Church Unity

Unity in the Church

Romans 15:8-13: The Gentiles in Prophecy; Unity between Jewish and Gentile believers.

⁸Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
⁹And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.
¹⁰And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
¹¹And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.
¹²And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.
¹³Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Introduction:

The Old Testament is full of promises; mostly (but not all) directed specifically to Israel. In the verses we just read, the Apostle Paul states that Jesus came to serve Israel with regard to the truth of God; in confirmation of the promises made to the patriarchs; but also so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his Mercy.

Paul alludes to Isaiah 42:6, 7, where it says that the Messiah would be a covenant (confirmation of the promises) to the people (Israel,) and a light to the Gentiles, providing healing to the nations. He then gives several examples (by no means exhaustive) of the prophecies specifically referring to the Gentiles. He quotes Psalm 18:49; Deuteronomy 32:43; Psalm 117:1, and Isaiah 11:1, 10. There are many other passages that make promises specifically directed to whole Gentile nations, or to all the Gentiles as a group. I suspect that, while the Jewish teachers were aware of the theory that the Gentiles would also inherit the mercy and blessing of God, they were, at best, less than enthusiastic about it. Thus, the seeds of division were still present in the early church, though the foundation for unity had been laid at the Cross.

How are the Gentiles to Fit In? And, how can the Jews be at Peace?

Paul’s conclusion regarding the Gentile believers (who were the recipients of this epistle) is, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” They are not to feel inferior to the Jewish believers in any way, nor, as we saw in Romans chapters 9-11, are they to feel superior in any way.

Both groups were condemned under sin, and guilty before God, according to Romans chapters 1-3, and both have been the recipients of God’s Grace through the person of Christ, according to Romans chapters 4-8. They are called to be a blessing to one another and live in unity even regarding things about which they traditionally are in disagreement. (See verse 10: they were to rejoice WITH God’s people the Jews.) Have you noticed that the Jewish believers (as a whole) were never told to drop their customs and start eating foods they considered unclean?

Peter was commanded (Acts 10) to graciously receive the Gentiles who had come to him in obedience to the angelic command given to the Roman Centurion, Cornelius. And the means by which Peter was commanded was by a vision, wherein he was shown some unclean animals, and was told “Arise, Peter, kill and eat!” Was God commanding him to eat unclean food? No; the three repetitions of the command in the vision were only to prepare him for the three Gentile men who were approaching the front door at that moment. God told him three times that if God had made something clean, he, Peter, had no authority to call it unclean. Peter responded correctly to the Gentiles because God correctly prepared him. Romans chapters 14 and 15 are the equivalent preparation for the whole church—the small differences we may have because of cultural backgrounds, diverging traditions within churches, etc. are not allowed to cause division. All believers share in the blessed hope of Christ. But the seeds of division are still there!

The Gentiles were frustrated by the Jews continual emphasis on the Law, and the feast days, and their dietary restrictions. The Jews were horrified that the Gentiles were not in compliance with all these things. Paul said that they were not to be divided over such things, but rather that they were to appreciate one another, and recognize that, just as each part of a human body has a different task (1^st Corinthians 12), so we are to appreciate one another for how each fits into God’s Building, the Church.

What about Other differences?

Other potential areas of division (and just as inappropriate) would include styles of ministry, or individual gifting. One Elder may be specifically gifted as a preacher, and he may completely give himself to encouraging, edifying, and comforting the flock (1^st Corinthians 14:3). He will be a blessing to all those in his care. People are moved by preaching, and blessed, and their hearts are warmed. They find reassurance, and a stronger faith thereby. All of which is good!

But: another elder in the same assembly may be specifically gifted as a teacher. He may spend countless hours ferreting out the most accurate interpretation for any given passage of scripture, so that he can teach others, also, to clearly understand God’s Word. To those hungering to understand, he, too will be a blessing, but in a different way. No one gets “warm fuzzy feelings” over a well-taught point of theology, though some may be thrilled to see how ALL of God’s Word holds together in full agreement. But the emotional content simply is not the same.

And yet, both gifts are valid, and need one another, as well as being needed by the assembly. Good application is built upon good interpretation. Good interpretation still requires appropriate application, as well. It is not a safe practice to simply “jump” to application in one’s life when reading a passage of scripture. One has to read carefully, and consider what is being said, by whom, to whom, and so forth, before deciding how to apply it. Neither is it appropriate to simply understand a passage. Understanding demands action. This is not just “fun stuff to know and tell.” Knowledge is for the purpose of conduct. (Think that over.)

There are cultural divides within major cultures, as well. Music, aesthetics, clothing styles, dietary choices, public behavior, table manners…virtually anything can be a source of division, so long as we are willing to take occasion to do so. The key is to not be willing to break fellowship over such things.

Jew and Gentile issues, again

So, how does all this tie into the issues between the Jewish and the Gentile believers? Consider: How might it help for the Jewish believers to continue on with the Jewish feast days? How might it hurt? How would it help for the Gentile believers to cheerfully go on with their work, their clothing choices and their diets, without regard for the Old Testament Jewish laws? (This is not in reference to moral issues, or things condemned as sin in all dispensations.)

Paul had Timothy circumcised, as a Jew, because he was a Jew, though he had a Gentile father and was not raised as a practicing Jew. He made no attempt to have Titus become a Jewish proselyte, though he had a seemingly identical ministry. Why? Because Timothy was better able to reach Jews with the Gospel, and minister to the needs of Jewish believers, if he fully embraced his Jewish heritage, and was someone they did not see as a renegade, or an apostate. Titus, on the other hand, was a full Gentile by birth, and it would have been detrimental to his testimony to become a Jewish proselyte, because it would add confusion to the message of the Gospel. It may have pacified the “Judaizers”, but it would also have strengthened their claim that one has to become a Jew to be saved, which is pure heresy, and which was exactly what Paul was fighting against from the beginning.

This is why it was so important for the believers at Rome to accept one another as they were, without criticism about things that had no bearing on one’s relationship with God. The enemy was already at work to divide the newborn church, to split it into warring factions, and to destroy the credibility of its testimony. They could either overcome the differences by obedience to God’s Word, or allow the Enemy to destroy the church.

What did the apostle James say about the matter? (Acts 15:19) That the Jewish believers were not to “trouble those who from among the Gentiles had turned to God”. The same could be said of the Gentile believers, that they were not to trouble the Jewish believers. The whole issue, here in Romans 14 and 15, is the matter of unity in spite of differences. They could either choose to appreciate one another for the unique ways that God had gifted them, or choose to destroy the work of God through self-centered arrogance.

So, What about Today?

Those are the choices today, as well. It is never a question of condoning sin, but rather of allowing and appreciating liberty within the holiness of God. A well-meaning pastor once accused my youngest son of being a “worldly man” while he himself claimed to be a “Godly man,” based entirely upon my son’s choice in music. I felt that it was a sad thing, to destroy fellowship over such a thing, and I privately wondered what the music had been that occasioned such an attack, but I didn’t ask. A week or so later, my son and I were driving somewhere, and he had some pretty rocky-sounding music playing on his car system; then he said “This is the song that the pastor was complaining about, when he called me a “worldly man.” So, I listened more closely to the lyrics, to see what the content of the song really was. This is what I heard: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me! Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me! Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation…”

The song was the 51^st Psalm, set to music. That is what he was being condemned for. Why? Because the human accuser did not like the music. But the Accuser of the Brethren is not human, and he doesn’t like the lyrics. He will use any means possible to cause division, and to diminish the effectiveness of the Church. Frequently the damage done is irreparable…the wounded brother quietly leaves, and the accuser feels justified, and grimly quotes, “They went out from among us because they were not of us!”

If you drive away another believer with your criticism, don’t accuse them of being unfaithful, or of being false brethren. It is your critical heart that is doing the damage. Ezekiel 34:15-22 says that God sees such doings, and will judge those doing the damage.

¹⁵I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. ¹⁶I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

¹⁷And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. ¹⁸Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.

²⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. ²¹Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; ²²Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.

Those who are driving away the weaker believers will be judged by God. We need to develop a very tender heart toward such offences, and be very careful about our words and actions.

This is not just about what happens in church, by the way: it is a warning that touches on every human relationship. James says that we all tend to sin with our tongues. We tend to have big mouths, and we need to put a guard on them, so as not to injure others with thoughtless words. The root of the tongue, of course, is the heart. Jesus said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

The self-will and self-centeredness that controls the heart of every unregenerate man is still there, in believers, but we are no longer its slaves. We no longer have to sin. (Romans 6:1-18) We are dead to sin, just as surely as we are dead to the Law. So, we need to set aside the critical spirit that wells up within us, and embrace the New Life in Christ, to the extent that we no longer reject one another based upon differences in tastes, mannerisms, styles, giftedness, or even minor doctrinal differences. It is simply not acceptable to reject one another over things that God accepts…to reject a person whom God says is “Accepted in the Beloved.”

The Result?

Paul says that the church is to be filled “with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

We are to abound in hope through whose Power? That of the Holy Spirit. This is not a “do-it-yourself” project. We are told to endeavor to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace.” We don’t create that unity, and, as the Psalmist says, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” But we are not to disrupt that unity for the sake of any of the types of things listed here: Not what we eat or drink (both strictly temporal, at worst); not what we wear, not our ministry style, or our taste in music; not what we believe about the end times (which are easily misunderstood at best, and not everyone who is “confused” is necessarily a false teacher.)

We are to be characterized by the Agapé love, not by our many divisions and schisms. Paul sternly warned the Corinthian church against such divisions. (1^st Corinthians 1:10-16) They were divided over who their individual mentors had been. Some claimed that Paul was their leader. Others claimed to follow Apollos. Still others took the high road and said “Well I follow Jesus!” That one sounds good, maybe, but what they were actually accomplishing was more division, not corrective teaching. Had they said “Can’t we all just follow Jesus? I mean that’s who both Paul and Apollos follow, right?” Then, I would say they were part of the solution. But as it is, they were part of the problem of contention, self-will and sectarian pride.

That still happens today: There was a fellow with whom I attended high school, who was not a believer when we graduated. I was a brand new believer at that time. We met about eight or ten years later and he was a brand new, enthusiastic, and friendly, warm brother in the Lord. We had good fellowship! But I met him again, perhaps five years later, in a grocery store, and something had changed:

He asked me what church I attended. I had been attending a Baptist church, because it was local, and because, doctrinally speaking, it was the closest thing I could find, nearby. So that is what I told him: “We’ve been attending this Baptist Church, up the street.” He physically straightened up so that he could look down his nose at me, and in a sanctimonious, smug, self-satisfied tone, said, “Well, I’m still gathering to the name of Jesus!” I was so disappointed to have him respond that way. He had not asked me about my beliefs, nor my practices. The only thing that mattered to him was the fact that I fellowshipped with people who were “part of a denomination.” The group with whom he met for fellowship, claimed to have no denominational ties, but, in fact they do! In separating themselves from all other believers, they have become a very tight-knit, world-wide denomination (or at least association). They are tarred with the same brush!

Conclusion:

Division is serious business. We are to avoid it like a fatal disease…because it is one! If the Jewish believers were not to reject the Gentile believers because of their worldly habits, and the Gentile believers were not to reject the Jews because of their legalistic bent, and if Paul rebuked the early beginning of sectarianism based on personality cults, then how can we feel we have the right to break fellowship over anything that is not flagrant sin?

We are not to cause division, nor to allow it to continue, if it is possible to heal the rifts. We do not sacrifice sound doctrine to create a false unity…called Ecumenism; but we do seek to maintain unity with those who truly believe the Bible is God’s Word, and who see the Priorities of the Gospel as paramount. It is difficult to sort out, sometimes, but we must be committed to the unity of the true church while not abandoning the Holiness of God.

Lord Jesus, give us the wisdom through your Word, and by your Holy Spirit to discern good and evil, and renew in us a pure heart with which to offer the agapé love to those around us. Apart from your divine help and intervention and empowerment, the task is impossible. Arm us for the fight, and fill us with your Joy, for the sake of your honor and glory.

April 9, 2016

What About Israel? (Part Three)

What about Israel? (Part three)

Romans 10:1-21

Introduction:

We have begun exploring Paul’s treatise in Romans chapters 9-11, explaining the current state of Israel, and how they still fit into God’s plans. Paul has already said how he feels toward Israel, not just as a nation, but specifically toward his fellow Jews. We saw how they rejected Jesus when He lived among them, and rejected His offer of salvation by grace through faith alone. The result has been that the Gentiles who were not even looking for a savior were then offered salvation…and many have joyfully received Him.

But Israel, who claimed to be seeking righteousness, and to be waiting for the Messiah, sought to do so by works of the Law, and had rejected faith. So, when their Messiah arrived, they rejected Him out of hand, as most still do today. They stumbled over the stumbling-stone that God set up throughout all the ages. Faith in a substitutionary sacrifice has always been the stumbling point. Cain rejected the blood sacrifice, and most people do, today, as a matter of fact. Jews and Gentiles alike stumble over this issue. But the Jews are a special tragedy, since it was their king, their Messiah, for whom they had waited, who they ultimately rejected.

What is Israel’s Position, Now?

10: ¹Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

²For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

³For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
So, where does that leave Israel? Has God abandoned them? Paul says they do have a zeal for God, but not based on a genuine knowledge of His righteousness; that because they are ignorant (agnoountes…without knowledge) of the holy righteousness of God, they have worked to establish their own style of righteousness, sourced in self-will; they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. This is true of non-Jews, too. We insist that we can have a “do-it-yourself” salvation; a self-righteous standing before a holy God. Throughout the Bible, when people saw God, they usually collapsed in despair, seeing their own unrighteousness compared to His eternal Holiness. Isaiah 6 says that when the prophet Isaiah saw the LORD, he said “Woe is me! I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips!” The Apostle John simply collapsed. The prophet Daniel was in similar condition. No one who truly sees the holiness of God will ever again see himself as sufficient.

Paul goes on to further explain the plight of the Jews. He makes no excuses for their position, but also does not treat them as being “beyond hope”: Quite the contrary; his greatest desire is that they might be saved. They are his family, in the broader sense. He says that in terms of the righteousness of God (which they claim to desire), they have truly missed the point:

⁴For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

The End of the Law for Righteousness

Paul declares that, had they embraced their Messiah, (as they say they will do, if He ever shows up, but in fact they did not do, when He did arrive), they would now be free from the Law of Moses as pertaining to personal righteousness.

⁵For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

Paul quotes Leviticus 18:5, here: under the Law, it was said, “if you do these things you will live.” That is not what the Gospel says. Moses brought a Law, saying “DO THIS and live!” The Law (and most Human religions) says “DO!” (“Do or Die”, in fact.) But Jesus offers something entirely different: in Romans 7 we saw that the Law was specifically inaugurated to show us that we CAN’T “do the things of righteousness.” The more we understand the righteousness of God, the more completely we realize the hopelessness of attempting to achieve such righteousness through our own efforts. And that was the intent of the Law: that we should be driven to the Messiah as our only hope. So: Jesus died to fulfil the demands of the Law toward sinners (you and me), and said “it is finished!” Where the Law said “Do!” Jesus said “It’s Done!”

If they knew the Messiah, they would know that the righteousness He provides puts an end to the involvement of the Law in producing righteousness. Law never could produce righteousness; it could only advertise the lack thereof. The Jews constantly thought that they could produce righteousness through works, just as most world religionists insist today. God says they can’t. In fact, Paul pointed out in Galatians 2:21 that, if righteousness could be attained by means of the Law, then Jesus died for nothing.

Here, in Romans 10, he simply says that Christ is the “end of the Law for righteousness”, to everyone that believes. The word “end” is “telos” in Greek…and it simply means “the end”: “termination”…not “fulfillment”. Yes, Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law; but in this passage, it clearly says he was the end of the law for righteousness. Law keeping is not even to be the outward sign of righteousness, in this age. Jesus said (John 13:34, 35) “by this shall all men know ye are my disciples”…how? If you keep the law? No: “If you have love one to another.”

⁶But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)

⁷Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

⁸But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

⁹That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

¹⁰For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

¹¹For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Paul points out the sharp contrast between Law and Grace. Grace says that the word of faith, preached by Christ and all his servants, is the truth; and that “if you believe it…you shall be saved.” Notice I left out the “confess” part. Not because confession of faith is not important, but because the faith part is what saves you. Genuine faith will result in confession of that faith, but a strict adherence to the idea that “confession with the mouth” is part of what saves you would exclude every mute person in history. Jesus said that whoever believes the Gospel has eternal life now, period. (John 5:24) Paul reiterated it when he told the Philippian Jailer, (Acts 16:31) “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved!”

Calling Upon the Name of the Lord

¹²For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

¹³For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
What does it mean to “call upon the name of the Lord?” By the host of passages that say, “believe…and be saved”, “look, and live”, etc., I would say that believing the Gospel, and claiming Jesus as your only hope for salvation is what moves a person from “death row” to full release in Christ. It requires a conscious decision: no one is “born saved”. If anyone tells me “Oh, I’ve always been a Christian!” I have serious doubts that they are saved at all. When we talk about “repentance” (which comes up a lot in scripture), usually the Greek word is “metanoia”…meaning a “change of mind”. There is a conscious change of mind involved, in choosing to take Jesus Christ as your savior…in deciding that His blood sacrifice is the payment for your sins. Whether it is public or private, spoken or silent, that decision must be made.

¹⁴How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

¹⁵And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Paul points out an interesting chain of ideas, here: He says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (quoting Joel 2:32). That implies a conscious decision…a choice. Then he poses a series of questions: “How can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?” This is “Missions,” friends! He is flatly telling you that if people don’t hear the Gospel they will not be saved. And that, if we are to be a part of the fulfillment of the Great Commission, we have to either be sending preachers or going ourselves as preachers. It can’t be any clearer. But obedience is scarce.

¹⁶But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

¹⁷So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Paul concludes that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”. That is a pretty solid passage pointing out the necessity of hearing and believing the Gospel, for salvation. We could already have concluded such a thing by reading Jesus’ promise in John 5:24 and many other, similar passages; Jesus said, “He that hears my Word and believes on Him who sent me, has eternal life…” Sounds pretty clear, all right. The problem is the response of the people. Paul states the problem, in the next few verses: Not everyone who hears the Gospel believes it.

¹⁸But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

¹⁹But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.

²⁰But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.

²¹But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
Israel, as a nation, has rejected the message of the Gospel, the messengers of the Gospel (the apostles and prophets) and the Messiah of the Gospel, Jesus Christ. So, can the Jews be saved?

Of course they can, exactly the same as anyone else! Unbelief is not the “unforgiveable sin”; otherwise every person in history would be unredeemable: we are all guilty of unbelief at one level or another. When a rebellious, proud, self-centered unbeliever (as I was) changes his mind (that is what “repentance” means) and chooses Jesus for his blood-sacrifice for sin, he is saved…regardless of his past unbelief and other sins.

Is Israel still God’s chosen people? Absolutely…but they are having a “time-out” right now. The time is coming when they will again be central to God’s rule on Earth…He says that His reign will be from Jerusalem, and that all the inhabitants of that city will be Holy to God, and they will be a nation of priests…a kingdom of priests. This is not the same as the promise that the Church will be kings and priests. We are a different group. The promises to Israel are to Israel. The promises to the Church are to the Church.

Paul points out, also, that they have had more than adequate warning. God said that the sound of the message has gone out to the whole earth, and that He would make His people jealous through a foolish nation, and through insignificant peoples (from human perspective, as they did not comprise nations, or clear-cut ethnic groups, but were simple tribes and villages.) He said that people who had made no attempt to seek the God of Israel, were going to find him, while the people who claim to be seeking God, are in fact being sought constantly by the one true God, and have consistently ignored His voice, down through the millennia…and so fail to see Him.

“Replacement Theology” is a Snare

There have been people for centuries—whole cults, in some cases—who have gotten the idea that the Church is the “new Israel”, and that God has permanently replaced Israel with the Church or even some particular nation. (There was quite a movement that believed Britain had replaced Israel, but it has lost momentum.) I don’t know how anyone can read Romans 9-11 and still believe that God had rejected Israel permanently. Perhaps, in their desire to “claim the promises” made to Israel, they honestly believe that they can seize the promises by fulfilling the Law at one level or another. But they are missing the point of relationship.

When I was a child, my father offered each of us kids $5 (a lot of money back then) to memorize a certain poem (Rudyard Kipling’s “If”). Suppose a neighbor child up the street had taken the initiative to memorize the poem, and tried to claim that prize? Should Dad have felt compelled to honor a promise he never offered to that child? There was a relationship involved: we were his offspring, and it was an exclusive relationship, whether anyone else approved or not. Could he have chosen to include them? Of course he could, but he was under no obligation to do so.

God entered into an exclusive, unilateral covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. God made the promise, and there was nothing for Abraham to do but believe it. In similar manner God has continued to broaden and extend that relationship through faith to believers ever since.

But part of the promise was to the physical “seed” of Abraham. That promise, including the land and the lineage of the Messiah, was continually narrowed, not broadened. It was narrowed to Isaac, in exclusion of Ishmael, as well as Midian, and his five brothers; sons of Abraham with Keturah. (By the way, the promise to Isaac was never rescinded.) It was later narrowed to Jacob, in exclusion of Esau. Part of the promise (the coming Messiah) was narrowed to the house of David, and then many generations later, it specifically excluded Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah, or Coniah), by name, saying that none of his offspring would inherit the crown, because of specific sin in his life. Finally, it centered upon the person of Jesus, who was the son of David through Mary; bypassing the cursed line of Jeconiah (from whom Joseph was descended), via the virgin birth. But the promise of the land remained to the children of Jacob—Israel—no other nation, or people. The Priesthood still was exclusively offered to the house of Aaron. None of those things changed until the destruction of the temple. Even now, if Israel was to rebuild the temple, they would have to come up with some Levites, and, hopefully, sons of Aaron, to serve as priests. But Jesus is the High Priest, in heaven, and will eventually reign on earth.

The promises to the Church are different, and not earthly, as a whole. They are heavenly in nature, and while we have the privilege of serving the God of Israel, we are in a different (and better) relationship. Ironically, any Jew today who believes in Jesus as his Messiah becomes part of this “New Man”, and is no longer technically part of Israel. He has “upgraded” to being part of the Bride of Christ. He is no longer just a “guest” at the wedding feast, but a part of the Bride.

How Should We Then Respond to Israel?

Once, years ago, I unexpectedly received an upgrade from economy to business class on an airliner. I was amazed at the difference in accommodations, leg-room, comfort and food! I was on the same aircraft as before, but in a completely different area, and was being treated accordingly. At the wedding feast of the Lamb, there will be many guests…but the Bride is in a special category. Don’t try to move into the “guest” area, when you are part of the Bride.

We must recognize the importance of Israel, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem: we are called to do both. Value the Jews highly, as a group, and as individuals. Reach out to them in friendship and Love. But don’t try to become a “part of Israel”, by attempting to keep the feasts and the Law. Continue to invite them to become part of the Bride, by Grace, through Faith.

Lord Jesus, help us to walk in the reality of our blessed relationship with the King, and seek to reach others for your Glory!