“The person who fails to learn from history is destined to repeat it.”
This thought or phrase is thought to have originated from the writer-philosopher George Santayana. However, this is the exact warning given to the church by Paul regarding the failures and consequences of Israel’s story:
“Now, these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them…These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us…” 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11
Other writers have said similar things,
“We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” EG White
“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” – Winston Churchill
As I write these, there is rebellion in the land and the unlearned are destroying American history. History is a teacher. They are killing the teacher and attempting to purge the land of the mistakes this country has made. But, they don’t understand if the mind were to be wiped clean of all the bad history, we would be destined to repeat it.
The Bible student or local church who seeks God and His will must look at the story of Israel’s faults to become more Biblically grounded in Christ so that the same mistakes are not by Christ’s church.
Despite the mistakes and failures of Israel, God was long-suffering towards them. He desired them to listen and obey, but they chose to trust in their own heritage, traditions, and lusts. In our study next time, we will see that God gave them a period of time to repent, but they did not. For now, let’s look at a few warnings from the New Testament delivered by Jesus to religious leaders in a parable and then from a couple of short sermons by Peter and Paul.
Jesus’ Instructions to the Disciples
Jesus said something that is confusing until it is understood in the light of a prophecy in Daniel. We will study that next time. Jesus told his Apostles:
“These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.”But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ” Matthew 10: 5, 6
Why would Jesus tell the Apostles to NOT go to the Gentiles? Here is another similar statement by Jesus as recorded later in Mathew:
But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15: 24
If you continue to read the story in Matthew 15, you see that a woman from Cannan (Gentile) who was pleading with Jesus to cast a demon that was in her daughter. Jesus said something to her that would be considered racist or at least disrespectful in today’s sensitive world:
“It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” V. 26
The woman was very cleaver in her answer:
“Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” V. 27
Jesus eventually complimented her on her faith and healed her daughter. Even though Jesus had a priority i.e. the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he did not neglect those in need regardless of their nationality, race, or otherwise. God is no respecter of persons as Peter stated after learning through a vision that God does not call the Gentile unclean those whom he has cleaned:
God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean…Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: Acts 10:28, 34
Jesus’ Teaching on Israel
To the Religious leaders, Jesus was much more firm. They had no cleaver answer nor did they understand the mission of Jesus. But he sent a strong message that the end for them was in sight and the mission of God would be turned over to the Gentiles. Let’s look at the proof of that from a parable Jesus delivered to them. It is found in Matthew 22: 1-14
You can read the entire parable, but here is a summary:
1.) The King (God the Father) arranges a marriage for His son (Jesus). Jesus is often referred to as the bridegroom and the church is His bride. (See Isaiah 61:10, Matthew 9:15, Matthew 25:1, Rev. 21:2
2.) Those who were supposed to be His friends and close to Him were invited by His servants (The prophets). They either ignored the invitation and went back to work (V. 4, 5) or they killed the servants (The prophets)
3.) The King was furious and sent His armies to burn and destroy the “murderers” and “burn up their city” (V. 7)
4.) God counted those who were invited as “not worthy” “The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.” (V. 8)
5.) At this point, The King (God the Father) tells the servants (Prophets) to invite all those who were not invited, “both good and bad.” They gladly came and “filled the wedding hall.” (V. 10)
It is clear from this parable and the two preceding it in Chapter 21 (Parable of the Two Sons and the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers) that…
“the kingdom of God will be taken from you (Israel) and given to a nation (Gentiles) bearing the fruits of it.” Matthew 21: 43
Again, the King in the Parable of the Wedding Feast said,
“…those who were invited were not worthy.” Matt 22: 8,
This became to theme of Paul and Barnabas when Paul said the same message of unworthiness in Acts 13: 46:
“It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.“
What makes the difference between the people of promise (Israel) and the Gentiles? It is one thing alone. It is not different promises or covenants, it is Jesus:
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29
Did you catch that? If we belong to Christ and have a saving relationship with him through faith resulting in obedience, all the promises given to Abraham belong to you. That would mean the literal nation of Israel does not receive the promises since they rejected their Messiah as a nation. But as shown in the parable of the Two Sons (Matthew 21). Repentance is necessary for an individual Jewish person just like it is for anyone else. The leaders, on the whole, didn’t like the story of a sacrificial Savior and rewrote the story according to how they wanted it to end.
Does the modern church do the same thing as Israel when they hold to traditions and how they would prefer the story to end?
Paul goes on to tell us this truth:
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. Romans 2:28, 29
Does the Christian church signify they belong to Christ? What is that signification? Is it a lot of words, beautiful music, seminars, and endless rounds of ceremonies? How do we become lights to the world?
The Jews had turned to righteousness by works. They sought to make themselves acceptable to God by their works. This was never the desire of God. He desired works to come from righteousness by faith in Jesus and by a changed heart of trust rather than righteousness by their own efforts.
Paul and Peter’s Sermons
Both Peter and Paul began to understand that the gospel burden would go from a nation that rejected the Son of the King (Israel) and then go to a people appreciative of the history of Israel who understood that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
In a vision given to Peter, he exclaimed the meaning of the vision of the sheet of unclean animals in these words:
Then he said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean Acts 10:28
Peter was breaking from tradition and accepting all who would come into the fold of God’s people..
The separation between Israel and “another nation” was meant originally to keep the relationship between Israel and God healthy, safe. and a light to the world (See Isaiah 61). They were to be the teachers and priests of God. God’s desire was to bring every nation to an understanding of the true God through Israel who was led by God Himself. The sanctuary and the sacrificial systems were their training ground for understanding sin and its forgiveness by the “lamb of God which takes away the sin of the word.” John 1:20. The sanctuary covered it all, including the ministry of Jesus in heaven for us now…even the day of judgment and the end of sin.
But one day, God would do something that should have provoked Israel to jealousy (Romans 10:19). Instead, it made them more stiff-necked.
Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ Hosea 2:23
God’s people would be the people of other nations. Paul picked up on this when he quoted from Hosea:
As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” Romans 9:25
This brings us to the sermon of Paul in Acts 13:. This will help us understand why Jesus told the Apostles to not go to other nations, but to “the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Matt 10:6 and Matt 15:14:”
Paul’s Sermon-Israel’s Unworthiness
Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch in Pisidia. This was a gentile city and the home of a gentile Christian church, but there was also a Jewish Synagogue. Paul and Barnabas go in and sit down. But after the reading of the Prophets and the Law (a tradition of the Jews. V.27), they were invited to talk.
Paul directs his sermon to “Men of Israel, and you who fear God.” There were two groups there: Jews and Gentile believers. He then begins to review the history of God’s people Israel:
The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. V. 17
Here he signifies that the nation of Israel was favored and their fathers were “chosen and exalted when God performed miracles to keep His promise to rescue them out of Egypt after 450 years of slavery. He talks about their 40 years in the wilderness and the destruction of seven nations in Cannan in order to give the land He had promised hundreds of years earlier.
Next he goes through some of the highlights of their history:
1.) The appointment of a King at their request through a reluctant Samuel
2.) From the seed of David, “according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus V. 23. Notice that the Savior was “for Israel.”
3.) Next Paul moves quickly to John the Baptist who preached “the baptism of repentance TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
4.) Then Paul ties Jesus into the Prophets and the law and particularly things they thought referred to their highly honored King David. Example:
Therefore He also says in another Psalm: ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.’ “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; V. 35, 36
Paul quotes this to show that Jesus was resurrected, David was not.
5.) Paul warns that what is written in the prophets may come upon them
Next the “Jews went out of the synagogue.” V. 42. Then “the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Also V. 42
An interesting point here. This was in the year 48 AD or about 18 years after the ascension of Jesus. If the disciples of Jesus were meeting on the first day of the week (aka Sunday), Paul had the perfect opportunity to to preach to the Gentiles the next day. But he didn’t. The reason? The day to remember in the 4th Commandment had not been forgotten or changed. It is not a Jewish commandment, but a commandment for everyone that has been changed by tradition and force alone. Sunday observance would not start until about 300 years later when there was a combining of pagan and Christian practices. Another topic for another time.
What happens next leads us into the topic next time. Here are the exact words:
On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us:
‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles,
That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” Acts 13: 44-47
Almost the exact wording of Jesus parable about the Wedding Feast. The nation of Israel on the whole “counted themselves unworthy… “since they rejected the word of God.” Consequently, the gospel burden and to be a light to the world passed to the Gentiles who became the heir of the promises to Israel.
Their opportunity to repent as a nation and to embrace the promised Messiah had come and ended. Did you know there is a time-line prophecy predicting these things including the coming of Jesus, his crucifixion, and His directions to “go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” which they did until Paul’s sermon above?
Is Christ’s bride making the same mistakes as Israel prompted by disobedience and writing a story of how they want it to be rather that how it will be. We will see next time. Blessings as you consider these things.