Article 3 - The Jewish Role in God's Plan of Redemption for the World

Replacement Theology Article 3

Jewish Role in God’s plan

From the very beginning of time the Jewish role in God’s plan has been for them to bring the knowledge of Himself to the nations. The covenants that God made with Israel were specifically for the purpose of calling the Jewish people out as a servant people of God that would bring the Messiah forth, and establish the nation of Israel.  The calling of Jewish believers today is to “return Yeshua to His original framework as the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” (Eitan Shishkoff; What About Us, 2013)

God’s intent from the beginning was that the whole earth would know Him and this would come through the Jewish nation and His Son, Yeshua.  He revealed this throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.

           

And the foreigners who join themselves to ADONAI to serve him, to love the name of ADONAI and to be his workers, all who keep Shabbat and do not profane it, and hold fast to my covenant, I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.  Isaiah 56:6-7

But as sure as I live, and that the whole earth is filled with the glory of Adonai.  Numbers 14:21

All the nations you have made will come and bow before you, Adonai; they will honor your name.  Psalm 86:9

God chose Israel to be His servant nation to bring all other nations to Himself. In this choosing God gave the children of Israel His presence, made covenant with them, gave them His Word, taught them the best way to live in order to prosper, and gave them an inheritance of land with a future.  God did this so that they could live out the call He had placed over their lives.  Paul alludes to this in Romans chapter 9.

The people of Israel!  They were made God's children, the Sh'khinah has been with them, the covenants are theirs, likewise the giving of the Torah, the Temple services and the promises. Romans 9:4

This "calling out" of the Jewish nation began with Abram. Genesis 12 gives us the account of God asking Abram to go out from the country of his father’s house to a land He was to show him. With this request God bestows on Abram His first of many promises, to make of him a great nation and to bless him abundantly, making his name famous and causing him to be a blessing to others.  He also added that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.

The land to which God sent Abram was called Canaan.  It was a large and prosperous country that today corresponds to present day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel.  In Genesis 10 we find that this land was named after the grandson of Noah.  Abraham journeyed through and lived in Canaan, building alters to God, digging wells, making covenants with others, fighting for the lives of his family, and blessing every people group with which he came in contact.  He lived in the land that the Lord had said was his inheritance for many years.  He stopped at 17 different locations as he moved throughout the land starting from Ur of the Chaldeans where he grew up in his father's house.

Haran (Gen 11:31-12:4), Damascus (Gen 15:2 Eliezer his highest ranking servant came from Damascus), Shechem (Gen 12:6-7 built an alter to the Lord), Bethel (Gen 12:8 built alter to the Lord), Egypt (Gen 12:9-20 during time of famine in the land), Bethel (Gen 13:1-9), Hebron (Gen 13:10-18; Numbers 13:22; Promise of inheritance of the Land and built alter to the Lord); Dan (Gen 14:1-14), Hobah (Gen 14:15), Salem (Gen 14:17-21 later called Jerusalem), Hebron (Gen 15:1-21; 16:1-16; 17:1-27; 18:1-19:38 Promise of inheritance of the land), Gerar (Gen 20:1-18), Beersheba (Gen 21:1-34), Moriah (Gen 22:1-18), Beersheba (Gen 22:19), and Hebron (Gen 23:1-20 Abraham bought a field and cave to bury Sarah, burial place of his family). 

In many places that Abram pitched his tent the Lord came to him and spoke promises over him and the nation that would come out of him.

Inasmuch as Avraham is sure to become a great and strong nation and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by him? Genesis 18:18

And by your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed — because you obeyed my order. Genesis 22:18

I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, I will give all these lands to your descendants, and by your descendants all the nations of the earth will bless themselves. Genesis 26:4

Many times the Lord promised Abraham all the land on which he was traveling would be his inheritance. God was creating a nation for Himself in order to bring the world to Himself.  God’s plan from the beginning has always been to redeem the entire world through the nation of Israel.

Isaiah even saw the "light" or salvation for the nations coming from among the descendants of Abraham.

I, Adonai, called you righteously, I took hold of you by the hand, I shaped you and made you a covenant for the people, to be a light for the Goyim. Isaiah 42:6

To sum up, Israel's call is to bless the nations with the knowledge and understanding of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God brought Abraham into the land and gave him a promise of land, a nation, and a future.  Today that call has not changed.  Israel is still called to bless the nations with the knowledge and understanding of God through His Son, Yeshua and usher in His Kingdom as Israel says: "...Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai" Matthew 23:39.

In the next article we will look at the call of the Gentiles in God's ultimate plan of redemption for the world.