“There is neither Jew nor Greek … for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
(Gal 3:28, NKJV)
In the previous teaching we concluded that the Blood of Jesus has reconciliatory power. Not only reconciliation between God and man, but it also bears the potential of removing the wall of separation from between God and any other element! From Eph 2:13-16 we explained that one of the main reconciliations that occurred was between the Jews and the non-Jews. The wall of separation between these two prototypical groups had, for centuries, brought great misunderstanding, sadness and immense pain. Still today one finds that millions of people, especially believers, are deceived into believing that the blood of Jesus has NOT WASHED AWAY the distinction between these two groups. As the Scripture above makes clear, there no longer is any difference between Jew/non-Jew/heathen/Greek.
To further explain this matter a dense bit of context is needed, which we will try and cover as quick and painless as possible. As believers of the Bible we need to understand that our perspective on the history of man and the world in which he finds himself differs greatly from the perspective of secular society. For us the history of the world is told from the perspective of Elohim, the Creator God, who made heaven and earth, a space in which a particular Godly history (= His Story) played out. In this history the nation of Israel plays a key role.
For those not accepting the Bible as foundational, text permutations of many other histories of the world will be possible. The Big Bang theory and the theory of evolution, to name but two, are other (secular) perspectives on the history of the world. Within these histories Adam as the first man is not the primary point of departure in a discussion about man, as they consider him a mere mythical example from the literature of a grouping on earth, named Christians, who believe that he was the first created human. Furthermore the history of the nation of Israel would not be as important to them as it is to Bible-believers, except at times in world history when the nation garnered particular focus. Such a time would be when an ordinary man from Nazareth claimed to be the Messiah they have long been waiting for, and that they did not believe him to be the Messiah. Also that this “sect leader” initiated a different faith movement which would become one of the greatest religions of all the world. Or that Israel has been a point of contention within matters of world peace throughout history. And that the Jews, as a group – for some or other reason – are often persecuted, of which the concentration camps and the gas chambers of the Second World War left one of the most horrific scars on man’s collective memory.
For people who consider the world from a financial worldview the Jews would merely be considered an example of a nation which has perfected their ability to trade to a very fine and successful art form. (Jews have even been stereotyped for this gift, and have in certain contexts been unfairly judged as being money-loving and close-fisted.)
In the next teaching we will attempt to explain how a Christian worldview provides a completely different perspective on His Story, where Israel and the Jews take center stage.
- sela: What is your perspective on the Jewish nation?
- Read: Num 13; Dan 4; Ezek 14
- Memorize: Ezek 14:4
- For a deeper understanding: Read Kent’s History of the Hebrew people.
