Jews
Jews
Definition: As commonly used today, the term refers to people of Hebrew descent and others who have been converted to Judaism. The Bible also draws attention to the fact that there are Christians who are Jews spiritually and who make up “the Israel of God.”
Are the natural Jews today God’s chosen people?
That is the belief of many Jews. Says the Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1971, Vol. 5, col. 498): “CHOSEN PEOPLE, a common designation for the people of
Many in Christendom hold similar views. The “Religion” section of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution (January 22, 1983, p. 5-B) reported: “Contrary to the churches’ centuries-old teachings that God had ‘cast off his people Israel’ and replaced them with a ‘new Israel,’ he [Paul M. Van Buren, theologian at Temple University in Philadelphia] says churches now affirm that ‘the covenant between God and the Jewish people is eternal. This amazing reversal has been made by Protestants and Catholics, on both sides of the
Consider: Following the Babylonian exile, when
Matt. 21:42, 43: “Jesus said to them [the chief priests and the older men of the Jews in
Matt. 23:37, 38: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent forth to her,—how often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks together under her wings! But you people did not want it. Look! Your house is abandoned to you.”
Does God’s covenant with Abraham give assurance that the Jews continue to be the chosen people of God?
Gal. 3:27-29: “All of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one person in union with Christ Jesus. Moreover, if you belong to Christ, you are really Abraham’s seed, heirs with reference to a promise.” (So, from God’s standpoint, it is no longer natural descent from Abraham that determines who are Abraham’s seed.)
Will all the Jews be converted to faith in Christ and attain to eternal salvation?
Rom. 11:25, 26: “I do not want you, brothers, to be ignorant of this sacred secret, in order for you not to be discreet in your own eyes: that a dulling of sensibilities has happened in part to Israel until the full number of people of the nations has come in, and in this manner [“this is how,” TEV; “thus,” CC, By; Greek, hou´tos] all Israel will be saved.” (Notice that the saving of “all
To arrive at a correct understanding of what is recorded at Romans 11:25, 26, we should also take into account these earlier statements in Romans: “He is not a Jew who is one on the outside, nor is circumcision that which is on the outside upon the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one on the inside, and his circumcision is that of the heart by spirit, and not by a written code.” (2:28, 29) “Not all who spring from
Is it necessary for Jews to put faith in Jesus Christ in order to be saved?
Isaiah 53:1-12 foretold the death of the Messiah ‘to bear the sins of many and to make intercession for the transgressors.’ Daniel 9:24-27 connected the coming of the Messiah and his death with ‘making an end of sin and forgiving iniquity.’ (JP) Both passages show that the Jews were in need of such intercession and forgiveness. Could they expect to reject the Messiah and have the approval of the One who sent him?
Acts 4:11, 12: “[Regarding Jesus Christ, the apostle Peter was moved by holy spirit to say to the Jewish rulers and older men in Jerusalem:] This is ‘the stone that was treated by you builders as of no account that has become the head of the corner.’ Furthermore, there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” (Although the nation of natural
Are the events taking place in
Ezek. 37:21, 22, JP: “Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all.” (
Isa. 2:2-4, JP: “It shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.’ . . . And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (In
Isa. 35:1, 2, JP: “The wilderness and the parched land shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice, even with joy and singing; the glory of
Zech. 8:23, JP: “In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (To what God does the prophecy refer? In the Hebrew language his name [יהוה, commonly translated Jehovah] appears over 130 times in this one book of the Holy Scriptures. Today when someone uses that name, do people conclude that the person must be a Jew? No; for many centuries, superstition has caused the Jewish people as a whole to refrain from ever uttering God’s personal name. The upsurge of religious interest concerning natural
How, then, are events in modern-day
Among whom do the prophecies about restoration of
Gal. 6:15, 16: “Neither is circumcision anything nor is uncircumcision, but a new creation is something. And all those who will walk orderly by this rule of conduct, upon them be peace and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.” (So “the Israel of God” is no longer determined on the basis of conforming to the requirement laid upon Abraham for all the males of his household to be circumcised. Rather, as stated at Galatians 3:26-29, those who belong to Christ and who are spirit-begotten sons of God “are really Abraham’s seed.”)
Jer. 31:31-34: “‘Look! There are days coming,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant . . . And they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, “Know Jehovah!” for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.” (That new covenant was made, not with the nation of natural
Rev. 7:4: “I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of
Heb. 12:22: “You have approached a