To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date sent: Tue, 3 Oct 2000 09:47:42 -0500
Subject: HF023 - What Advantage Has The Jew? (Amended)
Hebraics,
This is Bible Study HF023 - What Advantage Has The Jew.
The Bible of the early Church was the same Bible used by the Jewish peoples.
Until the teachings of the apostles were collected, the earliest believers
simply studied Moses and the prophets. They did this in light of the new
covenant.
This helps us understand what Paul had in mind when he said, "But if a
revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent.
For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be
exhorted." (1Co14:30,31) John later adds to this in saying, "For the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev19:10)
You can imagine the activity of the Holy Spirit among the early believers
in helping them draw from the sacred writings of Moses and the prophets.
But even when the memoirs of the apostles were being collected, Paul still
admonished believers to never exceed what had been written by Moses and
the prophets. (1Co4:6) His point is that everything that is taught in the
Christian Church must agree with what had been set forth in the former
testament. Thus we have the statement, 'The new is hidden in the old, and
the old is revealed in the new.'
The theology of the early Church did not have the complexities that
later came to dominate the Christian faith. Their beliefs were
simpler. For one thing the early believers never departed from the
ancient creed of Israel. When Paul says, "Yet for us there is but
one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for
Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we
exist through Him," he is drawing from the Schema. (1Co8:6 - Cf.
Deu6:4)
An issue the Church has grappled through the centuries has to do
with her relationship with a group of people known as the Jews.
Feelings can run pretty high when this subject is broached. The
issue is not put to rest by quoting a Scripture such as, "There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is
neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you
belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendents, heirs according to
promise." (Gal. 3:28,29) This particular Scripture has to do with our
salvation in Christ. It was never intended as an answer for the issue of
the relationship of the Church and the Jewish peoples.
To properly address the question of the Church and the Jew, we
need to go back in time to Adam. In doing this we must also couple human
history with a statement found in the New Testament, where it says, "For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
Any study on the history of redemption that ignores God's love for
the world will result in a distorted view of our salvation in Christ, and
a distorted view of the Church's relationship with the Jewish peoples.
What does it mean that God so loved the world? Again we must visit Adam.
Adam is the only person in the Bible ever specifically called "the" son
of God aside from Jesus Christ. (Cf. Luke 3:38) It should go without
saying that if Adam was the son of God, then God must have loved him as a son.
Adam was created to be the first of God's children. This gives us a
sense of why Jesus is called the last Adam, and why He is called
the firstborn among many brethren. The Lord came to restore
humanity back to their rightful place as sons and daughters of God.
Adam and Eve were created to express the person of God in a
wonderful way. When we read about Christ in the New Testament,
we catch a glimmer of something of Adam. The difference of course
is that Jesus was and is the Lord of glory. Adam was God's son by
an act of creation. We should never blur these distinctions.
The fact that humans were created as God's children was not
lost even to the pagans. When Paul addressed the Areopagus, he
included in his speech, "For in Him [the true God] we live and move
and exist, as even some of our own poets have said, `For we also
are His children.'" (Acts 17:28)
Adam carried in him the breath of God. It says, "Then the Lord God
form man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and man became a living soul." (Gen2:7) We see the
breath principle restored in the new creation where it says, "He [Jesus]
breathed on them and said to them, `Receive the Holy Spirit.'" (John
20:22)
Every true believer in the new covenant is a born-from-above child of God.
The principle of God's breath-life resides in the believer.
Regardless of how little we may understand this, the record is
clear. Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of
God. The human race was designed to bear the Divine image.
David says that Adam was crowned with glory and majesty.
(Psalm 8:5) Peter tells us that the Divine image is restored in
Christ. (2Pet1:4)
The Scriptures do not give a lot of detail about the fall of Adam,
but what it shares is filled with insight. The first three words
spoken to Adam after his sin against the Lord, was simply, "Where
are you?" It is easy to think that the Lord was telling Adam to
reflect on his status now as a sinner. While that may be true
enough, there may be more to it than this. Perhaps it would help if we
could hear the voice of a Father calling for His son. Perhaps we should
hear, "Adam, My son, where are you?"
And so, God's love for the world began with Adam. But Adam's
life was now corrupted by sin. Sin is not simply something you do.
Sin is a principle of evil at work in the fallen race. This principle of
evil has passed from the generations of Adam until now.
Here we take a great leap across history and find a man in whom
the Lord gave a particular calling. This calling was another phase in
God's redemptive program for the fallen sons of Adam.
From this man Abraham would a people group who will serve a
role in bringing redemption to the Adam man. In fact, Abraham
is so important to the work of redemption that even new covenant
believers are called children of Abraham.
But this people group that would play a crucial role in
redemption's history was no different than any other group of
Adamites. They were also of the fallen race.
There was nothing innate in Abraham's descendents that qualified
them to be chosen for their role. God's election was without
merit on their part. He always calls with a purpose. The purpose
will always be, "For God so loved the world."
So now we have the history of a group which includes such men
as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel,
David, Peter, James, Paul, and so on.
As Old Testament people, they struggled over their sins. They
struggled over the flesh. Aside from the prophets, this group often
struggled over idolatry. They backslide over and over. God keeps
sending them deliverers. But the deliverers are temporary. There will
always be a struggle over sin until the great Deliverer comes who
will remove sin from Jacob.
Over time the Abrahamic family group divides into two distinct
kingdoms. They find themselves often at war with one another.
Eventually both kingdoms go into captivity.
The northern kingdom, known as Israel, goes into captivity about
one hundred fifty years before the southern kingdom, known as
Judah. In spite of everything they are still called with a purpose.
The apostle says, "For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable."
(Rom11: 29) (This can be translated, "For the gifts and calling of
God can never be withdrawn.)
A small portion of these dispersed peoples are restored to the land. They
are largely from had been the southern kingdom. This is where the term
'Jew' becomes more pronounced for the descendants of Abraham. (The northern
kingdom people were never referred to as Jews.)
It is after the restoration of the Jewish group to the land that a new
translation of the Scriptures is made. Greek had become the lingua franca
of the empire. The Hebrews Scriptures are translated into Greek. It is
this translation that becomes the common Bible of the Hebrew peoples, but
especially for those of the Diaspora.
The Septuagint uses the term `Christos' for the word Lord and for
Messiah. So the peoples were becoming familiar with the term Christ. And
because the Septuagint was so popular, when the New Testament writers quote
from the Older Testament, they generally quote from the Septuagint.
Let's come back to this choice group. If I were going to pick a
group of people to represent God in the earth, I would surely not
have picked the Jews. Even Moses said of them, "It is not because
your righteousness that the Lord our God is giving you this good
land to possess, for you are a stubborn people." He went on to
say, "You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I
knew you." (Cf. Deu8,9)
Perhaps a question should be asked, "Could any other people
group have done better?" No. It would not have mattered which
group was used. The nature of the human race had been sown in
rebellion. The Jewish folk were no different than in any other
people.
Why did the Lord choose this people? The answer is, "For God so
loved the world." From this race would come not only the Messiah,
but from this group would come a fledgling Church that would one
day fill the earth. The Church would begin as a totally Jewish
Church, but would fill the earth with converts from every tribe and
tongue.
It was not an issue of the group itself. It was an issue of the fallen
race of Adam. Everything God did in former times had the fall of Adam in
view. Some day there would be a restoration of all things. This
restoration would come through a Savior.
Now for the struggle of the early Church - Certainly the early Church
struggled over this Jewish question. In knowing that the Jewish peoples by
large had rejected Jesus as the Messiah, someone asks Paul a question;
"Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?"
(Rom3:1) Paul's reply is straight forward. He says, "Great in every
respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God."
Being entrusted with the oracles of God meant that to the Abrahamic family
alone God gave a written record of His words. These writings were intended
for the whole of mankind. These writings were also called `the testimony
of God.' No other people group could produce a set of writings that could
detail future events.
Think about it. Which of the prophets were not of the stock of
Abraham? Which of the apostles were not of the stock of
Abraham? The Bible we read today was God's gift, given to the
world through the Hebrew apostles and prophets? The Bible we
read is an Abrahamic document.
Someone may say, "Well, Noah was not a Jew. Neither was
Enoch." The answer is quite simple. We would not have known
about Noah or Enoch had it not been for the Hebrew man, Moses.
The world would not have known where the Messiah would be born,
and when He would be born had it not been for the prophet Micah
and Daniel. Men from the east would not have journeyed so far to find
the infant Jesus, had they not studied these ancient oracles.
What Paul was saying is that the Jews alone were entrusted with
keeping God living words in safe keeping. This trust was for the benefit of
all of humanity.
These oracles would be bound in a book. Some of the things in the
book would not be understood completely until an appointed time.
The book spoke of the Lamb of God who would take away the sin
of the world. Jesus holds the key to the book.
The prophet said, "On that day the deaf will hear the words of a
book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind
will see. The afflicted also will increase their gladness in the Lord, and
the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." (Isa29:
18,19) Notice that it is the needy of mankind who will rejoice in the Holy
of Israel. This reaches back to the truth we must not forget; "For God so
loved the world."
But that isn't the only question Paul has to answer concerning
the Jewish people. It seems that certain Gentile believers wanted
to boast against the Jewish branches that had been removed from
the Abrahamic faith. Someone asked him that since that the Jews
had largely rejected Jesus as the Messiah, does that not place the
Gentiles before the Jews. After all the Gentiles were entering the
Church in a large measure.
His response was, "Not at all; for we have already charged that
both the Jews and the Greeks are all under sin; as it is written,
`There is none righteous, not even one, etc." (Rom3:9,10)
This reflects back on Moses. Moses knew that the Lord had not
selected the tribal people of Jacob because they were more
righteous than other peoples. We've already seen that.
This is why there is a song mentioned in the book of Revelation
called "The song of Moses, the bond servant of God, and the song
of the Lamb." (Rev15:3) Study the Song of Moses. There you will
find redemption laid out wonderfully. (Deut32)
In this song, Moses says something about the Hebrew peoples
that may sound strange. He says, "They have acted corruptly toward
Him, they are not His children, because of their defect; but are a
perverse and crooked generation." (Deu32:5)
What was this defect that disallowed the Hebrew nation from being
God's children? The defect was the sin of Adam. They carried the
sin just as did all the peoples of the earth.
Peter quotes from this very Scripture on the day of Pentecost in
admonishing the Jews to turn to Jesus. It says, "And with many
other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them,
saying, `Be saved from this perverse generation.'" (Acts 2:40) The
apostle did not want the people thinking that because they were
Jews, that automatically saved them.
Moses said more about this people. He said, "Would that they
were wise, that they understood this, that they would discern their
future!" Moses reaches across history, and speaks of their
scorning the Rock of their salvation; that they would be scattered
among the nations. Then he says, "In the latter days you will return to
the Lord your God and listen to His voice." (Deu4:30)
Anyone who thinks that Jews are saved simply because they are
Jews, is greatly misinformed. The Jewish race needs a Savior as
does all of mankind. Moses knew this. Peter knew this.
Now we come back to our original question. What relationship
does the Church have to the Jewish race? The answer is that God's
redemption plan unfolds itself around this people.
Think about it for a moment - Where did the new covenant have its
inception? Did it begin in Rome? Did it begin in China? The new
covenant was put in place in Jerusalem. Where does it complete
itself? According to the prophets, according to the apostles, and
according to the Lord Himself, the new covenant will complete itself in
Jerusalem. It makes a full circle back to its beginning point.
One day the Jewish people are going to look at the nail pierced
hands of Jesus and ask the question, "What are those wounds
between your arms [hands]?" What will they hear the Lord say? He
will respond, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of my
friends." (Zech. 13:6)
The prophet further says that when the Lord returns, His feet will
stand on the Mount of Olives. (14:4) The Mount of Olives is just
east of Jerusalem.
The wounded or pierced Messiah is a major theme of prophecy.
Isaiah says, "But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell
on Him, and by His scourging we are healed."
He goes on to say, "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our
sorrows He carried. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of
us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity
of. He us all to fall on Him." (Isa53)
To appreciate the Isaiah 53 prophecy, put yourself in the place of a
Jewish person. This is what Isaiah does. He says, "He [Jesus] was despised
and WE did not esteem Him."
The wounds that Isaiah speaks of in this chapter are the very
wounds that Zechariah says the Jewish nation will see in the
second coming of Christ.
As for the rejection of Jesus, the Lord points out that the first
would be last, and the last would be first. We can understand this in
light of the gospel having gone to the Jew first.
New covenant history began in Jerusalem. The early Church was
entirely Jewish. But the Jewish nation rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
In their rejection, they will come in last. The work of the gospel
concludes in Jerusalem.
So the gospel began in Jerusalem. To the Jews first. They had to
be given first rights. But it wasn't the Jews who accepted the
gospel in large measure. Through the Church age Gentiles have
entered the Church by droves and the Jews by trickles. But is this
how salvation history was purposed to work. Did not the Scripture
say, "For God so loved the world."?
Paul said to the Gentiles believers, "I do not want you, brethren, to be
uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own
estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the
fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved;
just as it is written, etc." (Rom11:25,26)
Paul cautions the Gentile branches not to exalt themselves over
the Jewish branches that have been broken off. He then reaches
into the distant future to explain a mystery. One day, he says, after the
gospel has penetrated all the nations and the full measure of salvation
has been preached among the Gentiles, an interesting thing will happen.
The Jewish people are going to turn to Jesus with a full heart.
Then, he says, "All Israel will be saved."
Keep in mind that the apostles were given to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven. Paul is explaining one of these mysteries.
When Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he said, "From now on you will
not see Me until you say, `Blessed is He who comes in the name
of the Lord.'" (Mat23:39) He was weeping over a physical
Jerusalem. This can only be fulfilled in a physical Jerusalem.
Now let's reach back to something Jesus said to Nicodemus. "If I
told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I
tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who
descended from heaven: the Son of Man."
Jesus explains that He was to ascend back to heaven. In this
ascending the Jewish nation will be cut off from covenant rights,
and would not see Him again, until they called Him the blessed
One who comes in the name of the Lord. (Cf. John 3:12-19)
With this the prophets agree. God speaks through Hosea in saying,
"I will go away and return to My place until the acknowledge their
guilt and seek My face." (Hosea 5:15) What guilt must they
acknowledge? They must acknowledge that the Man of the cross
was and is the true Messiah of Israel.
At some point in redemption history all the nations are going to
make a stand against Jerusalem. It is in this time frame that the
Spirit of grace will once again be poured out on Jerusalem.
Zechariah 12:9, says, "And in that day I will set about to destroy all the
nations that come against Jerusalem." In no way this can be made to fit
the 70 A. D. destruction of Jerusalem. All the nations did not come
against Jerusalem.
Listen further - Zechariah 12:10 says, "I will pour out on the
house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of
grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they
have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an
only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter
weeping over a firstborn."
Every statement in this prophecy is filled with meaning. What did
Jesus say over Jerusalem? "You will not see Me until you say
`Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'" What does
Zechariah say? "They will look on Me [Jesus/Yeshua] whom they
have pierced." All this takes place as the Spirit of grace is poured out.
The partial blindness is fully removed.
Keep in mind the terms used in Zechariah, are terms used in the
New Testament. He says, "They will mourn for Him, as one mourns
for an only son." The `only son' imagery speaks of God's only
begotten son. Then, "they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter
weeping over a first born." The first-born imagery also belongs to Jesus
Christ.
The greatest revelation of all is that they will know that Jesus Christ is
somehow Yahweh incarnate. The prophet said, "They will look on Me whom
they have pierced." In this prophetic portion it is Yahweh who is
speaking.
Hosea also lays out the great substitution doctrine of Christ:
"Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will
heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive
us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live
before Him. So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His goings
forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain,
like the spring rain watering the earth"
This portion has a dual fulfillment. In one case we have two
thousand years of history where the Jew has no covenant
relationship with the God of Abraham. What happens at the end of
the second day? "So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord
[Jesus or Yeshua]. His goings forth is as certain as the dawn; and
He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the
earth." (Compare this to the conversation Jesus had with
Nicodemus. Jesus uses the descending and ascending language
more than once.)
But there is a second interpretation, and it is this interpretation
that is used by Paul with regard to the Church. When Paul speaks
of new covenant believers as having been raised up together with
Christ, he is drawing from the prophet Hosea. When he speaks of
our co-crucifixion, he is drawing from Hosea.
So again, what relationship does the Church have with the natural
race of Abraham? Paul said, "From the standpoint of the gospel
they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's
choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers." (Rom11:28)
But how can we the Church have a beloved enemy? Strange isn't it.
What other reason can there be for this strange attraction
Christians have for the Jews? And I might add, vice versa. Did you
know that more Jews have converted to Christianity in the last half
of this past century than in all the former nineteen centuries put
together?
What did Moses say in this regard? He said, "When you are in
distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter
days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.
For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you
nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He
swore to them." (Deu4:30,31)
Why is the history of Christian and Jew is so intertwined? Why is it that
Judaism and Christianity in some respects are near mirror reflections of
one another? Why is it that we have been persecuted by the same Babylonian
system? Think about these things.
In the second coming of Christ, the Lord says the Jews will call Him
blessed. Paul says there will be a reconciliation of the Jews to
Jesus. In Romans 11:15, he says, "For if their rejection is the
reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life
from the dead?"
Paul gets very specific in saying that the Jews will be given a
covenant of forgiveness at the Lord's second coming. He says,
"The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from
Jacob. This is My covenant with them, WHEN I TAKE AWAY
THEIR SINS." (Rom11:25-27)
The sins that are taken away include the great sin of rejecting
Jesus at His first advent. We have already quoted Hosea, through
whom the Lord says, "I will go away and return to My place until
they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face."
Jesus said to the Jews, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and
will die in your sins; where I am going, you cannot come." (John
8:21) He spoke this to those who were rejecting Him. But the Lord
also said that one day the Jewish peoples would seek for Him. Will
they find Him? Yes! Paul says their acceptance will be life from the dead.
Paul said, "They did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it
never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the
Gentiles [all the nations], to make them jealous." (Rom 11:11)
Behind all this we hear, "For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish, but have eternal life."
So what advantage has the Jew? Paul says, "Great in every
respect."
Paul explains this advantage further. He says, "Who are Israelites,
to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants
and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,
whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the
flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen." (Rom9:3-5)
Paul is not speaking of the greatness of the Jews over against the
Gentiles non-greatness. He is speaking of the advantages that they
had. If any people group on the earth had insight into salvation, it had
to be this people. Everything in their history spoke of God's redemption
through His Messiah. Their job was to take this message to the world.
Did they fail? I don't think they did. So what if the Jewish
leadership rejected Jesus. Was this not in God's plan? To whom
did Jesus originally give the great commission? He gave it to a
small band of Jewish apostles. It has been the testimony of these
Jewish apostles that is still turning the world upside down. It began with
the Jews. It will end with the Jews.
When the Jew returns to God through Jesus Christ, they will then
once again become priestly peoples in the earth. "For God's gifts
and his call can never be withdrawn." (Rom11:29 NLT)
After the Jewish peoples have their eyes opened to their salvation in
Christ, then another Scripture will be fulfilled. The prophet said, "In
those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew,
saying, `Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"
(Zech8:23)
What did Jesus say over the city of Jerusalem? "O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her!
How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers
her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! Behold, your house
is being left to you desolate; and I say to you; you will not see Me until
the times comes when you say, `Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
Lord.'" (Luke 13:34,35)
Think about it.
Shalom.
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org