Weren't Gentiles "grafted" onto the tree of Abraham by Jesus? If Gentiles are now a part of the same tree as the Jew, how can there be a distinction between the two and their "ages"?
And also, doesn't the word "gentile" mean "far from God"? I believe that this term is no longer applicable these days. Things have certainly changed since the days of pagan rituals and polytheism.
Ya-son, if Christian "gentiles" are spiritual sons of Abraham, what is the distinction between Jew and "gentile"? Race? Blood?
How many times have we sinned and been "far from God"? God can graft back in the natural branches that have been cut off and can cut off the the grafted in branches again, as He has said by the inspired scriptures in Romans 11:17-24.
This comes back to the question, "Who is Israel?" and why we need to know. God's covenant promise to Abraham was that his seed would be like the stars in the sky, "multitudes of Gentiles" - hamon goyim, and that the fulness of Gentiles would come in through the house of Ephraim (Israel) when the two houses [Judah and Israel (Ephraim)] were split and then went into captivity. Ephraim's 10 tribes never came back but were absorbed into the Gentile nations and became "loammi" - not my people (Hosea 1:9). The house of Judah came back and preserved the law and returned to Jerusalem to be destroyed again in 70AD and to return again in 1948. Ephraim became as "sons of the living God" and was hidden to be reborn as having "firstborn" rights as the Church. Both houses and all the companions of both houses will reunite and be saved as God's chosen. So technically a Jew is any person who is one of the heart.(Romans 2:28-29) Ephraim is the Church, the firstborn of God and the fulness of Gentiles spoken of throughout the Bible.
Hosea 1:9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi:
for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them,
Ye are the sons of the living God.
Genesis 17:5 Neither shall thy name <08034> any more be called <07121> (8735) Abram <087>, but thy name <08034> shall be Abraham <085>; for a father <01> of many <01995> nations <01471> have I made thee <05414> (8804).
Here is the Strongs of many nations in vs. five:
01995 Nwmh hamown haw-mone’ or Nmh hamon (#Eze 5:7) haw-mone’
from 01993; TWOT-505a; n m
AV-multitude 62, noise 4, tumult 4, abundance 3, many 3, store 2, company 1, multiplied 1, riches 1, rumbling 1, sounding 1; 83
1) (Qal) murmur, roar, crowd, abundance, tumult, sound
1a) sound, murmur, rush, roar
1b) tumult, confusion
1c) crowd, multitude
1d) great number, abundance
1e) abundance, wealth
*******
01471 ywg gowy go’-ee rarely (shortened) yg goy go’-ee
apparently from the same root as 01465; TWOT-326e
AV-nation 374, heathen 143, Gentiles 30, people 11; 558
n m
1) nation, people
1a) nation, people
1a1) usually of non-Hebrew people
1a2) of descendants of Abraham
1a3) of Israel
1b) of swarm of locusts, other animals (fig.)
n pr m 1c) Goyim? =" nations"
Studying the covenant in Genesis 17:1-6 I found that a "hamon goyim"(many nations), in verse four is a promise to make Abraham a father of "multitudes of Gentiles", specifically, a people who would cause a tumultuous commotion, or great noise (about Abraham's God), throughout the world. Their heirs would be exceedingly fruitful. This has been done through Ephraim and the Church which is to reunite with the remnant of the house of Judah before the end comes.
Ephraim and the ten lost tribes accomplished this and became the fulness of Gentiles spoken of in Romans 11:25-26 - "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery - so that you will not be wise in your own estimation - a partial hardening has happened to Israel
until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in: and thus
all Israel will be saved...." Notice that ALL Israel will be saved in the end, which does go back to Ezekial 37 and the uniting of the two sticks or dead branches that had been cut off but now to be brought to life by His Spirit. Both houses and their companions saved.
Ezekial 37:16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
Romans 2:28 (LIV) For you are not real Jews just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish initiation ceremony of circumcision.29 No, a real Jew is anyone whose heart is right with God. For God is not actually looking for for those who cut their bodies in actual body circumcision, but He is looking for those with changed hearts and minds. Whoever has that kind of change in his life will get praise from God, even if not from you.
Jesus spoke of other "sheep which are not of this fold; I must bring them in also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd." And "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (John 10:16; Matthew 15:24)
Matthew 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the
lost sheep of the house of Israel.
John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
Hebrews 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
That link I gave for the book by Batya Wooten goes into detail about who Israel is and why we need to know, as I posted earlier. She is a Messianic jew.
http://www.aarons-advocates.org/BACONT.htmlGod bless.
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