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God said
through the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone,
elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded” (1 Peter
2:6; Isaiah 28:16). That chief cornerstone is Jesus Christ, as it is written:
“And [ye]
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:20-21), and
the building which has been built upon Him (who is a precious and elect chief
cornerstone to all those who believe in Him) is the Church of God “the pillar
and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).
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Now, as I
said before, God predicted that whoever believes on Him (the sure foundation
laid by God in Zion)
will not be put to shame. However, He predicted also that the elect stone
(His Anointed One) would be rejected by the builders and would become a stone
of stumbling to the disobedient, for God said: “The stone which the builders
rejected has become the chief cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22 - NKJV) and: “And he
shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of
offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be
broken, and be snared, and be taken” (Isaiah 8:14-15). That
man called Simeon, who was just and devout and was waiting for the
Consolation of Israel, when he took the Child Jesus up in his arms, said to
Mary, the mother of Jesus, among other things: “Behold, this child is set for
the fall and rising again of many in Israel …” (Luke 2:34), and that’s
exactly what happened in the days of Jesus and of the apostles, for at that
time many Jews stumbled at the Word because they were not obedient to the
Gospel, and bear in mind that today many Jews (most of them) still stumble at
the Word for they don’t want to obey the Gospel of the grace of God. The
apostle Peter says about those Jews who were and are disobedient to the
Gospel that this is “what they were destined for” (1 Peter 2:8 - NIV),
because their fall is part of the mystery of His will according to His good
pleasure which He purposed in Himself before the foundation of the world and accomplished
in the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of the time, so that salvation might
come to us who are Gentiles by birth.
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The
apostle Paul says that because of their fall “salvation has come to the
Gentiles” (Romans 11:11
– NKJV). Therefore God’s salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, has come to every
nation and people because Jesus Christ was rejected by the Jews.
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God’s
salvation has come to all nations so that the prophetic Scriptures might be
fulfilled, for God had said that He would make His Anointed One the light for
the nations and His salvation to the ends of the earth. The prophets of old
foretold through the Spirit that both God’s salvation and God’s righteousness
would be made known and extended to every nation; let us see in which terms
they foretold these things and how the things they said were fulfilled.
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God,
through the prophet Isaiah, said about His Holy Servant: “Behold my servant,
whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit
upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:1; the
last part of this passage in the NIV is translated in this way: “He will
bring justice to the nations”), and that was fulfilled because Jesus Christ
preached to men the righteousness of God which is by faith; He said: “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is
passed from death unto life” (John 5:24), - he will not come into
condemnation or judgement because he is clothed with the righteousness of God,
or rather, because he has become the righteousness of God in Christ - and
these words are addressed both to Jews and Gentiles. That we also who are Gentiles
by birth one day would be justified by faith, had been foretold by God to
Abraham in this way: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed” (Genesis 22:18), and that is what happened for we have been
justified in Jesus Christ, who is the seed of Abraham, who of God was made
unto us righteousness according to what the prophet Jeremiah had said about
Him: “In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and
this is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness” (Jeremiah
23:6). Paul said to the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia: “And by him all that
believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified
by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39); these words are faithful because “Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:4),
for whoever believes in Jesus Christ receives the remission of all his sins
and is justified because Jesus became for us “righteousness” from God. God
had said: “My righteousness will soon be revealed” (Isaiah 56:1 - NIV) and He
kept His word because He revealed it in the fullness of the time and so was fulfilled
the Scripture which says: “His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of
the nations” (Psalm 98:2 – NKJV). With regard to His salvation, too, God
promised to make it known and to extend it to all men; He said: “My salvation
is about to come” (Isaiah 56:1 – NKJV) and also: “Look unto me, and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. ….
and beside me there is no saviour” (Isaiah 45:22: 43:11). We know
that God has revealed His salvation because Christ (of God) was made for us “redemption”
(1 Corinthians 1:30)
and this salvation is offered to all men, both Jews and Gentiles, because it
is written: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved” (Romans 10:13;
Joel 2:32).
Jesus Christ is the Lord, who still says: ‘Look unto me, and be ye saved, all
the ends of the earth: for I am God, …. and beside me there is no saviour’.
And we who are Gentiles have been saved by the Lord with an everlasting
salvation, that is, with that salvation of which the prophets spoke in
ancient times and that in the fullness of the time was proclaimed by Jesus
Christ, who said: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be
saved” (John 10:9), and by the apostles who proclaimed this great salvation
to both Jews and Gentiles.
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God said
about His Servant: “It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to
raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will
also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation
unto the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6), and that is what happened because
God made Jesus the light of the nations. God had said that He would make His
justice a light to the nations, and that light would shine upon those who
walked in darkness and this was fulfilled because Christ – the light of the
world (John 8:12) - has shone on us who are Gentiles, so we can say: “In Your
light we see light” (Psalm 36:9 – NKJV). We who once were walking in darkness
without knowing where we were going, now, by the grace of God, having been
enlightened by Christ, we walk in the light and we know where we are going.
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God said
through the prophet Isaiah: “I will lift up my banner to the peoples” (Isaiah
49:22 – NIV), and also that the banner would be the Root of Jesse, as it is
written: “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the
peoples; the nations will rally to him …..” (Isaiah 11:10 – NIV).
Who is the Root of Jesse? The Root of Jesse is Jesus Christ, for it is
written: “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root
out of a dry ground …” (Isaiah 53:2) and also: “And there shall come forth a
rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots” (Isaiah
11:1). and these words of Isaiah were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, because He descended from David whose father was Jesse (Matthew 1:5-6). Therefore,
Jesus Christ is our banner, He is the banner of all those who have believed
in Him, as it is written: “The LORD is my Banner” (Exodus 17:15 - NIV) and
since we are soldiers of Jesus Christ we have to hold fast the Word of life
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, for it is written: “You
have given a banner to those who fear You, that it may be displayed because
of the truth” (Psalm 60:4 – NKJV).
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God said
about His Anointed One: “See, I have made him a witness to the peoples …” (Isaiah
55:4 – NIV. “Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people …”
according to the KJV). Jesus is the faithful witness given to the peoples
because He testified to what He had seen and heard in His Father’s presence,
and His testimony has been made known to the peoples. John the Baptist said
about the Christ: “And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and
no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set
to his seal that God is true” (John 3:32-33).
Brothers, remember that Jesus said: “I am telling you what I have seen in the
Father’s presence” (John 8:38
– NIV) and: “Whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak”
(John 12:50
– NKJV), and also: “My witness is true” (John 8:14 – NKJV).
We trust with all our heart in the words of Christ, because His words are the
words of God that He delivered to men without adding anything to them and
without taking anything from them; and we who are Gentiles, having received His
testimony, have certified that God is true.
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God said
through the prophet Isaiah: “See, I have made him … a leader and commander of
the peoples ” (Isaiah 55:4 - NIV). And this was fulfilled because God made Jesus
Prince over us who are Gentiles; He is the One who came to rule us: He is our
Ruler.
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God said
through the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou
knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of
the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee”
(Isaiah 55:5). And this Scripture also was fulfilled because we are those
nations that Christ has called to His eternal glory; we are those nations
that have run to the Saviour whom we did not know before and all this took
place because God glorified His Holy Servant Jesus.
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God said
about His Anointed One: “The Lord GOD, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith,
Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him” (Isaiah
56:8). And this Scripture was fulfilled, for we who are Gentiles are the
‘others’ whom God had promised to gather to His Servant. Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, did come to gather to Him not only the lost sheep of the House of
Israel but also the lost sheep of the other nations: He Himself confirmed
this, saying: “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and
one shepherd” (John 10:16). Besides the remnant of Israel (that is,
the lost sheep of the house of Israel which
were predestined to believe in Jesus), Jesus gathered to Him also many other
sheep which are not of that fold (that is, which are not Israelites according
to the flesh). These other sheep are all those Gentiles who are in Christ,
who are saved. Now, in Christ Jesus, there is one flock and one people and
there are no longer two folds and two peoples, because He “has made the two
one” (Ephesians 2:14
– NIV).
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God said:
“I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did
not seek Me” (Isaiah 65:1 - NKJV), and this is what happened, for the Lord
was found by the Gentiles who were not seeking Him, and He revealed Himself
to the Gentiles who did not ask for Him. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles,
confirms plainly this, saying to the saints of Rome that the “Gentiles, who
did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the
righteousness of faith” (Romans 9:30
– NKJV)
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God said
through the prophet Isaiah: “And their seed shall be known among the
Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall
acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed” (Isaiah
61:9). And we who are Gentiles in Christ Jesus are that seed that is known
among the nations and all those who see us acknowledge that we are the seed
that the Lord has blessed. This seed which has been blessed by the Lord and
is all over the world was begotten by God; it is God who created it in the
midst of this dark world; those who were begotten by God were called and are
still called ‘Christians’ and we are happy and we have the honour of bearing
that name. When we suffer as a Christian we are not ashamed of bearing that
name, rather we praise God that we bear that name and we rejoice in the
sufferings we endure because of the name of Him to whom we belong.
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God said
to His Son: “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for your inheritance,
and the ends of the earth for Your possession” (Psalm 2:8 – NKJV), and that
was fulfilled. For we who are children of God from among the nations, are
“the nations” which God gave the Son for His inheritance because Jesus says
about us who believe in Him: “Here am I and the children whom God has given
me” (Hebrews 2:13 – NKJV) and as you know the Scripture says that “children
are a heritage from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3 – NKJV). We who are believers from
among the Gentiles have been given to the Son of God for His inheritance and
possession and thus was fulfilled that word concerning the Son, written in
the Psalms, which says: “Yes, I have a good inheritance” (Psalm 16:6 – NKJV).
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God said
through the prophet Hosea: “I will call them my people, which were not my
people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass,
that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there
shall they be called the children of the living God” (Romans 9:25-26; Hosea
2:23). This Scripture was fulfilled, for we are those who once were not a
people but are now the people of God, we are those who had not obtained mercy
but now have obtained mercy, and we who were not the people of God are now
called the children of God because this is what we became when we believed on
Him, as it is written: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12),
and also: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that
we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not,
because it knew him not” (1 John 3:1) and again: “For ye are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26).
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God said
through Amos the prophet: “In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of
David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up
his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they may possess
the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name,
saith the LORD that doeth this” (Amos 9:11-12; Acts 15:16-18) and these words
also were fulfilled because in Christ we who are Gentiles, too, have been
built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit (Ephesians
2:22). We who are Gentiles in Christ Jesus are those nations which are called
by the name of God; Jesus Christ is our great God and it is His name the name
by which we are called.
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God said
through Micah the prophet: “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that
the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow
unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the
mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach
us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of
Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Micah 4:1-2). And we are the
nations which have gone up to the mountain on which the House of God was
built. Joel the prophet said: “In mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be
deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall
call” (Joel 2:32), and indeed on Mount Zion and among the remnant called by
the Lord there is the salvation of God, which is Christ Jesus, and we have come
to Mount Zion and to Jesus, as it is written: “But you have come to Mount
Zion and …. To Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant” (Hebrews 12:22,24 –
NKJV). Beloved, there is salvation on Mount Zion, there is
rest, much peace and joy on it, and we who once wandered over mountain and
hill like sheep going astray, now we have come to Mount Zion by the
grace of God.
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When the
Lord Jesus sent His twelve disciples to preach the Kingdom of God, He said
to them: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the
Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew
10:5-6). Why did He give them that particular order? Because the time when
the Gospel had to be preached plainly to the Gentiles had not yet come; because
the Gospel had to be preached to the Jews first, for the first sheep to be
gathered to Christ had to be the lost sheep of the House of Israel; then God
would gather to Him other sheep which did not belong to the House of Israel,
that is, which were Gentiles by birth. However, it must be said that during
the earthly life of Jesus there were some people not belonging to the house
of Israel
who believed in the Lord Jesus. For instance, the roman centurion who pleaded
with Jesus to heal his paralyzed servant saying to Jesus: “Only speak a word,
and my servant will be healed” and of whom Jesus said to those who followed
him: “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in
Israel”
(Matthew 8:10
– NKJV). Many Samaritans also believed in the Lord (John 4:39). I have
said this in order to show you that the Lord showed no partiality during the
days of His flesh because He Himself had said: “All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John
6:37).
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After
Jesus was raised from the dead, before He ascended to heaven, He said to His
disciples: “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to
rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”
(Luke 24:46-47) and: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature” (Mark 16:15), and also: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew
28:19-20). As you can see, Jesus commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel
to all nations and not only to the Jews; yet, the apostles, even though they
had received those orders, at first they resisted somehow the orders of the
Lord, that is, they did not want to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles because
they, being Jews, did not want to associate with the Gentiles or to visit
them. The Lord saw their resistance and so He showed them that He was no
respecter of persons but He was the Saviour of all men, rich in mercy towards
all those who call on Him in truth. Here is how the Lord showed them that He
wanted the Gentiles also to be saved. In the book of Acts we read: “There was
a certain man in Caesarea
called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout
man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the
people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth
hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him,
Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it,
Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a
memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose
surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the
sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel
which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household
servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; And
when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. On
the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter
went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very
hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a
trance, And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as
it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the
earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild
beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to
him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have
never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him
again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. Now
while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should
mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for
Simon's house, and stood before the gate, And called, and asked whether
Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Peter thought on
the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise
therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have
sent them. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from
Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause
wherefore ye are come? And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man,
and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the
Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house,
and to hear words of thee. Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on
the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa
accompanied him. And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea.
And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near
friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his
feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself
also am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that
were come together. And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful
thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another
nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or
unclean. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent
for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me? And Cornelius said,
Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed
in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, And said,
Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the
sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname
is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side:
who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. Immediately therefore I sent to
thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all
here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no
respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh
righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the
children of Israel,
preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye
know, which was published throughout all Judaea,
and began from Galilee,
after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing
all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are
witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in
Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree [whom they
killed by hanging on a tree]: Him God raised up the third day,
and shewed him openly; Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen
before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from
the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that
it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him
give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in
him shall receive remission of sins [everyone who believes in
him receives forgiveness of sins through his name]. While
Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the
word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as
came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of
the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then
answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized,
which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be
baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea
heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was
come up to Jerusalem,
they that were of the circumcision contended with him, Saying, Thou wentest
in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. But Peter rehearsed the
matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying, I was
in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain
vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four
corners; and it came even to me: Upon the which when I had fastened mine
eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts,
and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And I heard a voice saying unto
me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common
or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me
again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And
this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven. And,
behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I
was, sent from Caesarea
unto me. And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover
these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house: And
he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto
him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; Who shall
tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. And as I
began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then
remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized
with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as
God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things,
they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the
Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (Acts 10:1-48; 11:1-18).
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Yes, God
has granted repentance to us also, who are Gentiles, for the Gospel of our
salvation was preached to us and we have accepted it. That is how God, after
glorifying His Son Jesus, opened the door of faith to the Gentiles and this
door has remained open until now; nobody was able to close it in the days of
the apostles and nobody will ever be able to close it, because the following
words of Jesus: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations …” (Matthew 24:14) are to be fulfilled,
and there are still many Gentiles all over the world whom God foreordained to
eternal life and thus at God’s appointed time they will believe.
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The
Scripture teaches that in the days of the apostles God began to manifest His
great mercy towards the Gentiles by birth, and that He chose Saul of Tarsus
to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, so that they also might believe and
become members of God’s household. So, from those days on, God’s salvation
have been sent by God to the Gentiles, and God has opened their understanding
that they might comprehend the Word of His grace and thus was fulfilled the
word which says: “And those who have not heard shall understand” (Romans
15:21 – NKJV; cf. Isaiah 52:15). Now, therefore, we who are Gentiles by birth
and believe the Gospel of grace are no longer strangers, but fellow citizens
with the saints and members of the household of God by the grace of God. And
for this we are bound to thank God continually.
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However,
Paul wrote to us that we must remember certain things, here are his words:
“Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who
are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the
flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:11-12). The reason
why we who are Gentiles were formerly without Christ and God, therefore, was
that we were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and
strangers from the covenants of promise. For God in ancient times chose the Israelites
as His people and committed His oracles to them alone, as it is written in
the Psalms: “He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments
unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments,
they have not known them” (Psalm 147:19-20; see also Romans 3:2). That’s why
Paul says that the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law,
the service of God and the promises pertain to the Israelites (Romans 9:4).
We who are Gentiles were foreigners to all these things, because we were not
Israelites. We were far from God “but now in Christ Jesus – Paul says - ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is
our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law
of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one
body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached
peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him
we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no
more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the
household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In
whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the
Spirit” (Ephesians 2:13-22). Therefore, brethren, Jesus Christ, through His
death on the cross, has made the two peoples one because through the cross He
put to death the enmity which existed between Jews and Gentiles; He has
broken down the middle wall of separation, which separated us from the Jews, that
is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, by abolishing it in His
flesh. And so through His death He reconciled us to the Jews and in one body
He reconciled both us and the Jews to God. If now we are members of the
household of God and we are being built together to become a dwelling (that
is, the Church) in which God lives by His Spirit, we owe all this to the
mercy of Christ, the Son of God, who has qualified us to enter the Kingdom of
God and has reconciled us to the Jews and brought us near to God. Paul wrote
to the Galatians: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have
put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor
free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians
3:27-28).
Brothers, we are Christ’s, we belong to Him, and together with the Jews who
believe we are one people and one flock and we have one Head and one Shepherd,
which is Christ Jesus. What I have just explained to you is “the mystery of
his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in
one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth;
even in him” (Ephesians 1:9-10). And we from among the Gentiles, who have
believed in the Lord, thank God for He willed to make known to us what are
the riches of the glory of this mystery (Colossians 1:26). This mystery –
Paul says – “in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians
3:5), for it was kept secret for long ages past in order to be revealed in
the fulness of the time. God has made known to us this mystery – that we who
are Gentiles are fellow heirs with those Jews who believe that Jesus is the
Christ, and members of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ
through the Gospel – “to the intent that now unto the principalities and
powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of
God” (Ephesians 3:10); and besides, this mystery, by the prophetic Scriptures,
according to the commandment of the everlasting God, is “made known to all
nations for the obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26).
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Brethren
in the Lord, we recognize that God had mercy on us in Christ Jesus, therefore
we are bound to glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “Praise the
Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people” (Romans 15:11; Psalm
117:1). Let us rejoice in the Lord, let us praise Him with songs because He
has saved us, but let us not boast against those Jews who don’t believe in
Christ. Here is what Paul says to us, who are Gentiles, about the fact that
we were grafted into a cultivated olive tree: “For if the firstfruit be holy,
the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if
some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert
graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the
olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest
not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken
off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken
off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear” (Romans 11:16-20). Let
me explain to you what Paul meant by these words. We who are Gentiles by
birth were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were
grafted into a cultivated olive tree through our faith. Many natural branches
of the cultivated olive tree were broken off because of their unbelief and we
were grafted in among the others and so now we enjoy the blessings and
consolations of Christ, having become partakers of the spiritual things which
belong to the Jews, but we must not boast against the Jews who are disobedient,
knowing that the root of the cultivated olive tree in which we were grafted
is Jewish according to the flesh; besides, we don’t support the root but the
root supports us.
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What shall
we say then about those Jews who do not obey the Gospel? We shall say that on
the one hand they are enemies of God on our account, but on the other hand
they are beloved by God on account of the fathers (the patriarchs), as it is
written: “As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as
touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts
and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:28-29).
Therefore that means that even though many Jews reject the Gospel and don’t please
God because of their unbelief and hardness of heart, God has not rejected Israel: “God has
not cast away His people whom He foreknew” (Romans 11:2 – NKJV) says Paul to
the Romans.
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Therefore
let us see to it that we don’t consider Israel a people rejected by God, for
it is written: “Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the
foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the
seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 31:37)
and again: “Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night,
and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; Then will I
cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take
any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for
I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them” (Jeremiah
33:25-26). Of course, whereas on the one hand we see the goodness of God
towards those who believe (that is, us), on the other hand we see also the
severity of God towards those who fell, that is, the Jews who stumbled at the
stone of stumbling; yet Paul says about these Jews who don’t believe: “And
they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God
is able to graff them in again” (Romans 11:23), which means that if the
natural branches which were cut out of the cultivated olive tree don’t
continue in their hardness of heart they will be grafted into their own olive
tree. However, let it be known to you also that if we who believe don’t
continue in the faith and the good works till the end we will be cut out of
the cultivated tree; so let us fear God.
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The
apostle Paul says: “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 fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be
saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and
shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them,
when I shall take away their sins. ….. For as ye in times past have not
believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have
these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain
mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy
upon all” (Romans 11:25-27,
30-32). Therefore, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come, God will save
all the Israelites and will have mercy on them all. Then the veil that lies
on their heart when the Old Testament is read by them, will be taken away,
because the veil is taken away in Christ. Knowing all this, therefore, let us
not be haughty because God is faithful and at His appointed time He will fulfil
the good word He spoke to the people whom He foreknew.
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At this
point, you may ask me the following questions about the hardening in part
which has happened to Israel:
“Who hardened (or blinded) the disobedient Jews?’ Why were they hardened?’ The
answers to these questions are in the Bible. So let’s look closely at what
the Bible says.
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Now, first
of all, let me say that the fact that many Jews don’t obey the Gospel of
Christ does not mean that the Word of God has failed, for Paul says to the
Romans: “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are
not all Israel,
which are of Israel:
Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the
flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are
counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I
come, and Sarah shall have a son” (Romans 9:6-9). Let me explain to you these
words of Paul. Abraham had two sons: the one (Ishmael) by a bondwoman named
Hagar, the other (Isaac) by a freewoman named Sarah. Both of them were
begotten by Abraham, but the son whom God had promised to Abraham was Isaac
and not Ishmael; furthermore, it was Isaac the son of Abraham with whom - God
had promised Abraham - God would establish His covenant, as it is written: “Sarah
thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac:
and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and
with his seed after him” (Genesis 17:19), and in fact God established His
covenant with the descendants of Isaac (the Israelites) and not with the
descendants of Ishmael (the Arab tribes). As you know, that happened at Mount
Sinai, after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, where
God established His covenant with the people of Israel. In
addition to this, it must be said that God had promised Abraham that He would
give the promised land to his seed, that is, to Isaac, and not to Ishmael the
son of the bondwoman; and in fact when the fullness of the time came God gave
the land of Canaan to the Israelites and not to the descendants of Ishmael.
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Now, the
son of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, while the son of the
freewoman was born through promise, or, as Paul says “according to the
Spirit” (Galatians 4:29
- NKJV). That means that even though Ishmael was Abraham’s seed, he was not
the seed that God had promised to Abraham, that is to say, Ishmael was not
the child of promise.
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So not all
the Jews are children of Abraham (even though all of them are Abraham’s descendants)
because among them there are Jews who were born according to the flesh like Ishmael,
who are slaves of sin because they have stumbled at the stone of stumbling
and thus are not born of God. The children of Abraham from among the Jews,
instead, are all those Jews who, having believed that Jesus is the Christ, are
born of God and have been set free from their sin through their faith in
Jesus; they are blessed with believing Abraham and heirs of the Kingdom of
God because they are children of the freewoman, as Isaac was. On the
contrary, the children of the bondwoman, that is, the disobedient Jews, are
not heirs of the Kingdom because they are not born of God. What did God say
to Abraham concerning Hagar and her son Ishmael? “Cast out the bondwoman and
her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the
freewoman” (Galatians 4:30;
Genesis 21:10),
and in fact Abraham cast out Hagar and Ishmael and “gave all that he had unto
Isaac” (Genesis 25:5) the son of the freewoman, and not to Ishmael the son of
the bondwoman. So, among the Jews by birth, those who are born according to
the flesh and not according to the Spirit (because they don’t believe the
Gospel), are not heirs of eternal life (that is to say, they will not inherit
eternal life) with those Jews who obey the Gospel of the grace of God. I
would like you to notice that it was God who appointed Isaac heir of Abraham
and that He acted according to His good pleasure. With regard to Isaac and
Ishmael, therefore, we can say that God appointed beforehand Isaac and not
Ishmael to be the son of promise and heir of Abraham. The fact that it was
Isaac who became heir of Abraham depended on God’s will and not on Isaac’s
will.
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Paul
continues by saying: “And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived
by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to
election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:10-13; cf. Genesis 25:23; Malachi
1:2-3). Now, when Rebecca, Isaac’s wife, became pregnant she conceived two
children, and “the children struggled together within her; and she said, If
it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. And the LORD
said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be
separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the
other people; and the elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:22-23).
Then, why did God - while the children were still in her womb and they had
not yet done any good or evil - say to Rebecca “the elder shall serve the
younger”? The reason is this: “That the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth” (Romans 9:11-12). So
God acted in that way in order to show that He works all things according to
the counsel of His will. And in fact, with regard to our salvation, God begot
us through His Word, not by works of righteousness which we had done or by
the will of man, but, as James said, “of His own will” (James 1:18 - NKJV).
We did not choose the Lord, but the Lord did choose us, as Jesus said to His
disciples: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16). During
the ages many have tried to break down the purpose of God according to
election, but it did not fall to the ground, it still stands and all the
efforts made by the fearless persons have been vain, because the words which
God spoke to Rebecca show that God chooses for salvation whom He wills. It
was neither Jacob nor Esau who decided which people between the two would be
stronger than the other one; it was neither Jacob nor Esau who decided whom
God would establish His Covenant with; and pay attention also to this,
neither their parents decided or determined those things. Furthermore, it
must be said that Jacob did not deserve to be served by his elder brother
Esau because when God said: “The older shall serve the younger” he was still
in his mother’s womb and he had not yet done any good or evil. At this point,
Paul says to the Romans: “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever
I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have
compassion. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of
God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very
purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My
name may be declared in all the earth’. Therefore He has mercy on whom He
wills, and whom He wills He hardens” (Romans 9:14-18 –
NKJV). Therefore, God did not act unjustly towards Esau by rejecting him even
before he was born, because He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens
whom He wills. Do you remember the Pharaoh? Isn’t true that God hardened his
heart so that he might refuse to allow the people of Israel to leave
the land
of Egypt,
and thus He might strike the Egyptians with terrible judgements in order to
gain glory through Pharaoh and all the Egyptians? Therefore, if God hardened
the heart of Pharaoh He did not commit any injustice; He hardened his heart
according to the counsel of His will so that both the Israelites and all
those who would hear of his terrible judgements against the Egyptians might
glorify His holy name. And just as the Pharaoh was hardened by God, so many
Jews were hardened by God while Jesus was on the earth (in the days of His
flesh) lest they should believe in His Son, for this is what John says: “But
though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on
him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he
spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias
said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they
should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be
converted, and I should heal them” (John 12:37-40). Therefore, the reason why
many Jews refused to believe in Jesus was that God had appointed them to
reject the Gospel, that is to say, to stumble at the Word of God, as Isaiah
the prophet had said: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of
stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin
and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall
stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken” (Isaiah 8:14-15).
That’s why John says that those Jews “could not believe”, for the words of
Isaiah the prophet had to be fulfilled, and not only the words of Isaiah but
also the following words of Moses: “Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart
to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.” (Deuteronomy
29:4), as well as these words of David: “Let their table be made a snare, and
a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be
darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always” (Romans
11:9-10; Psalm 69:22-23). Let it be known to you, therefore, that God is not
to be blamed for His behaviour, rather, let God be true but every man a liar.
If God said to Moses: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and
will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy” (Exodus 33:19), why should He be
blamed? Is He not the One who does whatever He pleases in heaven, and in
earth, in the seas and in all deep places (Psalm 135:6)? Is He not the One
who said: “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure …. I will
work, and who shall let it?” (Isaiah 46:10; 43:13)? But who will dare to say
to Him: “What have you done?’ Should God act like men in order not to be
criticized by them? Know this, that God will always be found blameless when He
judges.
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Whereas on
the one hand God hardened the heart of many Jews, on the other hand He had mercy
on a remnant of Jews according to the election of grace, for it is written: “Even
so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election
of grace. …. Israel
hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained
it….” (Romans 11:5,7). That only a remnant of Jews would turn to the Lord,
had been foretold by the prophets. Isaiah said: “The remnant shall return, even
the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as
the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption
decreed shall overflow with righteousness” (Isaiah 10:21-22; Romans 9:27) and
again: “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we
should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah” (Isaiah
1:9; Romans 9:29), and again: “And it shall come to pass, that he that is
left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy …..
For out of Jerusalem
shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal
of the LORD of hosts shall do this” (Isaiah 4:3; 37:32). Micah the prophet
said: “I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the
remnant of Israel;
I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of
their fold …..” (Micah 2:12) and again: “And the remnant of Jacob shall be in
the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the
grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men” (Micah 5:7).
And God through Zephaniah the prophet said about the remnant of Israel: “The
remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity …” (Zephaniah 3:13) which accords
with what John says about those who are born of God: “Whosoever is born of
God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin,
because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9).
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Jesus knew
that only a remnant would believe on Him, that only those whom God gave to Him
would come to Him, that only those on whom God had determined to have mercy
would come to Him; that’s why one day He said to the Jews: “No man can come
unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father” (John 6:65) and: “All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Paul confirmed the words of Christ by
saying that God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy (Romans 9:18).
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Brothers, as
you can see, it was because of the fall of the Jews that the Gospel has come
to us who are Gentiles, as it is written: “Through their fall salvation is
come unto the Gentiles” (Romans 11:11).
But do you know why salvation has come to us? “To provoke them to jealousy” (Romans
11:11),
says Paul, so that it might be fulfilled what God had said through Moses: “I
will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people” (Deuteronomy
32:21). Let me explain to you why God said that He would provoke the Jews to
jealousy with the Gentiles. Before the people of Israel entered the promised
land, God said about the Israelites: “They have moved me to jealousy with
that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities” (Deuteronomy
32:21), and in fact in the wilderness Israel had provoked God to jealousy by taking
up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of their god Remphan, images which
they made to worship, and so God, in order to take vengeance on them and to repay
them for the sins they had committed against Him, said: “They have moved me
to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with
their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a
people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is
kindled in mine anger …” (Deuteronomy 32:21-22). And this is what happened
and still happens, for the disobedient Jews are provoked to jealousy with us,
who are Gentiles and who believe in the Gospel that God promised through the
Jewish prophets in the Holy Scriptures, and they are angry with us because of
the Gospel. That’s why Paul said about the Jews: “Are contrary to all men,
forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved” (1 Thessalonians
2:15-16
- NKJV). Have you ever wondered why the Jews persecuted Paul, who was a Jew?
They persecuted him because Paul, by speaking to the Gentiles about Jesus
(showing from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ), provoked them to
jealously and made them angry. To confirm this, I remind you of what happened
at Antioch
in Pisidia where Paul and Barnabas preached the Gospel both to Jews and
Gentiles. It is written: “But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were
filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul,
contradicting and blaspheming” (Acts 13:45).
Therefore, whereas the Israelites provoked God to jealousy by what was not
God, God now provokes them to jealousy by us who are Gentiles by birth and ‘who
are not a nation’ in their sight, yet we are ‘God’s people’ in the sight of
God. Therefore, it was fulfilled what God had said. So, know this, that God
works all things according to the purpose of His will, and that the hardening
in part experienced by Israel is part
of God’s plan of salvation, which He made before the beginning of time.
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“Thou wilt
say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing
formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour,
and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to
make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory
on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us,
whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” (Romans
9:19-24). Brothers, I speak to you with boldness. God, in acting in the above
mentioned way in order to accomplish His wonderful purposes, has acted
correctly. We don’t dare to reply against Him. Many believers don’t like
these words of Paul, when they read or hear them they feel disturbed and get
angry and try to nullify them with all kinds of vain words. To these
believers who dare to reply against God I want to say: ‘When will you cease to
rebuke God? When will you cease to judge the ways of God unjustly? God is
greater than man and every man who has hardened his heart against God has not
prospered and has been rebuked by God. The truth is that all men who live on
the earth are like clay in His hands, He made them and from the same lump He
makes some vessels for honour and some others for dishonour. He has the power
to do this, and He does it because He is the Potter.
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To Him be
the glory forever. Amen.
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Jesus was
rejected by the people of Israel, for the
Jews, the descendants of Abraham according to the flesh, condemned Him to death
and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor of Judea
so that He might be crucified. According to the Jews, Jesus deserved to be
put to death because He declared that He was the Son of God. What happened to
Jesus was nothing but the fulfilment of these words spoken by the Holy Spirit
through David: “Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord, and against his Christ” (Acts 4:25-26; Psalm 2:1-2). The
heathen are the Gentiles, and the people is the people of Israel, while the
kings of the earth and the rulers are Herod, who at the time was king of
Galilee, and Pontius Pilate who was governor of Judea (Herod and Pilate
became friends the day on which Jesus was put to death).
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Therefore,
Jesus, the Messiah whom God had promised through His holy prophets, was
rejected by Israel.
Yet not by all Israel,
because a remnant of Israelites accepted Jesus as the Messiah of God. Now, as
far as the Jews’ position on Jesus is concerned, we have to say that after
about two thousand years it is the same position, because only a little
number of the Jews who live all over the world believe that Jesus is the
Messiah: while most of the Jews reject the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth.
There are some Orthodox Jews who hate so much the name of Jesus of Nazareth
that they dare not to mention it. However, the fact that most of the Jews
reject Jesus does not mean that the Word of God failed, for Paul says: “But
it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are
of Israel,
nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but ‘In Isaac
your seed shall be called’. That is, those who are the children of the flesh,
these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are
counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will
come and Sarah shall have a son’. And not only this, but when Rebecca also
had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet
being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was
said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger’. As it is written, ‘Jacob I
have loved, but Esau I have hated’. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have
mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I
will have compassion’. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who
runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For
this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and
that My name may be declared in all the earth’ Therefore He has mercy on whom
He wills, and whom He wills He hardens” (Romans 9:6-18 - NKJV). These words
of Paul show that both the fact that a few Jews accepted Christ and the fact
that most of the Jews rejected Him, depend on God because He has mercy on whom
He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. In other
words, they depend on the purpose of God according to election, which is not
by works but by Him who calls. That’s why, therefore, most of the Jews reject
Christ and only a little number of them accept Him, because God hardened the
former and had mercy on the latter, even though all of them are descendants
of Abraham and Isaac. On the other hand – Paul explains – the fact that all
the Jews are descendants of Abraham doesn’t mean that all of them are
children of Abraham. Why? Because Abraham had two sons: one (Ishmael) by a
bondwoman and the other (Isaac) by a freewoman, yet the son of the promise
was Isaac and not Ishmael. For Isaac, and not Ishmael, was the son whom God
had promised to give to Abraham by his wife, and God had determined to
establish His covenant with Isaac, the son of the freewoman, and not with
Ishmael the son of the bondwoman. And in fact after Ishmael and Isaac were
born, God said to Abraham: “In Isaac your seed shall be called” (Genesis 21:12 – NKJV). Ishmael
was surely seed of Abraham, yet he was not appointed heir with Isaac; God
blessed Ishmael, but He did not establish His covenant with him. To Isaac
happened a similar thing, for his wife Rebecca gave birth to two children
begotten by Isaac, but once again, before they were born, God chose Jacob,
the younger; but rejected Esau the older, because He said to Rebecca that the
older would serve the younger. And in fact God established His covenant with
Jacob and not with Esau. All this happened – as Paul says – so that the
purpose of God according to election might stand.
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Obviously
someone may think that this way of acting is unfair (or unjust), therefore,
that God is unjust, but this is to be categorically denied because God said
to Moses: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy
on whom I will shew mercy” (Exodus 33:19). That God had decided to have mercy
only on a remnant of Jews, that is, the fact that God had decided to save
only a little number of Jews, had been foretold by God through Isaiah with
the following words: “For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea,
yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow
with righteousness …. Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small
remnant, we should have been as Sodom,
and we should have been like unto Gomorrah” (Isaiah
10:22; 1:9; cf. Romans 9:27,29). Therefore, the remnant of Israel is the
remnant according to the election of grace. This remnant and those Gentiles
who have accepted Christ form the Church of God, that is,
the Assembly of the redeemed, the assembly of those who were delivered from
this present evil age, because in Christ the middle wall of separation was
broken down, and through His death He made the two peoples one. And what
about the other Jews, that is, the disobedient Jews? They were hardened, as it
is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not
see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day” (Romans 11:8 – NKJV).
This hardening worked in them by God, which caused them to fall (or to
stumble at the Word), was necessary in order to provoke the Israelites to
jealousy and to move them to anger. For through their fall salvation has come
to the Gentiles, and the disobedient Jews, seeing that the Gentiles have been
qualified to be partakers of the root and fatness of their own olive tree
(the cultivated olive tree), are provoked to jealousy and moved to anger towards
the Gentiles. This is exactly what God had said to Moses He would do: “I will
move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them
to anger with a foolish nation” (Deuteronomy 32:21). So now we can see the fulfilment
of those words. Why did God say those words against Israel? In order
to punish the Israelites for their rebellious and obstinate behaviour during
their journey in the wilderness, for God said: “They have moved me to
jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with
their vanities” (Deuteronomy 32:21). This reminds us that God is an avenging
God, and how true is that word which says: “As you have done, it shall be
done to you” (Obadiah 15 - NKJV). Therefore, we can say that the hardening of
the Jews is nothing but the fulfilment of the promise of vengeance made by
God to Moses toward His rebellious people, because by hardening most of them
God has caused salvation to come to the Gentiles provoking the Jews to
jealousy towards the Gentiles. The two things, therefore, are strictly linked
together.
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However,
according to the purpose of God, the hardening in part which has happened to Israel, one day
will cease. Here is what Paul says: “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. And so all Israel shall be
saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and
shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them,
when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies
for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the
fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For
as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy
through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that
through your mercy they also may obtain mercy” (Romans 11:25-31). Now,
as you can see, Paul tells us something so that we may not be conceited, that
is, an hardening in part happened to Israel and it
will last until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Then all Israel will be
saved because God will turn away ungodliness from Jacob and will take away
their sins. That here Paul speaks of all the people of Israel (that is,
the Jews according to the flesh) is evident because a short time before he
speaks of the hardening (or blindness) in part which has happened to Israel. Therefore,
we cannot say that the words of Paul “all Israel shall be
saved” refer to the Church
of God.
It is clear, however, that when all Israelites are saved, they will become members
of the Church
of God,
because Christ made both peoples one, and in Him there is neither Jew nor
Greek. Paul explains why God one day will save all Israel; the
reason is this: because whereas on the one hand concerning the Gospel the
Jews are enemies for our sake, on the other hand concerning the election they
are beloved for the sake of the fathers because the gifts and the calling of
God are without repentance.
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Therefore,
God did not reject Israel as a nation; He did not reject Israel either in the
wilderness when the Israelites rebelled against His commandments, or after
they entered the land of Canaan and they mingled with the nations prostituting
themselves by their deaf idols, or (after the Kingdom of Israel was divided
into two kingdoms) when the people gave themselves to all kinds of iniquities
in the days of the prophets. The prophets were reviled, killed, yet God after
He punished the Israelites by sending them into captivity had mercy on His
people and He made them to be pitied by those who had carried them away
captive and made them return to the land He had given to their fathers. For
in the days of Cyrus king of Persia (538-529 before Christ) thousands of Jews
returned from the captivity to the land of Israel and they rebuilt the temple
(they laid the foundation of the temple in the second year after their
arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, and completed it in the sixth year
of the reign of King Darius (521-485) – cf. Ezra chapters 1-6); and
afterwards, during the reign of Artaxerses I (465-424 before Christ), they
rebuilt the walls of the city of Jerusalem (under the direction of Nehemiah).
Jesus came a few centuries later, but He was rejected and killed by the Jews,
as many prophets of God had been rejected and killed by the Jews before Him.
God’s vengeance came in 70 after Christ, for in that year God sent against Jerusalem the roman
army whose commander in chief was Titus and God caused that army to kill
hundreds of thousands of Jews and to destroy the temple of Jerusalem, and to carry
many Jews away captive. In that year there was great distress in the land of Israel and wrath
upon the people of Israel.
Surely in those days many thought that God had rejected Israel as a
nation, there is no doubt about it. For every time God has punished severely
the Jewish people, the nations have said that God rejected His people. And
not only in those days, but also in the following centuries, during which the
Jews were all over the world without an earthly homeland. All over the world
they were mocked by all, they were without a homeland, without a country that
represented them. But in the second half of the nineteenth century some Jews
began to think that it was time to return to the land given to their fathers
by God. Some welcomed this idea with much joy, some were sceptical about it,
and some others opposed it violently. Little by little the number of those
who believed that a Jewish State had to be founded upon the land of their fathers
increased. In 1897 Theodore Herzl founded the Zionist Movement whose aim was
the foundation of the State of Israel. The Zionist Movement urged and
encouraged many Jews to go to live in the land of Israel and so in
the space of about fifty years there were about 500.000 Jews in the land of Israel. In 1948,
after many events that I don’t want to tell on this occasion because it would
take me too much time to write them, the State of Israel was founded.
Therefore, God, by causing many Jews to return to Israel and to
refound the Jewish State, showed all the world that He had not forgotten the
nation of Israel.
Nevertheless, there are many who don’t believe that all these events happened
to the Jews were brought to pass by God to fulfil His word. Thus we would
like to ask these persons who say that both the return of many Jews to the land
that God gave to their fathers and the foundation of the State of Israel
after so many centuries don’t come from God: ‘How can you say such things
when it is sufficient to read the Old Testament to understand how many times
God had mercy on the Israelites even after they had rebelled against Him?’
Let’s look for instance at the rebellion of Israel in the wilderness; the
Israelites did not observe the law of God in the wilderness, many times they
violated the law of God and they were punished by God, and when God commanded
them to possess the land of Canaan they did not believe God and God, because
of their unbelief, punished them by not permitting them to enter the promised
land. Yet, He allowed the next generation to enter the promised land because
God is faithful and He keeps His promises. Is it not written that if we are unfaithful
(or faithless) He remains faithful? (2 Timothy 2:13) Why shouldn’t this be
valid toward the Jews also, that is, the people whom God foreknew? God is no
respecter of persons, isn’t He? If when we, who are His people, are
unfaithful we can always rely upon the faithfulness of God, why shouldn’t the
Jews also, despite their unfaithfulness, and even though they rejected Christ,
rely upon the faithfulness of God? Obviously, we are speaking only of the
return of many Jews to the land given to Abraham, and the refoundation of the
State of Israel, yet the fact still remains that these two events are a
manifestation of the faithfulness of God. If once many could say to the Jews:
‘You are a people without a homeland, you are represented by no State on the
earth’, now these things cannot be said to them any longer, because they have
a State that represents them, and even though they are citizens of another
nation they can always return to this State and become citizens of it. For
sure, to the enemies of Israel, and I do
not refer only to the Arabs, the foundation of the State of Israel was an
humiliation. But on the other hand we know that whenever the Israelites have
exalted themselves God has humbled them, and that God has humbled the enemies
of Israel
as well, because God is righteous. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled
by God, and God silences those who open their mouth to revile. And after many
centuries, during which the enemies of Israel had reviled and mocked the
Israelites not considering them a nation any longer, God, at His appointed
time, silenced them by restoring the State of Israel upon the land given to
Abraham and his seed. Therefore, concerning the return of a part of the Jews
to the land
of Israel,
we proclaim: ‘God has done this!’. And how could we affirm the contrary, when
we know that not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from God’s will and
that the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water, He
turns it wherever He wishes? But let us see now the passages of the
Scriptures which were fulfilled through that return of the Jews and the
foundation of the State of Israel in 1948.
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Isaiah the
prophet said: “For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set
them in their own land …” (Isaiah 14:1). Ezekiel the prophet said: “Therefore
say unto the house of Israel,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for
mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye
went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the
heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall
know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in
you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather
you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land …. And say
unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of
Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on
every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one
nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king
to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be
divided into two kingdoms any more at all” (Ezekiel 36:22-24; 37:21-22). The
prophet Zechariah said: “I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and
gather them out of Assyria
….” (Zechariah 10:10). These are just some of the Scriptures which predicted
the return of the Jews to their land.
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What shall
we say then about the temple which was destroyed in 70 after Christ and has
not yet been rebuilt? It must be said that according to some words written in
the New Testament it should be rebuilt before the coming of Christ from
heaven. Here are these words: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not
soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by
letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive
you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so
that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God”
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-4), and: “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod:
and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the
altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the
temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and
the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months” (Rev. 11:1-2)
– and bear in mind that when John had that vision the temple of Jerusalem had
already been destroyed -. As you can see, the temple about which Paul and
John wrote is the temple
of Jerusalem,
the city of the great King. However, pay attention to what I am going to tell
you. Even though the rebuilding of this temple will occur before the return
of Christ, this rebuilding will not nullify either the fact that with the
coming of Christ (the first coming) all those who have been saved have become
part of the spiritual building which is a dwelling place of God in the
Spirit, that is, His temple; or the fact that the earthly temple is a shadow
of the heavenly things. In other words, to us who believe in the Lord, even
when the temple
of Jerusalem
is rebuilt, the temple
of God
will continue to be the Church
of God
and the earthly temple will continue to be a shadow of heavenly things.
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Obviously,
to the Jews according to the flesh, the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem will be a
very important event, while to us the importance of the event will not be the
same. For sure, when the temple is rebuilt, knowing that the man of sin will
sit as God in it showing himself that he is God, we will know that the coming
of the man of sin will be nearer, as well as the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who will consume the man of sin with the breath of His mouth and
destroy with the brightness of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
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At the
moment, the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem on the spot where it stood in
ancient times seems to be impossible, because, as you know, on the place
where the old temple was in ancient times, at the moment there is an Arab
Mosque and if the Jewish Government decides to destroy it all the Arab
countries will immediately make war against Israel. However, the removal of
the Arab Mosque is not a problem to God, because in His own time He will do
what He has said and He will do it in the way He wills. Do the Jews desire to
rebuild the temple
of Jerusalem?
Yes, for many Jews want to rebuild it on the spot where the old temple was. I
remember that several years ago a brother in the Lord told me that he had
heard that the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem was
imminent; having doubts about that piece of news, I decided to make a
telephone call to the Jewish Embassy which is here in Rome to know from them whether
the news was true. The first answer they gave to me was: “If only it were
true!’, and then my interlocutor denied that piece of news. However, there
are some Orthodox Jewish groups which are ready to destroy the Arab mosque to
rebuilt the temple. But these groups don’t please many Jews because they know
that if that Arab mosque were destroyed there would be a big war against Israel, a war
that would have no precedent in the history of Israel. Yet this
war doesn’t frighten these groups at all, because they believe that when this
war breaks out the Messiah will come and fight against the enemies of Israel!
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