God Loves Israel

God is just as much interested in Israel as He ever was.

Jesus Christ is just as much interested in Israel as He ever was.

Israelis are every bit as beloved for the fathers' sakes as ever they were. 

God is still interested in them individually. He's still interested in them ethnically. He's still interested in them nationally and politically. He's still interested in them having a homeland. He's still interested in their houses and in their economy. 

He's still interested in giving them the Kingdom of God.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ didn't diminish God's interest in Israel - it summarises God's interest in Israel.

The Gospel is the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham.

It's the fulfilment of the Law.

It's the fulfilment of the Prophets.

It's God's best program for Israelis. 

The Gospel is the best hope God has ever had for Israelis and it's the best hope He will ever offer them.

It can't get any better than this! The glorious Gospel.

The Gospel isn't Plan B.

There won't be a better plan to follow.

The Gospel is the prime. The zenith. The apex. 

It's the glory that excels.

Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Jesus is coming!

And God is no less interested in Gentiles than He is or ever was in Jews.

In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. 

He is just as much interested in one believer's welfare - in every sense, eternal and temporal - as He is interested in another's - without making a distinction. 

His plans don't and won't involve a return to shadows - a return to the Law - a return to ancient symbolic Jewish feasts.

God's promised plan was, and now is, and always shall be nothing other than Jesus Christ - for all.

Christ is all and in all. 

An Ordinance Forever Unto Israel?

"This shall be an ordinance forever unto Israel".

Have you heard people say that the above verse from the Law means Israel is still to keep certain feasts - such as the feast of Passover - literally forever - even in the New Covenant?

My thoughts:

For starters, it says, "...unto Israel" - not unto Gentile believers.

But more to the point: "an ordinance forever" didn't literally mean forever - it just meant, for as long as the [Old] Covenant was in place. The New Covenant made all things new.

Otherwise, if the term "an ordinance forever" to Israel literally mean forever, then all Jews today should still be required to keep not only the Passover, but also:

The feast of unleavened bread for seven days;

They should still offer sweet incense, the continual shewbread, and burnt offerings morning and evening;

They should still offer a blood-sacrifice on the Day of Atonement on the seventh month every year;

The Levitical priesthood with all its garments should still be in use;

The nation of Israel should still have a High Priest and priests;

They should still be complying with ceremonial washings in the tabernacle;

The priests should still blow trumpets every time Israel goes to war;

Jews should engage in special washing ceremonies and sacrifices after every visit to a grave; and

Candles should still be lighting-up the court on the other side of the curtain in the tabernacle, because ALL THOSE THINGS WERE INCLUDED AMONG THE THINGS WHICH THE LAW SAID WERE TO BE "AN ORDINANCE FOREVER UNTO ISRAEL".

So if one of those things was meant to be an ordinance unto Israel literally forever, then all of them should be!

But we know that's not the case - because the New Testament Epistles are quite clear that all those things were only shadows and that the observance of them passed away when the New Covenant in Jesus' blood began.

So if some of them are not meant to be an ordinance literally forever, then none of them are meant to be.

Christ fulfills all of them - and so do we, in Him - by grace through faith in Christ.

That's why, in the council at Jerusalem, the Apostles and elders - and the Holy Ghost - decided to put no such burden on the churches.

Therefore it was never God's intention that Jews continue to observe the Passover, and the other feasts, and the sabbaths even long after the New Covenant. They are free from that obligation.

This truth could set millions of Jews free, and could also set many mistaken believers free.

Nevertheless we who are strong in faith (strong in our confidence about the New Covenant's scope) and who therefore feel free from obligation to observe special feasts, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves (we ought to bear the infirmities of those whose conscience is weaker in their confidence in the New Covenant's scope) and who therefore feel obligated in their conscience to observe special days.