ARE THE GENTILES SUBJECT TO GOD?
By Editor
To Whom Are the Covenants and Promises?
A CORRESPONDENT in Pomona, Cal., Mr. W. A. Reed, sends us $1.25 and asks us to insert the following advertisement, and send him the paper containing it: “Will be paid to the person producing evidence to show where we, Gentiles, who have turned unto God are given the law of Moses, or commanded to keep the seventh day.” Now, if we inserted this for an advertisement we should want more than the amount sent. Apart from this we could not thus insert it. As it is, we insert it for the purpose of helping our inquirer and others, perhaps, who may be troubled in the same way. What is meant by “the law of Moses” we do not know, as our friend does not define it. If he means the laws governing the civil polity of the Hebrews, or the laws regulating sacrifices and oblations, which expired by limitation, surely they are not binding upon either Jew or Gentile now; for the Hebrew commonwealth is no more, and the laws of sacrifices and offerings ceased when the shadow reached the substance, when the typical lamb gave way to the Lamb of God. If he means all the laws contained in the books of Moses as one system, then it is our duty to discriminate between the laws as the nature of the law demands and as the Scriptures themselves discriminate. For instance: The institution and law of marriage is found in these books, instituted before the fall of man, guarded by safe and wise laws afterward. These are founded in the very nature of mankind, and are always binding. Would our friend say to the contrary? The Ten Words, or Decalogue, is a code of principles all inclusive of morality, all prohibitive of sin, guarding and governing the relations between man and God and between man and his fellows. There is nothing of a ceremonial or temporary character in any of the precepts of this law. The Sabbath—the worship day—which is designed to bring man to the united worship and remembrance of the Creator, was made for man—all men—before sin entered, hence is for all the race, and is as much needed now as ever before in the history of man. When God’s treasure of truth was given to Israel as custodians, teachers, heralds of its holy principles to all the world, God faithfully discriminated between laws. The Decalogue He spoke from heaven with His own voice, and wrote with His own finger upon tables of enduring rock, and ordered them deposited in the holiest place of the sacred sanctuary. Ex. 20: 1-17; 31: 18; Deut. 10: 1-5. These words are expressly called “a law,” showing their completeness. Ex. 24: 12; Deut. 5: 22. The rest of the laws Moses wrote in a book. Deut. 31: 9. And this distinction is recognized by the Scriptures and the Jewish priests. First, “Thou [God] camest down upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes, and commandments, and madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath.” So much God did Himself. But more than this:
“Thou commandest them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses Thy servant.” Neh. 9:13, 14. God gave this to Israel, not for themselves alone, but that that entire nation might be His priest unto the world. Ex. 19: 5, 6. The exact parallel to this is the giving His truth to the Christian church for the same purpose. 1 Peter 2: 9, 10. It was Israel’s duty so to live this law, that other nations might be won. Deut. 4: 6-8. It was Israel’s duty so to declare Jehovah’s glory among the nations, the Gentiles, that the Gentiles might be converted. 1 Chron. 16: 8-36; 1 Kings 8: 41-43. Then when the people of the nations gave themselves to God, one law should be for both. Ex. 12: 49; Lev. 24: 22; Num. 15: 15, 16, 29. A Reflect of God’s Character.
We need not take time to prove from Scripture that Jehovah is a perfect, righteous, holy, just, true, faithful God; for all these expressions abound concerning Him. But everything said of Him is also attributed to His holy law of Ten Words, the sum of all morality. “The law of Jehovah is perfect;” “the law is spiritual;” “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good;” “all Thy commandments are righteousness;” “they stand fast forever and ever;” “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one tittle of the law to fail.” And such expressions might be multiplied from the Sacred Word. God’s law must be like Himself. He could give no other.5
God demands that His saved ones shall also be like Himself. He could not do otherwise. This great truth He has set forth in every dispensation. To Abraham: “Walk before Me, and be thou perfect.” Gen. 17:1. To Israel: “Ye shall be holy; for I Jehovah your God am holy.” Lev. 19:2. To His people this side of Christ: “Like as He who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because it is written [in Lev. 19:2], Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15, 16. Now Jehovah changeth not (Mal. 3:6); with Him can be no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17); therefore His requirements must be the same in all ages to all men. And as He required without question of His people in our age that they should by His grace observe His holy law of Ten Words, so He requires by His perfect changelessness the same of His people in all ages. Therefore “His precepts are sure. They are established forever and ever.” Ps. 111:7, 8. Therefore, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. Therefore, faith in Jesus Christ does not make void the law in the heart, but establishes it there. Rom. 3:31. Therefore to the loyal man, whoever he may be, it is the carnal heart which is at enmity with God and not subject to His law, that must die (Rom. 8:5-8), but the new heart and the new mind upon which God’s Spirit has written His law (Heb. 8:10) exclaims, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3. 1. In the fullest sense Israel stands for God’s saved people, and so did from the beginning. It is Inspiration’s word for the perfect man as he came from God. In Eccl. 7:29 we read: “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright.” The original word for “upright” is “Israel.” “God hath made man Israel.” That is God’s design. So when Jacob, “the supplanter,” was converted and became Israel, “the upright,” the prevailer, he was only brought back to God’s original plan. It was therefore the names of God’s ideal Israel who were written in the book of life in the beginning, each name indicative of some character to be developed. Rev. 13:8. It is to one of these characters that every soul who reaches the age of responsibility is called, and, yielding to God and submitting to the discipline, he becomes of the family of Israel, a winner of the name and the crown of life. James 1:12; Rev. 3:5. It is therefore the Israel of God that “shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.” Isa. 45:17, 18. The Promises and Covenants to Israel.
In view of the foregoing we might justly conclude that all the promises and the covenants are to Israel alone, and to all others only as they became a part of Israel. Therefore the apostle to the Gentiles declares of the Hebrews:
“Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.” Rom. 9:4. There is not much left apart from these. Everything of worth is included in this category of what comes through Israel. Altho Israel according to the flesh utterly departed from God, the great purpose still held good, the new covenant must be made with the same people, and the law which Israel of old failed to obey, the law which was counted God’s law 600 B.C., in the days of Jeremiah the prophet, would be written in the hearts and minds of God’s true Israel, and always Israel and Judah. Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:10-12. “The Gentiles” is simply another term for the nations outside of Israel. In the Old Testament it is from the Hebrew word goy, in the sense of massing together. It is translated in the common version, “Gentile,” “nation,” “heathen,” “people.” The Revised Version quite uniformly renders it “nation.” The only hope for the Gentile is to become one of Israel. As Gentiles they are thus described:
“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.” Eph. 2:12.
There is, therefore, no hope or promise to the Gentile who elects to remain a Gentile. What Hope Is There for the Gentile?
To believe in Christ Jesus, the root, the stock, the all in all of the Israel of God. What does faith in Christ do to the one without God?—“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. . . . Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” See Eph. 2:11-22. By faith they are grafted into the stock of Israel, and partake of “the root and fatness of the olive tree” bearing the fruit of Israel. Rom. 11:15-24. Truly Jesus said, “Salvation is of the Jews.” Is There Any Other Conclusion?
Therefore if our Gentile friend truly turns unto God, he becomes one of the Israel of God. As one of the Israel of God, note the following:
“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 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.” Ex. 31:16, 17. Put beside this God’s promise that Israel shall inherit the earth forever in Isa. 45:17, 18; and the further promise that the Sabbath shall be kept in the new earth in Isa. 66:22, 23. Isaiah has still another Gospel promise to the Gentile, the stranger who turns to the Lord:
“Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. . . . Also the sons of the stranger [“foreigners,” R. V. Gentiles], that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar; for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” Isa. 56:2-7. One more scripture. The new Jerusalem is the capital of the new earth. Into that city all the redeemed will enter. That city has twelve gates. Each gate is named after a tribe of God’s spiritual Israel. Every one who enters will enter as a member of one of those tribes. Here is God’s promise: “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.” May our friend be one of them. We have not sought to answer his question to secure the reward. God’s grace and truth can not be so purchased or dispensed. We have by God’s help sought to aid him and others. God grant that so it may be. His shall be the praise.