They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
--Romans 9:4-5, ESV
The Apostle Paul was many things. He was a Jew for Jesus. He was a former Pharisee on fire for the Lord. He was also a man of constant sorrow, troubled all of his days because of his great love for Israel.
All Christians should love Israel in such a way that the tragedies they have faced touch our very own souls. We should have sorrow over the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, a decade or so after Paul wrote this book of Romans. We should be sad they lived as a diaspora people for nearly 1,900 years. We should have anguish over what Hitler did to them during World War II, and the holocaust that took 6 million Jewish lives. We should be sad that even though they got their homeland back in 1948, they have had to fight for their existence ever since, in 1948, 1967, 1973, and they are now in the biggest fight of their lives after what happened on Oct. 7, 2023.
You may not be Jewish, but those of us who are Christians should love the "Israelites," for the same specific reasons as Paul:
"The adoption" means they were chosen by our sovereign to be His people under the Old Covenant. If they were so beloved and special to God then, they ought to be beloved and special to us now.
"The glory" means they experienced and chronicled the revealed glory of the true and living God in the Old Testament. Without the Old, there would be no New, so we can now live our lives for the glory of God.
"The covenants," plural come from Israel. God gave them the Old, and offered them the New. Almost all of the early Christians were Jewish. Sixty-four out of the 66 books of our Bible come from Jewish authors.
"The law" is the righteous standard of God, the revealed and shared holiness of God, embedded in the word of God. The Judeo-Christian ethic is the moral code behind the great democracies of the world, and where it is diminished freedom does not ring. Thanks be to God, Moses, and all of the mostly Jewish writers of Holy Scripture for this.
"The worship," the way to truly worship the true and living God, has been handed down from the Jews to the Christians. Reverent, joyful, and serious worship was practiced in the temple and the synagogue. Now it is our turn to read and preach the Bible, sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offer prayers and offerings, and see Jesus high and lifted up in Communion and baptism. Let the world have the fluff and stuff, we have real worship in the church when we follow the example of the Jews.
"The patriarchs" produced "the Christ." If it were not for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, David and Solomon, there would be no Jesus, who was, is, and always will be, Jewish!
How you feel about Israel will tell you a lot about how you feel about God. How you feel about God will dictate how you feel about the Gospel. How you feel about the Gospel will determine whether or not you will share it with others.
Paul was determined to share the Gospel with his fellow Jews. At the end of the day, Paul's love for Israel is ultimately a love for lost people in the world, especially those who are closest to us.
It is hard to bear the burden for everybody. But we must do it for somebody. Perhaps like Paul, we could start with our own people. Let us love the people of Hot Springs, Arkansas, America, and our own family and friends, so much that any who are lost gives us great sorrow. Then, let us be willing to do whatever it takes, like Paul, to reach them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Chuck DeVane is the pastor of Lake Hamilton Baptist Church. Call him at 501-525-8339 or email [email protected].