God chose Israel for very special purposes! They were to be a people set apart from the heathen nations who worshipped false idols. They were entrusted with the very word of God and brought us the holy scriptures. They were the chosen people to bring forth the Messiah to the world. In John 4:22 we are told that salvation is from the Jews. They were promised the land that is the land of the future and eternity
God allowed partial blindness to come to Israel regarding her Messiah - so that by His amazing mercy, salvation could come to the whole world. But was this blindness the final deal concerning Israel? Romans 11:11-12 says no way, Jose (my paraphrase)!
Here are the verses: "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. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!"
So, we see that Israel's stumbling brought riches for the world - salvation through (and grafting into the kingdom of) Messiah! For two thousand years, we have seen people from all nations coming to faith in Messiah. But does Israel's salvation mean even greater riches for the nations? Yes!
Since Israel has been in her homeland, faith has increased all over the world. China and India are excellent examples of this! People are coming to faith in record numbers since the 1970s. (Two wonderful books to read on this subject are "The Heavenly Man" by Paul Hattaway and "Revolution in World Missions" by KP Yohannan). The Jesus Movement, which saw the salvation of many Jewish people, began in 1967 in California - the very same year that Jerusalem fell under control of Israel.
Get ready friends! Yeshua is coming soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment