This post is part of a series walking through the first volume of Abraham Kuyper’s Common Grace.
Continuing his discussion of the relationship between God, Israel, and the Gentile nations, Kuyper reminds us that God did not abandon the nations for Israel–not even in the Old Testament. Even analogies like Israel being a pearl and the other nations the shell, or Israel being the wheat and the other nations being the chaff, are just analogies. They show a relationship, but are not intended to be conclusive about the political relationships of the world–even those including God. As said in previous chapters, Israel was created for the sake of the nations in the same way that medicine is created for those who are sick.
But! Wasn’t Israel created for the church? And if so, why do we say for the nations?
“[Isn’t it true that] the universe exists for this earth, this earth for humanity, humanity for the church, and the church for Christ? And we unhesitatingly answer this question in the affirmative, provided that we do not take the church as institution but as the body of God’s elect, that is, the mystical body of Christ. In that sense, on the basis of God’s Word we consider it t o be definitely true that all things revolve around Christ as the Center, that the elect have been given him by the Father, and that consequently our entire human race with its history revolves around the church of God.” (448)
And of course in the Old Testament, the ‘church of God’ was ‘Israel.’ So again, isn’t the world for Israel in the Old Testament, and for the church in the New? Kuyper’s answer here is interesting. It is a clear ‘yes’ in the broad and mystical sense. When we’re speaking of ‘the church’ and mean something like ‘the existential community of God’s people,’ and use the term ‘Israel’ as a stand-in, then yes all things are for ‘Israel.’
Yet, the particular Israel, the nation-state of the Old Testament, acts as a type pointing to Christ. David, the priests, and so forth are types of Chirst, and all of humanity in that sense focuses on ‘Israel.’ But what we also see is that over and over in the Old Testament, when ‘Israel’ is mentioned in this way, what we see is the Lord reigning through Israel over the whole earth.
“So we do not in the least receive the impression of a world that doesn’t matter, that t he Lord’s involvement in the world would be limited to only that one small nation, but quite otherwise, of a God who seeks his world, whose glory covers the entire earth, who on this earth leads the nations, all tribes of the nations… with his providential sovereignty, in order to shepherd them with his truth and his judgments and to summon everything he created in this human life to bring the offering of praise and worship.” (450)
This was not a general government–God’s rule was a specific governance of all things. From the largest nation down to the single individual, all are governed by His decree.
This is not to say that there is no discrimination between those whom God rules. The elect have a distinction in the closeness of our relationship, a ‘most special care’ which is even closer and more distinct for God’s own Son. This care ‘is not wider in extent, but deeper…’ and involves salvation. (452)
So yes, Paul says that God abandoned the Gentiles to marry Israel, but that does not negate ‘God’s providential sovereignty.’ The thread of history runs through Israel to Christ from Adam, but even in this history God’s light shines on the nations. We see this occasionally in the Canaanites (as already mentioned), in the saving of Egypt through Pharaoh’s dreams and Joseph’s interpretations, in Ninevah, in Sheba, in Cyrus, and so on. All these nations–all nations–are in God’s hands.
Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO
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