This
age in which we live is considered the "age of the Gentiles," because
God included non-Jews in the focus of His Saints' outreach to the lost. Since
Jesus' ministry began, Gentiles are freely included in God's adopted family -
the Jews first, and then the Gentiles (Romans 1:16).
Prior
to this, His attention was on His chosen people, the Jews. Consequently, there
were only a few non-Jews that He included in His family, such as the woman who
safely harbored Joshua and the spies in Jericho, as well as Naomi's
daughter-in-law, Ruth, etc.
The
Messianic Jews embrace Jesus, but there are not many of them. Even within the
Jewish population now living in the promised land of Israel, there are few who choose
to believe in their Messiah, Jesus Christ. For centuries, the Jews have been
"blinded" by Jesus' first humble coming.
As
a babe in the manger, Jesus did not resemble the coming King prophesied in the
Old Testament writings. Those prophecies represent His second coming, however.
Somehow Jewish scholars missed the 300 prophesies that Christ's first coming
fulfilled (Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2, etc).
After
Jesus' resurrection, God led some of the apostles to go and preach to the
Gentiles, giving generations since then the opportunity for non-Jewish people to
enter His family (Ephesians 1:5). However, when the anti-Christ takes power,
God will send a strong spirit of delusion over the whole earth.
This
gives the anti-Christ the ability to continue Satan's ministry of deception (2
Thessalonians 2:10-12). Only a few Gentiles will believe during that time,
because their worldview and belief system are based on their hardened hearts
against the truth of the Gospel of Christ.
The
wrath of God is revealed during the Great Tribulation period against all of
those who suppressed the Truth of God. Sadly, those who know the Gospel truth,
and who refuse to believe it, and who close their mind to its validity, will
receive eternal condemnation by their own choices (John 3:18; Romans 1:18).
Prayer:
Father
God, thank You that the 144,000 evangelists - 1200 from each of the twelve Israeli
tribes (Rev 14:1-20), will go out into the world and minister to the Jews who
are alive during the time of the Great Tribulation, and many will accept Jesus
as their Savior and Lord. We are so thankful that You are faithful to Your
promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, because that means that You are always
faithful to Your promises to all of Your Saints.
We
cling to the truth of Your Word, revel in the love that You shower us with
every moment of our life, and rejoice in Your presence in our life both now and
throughout eternity. Help us to rid our life of every "idol" that we
embrace now, and prevent us from clinging to any others in the future. Christ
is our whole life (Colossians 3:3-4), and we will bow to and worship no other
God.
Thought
for the Day:
All
of those who clearly heard a presentation of the Gospel of Christ during the
age of the Gentiles and during the Great Tribulation, and rejected the
opportunity to accept Christ as their Savior, will continue to believe the
anti-Christ's rhetoric prevalent in the world even today; and they will die in
their sins, and eternally reap the condemnation of their own choices - unless
they turn their heart to Jesus.
-
Titus 1:14; 1 Timothy 4:1-2; John 3:18
