The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:15-18)
In the passage above, we see that
the Jewish people persecuted the Lord Jesus Christ because He had
performed a miracle on the Sabbath day. They were extremely upset
and, as a result, they “sought to slay
Him!” They were very religious people, but they
missed and rejected the true Messiah Jesus when He came. Things
got even worse at that point for Jesus because He claimed that
God was His Father. The Jewish people “sought the more
to kill Him” because they knew that He was making Himself
equal with God.
The majority of religious Jewish people, in the world today, do
not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. [That is
probably true of the Gentiles also.] The majority of secular
non-religious Jewish people do not believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God either. If a Jewish person DOES in fact believe that Jesus is the Son of
God, and they have been born again of the Spirit, then they are
part of the same Kingdom as any other Christian. The scriptures
tell us the following:
Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of
God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth; And that
every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:5-11)
Jesus did not think that it was
robbery to be equal with God. In other words, Jesus thought
Himself to be equal with God. If Jesus Christ was not equal with
God, then it would have been robbery indeed! The scriptures tell
us that Jesus humbled Himself, actually taking on the
“fashion of a man” becoming like us, and then He went
and died on the cross. Jesus, the Son of God, was then exalted by
the Father and given a name ABOVE every other name. The passage
then goes on to say that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. That last statement is actually a quote from the
prophet Isaiah:
Assemble
yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of
the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their
graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. Tell ye, and
bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath
declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time?
have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just
God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn
by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and
shall not return, That unto me every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall
swear. Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness
and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are
incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the LORD shall all
the seed of Israel be justified, and
shall glory. (Isaiah
45:20-25)
Folks, there is coming a day and that right quickly, when every person who has ever existed is going to come to the realization that Jesus Christ was and is in fact who He said He was. The passage above tells us that the Lord has sworn by Himself in righteousness and His word is absolutely infallible. It cannot return void. [Isaiah 55:11] Whenever you read a passage such as the one above, you need to take it seriously because it is sure to come to pass! The passage tells us that ” … In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified …”
And that
means that every single person, whether Jewish or Gentile, who
has put their faith in Jesus Christ will be justified and
reconciled to God, because of what Christ has done on the cross
for us.
For ye are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as
have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Greek [Gentile], there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then
are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the
promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)
There will be absolutely no hope for those who have rejected Jesus Christ during their lifetime. If a person dies without Christ they simply die in their sins [and end up in Hell] as Jesus told us. It does not matter whether they are Jewish or Gentile.
If a person has put their faith in Jesus Christ [for real] then they have been made right with God, and are justified by faith, and by His blood. [Romans 5:1-9] It does not matter whether they are Jewish or Gentile.
The
“seed of Israel” is
simply describing the true “Israel of
God” [Galatians 6:14-16] which is made up of
Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ since the beginning of
time. There is only ONE
righteousness that God acknowledges, and that is the
righteousness which comes by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you miss that then you miss salvation.
Once
again I warn you to flee from the false teachers who tell you
that there are different and distinct plans of salvation for the
Jewish and the Gentile people. This is one of SATAN’S craftiest delusions, that has ever
come down the pike, and an absolute insult to what Christ
has done on the cross.
EVERY KNEE
SHALL BOW
BEFORE JESUS ONE
DAY!