Paul points out in the same verse that before Jesus came, Gentiles were: “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”. That’s a pretty depressing place to be right? Praise God that he didn’t leave us there.
This is not the time to go into detail but the key thing to know is that if you are a Gentile believer, God has brought you in from the cold and you are now sharing in all the spiritual benefits of the Jewish covenants. Paul says in Romans we are like wild branches grafted into the olive tree of blessing but the olive tree belongs to Israel. Far from boasting about our spiritual privileges, we should feel indebted to the Jewish people!
3. How should we as the Church respond to such blessing?
So we have seen that God has been faithful to the eternal covenant made with Abraham to bless those who bless the Jewish people. We have seen how God has fulfilled his promise to Abraham to make the Jewish nation a blessing to the whole world through the Jewish Scriptures, the Jewish Saviour and the Jewish spiritual blessings which are now being enjoyed by millions of Christians all over the world. So what should our response be to these things as the church? How do you feel if someone gives you a gift you’ve longed for for years? Our natural response should be to repay the blessing in some way out of gratitude and I believe the best way we can do that for the Jewish people is by giving them the gift of eternal life through the Gospel of their own Jewish Messiah and praying for their eyes to be opened.
We can bless the Jewish people through the gospel
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” The good news of Jesus is for the whole world but there is an order here: we should be seeking to take this news to the Jewish people first. The Apostle Paul practised what he preached: even though he was sent to the Gentiles, he did a strange thing - everywhere he went as recorded in Acts, he never went to the Gentiles first but always sought out a Jewish congregation even if it was a handful of Jews worshipping by a river as in Philippi. Paul only ever went to preach the gospel to the Gentiles after the Jews had rejected him. Why? The gospel is to the Jew first.
Sadly there are some Christians who think Jewish people don’t need to hear the gospel simply because they’re Jewish – somehow they have another way to be saved. But hang on…....who did Jesus and his Apostles tell to repent and believe in him to be saved? His own people!
No, the Bible is clear that apart from Jesus “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Many Jewish people may be respectable and charitable but the Bible is clear our good works alone are like filthy rags in God’s sight – only through the blood of Jesus can we be saved and forgiven.
If you’re reading this and you know you’ve never received Jesus as your Saviour, don’t leave it another day. The Bible says today is the day of salvation!
So let’s take the message of Jesus to his own people and let’s pray for their eyes to be opened:
Psalm 122:6 states: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: They shall prosper that love you.” We should pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and by extension, the Jewish nation. What kind of peace? No doubt this includes protection from enemies but surely the greatest peace we can pray for that they may experience true peace with God through Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
That was exactly the Apostle Paul’s longing in Rom 9:1-3 he writes “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
Can you feel Paul’s passion for his people? That man’s prayer list must have been longer than your arm but the salvation of Israel was clearly up there at the top. His heart was broken over his people’s rejection of their own Messiah who had come in fulfilment of their own Scriptures.
Can I ask: Is your heart broken over the Jewish people? Do you long for them to know their own Messiah and return home to their Father in heaven? If you do, you will be touching the heart of God and, according to Psalm 122, you will be blessed in keeping with the Abrahamic Covenant: I will bless them that bless you.
Conclusion
God chose Abraham and his descendants not because they are better than anyone else but to fulfil his great purpose of being a blessing and light to the whole world. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have received and share in untold spiritual blessings because of the Jewish people through believing the Jewish Scriptures and receiving the Jewish Messiah.
In return for sharing in these wonderful things, it is our duty and privilege as the Church to bless the Jewish people in return. What better way than to pray for their salvation and take the gospel to them. In return I believe we become even more blessed as the promises of the Abrahamic covenant are worked out in our lives and our church.
Philip Amos
