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The Daily Word of Righteousness
You Are My People, #2
And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. (John 11:49-52)
Caiaphas, the High Priest of Israel in the days of Jesus, declared by the Spirit of God that it was better that one man die for the nation rather than to have the entire nation perish. In addition, Caiaphas may have been referring to the elect Gentiles when he mentioned the gathering together of the scattered children of God.
We understand from the words of Caiaphas that the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven is primarily Jewish, while the salvation of the elect Gentiles is also important but not as central.
The new covenant, which can be made only with the House of Israel (Jeremiah 31:33), never with a Gentile, has not been understood properly by Gentiles.
One reason the Gentiles have almost completely misunderstood the Gospel is that they are not kingdom-oriented. The Hebrew Prophets spoke of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth—a Jewish kingdom, naturally. The Jew, John the Baptist, announced the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Jew, Jesus of Nazareth, proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God, of Heaven.
Gentiles have no such understanding, no such hope or background. The Jews of Jesus' day were hoping for the return of the kingdom of David or the kingdom of Solomon. At one time in their history the Jewish kings ruled the earth. The Jews can accept the Gospel of the Kingdom for they have experienced (in David and Solomon) the Kingdom of God on earth.
Gabriel, the messenger of God, spoke to Mary, the wife of Joseph of the house of David:
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: (Luke 1:32)
The Kingdom of God is the throne of David; it is not a Gentile kingdom.
As soon as the first-century Jewish apostles died, Gentile scholars and priests assumed the leadership of the Church. Since Gentiles have no tradition of a kingdom to come, they changed the Gospel of the Kingdom to the Gospel of going to Heaven. They assumed that to be saved is to acquire eternal residence in the spirit paradise.
The Gentiles have constructed a mythology around the notion that eternal residence in the spirit realm is the goal of the Divine redemption. They have invented mansions, golden slippers, acres of diamonds, and other fleshly hopes that they trust will be realized after they die. Gentiles never have and never will understand the Gospel of the Kingdom until they recognize and embrace their Jewish heritage and change their objective from eternal residence in Heaven to the setting up of God's Kingdom on the earth.
To be continued.