Previously: the seventh day of rest
Once someone begins studying the commandments of God, such as the Sabbath commandment, to keep them, it soon becomes apparent that these commands are addressed to the children of Israel as perpetual commandments. Someone said to me, “Well, that leaves me out, because I am not a descendant of Israel!” (The relief in their voice being apparent, that they do not have to think about keeping them!)
Be very careful before you proclaim yourself not a seed.
“For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” Rom 2:28-29
The covenant of circumcision of the flesh was given to Abraham. Abraham had two sons. One, Ishmael, was the son of the flesh. And one, Isaac, was the son of the promise. It was the son of the promise – Isaac – who inherited his father’s covenant with God! After Abraham’s death, God appeared to Isaac, not to Ishmael, and renewed His covenant and all His promises.
Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Of them, God says, Esau I hated, but Jacob I loved (Rom 9:13). WHY? Esau scorned the birthright, but Jacob loved it. What is that birthright? It is the inheritance of his fathers! The most precious part of it is his fathers’ (Isaac and Abraham’s) covenant with God! It was Jacob who inherited his father’s covenant with God. After Isaac’s death, God appeared to Jacob, not to Esau, and renewed His covenant and His promises. Please reread the book of Genesis very carefully to assure yourself of these truths!
The history told in Torah is true history, which also teaches spiritual truths and prophesies of spiritual realities. By this history, God is revealing that it is not merely the seed of the flesh who inherits the promise of God or the covenant of God, but the seed of the promise of the Spirit. By this history, God is revealing that the one who rejects Him and who esteems Him lightly, He rejects, but the one who loves Him and desires Him, He loves and establishes His covenant with him.
Why, in each case, did the inheritance of God go to the second- born son (Isaac, and Jacob)? God commands in His Torah that it is the firstborn who is to receive the inheritance of the firstborn (Deu 21:15-17). Is God countermanding His own Torah? NO.
But by it, He is revealing that something greater than the flesh is here. He is inviting us to dig deeper to see how God is not contradicting Himself and His Word. And by doing so, Paul received the revelation that those who are the children, are those who are of the promise, and that circumcision is a matter of the heart. These realities are preached from Torah and the Prophets and not only from the New Testament:
“They have corrupted themselves;
They are not His children,
Because of their blemish:
A perverse and crooked generation.
Do you thus deal with the Lord,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is He not your Father, who bought you?
Has He not made you and established you? Deu 32:5-6This is Jacob: the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Psa 24:6
That the circumcised heart is the spiritual reality of which the circumcised flesh prophesies:
Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. Deu 10:16
And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. Deu 30:6
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, And take away the foreskins of your hearts, You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings. Jer 4:4
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Eze 36:25-27
(i.e., It is not keeping commandments that saves a man! Read this passage again carefully: the new heart precedes the keeping of the Lord’s statutes and judgments! However, those who are truly His, who have received a new circumcised heart and who have received the Spirit of God, submit themselves to God and walk in His ways to obey Him, out of that new heart. The Spirit and the Word or the Commandment agree, for the Spirit breathed the Commandment from the heart of God.)
Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. 1 Cor 7:19
(i.e., If you were raised in synagogue or church and your parents circumcised you or baptized you as a baby, fine; but if you do not keep the commandments of God and your heart is far from Him, do not think that the actions of your parents will save you.)
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. Gal 6:15
(i.e., Reading all of Scripture together testifies that those with a circumcised heart, those who are a new creation, are those who are His. Those who observe religious rituals out of obligation only without a new creation, are not His. And those who claim they are a new creation, but who, by their indulgence of the flesh and rebellion against the commandments of God, reveal that their heart is far from Him, are likewise not His – Mat 7:21-23, Jam 1:22, 1 Joh 2:3-5.)
Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. … Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, … Eph 2:11-13, 19-20
And this is the crux. We are not to consider ourselves Gentiles any longer, because we are no longer foreigners and strangers to the covenant of promise which God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But we have also inherited that promise, that covenant, and that relationship, through the blood of Jesus Christ, along with those who are His among the descendants of Abraham in the flesh. We have been brought into the household of God and are also now His children (Joh 1:10-13).
The church does not replace the nation of Israel (do not make the mistake of some — God has not cast away His people, Rom 11:1-2)! Rather, the Gentiles have been grafted in among the nation of Israel by the blood of Christ Jesus (Rom 11:16-18), so that there is one faith and one people of God (Eph 4:4-6).
In these last days, Israel, who has always kept Torah (the written Word) is recognizing Messiah (the living expression of the written Word, Joh 1:1,14), even though He has been veiled to them according to prophecy until the proper time (Rom 11:25). And in these last days, Christians, who have always kept faith in Messiah (the living expression of the written Word) are recognizing Torah (the written Word), even though it has been veiled to them according to prophecy until the proper time.
For those who are interested in digging deeper into this topic, I highly recommend:
Who Is Israel? Redeemed Israel, A Primer by Batya Wootten
The Principle of the Seed by Brad Scott
Continued: do no work on the sabbath
Well, it all seems so silly now. How could anyone be a Christian and not be “Jewish?” How in the world did Christianity become so much of something it is not? For years now I have always wished I was Jewish–one of God’s chosen people. Silly me–I wished that because I love God, and I love Jesus–of course I longed to celebrate the things God celebrates, and obey the things God commands. But I have been raised in a Christian world that boldly tells me that OT feasts and commandments are not Christianity. But I knew better. Anyone who really knows Him, will eventually know better! If you are following Him, hearing Him, and obeying Him (not men), then this is how He will lead. I know it for sure!
Thank you for all your help and encouragement!
–Camilla
How would anyone say they are a follower of Christ, but not follow what He followed? Can you say, “I follow Christ, who is Jewish, and did Jewish things, and obeyed these things, but I am not a Jew, and will not do “Jewish things” or obey the same things Jesus did.” That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! I have prayed continually for more than ten years now that I would know God more and more, and that He would reveal Himself to me–praying that in order to love Him with all my soul and obey Him fully, I needed to KNOW Him more. But, how could I know Him if I discarded the whole essence and picture of Who He Is–through His days, His examples He gave to us, His beautiful laws, and His commandments? He reveals Himself in those very things–yet Christianity has literally discarded it all. Has no one ever asked themselves how David knew so much of Who God was? It was because He studied God’s law!
Who, then, are “Christians” worshiping and following, is what I would ask? What vanity and emptiness! And you can’t just cast away all the vanity and traditions of men in today’s mainstream Christianity and not figure out what should go in its place.
As I have kept my face turned towards Him, this is how He has led me–to embrace His law, and the fullness of it. To obey, and to know Him by doing all He commands. To read the NT for what it actually says–and not what “Christians” have told me it says. Without blogs, or books, or teachers. I know Whom I have believed! I know Who He Is.
It is a good question, How did Christianity come to disregard these things. The answer is tied in to biblical prophecy. God is the One who sovereignly created two witnesses in the earth, Jews, and Christians, because He obeys His own Torah. His Torah states, Let every fact be established by the testimony of two witnesses. He was establishing the fact in the earth, that He alone is God – something which every nation rejected at the Tower of Babel. He had one witness, one nation, — Israel — which proclaimed it. But to establish the fact, He needed two witnesses.
He Himself created two witnesses by establishing Judaism among the Jews and Christianity among the Gentiles. Each witness was entrusted with a treasure: the Jews with the written Word, Torah, and the Christians with the Living Word, faith in Messiah Yeshua. Each witness was sovereignly blinded to the treasure of the other. We know that the spiritual blindness was sovereign, because Paul discusses it in Rom 11.
That Christians are only now beginning to see what they once could not see, is also because of a sovereign act of God in fulfilling prophecy. Christians are not to be despised for not seeing what God Himself has blinded them to. The timing of His revelation is also in His hands.
I have so much to learn! But thank you for the answer!
Yes! Yes yes Christine!!
<3
I am a Baptist Minister of Music in SC. My wife and I came into Hebrew roots about 6 years ago and we now lead a Torah study every Shabbat. In preparing for today’s Torah portion Va’era, I counted 15 times where YHWH calls His people “children of Israel”. I was googling a graphic for my ppt on the phrase “children of Israel” and amongst all the pics, I saw your graphic with the question “Who are the children of Israel”. I knew the instrant I saw that that you were Messianic and clicked the picture and went to your website and read your article which I will use for my study today. Isn’t this amazing how the Father is drawing His people together and calling us back fro the four corners! Shabbat Shalom!
It is amazing! So pleased to meet you Dan, thank you for visiting and for leaving a note!
Good word all the way around Christine! I enjoyed the article ?
Thank you for visiting today and for your kind comments Bobby! Please do come back again. <3
Ahh and this was the plan all along…You summed it up beautifully. The Body is hidden among these two groups , protected, a mystery… and now it’s the time. Well written!
In these last days, Israel, who has always kept Torah (the written Word) is recognizing Messiah (the living expression of the written Word, Joh 1:1,14), even though He has been veiled to them according to prophecy until the proper time (Rom 11:25). And in these last days, Christians, who have always kept faith in Messiah (the living expression of the written Word) are recognizing Torah (the written Word), even though it has been veiled to them according to prophecy until the proper time.
Thank you for your kind words and for visiting today Kath. I do hope you return again! <3
Very good explanation! Thank you for sharing this. I find it also important to know the key to understanding Paul’s references to “the Circumcision” and “the Uncircumcision” are in the Hebrew idioms of his day. The Circumcision was referring, almost exclusively, to the native born Jews. And the Uncircumcision was the title given to the Gentiles, or those NOT born of native descent. The cultural teachers and archaeological studies that have dedicated their jobs to study and reveal the culture and context (which includes many idioms lost to us today) of the Bible, have unearthed so much valuable information to understanding the Word. As soon as I understood this particular idiom, it blew Paul’s writings wide open, yet again, for me. Always many more layers and deeper treasures Abba continues to reveal to those who seek His face!
Thank you so very much for visiting today and for sharing your valuable insight dear! Please do come back again – <3
I know this was written a long time ago but I just stumbled upon it. Great explanation. The thing I struggle with is the reference to Jews=Israel (and thus they still uphold commandments) and Christians=Gentiles who can be grafted in. Yes Jews are PART OF Israel and certainly not replaced; but what of the other 10 tribes scattered to the four corners who have forgotten who they are and have NOT kept the commands? They are still Israel. So I guess I’m wondering how that fits into prophecy or are those the other half of the two witnesses; except they’re still Israel? I think a huge part of the deception is convincing people they aren’t Israel. I think a huge part of that deception is interchangeably using the term Jew in place of Israel. Again, yes they are part of it, but just part and not the whole. So in my mind Israel has 3 parts: 1) Jews (Judah and Benjamin), 2) the other 10 tribes, 3) and those Gentiles grafted in. As such not all have been keeping the commands as our faithful brother Judah. I certainly wasn’t until my eyes were opened HalleluYAH. Thank you for all you do; I love reading what the Holy Spirit is revealing to you. Shalom!
Thank you for your kind comments Sara. Please do come back again.