I have a few probing thoughts that
need to be answered by my Jewish mates or other friends and acquaintances who
remain the skeptical concerning the true Gospel message. Jesus Christ the true
Messiah has been rejected by many and especially by the household of Israel.
Why?
As a nation, they have not accepted
Him as their Messiah. But time shall reveal all and they shall be turned with
tears as they look upon the Lamb that their fore-fathers crucified and this is
how it played out…
“So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.
Pilate said to them, "Behold the man!" When the chief priests and
the officers saw him, they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him!"
Pilate said to them, "Take
him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him." The
Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to
die because he has made himself the Son of God."” (John 19:5-7)
There is an offer of God’s love which
at present has been extended to all, to the Jew first and also the Gentile;
“for God (The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son that whoever believes upon Him will not perish but have everlasting
life.” It’s positioned for all to find God’s favour but a man must believe it
is of God and from God in order to find this brilliant gemstone in the sparse deserts
of righteousness scattered through the regions of the world.
Here is my question? What would make a man do an about turn after a persistent
lifestyle that they habitually followed, come high or low water? Before
I get you to respond, I believe there would be value in sharing the testimony
of the man in question.
There was a man named Saul, a young
devout Jew who was a zealous individual to say the least. He was unlike me in
character; a man not driven by wine, woman and song. A man with pedigree, an
Israelite and a direct descendant of Abraham: the first man God made a covenant
with after the great flood that wiped out the world, except for Noah, his
family and the selected animals that were also rescued by God in the Ark which
He had instructed Noah to build.
“When
Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him,
"I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply
you greatly."” (Genesis 17:1-2) –
God had established this covenant
with Abram or later known as Abraham, this was the man Saul claimed as his direct
descendant. He was from the line of Promise according to God’s covenant and he,
like others of today, was aware of his privileged position within Jewish circles.
He was a man filled with passion and he believed that killing
Christians was honouring God. He was ignorant! This is a confession he makes
later on in life: he believed Jesus Christ was a false prophet as he aligned
himself with the Jewish rulers of the day. And after the Lord Jesus’
crucifixion he went from house to house seeking out Christians to imprison them
and bring them to trial and with the intent of having them imprisoned, or even
better, stoned to death.
It was a resolution that encapsulated Saul’s life! “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering
house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” (Acts 8:3) – “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of
the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues
at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he
might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:1) – He was obviously obsessed with the task
that he believed was helping God as a devout Jew to eradicate the vermin and
those who oppose the Jewish faith as they believe the Lord Jesus to be a
heretic. Only a false prophet would claim to be God and
yet today they still await their Messiah, God will be merciful to them as He
has been merciful to the Gentile. I would remind the reader that the Gospel
started with Jews and not the Gentiles; the very first Christians were not Gentiles
but Jews. The Jew is the chosen race, God has so ordained it, but has included
provision for the Gentile; in fact it has always been in the heart of God to
make allowance for those outside of the seed of Abraham, just so long as they
aligned themselves with His laws and requirements.
As I have been spurned with these thoughts please forgive the deviation
but it is needful to drive home my point; when Abram became Abraham and the
covenant between him and God was honoured by God, Abraham was given a commandment
to be circumcised with all of the men from his household to follow suit. And
yet even those outside were given an opportunity to be included. They had a
choice to make and here it is; “And God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall
keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their
generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and
your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall
be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the
covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be
circumcised. Every male
throughout your generations, whether
born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of
your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with
your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be
in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not
circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he
has broken my covenant." And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your
wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.” (Genesis 17:9-15)
– Note that even the foreigner was to be circumcised; Thus proving that
provision was available even to the outsider way back then. God chose to be
merciful even to the outsider. The mercy of God who can fathom it, praise His
name!
Now back to the account of Saul;
then it happened on his way to Damascus he was struck to the ground and this is
the recorded explanation; “Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus,
and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground
he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you,
Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city,
and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were
traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul
rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So
they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he
was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” (Acts
9:3-9)
There is much we can glean from
this account of Saul’s encounter with God, however let me stay on point; he was
blinded by God, and I will remind you that he was blinded not by some other
god, but by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was stopped dead in his
tracks, and God blinded him because of his misguided perceptions. For three
days although his eyes were open he could see nothing; a terrifying experience
to say the least. Imagine the thoughts racing through his mind, “would I ever
see again” could well have been one of them. Or “what have I done by killing
off Christians”. It will be a question I will ask him if I get the chance one
day. Which I will be afforded the chance one day as we serve the same God and
heaven will be our final destination. We will dwell together throughout
eternity because we have both confessed Jesus Christ as Lord.
Eventually Saul finds salvation
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and not by any merit of the law. He
understood that the person he was persecuting was in fact the true Messiah. God
took pity on him and saved his soul. In fact he became the Apostle to the Gentiles.
God had singled him out to preach to those who had never known God outside of
those foreigners in the household of Abraham. Although Abraham was told that he
would be a father of many nations; it was a prophecy of what was to come and
many gentiles now believe in the only true living God and have been saved in
and through the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice. THE TRUE MESSIAH!
Saul’s name was later changed to
Paul, a custom that can be found throughout the Bible after true salvation.
Abram became Abraham, Saul became Paul and Simon Bar-Jonah became Peter.
Paul (Saul) then did an about turn and began to preach the
gospel throughout many regions of the world and he suffered tremendously for
it. What he had done to others was now being done to him. Here is what he
endured for the sake of the gospel and this is his CV; “Are
they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of
Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking
like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless
beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews
the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was
stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on
frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own
people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness,
danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a
sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and
exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my
anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to
fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that
show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed
forever, knows that I am not lying.” (2Corinthians 11:22-31)
Let me now conclude with my opening question, what
would turn a man like Saul (Paul) a devout Jew, who once rejected Christ as the
true Messiah but eventually was willing to sacrifice so much for the sake of
God’s call upon his life? I must conclude that he had a personal encounter will
the Living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of this I am convinced. But
where does that leave you, have you personally encountered the living God or
are you still caught up in your customs and traditions?
Are you amongst God’s elect, if so then call upon the
name of the Lord and you shall be saved and your eyes shall be opened to the
truth, but call out you must no differently to the call of Saul; "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting.”
Of this I am convinced that if
you are of God’s elect you shall respond favourably to the name of Jesus the
true Messiah.
Signing off
Tyrone
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