Fq – In That Day the Deaf Will Hear the Words of the Scroll 29: 17-24

In That Day the Deaf Will Hear the Words of the Scroll
29: 17-24

In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll DIG: What does the phrase: In that day mean (29:18)? Who is the New Covenant made with? What will happen when creation is turned upside down? How will Jacob be different then? Who will co-rule with the Messiah? When will they rule? How will they rule?

REFLECT: How has Yeshua opened your ears and eyes to learn His message in a way you could never hear or see before? What do you most look forward to in the Messianic Kingdom? What hope do the promises here give you? How do verses like this encourage you? What can you do to encourage others?

There is another sudden shift to the theme of redemption as in 28:5-8. This section deals with the far eschatological covenant with the antichrist that will bring about a worldwide persecution of the Jews. When the nation of Isra’el finally rejects the rules taught by men (29:13b) and realizes that Christ was who He said He was, their national blindness will be removed (Zechariah 13:1-5). They will be able to hear the word of God and understand the book (Isaiah 29:11-12).

Previously, they could not properly interpret the Scriptures because rabbinical law was the only thing that guided them. But in that day, the Millennial Kingdom, the spiritual scales will fall from their eyes and they will not only be able to see the truth of the TaNaKh, but the B’rit Chadashah as well. About one hundred years later, Jeremiah would prophesy: The time is coming, declares ADONAI, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra’el and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the LORD. This is the covenant I will make with the whole house of Israel after that time, declares ADONAI. I will put My Torah in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying: Know the LORD, because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares ADONAI. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more (see the commentary on Jeremiah, to see link click Eo – I Will Make a New Covenant with the People of Yisra’el).

After the campaign of Armageddon and the ushering in of the Messianic Kingdom, the Israelites will rejoice in ADONAI. Things will be different then. In a very short time, as the LORD counts time (Second Peter 3:8), even the creation itself will be transformed. Will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field will seem like a forest (29:17)? Lebanon symbolizes that which is not made by human hands. The trees of the LORD are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted (Psalm 104:16). However, the fertile field is the product of human hands. But since the whole creation is infected by human sin, nothing is as it should be. Everything needs to be turned upside down! What appeared as wilderness will show its true nature as the Creator’s perfect design. What seemed to us like a well-ordered garden in our lifetime will, in retrospect, be a wild forest.

In that day, when the Messianic Kingdom comes, the metaphors of deafness and blindness will contrast with 29:10-12, which referred to the nation’s impaired sight. The deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see (29:18, also see 32:3 and 35:4-6). There will be a new hunger to hear and see the scroll or God’s Word, a New Covenant with the house of Isra’el and the house of Judah, and a new satisfaction in the Scriptures (Ephesians 5:8; First Thessalonians 5:4). Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Isra’el because of what He will do for them (29:19). Notice the reference to the humble, or the poor and the needy which, when used together, is always a reference to the faithful remnant of the Great Tribulation. The apostate Jews will be destroyed and the remnant will be saved (Zechariah 13:8-9).

The ruthless that deprived the innocent of justice will be punished. All active opposition to Messiah and His Kingdom will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down. Believers throughout history will rule and reign with Yeshua (Romans 8:17; Rev 2:26-27). Although some unbelievers be alive when the millennium starts, their sin nature will not be allowed to reveal itself. Those who with a word made a man out to be guilty, who ensnared the defender in court and with false testimony and deprived the innocent of justice, will be silenced (29:20-21). Those who are lost will have one hundred years to accept Christ as the Lord and Savior or they will die (see Kq – The Wolf and the Lamb Will Feed Together, and the Lion Will Eat Straw Like the Ox). Righteousness will reign and evil will not be tolerated.

The forecast of the Messianic Kingdom is now traced back to the original purposes of God, and focuses on His chosen people Jacob (Deuteronomy 7:7; 14:2). Therefore, this is what ADONAI, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob (29:22a). The word therefore does not merely summarize the previous couple of verses. More exactly, it introduces a summary not only of 29:17-21, but of Chapters 28 and 29 also. It might be loosely paraphrased, in the light of everything that has been said on this topic, then, I wish to say. When did ADONAI redeem Abraham? In the most general sense, Abram was redeemed (see the commentary on Exodus Bz – Redemption) when the LORD took him outside to look up into the heavens. At that time God said to him: Count the stars, if indeed you can count them. But there were so many stars they were impossible to count. Then ADONAI said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And fatherless Abram, whose name meant father of a great multitude, believed ADONAI, and He credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:5-6); God redeemed Abraham when he believed in Him.

Jacob is pictured as an anxious spectator of all that has happened to his descendants. But when Messiah comes He will say to the house of Jacob, “No longer will you be ashamed or your faces grow pale” by foreign domination and your own sin (29:22b). For when they see among them their children, the work of their hands, they will keep My name holy (29:23a). Instead of being disgraced by its barrenness, the house of Jacob will be wonderfully fruitful. The final link in the chain of command of the Jewish branch of the Messianic government is that Isra’el will rule over the Gentiles (see the commentary on Revelation Fi – The Government of the Messianic Kingdom).

In that day, the faithful remnant will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Isra’el (29:23). As their children grow up in safety they will realize that God has protected them. They will stand in awe and worship Him. ADONAI’s deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib (37:36) will be a foretaste of the ultimate deliverance from the antichrist.

Individual life will be changed in the Messianic Kingdom. Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain (Deuteronomy 1:27; Psalm 106:25) will accept instruction (29:24). No longer will spiritual blindness prevail. Instead of resentful grumbling there will be a teachable spirit. They will know God in a personal way and be His children.