part 7 - the prophecies of the Kingdom: Jews &
Gentiles united in peace
Over the past few
weeks we have been investigating the OT prophecies that foretold the coming
Kingdom, which would essentially be a restored, renewed, regenerated, resurrected, Israel
under God and yet also under a descendent of David, namely under Jesus.
Last week we camped
out in the latter part of Ezekiel 37 where we saw that
the Kingdom would be a reunited Kingdom; the northern kingdom of Israel and
southern kingdom Judah would be reunited under David – Jesus. This would be a unification of two hostile
groups. Then we looked at the NT and saw
that this unification of the south and north, the Jews and Samaritans occurred
in the first century in the events described in Acts 1-8.
Note the nature of
this reunification. Note that it wasn’t
the entire nation of Samaria and Judea that were reunited. This wasn’t a literal and national
reunification with EVERY SINGLE SAMARITAN AND JEW being gathered into a
geopolitical kingdom, but only the elect, the believers that were gathered into
a reunited Kingdom, gathered not into a geographical territory in an earthly
kingdom, but gathered spiritually into a heavenly kingdom. God sent his
messengers (angelos, namely the apostles to gather the elect). The gathering of the elect into the kingdom
was occurring in the first century in Christ.
This
morning we will find that not only would this kingdom be a kingdom made up of
Jews (the southern kingdom), and Samaritans (the Northern kingdom), BUT it will
also include those from the nations, (the Gentiles). Now if you thought there
was hostility and division between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel
(Jews and Samaritans) take that and multiply it and you have the hostility and
division between the Jews and Gentiles.
At least the northern kingdom was from the nation of Israel. They may have departed some from the religion
of the Jews, but they at least still had Torah, and circumcision, they were at
least descendents of Israel himself. Not
the nations, not the Gentiles. They had
no such thing. They were afar off, not
even close to God and his covenant community.
So this
morning as we look at the fact that the Kingdom will be inclusive of Gentiles
consider what a drastic move this would be; consider what a paradigm shift this
would necessitate for God’s people Israel who had always been defined by race
and Law. The removal of those barriers
to include the nations in the Kingdom would make this Kingdom radically
different from the kingdom of Old.
The main
point of this morning is the kingdom will include the nations, the
gentiles. The kingdom will be
characterized by Jews and Gentiles united in peace. If you go home with nothing else, get that. But this idea didn’t come out of nowhere. As everything else we have looked at, this
inclusion of the Nations in the Kingdom was foretold in the prophets, Israel’s syllabus
for the course. We have been looking
at these prophecies as a syllabus. This
morning we will continue to do that. Turn
with me in your Bibles to Isaiah 9.
Recall our
principles of interpretation for sound biblical hermeneutics. Consider Isaiah. Genre. When looking at the prophets, the
language is often cryptic, metaphoric, even apocalyptic. We have seen some of this metaphoric language
already. Jeremiah called the descendant of
David a righteous Branch. We know that
Jesus isn’t literally a branch – that was a metaphor – one that we could easily
discern.
Ezekiel was given a vision of dry bones coming to life
and receiving the spirit of God. While
this is highly symbolic and metaphoric, we had a key with which to interpret
this metaphor in the text. God told
Ezekiel that the dry bones represented Israel in her state of exile and that
coming to life would be manifest in a gathering of the elect in the Land, being
restored to God’s presence – life. Then
Ezekiel acted out a prophecy by joining two sticks. We were told in the text that the sticks
represented the northern and southern kingdom.
So far, we have been given the tools in the text to discern the
metaphors and what they symbolize.
Isaiah is HIGHLY
metaphoric and unlike what we have seen in Ezekiel so far, Isaiah rarely
interprets these metaphors. Thus, we
must interpret these metaphors through the lenses of NT texts that reference
them or other texts that are more clear.
That’s why we are starting with Isaiah 9, which is fairly clear. It will give us a framework for interpreting
the metaphors in Isaiah 11.
Isaiah 9:6-7 6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty god, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his
government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding
it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will
accomplish this.
This passage is
clearly kingdom material, part of God’s
syllabus. We have a
child born (Jesus) who will bear the government on his shoulders. What kind of government? An everlasting kingdom and he will be king
reigning on David’s throne. Note that he
will be called Mighty God and Everlasting Father. So we have a reiteration of what we have
already seen in Jer 33, the righteous branch
from David aka Jehovah. Here in
different terms: a human (son born)
called mighty God, reigning on David’s throne. A human descendant of David and also God –
unmistakably Jesus. Note the
characteristics of his reign: Peace,
righteousness, justice.
So clearly, from this
text, we have a basic framework that will help us interpret the less clear
metaphoric text in chapter 11. This
kingdom run by Jesus will be one of justice and righteousness and peace.
Turn with me now to Isaiah 11 two chapters away and
part of the same prophecy – as you will see containing the same elements, but
in much more metaphorical terms.
Is 11:1ff 11 A shoot will come up from the
stump of
Jesse; from
his roots a Branch will bear fruit. (Who is Jesse?
Matt 1:6 – Jesse was the father of King David. From the stump of Jesse – going with this
tree metaphor, a branch will bear fruit.
So again, we are talking here about a branch from the line of David,
which we have identified as Jesus. Thus,
this shoot coming up from the stump of Jesse, the branch that will bear fruit is
Jesus) 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit
of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of
counsel (he will be called wonderful counselor) and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord— 3 and
he will delight in the fear of the Lord. We can see how all of that accurately describes Jesus. He will not judge by
what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
This branch from the stump of Jesse will render judgments,
but his judgments will not be by visual sight and audible sound. Typical earthly judges may be deceived by
what they see and hear – the Pharisees looked great on the outside and sounded
great but weren’t really great on the inside.
Jesus made judgments of the heart, true judgments in justice and
righteousness.
He will strike the earth (land) with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry
we saw him slaying the wicked with his words.
(John 2) Get
these out of here…you are sons of the Devil – John 8. Woe to you hypocrites (Matt 23). etc.
He struck the earth/land with the rod of his mouth and slew the wicked
with the breath of his lips. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. Again, his reign characterized by righteousness.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and
the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them. It may be tempting to employ a schizophrenic
hermeneutic and change our interpretive methods altogether and make this next
section strictly literal. Many today assume that the kingdom will literally look like this: JEHOVAH
WITNESS TRACT!
Is that accurate?
Should Isaiah 11 be read literally?
LET’S JUST GO LITERAL! Let’s go varsity
with this literal hermeneutic. First I
want to introduce our guest of honor don’t be shy! Israel, behold, your king: branch. Can’t be!
Text says it will be a son born who will bear the government on his
shoulders, so it will not be a branch, but a man – a man who will have a rod
literally hanging out of his mouth. Be
careful, lest you be struck with the rod sticking out. Also, don’t get too close because his breath is
kickin! Serious case of halitosis. His breath will be so bad it will literally
kill people, they will just fall over dead.
And don’t remove his sash or his belt because his
righteousness lies therein. It’s like
Iron Man. Oh, he’s a superhero in the
suit, but take off the suit and it’s just Tony Stark. Remove the belt of Jesus and he will be just
as wicked as most all the other kings of Israel.
IS THIS PASSAGE LITERAL??? NO! Vv
1-5 aren’t literal and neither are 6-9! Let’s
let Isaiah do what he do not force him to do what we want him to. Recall our 3-fold framework: justice,
righteousness, and peace. Vv 1-5
conveyed righteousness and justice using metaphor. What remains?
Peace. I believe verse 6-9
with these unlikely animal interactions is METAPHOR that conveys peace, especially peace between groups normally characterized by
hostility, NAMELY JEW AND GENTILE.
If you thought there was animosity or hostility
between Jew and Samaritan, consider Jew and Gentile. At least the Samaritans descended from Israel
and were a part of the 10 northern tribes of Israel. But the Gentiles were excluded from citizenship in Israel, foreigners
to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world;
they were the uncircumcised.
Look at the verse again: 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and
the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them. Understanding these animals as metaphors for people JEWS AND GENTILES is
rooted in Israel’s food laws in the OC which set them apart from the
nations. The Law defined foods as being
either clean or unclean. There’s this
whole food chain thing which means: You are what
you eat. Eat clean, you are
clean. Eat unclean you are unclean.
Israel was set apart as
God’s people and were to be clean, eating only clean foods, while the
nations/Gentiles ate unclean animals and were unclean. In Leviticus 11 God details for Israel which
animals are clean and which animals are unclean.
Take a guess what kind of
animals are lying together in Isaiah 11?
Clean and unclean. Wolf, leopard
and lions are unclean. Lamb, goat, and
calf are clean. Since
you are what you eat, I believe what we have here is a representation of
Jew (clean) and Gentile (unclean) dwelling together
peacefully in the kingdom.
Isaiah 11 contains animals that are clearly clean and
clearly unclean. Not only do we have
clean and unclean but the varsity squad.
We have the cleanest of the clean and the super unclean.
Among the clean animals,
there were only a few animals that were acceptable as an offering to God. I’ll let you try to guess 3 of them. The 3 in our text.
Leviticus 22:27 “When a calf,
a lamb or a goat is born, it is to remain with its
mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an
offering made to the LORD by fire.
No coincidence here that we have the 3 clean animals from Isaiah 11. These 3 were not only clean
to eat – kosher, these were the cleanest of the clean, they were the “set apart
of the set apart.” These 3 were set
apart unto God for sacrifice and offering.
And Isaiah 11 has them lying
down not with just any unclean but the super unclean predatory animals, which
might eat something diseased that will travel up the food chain. The predatory animals are the super unclean.
Lev 11:27 Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for
you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening.
The 3 unclean animals in
Isaiah 11 are clearly unclean. No
question about their uncleanness, as they were predatory animals wolf, leopard,
and lion walk on
all fours on their paws.
So in Isaiah 11 we have not only
clean and unclean, but cleanest of clean – those set apart as offering to God
and the most unclean – the predators – those extremely violent and hostile.
Those clean animals set
apart as an offering to God I believe represent Israel while the devouring
predators represent the nations. Let’s
compare scripture with Scripture to see how the bible elsewhere clearly uses
these predator animals as a metaphor for the nations/Gentiles.
In Jer 5 Jeremiah condemns God’s
people for their sins and telling them that God is bringing Babylon to destroy
them. Look at the metaphor Jeremiah uses
for this enemy gentile who comes to devour God’s people:
Jer 5:6 6 Therefore a lion from the
forest will attack them, a wolf
from the desert will ravage them, a
leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to
pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings
many.
The gentile nation that
would devour God’s people is called a wolf, a leopard, and a lion – any
coincidence that it’s the same 3 unclean predatory animals listed in Isaiah 11. The hostile gentiles are called a wolf,
leopard, and lion.
So if we set aside the
presupposition that Isaiah 11:6-9 must be literal and let Isaiah
do what he do and use metaphor to depict righteousness, justice, and now peace,
we can see that these clean and unclean lying down together in peace is
metaphor for Jews and Gentiles dwelling together in peace.
The Kingdom is
characterized by peace between otherwise hostile groups. Peace between Jew and Gentile. No longer division, distinction and
hostility, but unity and peace under one King Jesus.
In the Kingdom, there will no longer be an ethnic,
racial, blood distinction between them – they will be one new man in Christ.
7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down
together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Again, more of the same: cow and ox – animals
offered unto God (representing Jews); bear and lion, predatory animals
representing gentiles. Peace between these two otherwise hostile groups.
8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and
the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm
nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Cobra, viper, convey serpent. From the beginning the serpent represented
that which attempted to thwart God and poisoned his people, recall the garden and
the enmity sown between the seed of the woman and the serpent. In the NT we see the seeds of the serpent
identified. JTB called the religious
leaders of Israel a brood of vipers who did harm to and destroyed God’s
people.
In the kingdom foretold in Isaiah 11, this destruction
and poisoning of God’s people would stop as God would bring judgment upon
them. With the breath of his lips Jesus
slew them explaining that they would be condemned to gehenna, burned in the fire.
V9 They will neither harm nor destroy on
God’s holy mountain. Where is God’s holy mountain? Mt Zion, where his sanctuary lies. Where is the sanctuary placed forever? The Mt. Zion of the Kingdom is not a plot of
ground in Palestine but a heavenly spiritual place. Since we are the temple, we are on God’s holy
mountain where God’s people made up of Jews and
Gentiles dwell in peace together.
I believe these animal verses are to be interpreted
with the same hermeneutic as the preceding verses. Metaphor.
And that metaphor is clarified further in the following verses.
KEY VERSE: 10 In that day (in what day? in the day when the wolf lies down with the
Lamb) the Root of Jesse (David – Jesse is father
of David, JESUS) will stand as a banner for the
peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be
glorious. This word nations comes
from the Hebrew goyem and corresponds to the Greek testament ethnos. It literally means nations and conveys the
idea of those nations outside of Israel.
In the NT, (due to our translations) we usually use the term Gentiles,
though this is actually latin, not Greek or Hebrew. So I will be using the term nations and
gentiles interchangeably. So in the days of the kingdom, Jesus will stand as a
banner that will call the nations/gentiles into the Kingdom.
Conveniently, those who force a literal interpretation
of the animals don’t force a literal interpretation of the banner. They don’t insist that Jesus is literally a
banner. They understand that he will
function as a banner, serving as a representation of the Kingdom over which he
reigns, much like we display our NCF banner so that outsiders will see and come
and join us.
11
In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the
remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper
Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from
Hamath and from the islands of the sea. I believe this indicates that the first time he reclaimed a remnant it
was a physical gathering which served as a type. I believe this second time is the spiritual
gathering into Christ – into the Kingdom.
12 He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles
of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four
quarters of the earth. Again
with the gathering. We have spent a lot
of time on this gathering of God’s people and here you can see that the
inclusion of Gentiles in the Kingdom goes hand in hand with the gathering of
Israel back into the land. When the
gathering of the elect occurs, God will gather not only Israelites, but also
those of the Gentile nations into one kingdom under one king, the descendant of
David.
Just as we have done in the
past few weeks, we now turn to the NT as a
transcript to watch God follow the syllabus. Turn with me to Acts 10.
Acts 1:8
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ENDS OF THE EARTH nations gentiles
Looked at Acts 1-8 as Judea
and Samaria reunited north and south, but didn’t look at the extension to the
ends of the earth – the nations. That’s
where we pick up in Acts.
Acts 10:1ff
1
At Caesarea there was
a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and
all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day
at about three in the afternoon he had a
vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius
stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.
The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up
as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send
men to Joppa to bring
back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is
staying with Simon the tanner, whose
house is by the sea.”
7 When the
angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a
devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told
them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
9 About
noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city,
Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became
hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he
fell into a trance. 11 He saw
heaven opened and
something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It
contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth
and birds of the air. 13 Then a
voice told him, “Get up,
Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely
not, Lord!” Peter
replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice
spoke to him a second time, “Do not
call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This
happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
17 While
Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called
out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
19 While
Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him,
“Simon, three[a] men are looking for you. 20 So get up
and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
21 Peter
went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you
come?”
22 The men
replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and
God-fearing man, who is
respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to
his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then
Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along. 24 The
following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives
and close friends. 25 As Peter
entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter
made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”
27 Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of
people. 28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for
a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not
call any man impure or unclean.
UM…wait a
minute. When did God show Peter that he
shouldn’t call any MAN impure or unclean? He showed him unclean ANIMALS! In the
vision of the unclean animals. Peter pondered
the vision and then connected the dots when God said go with the gentile men since I sent them. He understands God’s vision of unclean animals
to represent Gentiles.
If Peter
is okay with unclean animals being a metaphor to represent Gentiles, shouldn’t
we be okay with that in Isaiah 11? Shouldn’t
we then recognize Isaiah’s prophecy for what it is? Peter is essentially affirming our
interpretation of the animals in Isaiah 11 as representing Jews and Gentiles.
Peter
interprets God’s vision as saying there is no longer a distinction between Jew
and Gentile as clean and unclean. All
those washed by the blood of Jesus and sprinkled by Him and renewed by the Holy
Spirit’s regenerating work are clean regardless of race, whether Jew or
Gentile. In the Kingdom, that which was
formerly called unclean lies down together with the clean. There is peace
between these 2 otherwise hostile groups who are united together under King
Jesus.
Skip down to verse 34 34 Then
Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show
favoritism 35 but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is
right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling
the good news of
peace through
Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in
Galilee after the baptism that John preached—38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and
power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil,
because God was with him.
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.41 He was not seen by all
the people, but by witnesses whom God had already
chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the
dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the
living and the dead. 43 All the prophets
testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Peter is
here holding up Jesus as a banner to the nations gathering the gentiles into
the Kingdom.
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit
came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Can anyone keep
these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”
Just as they preached in Jerusalem and the Spirit
was poured out to regenerate believers there, then they went to Samaria in Acts
8 and believers received the Spirit there, now here in Acts 10, we have Gentile believers
receiving the Holy Spirit here.
The rest of Acts is about Paul preaching the
gospel, holding up Jesus, the banner for the nations, and gathering elect gentiles
from the ends of
the earth. One of the
churches he preached to was the church in Ephesus. In his letter to the Ephesians, he lays out a
beautiful word of encouragement. Turn
with me to Ephesians 2.
We have touched on the
context of Eph 2 before. In fact, when
we discussed the resurrection of Israel, we ventured into Eph 2, noting that
Paul was encouraging the Ephesians that they had been brought from death to
life. Whereas Israel was dead in exile
apart from God and would be raised to life in His presence, the Gentiles were
never in God’s presence in the Land, they were always outside the land, always
apart from God, thus like Israel, dead.
Paul indicates that through faith these Gentiles were joining the elect Israelites
in entering into life in God’s presence, thus going from death to life. After that word of encouragement, we read in
Ephesians 2:11ff 11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those
who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of
men) — 12 remember that at
that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel
and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.13 But now in Christ Jesus
you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
Remember,
the Kingdom belongs to Israel. Before,
the Gentiles used to be excluded from citizenship in Israel, meaning they wouldn’t
get to participate in God’s Kingdom. But
now, through faith in Christ, through the cleansing of His blood, believing
Gentiles were now clean and were becoming citizens of Israel.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through
the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
Whereas
before, you were like a wolf and the Jews like a lamb – hostile to one another,
you are now lying down together, in peace.
His kingdom will be one of peace between
groups typically characterized by hostility.
The thing
that separated Jews and Gentiles before – the Law, has been abolished in
Christ. There is no more
separation. Whereas before, Israel went
through the Law to interact with God, in the Kingdom the true Israel, the
citizens of the heavenly Kingdom now go through Christ – both Jews and
Gentiles.
17 He came and
preached peace to you who were far away (gentiles) and peace to those who were
near. (Jews) 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. The same
spirit poured out at Pentecost in Jerusalem and then given to the Samaritans
was also being poured out on believing Gentiles and uniting them together with
believing Israelites into the Kingdom.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s
household, You Gentiles used to be excluded from the commonwealth of Israel based
on race and Law, but now you are fellow citizens with believing Jews in the new
true spiritual Israel, the Kingdom.
Believing Gentiles are now citizens of Israel.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s
household,20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to
become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a
dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Again, with the context of the temple (Ex 37). We
are the temple dwelling on God’s holy mountain.
Jews and Gentiles united in peace.
In closing, let’s bring it home with a bit of application. Turn with me now to Romans 15 right after
Acts. The context of Rom 15 really
begins in chapter 14 where Paul addresses the Jews and Gentiles together
dealing with issues of clean and unclean food.
He explains to them that no food is unclean but don’t pass judgment on
your brothers for what they do and don’t eat.
You have Jews coming out of a heritage of Law avoiding the unclean foods
and Gentiles freely eating unclean foods.
This was causing issues. He says
in Rom 14:17 the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating
and drinking but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So love one another and get along and put
these food differences aside.
The unity between Jew and Gentile was not an overnight reality. It took a lot of work to get the wolf to
dwell in peace with the lamb and vice versa.
Paul was committed to this work; it was his ministry. He
writes beginning in verse 4:
Rom 15:4ff For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we
might have hope. 5 May
the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You Jews and Gentiles be unified so that you can glorify God with
one heart and mouth.
7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. The goal of this unity and acceptance is to bring
God praise. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to
confirm the promises made to the patriarchs 9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, Here is Jesus, servant of the Jews who has come to fulfill the promises in the syllabus SO
THAT the Gentiles may join you Jews in bringing God praise. Now, Paul digs into the OT to make his
point. (everything written in past to teach us v4)
What is his point? He and his contemporaries were living out the words of
the syllabus.
as it is written: “Therefore
I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.” [Psalm 18:49] 10 Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” [Deut 32:43] 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing
praises to him, all you peoples.” [Psalm 117:1] 12 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule
over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.” [Isaiah 11:10]
Why would Paul quote Isaiah 11? Because his whole ministry was lifting up the
banner of Jesus Christ to the nations, calling the gentiles into the
kingdom. Paul’s ministry was the
fulfillment of Isaiah 11. Paul’s
ministry was bringing peace between the Jews and Gentiles so that they would
praise God together as a unified body. His work was to make
the wolf lie with the lamb, the leopard with the goat, and the lion with the
calf and yearling. God was fulfilling the syllabus through Paul.
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power
of the Holy Spirit. 14 I
myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15 I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to
remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
CATCH THAT??? The Gentiles used
to be unclean. We who were formerly
among the wolves, leopards and lions are now among those who were not only
clean, but the cleanest of the clean, acceptable as offerings: lambs, goats, and
calves. Through the
transforming work of the Spirit, the extremely unclean has been made not only
clean, but the cleanest of the clean, acceptable as an offering unto God as fellow
citizens with Israel. WOW!!!
What a huge blessing this message is to us. For apart from it we have no share in the
kingdom. The kingdom belongs to Israel
for they are God’s chosen people to bear his image and his name. But God raised up the banner, Jesus, from the
root of Jesse, and has called the nations to himself to partake in the
blessings of the kingdom. We get to come
to God through Jesus. We get to be
citizens in the kingdom!!!
Do you see the banner lifted high?
You can’t see it with your eyeballs, you must see the banner with
spiritual eyes. You must have the eyes of
your heart enlightened. Today,
if you see this banner and you have not responded, go. Go to Jesus.
Go to him, join him in his kingdom.
What a marvelous kingdom it is – a kingdom of peace under a king who
says “put your
sword away.” A kingdom of
righteousness, and justice and peace under the prince of peace, a kingdom in
which people don’t
train for war and make war, but a kingdom in which we make peace, where
we beat our
swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks.
What a blessing! Our response to
this invitation should be praise. As
Paul quoted in Rom 15: so now
I exhort you: Psalm 117:1-2 Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. 2 For
great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. Brothers and sisters, as a response to his
faithfulness and his love toward us, let’s praise him. Let’s live in peace with our brothers and
sisters, let us unite under the banner of Jesus Christ, that with one heart and
one voice we may declare the praises of our glorious King.
www.ncfgeorgetown.com
Church in Georgetown, Texas. Reformed church Georgetown, Texas Preterist
church Georgetown Texas. Pastor David Boone. Sermon audio mp3 sermon download
Full Preterism. Covenant Eschatology. New Covenant Fellowship Georgetown. Page
House 10:00 am Loving God. Loving Others. Realized eschatology fulfilled
eschatology Preterist church Austin
Texas. Bible church Austin Texas Second
coming of Jesus Christ churches in Austin area. Non denominational Churches in
Georgetown TX
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