 Tonight we're going to be talking about something which really is a very difficult topic to talk about because it's a very emotional issue in terms of discussing the nation of Israel its role and its function in God's divine plan and where Judaism and Christianity differ on this very important question, so just to give you a little bit of a background why I chose this topic and many years ago I was listening to a presentation by a missionary who was discussing the question of the preservation of the Jewish people in other words why God preserved the Jewish people despite all the odds and I was Excited to hear a Christian talking about this and I was interested to hear what his perspective might be and I was hoping that there was going to be something really interesting and enlightening however, I was really disappointed by what I heard and that really got me a little bit ruffled and I wrote an open letter and posted it on a blog about this issue basically what this missionary explained was is that the reason why God preserved the Jewish people is Because there's some kind of rivalry going on between God and Satan You see from a Christian perspective Satan isn't on God's side Satan opposes God and wants to do everything he can to undermine God and God's plan and Being that God made promises about preserving the Jewish people Satan has tried everything possible to destroy the Jewish people So that he could show that God was a liar and God preserved the Jewish people to show That God is ultimately in control and that Satan would not prove him a liar and everything that God promised to the Jewish people God would keep because God is a man of his word so to speak that God would not be Outdone by Satan Now when I heard this I was furious You need to say that Jewish people were persecuted For hundreds of years Millions of Jews because we're some kind of guinea pig where God needs to Outdo Satan that's what it's all about and that really bothered me that really bothered me I mean there's absolutely no other function that the Jews have played other than some silly game But seriously Doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense Scripturally and it doesn't make sense logically and that's basically what got me started With this lecture now, obviously, I'm not going to be dealing with that particular claim because it's so nonsensical But nevertheless, I just wanted to give you a little bit of background of why I Chose this lecture topic So now everybody can agree That the survival of the Jewish people despite all the odds is not just remarkable But one of the greatest miracles right despite everything that the Jewish people have been through the fact that we're still around and Not just surviving but thriving. It's a miracle The story is told that when King Louis the 14th of France asked Pascal the great French philosopher to give him proof of the Existence of miracles without a moment's hesitation Pascal answered why the Jews your majesty the Jews They are the biggest testimony to the fact that miracles happen History also attests to the significant contribution that Jews have made to Western civilization so for example You have in your sources a letter from John Adams It was a second president of the United States of America in which he writes I will insist The Hebrews have contributed more to civilized men than any other nation If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for Civilizing the nations. They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this earth The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced their fears of mankind more and more happily Than any other nation ancient or modern Mark Twain wrote in an article if statistics are right the Jews can constitute but 1% of the human race It suggests a nebulous dim puff of Stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way Properly the Jew or hardly to be heard of but he is a heard of Has always been heard of he is as prominent on the planet as any other people and his commercial importance is Extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk his contributions to the world's lists of great names in literature science art music finance medicine and Obstruced learning are also a way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all the ages and had done it with his hands tied behind him He could be vain of himself and be excused for it the Egyptian the Babylonian The and the Persian rose filled the planet with sound and splendor then faded to dream Stuff and passed away the Greek and the Romans followed and Made a vast noise and they are gone other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time But it burned out and they sit in twilight now or have vanished the Jews saw them all Beat them all and is now What he always was exhibiting no decadence no infirmities of age no weakening of his parts No slowing of his energies no darling of his alert and aggressive mind All things are mortal but the Jew all other forces past but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? But these statements and there are many many more They only attest to the usefulness of Jews throughout history But what they do not do is they don't address the theological question about God's plan and purpose for preserving the Jewish people This is really an important issue to deal with because from a biblical perspective after God The the nation of Israel the Jewish people are the most central figure in the Jewish scriptures If you look through the book the scriptures, you'll find that after God the Most central figure are the Jewish people. They they prominently feature everywhere So we want to do tonight is to look at the Jewish people and their role in the divine plan from the perspective of the Jewish Scriptures and then explore how it has been viewed through the lens of Christianity And finally we want to look at the consequences of these views as They've played out over the centuries. I'd like to begin with a basic outline of Jewish history from Abraham until the end of the second temple period So here goes. I'm going to try and keep this brief Abraham was raised in a society of idolaters In fact the Medrish relates that his father was a manufacturer of idols and sold idols to people to make a living Abraham came to recognize through logical deduction that there must be one creator that is greater Then all that was brought into being God communicated with Abraham at the age of 75 according to the scriptures and told him that he had been chosen for a mission And that he would become a great nation and be greatly blessed Now while it doesn't explicitly tell us what that mission was We see in the scriptures that Abraham and Sarah were busy converting people from worshiping idols to recognizing And worship and worshiping the creator of heaven and earth In Genesis 15 God promises the land of Canaan to Abraham's descendants and informs Abraham about his off his offsprings descent into Egypt and their final Exodus from Egypt Abraham and Sarah miraculously give birth to a son His name is Isaac and Abraham circumcises him at eight days as commanded by God He's then told to offer up Isaac many years later on as an offering on the Mount Mariah a last minute God tells him to call it off right since an angel tells him You don't need to slaughter him. However, God promised that all nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your offspring Because we have listened to my voice. So what we see over here already is that Abraham is somebody who is special to God Because he obeys God's command and he brings God consciousness to the world. He talks to idolaters and Explains to them the fullness of their ways and introduces them to a belief in one God Isaac marries Rebecca gives birth to two sons as of who becomes a hunter and Jacob who is a pious man and remains in the tent of the study study Torah Isaac was considering leaving the land of command due to a famine, but God tells him to remain in the land and Makes a promise to him and so you have in your reference over here Genesis chapter 26 verse 4 God tells him and I will make you descendants multiply as the stars of heaven I will give to your descendants all these lands and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed Why verse 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge my commandments my statutes and my laws So we see over here that the reason why God has promised these blessings to the descendants of Abraham is because of Abraham's obedience to God Jacob receives these blessings from Isaac passing on The inheritance that he had received that Isaac had received from Abraham the blessings that Abraham received from God Again, I'm trying to go through this as quickly as I can Jacob flees Isav who wanted to kill him goes to the house of his of his uncle Laban marries four wives Rahul Leia bill and Zilpa and builds a family 12 sons and a daughter, right? Jacob then after working for his father-in-law for many many years He leaves his father-in-law and travels back to the land of Kanan and he settles over there. He has Many children one of the children. We know he favors his name was Joseph ultimately the brothers sell sold him into slavery and We know the story becomes the vice-word of Egypt and the family of Jacob ultimately end up going down to Egypt because of a famine and We know History tells us the scripture tells us that they become slaves in Egypt Moses who was a descendant of Jacob was saved as a young child as a baby in the From the River Nile and there was an edict to destroy all the all the male children and Batja the daughter of Pharaoh saves him and Brings him into the house of Pharaoh, but many years later He has to flee Egypt because he killed an Egyptian who was oppressing a Jewish person He comes to a place called Midian and he becomes a shepherd of his father-in-law Jethro and as he's out Tending to the flock. He sees an incredible sight the burning bush and Over there God calls him and tells him that he has a mission for him to go and take the Jewish people out of Egypt and Bring them to Mount Mount Moriah Well, it's not Mount Moriah Mount Sinai. I mean to to give them the Torah and so with wonders and signs and miracles Moses leads the Jews out of Egypt explicitly and brings them to Sinai God then proposed proposed so to speak to the Jewish people. He tells Moses to to tell the Jewish people that you'll be my people and I'll be your God and Moses takes this message to the Jewish people. You'll see over here in Exodus chapter 19 verse 5 Now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant Then you will be a special treasure to me above all people for all the earth is mine And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation These are the words that which you should you shall speak to the children of Israel and we read in the scriptures that the Jews accept and Then God directly comes and speaks to the Jewish people at Sinai and he tells them I am the Lord your God on a he has shambles a car who took you out of the land of Egypt Moses is then called back up to the mountain to receive the rest of God's instructions But when he returns With the tablets in hand. He sees the nation dancing with the gold calf and This infuriates God God wants to wipe out the whole nation and start over with Moses But Moses pleads on behalf of the Jewish people and he saves the nation God then tells Moses to build a sanctuary for God And the tabernacle people could collect money gold silver and copper and they build it and they build this tabernacle And we read how God's presence fills the tabernacle then what happens the next thing is The Jewish people want to send up spies to check out the land of Israel because they're just about to go into the land like tomorrow Right, but they said before we go. Let's just send some spies and due to the sin of the spies Who brought back a bad report about the land the nation were destined to spend the next 40 years Wondering in the desert Moses and Aaron Were informed that they will not enter the land because of an instant that took place many years later with the rock when they were supposed to speak to the rock instead of hitting the rock they hit the rock and because of that They were not going to go into the land of Israel London and Joshua was going to be the one to take the next generation into the land of canal now before entering the land Moses speaks to the next generation. This is 40 years after the exodus before they're about to go in and he reminds them who they are and And what they are to remember and what they are to preserve and to pass on to the next generation So you'll see in your sources to run me chapter 4 verse 6 Here Moses speaking to the Jewish people just before they enter into the land therefore be careful to observe them For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the people Who will hear all these statues and say surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people for what great nation is there that God That has gone so near to it as the Lord our God is to us and all that we call upon him And what great nation is there that has such status and righteous judgments as are in all this law Which I said before you this day only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself Let's you forget the things your eyes have seen and less they depart from your heart all the days of your life and Teach them to your children and your grandchildren Especially Concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in horror Where when the Lord said to me gather the people to me? And I and I will let them hear my words that they may learn to fear me all the days They live on the earth and that they may teach their children Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain his Moses telling the Jewish people what happened and the Mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven with darkness cloud and thick darkness and the Lord Spoke to you out of the midst of the fire you heard the sound of the words but saw no form you only heard a voice So he declared to you his covenant which he commanded you to perform the Ten Commandments And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and the law commanded me at that time to teach you Statutes and judgments that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess What's the message we get from here the message we get from here is that Moses is telling the Jewish people that if you Want to understand what your role is in the divine plan you need to remember? everything that Took place at Mount Sinai and all the things that I taught you as Communicated to me by God. This is what you need to do and observe when you go into the land And you need to pass this on to your children and to your grandchildren So this is our identity. This is our mission and this is our calling This is very similar to The mission that Abraham had where he also passed on to his children the laws and the statutes of God through Rodomy chapter 6 verse 20 This is again a passage where Moses is speaking to the Jewish people when your son asks you in Time to come saying what is the meaning of the testimonies the statutes and the judgments which the Lord our God has Commanded you then you shall say to your son We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord brought us out brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand And the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes great and severe against Egypt Pharaoh and all his household Then he brought us out from there That he might bring us in to give us the land of which she swore to our fathers and the Lord commanded us to Observe all these statues to fear the Lord our God for our good always that he might preserve us alive As it is this day then it will be righteousness for us If we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God as he has commanded us So again here This is another reminder about what our purpose is and what our function is and when our children ask us What is all this about we're to tell them about how God took us out of Egypt and how God commanded us To follow all these commandments that it might be good for us all the days of our life And it would be righteousness for us if we're careful to observe these Deuteronomy chapter 26 verse 18 Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be his special people just as he promised you that you should keep all his commandments so again, there's no question when you read the scriptures carefully and organically that the role and the function of the Jewish people are to obey God display obedience in front of all the nations and that That way we will be carrying out dispensing our our mission and our charge that God has given us Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 46 and he said to them set your hearts on all the words that which I testify among you today Which you shall command your children to be careful to observe all the words of this law for it is not a futile thing for you because it is your life and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess and So what we see this is again the same thing being repeated over and over so no one could make a mistake about what it is that God has Ordained for the Jewish people Throughout history after they passed over the Jordan entering into the land of Israel So as we continue on in history the Jewish people cross over to the land miraculously conquer and settle the land After the death of Joshua, we have the period of judges and and the prophets which is marked by a cycle of idolatry persecution of the nation by the Canaanites the Midianites the Malachites the Philistines and then we read about How God saved them each time through the various saviours of the Jewish people that was sent by God whether it was Samson or whether it was any any any of the others that God sent to be able to save the Jewish people from persecution Then we have the period of the kings of Israel starting with Saul and David and Solomon followed by a split between the north and the south kingdom Many prophets were sent by God to rebuke the nation and to remind them and encourage them in their mission And what is the calling or the mission of the nation of Israel the Jewish people? the core of The calling the core calling of Israel as a nation before God is to bear witness And declare to all that there is but one creator of all And that all existence owes everything to him and him alone So for example, you'll see in your in your source sheets I say 43 verse 10 You are my witnesses says the Lord and my servant who might have chosen that you may know and believe me And understand that I am he before me. There was no God formed nor shall there be after me The next source I say 44 verse 8 Do not fear nor be afraid. Have I not told you from that time and declared it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Indeed. There is no other rock. I know not one Here it's clear that God has called the Jewish people To bear witness to the fact that it is God and God alone who is supreme And sovereign over the entire world And we not only proclaim this but we display this through our obedience Micah chapter 4 verse 5 for all people walk in the name of his god But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever what you'll see throughout the scriptures is a description of the Jewish people As being servants of God So for example, Isaiah 41 verse 8, but you Israel are my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the descendants of Abraham my friend You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called from its Father's regions and said to you you are my servant. I have chosen you and have not cast you away What does it mean to be a servant? What it means to be a servant means that everything I do Is ultimately at the behest of my master It's not about me. It's about serving God Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 23, but this is what I commanded them This is referring to the Jewish people who came out of Egypt saying obey my voice And I will be your God and you shall be my people and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well with you But what happened what happened ultimately is that the kings of the north of Israel were very wicked and they led the people into idolatry and as a result they were taken off into captivity and They've never been heard of since however God promises that there will be a time where he will bring them back he will gather back those lost tribes and and bring us all back together to the land of Israel Then the kingdom of the south were also punished for their idolatry for their adultery and the bloodshed and God sent the Chaldeans the the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar to come and to destroy the temple and exile the Jewish people for 70 years for 70 years Now even during the time in exile and this is important The nation of Israel were called by God to follow the commandments. It's not as if once we had reached a certain point of disobedience In the issue of idolatry or whatever it might have been that God said, okay, you failed. Goodbye. That's the end No, not at all. There's a very interesting story that we read in Jeremiah chapter 24. You'll find it in your source The Lord showed me and there were two baskets of figs set before the Lord before the temple of the Lord after Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had carried away captive Jechaniah and the son of Joachim King of Judah and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon So this vision took place after they had been exiled One basket had very good figs like the figs that are first ripe and the other basket had very bad figs Which could not be eaten. They were so bad Then the Lord said to me, what do you see Jeremiah? And I said figs The good figs very good and the bad very bad, which cannot be eaten. They are so bad Again, the word of the Lord came to me saying thus says the Lord the God of Israel Like these good figs So will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah whom I have sent out of this place for their own good into the land or to the land of the coldians For I will set my eyes on them for good and I will bring them back to this land I will build them and not pull them down and I will plant them and not pluck them up Then I will give them my heart to know me that I am the Lord And they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return to me with their whole heart. What God is Essentially essentially telling Jeremiah is that even while the Jewish people are in exile There's there are choices to be made and there's always the option to return to God with all your heart and with all your soul And when you do that ultimately God promises to gather us back and not cast us away we find that in The exile between the first temple and the second temple The Jewish people were actually set apart because of their adherences So we find in the book of Esther chapter 3 verse 8 then Harman said the king Akashveresh. This is Akashveresh There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the promises of your kingdom Their laws are different from all other peoples and they do not keep the king's laws Therefore, it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. You see what had happened was Heyman had Made a decree and had the king Sign off on it that every person should bow down to him as an idol and the Jews refused to buy Refused to bow down to him and so he goes complaining to the king that this nation are not following The king's the king's laws, but rather they have different laws that they follow i.e the Torah Anyway going back to the history after this period of 70 years Ezra led the the people back together with Hagia Zachariah and Malachi to rebuild the temple so to summarize From a biblical From a scriptural perspective the calling of the nation of Israel has been and still is To proclaim to the world the greatness of the creator Like Abraham our forefather and to demonstrate through obedience How all of creation ought to be subservient to God who is the creator of all And we are promised by God that ultimately we will succeed Zachariah chapter 8 verse 23 thus says the lord of hosts in those days 10 men from every language of the nations will grasp the sleeve Of a Jewish man saying let us go with you for we have heard that God is with you again Isaiah 60 verse 2 Behold for behold the darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people But the lord will arise over you and his glory will be seen upon you The Gentiles shall come to your light and kinks the brightness of your rising And so this is our understanding of the role and the function of the Jewish people throughout history until today however Up until the advent of Jesus Everybody could agree including Christians that this was the calling of the Jewish people that we should observe and keep the laws of God How well got the Jewish people dispensed their obligation can be discussed, but there's no question about What the role was in terms of the Jewish people in the world? However from a Christian perspective something changed with the advent of Jesus The role of the nation of Israel was no longer to be focused on the observance of the law per se But rather the role is to beat is to extol the son of God And put their faith their faith and trust in him Where do we see this? So if you look in your source sheets, John chapter 3 verse 14 It reads as follows and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness Even so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him Should not perish but have eternal life. So what is needed? At the time when Jesus shows up on the scene That just as the serpent was raised up by Moses in the wilderness. So too Jesus was someone that had to be extolled and if you didn't raise him up And you didn't believe in him Then you would perish as he continues in verse 16 for God So loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal everlasting life For God did not send his son Into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved He who believes in him is not condemned But he who does not believe in him does not believe it's condemned already Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God And this is the condemnation What's the condemnation that the light has come into the world? And men loved darkness rather than light because of their deed because their deeds were evil For everyone practicing evil Hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed But he who does the truth Comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God What does that mean when that means over here is According to john What jesus is saying is that the reason why the jewish people Those who rejected jesus as the messiah as son of god The reason is because they're evil people who prefer to keep on sinning And that's why they rejected his claims For if They had nothing to hide if they were not Doers of evil then they would have no problem coming to the light i.e. jesus He continues in john chapter 8 verse 42 jesus said to them if god were your father You would love me for i proceed forth and came from god Nor have i come on myself, but he sent me Why do you not understand my speech because you are not able to listen to my word You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks a lie He speaks from his own resource Resources for he is a liar and the father of it, but because i tell the truth you did not believe me Which of you convinced me of sin and if i tell the truth Why do you not believe me he was of god hears god's words Therefore you do not hear because you are not of god and hear what you have is A condemnation of the jewish people who have rejected jesus and The explanation given here in the christian scriptures is because we are the sons of the devil And therefore we are intrinsically evil We are intrinsically bad and that's why we refuse to listen to the message of jesus I'll just point out. It's interesting that in in matthew chapter 16 When peter's asked who do you say i am and peter says you are The christ you are the messiah the son of the living god Jesus tells them not to tell anybody that he's the messiah So it's kind of peculiar And then and then in mark chapter eight when when When the Pharisees ask him for a sign To verify his claims ostensibly. He says you'll be given no sign And yet at the same time He's over here in john condemning them for not accepting him as who he claimed to be And attributing it to the fact that they must be evil and therefore they're refusing to accept him John chapter 15 verse 22 if I had not come and spoken to them They would not they would they would have no sin But now that they have no excuse but now they have no excuse for their sin He who hates me Hates my father also If I had not done among them the works which no one else did they would have no sin But now that now they have seen and also hated both me and my father So again a christian reading this Gets the impression that jews Who reject jesus the reason why they reject jesus is because not only do they hate jesus they also hate god They hate god the father Now this is going to have consequences We read in matthew chapter 21 verse 33 Here this is Jesus giving a parable to the Pharisees. He says here another parable There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it dug a wine press in it and built a tower And he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country Now when the vintage time drew near He sent his servants to the vine dressers that they might receive its fruits its fruit And the vine dressers took his servants beat one killed killed one and stoned another Again, he sent other servants But more than the first and they did likewise to them Then last of all he sent his son to them saying they will respect my son But when the vine dressers saw the son they said among themselves, this is the air Come let us kill him and seize his inheritance so they so they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes what will he do to those vine dresses? So this is Jesus addressing the Pharisees and he's asking them based on this parable What do you think's gonna happen to those vine dressers who have acted in this way both ungrateful and immorally? Verse 41 they said to him he will destroy those wicked men miserably And lease his vineyard to other vine dressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons Verse 42 Jesus said to them. Have you never read in the scriptures? The stone which the builders rejected The same is to become the chief cornerstone This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes He's asking have you not read this passage, which is from uh, Psalm 118 Therefore I say to you the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation Bearing the fruits of it. This is the parable that appears in Matthew What's the meaning of the parable? I think the meaning of the parable is quite obvious The owner of the vineyard is God The vine dresses are the jewish people the son is jesus And the nation bringing fruits thereof is the christian church And according to matthew's jesus It's Matthew over here telling the story Killing the son warranted that the kingdom of god should be taken away from the jews So while they might have agreed christians might have agreed that up until the advent of jesus The role the function of the jewish people Was to follow the laws and the commandments of god and to proclaim god to To to the nations to be aligned to the nations etc ever since god sent his son and the jewish people rejected him and had him killed um This warranted now that the kingdom of god should be taken away From the jewish people and given to someone else And you can see a similar parable in luke chapter 19 Where it ultimately concludes that those who do not wish me to be king over them Bring them before me and slay them in my presence. So again reading these passages you get the you get the Impression that those who rejected jesus Deserve any consequences that come to them as a result of their rejection now This is not just something That applies to a couple of people that rejected jesus According to paul This is something that has actually plagued the entire people At least those people who do not accept jesus as the messiah as you can see in second corinthians chapter three verse 14 But their minds were blinded for until this day the same veil remains unlifted In the reading of the old Testament because the veil but because the veil is taken away in christ But even to this day when moses is read a veil lies on their heart Nevertheless when one turns to the lord the veil is taken away in other words Why don't we recognize jesus as the messiah? Because there's a veil over our heart and that veil remains there clouding our vision and not allowing us to Recognize the truth which should be so blatantly obvious romans chapter 11 paul Deals with the question of the jews. So so so what's the story with the jews because If they haven't accepted jesus as the messiah What about all god's promises? What about everything that has to be spoken of the jews? So romans chapter 11 verse 1 says i say then has god cast away his people? Certainly not for i am all i am an israelite of the seed of abraham of the tribe of benjamin God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew Or do you not know what the scripture says of elijah? How he pleads with god against israel saying lord they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars and i Alone have left and they seek my life But what does the divine response say to him? I've reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bound to the knee of bal in other words What paul is saying is if you look to the in in in the book of kings where you read the story of elijah elijah was Being persecuted and he had to run for his life and he was asking god You know what to do with the people because you know Maybe god could just wipe them out because they want to they're running they're running after him persecuting him And god tells him no i've i've reserved seven thousand seven thousand men who have not bad bound to the knee of bal paul continues and takes a a lesson from this and he says Even so then At this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace And if by grace then it is no longer of works. Otherwise grace is no longer grace But if it is of works, it is no longer grace. Otherwise works Is is work is no longer work what then israel has not What then israel has not obtained what it seeks but the elect have obtained it and the rest were blinded So what do we see what we see over here is that there's a special election of uh People who by the grace of god according to paul were able to come to recognize The salvation that was offered by jesus Some of them were jews and the rest ultimately Have missed out And so what we see from a christian perspective that was that the jewish people by rejecting jesus um are no longer considered part of the kingdom of god now although Although this is true many of the christians Uh believe that ultimately the jewish people will Eventually accept jesus based on um another verse in romans 11 verse 25 I I do not desire brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery Lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part Has happened to israel until the fullness and so All israel Will be saved in other words. He's saying that Ultimately israel will be saved by jesus when he returns And therefore They'll once again Be brought back into the kingdom the question However, still remains That even if you're going to accept what paul is saying About the jewish people ultimately accepting jesus at the end of time This is something that's going to be happening In the last scene of history So to speak like the end scene the final the grand finale the end scene The jewish people are ultimately going to accept but for what but what purpose do the jewish people serve until then? in other words, why are we still around? Up and up until that point And so here I want to introduce you to somebody named uh augustin st augustin of hippo was an early christian theologian and philosopher who lived from The year 354 of the common era to 430 of the common era And he came up with a interesting justification for the continuing existence of jews After christianity had come along and he called it the doctrine of the witness Now this doctrine suggested That the continuing physical presence of the jews was desirable because the jews themselves provided testimony to the truth of christianity in two ways Excuse me first The jews possessed scriptures This is something that you already find in in in paul in the book of romans chapter 3 verse 2 That the keepers of the oracle so we we are the ones that testify to the veracity and the authenticity of the jewish scriptures Thereby proving that the scriptures were no were no means by no means invented Retrospectively by christians to predict the coming of jesus right you understand that because if jewish people are saying that Isaiah is a true prophet of god and yet they don't believe In jesus that proves that the book of isaia must be true and all those prophecies which christians believe Speak about jesus They weren't made up by christians these prophecies right because then jews who do not believe in jesus wouldn't accept it Secondly the physical status of the jews provided testimony to the truth of christianity The jews existed again back in those days Um in a subjugated second class status as a defeated people The perpetual servitude of the jews reminded the world That the jews are being punished for the rejection of jesus Therefore it was desirable that the jew remaining christian in christian society for as long as the jews retained their second class status They would remind the world of their crime in rejecting jesus And their valent and and ultimately the validity of jesus teachings in other words if you see How the jewish people are being punished for rejecting jesus that by the church was seen as Confirming and validating the parable for example in matthew 21 about about about the vile dressers now Although the jews status would always be second class the church fathers Decreed that they should not be eliminated. They should be protected And so ironically what happens is in the context of this medieval christian anti-semitism It provided a protective mechanism against the elimination of the jewish people See how it works so august and also Basically develops his theory that the jews had a continuing role to play in In salvation history and that this role was to form a living testimony to the truth of christian claims Well, we read it from the fourth century from this guy named sejohn christian In his homilies against the jews. You'll see that in your in your references Is a view that Really Is a direct Consequence of his understanding Of the new testament The jews sacrifice their children to satan. They are worse than wild beasts The synagogue is a brothel and then of scoundrels the temple of demons devoted to Idolatrous cults a criminal assembly of jews a place of meaning for the assassins of christ A house of ill-famed dwelling of iniquity a guffin abyss of perdition The jews have fallen into a condition worse than the vilest animal It is the duty the duty of all christians to hate the jews And so What these christian perspectives produced was the dehumanization of the jews people and ultimately paved the way For the death and the persecution of millions of jews by millions of christians Every negative stereotype of jews has its roots in the teachings of the church about the jews And so, you know, it's interesting even today Christians have a difficult time Knowing how to Understand the role of the jew today, you know, there's there's one interesting guy who Who wrote writes a lot about israel about the jews people and really showing how they're a testimony to god's Um fulfillment of his prophecies Promises etc So he writes in one of his articles he writes as follows the first time my wife heard me preach about the jews in prophecy She came to me and said when you talk about how much the how much god loves the jews You make me want to be one, right? You see on the one hand when you hear Pastors who claim to love israel and love the jews and speak about how incredible the jews are and how god loves the jews And when you finish hearing them talk You walk away and you think hey, it's the most amazing thing to be a jew but There's a paradox because That's not really The full story of what they think of jews. And so this is what the guy adds it to his wife I responded by saying no, honey You don't want to be a jew because if you were you would most likely have a veil over your heart And refuse to believe in jesus as your messiah And he quotes over here from 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, which we which we mentioned before So to summarize From a jewish scriptural perspective our role has never changed since simai or Essentially since abraham god has called us to be a light unto the nations to proclaim The oneness of god how god is sovereign over the entire world and how we Demonstrate that by showing our obedience to god And that is going to be Our role and our function until the messianic era and further Christians however are still trying to work out how to view the jewish people and their role in the god's divine plan and they run into Such difficulty because the christian scriptures Have really given them little room To be able to view jews who follow judeism in a positive light And this is something which is very sad. This is something which is very upsetting and it's a stain on the christian faith To have been the source of so much negative stereotyping of the jewish people who are As i mentioned at the beginning of the lecture After god the most central figure Of the jewish scriptures. Thank you for joining