ST. PAUL SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP

LESSON 63 

INTRODUCTION

Author Mark Alan Leslie is a dear friend of Frank Eiklor. His website is featured on the "links" page of our Shalom International web-site: shalomworldwide.org (English and Spanish). In this lesson, Mark states simply and powerfully why every Christian's heart should be filled with God's own love for the people He chose to bless the whole world. We present it as a story to thrill and motivate you to open your heart to this same love.

HERE IS MARK'S LESSON

The Bible is filled with scriptures encouraging, even admonishing, Gentile believers to love both the Jewish people and their homeland, God's land of Israel.

We are to love them as God loves them-with the love of a family member-and not simply "because God said to" or because your support for them carries with it a gift for you in return.

Many have preached, "We are instructed to pray for the peace of Jerusalem," (Psalm 122:6) so let's do so or, "The Lord says He will bless them that bless thee [Jews] and curse them that curse thee" (Genesis 12:3) so we need to bless them.

The problem with that rhetoric is a hollow motive. God wants us to honestly possess His heart and His deep, unconditional, abiding love for the Jews and Israel. The Bible declares to the Jews in Deuteronomy 7:6, "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession." Romans 11:28, 29 in the Amplified Bible declares the permanency of God's selection: "From the point of view of the gospel [good news], they [the Jews, at present] are enemies [of God] which is for your advantage and benefit. But from the point of view of God's choice (of election, of divine selection), they are still the beloved (dear to Him) for the sake of their forefathers. For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable, [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call].

The Bible also says that as Adam "knew" Eve in an intimate, caring relationship, so did God with the Hebrews. Of all the peoples in the world, He was intimate only with Israel, watching over and caring for her in a very personal way, both when she was faithful and, as often, unfaithful to Him (see Hosea). Watching God's protection of Israel throughout history beautifully demonstrates His love for the believer-how He watches over us, directs us and chastises us when we sin.

Israel's called the apple of God's eye. The "apple of the eye" refers to the pupil, which is delicate and essential for vision and therefore must be protected at all costs. It also reflects what the viewer is looking at-in this case meaning that God's eye is particularly on the Jew. And Zechariah 2:8 warns the nations that seek to harm the Jews that whoever touches the Jews "touches the apple of his eye".  

Like a Marriage

Think of this love for the Jews in terms of marriage. When we marry, the Bible says in Mark 10:8, "the two shall become one flesh."

Likewise, when we confess our love for Jesus, we begin preparing to be the Bride of Christ. And who is the Bridegroom? Who is the Son of God, our Savior, our Redeemer? A Jew, His mother, Mary, was a Jew, His earthly father, Joseph, was a Jew. And the lineage of both Mary and Joseph trace all the way back to Abraham (see Luke 3:23-38 and Matthew 1:1-17). Indeed, through Ruth and Rahab, Gentiles are forever tied to the Jews as relatives. We want to be part of His family and to love it like He loves us, just as we do with our natural family. Not only Jesus' family, but His earliest disciples were Jewish.

People often think of the Old Testament as of Jewish heritage and the New Testament as a Gentile book. No, the New Testament is Jewish, written almost exclusively by Jews. So your Teacher is a Jew and your "teachers" in the Bible were Jewish. When Peter returned from preaching to the centurion's household and friends, the disciples were astounded to hear that even Gentiles could be saved.

Jews were used to Gentiles traveling and living with them as proselytes. But this? Gentiles believing in the Jewish Messiah as having come, having taken the sins of the world upon Himself, having died and risen from the grave, and preparing an eternal home for all believers in heaven? This was new! This was "astounding."

This was an answer to prayer for such people as Paul, who wrote in Romans 9:3,4 that he wished he could be "cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel."

He continued, "Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen."

Meditate on what God wants us to learn from the following scriptures and remember: He wants all believers to love with true feeling.

• "The Gospel…is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Romans 1:16)
• "Whereas glory, honor and peace will be given to everyone who does what is good and right-to the Jew first and then to the Gentile." (Romans 2:10)
• Jesus says to the Samaritan woman at the well, "You worship what you do not know; we [Jews] worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews." (John 4:22)
• "As birds flying, so will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending also, He will deliver, and passing over, He will preserve it." (Isaiah 31:5)
• "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine." (Isaiah 43:1)
• "I have set watchmen on thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." (Isaiah 62:6, 7)
• "And so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." (Romans 11:26)
• "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke 21:24)

Isn't God's unconditional love a beautiful thing?! The Jews have broken His heart many times. So have we Christians. Yet He has never cast away His Jewish people nor will He ever abandon His Church. That's why it's so important for followers of Jesus to truly show His love to the Jews and Israel.