GOD'S chosen people

BIBLICAL EVIDENCES CONCERNING THE JEWISH PEOPLE

Adoption as sons: the nation of Israel was made God’s children, which is clearly confirmed in Exodus 4:22. “Thus says the Lord, Israel is My son, My first-born”. The Greek word in Romans 9:4 for children is the same as the one used in Romans 8:16, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

Israel alone received the glory, the covenants, the law, the directions for tabernacle worship, and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, the prophets, and ultimately, they are the human source of Jesus Christ. Israel alone is referred to by God as “My Son”

The divine glory: Only the Jewish people experienced the Shekinah glory, which means, the glorious presence of God. This was visible in the pillar of fire that led Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land. (Exodus 13:21, 33:9; Numbers 12:5, 14:14). The visible presence of God was present in the tabernacle in the wilderness (Exodus 41:36-38) and in the temple when it was built in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 1:28, 3:23, 9:3). The visible presence of God will return to Jerusalem when the Messiah rules the earth from the Temple Mount, ushering in the golden age of peace. There shall be no need of moon or stars by night or sun by day. The manifest presence of God from the presence of the Messiah will cause the city of Jerusalem to glow perpetually with Shekinah glory.

The covenants are theirs: The God of the Bible is a covenant God, and He never breaks covenant. Moses tells us:

Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant, for a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9).

The covenants God makes with His people are everlasting, without end, and actually translated, “longer than forever”.

These covenants are not based on man’s faithfulness to God, they’re based on God’s faithfulness to man. Those who teach that God has broken covenant with the Jewish people teach a false doctrine based on scriptural ignorance.

God made a covenant with Abraham:

I will make you a great nation

I will bless you

And make your name great

And you will be a blessing

I will bless those who bless you

And I will curse him who curses you

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed

(Genesis 12:2-3)

God made a blood covenant with Abraham, giving him and his descendants the land of Israel. (Genesis 5:9-21) The covenant was renewed in Genesis 17:7-14 and again in Genesis 22. The covenant was extended to Isaac and to Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28,

Exodus 2:24, 6:3-5).

God gave a covenant to King David in Psalm 105:8-11 concerning the Jewish right to own and possess the land of Israel forever. Then God gave David a covenant that his (David’s) throne would be established forever (2 Samuel 7:12-13, 16). This was a reference to Christ, who was introduced to his ministry as “the Son of David.” In the future He shall rule the earth forever from the city of Jerusalem, and “every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phillipians 2:10-11).

Covenant is so important in the plan of God for man that it is mentioned 256 times in the Old Testament. Covenant is the soil in which every flower grows in Scripture. God does nothing of importance, ever, without covenant. Preachers who teach that God broke covenant with the Jewish people can have absolutely no confidence that God will not break covenant with the Gentiles.

The receiving of the law-the law is actually the Torah-the written Word of God. It is a misunderstanding to call this the “law of Moses”. It is not the “law of Moses”, it is the law of God given to Moses on Mt. Sinai for all humanity to read, honor and obey.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, the Torah had been in existence for more than 1,300 years. America has only existed for 230 years.

The giving of the Torah from God to Moses on top of Mt. Sinai was where the divine and eternal met the human and temporal. It is important to remember that Christ was a rabbi Who introduced Himself as the living Torah, “Word of God”.

In the beginning (Genesis 1:1) was the Word (Torah), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God-and the Word became flesh (Christ) and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14)

The Torah was given to the Jewish people thousands of years before the Gentiles even knew it existed. (Romans 3:1-2)

The temple worship-Temple worship refers to the elaborate set of regulations for construction of the temple as well as the exact sacrificial system that would cleanse Israel from sin. The symbolism of the temple was a physical portrait of God’s plan for man. The temple was surrounded by a fence of white fabric, symbolizing holiness and separation from the world. The entrance to the temple had only one door, as Jesus said of Himself, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved” (John 10:9). The doors of the temple were very wide, fulfilling the words of Jesus, “Whosoever will come” (Mark 8:34) The first item found inside was the laver for the washing of the hands. It was necessary that a person be purified before that person approached the altar for the forgiveness of sins. The laver was lined with mirrors so you could see yourself as you washed your hands. “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Next was the altar where the sacrifice was presented to God by the priest. It was a daily reminder to all Israel that “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). Then came the temple itself, whose symbolism and process of atonement are worthy of a book of their own. If you do not understand God’s message to mankind through the symbolism of the tabernacle, you do not understand the Word of God. It was only to the Jewish people that God gave the temple and its fathomless revelations concerning God’s plan for man.

The promises-The Old Testament is filled with promises of many kinds, but “the promises” in Romans 9:4 refer to the promises of redemption to be fulfilled by the Messiah, who is Jesus. Paul makes this clear in Galatians 3. It was Moses who gave us the first extensive prophetic portrait of the coming Messiah in Deuteronomy 18:18-19, Moses brings to Israel this promise from God.

I will raise them up a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of Him.

In Acts 3:22-26 Peter explains how this prophecy of Moses applies to Jesus of Nazareth as Israel’s Messiah.

For Moses truly said to the fathers “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people”. Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, “And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” To you first, God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquites.

Moses’ word established these facts:

God promised to send to Israel a particular Prophet at a later time.

This Prophet would have unique authority.

This Prophet would be like Moses in ways that would distinguish Him from all other prophets.

THE PATRIARCHS ARE THEIRS

The patriarchs are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God used them to found the nation of Israel and to give birth to the Jewish people, who became the apple of God’s eye (Deuteronomy 32:10). The Jews have blessed the nations of the world from Genesis 12 until this day, and they will continue to do so until the Messiah returns.

The Jewish people are the human source of Jesus.