make peace and remain in the land, the Arabs have troubled them ever since and they have never been able to achieve their full inheritance.

Then things got MUCH worse when God cut MOST of Israel's branch off when they crucified Christ.

And that word MOST is very important, because if we go to Romans 11, AND READ CAREFULLY, we see where many people today have the mistaken impression that the WHOLE BRANCH, ALL of the nation of Israel of Israel was CUT OFF from God's Olive Tree, but that is NOT what God says in Romans 11:17.

What it says that SOME (not the whole branch) were cut off, but a remnant of the true nation of Israel has always REMAINED through repentance and faith in Christ and it was actually this REMNANT of Israel's Branch who were IN CHRIST who were the 120 to whom God sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and MOST of the 3000 who were saved that day (all who were not Judaism converts from other nations).

And God has continued to ADD to those original branches who birthed the church, while at the same time grafting in the wild olive tree branches from the Gentile nations through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ to become the whole multitude of souls who are the "spiritual" nation of Christianity throughout history (both Jews and Gentiles) unto the present day.

So, in spite of the fact that MOST of Israel is still in spiritual blindness and cut off from God, and they will remain that way until the END of the Tribulation, when God says in Romans 11:26 ALL Israel will be saved when the Deliverer comes. And Thomas is the "shadow" of the day when Christ appears before the ALL of remnant of Israel and (like Thomas) when they see His wounds their blindness will FINALLY be taken away and they will mourn for HIM and bow before CHRIST as their Messiah, King and God.

Yet, ever since the church came into being, there has always been a REMNANT of the branch of the NATION of Israel still existing in the JEWA who have come to Christ.

As Paul says in Romans 11:1 God hasn't cast away His people, for he himself (Paul) is an Israelite.

This is where some today are in contradiction of Scripture when they concede that the Gentile "nations" will still exist during the Millennium (Revelation 20:1-8) and in the New eternal Heavens and Earth (Rev. 21:24-26 and 22:2) and yet they try to say that Israel as a NATION has been absorbed into Christianity, totally ignoring God's declaration in many Scriptures describing that Israel AS A NATION will one day have ALL of the inheritance promised to Abraham IN CHRIST, with the Headquarters of Christ's world government being established in HIS beloved city of Jerusalem during the Millennium.

There is SO MUCH in OT Scripture in particular that speaks of what will be happening in the NATION of Israel during the Millennium (which is a shadow of what will also have to happen in the Gentile nations all over the world during the first months and years of the Millennium).

Ezekiel 39:1-8 is talking about the Tribulation, but there will be NO TIME, NO REST, NO FREEDOM for Israel during the Tribulation to be taking 7 months to bury the dead and seven years to burn the weapons of war. This is talking about what Christ will require of humanity during the the first months and years of the Millennium.

Ezekiel 39:9-29 is talking about AFTER the Tribulation is over and will be some of the activities that Israel will be doing and the rest of the natural "saved" of the Gentile nations will also have to be doing for the first months and years of the Millennium even though the REST of Creation will be restored to an Edenic state.

Many people have mistakenly supposed that the "new heavens and Earth spoken of in Isaiah 65 is talking of is the SAME NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH spoken of in Revelation 22, but that cannot be true because Isaiah 65:17-25 says that the Earth will be restored to a pre-flood Edenic state, Israel will return to their land, human health and longevity will be greatly increased. However, although natural death among humanity will be rare, DEATH will still exist during the MILLENNIUM.

You see, there WILL be a new heavens and Earth during the Millennium, but it will still be a "shadow" of the FINAL NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH because natural humanity will STILL have the knowledge of good AND evil within them, and that is going to be a BIG problem. In fact, it is precisely WHY Christ and the Raptured/Resurrected saints will have to rule over natural humanity with A ROD OF IRON to keep the PRACTICE of evil from quickly spreading again throughout the world, and the WICKED will hate that so much that when Satan is released and goes out to deceive them again after the first thousand years, A HUGE MULTITUDE of natural humanity from EVERY nation will rally behind the Devil and try to overthrow Jesus Christ one last time to take over the Earth, and when they attempt to do that, there will not even be a battle. Rev. 20:7-15 tells us that the fire of God will consume them all and the Great White Throne Judgement decreeing humanity's final destination will begin.

In the "new heavens and Earth" (the Millennium) spoken of in Isaiah 65, death will still exist in the generations born to natural humanity because they will still have the sin-nature, and Ezekiel 39 explains that (with Satan gone) the "curse" will be lifted from all of the REST of Creation, and because Christ will rule, the world will be exponentially better place than it is now, but there will STILL be a problem within natural humanity because of the knowledge because the knowledge of good AND evil will remain within them.

One thing that Ez. 39 says WILL be required of man during the early months and years of the Millennium will be that natural man will be required to clean up their own mess left over from the previous world.

Only when Satan, ALL who follow him and EVIL ITSELF are TOTALLY removed from the kingdom of God forever at the END of the MILLENNIUM will this existing PHYSICAL EARTH and the rest of the sin-stained universe be rolled up, burned up, and replaced by the ETERNAL NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH that GOD speaks of in Revelation 21 and 22 and all EVIL (including DEATH-Rev. 20:14) will be gone from the Kingdom of God and the Lamb forever.