Discovery #10: Random Thoughts or Targeted Message?

This is my mother’s Bible. It bears the evidence of a Bible that was well-used!

 Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

A Focused Blog

The central question for this edition of my blog is this: Do you think I have just been sharing random thoughts, or have I had a central theme for which I’m aiming? There actually is a method to my madness. During my journey to discover what God’s future plans for the Jews might look like, I found some gaps in the average Christian belief system that have led many of us to reach some questionable conclusions. Let me explain.

Contrasting OLD vs. NEW Testament

The central theme of the Old Testament is God telling us the story of His Chosen People, the Jews. For 39 books, we read story after story of God’s continued involvement with His people despite all their failings. We see sides of God that we don’t see in the New Testament. Let me show you what I mean:

Let’s face it. The image of Jesus is much more appealing to most people. So, when we study the Bible, we tend to be more attracted to the New Testament – its message is softer, and its content is newer. And, how can we argue with Paul when he states, “I am in Christ, and I am telling you the truth; I do not lie!” (Romans 9: 1 NCV) The message of Jesus is very clear, but sometimes, the message of the Jews is not so much. This led me to my premise that there is a dichotomy between the two images of our one triune God, which causes many of us to miss some huge lessons and truths about Him.

A Purposeful Progression

To counteract some of that, my previous messages have been strategically constructed to try and put things back in balance. To accomplish that, I felt we needed to relook at some key lessons we’ve either forgotten and/or stopped believing in. Here’s the progression I took to do that:

• The Miracle of God’s Teaching. God actually taught Moses the Hebrew language. Shocking, but Dr. Tim Mahoney has made a strong case that He did. Why is this important? Because it illustrates just how involved God was in nurturing His creation, especially through the Jews.
• God really does do Miracles! God really did send a worldwide flood, and He also performed a miracle in parting the Red Sea. Why is it important to believe that? Because, once again, it shows the level to which God will go to save His people. Scientists and historians have, for centuries, tried to minimize or dispel these events, but thankfully, there is new data that proves the Bible account to be true.
• No One is Perfect. God created the concept of priests so humanity would have an intermediary between themselves and God. Unfortunately, all human priests failed in their jobs because no human could “be holy, as God is holy. Only Jesus can fulfill that role. If that is true for priests, it must also be true for us common folk.
• The Downside to Labels. Humanity has an insatiable need to put everything they know into a box, label it, and then not have to think about it again. This approach may simplify some parts of our life, but it will never work with God. God is like a diamond with an infinite number of facets. Each of us may see one or maybe two facets of God’s image, but no one will ever see (much less comprehend) all the facets that make up our amazing God. As a result, some of the “stuff” we reject because it doesn’t fit under our label of truth may, in fact, be true. How else could we end up with 45,000 interpretations of the Gospel message? We need to always “test the spirits” behind any label, but we also need to be open to new ways in which God wants to communicate with us.
• Do the Jews (still) fit into God’s Plan of Salvation? The concept of labels becomes even more complex when we try to understand God’s plan for the Jews. The Jews think they’ve opted out of Christianity, but God knows otherwise. The Gentiles think salvation is reserved exclusively for them, and any Jew who fails to accept Christ is lost. But does it seem right that God would abandon “His Chosen People” even if they have abandoned Him? History and the Old Testament would suggest not.
• Salvation = Faith (our part) + Acceptance (God’s part). Salvation is a central theme in the Bible, yet how it has worked throughout time remains a mystery. Some have proposed that salvation comes as a result of our faith in God, even if we do not know who God is. This is sometimes called the “Saved by Faith (Alone)” concept. It was formulated to help explain how those living before Abraham, Moses, or Jesus might have found favor with God to the point of being saved.  This theory has many flaws which must be addressed:
  • It fails to consider the role God plays in accepting a person’s faith.
  • It fails to consider what God did through Jesus at the cross.
  • It fails to consider what God has been doing since Jesus.
  • It ignores the fact that faith alone is not enough. God reserves the right to reconcile us to Himself through unmerited grace, which cannot be earned.
  • It ignores the fact that God can extend that grace to us even after we have died – at the Great White Throne Judgment.
  • It ignores the fact that God’s call to service (as with Moses) is never because we’re perfect. Far from it. But God always sees our potential to serve Him.

Do you see where the train is headed? IF God still has big plans for the Jews, God must have a plan where He can justify accepting them. The problem is that the New Testament teaches that the only faith that leads to salvation must be faith in Jesus, THEN God will accept us, redeem us, and justify us. I accept that metric, but I also believe that God has a plan that will reconcile the Jews with Jesus so that His Chosen People will join us all in heaven.

Summary to Date 

So, if God is going to have a place in heaven for the Jews, then God must find a way to justify and accept them. And we know that this way requires that they place their faith in Jesus. Does the Bible give us any hints as to IF and WHEN the salvation of the Jews will take place? I believe it does. Stay tuned for some insights on how that might happen

                       Summary of my Discoveries to Date