The One New Man Study - The Theology Of Jew And Gentile - One In Messiah

Entire Study Recently  Updated January 2006

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Statement Of Faith

Lesson Twelve:

Israel: A Nation Of Priests

Exodus 19:6  - And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shall speak unto the children of Israel.

    For anyone who has studied Jewish history you cannot leave the experience weeping over the providence and protection of God for His chosen people. These were God's people, the closest blood relatives of our Lord yet what a miracle ANY of them are alive today. To have maintained their national identity through 2,000 years without a homeland basically that my friend is totally impossible - EXCEPT FOR GOD!

        In a largely anti-Semitic world just 50 years ago, the United Nations voted by a two-thirds majority to appropriate her ancient homeland for the reestablishment of the modern State of Israel. It could not have happened a year earlier or a year later. God chose a small window of time for the words of the prophets to find their fulfillment. One thing distinguishes this people from all other peoples - GOD SHOE THEM AS A NATION OF PRIESTS FOR THE WORLD:

Exodus 19:5-6  - Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: [6] And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

Isaiah 52:10  - The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

        But in spite of being chosen for this task by the Heavenly Father, Israel backslid many times into idolatry. Even while Moses was receiving God's instructions for them, they reverted to pagan practices when he stayed too long on the mountain. The people wanted gods like those they had known in Egypt - gods they could see and touch. Aaron tried a compromise. He took their gold, fashioned it into a golden calf and said, "tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord." In other words, "Let us worship God in the form of this golden calf!" It didn't work. The Lord would not accept the compromise. Three thousand Israelites died in one day. (Ex. 32)

        When Moses finally came down from the mountain with the commandments of God, the first three commandments had to do with Israel's faithfulness to the Lord - <Ex. 20:3,4,7> This essential faithfulness to the ONE TRUE GOD became the cornerstone of Jewish faith and is still expressed twice daily by observant Jews, and weekly in every synagogue of the world in the words of the Shema: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." (Deut. 6:4). Israel was to remain a separated nation. For this reason, intermarriage was forbidden. Even Solomon, with all his wisdom, was ensnared by his foreign wives with their foreign gods. It was IDOLATRY that brought about the ultimate demise of both the northern and southern kingdoms. Speaking prophetically for YAHWEH, this God whose name is so sacred that most Jewish people would never attempt to speak it, Isaiah lamented, "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. (Isa. 1:2). This is God, mourning His lost and wayward children.

        It was this unique call to one true GOD - HIS INSISTENCE on their faithfulness that separated the Jewish race from all others. As we studied in lesson 11, the call of Abram set the tone for this separation. God called him out of his family, commanded circumcision as a covenant sign of their allegiance to HIM, and changed Abram's name to signify the fact that he would become the father of the Jewish race. The Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans did not object to Israel's God as long as He was only one of many. But God had clearly stated: "NO OTHER GODS." Israel was set apart to worship HIM alone, to keep faith alive in Him. The nations of the world have worshipped their many gods, but only Israel and religious faith born out of Jewish roots have maintained that "the Lord our God, the Lord is ONE."

The God Who Rests

        The fourth commandment that Moses brought from his mountain encounter with the Lord set aside one specific day each week for worship:

Exodus 20:8-11  - Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days shall thou labor, and do all thy work: [10] But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: [11] For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
 

        No nation had ever known a God who encouraged rest and did not enslave His people. By observing the weekly Sabbath, the Jewish family would forever be declaring the virtues of a God who provides for His people. Economics were not to be the determining factor of their lives. If they would live in obedience to His commands, He would provide enough in six days so they could rest on the seventh.

        Israel's God confirmed this commitment to His word for 40 years in the desert. Each day the people were to gather manna for one day, but on the sixth day they were to collect enough for two days; there was to be no harvest on the Sabbath. Some tried hoarding manna; others paid no attention to the command of the Lord and did not gather any for the Sabbath. Both groups were forcefully shown that God was faithful to His Word:

Exodus 16:4  - Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

Exodus 16:14-20   -And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. [15] And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.  [16] This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. [17] And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. [18] And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. [19] And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. [20] Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

        Not only were the Israelites to rest every seventh day, the land was to rest every seventh YEAR. This rest also extended to servants and to animals. The people were to trust in God's provision for that sabbatical year.

Leviticus 25:6  - And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourns with thee,

The God Who Protects

        Israel's government was unlike any other nation's as well. Her government centered around GOD. When compared to the legal systems at the time, this system of GOD-centered government was superior in kindness and mercy. The latter part of the 10 commandments dealt with interpersonal relationships i.e. "Thou shalt not kill....steal...commit adultery...covet your neighbor's wife, home or land....honor your father and mother....." etc. These commandments if obeyed, would eliminate the need for courts or prisons and the need for police or security systems. Parents would remain together and both children and elderly would be cherished members of the family.

        Provisions were made for orphans and widows, and there were guidelines to follow when accidents occurred. A compassionate God decreed laws that would minister compassion and mercy to the nation who followed them. Yet knowing the people would not follow these laws, God also allowed for their weaknesses and the age in which they lived. He provided rules for slaves, divorce and polygamy. In times when Israel followed these laws most closely, national leaders came from great distances to observe (1 Kings 10:24).

        God's law is not a rigid rule book. It was given for humanity's own good and health. It was birthed out of God's love for us and what was best for all humanity. God said to Abraham, "....every male among you who is EIGHT DAYS OLD must be circumcised." Recent research has found that a newborn infant has a peculiar susceptibility to bleeding between the second and fifth days of his life. Vitamin K, the substance that aids in clotting it not adequately formed in the child's system until the SEVENTH day. WOW!

        Leviticus 3:17 declares "You must not eat any fat." This dictate was issued to Israel LONG before the world knew anything about cholesterol. Fidelity in marriage was practiced without knowing anything about venereal disease. In short, the Lord promised Israel HEALTH and HAPPINESS if they would but obey His voice:

Exodus 15:26  - And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that heals  thee.

        Through the centuries, God has supernaturally protected His people Israel, not from disease alone, but from her enemies. As a priestly nation, she would perpetually live in a hostile environment. To assure Abraham of continued protection, the Lord spoke in a vision in Genesis 15 and said : "Don't be afraid.....I am your shield." (15:1). He shielded Israel from annihilation and assimilation during her 400 years in Egypt and brought her back to the Land. He kept her during the plots of Haman and Hitlers and has reestablished her borders. More recently He has protected her from the schemes and wicked plans of an Arab world gone mad with hatred for the Jewish race. GOD IS ISRAEL'S PROTECTOR and the world around her need never forget that fact! Those who do will face the same end as Hitler and Haman and in the future the Antichrist who will meet doom as well.

        The Feasts

        We have mentioned the feasts in an earlier lesson in this study along with doing a feast-by-feast study on the website. But we want to reiteriate here that as part of Israel's royal priesthood, she was ordained to proclaim God's faithfulness and the coming righteous King through the celebrations God had appointed for her. These feasts would teach the world of God's redemption, judgment upon sin, the power of the Holy Spirit, the foundational teachings of the Law and a prophetic look into the coming MESSIAH - His death, burial, resurrection, and Second Coming:

• Passover (PESACH) recalled Israel's deliverance from tyranny and was an annual reminder of the horrors and oppression and the joys of freedom. The original Passover observed in Egypt - in which the blood of a lamb was sprinkled on the door posts of Jewish homes so that death could "pass over" and spare the firstborn sons - pointed to MESSIAH YESHUAH whose blood would carry the sins of the people and through whom a whole nation of "firstborn" would be brought forth (Heb. 12:23)

• The Feast Of Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah) begins at Passover and lasts for seven days. Jesus compared Himself to the manna that fell in the wilderness, calling himself the "LIVING BREAD." During this seven day period no leaven can be found in a home. Leaven is a symbol of sin and must be "PURGED" from our lives so we may become a NEW LOAF in YESHUAH!

• First Fruits (BIKKURIM) took place on the THIRD day of Passover. One sheaf of grain was to be waved before the Lord in proclamation of other fruit to come. Paul tells the Corinthians that Jesus, "raised from the dead," is the FIRST FRUITS of those who "have fallen asleep." This feast spoke of the resurrection that was to come

• Shavuot, or PENTECOST, rejoices in God's care and providence. The first Pentecost occurred at the time of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. That Law was the precursor of another law and another harvest - the law written in our HEARTS, not on stones! (Jer. 31:33) Incidentally, Sinai took place 50 days after Passover in Egypt. Pentecost took place 50 days after the Crucifixion and Resurrection. First the cross, THEN THE HOLY SPIRIT! That's always been the pattern

• The fall feasts began with Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) meaning "head of the year." The SHOFAR (trumpet) is blown to usher in the beginning of the civil year and to begin the 10 days of "AWE" from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur (The DAY OF ATONEMENT). This is a time of repentance and self-examination as we anticipate the trumpet sounds that will announce the Lord's arrival.

• Yom Kippur declared Israel's sin and God's great mercy. Israel would once a year come to the priests confessing their sins; the priests would confess to the HIGH PRIEST. Through the confession of the people and the priests, the animal symbolically bore the sins of the nations and was killed in place of the pole. The high priests then slaughtered the goat for the sin offering (Lev. 16:15) and entered the holy of holies, "never without blood, which he offered himself and for the sins the people had committed."(Heb. 9:7)

• Five days after Yom Kippur is Sukkoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths), the last of Israel's major feasts, which every Jewish male was required to attend. This was the final ingathering of the harvest, anticipating the immense harvest of souls prior to Yeshuah's return. Through this annual feast, the people of God were made aware of their years of wandering and of the temporary nature of their earthly housing as, for eight days each year, the faithful dwell in a sukkah (booth). Jesus "tabernacled" and "tabernacles" among us! Our dwelling is also temporary. This feast also speaks of REST and the MILLENNIUM Kingdom of Christ.

The Blessing To The Nations

        The Lord told Abraham that the nations of the earth would be blessed through his descendants. This has been fulfilled in amazing ways. The Jewish people have blessed the world in total disproportion to their numbers. The Jewish world population, though only one-fourth of 1 percent, has produced 15 percent of the Nobel Prize winners since the Prize's inception in 1899. Considering the billions who have been drove from their homes and even at times to their death - that is astonishing! Leslie Flynn wrote this in her book What the Church Owes The Jew:

"If an Anti-Semite decided to boycott all the tests and cures discovered by the Jews, he would certainly open himself up to a host of serious diseases. Besides refusing Jonas Salk's polio vaccine, he would also decline the polio pill by Dr. Albert Sabin; the test to fight diphtheria invented by Bela Schick; the diet regime of Joseph Goldenberger which has fought pellagra to a standstill; blood transfusions made possible by the work of Dr. E. J. Cohen of Harvard...the Wasserman test for syphilis; the vaccine for hepatitis discovered by Baruch Blumberg; streptomycin discovered by Dr. Selman Abraham Waxman as an antibiotic...cholorohydrate for convulsions discovered by Dr. J. Von Liebig; and vitamins discovered by Casimire Funk. U.S. Jews are twice as likely to go to college as Gentiles, as five times more likely to be admitted to an Ivy League school, and are over-represented in the fields of medicine, science, law and dentistry."

        John Adams, our second President wrote, "I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation." When Frederick the Great asked his chaplain for one reason to believe in God - the chaplain said, "the amazing Jew, your majesty."

        The bottom line in this lesson is this - despite the Jewish race being beaten down and almost destroyed - it remains a nation of priests unto God even to this day. God's promises are "yea and amen." And when it comes to Israel, the world owes them a debt it will never pay back. As I heard Nita Johnson say recently, "even if we started today and for the next million years pay back the Jewish race for all the harm it has had come to it by evil men, we would never be able to repay her for the bad she has suffered." In other words, no matter how much good the world would do to repay the Jewish race - it will never settle the debt we owe Israel. If we are born again - we are part of this heritage! We should rejoice and continue to pray for our Jewish brothers.




 

The Priceless Page -Because It's Getting Late Neighbor   

Statement Of Faith