The Living God

"The Word of God"

PRE-HOLY-SPIRIT-ON-THE-EARTH ISRAEL was not like Israel of today. For that very reason. He was confined in the temple and beside (not IN or UPON) a handful of men. By the time Jesus ministered in Judea, the temple was vain. The Pharisees, a sect not created by God, ruled without anything of God at all. The Holy Spirit was UPON John the Baptizer in the river, drawing thousands. He filled him even in the womb (Luke 1:15).

A change was coming, a filling of the heart with God that would alter things forever. That change came in Jesus' death and Resurrection. We cannot go back to before Him, to an earth absent of Him and a handful of Jews who know Hashem. Our beloved Savior is never leaving. This is promised (Matthew 28:20). The Spirit is working constantly to draw men to Jesus.

Salvation is revelation. It is a person realizing who Jesus is and what a loving God has done. It was not possible before. It is completed now. This is the change God wrought, one which can’t be undone.

Israel and the church are the only religions, to use a generic word, who worship the living God. "The", meaning the only one. Because there isn't any other. There never has been. What men worship in other beliefs is wood and stone. What Israel worships today is the God we have found, the Savior revealed to us. Jesus is all the names in the Torah, in the Psalms and the prophets. The change in their worship today is the Spirit’s Presence surrounds them, and His Words to them can be found everywhere.

Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant. He made all His promises to them Truth. They worship YHVH. They trust Him as King, as Father, as Redeemer. He is Shepherd, Counselor, and the Word of God. And here are the words of the apostle Paul, when speaking of heroes of the faith, all of whom are Jews:

"But these people were sure that they would have a better life after death. They were sure that they would live again with God." (Hebrews 11:35, EasyEnglish)

Live again after death with God as an Old Covenant Jew. He is their Savior. He is G_d of their ancestors, the G_d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

We are the branches grafted into their olive tree, as Paul said. But not at the exclusion of them. We hear Paul’s heartcry to Rome, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved (Romans 10:1)," and read his words which follow, of God’s righteous requirement. We fail to add in the change righteousness has made upon the earth. When Paul, Peter, and the other disciples went out with the gospel, the majority of the earth was unsaved. They were a handful of people amidst great false worship. Though his words are true, salvation is righteousness by grace, he also said to walk by the Law will make you justified (Romans 2:13).

Today, we have no temple, no Roman conquerors, no large-scale sacrifices as ordered in Leviticus, but we do have a faithful covenant-keeping people who honor their living Redeemer with their voices. And God, who knows the heart, sees. We cannot discount the words of Hebrews 11 that calls Old Covenant Jews such as Abraham and Noah as righteous. We cannot overlook Jesus' picture of Abraham being in Paradise (Luke 16:24). Nor watch His nation speak a language thousands of years old, hear them pray in public over their troops, over their government, and their families, and not see Paul's point. And not see how blessed we are to stand with them. And how grand, how generous, how kind, how merciful our God is.

"How much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?" (Romans 11:24)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com