An Epidemic of Blindness

 

 Estimated reading time: 15 minutes

An Epidemic of Blindness

Let’s get right to the heart of the matter. There is an epidemic of blindness going on in the New Testament, and it isn’t just with the Jews! I have covered the blindness of the Jews extensively in:

• My book, “God Still has BIG Plans for the Jews,” where one of the themes I focus on is that the Jews were made blind to Jesus by God for a purpose (Romans 11:7-8)).
• I also explored this topic in a two-part blog called “Understanding the Full Implications of the Blindness of the Jews” and
• In another two-part blog called “Why the Jews opted out of Christianity.“

However, I have yet to explore how God also placed a blindness over Christians and the Christian church. We all know that God has often intervened in human history to ensure a specific outcome. ((Remember Pharaoh with Moses? God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to keep him from releasing the Jews until God had demonstrated His mighty power through multiple plagues.)) In the New Testament, I believe God has intervened (at least) twice to achieve His purpose:

• God made the Jews (His Chosen People) blind to the identity of Jesus so that the Gentiles could receive the Gospel message and save the whole world (as opposed to just the Jews).
• God made the Christians blind to God’s purpose for and commitment to the Jews so that God, Himself, can save His Chosen People, the Jews, in the End Times. After all, didn’t God make a habit out of saving His people over and over again in the Old Testament? Why would He not do it one last time? Yet, this issue has confused and frustrated scholars for hundreds of years. It is often the basis for anti-semitism in the church. Many wrongly hold the Jews responsible for killing and rejecting Jesus, so they develop a hatred for them because they think (wrongly) that God also holds them accountable. Scripture absolutely does not support that position!

However, let me be clear: God will not save the Jews without Jesus.  Jesus will ultimately be the key to their salvation! Remember, throughout the Old Testament, none of what the Jews did was enough to get God to abandon them. So, if God’s interference was the reason for the Jews rejecting Jesus, will God hold them accountable for an act of divine intercession, not of human will? If you accept this viewpoint, you must be able to explain why God would reserve the redemption of the Jews for Himself. Let’s look into that.

Are Christians Blind?

I believe that most Christians acknowledge the importance of the Jews, BUT they also agree that unless a Jew accepts Jesus, there is no salvation. That position is most certainly in alignment with what Jesus taught when He  said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.” (John 14:6 NCV) Make no mistake, I am very clear that Jesus is the only way to salvation and eternal life. However, by focusing exclusively on that message, have we overlooked the possibility that God may have other plans for how He will bring His People to salvation through Jesus?

Allow me to enter into evidence some of the reasons why I believe that God is not done with His People. In my mind, when Christians fail to remember and/or put into proper perspective these facts, a form of blindness results: 

• Two-thirds of the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, is almost entirely devoted to telling the story of the Jews.
  • God entrusted the message of the Old Testament (and much of the New Testament) to the Jews and taught them how to preserve, protect, and worship it. The essence of that message was: There is only one true God! 
  • God inspired many Old Testament prophets to write about the Messiah (both of His first and second coming). The essence of that message was often obscure, but it centered on the idea that God would send a Messiah to save the world.
  • In John 4:22, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman that “salvation comes from the Jews,” because God had prepared the Jews throughout the Old Testament to know that their God was the only God who could lead them into righteousness and prepare them for salvation. ((For more insight on this subject, check out this article : https://chosenpeople.com/salvation-from-the-jews/#:~:text=However%2C%20in%20His%20conversation%20with,(John%204%3A22b).))
• God chose the Jews to be His Chosen People — a people that God would:
  • Reveal Himself to in ways no other people on earth have experienced.
  • Teach them how to be “holy and acceptable to God.” Something He did not do for any other nation or people.
  • Bless them continually, despite their behavior.
  • Make everlasting promises (covenants) with them, and
  • Regularly forgive them for their sins, which were many. 
• God spoke through many prophets about the things He would do for His people at various times throughout history. Generally, that message was some form of “I will not abandon you nor forsake you.” This is a blessing that all who know the living God can take comfort in — His love never fails!
• God’s most significant prophecies were about sending His Son, Jesus, to save the Jews first (of which Jesus was one), and then the Gentiles. One should not ignore nor minimize this point.
• At the conclusion of the Bible and the End Times for humanity, in the Book of Revelation, God shows us that His Chosen People will not be forgotten when He says: 

⁹ Then one of the seven angels… came to me, saying, “Come with me, and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ …He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It was shining with the glory of God and was bright like a very expensive jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² The city had a great high wall with twelve gates with twelve angels at the gates, and on each gate was written the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Revelation 21:9-12

And, if that doesn’t convince you, there is one more amazing thing that takes place in the Book of Revelation. In Chapter 15, immediately after Satan has been defeated, there is rejoicing in heaven! This is what is reported: “All of those who had won the victory over the beast and his idol and over the number of his name were standing by the sea of glass. They had harps that God had given them. ³ They sang the song of Moses…” Who would even know the Song of Moses except the Jews? This is the same song the People of Israel sang after defeating the evil of Pharaoh, so why wouldn’t the same people sing it to celebrate the defeat of Satan? Why would God call 144,000 Jews to come back to life and fight Satan in the very last battle on earth if God did not have a plan for His people? 

All these facts (and much more) serve to establish how important the Jews are to God. Christians know that! Yet, when asked if a non-Christian Jew will be saved, we immediately answer, “NO!” Does that sound right to you, based on all we have discussed above? Is it possible that we have overlooked something critical in God’s plan? I think the facts presented above strongly suggest we have! If so, we Christians are truly blind to that plan.

Don’t be Blind to the Times

As we know, much of God’s story is revealed to us in epochs (e.g., pre-exodus and post-exodus, pre-Jesus and post-Jesus, etc.). Two periods you may not have heard of are: The Time of the Jews and The Time of the Gentiles. These are two critically important periods if you want to understand God’s plan for His people. The Time of the Jews is actually split into two periods:

• The First Time of the Jews extends from Abraham to Jesus, constituting most of the Old Testament and a brief period in the New Testament. During this period, the Jews were the central characters in God’s story; thus, we call it “the time of the Jews.”
• The Second Time of the Jews extends from the Rapture until the end of the Tribulation. It is during this time that all Christians have been removed from the earth, and the 144,000 Jews (Revelation 7) are the only ones left to join with God’s angels to fight Satan and preach the Gospel to those who are left behind. This is a time that, at best, many Christians don’t understand, and at worst, they are blind to its significance. 

Then, we come to the Gentiles: 

• The Time of the Gentiles spans from the time Jesus ascended into Heaven (following His death and resurrection) until the Rapture. This is the time when Jesus’ Great Commission is fulfilled and the Christian church is established. It is called the “time of the Gentiles” because the Jews, in their blindness, opted out of Christianity and left the Gentiles to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission.

These periods are crucially important to God’s plan as both require each group to experience a type of blindness:

• It started when the Jews failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah and instead saw Him as a threat, so they crucified Him. Many scholars say the Jews were blind to the prophecies concerning the Messiah that would have pointed them to Jesus. 
• After Jesus died and rose from the grave, God imposed another form of blindness on the Jews that prevented them from embracing Jesus. This should shock the uninformed reader as:
  • Jesus was a Jew.
  • All His disciples were Jews.
  • Most His early followers were Jews.
• Yet, this blindness is the primary reason why Christianity is a religion of the Gentiles and not of the Jews. When humanity reached this key fork in the road, the First Time of the Jews ended. Why? Because the focus needed to shift to the Gentiles. The question is, for how long?
• During the Time of the Gentiles, Christianity became a global religion and one of the greatest religious movements of all time. If it weren’t for the blindness of the Jews, Christianity would not have fulfilled Jesus’ calling to “… go and make followers of all people in the world” (Matthew 28:19 NCV), (The Great Commission), thus proving that blindness can be a good thing.
• But, in order to achieve such greatness, the Christian church forgot about (became blind to) what God’s calling might be for the Jews. Would God abandon them for failing to accept Jesus when God was responsible for their blindness? Had the Jews lost their usefulness to God?
• The Time of the Gentiles ends at the Rapture, and a Second Time of the Jews begins. What evidence do we have for this?  After the Rapture, all Christians are removed from the earth, and only a non-repentant humanity remains with three and a half years remaining before Satan is defeated (Based on a mid-Tribulation view of when the Rapture occurs). Who will bring the Gospel message to this rebellious bunch? The two prophets mentioned in Revelation are there to accuse the antichrist of his blasphemy. They are not there to save anyone. But, in Revelation 7, immediately after the Rapture, 144,000 Jews appear on the scene. They are clearly there to help in the battle against Satan, but they are also there to help redeem those who are lost.

When the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been killed because they were faithful to the word of God and to the message they had received. (Revelation 6:9, NCV)

As I point out in my book, the 144,000 Jews have a mission to preach the Gospel message to “a non-repentant humanity” during the last days of the Tribulation when all Christians are gone. To do this, they have to recognize Jesus as the Christ (Messiah). God has a special purpose for these 144,000 Jews. They are to pick up the ball after their Christian brothers are removed! Yet, that isn’t their only mission. God has a plan to redeem His Chosen People during this time in a way that the Christian church has not and does not expect — despite all the signs pointing to it in Scripture. Sound familiar? The Jews missed key prophetic signs, and that caused them to reject Jesus. The Christians have missed key prophetic signs, and that has caused them to underestimate God’s plan to redeem His People.

The Case for Keeping Jews in Christianity

Hopefully, we’ve made the case by now that God has a special place in His heart for the Jews. No matter how much they test Him, He always seems to forgive them. But will the Jews be able to redeem themselves from having rejected Jesus? Here’s just a couple more verses that might help answer that question:

¹⁴ The Lord owns the world and everything in it—the heavens, even the highest heavens, are his. ¹⁵ But the Lord cared for and loved your ancestors (the Jews), and he chose you, their descendants, over all the other nations, just as it is today. Deuteronomy 10: 14-15 NCV

God spoke these words to the Israelites just before they entered the Promised Land: ^”6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them (those who live in the land — the Gentiles), for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” … ^”8 The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31: 6, 8 NCV

This is an age-old conundrum debated by many biblical scholars over hundreds of years. The debate centers around the question of “Can the Jews be superseded by the Gentiles,” despite God’s promise to never forsake them? Will rejecting His Son, Jesus, be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back?”

Here’s one way to look at it. In the Old Testament, for the most part, God’s Chosen People, the Jews, are considered the “good guys,” and everyone else (the rest of the world = the Gentiles) are the “bad guys.” The Gentiles are the ones God told the Jews repeatedly to “utterly destroy” because they were a bad influence who worshiped false gods. Think about it. The sequence goes something like this:

• In the Old Testament: The “good guys” rejected God, the Father, over and over. And what did God, the Father, do when the Jews rejected Him? He forgave them over and over!
• In the New Testament: The “good guys” repeat that act by rejecting His Son!  Now, what will Jesus do? Are the Jews now finally the “bad guys?” Will Jesus not forgive them as His own Father did? I think He will, but it does force us to ask the next question.
• Will God’s response change when they reject His Son (especially if God had something to do with that rejection)? Will the deciding difference hinge on whether or not these “good guys” ask forgiveness from Jesus and accept Him as their Savior? Christianity teaches that they must do this to be saved. But now, based on what we have covered, what does your gut tell you? Isn’t God permitted to find a way to accept His people that doesn’t conflict with New Testament teaching?
• In the end, is it God’s plan to save only those who used to be “the bad guys?” The Jews are declared by God to be “the firstborn” of His family, His Chosen People. Will every Jew who tries to live a good life by following the Law, and honoring the “God of their ancestors,” really be sent to hell? Again, I ask, is it possible God has a plan to save His people?

Does this line of questioning make sense to you? Is it possible that we Christians have missed a critical part of God’s plan? This is why I think we have to look at the Jews’ rejection of Jesus in a different light than just anyone else. They definitely don’t get a pass, but I do believe that God has a unique and miraculous plan for them. Unfortunately, most Christians have put all Jews into the same box as anyone else who rejects Jesus. They have forgotten how special these people are to the Father (and to the Son). As a result, they are blind to what God’s plan might be for any Jew who is not a Christian.

Let me share with you another promise God made to His People while they were still wandering in the desert with Moses.

¹² You (the Jews) are all here to enter into an agreement and a promise with the Lord your God, an agreement the Lord your God is making with you today. ¹³ This will make you today his own people. He will be your God, as he told you and as he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ¹⁴ But I am not just making this agreement and its promises with you ¹⁵ who are standing here before the Lord your God today, but also with those who are not here today…. ²⁹ There are some things the Lord our God has kept secret, but there are some things he has let us know. These things belong to us and our children forever, so that we will do everything in these teachings. (Deuteronomy 29: 12-15, 29 NCV ) God’s promise to His people was not just for those who were there at the time of Moses, but His promises were also to their descendants who were not there at that time — a secret that God would keep for a later time. What might this secret be that will “belong to us and our children forever?” 

Then, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote this to the Roman church:

⁹ He (God) will give trouble and suffering to everyone who does evil—to the Jews first and also to those who are not Jews. ¹⁰ But He (God) will give glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does good—to the Jews first and also to those who are not Jews. Romans 2: 9-10 NCV

Somehow, the early church “forgot” that Jesus came to free the Jews first from their slavery to the Law. This new freedom, if claimed, would empower them to fulfill their mission (from the time of Abraham) to “be holy, as I am holy.” But if the Jews had seen and accepted Jesus for who He was, the Gentiles would have suffered. So God made them blind. Then, the Gentiles became blind to the fact that God had made a long-term promise to those who are not here today (His People), who would one day need their God to save them. Let’s look at another promise God made to His People long ago. He said:

¹⁹ Today I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses. I am offering you life or death, blessings or curses. Now, choose life! Then you and your children may live. ²⁰ To choose life is to love the Lord your God, obey him, and stay close to him. He is your life, and he will let you live many years in the land, the land he promised to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30: 19-20 NCV

God offered His people a choice: “Choose life!” And “life” is defined as loving “the Lord your God.” There are Jews today who do their best to follow this mantra. They may not “see” the Jesus we see, but they look forward in hope to (one day) seeing Jesus, the Messiah. And, this I know is true: God sees them!

Closing Thoughts

If there is one point I want to make in this blog, it is this: Don’t count out the Jews! God hasn’t, and we shouldn’t. What God does for His People will be revealed in my book. “God (still) has BIG plans for the Jews.“

I’ll close with a reading from the book of Lamentations, where the prophet Jeremiah is reflecting on the plight of the Jews just after King Nebuchadnezzar has defeated them and exiled them to Babylon: 

²² Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
²³ They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV

And then, from this verse, the old hymn, “Great is thy Faithfulness” was written:

Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be. ((https://hymnary.org/text/great_is_thy_faithfulness_o_god_my_fathe))

I believe that the eternal God will remain faithful to His Chosen People. He will never abandon them nor forsake them. Praise be to God! 

Like what you read? Don’t miss the next edition! Subscribe to my posts.