We need to be on guard against unbelief.
18 But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have:
“The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world.”
19 But I ask, did the people of Israel really understand? Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God said,
“I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation. I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles.”
20 And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God, saying,
“I was found by people who were not looking for me. I showed myself to those who were not asking for me.”
21 But regarding Israel, God said,
“All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.”
Romans 10:18-21
Israel, God’s chosen people, heard and understood the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. According to Paul in these verses above, the Jewish people knew full well who they were rejecting. It’s hard to understand how they could reject Jesus but they did.
And God brought us – the Gentiles – into the picture to provoke the Jewish people into anger. The Jewish people knew they were a set apart people of God. They knew this from the moment they left Egypt to form the nation Israel. God told them they were a holy nation and a kingdom of priests.
This was their identity. Special. Chosen. Covenant people.
And then Paul comes along and takes the message of salvation to the Gentiles. This infuriated the Jewish people. God’s plan was for all people to be a new creation in Jesus. We see this in Ephesians:
11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
Ephesians 2:11-16
God united Jews and Gentiles into one new people.
It’s very plain in these verses. God desires for us to be one Body in Jesus Christ to be royal priests to take the message of Good News to the ends of the earth. The message of salvation – the free gift from Jesus – is for everyone. But there is one important thing we need to understand. God prepares our hearts to receive Him. So why didn’t God prepare the Jewish people’s hearts to receive Him?
I believe we see the answer in the last verse of chapter 10 in Romans:
21 But regarding Israel, God said,
“All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.”
Romans 10:21
The Jewish people were disobedient and rebellious. They desired to do what they wanted to do in disobedience to what God wanted them to do. They had unbelief from the beginning. The Israelites were on the very edge of the Promised Land and their unbelief made it impossible to believe God and take the land. They looked with their physical eyes instead of their spiritual eyes and they saw giants and shrank back. Even after God told them the land was theirs.
There are parallels in our culture today. We all know people who do what they want to do even though they know it is in disobedience to godly living. They allow unbelief to cover their heart.
So how do we combat the unbelief? How do we show the light?
First of all, we need to understand that it is God’s job to open hearts to receive Him. It is God who seeks us. We do not seek Him. But how does He seek us? Through the love of others. Through the words of others. Yes. It is God’s love in our hearts and His words in our mouth that reach hearts. It is love that penetrates the darkness.
When we share God’s love in ALL situations, people will take notice.
Stay in the Light and the Love Always,
Eva
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