Barry wrote:
>>>>If one refuses to recognize the present day state of Israel as God's chosen people is he considered to be an infidel, even if he believes in the Lord Jesus? Can a Jew be saved if he rejects Christ? Call me an infidel if you will, but it's doesn't change my actual identity. Christ is the ultimate authority there. The Christian has the realization of the promise of Abraham which is by faith, not blood (physical relation). Look at Paul's statements in Phillipians -- to put confidence in blood relations is confidence in the flesh. He counted these things to be rubbish in order to gain Christ. What border you live inside of or who you are physically descended from is unimportant in God's eyes. God looks at the heart. <<<<
No he is not considered an infidel but I will question the motivation behind the belief, and no a Jew that does not belive inJesus Christ is not saved because there is no remission of sins. There has been an anti Israel attitude for the last 2000 years and this will only escalate to the point of war, the Bible says that "All the nations of the earth will go and make war against Israel". So you see it is important what we believe and why we believe it. The only confidence we can have is in Jesus Christ, I don't think any body that is a messianic Jew today thinks that they are above any and all Christians because they come directly from the seed of Abraham. In that respect there is no partiality before God but the Bible says that they are beloved because of the Fathers i.e. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. If it is not important where you come from then why did God send His only Son through the blood line of Abraham, and not through some other nation. I will tell you why because God has entrusted the nation of Israel with the law of God and all of the promises God has made to humanity is through Abraham.
To be more exact God says to Abraham "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall posses the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou has obeyed my voice". In Gen. 12:3 God says "And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee all the families of the earth shall be blessed". As far as the New Testament is concerned there is nothing I can find stating that the Church is Israel but on the contrary Paul makes a clear distinction between the Church and Israel ( see Rom 11:1) which states "I say then Hath God cast away His people?(Israel) God forbid. For I am also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away His people which He forenew..." and I can go on but I am shure you can look it up for your selves. The conclusion to this is that there are some who call themselves Christians and they really hate Israel but they are too coward to state their position on this matter. Well enough peaching for today.
God bless
Joshua |
