Replacement Theology Article 4 Gentile Role in God's Plan

Over the last several months the Lord has put on my heart Isaiah 40:1-2, Comfort, Comfort My people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to the heart of Jerusalem and cry to her that her time of service and her warfare are ended, that [her punishment is accepted and] her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received [punishment] from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

These verses hold a special place in my heart because I feel this is what the Lord has called me to do among the children of Israel.   It is interesting that Isaiah goes on in this chapter to say, A voice of one who cries; Prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord, make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God!  This is clearly referenced in Mark 1:3 when he speaks of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Messiah to come. 

Then further in Isaiah 40, he says, O you who bring good tidings to Zion, get up to the high mountain.  O you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God!  Behold, the Lord God will come with might, and His arm will rule for Him.  Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.  He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arm, He will carry them in His bosom and will gently lead those that have their young. These Messianic references cannot be mistaken.

After reading through this chapter many times I feel my role as a Gentile is to do exactly what Isaiah is speaking, comfort the people of God and pray for their release from warfare; go up to the mountain of the Lord and proclaim Yeshua as Messiah who will bring life back to them just as John the Baptist did when he said of Yeshua, …He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of Whose sandals I am not fit to unfasten.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  His winnowing shovel is in His hand to thoroughly clear and cleanse His threshing floor and to gather the wheat and store it in His granary, but the chaff He will burn with fire that cannot be extinguished. Luke 3:16-17.

Other Gentile believers may not see their role in the same way but I think it is important to explore what the Bible says our role should be in regard to Israel. Let’s start by looking at Romans 11.  Paul is addressing the Gentiles in this chapter because they had decided that God was finished with the Jews; that His promises to them were no longer in effect because they had fallen so far away from Him.  In verse 11 Paul writes, So I ask, Have they stumbled so as to fall?  By no means!  But through their false step and transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to arouse Israel [to see and feel what they forfeited] and so to make them jealous.

Paul is saying God allowed them to stumble so that we as Gentiles could have salvation and make them jealous so they would come back to Him.  Let me ask you, have you made a Jewish person jealous lately?  Does your life as a believer in Yeshua cause anyone to be jealous of what you have in His salvation?  What does that actually look like anyway?  According to Paul the only reason we actually have salvation is because God wanted to make the Jewish people jealous so they would come back to Him.  In my mind this puts a whole new spin on my relationship with Yeshua and Father God. 

If my love for Yeshua is genuine and I want to please the Father, my heart and mind will be on what is on His heart and mind.  Apparently that is the Jewish people.  Now does His love for them diminish in any way His love for me? Certainly not! As Paul writes in Romans 11:17…some of the branches were broken off, while you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share the richness of the root and sap of the olive tree…As believers we are grafted into the richness of the family of God and share in all the blessings and promises that were made to the Jewish people. God’s purposes don’t always make sense to us but they are always good and bring us to a place of fullness in Him.  There are many instances in the Bible where God used Gentiles to bring about blessings for the Jewish people.  In every case the Gentiles He used were blessed as well. So although He is the God of the Jewish people and His heart is toward them we as Gentiles also get to benefit from the promises He made to them and enjoy the fullness of relationship we can find in Him.

Paul further writes …Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in! That is true. But they were broken off because of their unbelief and you are established through faith [because you do believe].  So do not become proud and conceited, but rather stand in awe and be reverently afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.  Then note and appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God….otherwise you too will be cut off. (Romans 11:19-22)  We must watch our attitudes towards God’s chosen people.   We must never think ourselves better than them because of their unbelief. 

Many well-known Christian leaders over the centuries have made this mistake. Martin Luther is the reason we have our Bibles and can read them in our own language.  He brought about many changes in the church that we benefit from today. However, later in his life he got so frustrated with the stubbornness of the Jewish people toward Yeshua being the Messiah that he wrote; “the Jews are a defiled bride, yes an incorrigible whore and evil slut, a whoring and murderous people, and bloodthirsty bloodhounds and murders of all Christendom” He would also argue that the reason they were in exile was because they crucified the Messiah. 

http://www.theologian.org.uk/churchhistory/lutherandthejews.html

I would dare to say that if we were living during the time of Yeshua we may very well have been one of the ones who yelled on that day before Pilate, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!  We must be careful not to judge the things of which we have no understanding. According to Paul our job is not to judge the Jewish people, but to bring them to repentance through our love and our actions; to make them jealous so they will come back to the Father through Yeshua.

So what is our role as Gentile believers in God’s plan?  Cannon Andrew White in his book, Older Younger Brother, outlines the documented recommitment of the International Council of Christians and Jews in 2009.  In this document the ICCJ invites all Christians and Christian communities to “join them in their efforts to remove all vestiges of contempt towards Jews and enhance bonds with Jewish communities worldwide” through the following actions: “combating religious, radical, and all other forms of antisemitism; promoting interreligious dialogue with Jews; developing theological understandings of Judaism that affirm its distinctive integrity; praying for the peace of Jerusalem; acknowledging the efforts of many Christian communities in the late 20^th century to reform their attitudes towards Jews; examining Jewish texts and liturgy in the light of these Christian reforms; differentiating between fair-minded criticism of Israel and antisemitism; offering encouragement to the State of Israel as it works to fulfill the ideals stated in its founding documents, a task Israel shares with many nations of the world; enhancing interreligious and intercultural education; promoting interreligious friendship and cooperation as well as social justice in the global society; enhancing dialogue with political and economic bodies; and networking with all those whose work responds to the demands of environmental stewardship.”

As I was researching this topic and I came across this list of actions I realized these all line up with Biblical principles as well as common sense and are exhaustive in their approach.  Not all of us will be placed in situations where all of these will come into play in our daily lives, however, we can take them and incorporate them on a level that would apply and know we are living out of the heart of the Father for His people.

In summary I feel it is imperative to know the heart of the Father regarding the Jewish people.  It is also imperative to have the understanding that we were grafted in only at their expense and it is God’s desire for us to make them jealous so that He can graft them back into the olive branch which is Yeshua.  So that being said, our goal is to ask the Father what He would have us do with the Jewish people right where we live.  To ask Him to connect us with those of the Jewish community in our cities that He wants to love and bring to a place of jealousy and repentance.  Then, to ask Him to show us how He would have us make them jealous.

Paul wrote in Romans 11:12 and 15 Now if their stumbling has so enriched the world and if Israel’s failure means such riches for the Gentiles, think what an enrichment and greater advantage will follow their full reinstatement. For if their rejection and exclusion from the benefits of salvation were for the reconciliation of a world to God, what will their acceptance and admission mean? It will be nothing short of life from the dead!

I want to be in a position to see this life from the dead in the world around me, so I will prepare my heart in order to follow the Father’s heart. Will you join me?