Elisha Vision – Commentary

Was God surprised and taken off guard when Adam and Eve fell into sin? Did that event throw a monkey wrench into God’s “little earth experiment?” Did He wring his hands and worry: “What am I going to do? Oh! What am I going to do now? I wasn’t prepared for this”? Does God have a Plan A and B and perhaps a Plan C or D? Of course it sounds foolish when put this way, but has God ever been surprised by any development of history? This is a very critical and basic issue. This question is pertinent to our whole story. If God just tries a plan “to see if it works” and in fact does not really know whether it will, then He is not the God of the Bible.

“Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed it; I will also do it” Isaiah 46:9-11.

This hardly sounds like one who is ruling at the whims of mankind’s vacillating will. We do have a free will as it affects our personal place in God’s plan, but our choice will neither alter nor thwart God’s purpose. He is the only one who knows the outcome from beginning to end before it happens! There is no Plan B!

“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, “My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,” Isaiah 46:10

Some Christians today are actually being tempted by fleshly pride with the so-called “replacement theology” that says it didn’t work out with Israel, so God raised up the church to replace them. The real danger of this line of thinking is that if God could change His mind about all His promises to Israel, what would keep Him from changing His mind about the church? Most people in the western nations are ignorant of Islam, but Islamic theology teaches precisely that! They say Israel blew it and then God called the church, but they blew it too, so God called Mohammed and the Muslims of Islam.  In effect, they teach that Islam is Plan C. This is not true! God does not revise His purpose to fit man, but He revises man to fit His purpose. He has only had one plan from the beginning, and ultimately He will do it, either with us or without us. In the end there will be an Israel in the land fulfilling in exact literal detail every promise of the Bible, in concert with those promises to the church in all nations.

The Old and New Covenants are a progressive revelation of the original blueprint. These testaments are not mutually exclusive or contradictory as some teach but are a beautifully woven tapestry. They reveal the infinite artistry of our loving Creator who is revealed most perfectly in Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega (Hebrew: the Aleph and the Tav), the beginning and the end. Jesus is not only the Omega of the New Testament, but He is also the Alpha of the Old Testament. God has been working on only one plan all along and it is right on schedule. Israel has always been in the plan and still is even at the end. We, the church, can only understand how we fit it by understanding the context of Israel. The church is grafted into Israel, the original planting of the Lord. There is not a new tree! There is no Plan B! (Today’s blog is excerpted from Chapter 3 in my newest book, Speak To The Dirt!)

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and pray for the latter rains.

Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists                    (Read more)