Example of Working Out Extremes

 

Acts 26 reports Paul’s defense of Himself before King Agrippa. By his words recorded there he reacted to Jesus’ influence among the Jews from his extreme understanding of being “chosen” as being synonymous with “salvation”. Understanding this as truth Paul acted from his zeal by persecuting Jesus’ followers thereby persecuting Jesus thru them, verses 14-15. Paul being a zealous man stood with the Council against Stephen putting him to death as a blasphemer by stoning. After this Paul acted as an inquisitionist for Judaism. This is where we find him as he receives his calling;

And when we had fallen to the ground,

I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect,

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?

And I said,

Who are you Lord?

And the Lord said,

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

But arise, and stand on your feet;

For this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister

And a witness not only to the things you have seen,

But also to the things in which will appear to you;

Delivering you from the Jewish people and from the gentiles,

To whom I am sending you,

To open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light

And from the dominion of Satan to God,

In order that they may receive forgiveness of sins

And an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.

 

Acts 26:14-18

 

Paul testifying in his letter to the Galatians 1:16f, alludes to a time most think of as three years of direct instruction from Yahweh in isolation. With all this in mind I do not think it to much of an offence to Scripture to read into Paul’s words,

I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He?

 

I think his statement hints at some of what Paul struggled with in those three years. This man of zealous passion knocked to the ground, blinded, and humbled through the prayers of healing by one of the very targets of his zeal had to react to this profound change. It would not be out of character for him to respond with as much zeal as he exercised against the ‘threat’ Jesus posed prior to this chain of events. The section of Paul’s letter to the Roman’s embodied in Chapter Eleven provides evidence of this. If Gentiles have a place in Israel, Paul must of thought, that must mean Yahweh has to have rejected Israel. If Jesus is the Messiah and His “chosen” have rejected Him…? Paul seems to answer this profound question of how he has come to understand these extreme claims in Romans 11:7-10. After he quotes scripture associated to rejection he makes this statement;

I say then, they (Jews) did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous… for if their (Jews) rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Ezk.37?)

… for from the standpoint of the Gospel they (Jews) are enemies for your (Gentiles) sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the Father’s; for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, in order that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy, for God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all.

Romans 11:7-32 segmented for emphasis

 

The idea that since Israel rejected Messiah thus they are rejected without recourse must have been his immediate reaction. However, as we see, Paul comes to understand that this is not true but part of the predestined foundational plan of Yahweh. The ‘grafted in’ once seen as outside the commonwealth of Israel, strangers, are now a part of the commonwealth, fellow citizens, Ephesians 2:11f – unheard of! This imagery used by Paul follows the understanding of the vineyard and the vine in the parabolic reference of Isaiah 5 and again in John 15. Therefore, the apparent vine analogy in Romans 11.

This struggle within Paul as chosen and then saved and his coming to realize that the two are not necessarily one and the same becomes his place of rest once reconciled as seen above. The ‘natural’ branches now cut off thru their rejection of Yahweh’s salvation thru His “Suffering Servant” – allows ‘wild’ branches access to the Vine. The Messiah exposes the contradiction of Yahweh’s intention of choosing Israel as a nation of priests, Exodus 19:6 but not the conveyance of His salvation. Yahweh bestowing salvation thru the “Suffering Servant” exposes another mystery. This mystery as Paul explains; “shut up all in disobedience” including those thru whom salvation was to come, John 4:22, 1^st Peter 1:17. Being chosen and the priesthood of Yahweh is a different category then being the “Salvation of Yahweh”. Both have their place of calling – priesthood intersession and instruction, Jesus – The Suffering Servant – the Lamb of Yahweh, atonement providing reconciliation; breaking the curse of original sin inherited thru First Adam. Any being in Christ are sons of Abraham, Gal. 3:29 and all who follow the God of Abraham are a part of the same family having Yahweh as Father therefore He applies the same principles of discipline to all who are in Christ, Gentile or Jew, Hebrews 12:4f. These principles are the basis of verses eleven and following that Paul applies to the rejection and restoration of the “chosen”.

It is to Small a Thing…

Isaiah 49:5f

 

The rejection of Jesus by the Jews did not lead to being disinherited but provides the big picture of Yahweh’s plan for mankind acted out before the Nations and is seen in many prophecies of Isaiah, 54:4-8 being but another example. Jesus’ parabolic teaching of the Prodigal Son points to this dynamic. The son in the distant land (the nations of the Gentiles) comes to his senses returns home to the fullness of his place in the Father’s house (seeing the mercy of their Creator coming to understand that He is the God of the Hebrew Scriptures). His return and restoration causes the son (the Jews who have always identified with Yahweh) who stayed “home” to become jealous and question the Father about His actions (this is the Jesus issue the stumbling of the Jews). This struggle; of chosen and saved being not one and the same without a change of heart arose in Paul after Damascus and I believe was explored and ended in the desert over the three years. His struggle is an example of the struggle of the Hebrew people waiting for the Blessed One’s appearance while being blinded to His already being here. Paul as a chosen one who became a saved one teaches Jesus as reconciler between Yahweh and the Nations thru Israel even in their blindness. The Chosen sit in blindness as did Paul awaiting fearless Gentiles to arrive to, “restore the hearts of the fathers to their children (the offspring of salvation Gentiles that has come thru them) and the hearts of the children to their fathers (the originators of the message of salvation – Israel), Malachi 4:6 thus provoking them to jealously so they can hear Yahweh saying,

“Return O Israel, to Yahweh your God,

For you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Take words with you and return to Yahweh.

Say to Him…

I will heal their apostasy,

I will love them freely,

For My anger has turned away from them…

…Whoever is wise let him understand these things;

Whoever is discerning let him know them.

For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous will walk in them,…

Hosea 14

 

Reading carefully Paul’s letters, this theme is a constant. His conclusion, the two can become one, Ephesians 2:13-19, 4:4-7 thru the jealousy evoked by mercy, Romans 11:11, the Father bestows upon the returning wander from afar causing the son at home to question like Jonah, Chapter Four, the Father’s actions seeking reconciliation, 2^nd Corinthians 5:16-21 – reconciliation desired, opens the eyes of the Hebrew heart revealing Jesus the stone they rejected as David’s greater son, the awaited One. And as Paul says the natural branch’s regrafting will be, “life from the dead”! could this be the prophecy of Ezekiel 37!!!

Pastor Art