(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
““Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says Yahweh, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face. Their iniquity isn’t concealed from my eyes. First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.” Yahweh, my strength, my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit. Should a man make to himself gods which yet are no gods?” Therefore behold, I will cause them to know, this once I will cause them to know my hand and my might. Then they will know that my name is Yahweh.””
(Jeremiah 13:24-27)
“Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For most certainly, he doesn’t give help to angels, but he gives help to the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.”
(Hebrews 2:14-18)
The children of God had rejected Him. They had chosen to wander and to ENJOY wandering. They had had years upon years upon DECADES to repent. They were being warned about coming calamity IN DETAIL in order to encourage them to repent. But they were not repenting. They were not thinking of repenting. They were attacking the messenger and mocking him. Persecuting him. They were holding to ‘words from God’ that had been delivered by false prophets because they all liked that message. They had swallowed the idea that they could do the motions of worship and that would be enough. It is NEVER enough. God wants our hearts and minds to choose Him. God doesn’t want us to go through the motions. The motions mean next to nothing. The heart intent is everything. But God still didn’t totally abandon them. For the sake of His covenant and His words to people who truly did worship Him, He would save a remnant. Yes, they would be scattered, but He would raise up fishermen to get them back.
Jesus came to empower those fishermen (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17). God wants to gather His people to Himself. Jews and Gentiles. God is marking His people as those who believe in Him and trust in Him from their hearts. He is allowing the Gentiles to be grafted into His family as He draws His family to Himself. Jesus is the Way. The church is the result. The nation of Israel and the Gentiles of the nations joined together in Jesus as the church, the Bride of Messiah. This is why Jesus came to be a sacrifice. This is why Jesus became human. This is why He is Messiah – first the suffering servant and soon to be the conquering king. Jesus is the mechanism through which God is calling the world to come to Him. For His people the Jews to return to Him and for the Gentiles to become His people in their hearts and come to Him. Jesus atoned for us so that we could rely on Him. To be His people, His children, and for Him to be our God.
Summary
Gentiles don’t replace the Jews. And the church is every believer in Jesus, Jew and Gentile. We are together, not separate. We may not like everything the politicians do on a human scale, but we are together as a people. One people in Jesus, under God. Believers. Trusters in Yahweh. And we all have the same mission: to be fishermen with Jesus. To reach out to others who do not yet know Him and tell them of Him. To introduce Jesus by our example and then by our words. We live like Jesus and love like Jesus in order to show people Jesus. And when they see Him, they’ll ask about Him. If no one has ever asked you about your Jesus, about what makes you different, then it’s time to examine your life and ask yourself whether or not you are modelling Jesus to the world the way you should? It starts personal, expands to our family, then to our neighbourhood, and then to our cities and nations. We are the Light. We are the visible representation of the invisible Kingdom. We need to be good fishermen, because God is calling the fish home. It is time. We need to be ready. We need to be active. We need to be examples of His love.
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