Through the Strainer (1)

Why does YHVH state very clearly that the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel belongs to Him?  He declares and claims over and over that they are His people. As a matter of fact, they are defined as His inheritance: “For YHVH's portion is His people; Jacob is the place/allotment of His inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:9).  ).  No less than 17 times in the book of Exodus does YHVH claim these Hebrew people for Himself.  In the rest of the Tenach “My people Israel” is mentioned over 30 times.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.  What then shall we say to these things? If Elohim is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:29-31). It is no small matter in YHVH’s eyes for us to be cognizant that we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.   “I say then, has Elohim cast away His people? Certainly not…  Elohim has not cast away His people whom He foreknew” (Romans 11:1-2 emphases added).   

One might ask then, ‘so what about the ten tribes of Israel whom He called “not MY PEOPLE”? (ref. Hosea 1:9).  On top of that, YHVH also declared that He was “not their Elohim” and that He would scatter them, like seed, among ALL the Nations/Goyim. According to His Word, they were destined to become estranged from their ancestry and foreigners to their heritage, yet at the same time He makes reference to “the day of Jezreel” – Yah’s sowing (Hos. 1:11).

YHVH continues to watch over the seed He has sown, and has this to say about it: “For surely I will command, and will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground” (Amos 9:9 emphasis added).  Before the farmer scatters or sows seed in his field, he examines the grain by sifting it, making sure that there are no seeds of different species among the specific type that he intends to sow.  Likewise, YHVH says very clearly: “You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed” (Leviticus 19:19), and He of course does not violate His own law.  Yeshua left us with a parable that explains the enemy’s on-going attempts to disrupt YHVH’s eternal order: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way” (Matthew 13:24-25).  YHVH has chosen Jacob as His very peculiar seed/life that would bear His name and bring glory to Him by predestinating this progeny to be “conform to the image of His Son”.  This is why in the final restoration the proclamation will resound throughout the entire creation: “Great is the day of Jezreel”!! 

“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 Elohim.'  Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and appoint for themselves one head; and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel!  (Hosea 1:10 - 2:1 emphasis).

  

 “Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my Elohim!'" (Hosea 2:23).

"I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember Me in far countries; They shall live, together with their children, and they shall return” (Zechariah 10:9 emphases added). 

Let me make a “what if” statement.  YHVH’s Word promises Abraham and Sarah multitudes of natural seed-decedents, like the dust of the earth, stars of heaven and sand of the sea” (Genesis 13:16; 22:17). He said that He would sow this covenanted seed into all the goyim/nations/ethnos/ gentiles, and that they would be so numerous that they would make up the majority of the population in some of the lands of their scatterings (ref. Genesis 48:19).

“What if” in order for the rest of humanity and for creation itself to recognize YHVH’s faithfulness to His Word, He will have to harvest the very seed that He planted?  Could it be that the ones responding to the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom in the field of this world, are of the seed that YHVH sowed?  Perhaps a non-Jewish person, who has been ‘harvested’, should be told that he or she are a testimony, or an ensign, of Elohim’s faithfulness to those whom He foreknew.  He called this seed “Israel” and He is therefore compelled to harvest “Israel”.  Yeshua taught His disciples that people are known “by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16), through their natural and spiritual characteristics. Obviously a specific seed will bear the fruit that is identical to the species sown, and in this case IT IS the seed that came from the loins of Abraham and the womb of Sarah.  (ref. Romans 9:6-9).

A very common obstacle in the restoration of the identity of the natural seed of Abraham, is naming Abraham and the other forefathers “Jewish”.  I’m not saying that the Jews are not of the seed of those fathers. It’s just that Abram was from the linage of Shem and Ever, where the name Hebrew actually comes from (ref. Genesis 14:13), while in Hebrew “Jew” is “Yehudi”, meaning “Judean”, and began to be in common use during the Babylonian exile of the tribe of Judah in 556 BCE.  Joseph, for example, was recognized as a Hebrew slave in Egypt (ref. Geneses 39:14), and later when his family joined him they too were called Hebrews by their task masters.  But, it is noteworthy and worthwhile to be aware of what YHVH called them: “And YHVH said, ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows’” (Exodus 3:7 emphasis added).