Gentiles | Missing Pieces

This is the eighth article in the “New Life” series written to address the needs of those seeking or those new to their faith in Jesus. This series may also be helpful to anyone who suspects that something is missing from their faith walk.

After His death and resurrection, Jesus gave His followers final instructions. He was about to ascend to Heaven to take His place on the throne next to His Father. It was time for His followers to take over what He started and expand the population of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The apostles (sent ones) were to continue His work of sharing the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven with the rest of the world. Once they received power from the Holy Spirit, they were ready to begin their assignments from the Father.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:16-20).

“And now I will send the Holy Spirit upon you, just as my Father promised. Don’t begin telling others yet—stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven” (Luke 24:49).

Jesus’ followers went out into the world to spread the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven. Both Jews and Gentiles believed and joined them. Jesus did not come to start a new religion as has been erroneously taught. Jesus came to expand the Kingdom of Heaven to those outside Israel. The Gentiles were to be “grafted in” to what already existed.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).

For Christ himself is our way of peace. He has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one family, breaking down the wall of contempt that used to separate us. By his death he ended the angry resentment between us, caused by the Jewish laws that favored the Jews and excluded the Gentiles, for he died to annul that whole system of Jewish laws. Then he took the two groups that had been opposed to each other and made them parts of himself; thus he fused us together to become one new person, and at last there was peace (Ephesians 2:14-15 TLB (Living Bible).

Although they all now believed in Jesus, the Jews and the Gentiles came from very different backgrounds. This led to many arguments, jealousies, and misunderstandings among them. They were still struggling to yield to the Holy Spirit and be directed by Him. The Holy Spirit unifies people and would have cleared up all the misunderstandings had they yielded to Him. The followers had not yet learned to forgive and reconcile their differences. Instead, they nursed their jealousies and resentments. Finally, there was a split between the two groups. The Gentiles held a council (Council of Nicea convened by Constantine) and decided to break away from the Jewish believers and anything they considered to be Jewish.

Since the Gentile leaders took away the Appointed Times (Leviticus 23) that God had commanded, they had to produce replacements for worship. The Gentiles were accustomed to worshipping and serving many pagan gods. They were used to pagan rituals. When the Gentile followers broke away from the Jewish followers, they replaced God’s ways with pagan rituals. This has led to the misunderstandings and heresies that prevail even today. I will go into more detail about the lies we have inherited in future articles, since this is a complicated and often misunderstood topic.

O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit (Jeremiah 16:19).

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is God’s powerful method of bringing all who believe it to heaven. This message was preached first to the Jews alone, but now everyone is invited to come to God in this same way. This Good News tells us that God makes us ready for heaven—makes us right in God’s sight—when we put our faith and trust in Christ to save us. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scripture says it, “The man who finds life will find it through trusting God” (Romans 1:16-17).

He will give eternal life to those who patiently do the will of God, seeking for the unseen glory and honor and eternal life that he offers. But he will terribly punish those who fight against the truth of God and walk in evil ways—God’s anger will be poured out upon them.There will be sorrow and suffering for Jews and Gentiles alike who keep on sinning. But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who obey him, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. For God treats everyone the same (Romans 2:7-11).

The lies, misconceptions, and heresies have continued for about 2000 years. Now that we are growing closer to the time of Jesus’ return to earth as King of Kings, the Holy Spirit is waking people up and showing them the truth. Followers of Jesus are now learning their true past, their true origins in the faith. We are now, more than ever, able to discern the true will of our Father. We are learning to worship and serve Him as He desires.

In our recent blog series, Nancy and I made a strong case from the Scriptures that Torah (instruction) has not been done away, but is still just as valid in today’s world as it was in the Temple sacrifice period before Yeshua’s first coming. In this week’s blog, I would like to focus on to whom YHVH’s Torah applies, and explain why Torah is intended for every person on this Earth, Jew and non-Jew.

In Romans 9, Sha’ul explains to his mostly non-Jewish audience why some of the Israelites are not being saved and brought into God’s Kingdom, while many people who are not Israelites by birth are being redeemed and brought into the body of Messiah by faith. “Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, ‘Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted, though Abraham had other children, too’. This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children”. (Rom 9:6-8)

In the rest of this passage, Sha’ul goes on in Verse 23 to say that God shows mercy to those to whom He desires to show mercy (i.e. He draws them to the truth of Yeshua as the Messiah) and hardens the hearts of others so that they will not listen to the truth. He then quotes from Hosea, speaking of how the Gentiles (non-Jews from the nations) were “not a people” but now YHVH loves them and calls them His children. In Verse 24, Sha’ul says that the ones God selects as His children are taken from both the original descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as those who are “gentiles” (not descended biologically from the fathers of Israel). He also quotes Isaiah 10:22-23 in saying that only a remnant of Israel will be saved: “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved”.

Since we have established in our previous blogs that the Torah is for all of Abba Father’s children to observe, then the agreement between Old and New Testament Scriptures becomes crystal clear. Sha’ul quotes Isaiah once again in Romans 10:20 in making his point that the Gentiles will be drawn to YHVH, the true God of Creation, and become part of the “Commonwealth of Israel”: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me” (Isa 65:1). And again in Romans 10:21 he repeats that many of Israel’s genetic descendants will turn away from YHVH and reject His Messiah: “All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people” (Isa 65:2).

The real clincher for me in terms of making the case that YHVH wants to draw all people into His covenant is in Isaiah 56:6-7: “Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant—even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations”. YHVH is clearly speaking of the non-Israelite (Gentile) people of the nations whom He will accept as part of His family, no less His children than the native Israelites. In the preceding verse (Isa 56:5), YHVH also says: ”Even to them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off“.

In summary, it is clear that YHVH accepts all of His created humans as His children, whether they are genetic descendants of Israel or foreigners from pagan nations, as long as they keep His Sabbaths and are faithful to His covenant. This is essentially a restatement of the Torah, as these are YHVH’s key instructions to His people: to keep His Sabbaths (which include His feasts) and live by his Kingdom laws. It all boils down to Yeshua’s words from Matthew 6:33, to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness – this is the essence of His Torah, where He teaches us how to do this – how can we do any less if we truly love Yehovah our Creator, Lord and Redeemer? In the nest installment of this 2-part series, I will cover the “Jeans” part of the “Genes or Jeans” equation.