Covenant

"According to covenant, they are saved."

WHEN JONAH told the sailors on the ship that He was Hebrew, they grew afraid. While they searched for a way to save a sinking ship, he slept.

“How can you sleep at a time like this?” they asked him.

Because, though He was running from God, He knew the Presence of God. God had sent him to Ninevah. He’d decided to sail the other way. Now, here he was admitting that that was why they were in this storm.

We’d say God didn’t do that to him. Except God had done that to him. And God sent a big fish. That part of the story is really remarkable. It was a LONG WAY back to shore. Some 2,000 miles west from Ninevah, an estimated swim of three days and three nights. Seems like I heard that somewhere (Matthew 12:40). And there were many directions that fish could have gone, to many shorelines. Yet, it swam back east, all that distance, and ended up opposite Ninevah.

We focus on the repentance of Ninevah. On Jonah’s pout afterward. And we miss the reputation of the Hebrew God amongst the sailors. That “this is your fault,” and he acknowledged it and said, “Throw me overboard (Jonah 1:15).”

That was his wrong-thinking, we’d say. No, that was his belief as a Jew. That is still their belief as Jews. God is more sovereign to them, correctly defined. To us, sovereign means cruel. To them, it means salvation.

“He’s not salvation in the Old Covenant,” you argue. Really? The word “salvation” is 119 times between Genesis 1:1 and Malachi 4:6.

• the rock of his salvation (Deut 32:15)
• the horn of my salvation (2Sam 22:3)
• the God of the rock of my salvation. (2Sam 22:47)
• God of our salvation (1Chr 16:35)
• LORD God, be clothed with salvation (2Chr 6:41)
• and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. (Ps 18:2)
• and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted (Ps 18:46)
• We will rejoice in thy salvation (Ps 20:5)
• and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (Ps 24:5)
• for thou art the God of my salvation (Ps 25:5)
• neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. (Ps 27:9)
• God, thou God of my salvation (Ps 51:14)
• Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! (Ps 53:6)
• Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. (Ps 62:1)
• In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. (Ps 62:7)
• Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. (Ps 68:19)
• He that is our God is the God of salvation (Ps 68:20)
• God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. (Ps 69:13)
• For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. (Ps 74:12)
• Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake. (Ps 79:9)
• LORD God of my salvation (Ps 88:1)
• Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. (Ps 89:26)
• all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. (Ps 98:1)
• GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation (Ps 140:7)
• Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation (Is 17:10)
• In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. (Is 26:1)
• How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Is 52:7)
• and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. (Is 52:10)
• I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness (Is 61:10)
• truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. (Jer 3:23)
• Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. (Mic 2:7)

We’d be better served to pray they’d see their Moshiach than that they’d be saved. According to covenant, they are saved. According to our understanding, they aren’t.

You will never rip the Jewish tablecloth out from under them. The Holocaust proved this. Why would you be a Jew after that? Hadn’t God abandoned you? I asked my dad the first question and he said they can’t help but be Jewish. They are Jews. As to the 2nd, a soldier in the IDF, who was held captive, solves it forever. In his hour of stress, when deciding whether to stay or flee, he called on God, knowing God was with him. And God answered. “I just need restraint and patience,” he said, in the end. “God is with me.”

He knew God was his help and salvation.

“Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.” (Psalm 85:2)

“Indeed, you are great, a worker of miracles. You alone are God.” (Psalm 86:10 GW)

And again, there’s many Rebbes, who bless the sick, knowing God will heal. So, they are unsaved? Hashem speaks to them. People are made whole. There’s the anointing on their office. But they’re not Christian, we say. That’s the issue we have. Truth is, he doesn’t have to be Christian. He needs to see Jesus. Those aren’t the same thing.

Referring back to those 2 questions, they aren’t blaming God for their life. That’s us. If things aren’t hunky-dory, then “God did this to us.” “God isn’t listening.” “God isn’t healing because we have no faith.” The Jew knows God is why they are where they are, but that since He is responsible, then He will rescue. Psalm 23:4. He made them, so He will save them. He has made them to endure. He enables them to die. Different thought pattern entirely. And we’d argue they are blaming God and poor God isn’t involved in evil. Except four fingers are pointed backward at us and only one forward.

I resolve to believe covenant like a Jew. I have Jesus. I have covenant. He is Messiah. He is Jew.

Photo by Eelco Böhtlingk on Unsplash


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