“My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” (Proverbs 3:11-12. Hebrews 12:5-6)
“Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts…I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and…I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him. (II Samuel 7:8-15)
When the leaders of Israel stopped voluntarily representing YHVH to the world, the only way God could continue to maintain a permanent Father relationship with Israel was through disciplining his children.
- when all these things are come upon thee…the curse…
- And [thou] shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day…
- That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee…
- if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
- For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off…But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart,
- that thou mayest do it.” (Deuteronomy 30:1-3, 10-14)
“The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord YHVH’s Savior / Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead [i.e. proven his power over death], thou shalt be saved…For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed...But they have not all obeyed the gospel.” (Romans 10:6-16)
Thy first father / chief priest, high priest hath sinned, and thy teachers / of religious studies have transgressed against me. Therefore I have profaned [ un-sanctified, stripped of appointed positions to serve God] the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.” (Isaiah 43)
But this does not justify the opinion that God separated out a “Gentile Christian” Church. If we believe what the Bible says about the throne of the seed of David lasting for ever, then we have to also believe what the Bible says about the priesthood of the seed of Aaron lasting for ever, and therefore the Mosaic law is still in effect.
Yes, the letter to the Hebrews states that Jesus was called of God to be a priest, and therefore “the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” (Hebrews 7:12)
But we can’t interpret “a change also of the law” to mean the entire Mosaic code was tossed out when Jesus died on the cross. We certainly don’t believe that the Ten Commandments were discarded.
Keep the distinction between individual laws and and the entirety of a covenant. Most of all, remember that the Mosaic covenant was just the latest in a series of covenants to the Hebrews and included all the prior covenants to the Adams, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc.
As the passage continues, we need to recognize that Moses simply continued, perhaps reinstated details of, this law, but he most certainly didn’t initiate it. The reason this passage focuses on Moses is because it is refuting an argument being made at that time regarding the Mosaic law.
“Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts…Remember ye the law of Moses my servant…lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 3-4)
This analysis is so simple and obvious. So how did we get from there to the claims of Christianity today?
The great change from the old to the new covenant is not giving up the practice of the law, but the permanent presence of God’s Spirit empowering the practice of the law. It is the same change as an engagement promise to a marriage vow.
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah…I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And…they shall all know me / be united with me under the terms of the new covenant, which was impossible under the previous covenant due to sinful state…for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
“And the Redeemer shall come…unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee…shall not depart…from henceforth and for ever.” (Isaiah 59:20-21)
“the Spirit of truth…dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you…At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will…manifest myself to him.” (John 14:17-21)
Just as marriage vows require more from each partner than engagement promises, so the new covenant of union between God and individual humans demands greater, not less, commitment from each partner than the old.
“Thus saith the LORD God; I will…assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel…And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you…That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them…” ( Ezekiel 11:17-20)
YHVH’s vow to permanently indwell and empower humans to obey laws clearly establishes that the humans’ commitment to the covenant is to obey the laws!
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3-4)
“For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:22-25)
God’s spiritual laws / overriding control over the physical laws of nature make it possible to perform what we call miracles.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” (John 14:12)
On the other hand, we find that the miracle works that Jesus promised would prove Spirit indwelling are works he rejects as proving the workers are his followers. Which is it?
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit…Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:15-22)
Paul provides one of the many balancing acts in scripture. The “signs” – which can be faked or empowered by an evil spirit – aren’t the works that Jesus demands of us for salvation or even to prove salvation. All of these signs aren’t manifested by every believer, but every believer should be doing something!
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant…Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
- to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom;
- to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
- To another faith by the same Spirit;
- to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
- To another the working of miracles;
- to another prophecy;
- to another discerning of spirits;
- to another divers kinds of tongues;
- to another the interpretation of tongues:
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit…But now are they many members, yet but one body…
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? Obviously his rather sarcastic answer is “No!” do all interpret?
But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal…Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church…Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?…Brethren, be not children in understanding…
In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not…
Let all things be done unto edifying. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God…
What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” (I Corinthians 12-14
And the grossest ignorance of all is the rejection of Judaism by Christianity.
“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine…
I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.
Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things?
- let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified:
- or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
YE are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD / I AM Self-Existent Eternal One; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. Yea, before the day / time was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?…This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.” (Isaiah 43)
It is commonly assumed that this passage applies only to Israel and that “the seed of Israel” is the same as “the sons of God”. Yet we know that YHVH’s Savior “came unto his own, and his own received him not. 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 1:11-12)
And the next chapters in Isaiah validates that people from any ethnicity can be both the sons of God and the seed of Israel. How? As detailed in Father Abraham, through adoption.
“Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun / Upright One, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.
- One shall say, I am the LORD‘s: International Hebrews from many nations who acknowledge YHVH/Creator
- another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and
- another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel: The New Covenant Assembly of Saints.
Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.” (Isaiah 44:1-8)
Some day, the conflict over truth and lies, eternal life over eternal death, will come to a climax.
“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great” (Revelation 11:16-18)
“For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle…THEN shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem…and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee…And the LORD shall be king over all the earth.” (Zechariah 14:1-10)
“Jerusalem is the city which I have chosen me to put my name there” (I Kings 11:36).
As detailed in the post The Promised Land, the name Jeru-salem is a signpost for peace and how to make it. Yet Jerusalem as been fought over more than any other place, even before there was the nation of Israel. According to multiple prophecies, not to mention logical conclusions from history and current events, before there can be peace the LORD is going to have to fight to gain control of Jerusalem.
“Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him…I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the LORD / YHVH / Creator, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else…Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!…But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.” (Isaiah 45)
Note carefully how the nation of Israel witnesses of the LORD, YHVH Self-Existent Eternal One “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see:” (I Timothy 6:16).
Mortal four-dimensional humans cannot survive an encounter with hyperdimensional God. This is based on physics, not an arbitrary mandate, and is witnessed throughout world religions. The movie The Man Who Would Be King nails the fatal hubris of the main character with this concept. The imposter god’s mortality is revealed by the woman who, in terror for her life when he tried to embrace her, lashes out, drawing blood.
Mortals need mortal witnesses of God’s past occasions of salvation in order to put their trust in him for their current and future deliverance from certain destruction.
“And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said…I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay. Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee…God is greater than man. Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters. For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not…That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man…He [man] is chastened…If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth: He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.” (Job 33)
But nobody does it better than Israel.
“I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it…the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them…ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.” (Isaiah 44:6-8)
“Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that…pray unto a god that cannot save….who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour…Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else…surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory..” (Isaiah 45)
In Isaiah 46:10 he writes about God: “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying: ‘My counsel shall stand, and all My pleasure will I do.’”
You have a small tribe around 3000 years ago. They are going to go on to:
1. Give the world the most best selling book ever.
2. Survive not just those ancient times up until modern times, outliving literally thousands of other groups, tribes and nations that will die out over the ages. They will do this under some of the most horrendous circumstances imaginable…
3. The teachings in their holy book will revolutionize much of the world’s understanding and practice of morality.
4. Major world religions that will include a majority of the globe’s population will develop out of Judaism.
5. These people in their exile will end up establishing communities across the entire world among all the nations in a way that no other people on earth has accomplished.
6. This people will not only survive as a people, but will also maintain their cultural and religious identity, again in very hostile environments that would grant them many benefits if they would only convert.
7. While this people is exiled from their land, the land will remain largely empty and desolate, with only a handful of cities maintaining any significant population. The land will become a barren wasteland. This is predicted by the Torah in a number of places. This fact is rather strange given the importance of Israel as a land bridge between Asia Africa and Europe, as well as its importance to Christianity and Islam. The fact remains that there were only three times Israel was a sovereign nation. Israel before the Babylonians, Israel after the Babylonians, and Israel in 1948.
8. This tiny ancient tribe will become one of the most persecuted groups on earth. Their very name “Jew!” will become a bad word. They will face more attempted genocides than arguably almost any other group on earth. The hatred of them will unite neo-Nazis and radical Islamists. Every generation someone will try to destroy them. And even up until modern times this theme will continue.
9. This small group will continue revolutionizing the world with their accomplishments. They will achieve more per capita than any other group on earth. Though they are a mere .2% of the world’s population they will receive 22% of Nobel Prizes, 51% of Pulitzer Prizes. They will be the fathers of all Hollywood studios. 3 of the 4 greatest thinkers of the 20th century it will turn out are Jews – Freud, Marx, and Einstein. Jews will be in the leadership of almost every major “ism” to arise in the 20th century. The Communists, Anarchists, Feminists, Hippie movement, civil rights movements, and Jews were also in all socialist movements, whether revolutionary or reformist, universalist or nationalist, etc. Jewish accomplishments, inventions, innovations, are simply off the chart for this tiny people. Light to the nations much? The world will be blessed by your descendants? Sure sounds like it. (IMO This fact alone should make the entire world pause and try to figure out what the heck is going on here.)
10. The Jews will face an unforeseeable mass slaughter at the hands of the Nazis and aided by many of their European neighbors. Many of these populations and their leadership who seem to hail from the heights of European civility, will commit an act of barbarism that is almost unmatched in history given its brutality and scope. At the same time, this mass murder of the Jews will end up arguably saving the entire world from Nazi domination. Had the Nazis forcibly enlisted the great Jewish minds they had at their disposal, they very possibly could have won the entire war. Once again, the Jews end up being the ones at the center of this world war, and end up saving the world again.
11. The Jewish people will also find a small opportunity in which to return to their rather desolate land and try to make it into a state. This will be done largely by secular Jews who do not believe that the prophecies of the bible are from God, nor do they believe there is any divine connection between the Jews and the land of Israel. This entire founding of the state will require the confluence of so many unlikely factors, each of which will have to happen or the entire enterprise could collapse and lead to total slaughter:
a) It just so happens that the land is open for large scale immigration, and the Jews have the ability to leave their lands.
b) their numbers are small and they are facing a hostile Arab population some of whose influential leaders are plotting the eventual genocide of the Jews, such as the mufti of Jerusalem.
c) at just this time, the antisemitism of the Nazis rears its head followed by the holocaust which will lead to the necessary emigration of large numbers of people who would otherwise had stayed in Europe. These numbers will be an indispensable factor in winning the 1948 war.
d) The Jews will win the 1948 war with minimal forces and weapons. The Jews had just lost 1/3 of their numbers and now they have a state. Losing this war would likely have ended in a second holocaust.
e) There is a very very brief window in which the US, Soviet Union, and other nations supported the founding of the state. Within just a couple of years the Soviets had completely changed their mind. Abba Eban has pointed out that without the arms given to Israel by the Soviets, and without the Soviet vote in favor of partition (along with the votes of four satellite nations) “we couldn’t have made it, either diplomatically or militarily.””
f) The Arabs forcibly evict around 1 million Jews, most of whom move to Israel. These numbers are once again indisputable to the country and to the future engagement in 1967. In an almost miraculous fashion, factors in a very short span of time lead to hundreds of thousands of Jews being practically forced to move to Israel from so many from European and Moslem lands.
g) The 1967 saw predictions of total destruction of Israel by Russian intelligence estimates, as well as predictions of very high casualties from US estimates. This could have been it. Yet Israel achieved one of the most stunning victories they could have imagined. How do the Jews in Israel get lucky every single time?
h) The 1973 war also could have easily lead to destruction. After the counter attack of June 8th failed, reports say Moshe Dayan was depressed and truly feared this would be the first and last war that Israel would lose. The major battle fought in Valley of Tears is about as close to a miracle as you can get.
i) if you want a rundown of the many extremely lucky victories that Israel achieved, many of which like the above were necessary for Israel’s survival, see here – goo.gl/sERTeY
12) Regarding the revival of the Hebrew language in the modern state of Israel, “there are no other examples of a natural language without any native speakers subsequently acquiring several million such native speakers, and no other examples of a sacred language becoming a national language with millions of “first language” speakers.” Hebrew is known as lashon hakodesh and has a holy, religious aspect to it, so this revival, which was initiated and brought to fruition primarily by secular Israeli settlers, is worthy of note.
13) The Torah predicts very clearly that once the Jewish people return to their land, the nations of the world will join together and try to destroy the state of Israel. It is interesting that in today’s world, there is no other country on earth whose very existence is called into question by groups and nations from across the globe. People may hate North Korea’s leadership or the Iranian ayatollahs, but they don’t want to destroy these nations and/or exile their people. Israel is the one country on earth that receives this distinction. Israel is arguably one of the most hated countries on earth, and polls have shown that.
14) The Torah and Midrashim ultimately predict that Iran will threaten to destroy the entire world and caus chaos around the globe leading to the war of Gog. Though it hasn’t happened as of yet, Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons combined with the radical theology of the Twelver Shia ect that the Ayatollahs follow make this final prophecy a real possibility.
When one puts this all together, it becomes very clear that the unique, unlikely history of the Jewish people was spelled out in detail beforehand.
It is just inexplicable how someone who calls himself a Christ-One can eliminate his word from their self-identity.
“What if God…endured with much longsuffering…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? As he saith also in Osee, 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. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:” (Romans 9:22-27)
“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also AM an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying…I am left alone, and they seek my life But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace…
“remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh…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: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ….Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;” (Ephesians 2:11-19)
I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles…If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?…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.” (Romans 11)
“come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Messiah / Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ… henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart…
But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4:13-24)
Kingdom Come 