Dear James,
Please consider these;
Isaiah 40
1 Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people saith the Lord.
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lords hand double for all her sins.
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness. prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Ezekiel 37
11 Then he said to me, Son of man these bones are the WHOLE house of Israel; behold they say Our bones are dried and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. (70AD)
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them Thus saith the Lord God, Behold O my people I will open your graves and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And you shall know that I AM the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves.
14 And shall put my SPIRIT in you and ye shall live and I shall place you in your own land; then shall you know that I the Lord have spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord.
If you try to spiritualize these verses you will have many problems. They are expressing the need to speak tenderly and bring the GOOD NEWS not the bad news of the Gospel to
everyone. Any Jew that reads what Emile says will run from the Lord for it is not based on love nut a need to say I am smarter and better than you. That is not the Love of God. I can give 10 verses to 1 on the love of God to Israel and the nations. Why is it that even in Romans the first chapter Paul says many times first to the Jew then to the Nations if there is no separation for God? It is not about pride but about the glory of the God that gave these verses and His faithfulness to an unfaithful people.
As far as Malachi is concerned consider this;
Romans 3;9
What then? Are we better than they? NO,in no wise for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles. that they are all under sin.
10 As it is written. there is none righteous no, not one.
This is what we should say we are all in a desperate situation but Praise God He has pardoned your sin from Isaiah 40, John the Baptist came as a messenger to prepare the way for the Lord........
Nancy |
