Isaiah 42:6- "I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will...give thee...for a light to the Gentiles."Isaiah here is prophesying what God would do in the future for the Gentiles- a people who did not know Him. The Israelites knew that Messiah would one day come into the world to take away their sins, and they looked forward to His coming, by faith (Hebrews 11:13- "these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."), but when the time finally arrived, and Messiah was born, lived and ministered- to the Jews first, then to the Gentiles (just as the Apostle Paul would later do, in that order- and we'll get back to that in a moment), His own people would not, for the most part, receive Him.
Interesting, isn't it? And perplexing. They were looking forward to His coming, they expected Him, yet they wouldn't recognize Him when He actually arrived. They refused to believe in Him, sought to discredit Him (much as they did Paul in the future), and eventually put Him to death.......
There was though, and always is, a remnant of His own people, a 'witness' of Him and who He is (today, both Jew and Gentile). Now, because God has made sure that there was always that remnant, the Gentiles are able (those who will) to receive Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and for eternal life. The wonderful thing about the Gospel of Christ is that it is universal, in that ANYONE can come to Him- John 6:37b "...him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out", yet it is strictly INDIVIDUAL. God knows each of us by name, and He comes into the hearts of people on an individual basis, as they see their own need, and ask Him in. He doesn't save nations, groups, denominations or organizations- He saves people.
I love that! John 1:11&12 says, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name".....
Back to the Apostle Paul- Just as Jesus did, Paul went to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. The Gospel was first for the Jew, as it was to them that the Law and prophets had been given, and it was to them that the promise of the coming Messiah was given, then- as prophesied- it was to go out to the entire world, to everybody and anybody who would receive it...And we can thank God for that!
We who are Gentiles today must understand that this was such a radical concept to the Jews of Jesus' day to even allow Gentiles into the young Church. Gentiles were detestable to the Jew, and even as Jesus told His disciples to preach the Gospel to all of creation, and that they would be 'witnesses unto Me...unto the uttermost part of the earth' (read Matthew 28:18-20, and Acts 1:8), the Jew found it extremely difficult to move from Law to Grace. It was not done quickly or easily, and many Judaizers simply would not completely let go of the Law, attempting to mix it with God's grace, but the Apostle Paul knew God's call on his life, and would obey fully God's assignment to him. He, like Jesus, went to the Synagogue to proclaim God's message of grace to ALL people. In every place on his missionary journeys, that's where he'd start. When they would refuse to receive the Gospel message, Paul would then turn to the Gentiles and preach the Gospel to them.....
Wonderful, isn't it? Paul was a Jew through and through (read some of his story in Acts, chapter 9, and Philippians, chapter 3- absolutely fascinating), and yet he later referred to himself as the Apostle to the Gentiles! His allegiance to Christ was so much more important to him than his own nationality, race, or accomplishments, and he fought against everything, from legalism to false teaching, in order to bring Jew and Gentile alike the pure, glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, and "Light of the Gentiles".........
Are we all willing to be a part of that remnant? Will we share with others His Gospel of grace? Christian, that is your calling.
En Agape, Jim Ewing
