ISRAEL'S CONVERSION
Deut. 30:6
In our last post we
discussed the restoration of Israel to the land that God had promised them. There is still more promised in this covenant
which God made with His people. In verse
6 we are told that God will circumcise their heart and the heart of their descendents. This is a term often used in the Bible to
speak of cutting away the flesh in their lives.
That is what God promises them here.
The purpose of this "circumcision" is to bring Israel back into a relationship of love to Jehovah their
God. This love is to be with all their
heart and with all their soul. This
sounds like New Testament, but we, surprisingly perhaps, see it
spelled out in the Old Testament as well.
Note Deut. 6:4, 5. "Hear,
O Israel: The LORD our God
is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD
thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might." In the next verses it goes on to command parents to teach
this to their children.
Speaking
of Israel in Hosea 2:14-16, God
says He will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak
comfortably unto her. He is not here
speaking of judgment. The following
verses will show He is talking of Israel's national conversion.
She has been rebellious, and she has been chastised for it, but in
verse15 God promises to give her vineyards and hope. The vineyards speak of prosperity. It will be such a transformation that Israel will sing as she did in her early years and as she did
when God brought her up out of Egypt. That relationship
is also described as Israel calling God "Ishi" meaning her Husband, and no more
shall she call Him "Baali" meaning My Lord. This is quite a change.
Let
us now look to Rom. 11:26, 27 on this subject.
The apostle says, "And so all
Israel shall be saved;” Does that mean
that every Jew shall be saved and go to Heaven.
Absolutely not! There is no
question but that Israel
has a special place in God's favor, but any Jew who dies without believing on
Jesus will be lost in Hell as any Gentile will.
What does it mean then? It is
about the national conversion of which we have been thinking. In that day a nation will be born in a
day. Every Jew alive at that time will
convert and be saved.
He
speaks of a Deliverer that was to come out of Zion. That Deliverer has already
come. The apostle goes on to say that
this Deliverer, Jesus Christ, shall turn ungodliness from Jacob. Jacob is the natural name for Israel. Make no worry
about what you think of the people of Israel. God is not
dependent on our approval. In Zech. 12:10 we are told that Jesus will come to His people, and they
shall look on Him Whom they have pierced and mourn for Him. Rom. 11:27 says, “For this is my covenant unto then, when I
shall take away their sins.” God is
not a covenant breaker. He has
covenanted with Israel, and because of that covenant He will bring them to
repentance and save them.
This
should be a reason for Jew and Gentile to be happy and trust our God because He
does not change, nor will He break His covenant.
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