The Daily Word of Righteousness

Israel—Spirit and Flesh, #11

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (II Thessalonians 1:10)

The Scriptures teach that the Lord Jesus will appear in His Kingdom with His elect, His saints. Then will Jerusalem be filled with glory. Then will the nations of the earth be ruled and judged with righteousness. This is the Good News of the coming of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ—good news to the Jews and good news to the meek of the Gentile nations.

Throughout the centuries of the Christian Era the Jews, who always should have been at the center of the Christian Gospel, have been treated with contempt and hatred. When the Christians have attempted to evangelize the Jews it has been with the concept that the Jews are in spiritual darkness, possessing nothing at all of God. In order to become a Christian the Jew has had to become a Gentile.

Since the Jew rightfully sees no reason why he should leave his religion and culture in order to please the God of his fathers, the Gospel of Christ has not borne the fruit that would have resulted had the Gospel been presented to the Jews as their own religion, their own bread, their own salvation, their own Kingdom—the continuation of the revelation of the Lord to them.

The proper approach to a Jew is that we Gentile outsiders are ready to give him his Christ, His bread. The Jew does not need to leave anything. It is his "tree." He is the "natural" branch. It is we Gentiles who must be broken off from our tree and grafted on Israel.

The Jews hate the Christians, and with good reason. In many instances the Christian Church fathers have regarded the Jews as the enemies of God. We have driven them away from their own table, their own Christ, as though Jesus were a Gentile and the Body of Christ were a Gentile institution.

Today a genuine love for the Jews is moving through the ranks of Christians. This is the beginning of the turning again of the Lord to the Jews.

Recognizing the harsh manner in which Christians historically have presented the Gospel to God's own people, the devout of today are coming to Israel with love—not with the Gospel as such but with concern for their material circumstances. Many Gentile Christians have made a good impression on numerous Jews in the country of Israel. It is necessary that this healing love come as a first step in the restoration of the Jews to the fullness of the blessing of God in Christ.

We do not mean by this that the Christians are endeavoring to gain the confidence of the Jews so they then can convert them. This would be an act of treachery, of deceit. We mean, rather, that the Christians are showing love for love's sake, making it possible for Jesus to come to the Jews in His own time and manner.

There is a spirit of proselyting among Christians that is not of God but of the flesh. It is this spirit of proselyting, of institution-building, that has changed the revitalizing Life from Heaven into a fleshly, sometimes belligerent attempt to gain members for one's own program. It is the spirit of proselyting, not the Spirit of God, that fills the Jew with rage as he attempts to preserve his own religion, culture, and race.

To be continued.