Did God reject the Jews?
“I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, my fellow countryman.” Romans 9:2 – 3, NET. Why was Paul so concerned about the people of Israel? He was in the same situation, having the same conviction as the people of his race. However, Paul experienced the road to Damascus, where he was confronted by Jesus Christ, whom he was persecuting. This experience led Paul to realize that he was living in self-deception. Paul realized his calling was not based on his ancestry, the temple, or its priesthood. His calling, as a Jew, was through the promised son – Isaac. He also realized that Isaac was the shadow pointing to the Promised Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, his hope was in Jesus Christ, not his ancestry, the temple, and Aaron’s order of priesthood. Paul recognized that his brothers, the Jews, have drifted into a self-deception reinforced by self-confidence.
The Jews, at the time of Messiah, were convinced they had it made because they were the people chosen by God. They convinced themselves that God favored them above all other people on the earth because they were the descendants of Abraham. The Jewish nation received from God all they needed to know about the coming of the Messiah. They knew that the Messiah was coming to be the world’s Savior, not only of the Jews, as they thought. However, because of their pride and self-confidence, they could not accept that God would love all the world’s people. No one was as worthy as the Jews, or so they thought.
The Jews, because of self-deception, put their hope in the temple, Aaron’s order of priesthood, with its rituals rather than in what they signified. They failed to realize their hope should be in God, not the Temple with its Priesthood and prescribed ceremonies. They failed to realize that their careful observance of what God gave them did not obligate God to favor the Jews over all other nations.
The same problem persists in Christianity. Belonging to a particular Christian Church or Denomination, possessing well-defined doctrines and teachings, and evidence of an exemplary life and behavior are not the criteria upon which God based his adoption of us as his children. Only those who have taken their cross and followed Jesus to the Golgotha to crucify themselves with Christ so that he could live in them qualify to be God’s children.
Continued in the next blog.
