When “In That Day” Happens: Israel, Idols, and the All-in-All Vision

When “In That Day” Happens: Israel, Idols, and the All-in-All Vision


The Old Testament repeatedly uses the phrase “in that day” to mark a turning point, especially when Israel and the surrounding nations discard their idols. These passages—from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets—aren’t about spiritual piety in abstraction. They are grounded in historical upheaval, political reorganization, and cultural realignment.


Consider Isaiah 2:18–20 and Isaiah 31:7, which describe a time when mankind casts away silver and gold idols. This is echoed in Zechariah 13:2, where the names of idols will be cut off entirely, and Micah 5:10–14, where carved images are destroyed. Even nations outside Israel are included: Zephaniah 2:11 promises the “gods of the earth” will be famished. Across these texts, “in that day” functions as a marker of systemic change.


Historically, Israel often functioned as a superpower under a vassal-suzerain treaty—a smaller state loyal to a dominant empire, yet enjoying relative autonomy. Chronicles 1:18 illustrates this: David’s military victories and political dominance were exercised within the framework of larger imperial obligations, a balance of autonomy and vassalage. This context helps explain the Old Testament’s emphasis on judgment and reform: Israel’s position was precarious, and abandoning foreign idols symbolized loyalty to the suzerain God as the ultimate power behind the throne.


Fast forward to Revelation 21–22. The familiar, Pauline eschatological imagery—“God will be all in all”—can be interpreted through this lens as the ultimate vassal-suzerain scenario writ large. If Israel represents the suzerain-state model of cultural dominance under divine authority, then Revelation depicts the full realization of that system. The surrounding nations no longer require their idols; political and religious structures collapse in recognition that the God of Israel is the only suzerain worth allegiance. All prior cultic and political hierarchies are dismantled, leaving a unified order under a single authority.


The pattern is consistent:


Isaiah 17:7–8, 27:9: Israel abandons altars and Asherim.


Isaiah 30:22: Carved idols are defiled and scattered.


Jeremiah 10:11–15, 46:25: Foreign idols are destroyed as part of day-of-YHWH judgments.


Ezekiel 6:4–6, 30:13: Israelite and neighboring cults are shattered.


Hosea 2:16–17, 14:3: Baals and false gods are removed from memory.


Amos 5:26–27, Habakkuk 2:18–20: Exiled or defeated nations lose their gods.



These are historical oracle events, not abstract moral prescriptions. The “day” signals geopolitical and cultic reordering, often after conquest, exile, or empire-wide shift.


When Revelation speaks of God being “all in all”, it echoes these patterns. Israel’s historical example becomes a symbolic template for ultimate political-religious unity: all nations acknowledge the authority of the one power, and all former idols—political, religious, cultural—are discarded. The narrative is less about individual salvation and more about systemic supremacy and allegiance.


From a historical perspective, the eschaton is the moment when Israel’s ancient vassal-suzerain model is realized on a cosmic scale. This occurred in 70AD. The idols of the surrounding nations—whether literal cult images or metaphorical representations of independent power—are thrown away. The result is a reordering of power and authority, a fulfillment of the political and religious “in that day” prophecies of the Hebrew prophets. God being “all in all” is the acknowledgment that the ultimate suzerain is universally recognized, and the former structures of human and divine authority outside that suzerainty are nullified.



Conclusion


The biblical motif of “in that day” repeatedly links historical political supremacy, vassal treaties, and cultic reform to 70AD. Applied to Revelation 21–22, it presents a symbolic culmination of Israel’s ancient role: the surrounding nations abandon their idols, acknowledging the ultimate authority of Israel’s God. In other words, God being “all in all” is the end of political and religious pluralism, reflecting the same patterns seen when Israel navigated empire and vassalage in antiquity. History, politics, and cultic authority converge into a single vision of universal recognition.

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