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God promised Abraham the he would be the father of many nations. – As for Me, behold My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations (Genesis 17:4). God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled. Not only was his own seed to be multiplied as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5), but the Gentiles also were foreordained by God to be included in Abraham’s heritage.
One Fold, One Shepherd
Jesus said, And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd (John 10:16). When Jesus declared that there would be one fold and one shepherd, He was telling us that the prophecies concerning the Gentiles coming to God would be fulfilled in Him, the Messiah. And as history attests, the Gentiles responded to the Gospel and came to God through the Messiah Jesus. –
Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put My spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:1).
I the LORD have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand, and will keep You, and give You for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; (Isaiah 42:6).
And the Gentiles shall come to Your light, and kings to the brightness of Your rising (Isaiah 60:3).
Doubtless You are our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: You, O LORD, are our father, our redeemer; Your name is from everlasting (Isaiah 63:16).
I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not: I said, Behold Me, behold Me, to a nation that was not called by My name (Isaiah 65:1).
The wild Gentile olive tree has been grafted into Abraham’s lineage by faith in the Messiah’s atonement for their sins. At the same time, sadly, the Jews who rejected God’s plan of redemption have been cut off.
And if some of the branches be broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakes of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Boast not against the branches. But if you boast, you bear not the root, but the root you.
You will say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear:
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not you.
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness: otherwise you also shall be cut off.
And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? (Romans 11:17-24).
The Jews who abide still in unbelief are characterized as “Jews who say they are Jews and are not” in Revelation 2:9, 3:9.
The LORD called your name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken (Jeremiah 11:16).
… For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; (Romans 9:6).
The early Christians recognized that because they have been grafted into, “the root and fatness of the olive tree,” Abraham’s lineage, they saw themselves as true Jews and that there was no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile.
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God (Romans 2:28,29).
The Apostle Paul understood the change that had taken place when the Jews were returned to the holy land after the Babylonian captivity. They had broken the previous covenant that God had made with Abraham, and God promised them a “New everlasting covenant.” That would be given to them by the Messiah. This covenant had the power of eternal life. –
Incline your ear, and come to Me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David (Isaiah 55:3). David is used in the scriptures as a similitude of the Messiah, a prince that will reign forever (Ezekiel 37:25, 34:24, 37:24, Jeremiah 30:9).
This new covenant not only held the promise of eternal life, but because the Holy Spirit was now made accessible to all people, the holy fruit of the Spirit could now be appropriated resulting in a changed life. This “new man” is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him, is now one man, that is neither Jew nor Gentile, but a new creature formed in the image of the Messiah Jesus. –
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all (Colossians 10,11).
The true meaning of the word Jew is someone who has been set apart, chosen by God. This is the seed that is birthed through the New Everlasting Covenant which is “the seed which the Lord has blessed.” -
For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them (Isaiah 61:8).
And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD has blessed (Isaiah 61:9).
It was a small Jewish remnant that initially received the Messiah Jesus and fulfilled the prophecy that flowed from Isaiah’s pen. That remnant of believers became known among the Gentiles as their evangelism spread across the known world.
And the Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name (Isaiah 62:2). - And that name is “Christian,” which means, “Christ, (Messiah) in me.”
While unbelieving Israel today is cut off from the blessings of the New Everlasting Covenant, she is not without hope. As we are assured by the Apostle Paul, someday all Israel will be saved. (Romans 11:26). Israel’s prophesied second captivity (Zechariah 14) and the Lord’s return to rescue her, will be the means through which Israel will at last embrace her Messiah -
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn (Zechariah 12:10).
The Lord’s prophecy that there will be one fold and one shepherd will be fulfilled, and Jesus, our Messiah will be lord over one new Israel consisting of both Jew and Gentile unified as one.
Copyright 2023 by H.D. Shively