The Church: THe Mystery of Gentile Salvation

Now to say that is not to say that it isn’t there, indicated that God is going to save Gentiles because I’ll show you in a moment that it is. But there’s nothing there in the Old Testament that blends the Jew and the Gentile into one’s spiritual organism. So this is a more full revelation of that reality than is found in the Old Testament. And this is essentially our unity in Christ. We are all members of one body. We all belong to each other. Christ is the head, and we are the members of his body.

So what Paul is talking about here is the unity of the Church. We know we are one in Christ. All true believers who are in Christ are one with Christ, and therefore one with each other. That’s the spiritual reality. But life in the Church does not always reflect that. In fact, to be honest with you, it rarely reflects that. Unity is a very hard thing to experience, to get the Church to experience. It is a huge issue to the Apostle Paul, but he faced the fact that discord was apparently more frequent than unity.

Look at his letters, particularly to the Corinthians. He talks about the divisiveness that was manifest there. To the Philippians, he calls them to unity in several other places, even in Ephesians. So experiencing unity in the Church is a challenge. It is a challenge. Why? Because people tend to be selfish, self-centered, proud. They tend to hold grudges. They tend to envy. They tend to be jealous. They tend to prefer themselves rather than others. So it’s a challenge because we’re overcoming the flesh. But the unity of the Church is a critical issue to the Apostle Paul.

And I want to show you that as we begin to look at these fourteen verses, it’s going to take us a while. I’m going to go slowly through this because I want to be patient, and I want you to understand the very important reality of this passage of scripture. So look back at chapter 3 for a moment, and in particular at verse 6. This is the heart of the passage. Gentiles, meaning all non-Jews, meaning all nations of the world, all people groups, all tribes and tongues, as Revelation identifies them, are designed by God to be members of the body of Christ, one body.

That is to say, God designed salvation, not only for Jews but for Gentiles as well. We know this, but this was a very difficult thing to get across to the Jews in the ministry of the Apostle Paul, and I’ll show you why. But before I do that, I want to go back and make you to understand this. In the Old Testament, the salvation of Gentiles is clearly indicated. Okay? The salvation of Gentiles is clearly indicated. When you go back into Genesis chapter 12 verse 3, Genesis 22, 18, Genesis 28, 14, we read there that God is going to bless the nations.

Right off the starting line in the Old Testament, God repeatedly says, I’m going to bless the nations of the world. And then in Psalm 72 and verse 17, Scripture says, the Gentiles in turn will bless God. So this is speaking of a genuine relationship with God and Gentiles, so that He blesses them, and they bless Him, or honour Him, or worship Him. And even more specifically, in the book of Isaiah, and I want to read this to you because it’s very specific, Isaiah chapter 49 and verse 6 speaks specifically of Gentile salvation. Listen to what it says, speaking to Israel of His servant, the Messiah.

It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved ones of Israel. It’s not enough. It’s too small for the servant of Jehovah, who is the Messiah. It’s too small a thing to raise up the tribes of Jacob only. The next line, I will also make you a light to the nations so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. It would be too small a thing only to redeem Jews. It’s going to be to the ends of the earth that my salvation goes.

In chapter 54 of Isaiah verse 1, Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child. Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed. For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman. Which is an analogous way to say, they’ll be more Gentiles in the kingdom than even Jews. Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not, lengthen your cords, strengthen your pegs. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess nations and will resettle desolate cities.

You’ve got to open up the tent to encompass the world because God has salvation in mind for more than the Jews. And then the 60th chapter of Isaiah, arise in verse 1, Shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples, but the Lord will rise upon you and his glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. So what we learn then is that the Messiah is going to save Gentiles.

He will come to the Gentiles. He will save the Gentiles. And then one more Old Testament passage that relates to this is Joel chapter 2 and verses 28 and 29. It will come about after this that I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. This is looking at the future time of the Messiah. I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. So what have we discovered then? That the Gentiles will be blessed by God in Genesis. In Psalm 72, that the Gentiles will bless God. In Isaiah, the Messiah will come to the Gentiles.

The Gentiles will receive the Holy Spirit because the Gentiles will be saved by the Messiah. Listen to one other Old Testament passage. Amos the 9th chapter, the 11th verse. In that day I will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David, or the house of David, and wall up its breach. I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it, as in the days of old. This is a messianic kingdom. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name, declares the Lord who does this.

So God is going to save Gentiles. That’s all clear in the Old Testament. He’s going to bless them. They’re going to bless him. The Messiah’s going to come to them. The Messiah’s going to save them throughout redemptive history. And they’re going to be given the Holy Spirit. So we’re not saying the Old Testament says nothing about Gentile or global salvation. It does. But what it doesn’t talk about is the Jew and the Gentile in one body, one organism. Which means essentially the end of the theocratic kingdom of Israel. No longer will Israel be isolated from Gentiles.

There will be a new man, a new singular identity, and that’s going to be Jew and Gentile together in one body. The body of Christ. So the prophets clearly saw Gentile salvation, but what they couldn’t have seen is the union of the two and the end of the theocratic kingdom of Israel as they knew it. The prophecies we read were veiled then in some way. When you come into the New Testament, for example, and I’ll give you some illustrations of it, and you go to Galatians, if you’re in Ephesians, go back one book to Galatians chapters three and four.

And I’ll give you a couple of illustrations. In Galatians chapter three and verse eight, the scripture for seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. So that’s the Old Testament. Preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, all the nations will be blessed in you. That’s quoted right out of Genesis 12, 3, and Genesis 22, 18, telling us, yes, those scriptures foresee that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. So here’s a New Testament writer interpreting an Old Testament text about the salvation of Gentiles. In the fourth chapter of Galatians, verse 27, we have a quote from what I read in Isaiah 54.

Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor, for more numerous are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband. In other words, there are more Gentile children in the kingdom than Jewish ones. So the New Testament writers make those connections. In the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 13, a connection is made with the text in Isaiah 49. In Acts chapter 15, a connection is made with Amos. So I just want you to understand that we are not saying that there’s no prophecy about Gentile conversion.

That would be ridiculous, because Israel’s responsibility was not to be the end of God’s blessing, but the means of God’s blessing to the world. What Paul is talking about here is not Gentile salvation. That might have been tolerable, although it was barely tolerable. And if you need an illustration of that, remember Jonah. Jonah was furious that God saved the Gentiles in Nineveh. In fact, he was so upset about it that he wanted to die. And it was such a horrifying thing for him that God would show grace to pagan Gentiles that he wished he were dead.

Now look, if that is so disturbing to a Jew who is a prophet, who doesn’t even want Gentiles to be saved, how disturbing would it be to Jews to say, there’s no more theocratic kingdom of Israel. Jew and Gentile are not just recipients of a mutual salvation, they are in one body. This is pushing too much on them. Why? Because the animosity between Jew and Gentile was so profound. There was deep hatred by the Jews of the Gentiles, and it was reciprocated on many occasions. So here comes Paul, and he’s got this really difficult job, to tell the Jews that their unique identification as the people of God is set aside for a new people of God, in which Gentiles are equal to them in the sight of God.

Thank you for joining us in this exploration of the church, the mystery of Gentile salvation. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].