Last November I went with a group from Blairsville to Israel and truly fell in love with the land and its people. The Bible is now three dimensional to me after having seen many of the places about which I had read and studied. The people were warm and friendly and I almost felt at home there. The greatest heartbreak for me was that most Israelis are not believers in Jesus Christ, despite the fact that He was one of them—Jewish. I was completely heartbroken and saddened by the fact that our Jewish tour guide viewed the New Testament as a textbook from which to learn facts that enhanced his knowledge. Each day I pray that the Holy Spirit will soften his heart and draw him to Jesus Christ.
The Jews are God’s chosen people. Many times the Bible refers to them as such and despite the fact that they rejected Christ when He walked on this earthly sod, they remain God’s chosen people. Where does that leave you and me as Gentile believers in Christ? Are we not “chosen” as well? Of course we are. Just because the Jews rejected Christ does not mean that He rejected them.
In researching the Sunday school lesson I am teaching this Sunday, I came across a beautiful passage in Jeremiah that speaks to this topic and I thought we would explore it together.
Jeremiah, the prophet, echoes the words of the Lord in chapter 31 and verse 37 by saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,’ declares the Lord.” God assures Israel and all who read the Bible that He will never reject them. In previous verses (vs. 31 and 32) in the same chapter God speaks and says, “The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them.”
God promises that not only will He not reject Israel, but He will make a new covenant with them. This new covenant will involve His law being written on their hearts and minds. The old covenant that God made with the Israelites was written on stone tablets. The new and still-to-come covenant will be written on their hearts and flesh just as the New Covenant is written on the heart of each born again believer of Christ.
The apostle Paul echoes the prophet Jeremiah when he says in Romans 11: 1 and 11, “I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.” Paul goes on in chapter 11, verses 25 – 27 to say, “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’
Christ will call the Jewish people to Himself in due time. When the “full number” of the Gentiles have been saved or grafted into the holy lineage, then God will soften the hearts of the Jews toward Christ. Yes, you and I as redeemed Gentiles are chosen by Christ as His bride, but the nation of Israel is still very much God’s chosen people and the apple of His eye.
Pray, dear ones, for the peace of Israel and the safety and security of the Jewish people. Rest assured that when you pray for Israel, you are praying for your chosen brothers and your sisters.
