To Repeat that Which is Not Understood About Being Jewish

Submitted by M. Tovey (United States), Jun 1, 2010 at 12:38

Greetings Debanjan…….let us first dispense with the perceived necessity of yours to 'remind' me concerning the issue of unanimity of views regarding Jewishness and to whom the specific reference may, or may not be applied. If one is not Jewish, as I am not, then there is no concern to be retained as to its applicability outside of the Biblical reference. Since I am not Jewish, I need not debate its value, nor do I have anything to gain except that which is Biblically promised.

In Galatians 3:7 et seq, we read… 7)Know ye therefore, that they who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8) And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel to Abraham, saying, "In thee shall all nations be blessed." 9) So then they who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. 10) For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse: for it is written, Accursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11) But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, is evident: for, "The just shall live by faith.(Hab 2:4)" 12) And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live by them.

13) Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Accursed is every one that hangs on a tree: 14) That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 15) Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it is but a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no man disannuls or adds to it. 16) Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He says not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

So here, as in other places of the Holy Bible, there are more than Isaac and Ishmael that are concerned as to whom the promises were made. We'll have more on that later.

Point One: Now the anthropology of the Jewish population in Israel is quite disparate, that in your observation, it is a human impossibility to distinguish which of them are true blood descendents of the twelve sons of Jacob. But why would you, not being an Israeli, be concerned except to acknowledge that the Almighty Sovereign of the Universe, and Jesus Christ at the right hand of Almighty God, KNOWS who each of them are. So if He considers them to be Jews, who am I to dispute it. Essentially, it's not my problem, for if He knows who is and who is not, then it is His situation and purpose to deal with it.

Point Two: You cannot be more wrong about whether a Jew can be a follower of Jesus Christ. Remembering that phrase I recited before, of Jesus Christ's admonition, that "salvation is of the Jews," and the first of His followers were then, and are Jewish, to their very being and essence. Only in ignorance does one try to remove the Jewishness of the beginnings of Christianity. Only in the attempted sanitization of Christianity does one try to make that distinction in error.

Today, though, as you have observed there is the humanist attempt to make that distinction, and yet are we to believe the lie you pose that all the Messianic followers of Jesus Christ are no longer Jewish? Were you to convert to Christianity, would that mean you are no longer from India? And I've already explained the concept of Biblical Zionism; it still stands.

Point Three: No one of a true Biblical belief disputes that the children of Ishmael are children of Abraham, and with Biblical promises of their own. The distinction that needs to be reminded of here is that the promises to Ishmael are different than the ones made though Isaac. But, not all 'Palestinians' are Ishmaelites either; and just as one would be hard put to make that distinction amongst that population, one would need to defer to the intelligence of the Eternal Sovereign of the Holy Bible to do so. The Biblical understanding is that the only way a non-Jewish person is to enjoy the promise is by being a child of Abraham through the emulation of his faith in Almighty God, culminating in faith in Jesus Christ. By Christ's own testimony, Abraham rejoiced to see His (Jesus Christ's) day, and could rest in the fulfillment of the promises made to the believing followers, both Jewish and non-Jewish. The believers then are the true 'chosen ones.'

Point Four: Have we not read that the true believers in the promises made to Abraham within the ranks of the Jewish people are found in the remnant to whom Almighty God is witnessing? Should anyone care about a 'human' definition while dealing with the terms Almighty God has set? Being Jewish is BOTH ethnic and Biblical; then it cannot be separated,yet that being Jewish required separation for them to be a people of Almighty God. Read what Moses said to the people of his time, and of the enforcement of that requirement up to the time of Jesus Christ. What distinction did Jesus Christ make, and how did He enforce it, to a make His point? Read of the Syro-Phoenician woman, a Gentile, who begged of Jesus to grant her petition to heal her trouble daughter. She, recognizing her position in a Jewish society of being considered a dog, still had faith in Him of His justice, and was granted her prayer of that faith to have her daughter healed. Later, the Roman Legion commander, definitely a Gentile, had his petition to have his servant healed, certifying to all that even though salvation is of the Jews, faith transcends that barrier and salvation is available to all who believe. Peter confirms that later still. I am not going to turn that away in my life, not this one nor the next. The distinction then, is made through faith in the WORD of the LORD through Jesus Christ, not ethnicity.

Point Five: Is it not you that considers me a 'useful idiot', or maybe not even useful? To point, I have many Jewish acquaintances, and though they are devoted to their religious practices and we may debate the differences, yet none have considered me an idiot. Further, some are Messianic, and we have a kinship that exceeds the ethnicity, being brothers and sisters in Christ, a familial attachment that cannot ever be broken; for it is heavenly.

And another thing, again, be reminded that the Zionism in Israel promoted by Theodore Hertzl is not the same as the Biblical Zionism we read of in the Holy Bible. It is Almighty God that has determined that in Jerusalem is Zion found as He has determined, and this mere mortal will never dispute it.

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