The Jewish People

(What New Testament Says About) The Jewish People

I. Introduction
 A. 2Corinthians 3:12–16 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
 B. We’ve been talking about different themes in 2Cor.3:12-18. 
  1. We talked about how true Christian boldness comes from Christian hope, how boldness before men comes from boldness before God.
  2. Then we talked about how people are blind in their sin, blind to the glory of God shining in the face of Christ. And how only Jesus can remove the veil of blindness so that we can see.
  3. Then we talked about how Christ through His Spirit is the liberator, setting people free from emptiness and hopelessness and helplessness and aloneness and spiritual blindness and purposelessness and uncertainty. And how the real enslavers of mankind are sin and evil and Satan and death and guilt and worry and the fear of man. 
 C. Another one of its themes in this passage is the veiling of the Jewish people. But this is only part of a larger narrative about the Jewish people in the NT. In fact, Romans 9-11 is all about the Jewish people and says many things about them. And these things are very rarely discussed. 
  1. And this isn’t just some far off people group we have little contact with. 
  2. About 45% of the Jewish people in the world live in the US, as many as live in the land of Israel. 
  3. So instead of just focusing on what 2Corinthians 3:12-16 says this morning, I’d like to do a brief survey of what the NT teaches us about the Jewish people. 
  4. And then after this brief survey, I’d like to think about the relationship betwwen Christians and Jews, and then I’d like to talk about what all this means to us in our daily lives. 
  5. I’ve never preached directly on this subject. In this sermon I’m trying to correct years of small comments that I now think were somewhat misleading. 
II. What the NT tells us about the people of Israel 
 A. In an earthly sense, they are the most blessed people on earth.
  1. Romans 3:1–2 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
   a. They are the people God spoke to, the people God revealed Himself to.
  2. Romans 9:4-5 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. 
  3. In John 4:22 Jesus Himself said salvation is from the Jews. And He came first to save the Jews:
   a. Matthew 15:24“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
   b. Acts 3:26 “God, having raised up his servant (Jesus), sent him to you (Jews) first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
   c. Romans 15:8 “Christ became a servant to the circumcised (i.e. the Jews).”
 B. But their eyes were blind, so they rejected Jesus.
  1. 2Cor.3:14 (Even in the days of Moses) Their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. (People ask me about how the Jews can miss what Isaiah 53 says. This is how.) 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
  2. This doesn’t mean all Jewish people are blind to Jesus, of course.
   a. Paul and the other apostles (Rom.11:1), and the early Christians were all Jewish. 
   b. Some turn to the Lord, and their veil is removed. 
   c. Then they generally lose their Jewish distinctiveness when they become Christians, because, in Christ, the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile has been broken down (Eph.2:14). 
  3. Jewish people can’t come to God apart from Jesus, just like Gentiles.
   a. John 14:6 “No one can come to the Father except through Me.” Not, “No Gentile can come...”
  4. And they’re not the only ones with veils over their eyes, or course. The reason Paul makes a point of their veiledness is because they are the ones we would expect to be able to see.
  5. But generally, the Jewish people have rejected Christ.
  6. But Paul tells us here that their eyes have been veiled all along, even back in the days of Moses. 
  7. This is why they didn’t accept Jesus as their messiah. 
  8. But this isn’t something new. They didn’t accept Moses, and they didn’t receive Isaiah either. 
   a. You remember the story of when God first commissioned Isaiah as a prophet? He revealed Himself to Isaiah in the temple. And Isaiah came unglued at the sight. 
   b. And then God asked, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
   c. An Isaiah jumped up and said, “Here I am! Send me.”
   d. And then God told Isaiah what his assignment was: He told him that the people to whom he would prophesy would be blind and deaf to what he said. 
   e. To this, Isaiah understandably asked, “How long am I going to have to do this, O Lord?” (Is.6:8ff)
  9. This refusal to listen to God doesn’t mean they are worse than other people. It just means they’re like the rest of us. Any people group would have done the same thing. 
   a. Romans 1-3 They are no worse than other men, and no better (esp. Romans 2).
 C. They are still God’s chosen people. God has not rejected them as His people. 
  1. Romans 11:1–2a I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
  2. Then Paul gives further clarification in Romans 11:28–29 “As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
  3. Romans 11 speaks at least five times of a mass conversion of Jewish people in the future.
   a. Romans 11:7 Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”... 11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! ...15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? ...23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. 25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved. 31 They too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
  4. Of course, this doesn’t mean that every last Jewish person will be saved, just like not all Gentiles will be saved. (Romans 9:27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.”)
  5. But this is spoken of as a monumental event which will seemingly initiate the return of the Lord at the end of history (Romans 11:12, 15).
  6. Verse 25 tells us that this hardened state of the Jewish people is not only partial, but temporary. “A partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” And then the people of Israel will be saved. Won’t that be wonderful?
III. Now I’d like to say some things about the relationship between Jews and Christians. 
 A. Sadly, many terrible things have been said about and done to Jewish people over the centuries in the name of Christ. 
  1. Our Hands Are Stained With Blood by Michael L. Brown
  2. Sadly, late in his life, Martin Luther made some very negative statements about the Jews, though he was very unhealthy at the time, and quite grumpy about everything, and made a lot of inappropriate comments about many people. 
 B. Why would Christian people act this way? 
  1. There is not a whisper in the NT of permission – much less calling – to take vengeance against Jewish people for things done by their fellow Jews in the death of Christ or in the persecution of early Christians.
  2. And yet, this has been used as the justification for many retaliatory things. 
 C. I think it’s fair to say that most Jewish people have a strong sense that their people have been brutally and unjustly treated by Christians down through history. 
  1. And we need to keep this in mind as we reach relate to Jewish people and seek to befriend them.
  2. Even if we’ve not been personally guilty of wrongdoing, we should be humble, and remorseful. 
IV. What does this have to do with us? We’ve already talked about being grateful for eyes to see.
 A. Relating to Jewish people 
  1. It seems to me that Christians ought to feel a special bond with Jewish people – and be grateful. 
   a. It was through the Jews that we received the the oracles of the prophets. 
   b. It was through the Jews that we received the promised Savior and His salvation.
   c. They are the relatives of our Lord Jesus. 
   d. How do we think about the brothers of Jesus when they didn’t believe in Him? They were still important, still celebrities. So it is with Jews. They are related to Jesus. 
  2. To the Jews first 
   a. Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 
   b. This was Paul’s pattern on his missionary journeys, e.g. Acts 13:46.
  3. Longing for the salvation of the Jews 
   a. Romans 9:2-4 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption
   b. Romans 11:1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 
   c. I always thought of these verses as Paul’s personal feelings about his own people, like the feelings we have toward our own unsaved relatives.
   d. But I think it’s more than that. In the context of Romans 9-11, where this glorious future conversion of the Jews to Christ is foretold in exalted language, it seems to me that the salvation of the Jews is something we should all long for and pray for. 
   e. “If their resistance brought about riches for the world, if their rejection of Christ produced riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion into the Christian church mean!” (v.12)
 B. Things we can learn from mistakes the Jewish people made
  1. One of the strongest themes of the NT is that God does not show favoritism.
   a. Deut.7:6-8 tells us that God did not choose them because of who they were. 
   b. And yet many Jews fell into that trap, thinking they were better than everyone else.
   c. And now sadly many Christians have fallen into the same trap in their thinking about the Jews. 
   d. You see, which people group you’re a part of has nothing to do with your relationship with God. 
   e. Paul himself had to learn this lesson. Earlier in his life, he put his confidence and his identity in his Jewishness (Phil.3:4-11). But when Christ came into his life, his identity was in Him, not in his people group.
   f. And so, being aware of what happened with the Jews, we should be alert to the arrogant tendencies of our own hearts. As Christians, it is easy to think that we’re better than others.
   g. Paul makes this point in Romans 11:20-22 They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 
  2. It all comes down to a question of putting hope in God’s righteousness or our own righteousness.
   a. Romans 9:30–10:4 The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works... 2 I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
 C. Things we can learn from the way God has dealt with the people of Israel down through the ages 
  1. He is holy. He demands allegiance. He doesn’t just sluff off sin. He is offended by idolatry.
  2. He chooses. He doesn’t choose those who are better than everyone else. He doesn’t choose some because He likes the way they look, or because they are smarter than the others. He chooses by grace.
  3. He is patient and long-suffering. 
  4. He redeems. He comes after. He fights for His people. 
  5. Sometimes He lets His people stumble and fallfs in order to humble them and show them their need for Him. 
  6. He has a story He is bringing to pass, with a wonderful ending which glorifies Him and His beloved chosen ones.