God answered a question this week that I have had for years - "Do my Jewish friends from college (for whom I have alot of respect) know God - is He leading them the way He wants them to go?" Before I get to His answer (Romans chapter 11 for those who want to read ahead), some explanation.

I have been asked "Is Jesus God, or His Son?" The answer of course is yes.  If this question is asked in the spirit of wanting to learn how that is possible, then my answer is that His flesh was human, His spirit was God.  If I paint myself into my living picture (see God is Real), people will look at it and say, that's Margo. But the paint is not me.  If the question is asked in the spirit of trying to make the believer look stupid (because obviously science is "right", which must mean the bible is "wrong"), then the only answer is the one Jesus Himself gave to those who were trying to do the same to Him:  "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30), at which point they tried to kill Him for blasphemy (John 10:31-33)

Alot of people think of God in the Old Testament as the "eye for an eye" God, (which actually means only one eye for one eye instead of two eyes for one eye, which is how people tend to overreact when they are wronged). They think of Him as the God who sends people to Hell for worshipping golden calves instead of Him. People think that God somehow changed in the New Testament, which is totally illogical - if you believe in God you must believe He is eternal.  He did realize that His anger and the law were not working to make people love each other (He actually knew it wouldn't, but He needed to show us that we need His forgiveness before we could be forgiven), but that is the extent of His "change" (Isaiah 12:1). So, He made a new covenant with believers, which He said He would do in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31:31).

It is impossible to believe the New Testament without believing the Old Testament.  Why? Because Jesus took all of His authority from the Old Testament. He fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament.  He did not come to start a new religion.  He said so Himself: Matthew 5:17-18: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.  It is illogical to believe Jesus was a great prophet (which is what some people believe who believe Jesus was a great man but not God), and not believe everything He said.

It is also difficult to believe the Old Testament, which said "The Messiah is coming and will be a light unto the Gentiles" (Isaiah), and even told where and when He would come (I learned that from a Jewish website that tried to explain that King Herod Agrippa was the Messiah predicted in the bible, not Jesus), and then not believe the New Testament, which says "The Messiah came and Jesus is a light unto the Gentiles" (a known fact for we Jews and Gentiles who believe).  It is possible that the Jewish Torah is written differently from the Christian Old Testament, but where I have checked (which admittedly is not much), they have been similar enough to me. 

I have read where today's Jews believe that God will reveal to us Gentiles that they are right. They don't realize He already has.  They also don't believe Jesus was their Messiah, because they believe He would have shown them if He was.  But the decendants of the Jews who believed during Jesus' time are now called Christian.  We "Gentiles" could be direct decendants of Jacob by lineage without realizing it.

I spent 2 years of college living in a kosher apartment. Three Jewish friends of mine needed a fourth willing to keep the apartment kosher. I went home and ate at Pizza Hut with my parents and brother every weekend. I was not very knowledgeable about the bible at the time.  I just believed we are all God's children, so I should not judge myself to be better than anyone else.

We had to keep two sets of silverware - one for meat and one for dairy, which we had to wash separately.  They told me this was because of the verse in the bible that says not to cook a calf in the milk of its mother.  Leviticus chapter 11 lists types of meat we should not eat, most of which Christians today do not eat (vultures, bats, eagles, grasshoppers, etc.).  I later learned that many of the things on the list, including swine and shellfish, are bottomfeeders - animals that eat the leftovers and waste of other animals, which would be a good reason not to eat them during the days of Moses. 

Right now, I tell my children to eat their vegetables because they are good for them.  When they are older, it will still be a good idea for them to eat their vegetables, but my relationship with them will not depend on it.

I knew that my friends were not supposed to work on Saturday, but did not realize to the extent that one of my friends took that (as do some other Jewish people), until I stayed on campus one Saturday.  My friend came out of the hall where the bathroom was and stood silently until we noticed her.  My other friends told me someone must have turned off the bathroom light. She was not allowed to flip the light switch, and not allowed to ask anyone else, even non-Jews, to do the work for her. 

Whereas I could see the logic in that, I still did not feel God would punish me or anyone else for flipping a light switch. But the New Testament actually says that anything someone believes is a sin, is for them. And we are to respect the Jewish faith as our mother religion, and respect the beliefs of those who believe that their salvation depends on what they eat. Romans 14:2: For one believeth that he may eat all things, another, who is weak, eateth herbs., Romans 14:20-21: For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

I learned from my friends that some Jews believe in an afterlife, but that is not the focus of their religion. They are more concerned with pleasing God in this life. The Jewish website I refer to above said that there are 619 (I think that is the right number) rules a Jew needs to follow.  To them, behavior is what matters, not belief.  A Jew who breaks one of the 619 rules needs to make atonement (they do realize that they sin). According to the bible, atonement is made by sacrificing a lamb or goat or pigeon, or whatever the situation calls for. The animal must be "without blemish", so you cannot just kill the goat that is not worth anything anyway. The Rabbi puts the sins of the people on the scapegoat, and sends it into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:20-27).

I also learned the story of Passover from my friends, which is a very important holiday for them.  I knew that the Last Supper was a Passover sader (feast to start the holiday), but had never been taught about the significance of that.
 
It was God who showed me the significance when I started reading my bible for myself, as I read the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis.  I realized that my entire Christian life I had heard Jesus referred to as God's lamb, but always thought that referred to Him being meek, or to God being our shepherd, or to the fact He was born in a manger.

While all of those are true, the real significance, God showed me finally, is that He is the ram that God supplied in place of Isaac.  Because Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son of promise, his only son, whom he loved dearly, God did not require him to, because He now knew that we were worth the sacrifice of His son of promise, His only son, whom He loves dearly. (Genesis chapter 22). Jesus is our lamb, "without blemish".

During Passover, the Jewish people had to put the blood of the lamb over their doors at night to keep the death angel from taking their first-born. Presumably, if a Jew did not believe he needed to do that, then he probably didn't, and presumably the first-born of that household was taken along with the first-born of all the non-Jewish households.  In this instance, belief, not behavior, was the key to salvation. If a person does not apply the blood of the Passover lamb (Jesus) to his door, the death angel will not pass over him.

All of this left me still with the dilemma - is my Jewish friend, who did her best to please God in this life, but He still took her at the age of 34, in heaven now?  If all of the Jews during Jesus time had believed Him, He would not have been crucified, which He knew needed to happen.  Are those who crucified Him in heaven or Hell? A true Christian realizes that it was for us that He was crucified - it was our fault. He did it to bring us to the realization that we CAN all get along with each other, if we all admit we are wrong. And to pay the price of death required for our sins. And to give us hope that there is a heaven where we can live together peaceably with Him and each other. He did it so that we will search for and find His hand, so that we can get to heaven where He is.

What about God's first covenant with the Jews - is it binding even if they don't believe in the new one, if they do their best not to break it?  What if they do break it - can God?  I would be angry if someone told me they loved me, but not my son, but what if they had never been properly told that I have a son?

God finally gave me an answer this week, in Romans Chapters 10 and 11. Chapter 10: 1-2 Brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.  

Romans Chapter 11: Verse 2 - God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Verse 4 - But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved unto myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.  Verse 7 - What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.  Verse 9-12 - and David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see.  I say, then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them be the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? Verse 15: For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall be the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?  Verse 19-21 - Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.  Verse 23 - And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. 

And finally, for my sake, Romans 11:25-31 - For I would not, brethren, than ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

Dear Lord, it is in part because of the unbelief of my Jewish friends that I searched for and found you.  I pray now that you save them likewise. Amen.