Why Choose to Be a Gentile?
By R. F. Cottrell
From the time that Jacob wrestled with the angel and prevailed, that is long before the days of Moses, down to the time when Paul wrote to the Galatians, the true church have been "the Israel of God." Gen. 32:28; Gal. 6:16. James addresses his entire epistle to these, calling them brethren; and these are to enter the gates of the city of God from heaven. James 1:1, 2; Rev. 21:12. A Gentile is an "alien from the commonwealth of Israel," a foreigner, an outsider, "without Christ," unconverted, and by Webster defined, heathen. The church of the Ephesians were such before their conversion. The apostle tells them that they were "in time past Gentiles," and he says, "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." A sad condition truly! The covenants, the new, as well as the old, belong to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and all the promises are theirs. Says Paul of the Israelites, "To whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, [plural,] and giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen." Rom. 9:4, 5. Truly Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, "Salvation is of the Jews." Gentiles are in a poor condition; "afar off," no covenant, no promises, no hope. But, thank God, the middle wall of partition which shut them out has been broken down, and they can come in. When converted their case is changed in all these respects. Says the apostle to the converted from among the Gentiles, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;" See Eph. 2:11-20. Now since the cases of Israel and of the Gentiles are, such as set forth by Inspiration, why should any enlightened man of the nineteenth century prefer to be a Gentile? I know of but one reason, and that is to get rid of the Sabbath. This is strange; for in getting rid of the Sabbath, they get rid of a special blessing. Read Isa. 56:1-8, and you will see that even the sons of the strangers, the Gentiles, are blessed of God, "every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it." But I am told that "the Sabbath is a sign between God and the children of Israel forever." Ex. 31. That is very true; and if there are no children of Israel now, that "forever" is come to an end, and the sign is of no further use; otherwise it is continued. But my friend thinks it was intended that the Jews should keep the seventh day, and that Christians should observe the first day. Else, he inquires, how could it be a sign between God and the Jews forever? My dear brother, it is not a mark of distinction between Jews and Christians; but a sign or token between God and his people Israel, between the Maker of heaven and earth and those who know him as such. It is a sign of the knowledge of the true God. The text says, "That ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." Those who have not this sign are not supposed to know the true God, the maker of all things. It is the sign of God's creative power. He says, "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." Now we ask, Are the unbelieving Jews who rejected Christ and were consequently rejected of him, the Israel of God, to whom he says, "I am the Lord that doth sanctify you"? Are they the people who know God, and are known of him as his sanctified ones? Far from it. The Jews are no more a nation; they are outcasts, aliens, foreigners, in all nations. But the Israel of God shall endure to the endless ages of eternity—as long as the heavenly worlds shall endure—"Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is his name; if those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever." Jer. 31:35, 36. Israel shall endure; and in the world to come they will remain, and show that they know God and are sanctified of him by keeping the Sabbath, the memorial of his creation power and goodness.—"For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass,53that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." Isa. 66:22, 23. In view of such glorious promises to Israel, who would wish to remain a Gentile, and trample the memorial of the God of Israel under foot? Not I, truly. I would much prefer to be grafted in, and partake of "the root and fatness of the olive tree." It is by the coming in of the Gentiles that all Israel shall be saved. So Paul affirms Rom. 11:25, 26. The fullness of the Gentiles have not all come in; but the remnant of Israel, Joel 12:32; Zeph. 3:13, which are the same as the remnant of the seed of the woman, Rev. 12:17, are being manifested in almost every enlightened nation in the world; and their distinguishing characteristics are, that they "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ," keeping in view the promised blessing: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 22:14.