A Practical Guide to the Logic, Philosophy and Thoughts of Christianity

Section 2 - Article 9

Article 9 - The place for the Jews

Despite the Holy Scripture being very clear on the place of the Jews for eternity, many Christians believe that the time of the Jews was over when they rejected Christ. However, God is the same forever, and this article aims to demonstrate that the Jews today still hold a place in God's plans.

There are those who believe in Replacement theology, which is that Christians are the "new Jews" of the New Testament. And the reason for this belief is that they have rejected Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, but in that statement itself, it is almost irrefutable that the term Messiah belongs to the Jewish tradition. Neither the Chinese nor Hindu religions speak of a savior. In fact, very few old pagan beliefs or cultures in the world had a messiah-like figure prior to Christianity.

The book of Romans basically addressed the Jews' unbelief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. In the Old Testament's book of Jeremiah, God had clearly declared that unless the height of the sky can be fathomed, His covenant with Israel holds. In the book of Revelation, 144,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel will do God's work. Yes, some of the tribes of Israel are unaccounted for and assumed to be wiped out during the countless invasions of Israel as recorded in the Old Testament. Yet if the Book of Revelation makes references to them, they must exist, and who knows, just for the sake of pointing out how much we do not know, some of the ethnic groups of China or India may be one of the tribes, and they are the most numerous at this time.

Of course, Christians are adopted into the Jews under the New Covenant just like Jesus is considered to be under the spiritual lineage of the priest-king Melchizedek that Abraham paid tribute to (see explanation in book of Hebrews), despite physically being in the lineage of David.

The ridiculous criticism that "Jews killed Jesus" is ridiculous and does not hold water. Jesus is a Jew Himself. So the ethnic identity is equalized in a mathematical equation (xy = xz is the same as y = z)! He followed Jewish tradition, He was circumcised, and He did everything in the Jewish tradition in His youth. He went to the Synagogue, and when He was angry with the people who turned the Temple into a market place, He called the Temple His 'Father's house'. He also quoted Old Testament scripture back to the Pharisees and Sadducees during debates, referring to them as scriptures. His disciples knew the law of the Moses well, He Himself said He came to fulfill the Law, not destroy it. And the whole New Testament was riddled with proofs that He was a Jew as much as He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, it is not Him against the Jews by any definition. There is no justification for any anti-Semitism simply because every ethnic group or religious group have killed their own people at some point in time, and the Jews killing Jesus is the same as the Jews killing a Jewish man.

And are the Jews still chosen? Yes, why not? They are still chosen, and the Gentiles can enjoy the same blessing under the New Covenant. We are the "dogs that eat the crumbs that fall off the table" that Jesus described in His test to the mother. But according to the book of Ephesians, we are chosen before we are born. And any deep displeasure at being considered a gentile is an ego issue of being considered as another group. For under the new covenant of Christ, you are chosen before we are born. Who knows, if your ethnicity happens to be one of the missing tribes of Israel. Would it not be glorious to be a son of Abraham, the friend of God?

Yes, God is "respecter of no persons". Ethnicity does not matter, but here I am not saying that God respects the tribes of Israel more. Surely even during the Old Testament time, God was also with the Gentiles for without God, they would all have been decimated, and the great inventions of the world during those times would not happen. Melchizedek was no child of Abraham, but he was a priest king loyal to the same Lord God. Yet from all available options, God made a promise with Abraham, and Israel was chosen to have the Messiah born under that lineage, based on the faithfulness of the Patriarchs. God is not practicing favoritism, but being just and rewarding the Patriarchs for their faith while the rest of the world did not. This thus resulted in the distinction of Jew and Gentile. Under the New Testament, the rewards for the believers have come, each based on their faithfulness and nothing else. Therefore 'God is no respecter of persons' is true, and applies to all believers together in the eyes of God.

Even so, the Jewish people are in an advantageous position to be saved according to the Christian tradition. They have the scriptures that point to the New Testament and the Messiah Jesus. It is easy for any Old Testament scholar to be convinced when they read the New Testament that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. The book of Matthew clearly traces the lineage of Christ to demonstrate that He is the son of David. A quick search on the internet can easily produce a list to how many Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament were fulfilled in the New Testament accounts of Jesus. Many pastors preach from the book of Isaiah (which is Old Testament) during Christmas to remind the congregation of the first coming of Jesus Christ. So even without conscious knowledge, the sermons and Christmas messages were targeted to people who have a strong knowledge of the Old Testament - the Jews.

Devout Jews who are familiar with their scriptures can make the link of Messiah to Jesus relatively easily. If every religion is on the same search for a Messiah, the Jewish scriptures points clearly to Jesus being the Messiah. This is a very privileged status. In addition, the formation of the nation of Israel in 1948 was considered a miraculous fulfillment of Revelation. If God's words to Israel last forever (and they do), and the scriptures have recorded it down correctly, I will take the "I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you" very seriously.