GOD’S CALL TO THE NATIONS THROUGH ISRAEL

Yehovah’s call to service and His election as instruments of His grace included the obligation and responsibility to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Exodus 19:4-6:

You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Israel.

Here we see that Abraham’s seed as a treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation to carry out Yehovah’s purposes. Especially significant is the description of Israel as a priesthood of believers. The priesthood was to serve Yehovah and to minister to others.

Israel was to share with others the Man of Promise [Genesis 3:15] who was to come. This is why Paul quotes Isaiah 49:6-7:

And He [Yehovah] said, It is a light thing that you [the Messiah Jesus] should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus says Yehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him, whom man despises [the Messiah Jesus], to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of Yehovah that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose you.

So we see why Paul quoted Isaiah 49:6-7, in his attempt to convince the Jews of Antioch Pisidia that it had been God’s intent all along to extend His blessings of redemption to the Gentiles. The source of world missionary activity is rooted in God’s call to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, which will then be the extended call to all who now believe and who have been grafted into the Israel of Yehovah.

Indeed, the apostle Paul himself maintained that his own call to be an apostle to the Gentiles easily paralleled similar call to Jeremiah and Isaiah in the Old Testament:

Isaiah 49:1: Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, you peoples, from far: Yehovah has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name: and He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand has He hidden me: and He has made me a polished shaft; in His quiver has He kept me close: and He said unto me, you are my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

Jeremiah 1:5: Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified [set you apart] you; I have appointed you a prophet unto the nations.

Galatians 1:15-16: But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles……

Paul began his letter to the Romans with the affirmation that he was “called to be an apostle [one sent forth]” set apart [sanctified] for the gospel of God, the gospel Yehovah promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy scriptures.

Romans 1: 1-3: Paul, a servant of Jesus the Messiah, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which He promised afore through his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh….

Paul’s mission was to call Gentiles from among the nations (Galatians 1:5) to believe in Jesus the Messiah until “the full number of the Gentiles” had been gathered in the Messiah (Romans 11:25).

Romans 1:5: … through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto the obedience of [covenant] faith among all the nations, for His name’s sake;

Romans 11:25: … a hardening in part has befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles comes in;

We might conclude that the “offering of the Gentiles” mentioned in Romans 15:16 would fulfill what the prophet Isaiah saw (Isaiah 66:19-23). As a result of missionary activity, “all flesh” (Isaiah 66:23), including Jews and Gentiles, would one day worship Yehovah. They would come to Him from as far away as Tarshish, that is Spain (Isaiah 66:19), a site often linked with “from the ends of the earth” (Psalm 72:8-11; John 1:3).

So we see that the goal of the Old Testament was to see both Jews and Gentiles come to the saving knowledge of the Messiah who was to come. Yehovah’s eternal plan was to provide salvation to all peoples; it was never intended to be reserved to one special group, such as the Jews, even as an initial offer!

All of those now who have been baptized and receive the Holy Spirit are now to be ministers; priests, ambassadors of the lord Messiah to take the message his God and Father gave him to give to the world. That message is the message of deliverance from the bondage of sin; and the opportunity to enter into His soon-coming Kingdom.

All those in the lord Messiah have been grafted into the Israel of God (Romans 11) and are as a result to carry out the mission to be witnesses of the soon-coming Kingdom of God with the man Yehovah has chosen to sit on the throne of David at Zion, the Messiah Jesus. The witness Philip gives in Acts 8:12: is the example we should follow: Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus the Messiah, they were baptized, both men and women.

Note: When you talk about the name of someone as Philip did of Jesus you reveal everything that has to do with that person.

May these words inspire all believers who hear; to be a part of the world missionary preaching of the good news; about the coming Kingdom of God; as witnessing members of the Israel of God!