Letter 153 (More Mysteries) 21/06/02
In the past, as well as more recently, I have come across
believers (Christians) who tend to make statements such as: “I am a Gentile
(which actually means heathen); I do not feel in any way that I’m of the
natural seed of Israel, but in Jesus I have all the promises that belong to
Israel”.
It is nice to claim positive
promises, but would these assertors be so quick to make them had they
considered the responsibilities that go with being a chosen Firstborn nation? Especially
when this nation is a witness to a faithful covenant-keeping Elohim.
Yes, "formally you were goy’im, that is,
those identified with the nations, but now you are brought into the
commonwealth (national identity) of Israel" (ref. Eph. 2:12). How
about identifying with the multitudes promised to the forefathers? Was not the
“fullness of the Goy’im” promised to Ephraim?
Does the mystery of the blindness of Israel have something to do with
ignorance of one’s natural heritage? And isn't Ephraim’s brother Manasseh’s
name (“forgetfulness”) prophetic of the destiny of the people connected to the
promises you, the so-called Gentile, are claiming (Gen. 48:19)? YHVH did not
make those promises to “Gentiles”, but to those forgetful Israelites who are
“far off”.
As we know, the writers of the books of the New Covenant had
no other Scriptures, but the Tanach ('Old' Covenant) upon which to base their
revelation and teaching of the mystery of the Gospel (Eph. 6:19). Most of their audience had no understanding
whatsoever of the Hebrew Scriptures, or the Septuagint (the first translation of
the O.T. into Greek), let alone personally owning a scroll. The Gutenberg press
did not exist at the time, nor did the Gideons or the Bible Society exist to
distribute copies of YHVH’s Word. This is probably the reason why Paul writes,
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to
carnal, as to babes in the Messiah. I fed you with milk and not with solid
food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still
not able” (1 Cor. 3:1-2). Before stating the above, Paul says: “However,
we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor
of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery,
the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory” (1
Cor.2:6-7). He then tops it off by
stating that the apostles should be regarded as servants of the Messiah and
stewards of the mysteries of Elohim (ref. 1 Cor. 4:1).
Let me emphasize again: the apostles’ understanding of the
fifteen or so mysteries that they wrote about were based on the Tanach. Yeshua
also spoke of these mysteries, although in parable form. One of those mysteries is found in Paul’s
address to the “former Gentiles” or “wild olive branches” who used to be “far
off, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the
covenants” (ref. Rom 11:25; Eph 2:12). Who are those who are described as being
“far off”?
"Thus says YHVH - Elohim: ‘Although I have cast them far
off among the Gentiles (or Nations
- (Goy’im), and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I
shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have
gone"' (Ezekiel 11:16 emphasis added). Who was YHVH addressing
through the prophet Ezekiel?
"O Adoni,
righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day--to
the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near
and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them,
because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You” (Dan.
9:7 emphasis added). Who is the Prophet Daniel addressing, defining
their location as being “far off”.
"Therefore say, `Thus says YHVH -Elohim: "I will
gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have
been scattered … Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit
within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart
of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them;
and they shall be My people, and I will be their God” (Eze 11:17-20). Is
this not speaking to you who say that you are far off and have experienced the
above heart change? This sounds like a promise to a people who were called “not
His people”. Strangely enough, these very prophecies, regarding the destiny of
Israel, are found in Hosea chapter 1. YHVH
said to Hosea about the child that was to be born: "Call his name
Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number
of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be
measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said
to them, `You are not My people,' There it shall be said to them, `You are sons
of the living God'” (Hos. 1:9-10; Rom 8:19). Are you, by saying “I
am a Gentile” actually confessing that you were “not My people” and in so doing
actually admitting or revealing that you are Israel?
YHVH opens His dissertation in Ezekiel 11:15 by addressing
the ones who are “far off”. "Son of man, your brethren, your
relatives, your countrymen, and all the house of Israel in its entirety, are
those about whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, `Get far off
from YHVH; this land has been given to us as a possession.’ “Doesn’t that
sound familiar, as even today some are still saying to the repentant and
restored returnees of Israel/Ephraim those very words? Are we dealing here with a mystery of
blindness on both sides of the family?
“Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is
prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of YHVH are right; the righteous walk
in them, but transgressors stumble in them”
(Hos. 14:9).
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