Date: February, 2006 Series: “I Want to be Left Behind” (XVI) Title: Israel’s Role in the End Times (cont’d)

     When Israel invaded the land of Canaan, we find a whole city full of Gentile people, the Gibeonites, making a covenant with Israel (Joshua 9) and they were still around and included in Israel’s genealogical listing after the restoration from Babylonian exile (Nehemiah 7:25) – the ten northern tribes were gone (pruned away), but the Gibeonites were still a part of Israel.  From the beginning, “Israel” has been a mixture of Jewish & Gentile covenant members!

     Whereas Israel had been chosen for a purpose, to be the genealogical lineage and nation from which the Messiah would arise - as the descendants of the Patriarchal Fathers, to whom God had made the promises - they eventually came to believe that they were “chosen” because they were somehow better than others.  Most had forgotten what Moses said on the issue of their own assumed “superiority” over other people (Deuteronomy 7:7-8; 9:4-8) and by Isaiah’s time they were arrogant toward others (Isaiah 65:2-5).  The book of Jonah ends with the haunting statement about God’s concern over the Assyrians (Jonah 4:11), which Jonah and most of his countrymen probably had trouble appreciating.  Later, on several occasions, Jesus used the hated Samaritans and Romans as object lessons about how non-Jews could be more benevolent and thankful than Jewish folks.^[1]

     After being instructed by Jesus for over three years and then receiving the God-given and repeated lesson of the vision of the sheet filled with unclean animals that could now be eaten and told to go and enter the home of a Gentile (Acts 10:9-28), it did not take Peter long to realize something that the Old Testament had been teaching for years – God welcomes people, who fear Him and do what is right, from every nation (Acts 10:34,35).

     Abraham’s children – God’s “Israel” is made up of those who are the true children of Abraham, but the New Testament writers felt a burden that this issue also be clarified for us.  John the baptizer warned an unrepentant bunch of Jewish leaders that dependence on their physical lineage to Abraham was no guarantee, since God could make "sons of Abraham" out of rocks (Matthew 3:9).  Thus, as we will see in Paul’s writings later on, making "sons of Abraham" out of believing Gentiles should be even easier!

     Accordingly, in Romans, Paul taught that “true Jews” are actually determined more by the heart than by the flesh (Romans 2:28,29).  In Romans 4, Paul used the fact that Abraham was declared “righteous by faith” (Genesis 15:6), prior to both his fleshly circumcision (Genesis 17:9-14) and centuries before the Mosaic Law was even given (Exodus 20) – essentially, as an uncircumcised man not living under the Mosaic Law (a Gentile!) – so that he could be the spiritual father of a new body composed of both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 4).

     In Galatians, Paul taught that Abraham’s true spiritual children, like their father, are determined by faith, not fleshly things (3:6-9) and all believers who, in this covenant era, are baptized into Jesus become Abraham’s true children (3:26-29).  Paul then went on to lay out a powerful allegory in 4:21-31 – Abraham had children through two women, Hagar and Sarah and these women/children represent two covenants: (1) Hagar’s child, Ishmael, came by the flesh and is associated with Mt. Sinai, earthly Jerusalem, and slavery/bondage under the Law, while (2) Sarah’s child, Isaac, is associated with promise and heavenly Jerusalem.  Like Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 21), earthly/fleshly-minded Judaism will be “cast out” (see: Matthew 21:33-43; ominous!).

     The “true circumcision” – Abraham’s covenant people were marked in the flesh by circumcision and it was essential (Genesis 17:14).  However, any who would argue for a continuing need and role for a separate (from the church) earthly and fleshly Israelite nation need to grapple with something – on this side of the Cross and Pentecost, fleshly circumcision means NOTHING as far as our covenant relationship with God is concerned.  To the Jewish believers in the Roman Church, Paul noted that physically circumcised people who do not keep the Law become, in God’s eyes, “uncircumcised” (Romans 2:25).  On the other hand, "true Jews" in this age are recognized by their heart/Spirit and NOT by fleshly circumcision (Romans 2:28,29).  This was not a new issue – emphasizing the heart over the flesh – for God had made the same point much earlier through Moses' message (Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6) to a group of Israelites who were uncircumcised in the flesh at that point (see: Joshua 5:2-5) and through the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 4:4; 9:25,26).  In First Corinthians, Paul said that people in Christ should remain in the condition they were in when converted (7:17-20).  Paul’s letter to the Galatians is even stronger against those who thought that circumcision still had spiritual value (5:1-8,12; 6:12-16).  To the Philippians, Paul said that those continuing to place a high spiritual value on fleshly circumcision were actually the “false circumcision” and identified the “true circumcision” as being Christians (3:2,3), with him now counting his old Jewish status, including his circumcision, as rubbish (3:4-9).  To the Colossians, Paul wrote that the only “circumcision” that mattered was the one we participated in when we were baptized into Jesus (2:11,12).  Why would Paul write such things concerning circumcision if, indeed, the Mosaic code was still in effect and fleshly, national Judaism would again be needed someday in God’s prophetic program?  This changed view of fleshly circumcision is another indication that there has been a major transition concerning fleshly/national Israel following Jesus' first appearance. (to be continued)