kxmode
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12 Nov 2011, 4:59 am
Despite the possible backlash I felt compelled to post this. Try and read it with an open mind. I spent four hours putting this together and I tried to pay attention to the wording so that it doesn't sound insulting.
For anyone wondering if the nation of Israel is still God's chosen people the best resource is the Bible, specifically the Old Testament. In it we find the answer. 600 years before the Messiah's appearance God tells Jeremiah (or Yirmiyahu as his name is called in Hebrew) that he would reject them at Jeremiah 31:31-37. Really pay attention to language Jehovah (or Yahweh as his name is pronounced in Hebrew) uses.
Quote:
31 “Look! There are days coming,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “and I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; 32 not one like the covenant that I concluded with their forefathers in the day of my taking hold of their hand to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt, ‘which covenant of mine they themselves broke, although I myself had husbandly ownership of them,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”
33 “For this is the covenant that I shall conclude with the house of Israel after those days,” is the utterance of Jehovah. “I will put my law within them, and in their heart I shall write it. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people.”
34 “And they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, ‘KNOW Jehovah!’ for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them,” is the utterance of Jehovah. “For I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more.”
35 This is what Jehovah, the Giver of the sun for light by day, the statutes of the moon and the stars for light by night, the One stirring up the sea that its waves may become boisterous, the One whose name is Jehovah of armies, has said: 36 “‘If these regulations could be removed from before me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘those who are the seed of Israel could likewise cease from proving to be a nation before me always.’”
37 This is what Jehovah has said: “‘If the heavens up above could be measured and the foundations of the earth below could be searched out, I myself also could reject the entire seed of Israel on account of all that they have done,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”
33 “For this is the covenant that I shall conclude with the house of Israel after those days,” is the utterance of Jehovah. “I will put my law within them, and in their heart I shall write it. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people.”
34 “And they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, ‘KNOW Jehovah!’ for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them,” is the utterance of Jehovah. “For I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more.”
35 This is what Jehovah, the Giver of the sun for light by day, the statutes of the moon and the stars for light by night, the One stirring up the sea that its waves may become boisterous, the One whose name is Jehovah of armies, has said: 36 “‘If these regulations could be removed from before me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘those who are the seed of Israel could likewise cease from proving to be a nation before me always.’”
37 This is what Jehovah has said: “‘If the heavens up above could be measured and the foundations of the earth below could be searched out, I myself also could reject the entire seed of Israel on account of all that they have done,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”
In the eighth chapter of Hebrews Paul explains Jeremiah's prophetic words in relation to Jesus as the chief cornerstone of the new covenant (quoted at Jeremiah 31:31 above):
Quote:
Now as to the things being discussed this is the main point: We have such a high priest as this, and he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a public servant of the holy place and of the true tent, which Jehovah put up, and not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If, now, he were upon earth, he would not be a priest, there being [men] who offer the gifts according to the Law, 5 but which [men] are rendering sacred service in a typical representation and a shadow of the heavenly things; just as Moses, when about to make the tent in completion, was given the divine command: For says he: “See that you make all things after [their] pattern that was shown to you in the mountain.” 6 But now [Jesus] has obtained a more excellent public service, so that he is also the mediator of a correspondingly better covenant, which has been legally established upon better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second; 8 for he does find fault with the people when he says: “‘Look! There are days coming,’ says Jehovah, ‘and I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their forefathers in [the] day of my taking hold of their hand to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, so that I stopped caring for them,’ says Jehovah.”
10 “‘For this is the covenant that I shall covenant with the house of Israel after those days,’ says Jehovah. ‘I will put my laws in their mind, and in their hearts I shall write them. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people.
11 “‘And they will by no means teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying: “Know Jehovah!” For they will all know me, from [the] least one to [the] greatest one of them. 12 For I shall be merciful to their unrighteous deeds, and I shall by no means call their sins to mind anymore.’”
13 In his saying “a new [covenant]” he has made the former one obsolete. Now that which is made obsolete and growing old is near to vanishing away.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second; 8 for he does find fault with the people when he says: “‘Look! There are days coming,’ says Jehovah, ‘and I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their forefathers in [the] day of my taking hold of their hand to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, so that I stopped caring for them,’ says Jehovah.”
10 “‘For this is the covenant that I shall covenant with the house of Israel after those days,’ says Jehovah. ‘I will put my laws in their mind, and in their hearts I shall write them. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people.
11 “‘And they will by no means teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying: “Know Jehovah!” For they will all know me, from [the] least one to [the] greatest one of them. 12 For I shall be merciful to their unrighteous deeds, and I shall by no means call their sins to mind anymore.’”
13 In his saying “a new [covenant]” he has made the former one obsolete. Now that which is made obsolete and growing old is near to vanishing away.
And so it has. Thousands of years later the nation of Israel is NOT the same it was during Jesus' time or even during Jeremiah's time. At odds with many and living with virtually no peace it has "vanished away" and is a shell of its former self.
for over 1500 years the ancient nation of Israel kept turning away from Jehovah towards false worship despite repeated attempts to get them to change their ways. By their actions alone they voided their former covenant with God. They were warned what would happened if they didn't keep their oath to that covenant. (Deut chapter 30) Jehovah decided well in advance that he would "reject the entire seed of Israel on account of all that they have done". Since Jehovah is a progressive God he would take steps to conclude a new covenant, not with a specific nation, but with individuals who he would draw to him. (John 6:44; 1 Corinthians 3:6) The one who would be chief cornerstone of this new covenant would be none other than the messiah, Jesus Christ. As Paul explains Jesus would become like Melchizedek; the only time in Israelite history when a king was chosen directly by God to serve as a priest.
Jehovah would write his laws in the hearts of those he chooses and they would obey him and do his will. (Hebrews 10:16) And because the law is written in their hearts they would truly love Jehovah. This "spiritual" Israel would NOT exist as a literal place or nation but as a gathering of people out of all nations, races, languages, and cultures all united under a single purpose: to serve Jehovah and to do his will. Today the spiritual Israel is a small group of Jehovah Witnesses. I know you're thinking "yeah right, whatever!" They say actions speak louder than words, or as James 2:26 reads "faith without works is dead." It can rightly be said by our actions we show that we truly are witnesses of Jehovah. (Isaiah 43:10) We model ourselves after the first century Christians. Like those first century Christians we serve our great God Jehovah. We try our best to live our imperfect lives by Bible principles. We also carrying out God's will in preaching the good news about his kingdom like the first century Christians and Jesus did over 1,900 years ago. (Matthew 24:14; 28:19,20) And no matter how spiritually dead the world seems to be (2 Timothy 3:1-5) our love for Jehovah and the desire to do his will won't fade.
I am in no way providing this information to show any sort of superiority. I am merely showing the relationship between the old testament and the new testament and how they relate to the new covenant, which basically replaced the old covenant.
Hebrew reference.
Other references:
http://www.breslov.com/bible/Jeremiah31.htm#31
http://kodesh.snunit.k12.il/bible/mirmi031.html#31
http://kodesh.snunit.k12.il/bible/hirmi031.html#31
http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16028
12 Nov 2011, 7:45 am
leejosepho
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