: Did you read last week’s bulletin? If not, or if you don’t recall what I wrote, you should read that first, then come back to this one as a continuation of the same topic.
Last week we read, “It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children.” Rom 9:6-7. The two keys to understanding this passage are: 1. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel when he was saved. 2. In last week’s bulletin, I told you “Israel” is a spiritual word referring to the church on earth, or the kingdom of God right now. Jacob was part of that church. Therefore, the passage above states:
“For not all who descended from Jacob actually belong to the kingdom of God. Just because they are his descendants, does not mean they are the children that I—God —promised to his father Abraham.”
So God’s promise to Abraham about his descendants was spiritual. God was referring to the church He would build with people from any nationality who shared the same faith in God that Abraham had.
Here is another passage I would like you to know: “A Jew is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew is he is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.” Rom 2:28,29.
Here again, Paul makes it clear that someone becomes a “Jew” when something “inward” happens according to the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, “Jew” has always been God’s reference to someone who is saved by faith and is baptized by the Holy Spirit to crucify their sinful nature—an inward work (Romans 6).
Near the close of the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was in captivity to the Babylonians. This occurred according to the will of God, because the Jews were faithless idolators, refusing to give Him thanks for His blessings and His faithfulness. Ezekiel was the Lord’s prophet to the Jews during that time. The Lord’s words to them through Ezekiel were very judgmental and harsh. But in chapter 11, He says this: “This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘I will gather you back from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered…They will return and…I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them. I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.’” Eze 11:17, 19.
I would like you to see the fulfillment of this passage. Remember, God said, “I will gather you…from the countries where you have been scattered.”
Now there were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard the sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked, “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? How then is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism) Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues! Acts 2:5-11.
The fulfillment of God’s promise began at Pentecost! It was the arrival of the promised Holy Spirit who began calling people from all over the world—both Jews and Gentiles—to salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. Where is He calling them back to? Heaven! He is bringing them back to a state of true worship that their souls once knew before the beginning of time.
People forget the purpose of the Bible. Everything in the Old Testament leads us to the cross. Everything points to the salvation of souls. It was never about nations, but about people being saved, one at a time. (…to be continued)
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