I feel a real urgency to write this post, although it’s a stretch for me to publicly write out what I see Father God doing in the world. It’s a weighty thing to add my voice when there are so many calling themselves prophets and teachers. In general, Paul’s injunction to Timothy to “correctly handle the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) is constantly on my mind when I write, presuming to know something about God and knowing I fail in the direction of dogmatism often, and yet—it is to Him I will give an account, not anyone else.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
The way Father God speaks to us changes over time—maybe you’ve noticed this yourself—and the last few years, He’s been speaking to me in parallels (i.e., a situation in my life reflects something happening in my church, my nation, or the world at large). For no other discernible reason, I was drawn to Romans 9-11 in the fall, and earlier this year Holy Spirit was tugging on my heart to look at it more closely. Then I started hearing it from other people. (By way of overview, these chapters are the source of the dispute around how to handle the modern geopolitical nation of Israel. I’m not going to get into that.)
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.
Romans 11:25-26
What I’m interested in is this ‘mystery’ Paul mentions towards the end. Now, if the Apostle Paul calls something a mystery, we would do well to treat it carefully. (Another noteworthy example is Ephesians 5:32, which also deals with a key Scriptural metaphor for the people of God: the Bride of Christ). At the same time, the passage in context is pretty clear: in Romans 9:6, Paul begins a lengthy description of how “not all Israel is Israel”) and then repeats four times (vv11-12, vv14-16, vv17-24, vv25-26) the promise that the full people of God (both Jews and Gentiles) will come in as part of a harvest among a Jewish people aroused to envy from the salvation of the Gentiles.
I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
Romans 11:14-15
So, with this backdrop, there are three threads I want to pull on that seem to be connected, although—caveat—still limited by my perspective as an American. First, I believe we’re at the start of seeing this harvest come in. Second, there’s an interesting timing thread: specifically, the level of dialogue and engagement right now around race relations. Reconciliation is a work of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:18), and the fresh energy in the deeply segregated church to practice racial reconciliation. Revelation is also a work of the Spirit (Daniel 2:28), and a lot of people are waking up to their cultural blinders. Lastly, in tandem, there seems to be a movement towards reclaiming Jesus’ incarnational identity as a Jewish man.
I believe this movement will arouse Jews to jealousy and two strains will converge to bring an unprecedented harvest: a revelation of who Jesus actually is, removed from the cultural trappings the Western church in particular has buried Him in, and an even greater revelation as Jewish brothers and sisters—to whom belong the adoption, the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, and the promises (Romans 9:4)—are grafted back in (Romans 11:24). Reconciliation and revelation can only serve as witness to the power and truth of Jesus.
Takeaways from all this: pray for salvation for your Jewish friends! Consider that we lift many of the great verses on evangelism from Romans 10 and go take a look at Ezekiel 33, letting the weight of our responsibility to witness sink in. Read the Old Testament, soberly remembering that Jesus had those words memorized! He is referencing them in all He said and did (for example, compare Matthew 4:19 to Jeremiah 16:16). If we do not know the Old Testament, we are in danger of misusing the New. If we’re not worshipping Jesus as He is, we’re in danger of worshipping a Jesus of our own making—one without power to save. For my part, although I’m merely a lay-reader with an eye for patterns and not a biblical scholar, I will sprinkle in posts in this space on parallels I see in the Old Testament that point to Jesus (check out the category “Jesus Parallels Series”). Hopefully, there will someday be a crowd of Jewish believers ready to show God even more perfectly points to Jesus in the Scriptures!
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 3:6
Fire and Whisper 