A chosen people, how would we consider the Jews today?

[Berean]

A CHOSEN PEOPLE: HOW SHOULD WE CONSIDER THE JEWS TODAY?

By Christian Israel

There are many who are advocating the idea that God prefers the fleshly descendants of the Jewish nation above all the other races of the earth. That is, that the Jews as a race are His “chosen people”. The idea that God shows preference to one class of individuals over another class however, is not biblical. What most have conceived in their minds regarding a Jewish person is that they the very stock religion of 2000 years ago from which the Messiah came. But a Jewish man and the Jewish faith, called Judaism which has altered over the millennia, are two distinctly separate things.

RESPECT OF PERSONS/THE RIGHT DNA
Firstly, does God look upon those who have Jewish genetic code with more favor than those who do not? Despite what many say about this, all are looked upon without respect or partiality, but are condemned or blessed according to the light, privileges, and opportunities given them. The Almighty does not prefer melanin skin above white skin, nor red skin to yellow, nor white to black or black to white. “But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.” (Romans 2:8-11) God is no respecter of persons. Nor did Paul think that his fleshly lineage to the patriarch Benjamin was something to be favored as making him set apart. “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” (Philippians 3:3-7)

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A JEW AND JUDAISM
It is important to realize what the Jews are, and what they are not. The religion of the Jews was anciently a Biblically-based faith, however, that does not mean that all Jews follow that religion. I may say that the religion of the Romans in the days of Constantine was Catholic, but that did not make every Roman a Catholic. Neither are all of the Indians Hindus, nor are all of the Chinese Buddhists. In like manner, today there are many Jews, and what

constitutes the religion of the Jews differs widely. The Jews are first and foremost a genetic racial identity, like Arabians or Egyptians. They are flesh and blood descendants of the patriarch Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah. And the religious identity we typically associate with the Jewish people is Judaism, but not all Jewish people are adherents to Judaism.
A survey was done by the Pew Research Center on Jewish identity. There findings were that overall, 22% of Jews say being Jewish is primarily about religion, while more than half (55%) say being Jewish is essentially about ancestry and/or culture. Only 27% of Jews said they observed the Sabbath day, while 53% said they do not observe it at all. Likewise, over 60% of these Jews identified as secular, while more recent surveys hold that number to a little above 40%. A survey by Gallup in 2015, 65% of Israelis identified as atheists or not religious. More than this, over 20% are orthodox Jews. Generally speaking, this means that they adhere to Kabbalism, which contains many strange beliefs, including reincarnation, incantations on amulets and talismans, curses, and the like. The Zohar, which is the book compiling the Kabbalistic religious traditions of the Jewish rabbis, even includes goat sacrifices to Satan. These are the most prominent religious sect in Jerusalem, yet most Christians would blush to think that God could bless these Jews who do such things. While there is another quarter that espouses the traditions of the rabbis after the Roman empire scattered the Jewish people. In fact, only a very small portion of these in Jerusalem are Christians. Paul the apostle makes this distinction even broader, when he states, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” (Romans 2:28-29) Paul unmistakably shows that a Jew is not merely someone who is flesh and blood relative of the ancient patriarch Judah, but rather, who is a Jew inwardly because of the Spirit of God; who is honored not merely of men, but of God.

A REVIVAL OF THE JEWS FORETOLD
Despite the fact that the seed after the flesh may not be regarded as a true Jew, the Bible speaks of a time when the apostle Paul’s Jewish kinsmen after the flesh would witness a restoration to the faith once delivered to the saints. As the Jews had rejected the light shining from heaven in partaking of crucifying the Messiah through unbelief, even so would they partake of receiving the light shining from heaven, in receiving the fullness of the gospel by faith. Paul speaks of this restoration that was to come.

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” (Romans 11:25)

As the prodigal son who left his father’s house returned, and the fatted calf was slain, so will many Jews receive the gospel they once rejected, and their ignorance shall be turned away. As it is written, “If anything be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young calf for a burnt offering…And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance…” (Numbers 15:24-25) Not only is the Messiah “the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), thus pointing to Him as the evening and morning offering for sin, He is also the Young Calf of the Almighty which takes away the ignorance of the congregation, that is, the blindness of the people.

GRAFTED INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD
What does the Lord say the condition of the Jewish people is when they went into unbelief? In the eleventh chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul likens the true church to an olive tree, emblematic of the Kingdom of God, of whom Christ is the Root (Rev. 5:5). The branches were likened to those grafted into the church of God’s kingdom, “and if the root be holy, so are the branches.” (Rom. 11:16) Yet if you reject the root, you are necessarily cut off from the life support that comes from the root of the plant. God’s kingdom plant demonstrates that individuals may only be connected to the stock, which is intricately bound to the root, as a house is to it’s cornerstone. How is it that they may be connected to the stock from whence they were cut off? It is by faith. So the Jews were cut off through unbelief in Christ. Yet consider the words of the apostle Paul: “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?” (Romans 11:23-24)

Paul clearly states that if a heathen, a foreigner of the kingdom of God, can be grafted into His kingdom, and bound to the Root, how much more can the natural branches be carried back into their original stock from which they were cut off? Let us remember that all heathen who were converted were brought to the faith through fruitful branches of the olive tree, that is, apostolic Jews who were filled with the Spirit of God. The apostle Paul, referring to those who maintained the faith, saw it as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. “And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.” (Romans 9:29) As the symbolic olive tree of Zechariah, whose tree drips oil from it’s branches, even so the remnant of the Jewish people brought a great multitude of heathen converts into the faith once rejected by a large class of Jews. Why was the kingdom of God taken from those who fell through unbelief, and given to another class, who received the word of God? It was to provoke them to whom the gospel first came to repent, and receive the light they had crucified.

“I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.”

THE LIGHT OF TRUTH TO THE GENTILES, THEN THE JEWS RESTORED
Even so, a remnant of faithful Jews went into Babylon, gave the knowledge of the true God to the heathen, such as the astrologers, diviners, and government officials of Babylon, and when the time allotted was fulfilled, the cup of wickedness among the Gentile kingdom was full at their rejection of light from heaven. Then the new covenant promised through the word of Jeremiah was delivered to the people who God called to came out of Babylon. But Christ said still a second time that the Jewish people would be carried away captives out of their own land.

“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24)

To be continued

God bless

 

[Berean]

FOLLOWING

 

In one sense, the treading down of the Gentiles can refer to prophetic Babylon of Revelation’s seventeenth chapter and how it persecuted and desolated the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, the church of the Son of God (See Rev. 11:2, Heb. 12:22,23, Gal. 4:25), and the coming out that occurred after the passing of time in 1798 and will occur again just before the return of Christ. Yet in another sense, the literal meaning of the words of Christ refer to earthly Jerusalem, since it makes good sense as it stands, and does no violence to the truth whatsoever. That is, when the fullness of the gospel goes to the nations (which in the Hebrew, “nations” is the exact same word as “Gentile”), there will be a remnant among the Jews who have received the truth, and shall flee out of the midst of Jerusalem.

Once prophetic Babylon gains dominion over all nations, making them drunk again with the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the final gospel call shall be given her as a witness to all nations under the proclamation of the three angels of the fourteenth and that other angel of the eighteenth chapter of Revelation respectively. After this, a call shall be to come out of her. A faithful remnant from her shall come out, while also great remnant of Israelites, who are no longer blinded to the truth of the Messiah, who have received with gladness the truths God is causing to be proclaimed, and take their stand with the remnant people of God.

Paul represents their death as symbolically bringing reconciliation to the nations; while their life shall be the indicator that the fullness of the gospel has finished for the Gentiles, the living testimony has been revived for the natural branches, and this revival is symbolic of the resurrection that will follow. “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the [Gr. ‘ex’] dead?” (Romans 11:11,15) It literally states that if their loss meant the reconciliation of the world; then receiving them again would mean life “out of” [Gr. ‘ex’] death, that is, resurrection.

For this reason, the state of Israel and the United Nations were founded in near proximity to one another, whereas the United Nations has much to do with the gospel being preached as a witness to them as one of the last great signs of the end, it also embraces the prophecy of the fullness of the nations, to which the awakening of the Jews is so heavily invested. The state of Israel was established in 1948, and for what purpose? For Satan, it serves to deceive many on the point of the children of the flesh, where the kingdom of God shall reside, raising up a counterfeit antichrist (an Islamic antichrist) and prophetic scenario, to the end that Satan might deceive many that he is the Messiah, and that from Islam comes the the son of perdition, man of sin, instead of the Papacy. Yet for God, it serves another purpose. By this, the words of Christ regarding Jerusalem as a sign of the end times, and as a sign of His coming shall be, in part, fulfilled.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Moreover, that the Most High might bring to light a faithful remnant from the Jews who are gathering in Israel, He permitted this to come to pass. In the same year as the state of Israel was established, when Jews worldwide were called to have free return and citizenship in the newly founded Jewish state, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls were to call the Jews back to the understanding of the Messiah they once possessed. These ancient scrolls, wonderfully preserved by the hand of the Almighty, have many Messianic prophecies dating to before Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. They sweep away the refuse of lies heaped up by rabbinical traditions in the Jewish Talmud, which have been largely incorporated into Judaism today. Those scrolls, when carefully studied, and rightly understood, will bring to light much of the knowledge which was lost by the Jews, either at the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, or else what has been purposely concealed or set aside by corrupt Jewish and Roman Catholic leadership. These scrolls, while not intending to replace the Bible, serve as a light, a commentary, and a witness to the once-held expectations of the Jewish people, before their ancestors hardened themselves against that light, and reinterpreted or else flatly rejected the evidences for the Suffering Servant being the One they had long anticipated.

There are an abundance of Messianic prophecies in those scrolls that are wonderful to consider. These are unmistakably testifying to the sufferings and death, and resurrection of the expected Messiah.

Here are a few notable ones.

“And there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse…the Branch of David and they will enter into judgement with…the Prince of the Congregation, the Bran[ch of David] and will kill him [by stroke]s and by Wounds.”

“[the hea]vens and the earth will listen to His Messiah, and none therein will stray from the commandments of the holy ones…Over the poor His spirit will hover and will renew the faithful with His power. And He will glorify the Sanctified on the throne of the eternal Kingdom. He who liberates…] will not be delayed for anyone. And the Lord will accomplish glorious things which have never been… For He will heal the wounded, and revive the dead and bring glad tidings to the poor.“

“He shall be called the Son of God; they will call him Son of the Most High … He will judge the earth in righteousness … and every nation will bow down to him … with [God’s] help he will make war, and … [God] will give all the peoples into his power.”

“Here is the glory of the Lord God of Hosts, the God of Israel…You will save them…In three days you shall live, I, Gabriel, give commandment thou Prince of the princes…”

Then there is the Melchizedek scroll, which speaks about a prophetic Melchizedek, a Messianic priest figure, who would appear on the tenth Jubilee consisting of 490 years in total. Hundreds of scrolls or sections of scrolls were found, calling the Messiah by names such as the “Teacher of righteousness” and the pierced Messiah. All of this testifies that the God of heaven is moving His hand to direct the closing scenes bef ore the second coming.

WILL ALL JEWS COME TO THE LIGHT OF THE MESSIAH
Yet not all Jews will come to the light of the truth. Paul the apostle states regarding the Gentiles and of Israel after the flesh, “But 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. But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” (Romans 10:20-21) Here Paul the apostle is quoting from the sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah. In this chapter is expressly dealing with the condition of the self-righteous people of Israel after the flesh. Among these, He promises a remnant from the sons of Jacob. “Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.” (Isaiah 65:8-9)

Therefore, we conclude that God is working towards a removing of the darkness from the eyes of the Jewish people, that He might bring them, along with a great multitude of every tongue, nation and tribe, from the heathen nations into one united fold, one united olive tree partaking of the life support of the Living Root, Christ the Messiah, and reign in one Kingdom that shall never peris; “His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Amen.

God bless

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