Hammer on Anvil '

Let's see, Thanksgiving it tomorrow, Black Friday is just two days away, and Twinkies are on their way out. There are really plenty of topics to pick from for this week's post.

I'm going to run with Israel though. To preface this, I am not going to be taking a stand on how our nation should be responding to the continued tension and war between Israel and Palestine. All of this talk about Israel did create a nice conversation between my wife and I though.

It ended the the conclusion that we are so glad Israel is no longer the only people who receive God's blessings.

I am grateful beyond words (look at that Thanksgiving made it in this post after all) to God for opening the door for Salvation to this lowly Gentile boy.

You see... I'm not Jewish. I have no Jewish heritage at all, which means, according to the Old Testament way of living, I was not worthy. I was not a part of God's chosen people. The nation of Israel was sacrificing to the One True God and living for Him (except when they weren't, which we find a lot of in our Bibles) while my ancestors were living pagan lives.

The only way for my ancestors to be "saved" would have been to become an Israelite. They would have had to abandon their people and adopted the Israelite way of life. Everyone else was unclean. Israelites did not talk to, touch, or look at Gentiles (anyone who was not an Israelite). We were outcasts.

Then Jesus came. He changed everything! He opened up the wedding feast for us. In Matthew 22:1-10 Jesus tells of a King giving a wedding feast. He sends his servants out to bring all the people who were invited. They decided not to come and some of them even killed the servants. The King was outraged and ended up offering the invitation to those who at one time were not invited.

That's me! At one time I was on the outside and overlooked. But the people God had chosen rejected His Son. They killed Him. They killed the people who followed Him. Paul (who wrote more books of the New Testament than any other author) spent his days preaching to those on the outside...the Gentiles.

As Christians, we are God's chosen people. What I am about to say often causes disagreement, but I'm running with it. Israel is no longer God's chosen people. They do not get a free pass into heaven just for being Jewish. Jews need Jesus just as much as anyone else on this planet.

Christians are not God's chosen. We are the "nation" blessed by God. No, we are not a nation in the way the world thinks of it. We do not have a specific plot of land to call our own, but none-the-less we are a people group of one mind and one heart focused on the Savior.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;¹⁰ for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10

 That verse was said to us! How wonderful!! It is good news that God chose those who were once on the outside to now be His people. It is amazing to be offered Salvation and to have a connection with God that was unheard of before Jesus came.

This news cannot be kept a secret! Sometimes we act just like the Israelites did in the Old Testament. They were not out to convert everyone and to share God's news. Many times Christians do not go out of their way to share the wonderful news of Jesus either. We just sit in our pews (or chairs) and act content to know Jesus but not share it with anyone.

People need to know that God desires them! He desires them so much that they are now welcome into His Kingdom. What great news!