Chris,
There are verses to support both positions it is all up to what is in your heart. Just as it says there is no more male nor female no Jew nor Greek obviously we still have male and female so we still have Jew and Greek and I think it should pierce your heart into to being gentle to them for what they do not have for your sake. The Lord used grace with truth and his anger was at the religious leaders of the day as IMO it is today at people like Emile that claim to know Him but misrepresent him.
<<God does not look down from heaven and say, that those are his Jewish believers versus those over there who are his Gentile believers. Only the dictates of man in his pride would suggest this sort of distinction exists in the eyes of God.>>
21: Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22: And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23: But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24: But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25: Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26: But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27: And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
28: Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Do you see the sweet humility in her that the Lord honored? DId she point out the faults of the Pharisees etc..? Here are 2 other accounts when Jesus pointed out that the people were the son or daughter of Abraham, this is not to be spiritualised unless you want to spiritualise the previous account of dogs.
29: And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.
8: And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
9: And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
15: The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
16: And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
There is so much need to accuse the Jews of killing the Lord and in these verses the Lord himself says that the Gentiles will kill him.
33: Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles:
34: And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Maybe you should read again Romans 11 about your grafting and let your heart be circumcised. Do you think the Lord knew what the Jews were going to reject him when He came? Can you not see that is part of the plan for your sake?
25: For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
I think you must not understand what I am saying for you could not be so concerned if you did. All I am saying is to just pray for and love the Jews and not spend your time looking for their faults but more on your own plank.
Nancy |
