4.3 Desire For Acceptance

Those with spiritual problems are prone to reason that when judgment day comes, they will be able to just shrug their shoulders and walk away from their Lord to eventual death. However, there is every reason to think that the rejected will come to their spiritual senses then, and plead to be allowed to enter the Kingdom. Many will seek to enter into the Kingdom at the judgment but will not be able; and so we should strive now to enter into it (Lk. 13:24). The implication is that if we strive to enter in now, we will enter in then. Everyone will so earnestly seek to enter the Kingdom in the last day, and the urgency of that coming day should be ours today. Ezekiel's prophecies so often make the point that experiencing God's judgments leads men to know Him; thus at the day of judgment, the rejected will knock at the door of the Kingdom, knowing that they know Christ- to be told that although they may now know him, he doesn't know them. Thus the pain of rejection will be acutely mental rather than physical. Ezekiel is told to judge Israel, i.e. "cause them to know the abominations of their fathers" (Ez. 20:4). This is what condemnation will result in- a recognition of sin for what it is. "According to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they [the ways and doings] judge thee" (Ez. 24:14). It will be self-condemnation, but they will then realize this in terrible detail.

The rejected will not only see how they could have been in the Kingdom; judgment results in men knowing God's Name / character. When God's judgments had been poured out on Egypt, then they knew God's Name (Ex. 7:5). They will come to appreciate true spirituality- but tragically all too late. Is. 33:14-18 describes the feelings of the rejected in this regard. "The sinners in Zion" [the ecclesia] will realize that they cannot dwell with the devouring fire of Yahweh; then they will appreciate the qualifications of those who can enter the Kingdom ["he that walketh righteously…that despiseth the gain of oppressions…he shall dwell on high"]; their eyes "shall see the king in his beauty", they will appreciate the beauty of their Lord, and like Moses, their eyes "shall behold the land that is very far off", yet be unable to enter it. And the passage concludes: "Thine heart shall meditate terror". What other way to put it. When the rejected are finally consumed, they will be made to know "that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah." (Ps. 59:13). Then they will know themselves to be but men; then they will realize the frailty of their humanity (Ps. 9:19,20). Note the parallel: “Let the nations be judged…let the nations know themselves to be but men”.  The implication is that to not know God’s judgments is to somehow act as if we are not mere men; we play God by taking His judgments into our own hands. “The wicked saith, He will not require it. All his thoughts are, that there is no God” (Ps. 10:4 RV). By thinking God doesn’t really see, they despise Him (Ps. 10:11,13).

In judgment day, the priests will realize the wonder of the covenant relationship which they have; and therefore, Malachi drives home, why despise that covenant now, in the way we live (Mal. 2:4,10)? When they are appointed their portion with the hypocrites and there is wailing and gnashing of teeth, then  shall the Kingdom be likened unto the five wise and five foolish virgins. Then the rejected will understand the principles of that parable, crystal clearly. Members of the ecclesia of Israel will say "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord"- but be rejected (how else to understand Mt. 23:39?). Likewise the Egyptians, fleeing in the mud from Yahweh as they vainly hoped against hope that the returning waters wouldn't somehow reach them...they came to know Yahweh (Ex. 14:18). It could well be that this knowing of Yahweh involves a desperate recounting of their sins, seeing that one of the purposes of condemnation is to make men aware of their sinfulness and the depth of God's grace. Num. 32:23 prophesied of Israel in their time of condemnation: "You will be sensible of your sin when evil overtakes you" (LXX). Truly has Ez. 6:9 prophesied of the rejected: "They shall loathe themselves for their evils which they have committed in all their abominations". Jude 15 would even suggest that the purpose of judgment being executed is to convict the rejected of all their ungodly deeds and hard words. Through realising their condemnation they will realize in awful detail exactly why this had to be. Our own self-examination now will be stimulated by realising the depth to which we deserve condemnation, even though by grace we are saved rather than condemned.

Thus the foolish virgins of the parable awake from their spiritual slumber to frantically search for oil, knocking desperately at the door, pleading for acceptance. No shrugging of shoulders in their attitude! Song 5:6 RV perhaps prefigures their feelings: “My soul had failed me when he spake”. Esau's great and bitter cry for blessing is quoted in Heb. 12:17 as typical of the attitude of all the rejected. He had earlier shrugged at the implications of selling his birthright, but now his self-rejection was being worked out in practice. The rejected argue back "When saw we thee...?". Surely they wouldn't have bothered doing so, unless they were upset at their rejection, and desiring to see the verdict altered. Israel's passing through the Red Sea is a definite type of baptism, and their largely unsuccessful wilderness journey therefore becomes a pattern of failed Christian lives. Yet when they were told that they were unworthy to enter the land, obvious as it must have been to them, they repented and were willing to make any sacrifice to enter it (Num. 14:40-48). When they disobeyed God's word and fled to Egypt from the Babylonians, they then so wanted to return to their land [cp. the Kingdom]- but it was all too late (Jer. 44:14). Cain is another type of the rejected- instead of going as far away from Divine things as possible after his condemnation, he went to live on the east of Eden- where the cherubim were, guarding the barred entry to God's paradise (Gen. 4:16). The Hebrews were warned not to follow Esau's sinful example (Gen. 27:34), otherwise at the judgment they would experience what he did: "Afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing (cp. our desiring the Abrahamic promises of entry into the Kingdom), he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it with tears" (Heb. 12:17). In view of this, the weeping of the rejected at judgment may be as a result of desperate pleading with the Lord to change his mind (1). Earlier in Hebrews the point is made that "he that despised Moses' law died without mercy". The phrase "without mercy" is surely included to point out that the condemned would have earnestly pleaded for mercy, after the pattern of Cain, the foolish virgins pleading for entry... The next verse continues: "Of how much sorer punishment...shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the son of God?" (Heb. 10:28,29), indicating that the sad picture of those condemned under the old Covenant, pleading for mercy, will be repeated at the judgment of those under the new Covenant. Note, in passing, that there are degrees of punishment. For some, the judge will pass them to the officer, who will cast them into prison (i.e. condemnation). For others, the judgment will pass them to the council and from there to hell fire (Mt. 5:21-25). Although the wages of sin will still be death at the judgment, it will be a "sorer punishment" for those under the New Covenant than those under the Old. Because there are, in some way, degrees of sin, there must also be degrees of punishment (2 Chron. 28:13,22; 1 Cor. 6:18; Lev. 5:18 note "according to thy estimation"; Judas had a "greater sin" than Pilate, Jn. 19:11). The punishment of the wicked at judgment will somehow take this into account. If the rejected are destroyed together (Mt. 13:30) and yet there are varying degrees of punishment, it follows that the punishment must be on a mental level; and "gnashing of teeth" certainly fits in with this suggestion.

This theme of the rejected later seeking acceptance is repeated elsewhere:

-     "They (rejected Israel) shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find Him; He hath withdrawn Himself from them" (Hos. 5:6). Did the Lord quarry his parable of the rejected virgins from this passage?

-     Then, in condemnation, Israel will return to their God in spirit, just as He had pleaded with them to do in this life (Mal. 3:17,18 cp. 3:7). Yet they had said "Wherein shall we return?". They didn't see the need for repentance. But in condemnation they will so so wish to repent, but find it impossible practically.

- "When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you (quoted in Rom. 2:8 re. the judgment). Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me" (Prov. 1:27,28).

- The paralysed man sat by the pool of Bethesda, desperate for someone to take pity and take him to the water so that he might be saved from his pathetic plight. Jesus told him: "Sin no more, lest a worse thing (than those years of sitting by the pool) come upon thee" (Jn. 5:14). That "worse thing" was rejection at the judgment- which, it could be inferred, would be like earnestly desiring salvation but not finding it.

- The manna represented the word of God and the salvation which comes through its revelation of Christ (Jn. 6). Israel could gather it on six days of the week, but not on the seventh. The seventh day represents the Millennium / Kingdom (cp. how the manna ceased as soon as they entered Canaan, representing the Kingdom). Yet on the seventh day Israel sought to collect manna (Ex. 16:27), but found none- as the foolish virgins of the new Israel will seek the oil of the word when it is no longer available.

- "Then shall ye return, and discern [judge] between the righteous and the wicked" (Mal. 3:18) is spoken to the "ye" of Malachi 3 (e.g. v. 14) who refused to repent. God had asked them to repent, but their response was: "Wherein shall we return?" (3:7). But in their final rejection, they would repent, all too late, and appreciate the basis of the Lord's condemnation: they will discern the crucial chasm between the righteous and the wicked, just as "then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins..." (Mt. 25:1). Then, the wicked will understand the judgments of God. But it is our wisdom to learn and appreciate them now.

Desire For Acceptance

- When God’s judgments had been poured out on Egypt, then they knew God’s Name (Ex. 7:5).

- When the rejected are finally consumed, they will be made to know “that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.” (Ps. 59:13).

- When they are appointed their portion with the hypocrites and there is wailing and gnashing of teeth, then  shall the Kingdom be likened unto the five wise and five foolish virgins.

- Members of the ecclesia of Israel will say “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”- but be rejected (Mt. 23:39?).

- Likewise the Egyptians, fleeing in the mud ...they came to know Yahweh (Ex. 14:18).

- The foolish virgins  frantically search for oil, knocking desperately at the door, pleading for acceptance.

- The rejected argue back "When saw we thee...?".

- Israel trying to enter land when condemned (Num. 14:40-48).

- Cain- instead of going as far away from Divine things as possible after his condemnation, he went to live on the east of Eden- where the cherubim were, guarding the barred entry to God's paradise (Gen. 4:16).

- Esau (Gen. 27:34): "Afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it with tears" (Heb. 12:17).

- "They (rejected Israel) shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find Him; He hath withdrawn Himself from them" (Hos. 5:6).

- "When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you (quoted in Rom. 2:8 re. the judgment). Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me" (Prov. 1:27,28).

- On the seventh day Israel sought to collect manna (Ex. 16:27), but found none.

 

Asaph seems to have clearly foreseen how awful it would be for the wicked to finally come to seek God when it was all too late- he wishes upon his enemies that in the day when their faces are filled with shame [i.e. at the last day], they would “seek thy name… that they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth” (Ps. 83:16,18). Notice that he didn’t gloat over any prospect of the wicked being physically tormented; rather did Asaph perceive that the mental torment of grasping the wonder of God’s Name and His rulership and yet being unable to have a part in it was actually something far worse. And of course it carries with it the tremendous imperative to seek God’s Name now. We should turn unto God now, because “In that day every man shall cast away his idols” (Is. 31:6). “In that day” nothing else will matter nor be important. So therefore, we ought to cast away our idols today and turn solely to the Lord, as we will do so then. Jer. 23:15 likens God’s judgment to drinking wormwood. But homeopathy has discovered that wormwood is a cure for some forms of breast cancer and malaria- on the homeopathic principle that the actual trace elements of the illness can be the elements of the cure. God knew this of course when He describes His condemnation of men as a drinking of wormwood. There is something healing and therapeutic about judgment, even if it doesn’t save the individual judged.

Notes

(1) If Esau's rejection by Isaac is indeed a picture of the rejection of the goats at the final judgment (Heb. 12:17), Isaac there becomes a hazy prefigurement of our future judge. And yet the record presents a scene of both father and rejected son as shaken and helpless, both dearly wishing it could be different (Gen. 27:33). The sadness of Isaac becomes a figure of the pathos and sadness of God in rejecting the wicked. Note how the LXX of Gen. 27:38 adds the detail: "And Isaac said nothing; and Esau wept". We are left to imagine the thoughts of Isaac's silence. Truly our God takes no pleasure at all in the death of the wicked (Ez. 33:11).