Open Heavens Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye
Memorise: For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly;
neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; Romans 2:28
Read: Romans 2:25-29
When it’s all been said and done, good will always have
victory over evil. In Revelation 3:9, the Lord made a promise to the church in
Philadelphia saying:
Behold, I will make
them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie;
behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that
I have loved thee.
This is a powerful promise but appears somewhat
controversial. How can you tell the Jews that they are not regarded as Jews
before God? Earlier, God specially chose to reveal Himself to the world through
the children of Israel. This started right from the Old Testament. Even when
Jesus came, He said He was not sent to the Gentiles but to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel, hence He sent His disciples only to them (Matthew 10:5-6).
But when they took for granted that they were Jews and children of Abraham and
thought they could do whatever they liked, John the Baptist told them that God
could replace them with children from stones (Luke 3:8). But they did not
believe. At some point, when the Lord was done with reaching out to them, He
left them desolate (Matthew 23:37-39).
Afterward the Lord created another entity which is His body,
the Church of believers, comprised of believing Jews and Gentiles. These are
the “Spiritual Jews” or the “Israel of God”. In this group there is no
discrimination (Galatians 3:28-29; 6:15-16). All God’s dealings according to
His covenant with Abraham are now realized through being a spiritual
Israelites. All the promises of God to Abraham are now also appropriated
through this body of believers. They are the bride of Jesus Christ. In
Revelation 3:9, God promised that the enemies of His church will bow down and
worship before the spiritual Jews. The physical Jews expect Isaiah 49:23 to be
fulfilled but they failed to realise that a change has occurred. These promises
have now been transferred to the Church. Any physical Jew who fails to accept Jesus
Christ as Lord and Saviour will together with other unbelievers bow to us
Christians someday. Those who are persecuting the church today, will one day
bow to us. Are you a part of the true Israel of God? If you are, do everything
possible to keep it so.
KEY POINT:
To be relevant in God’s end time plan, everyone, including
natural Jews, need to become a part of the Church – the spiritual Jews.
Bible in one year: 1 Kings 8-10
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