| E-MAIL SERVICE | Sign me up to receive the daily Word of Righteousness free via my E-mail address! ( ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ) | |
| ARCHIVES | I want to check out the daily Words of Righteousness for any of the last fourteen days or from previous weeks. ( ENGLISH ONLY ) | |
| FEEDBACK | I have a question or comment about today's Word of Righteousness. ( ENGLISH AND SPANISH ONLY ) | |
| BOOK LIST | I would like to see the complete book list of the Words of Righteousness author Robert B. Thompson. (SOME SPANISH TITLES AVAILABLE ) |
The Daily Word of Righteousness
Israel—Spirit and Flesh, #21
But ye [believing Gentiles] are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; (I Peter 2:9)
Neither Jew nor Gentile can come to Christ until he or she is called to do so by the Father. The Father must draw him or her. We see that salvation is by grace through faith, and even our faith must come to us as a gift from God.
We understand also that neither Jew nor Gentile is part of the good olive tree except by the promise and election of God. The "high hills leap" in vain. No individual can become part of the "tree" by natural birth, by works, or by any other physical means. The tree is by foreknowledge, by promise, by election.
The physical Jews who, after hearing Him clearly, have refused to receive Christ are not part of the tree of God. They are not part of the anointed Seed of Abraham. They are not part of Christ. The same is true of a Gentile who refuses the Lord.
Is God finished with the land and people of Israel? Not at all!
We know that when the full number of elect Gentiles, those whom God has chosen, have been grafted on the tree, God will turn again to the land and people of Israel. God will pour out His Spirit on the Jews and they once more will be part of the tree that is Christ—the anointed Servant of the Lord. The reviving of Israel is by promise, by election, and is of the good olive tree.
When the Hebrew Prophets spoke of Israel and the Kingdom of God they were referring to the "tree," not to the land and people of Israel as such. It was the Spirit of Christ speaking in them
Of which [Christian] salvation the [Hebrew] prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you [Christians —Jews and Gentiles]: Searching what, or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom [the Hebrew Prophets] it was revealed, that not unto themselves [not to the land and people of Israel], but unto us [the Christians—elect Jews and Gentiles] they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (I Peter 1:10-12)
The expression "the whole house of Israel" (Ezekiel 37:11) or, as Paul put it, "all Israel", refers to the good olive tree. The entire cultivated olive tree will come into glory as one whole, one Kingdom of God.
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39,40)
To be continued.