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Church of God Message
Jews: Behold Your God
Chapter 22
Has God Abandoned the Jews?
There is a concept quite popular in some Christian circles today called the "Replacement Theology." According to this concept God has been replacing the Jews, as His covenant people, with Gentile converts. This idea has its roots in the apostolic times, because an anti-Jewish attitude was affecting the Christian Gentiles in Rome, but later spread to the whole world. The reason was that Rome was at the zenith of its power and the Jews were a subject people. Paul addressed this idea in his epistle to the Romans, but the idea emerged again after his death.
Jesus also addressed the Jewish brothers of His day in Matthew 21:43 (NKJV): "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it."
Did Jesus mean that most of the Jews from that time on would not inherit the Kingdom of God, but the Kingdom would belong to Christians who would be mostly Gentiles? It is truth that hardly any professing Jews are Christians today. So are those Christians right in their belief that God has abandoned the Jews, and has replaced them mainly with Christian Gentiles for inheriting the Kingdom of God?
Before we discuss the apostle Paul's answer to those who hold such a belief, let us set some facts straight, and explain why such Christians are in gross error.
All Israelites are Not Jews
The Christian world's misunderstanding arises to a great extent from the fact that it considers Jews to be all of Israel, and most of them are not Christians. It is unaware that America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South African whites, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and all the Jews worldwide are all descendants of Jacob or Israel. These nations consider themselves as Gentiles. So almost all of Israel, barring most of the Jews is Christian. And Israel did not originally get its Christianity from the Roman Church, but got it straight from the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, who were sent to the lost house of Israel, or the 'Lost Ten Tribes.'
There are More Jews who Are Christians than the World Knows
We have already proved that God kept His promises to David to provide him a descendant to rule at least one nation of the tribes of Israel from generation to generation in unbroken dynasty. That descendant today is Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom. The world, and even England is unaware that there are many descendants of David living in Europe and North America, descended from the royal families of England and other nations of Europe. All the nobles, the lords are all descendants of King David. And some of them migrated to America. They are all Christians. So certainly there are a number of Jews who are Christians.
Mainstream Christianity Does not Follow Christ
A person or group that is deceived does not know it is deceived. Otherwise it would change and follow the truth. The same is true of mainstream Christianity. Some in mainstream Christianity believe that God has replaced the Jews with Gentiles as His covenant people. They do not know that they too are not His covenant people. The reason is that mainstream Christianity - Roman Catholics, all the Protestant, Orthodox, Evangelical churches - disobeys many of God's commandments.
MAINSTREAM CHRISTIANITY’S PAGAN PRACTICES
Many Jews don't believe that Christianity is the true religion because they see mainstream Christianity breaking God's laws. They are right in their assessment that mainstream Christianity is breaking God's Commandments. Therefore mainstream Christianity - Roman Catholicism and various Protestant denominations - cannot be the true religion. But because mainstream Christianity violates God's laws does not mean that true Christianity is not the right religion. Let us discuss some of these issues.
Idol Worship
Mainstream Christianity has crosses and pictures and images of Jesus and Mary prominently displayed in the Churches or in stained glass windows, and worshippers bow down to them. Though they may claim that they don't worship these images, but in fact what they practice violates the Second Commandment to not make any idols or images and bow down to them. So Jews are right in this regard that mainstream Christianity breaks the Second Commandment. But the true Church of God does not keep crosses, or images of Jesus or Mary and does not bow down to them. The true Church of God keeps all the commandments of God and lives by every Word of God, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Sabbath Vs. Sunday
If Jews reject mainstream Christianity (Roman Catholicism, Protestants, Orthodox and other churches) from being the true religion because it does not keep the Sabbath holy and therefore breaks the Fourth Commandment, they are right to do so. Mainstream Christianity worships on Sunday which is the pagan day of worship. The true Church of God does not worship on Sunday, but keeps the Sabbath holy from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
God's Holy Days Vs. Christian Holidays
If Jews reject mainstream Christianity from being the true religion because it does not keep the commanded holy days such as Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) and the Last Great Day of the Feast, but instead keeps holidays such as Christmas and Easter in which they worship like the pagans, they are justified in doing so.
Christmas and Easter are pagan festivals dressed up in Christian garb. They are not even mentioned in the Bible. Jesus Christ and the apostles did not know of the existence of these festivals because they began to be celebrated more than 200 years after Jesus Christ's death. But the rituals associated with these festivals originated in the paganism of Nimrod and Semiramis more than 2000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Instead the true Church of God keeps all the seven holy days (Leviticus 23) commanded by God to be kept forever in the Old Testament.
Illogical Good Friday and Easter Sunday Tradition
According to mainstream Christianity, Jesus Christ was crucified on Good Friday evening and was resurrected on Easter Sunday morning at sunrise. Jesus said He would be three days and three nights in the grave. Try and fit three days and three nights between Friday evening and Sunday morning. There is no way this can be done. Hence this mainstream Christianity tradition is illogical, and God is not the author of confusion. If you reject mainstream Christianity from being the true religion because of this illogical belief, you are right to do so.
The true Church of God does not celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Instead it keeps the Passover with the symbols Jesus Christ commanded, and then keeps the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. The true Church of God also knows the truth about the day of Jesus' crucifixion and His resurrection. Jesus was in the tomb exactly 3 days and 3 nights. This has already been explained in Chapter 15.
The Mysterious Trinity Doctrine
This mainstream Christianity’s doctrine teaches that the one Triune God exists in three distinct co-equal Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit (sometimes referred to as “Holy Ghost”). But Trinity is a word that does not appear in the Bible. So this doctrine is not based on God’s word, but on human reasoning.
We will not provide a history of the Trinity doctrine and detailed proofs that this doctrine is false because the United Church of God publishes a comprehensive booklet titled “Is God a Trinity?” which is available free of charge at the Church’s web site www.ucg.org.
There are conflicts between what the Bible says and the Trinity doctrine. For example, when Christ died, the Trinity ceased to exist. Supposedly, only God the Father and the Holy Spirit existed. This is inconsistent with the coeternal concept of the Trinity.
Jesus Christ prayed to God the Father before His crucifixion. If God is just one Triune Being, then Jesus Christ was praying to Himself.
In Matthew 1:20 we read that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit is indeed a person, Jesus Christ should have been called the Son of the Holy Spirit. However, Jesus continually prayed to and addressed God the Father as His Father and not the Holy Spirit (Matthew 10:32-33; 11:25-27; 12:50). In the Bible Jesus is never called the Son of the Holy Spirit but the Son of the Father. This is clear evidence that the Holy Spirit is not a separate entity but was the agency or power through which the Father begot Jesus as His Son.
Because no one can adequately explain these problems, or how three distinct individuals can be one Being, the Trinity is called a holy mystery to make it appear credible.
Different Ideas of Salvation
Mainstream Christianity’s ideas about what salvation is are not supported by the Bible. This has already been discussed.
Jews believe that mainstream Christianity and Gentiles of other religions do not obey God’s commandments, the Law. Hence they are not qualifying to receive eternal life. But the Jews are wrong in this. The many in Christianity believe that God has abandoned the Jews because they do not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. But the truth is that both sides are wrong. God has not abandoned the Jews or any part of Israel. Neither has He abandoned any other human being, Jew or Gentile, as we will see.
God's True Church is a Small Flock
With the above background, now we can discuss what Jesus meant in Matthew 21:43: "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it."
Jesus clearly said that God's kingdom would not be given to the Jews of His day, but to another nation. Did He mean another Gentile nation such as the Romans or something else? The Romans certainly seemed to think so because they had the greatest empire in their day and had more resources than any other nation to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. But Paul in his epistle to the Romans set them straight on that notion which we will discuss shortly.
But let’s examine more closely what Jesus said.Jesus said in Luke 12:32: "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." So Jesus here was telling the disciples that God's kingdom would belong to His true Church. Therefore the nation that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 21:43 was not some Gentile nation, but His true Church. I Peter 2:9 confirms that God's true Church is a nation: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
As Jesus said in Luke 12:32, God's true Church has never been millions strong at any time in its history. It has always been a persecuted small little flock, perhaps no more than tens of thousands or at best hundreds of thousands strong worldwide in the best of times. God's kingdom will be given to this nation and not to any Gentile nation.
Peter says in Act 2:39: "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."
It is God who calls people into His Church. Nobody can just join the true Church by understanding God’s word using his or her own logic. It is God who opens the mind of the person to comprehend the truth first. In the first 6000 years of man's history till the return of Jesus Christ, God has chosen to call only a few people such that God's Church has always been a small flock. This is perfectly pictured In John 15:16 where Jesus Christ told the disciples: "You did not choose Me, but I chose you..."
So God did not abandon the Jews or Israel, or even the Gentiles. He has simply chosen to call only a few people into His true Church at this time, a small flock. It is simply not God's plan to call the Jews, or most of the world at this time into His Church.
And most of God's true Church has not been entirely Gentile or even mainly Gentile either. It began as mainly a Jewish Church. Many Gentiles were added to the Church, but it was mainly the Gentiles who departed from the faith in order to avoid Roman persecution. In later centuries the true Church has existed mainly among the non-Jewish tribes of Israel, located in France, Holland and the British Isles, from where persecution forced it to settle in northern Italy and later in Eastern Europe and Germany. The descendants of these Israelites continued in membership in these countries though certainly some Gentiles would have continued to be added.
Later it grew in the British Isles and in America. But all these members through the centuries have been mainly the descendants of the 'ten tribes' of Israel rather than Gentiles. Of course, a sprinkling of Gentiles have always been members of God's true Church. In modern times also, the true Church of God has its greatest membership in America, followed by the nations of the British Commonwealth (Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), with the exception of the Philippines. And the reason God has continued to work mainly with Israel is that many Gentile members have gone astray and consigned themselves to the Lake of Fire.
So God has never really abandoned Israel. He has seldom favored the Gentiles over Israel, but has offered salvation to the Gentiles in addition to the Jews and other Israelites, not in place of them. This will be made clear later.
In fact, God's purpose has been all along to treat everyone equally. His Plan of salvation as pictured by His seven Holy Days offers a chance for salvation to every human being who has ever lived on the earth. Briefly, described below is what the Holy Days picture.
The Key Steps in God's Plan of Salvation
God's master plan is to "bring many sons to glory" (Hebrews 2:10). The specific steps needed to fulfill that awesome plan are pictured in the weekly Sabbath and the seven annual festivals listed in Leviticus 23. God says in verse 4: “"These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations [sacred assemblies] which you shall proclaim at their appointed times." God says these are His feasts, not Jewish feasts. They should apply to all nations. By observing these festivals annually we get a deeper understanding and a reminder of God’s purpose in offering salvation to each and every human being ever born.
Jesus Christ kept these feasts (Matthew 26:17; Mark 1:21; Luke 4:16, 31; John 7:8-10, 14, 37). The apostles and early converts to Christianity, both Jews and Gentiles also kept these festivals and the seventh-day Sabbath (Acts 2:1; 12:3-4; 16:13; 18:4, 19, 21; 20:6; 27:9; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
Furthermore prophecy shows that, after Jesus Christ's return, all nations will keep these festivals (Zechariah 14:16-19). Those who don’t will be punished. Isaiah 66:23 (NKJV) prophesies the same: “…From one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me." These feasts of the Lord will be the laws of the Kingdom of God.
The Weekly Sabbath
The listing of God's festivals in Leviticus 23 begins with the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, which lasts from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. The Sabbath was instituted as a memorial of creation and a day of rest to worship the true God who created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8, 11).
The Sabbath also is prophetic of the rest God will provide all of humanity. First of all the weekly Sabbath pictures the duration of God’s Plan for salvation of mankind. Peter the apostle said in 2 Peter 3:8, “8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Without this scripture the duration of God’s plan could not be understood pictured by the seven day week.
Six days of work picture the 6,000 years God has allotted mankind to rule itself according to the choice Adam and Eve made. But then God will provide Sabbath rest for mankind from the pain and suffering for the next 1,000 years of His Kingdom as pictured by the seventh day Sabbath. During this time God will make salvation available to all of mankind. Hebrews 4:9 states, “9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God."
Proof that the duration of God’s kingdom will be 1,000 years is provided by Revelation 20:4, “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
To learn more about God’s Sabbath, please read UCG free booklet titled "Sunset to Sunset: God's Sabbath Rest" available at our web site www.ucg.org.)
The Passover
Two of God's festivals: the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread are celebrated during the first harvest season, the early spring harvest, in March-April in our modern calendars.
The Passover for the ancient Israelites was an annual reminder that God spared or passed over the firstborn of Israelite slaves, when He slew all the firstborn of Egypt at the time of the Exodus. They were spared because they had put the blood of a sacrificed lamb on their doorposts.
The sacrifice of the lambs without blemish foreshadowed the sacrifice of the sinless Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God without blemish, for the sins of mankind. Every human being has sinned and come short of the glory of God as stated in Romans 3:23. As a result all of us have earned the death penalty, as Romans 6:23 says, 23 …the wages of sin is death.” Jesus sacrificed his life to pay the death penalty on behalf of each and every human being so that our sins could be forgiven. That is what the Passover pictures for the Christian.
Feast of Unleavened Bread
The second feast during the early spring harvest season is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, immediately following the Passover. For ancient Israelites it pictured deliverance from Egypt (a type of sin).
During this feast, God commands His people not to eat leavened bread or any leavened products, to put leaven (or yeast) out of their homes for seven days (Exodus 12:19, I Corinthians 5:7-8).
Leaven symbolizes sin. Paul compared sin to leaven, explaining that as leaven spreads through the lump of dough, so sin can affect many areas of our life and spread to others throughout the Church. He stated in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NKJV), “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast [of Unleavened Bread], not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Therefore, this festival teaches and reminds us annually that after our sins have been forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are not to remain in sin, but to work diligently to put all sinful thoughts, attitudes and actions out of our lives.
The early spring harvest season pictures the very first of the firstfruits. And the first of the firstfruits was Jesus Christ: the only soul that has been harvested for God's kingdom during the first 6,000 years of man’s history. And that was pictured by the wave sheaf offering ceremony during the Days of Unleavened Bread as described in Leviticus 23:10.
Feast of Firstfruits or Pentecost
This feast is observed on the fiftieth day after the Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:15-16). On this day in 31 A.D., God's holy spirit was first given to a group of disciples to begin God’s New Testament Church (Acts 2:1-4). Receiving God's Spirit is an essential step to becoming members of God’s family: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Romans 8:14).
The firstfruits are the first agricultural products that mature and ripen. This feast, therefore, pictures the calling out by God of a few people during the first 6,000 years of man’s history, granting His holy spirit to enable them to understand His laws and live a righteous life to qualify to receive eternal life through a resurrection at Jesus Christ's second coming. The firstfruits will then reign with Jesus Christ for 1,000 years in God’s kingdom.
The Feast of Pentecost, therefore, teaches us that this is not the only time for salvation. In fact, only a relatively few are receiving their chance for salvation during the first 6,000 years of man's history. Calling of the relatively few as the firstfruits is perfectly pictured by the smaller spring harvest. Most of humanity will be called later, as pictured by the much greater autumn harvest.
It is very important to understand that if you believe you are being called now, then God is offering you your only chance for salvation at this time. God holds people accountable for the understanding He gives them. If people are being called, they must respond positively to God's call or they will lose their only chance for salvation.
How then do you know if you are being called at this time or not? The answer is that if what God’s Church preaches about God’s plan of salvation and way of life for mankind appears logical and sensible to you, then God has opened your mind to understand His truth, and you are being called. Otherwise God will offer you your chance later in His kingdom.
The Feast of Trumpets
Now we come to the annual Feasts of the greater autumn harvest season, celebrated during the months of September – October. Four Feasts are celebrated during this season. All these four feasts are about the kingdom of God and its establishment. The first of the autumn feasts is the Feast of Trumpets.
This Feast teaches us that Jesus Christ will return to earth in great power and glory at the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15 (NKJV), “15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!") to take over the kingdoms of the world.
Also at this time, the firstfruits – those who are called from the time of the creation of Adam to the return of Jesus Christ – will be resurrected as immortal sons of God and will reign with Jesus Christ in His kingdom. This is the First Resurrection which is to eternal life.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52, “51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet [which is the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15]. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Also 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
Also Revelation 20:6 (NKJV), “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."
The Day of Atonement
The next Feast during the autumn holy day season is called the Day of Atonement. This festival teaches us the need for humanity to be reconciled to God through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of all mankind. It also pictures Jesus Christ as our High Priest interceding for us with God the Father.
This feast teaches us that true reconciliation with God is not possible until the author of all of humanity's sins, Satan the devil, is put away. Therefore, the Day of Atonement also pictures the putting away of Satan for 1,000 years during the reign of Jesus Christ, after all of humanity's sins have been laid on his head. Putting away of Satan after laying on of humanity’s sins on his head was portrayed symbolically in the ceremony of the two goats in Leviticus 16:5-21, “21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man.”
This festival is celebrated by fasting for 24 hours to draw closer to God, to picture the reconciliation of mankind to Him.
Feast of Tabernacles
The seven-day Feast of Tabernacles represents the next step in God's master plan for salvation of mankind and pictures the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ on earth as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:11-16; 20:4; Matthew 17:1-4; Hebrews 11:8-9), assisted by the resurrected, immortal saints. God's kingdom will establish a new, perfect society, ruled according to God's laws, beginning at Jerusalem and then spreading out to all nations.
God's commandments, laws and ways will be taught throughout the earth. Unlike in our time, during the millennium, each and every human being living will be called by God and receive his or her chance for salvation. Therefore, this feast represents the greater harvest of souls for God's kingdom. Satan and the demons will be imprisoned so that they can deceive the nations no more during the 1,000 years. God's rule will usher in an era of universal peace, prosperity, abundance, happiness and joy.
Isaiah 2:2-4 (NKJV) provides a glimpse of God’s kingdom, “3 Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
Isaiah 11:6-9 (NKJV), “6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.” See also Daniel 2:35, 44; 7:13-14).
The Last Great Day
The seventh feast called the eighth day or the Last Great Day of the Feast is a separate festival from the Feast of Tabernacles which is of 7 days duration. It is called the Great White Throne Judgment.
The Last Great Day teaches us that after the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ, God will offer a chance for salvation to each and every human being who has ever lived and died without being called by God. Revelation 20:11-12 states, “11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books [of the Bible].”
All such human beings including the Queen of Sheba, men of Nineveh, people of Christ’s own time (Matthew 12:41-42) and of Sodom and Gomorrah(Mark 6:11) will be raised from the dead as physical human beings and called by God. That resurrection of thousands of millions of people back to physical life is described in detail in Ezekiel 37:1-14. These are the "rest of the dead" spoken of in Revelation 20:5. This is the Second Resurrection, which is to a physical life. They will have their minds opened to understand the truth of the gospel message. They will be given sufficient time to repent and qualify to receive eternal life. It thus pictures a time of the greatest harvest of souls for God's kingdom.
Remember, God "desires all men to be saved" and is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). God’s seven-step plan pictured by God’s seven feasts explains how God will accomplish this.
Each holy day season represents an ever-increasing harvest of souls for God's kingdom. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread during the early spring harvest represented only Jesus Christ receiving eternal life; just one soul being harvested for the kingdom of God, as the first of the firstfruits. The Feast of Pentecost during the late spring harvest season represents the firstfruits being harvested for the kingdom of God during the first 6,000 years of man's history, from the creation of Adam to the return of Jesus Christ. During this time perhaps people in the hundreds of thousands or a few million will have qualified to receive eternal life. The Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day during the autumn harvest season represent the greatest harvest of souls for God's kingdom with tens of billions qualifying to receive eternal life.
The incorrigibly wicked, those who received their calling and chance for eternal life during the first 6,000 years of man’s history, or during the 1,000 years of Jesus Christ’s reign, or during the 100 years (Isaiah 65:20) of the White Throne Judgment but rejected it by not wholeheartedly repenting of their sins and died will be resurrected to a physical life [this is the Third Resurrection, to a physical life] to be destroyed in the Lake of Fire: "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:14-15; Hebrews 10:26-29; 2 Peter 3:10-12). Our loving God gives everyone an opportunity to have eternal life and wishes no one to perish. But if they refuse, the punishment is the second death, which ends their lives quickly and forever (Malachi 4:1, 3; Matthew 25:46).
The Three Resurrections
We also see from the holy days that when we take both the Old and New Testament scriptures together, three resurrections are mentioned in the Bible. Daniel's resurrection (Daniel 12:2-3) to immortal life and glorified state 'shining like the stars forever and ever' is the first resurrection. Ezekiel's (Ezekiel 37:1-4) physical resurrection is the second resurrection. And Daniel's resurrection to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2) is the third resurrection to a physical life to then be destroyed forever.
God has Prominent Responsibility for Physical Jews in His Kingdom
Most Jews are familiar with Zechariah 8:23: "Thus says the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold from all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you."
In God's Kingdom the Jews will be highly sought by people of all nations as teachers of God's ways. The reason is that all Israel will occupy the Land of Israel in God's Kingdom. But the Jews will be sought by the nations because they have lived in nearly all nations. So they are familiar with the cultures of almost all nations of the world, and their languages. They will be in the best position to understand the errors in the ways of most nations. When they themselves fully understand God's way themselves, they will be able to explain to the nations the errors in their ways because they will have experienced them.
This is the very reason Paul had a prominent position in Christianity in its early stages. He was familiar with the Jewish culture from the inside, its beliefs and practices, because he was part of that culture. But when Jesus Christ personally instructed him over 3 years, there was no one in a better position to understand where his brethren were going astray. He was also able to answer those who judged in his day that God had abandoned the Jews from His covenant and replaced them with Gentiles. He has recorded all his answers in his epistles, or letters to the churches.
How Paul Addressed the Question
Paul’s ministry raised many Gentile Churches. The Gentile churches saw that there were some but not many Jews becoming members in their areas. Most of the Jews remained as non-members. So they, particularly the Romans, felt that God had abandoned the Jews and was replacing them with Gentile converts. They misunderstood Jesus’ words in Matthew 21:43 (NKJV): "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it." The other nation Jesus was referring to was His true Church. That’s why Paul was forced to address the issue that God had abandoned the Jews.
As already explained God is calling only a “little flock” as members in His Church during the first 6,000 years of man’s history. That was the basis for Paul explaining why only a few Jews were joining the Church. He explained in Romans 11 why God had not cast away His people (both Jews and descendants of the other tribes of Israel). God sent the apostles to the ‘lost sheep of the House of Israel” meaning the non-Jewish tribes of Israel. Only Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles.
The work of the apostles bore fruit. The non-Jewish tribes became Christian. But we have already seen that Christianity in those nations was hijacked by Satan through the Roman Church so that mainstream Christianity is not God’s true Church. God’s true Church has always been a small flock throughout the centuries as Jesus prophesied.
The Roman Church members should also have realized that not many Romans were becoming Church members either. Many stuck to their pagan ways. It is these members also and their descendants who failed to hold on to the true faith and were absorbed by the Roman Church.
Why most Jews did not accept Jesus
When Paul penned his epistle to the Romans, most Jews were refusing to accept Jesus as the Messiah. They were expecting the Messiah to be a king who would help them conquer the Romans and restore Israel to glory. This had become a “stumbling block” for them (Romans 11:9).
Moses, a former general in the Egyptian Army, is a towering figure in Judaism. He had prophesied that God would send a prophet like him (Deuteronomy 18:15) whom the people should hear. They expected that prophet to be a conquering general like Moses and King who would raise a Jewish Army to overthrow the Romans. That’s why they did not accept Jesus Christ as that prophet like Moses or the Messiah.
Has God Cast Away the Jews
In the early Church the problem of Christian converts of Gentile and Jewish origin beginning to judge each other had developed. Each group thought themselves superior to the other. The Jews attributed their superiority to their ancestry from Abraham. The Gentile converts of Rome and other provinces invented the idea that the Jews had been replaced as the New Covenant people.
An anti-Jewish attitude was also developing in Rome. The Jews were a subject people and Rome ruled the greatest Empire on earth. Paul wanted to prevent the spread of this attitude that could lead to division in the Church and defeat the very idea that God was rejecting His people Israel. He knew that division could lead to the Gentiles rejecting the faith that the Jews had been brought up in. That’s why he addressed this issue in the book of Romans.
Paul began answering the question in Romans 11 “Has God cast away His people?” He writes (NKJV): “1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! 5…at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace…7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 Just as it is written: "God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day." 9 And David says: "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always."
Paul explains it is by God’s grace that the elect joined God’s Church, but the rest of the Jews were blinded. Then Paul continues:
“11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.”
Paul asks “Did the Jews stumble that they might fall?” He answers, “Certainly not!” So the Israelites have not been permanently rejected. At present God is calling only an elect few among them for salvation, but the rest are blinded.
Then Paul goes on to warn the Gentiles not to boast against the Israelites lest they too stumble. He continues:
17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you [the Gentiles], being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?”
Paul explained to the Romans that they cannot receive salvation in any way different from the Israelites. They must share the same heritage as the Israelites by being ‘grafted’ into the ‘root’ of Israel.
Paul then tells the Romans that God will turn away ungodliness from Jacob and that God’s calling and gifts to Israel are irrevocable. So eventually all Israel will be saved in the future (verse 26).
“25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." 28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.”
Paul says God has a plan of salvation so that He might have mercy on all, Jews and Gentiles. At present only a few chosen elect are being called. Israelites have not been rejected because they will get their chance for salvation later according to God’s plan pictured by the seven annual feast days when He will resurrect them with all the dead of the world in the Great White Throne judgment after the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ to give them all their chance for salvation.
The future resurrection to physical life prophesied in Ezekiel 37 is one of the reasons Paul tells the Christian gentiles not to "boast" as if they were replacing the Israelites in God's salvation plan (Romans 11:18). He wanted them to humbly realize that because of God’s mercy they were “grafted” into the natural olive tree of Abraham’s descendants. Paul also stresses that all past promises made to Israel will be fulfilled because "the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (verse 29). God never breaks His promises.
Paul again explained to the Gentile Churches that for them to receive salvation they must be ‘grafted’ into Abraham’s family. So Paul wrote in Galatians 3:29: "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
UCG booklet “The New Covenant: Does it Abolish God’s Law?” states on p. 92:
“Therefore Paul strongly rejected the idea that God is replacing the nation of Israel—including the Jews of the first century—as His covenant people. Rather, gentile converts are "grafted" into the root of Israel (Romans 11:17-19). The "root" or ancestor of Israel was Abraham, to whom God made the promise that the Messiah would come from his descendants. “The hope of the gentiles, therefore, lies in sharing the heritage promised to the Israelites, not in replacing them or receiving a different heritage apart from them. As Paul had explained to the Christians of Galatia: "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29).
“As was explained above, a major factor in Paul's reasoning is that during "this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4), God is not calling the majority of either Jews or gentiles to repentance. So he argues that the gentile converts should not assume that their calling means that God has "cast away" the physical descendants of Israel (whether living, deceased or to be born in the future).”
Paul also addressed the question of judging each other as well. He told them in Romans 14:10-13 (NKJV), “10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.” See also John 5:22-24.
Paul shows in Romans 2:11-13 (NIV) that God has no favorites in judgment: "For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous".
Paul explains that God’s judgment is without regard to race or whether they had any previous understanding of His Law. Every person will be judged exactly the same way based on their forgiveness of sins because of repentance and acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as payment of the death penalty on their behalf and subsequent diligent obedience to the Law and overcoming sin. There is no other path to salvation. Therefore Paul stated in Romans 2:1-4 (NIV):
"You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
"Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you towards repentance?"
Jews and Gentiles United by a Common Inheritance
Paul again and again stresses in his letters that to inherit God’s promises made to Abraham and the fathers the Gentiles like the branches of a wild olive tree must first be grafted into the root of Israel, which is the natural olive tree that has descended from Abraham.
Paul emphasizes this in Ephesians 2:11-13, NASB: "Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called 'Uncircumcision' by the so- called 'Circumcision,' . . . remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ".
The Gentiles were brought near to the promise of the same inheritance available to the Christian Jews! "For He [Christ] Himself is our peace, who has made both [Jews and gentiles] one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation" (verse 14).
What was this “middle wall of separation” that Paul referred to? UCG booklet “The New Covenant: Does it Abolish God’s Law?” describes this barrier on p. 107:
"What "middle wall of separation" had to be "broken down" so Jews and gentiles could be reconciled in the "one" body, the Church? In verse 15 Paul describes this wall as the "enmity" that divides Jews and gentiles. Whatever that "wall" was, it was a clear symbol of Jewish-Gentile enmity. Sadly, that "wall" of enmity is often misinterpreted as God's commandments – His law.
“Is that what Paul had in mind in this analogy of a wall that separated Jews and gentiles? Not even remotely! Let's correctly identify the "wall" that vividly symbolized the barrier between the Jews and the gentiles. For that we need to accurately understand a little bit of history and the meaning of two key Greek words that Paul used.
The temple's "middle wall"
“In the New Testament the Greek word mesotoichon, meaning "middle wall," occurs only in Ephesians 2:14. The Greek word phragmos, translated "of separation" or "of partition" (KJV) in the same verse, means a "fence" or "railing" and is sometimes translated as "hedge" (Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1; Luke 14:23).
“The meaning of these words indicates that Paul's expression "middle wall of separation" refers to some barrier that divides people as would a fence, railing or hedge. Here a brief history lesson is helpful.
“Flavius Josephus was a first-century Jewish historian from a priestly family. In his book Wars of the Jews he used both Greek terms—in separate contexts—for a particular balustrade or barrier at the Jerusalem temple (Book 5, chap. 5, sec. 2 and 6).
“Which barrier evoked Paul's comparison to the divisions that existed between gentiles and Jews? It was the wall erected by the Jews to isolate the outer court of the gentiles—the area of the Jewish temple complex where gentiles were allowed—from the inner area around the temple itself, from which all gentiles were banned.
“The New International Commentary of the New Testament: The Book of Acts explains: "That no Gentile might unwittingly enter into the forbidden areas, notices in Greek and Latin were fixed to the barrier at the foot of the steps leading up to the inner precincts, warning them that death was the penalty for further ingress.
"Two of these notices (both in Greek) have been found—one in 1871 and one in 1935—the text of which runs: 'No foreigner [gentile] may enter within the barricade which surrounds the temple and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death'" (1974, p. 434).
Humanly erected barriers
“Setting up that physical wall in the outer court of the temple was not commanded in the Scriptures. God never issued any order to erect it. To Paul, this barrier erected by the Jews was a fitting symbol of the enmity Jews and gentiles had for each other.
“The literal, physical "middle wall" was demolished when the temple was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. However, several years before its physical destruction Paul pointed to it as a fitting symbol of the prejudicial ethnic and religious barriers that divide human beings.
“All such man-made barriers must be "broken down" before mankind can enjoy the peace and unity for which Christ died. Yet, to this day, the world is filled with man-made taboos that divide people culturally, religiously, ethnically and nationally.
“Paul is pointing out that in God's plan true reconciliation requires the elimination of barriers that separate people contrary to the intent of the Scriptures. As he had explained to the Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).”
History Confirms Paul’s Fears Were Justified
Perhaps we can now understand why Paul addressed the judging problem between Jewish and Gentile converts in predominantly Gentile Churches in Rome and other areas. If they failed to correctly understand that the reason for God’s calling of Gentiles was that He may have mercy on all, Paul knew they would be headed for disaster.
He explained in Romans 2:1, NRSV, "Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things." Both groups would be justified [to be made right with God] on the same basis—through Jesus Christ, not because one group was superior to the other.The Gentile Churches started out right as "imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea" (1 Thessalonians 2:14). Then the problem of judging each other between the Jews and Gentiles developed. Paul addressed the problem in his letters.
But after Paul’s death and Jewish revolts against Roman rule, anti-Jewish feeling took further hold in Rome. Jews were also expelled from Rome. In addition, because the Romans did not distinguish the Church from Judaism because of keeping the Sabbath and seven annual feasts of God, the Church began to be persecuted along with the Jews. So the idea that God was rejecting His people Israel emerged again which today is known as “replacement theology.”
History proved Paul right. Within less than a century after his death the schism within the Church between Jews and Gentiles that Paul was trying to prevent began to take hold on a massive scale.Most of the Gentiles rejected the role of Israel in God’s plan of salvation. They began to view themselves as replacement for the Jews. Once that idea took hold of their thinking, they felt they did not have to keep God’s Law any longer. They abandoned the Law of God and the Sabbath, viewing them as Jewish, began replacing the Sabbath with Sunday, God’s Passover with Easter and abandoned the other annual holy days. Not only the Jews were being rejected but anything that was associated with the Jews, including the Old Testament scriptures began to be rejected.
As the Schism developed further, one false Roman Church founded by Simon Magus the magician (Acts 8:9-24) began to dominate over others and worked to bring all other Churches into its fold. It was successful and later this Church came to be known as the Roman Catholic Church.
The Church Simon Magus started was never part of God’s Church. After he was baptized in Samaria and rejected when he offered the apostles money to give him the power for people he baptized to receive God’s holy spirit by the laying on of his hands, he started his own counterfeit Church by appropriating the name of Jesus Christ as Savior. But he preached that because of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and forgiveness we were no longer required to keep God’s Law as all our sins would be forgiven. So he turned the grace of God into license to sin.
Simon was actually never a convert to true Christianity. He had been a practitioner of the Babylonian Mystery Religion of Semiamis and Nimrod. After his baptism in Samaria he migrated to Rome, Italy. That’s where he started his counterfeit Church. That Church never kept God’s Law or the Sabbath or God’s holy days. It kept its own pagan festivals. This Church began to assert itself over other Churches and eventually came to dominate them and absorb them into itself. It later came to be known as the Catholic [meaning ‘universal’] Church. It foisted its pagan festivals on the rest of the Churches. Because of the concept of “replacement theology” members were easy targets for its ongoing deceptions. To absorb more pagans into Christianity, it started keeping more festivals kept by those pagans by giving them its own concocted Christian significance. That is how paganism of Semiramis and Nimrod embodied in Christmas, New Year’s day, Good Friday, Easter, Lent, Valentine’s Day, Halloween became part of Christianity. None of these festivals were part of the apostolic Christianity. That’s why they are not even mentioned in the Bible.
So what Paul was trying to prevent in Christianity actually took place within about a century after his death. The ideas that were taking hold in Paul’s time in Rome took root and grew and are now part of mainstream Christianity to this day.
While Gentile Churches abandoned God’s Law and hence true Christianity preached by the apostles, the Jewish Churches hung on to the truth for a couple of centuries longer. Members who stayed true to the faith scattered due to persecution and sowed the seed for new growth wherever they went. So the true Church has never died down completely as prophesied by Jesus (Matthew 16:18, “…upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”) It has continued throughout the centuries since its founding in 31 A.D. but it has always remained a “little flock.”
The Corruption of Apostolic Christianity
The UCG booklet “The New Covenant: Does it Abolish God’s Law?” explains on p. 109 how Christianity that the apostles preached got corrupted:
“Almost immediately after the Roman armies destroyed the city of Jerusalem and its temple in A.D. 70, intense prejudice against Jewish beliefs and customs spread like wildfire throughout the Roman Empire. Then, following the deaths of Paul and John, that prejudice led to the first great "falling away" from the New Covenant teachings as explained by Christ's apostles (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
“Before that destructive event, the predominantly gentile congregations raised up by Paul were "imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea" (1 Thessalonians 2:14). They followed the same spiritual way of life the Jewish Christians practiced.
“After the fall of Jerusalem, however, living that way of life became much more difficult. A higher level of faith and courage was needed that many converts did not have. As a result, worldly prejudices against all things Jewish began to enter gentile Christianity. Distorted views of Paul's writings from "untaught and unstable" leaders began to undermine the way of life and pattern of worship that former gentile Christians had copied from their Jewish brethren (2 Peter 3:16).
“From the last part of the first century through the fourth century, the part of the Christian religion given attention by historians accepted dramatic changes. A new concept of "progressive revelation" allowed church leaders to revise doctrine to suit their perceptions of church needs—instead of adhering strictly to teachings handed down by the apostles. The entire way of life taught by the apostles was steadily abandoned until what most considered the Christian religion bore little resemblance to the original apostolic teachings.”
Conclusion
In conclusion then, when we see God’s plan of salvation pictured by His seven annual feasts, we see that God has not abandoned anyone, not the Jews, other Israelites or the Gentiles. Those in mainstream Christianity who think that He has abandoned the Jews are not obeying Jesus Christ themselves and are not qualifying to receive eternal life. They are following paganism masquerading around as Christianity. And that tragedy happened to Christianity because they swallowed the wrong reasoning that God had replaced the Jews with Gentile converts. They then incorrectly reasoned that they were no longer required to keep the spiritual part of God’s Law, including the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath and the seven annual holy days. Thus they no longer remained God’s true Churches and heirs of God’s salvation.
Most of the Jews on the other hand did not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah because blindness in part (Romans 11:25) has happened to them as well as the other tribes of Israel (because they are converts to the false mainstream Christianity and not the true Christianity taught by the apostles).
But each and every one will get his or her chance for salvation later during the 1,000 years of Jesus Christ’s soon coming Kingdom on earth or during the 100 years of the Great White Throne Judgment that will follow the millennium.
However, if God has opened your mind, whether Jew, Israelite or Gentile, to understand what God’s Church preaches as the truth, then you can receive your chance for salvation right now and qualify to be in the first resurrection which is a better resurrection (Hebrews 11:35).
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