The New Testament Writings Reveal the Foremost Position of the Jew in the Kingdom of God

The "prophet" is Christ. The Jews are to hear Him in all that He says. This does not mean they are to join a Gentile religion in order to hear their own Christ.

Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the peoples of the earth be blessed. (Acts 3:25)

It is Jews, not Gentiles, who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant made with Abraham—the father of all who believe in Christ.

And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, (Acts 13:32)

The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven is the fulfillment of the promise made to the fathers of Israel.

Notice the following words of the Apostle Paul:

But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: (Acts 24:14)

We can see from the above verse how inappropriate it is to regard the Kingdom of God as a Gentile religion. The Apostle Paul viewed the Gospel of Christ as an integral part of the Hebrew Scriptures.

In some passages of his writings the Apostle Paul spoke of the advantage of being a Jew by natural birth.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)

Gentile believers often state the Gospel of Christ is God's power unto salvation to the Jew first. How deep is this conviction? Do Gentiles truly believe the Gospel belongs primarily to the Jew?

Concerning the Kingdom of Heaven, is there an advantage to being a Jew by race?

What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. (Romans 3:1,2)

For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:3-5)

We personally have seen the reception that God gives a Jew when he receives Christ as his Savior and Lord. There is a special quality of Divine love and embrace and sometimes a vision or other extraordinary blessing. There is a sense that a member of the royal family has returned home.

The Scripture agrees with the uniqueness of the Divine reception given to the Jew who receives his own Christ.

For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? (Romans 11:24)

Christ is the Jews' "own olive tree." Have Gentile believers forgotten the expression, "how much more "?

To be continued.