Context. Context. Context. Life is linear and unbroken. You cannot be who you are without having been who you used to be and I cannot be who I am without you being who you’ve been. It would be very encouraging for some people to see what life would be like for those around them if they had never existed – for others it would be a shocking reality check. We must see ourselves as a part of familial heritage, national history and global position or else we will repeat the follies of our ancestors. Beyond the avoidance of inheriting folly due to ignorance, we want to know who we are, where we are going, what is in us and what we are capable of – these things come through connection to our heritage. Spiritually, we must be aware of the rock from which we have been hewn.
The Lord doesn’t play favorites, but He does have them. The fact of the Incarnation necessitates that He choose one over another. He chose the inner circle of three over the other nine disciples, who He chose over the other hundreds of followers, who were chosen above the rest of the nation of Israel, God’s favorite nation on God’s favorite planet in His favorite galaxy in His favorite universe. As far as the Incarnation of God goes, He chose to be born from the descendants of Abraham, but Abraham had three sons – He chose Isaac. Isaac had more than one son, God chose Jacob. Jacob had many sons, God chose Judah. Judah had sons who had sons who had sons, and if you read Matthew 1 or Luke 3 you can trace the Messianic lineage. This all boils down and you realize that He didn’t chose Ishmael, Keturah, Esau, Reuben, Levi, Naphtali or Gad.
So God chooses some over others. He didn’t choose Egypt or Babylon or Assyria or Edom or Italy. He chose Israel. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He was, is and always will be “the God of Israel”. That means that today, if you want to worship the God of the Bible, Jehovah, the Creator, then we must worship Israel’s God. In order to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, we must know the God of Matthew through Revelation in relationship to Genesis through Malachi. The God of Acts is the biggest fan of the book of Leviticus ever. Christianity is not a separate religion from Judaism, it is the fulfillment of Judaism’s hopes and prophesies. We cannot divorce the Covenants.
True faith in Jesus without the Old Testament is anemic. Anemia is a medical condition basically having to do with the lack of vitality that comes from deficiency in blood. Not only does mono-testimental faith lack depth, but one cannot fully understand the faith expressed by the apostles if it is not in the context of the Old Covenant with Israel. God is absolutely committed to Israel. The turning of the nation of Israel is one of the signs that the Lord is returning to the planet. If you try to replace them, you have missed part of God’s heart for restoration and misunderstand His dedicated faithfulness.
Whereas Paul mostly wrote to churches and people that he had personal contact with, when he wrote to Rome he was addressing people he didn’t know because of serious error that had to be corrected. Over night, the leadership of the Roman church went from Jewish to Gentile. Throughout his letter, Paul confronts both sides’ desires to oppress the other. He tells the Gentiles not to forget that the Messiah came from Israel, but in the next breath he rebukes Jews for forgetting that only through the fullness of the Gentiles will Israel return to the Lord. Neither Jew nor Gentile can fulfill their destiny alone. These two brothers must unite under the God of the limping wrestler, Israel.
*God of Israel, grant the powers of the age to come to adopted olive branches that will faithfully bring the Kingdom and draw Your people back to Your Son. Amen*
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