YHWH Obedient Jews- The People of the Covenant

The Jews, as a nation that have been branded all kinds of names, from the time of Christ down to our modern times; is the covenant of God still with them?

1. How did they become the people of the covenant?

2. Are they not the killer of Christ?

3. Did they lost the favor of God and has been removed from the covenant?

4. Does this mean that all Jews will automatically be a member of the covenant?

5. What do other races can do to be included in God's covenant?

How Did the Jews Become the People of the Covenant?

God's covenant is originally made with Abraham as can be seen in these verses:

" 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the Almighty God. Obey me and always do what is right. 2 I will make my covenant with you and give you many descendants .” -Genesis 17:1,2

9God said to Abraham, “You also must agree to keep the covenant with me, both you and your descendants in future generations. 10 You and your descendants must all agree to circumcise every male among you. 11-12From now on you must circumcise every baby boy when he is eight days old, including slaves born in your homes and slaves bought from foreigners. This will show that there is a covenant between you and me. 13Each one must be circumcised, and this will be a physical sign to show that my covenant with you is everlasting. 14Any male who has not been circumcised will no longer be considered one of my people, because he has not kept the covenant with me.” - Genesis 17:9-14

Circumcision surgery with hemostats and scissors by by Zad68 in wikipedia (circumcision article)

Circumcision was one of the first requirements of God to Abraham and his descendants, which is meant to be a physical sign of the covenant between them.

When Abraham died, this covenant is continued and updated to his son Isaac.

This continuation is foretold here: "

" 19 But God said, "No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son and you will name him Isaac. I will keep my covenant with him and with his descendants forever. It is an everlasting covenant." - Genesis 17:19

Later on, this same covenant is continued with Jacob :

“13 And there was the Lord standing beside him. "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac," he said. "I will give to you and to your descendants this land on which you are lying.14 They will be as numerous as the specks of dust on the earth. They will extend their territory in all directions, and through you and your descendants I will bless all the nations. 15 Remember, I will be with you and protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done all that I have promised you." 16 Jacob woke up and said, "The Lord is here! He is in this place, and I didn't know it!" 17 He was afraid and said, "What a terrifying place this is! It must be the house of God; it must be the gate that opens into heaven." 18 Jacob got up early next morning, took the stone that was under his head, and set it up as a memorial. Then he poured olive oil on it to dedicate it to God. 19 He named the place Bethel. (The town there was once known as Luz.) 20 Then Jacob made a vow to the Lord: "If you will be with me and protect me on the journey I am making and give me food and clothing, 21 and if I return safely to my father's home, then you will be my God. 22 This memorial stone which I have set up will be the place where you are worshiped, and I will give you a tenth of everything you give me." “ - Genesis 28:13-22

And the covenant is finally presented to all descendants of Jacob at Mount Sinai:

6 “Moses took half of the blood of the animals and put it in bowls; and the other half he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the book of the covenant, in which the Lord's commands were written, and read it aloud to the people. They said, "We will obey the Lord and do everything that he has commanded." 8 Then Moses took the blood in the bowls and threw it on the people. He said, "This is the blood that seals the covenant which the Lord made with you when he gave all these commands." “ - Genesis 24:6-8

Everytime the covenant is renewed to the new members of the second party, (God being the first party in this agreement) they are given the chance to expressly accept the terms and conditions that is contained within the agreement.

In these verses, the whole of Israel's nation have verbally made their promise "They said, "We will obey the Lord and do everything that he has commanded" - verse 7

These members of Israel's nation are later called as "Jews" coming from the name of one of the tribe of Israel called Judah.

At this point, it should be clear to us that indeed the covenant of God is made with the Jews.

The next question is: Were they not the ones who also condemned Christ to a death on a torture stake?

We have to remember that, while it is true that those who condemned Christ to death are Jews, Christ himself is one, his followers and disciples too are Jews, so this point is really not important.

I just provided a space here about this question, to clarify that simple point.

Were They Not Removed From The Covenant?

If the Jews are the people of the covenant by virtue of God Himself, the only one who can remove them from this agreement is God or His representative which is Christ and themselves.

But there is no statement of God to that effect.

Is there a statement of Christ saying the Jews were removed from the agreement? The verse that some people quote to prove this point is this:

“ "And so I tell you," added Jesus, "the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits." “ - Matthew 21:43

When this is quoted, it may give the impression that it somehow removes the jews from the promise of God.

Now let us examine this instance closely and see if that claim is true,

Let me paste here Chapter 21 from verse 23 till the chapter's end of Matthew:

23Jesus came back to the Temple; and as he taught, the chief priests and the elders came to him and asked, “What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such right?”

24Jesus answered them, “I will ask you just one question, and if you give me an answer, I will tell you what right I have to do these things.

25Where did John's right to baptize come from: was it from God or from human beings?” They started to argue among themselves, “What shall we say? If we answer, ‘From God,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you not believe John?’

26But if we say, ‘From human beings,’ we are afraid of what the people might do, because they are all convinced that John was a prophet.”

27So they answered Jesus, “We don't know.”And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things.

28“Now, what do you think? There was once a man who had two sons. He went to the older one and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’

29‘I don't want to,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. ‘Yes, sir,’ he answered, but he did not go.

31Which one of the two did what his father wanted?” “The older one,” they answered. So Jesus said to them, “I tell you: the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you.

32 For John the Baptist came to you showing you the right path to take, and you would not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. Even when you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him.

33 “Listen to another parable,” Jesus said. “There was once a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip.

34When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share of the harvest.

35The tenants grabbed his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

36Again the man sent other slaves, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.

37Last of all he sent his son to them. ‘Surely they will respect my son,’ he said.

38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the owner's son. Come on, let's kill him, and we will get his property!’

39So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

40“Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” Jesus asked.

41“He will certainly kill those evil men,” they answered, “and rent the vineyard out to other tenants, who will give him his share of the harvest at the right time.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Haven't you ever read what the Scriptures say? ‘The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all.This was done by the Lord; what a wonderful sight it is!’

43“And so I tell you,” added Jesus, “the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits.”

45The chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables and knew that he was talking about them,

46so they tried to arrest him. But they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet. - Matthew 21:23-46

Explanation:

The key to our examination here is found at verse 23; it informs us who Christ is talking with. "The chief priest and the elders", which are Jews.

The two sons at verses 28 and 29 are being of the same father.

The "older son" representing those who said "no" first but later changed their mind to obey their father, represents the "sinners" which are the "tax collectors and prostitutes", these are Jews too.

Therefore, we can see that while it is true that Christ said the phrase " “the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits.”

He clearly meant that the kingdom will be taken away from the chief priest and the elders, which are self righteous(Jews) and will be given to the tax collectors and prostitutes(repentant sinful Jews). Meaning that the kingdom of God is taken away from a group of Jews and given to another group of Jews that are obedient to God.

Hence, this verse does not prove that Christ removed the Jews from the covenant of God.

On the other hand, there is a surefire way to get removed from God's covenant and it is clearly stipulated when He made the covenant

14 Any male who has not been circumcised will no longer be considered one of my people, because he has not kept the covenant with me."- Genesis 17:14

It is clear therefore that a Jew, although included in God's covenant automatically by virtue of natural birth, can be removed from it by simply "not keeping the covenant" which means that they don't follow the details of the covenant, for the Jews it is their promise to obey all the laws of God.

This means that those who are Jews by the virtue flesh and blood can actually be outside the covenant of God if they are not presently following God's Law. The Law of God is available for everyone to learn, by using that specific standard anyone can gauge if the Jew they know is included in the covenant of God or not.

What Do Other Races Can Do to be Included in God's Covenant?

What about other people who are not fleshly Jews? Is there a way to be included in God's covenant?

Yes, there is. You will be surprised how easy it is to be overlooked by those who are searching for God's salvation and promises.

We can understand this chance to be included in God's promise by reading about Israel's exodus from Egypt.

" 43The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the Passover regulations: No foreigner shall eat the Passover meal,

44but any slave that you have bought may eat it if you circumcise him first.

45No temporary resident or hired worker may eat it.

46 The whole meal must be eaten in the house in which it was prepared; it must not be taken outside. And do not break any of the animal's bones.

47The whole community of Israel must celebrate this festival,

48but no uncircumcised man may eat it. If a foreigner has settled among you and wants to celebrate Passover to honor the Lord, you must first circumcise all the males of his household. He is then to be treated like a native-born Israelite and may join in the festival.

49The same regulations apply to native-born Israelites and to foreigners who settle among you.”

50All the Israelites obeyed and did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

51On that day the Lord brought the Israelite tribes out of Egypt." - Exodus 12:43-51

This wonderful passage is spoken by God about Nisan 14, when God was giving the commands on how to celebrate "passover", on how to save themselves from the destruction that will be done by God's angel.

Kindly notice that while it is clearly prohibited for a foreigner to take part in this saving act, God has made a clear provision on how a foreigner who wants to honor Him, can do so. The foreigner must circumcise their males, (the act that will show physically that he is willing to obey God's requirements in the covenant) then when the foreigner has done that, he will be treated like what? Like a NATIVE BORN ISRAELITE!

Yes, the above verses clearly shows how anyone can become a literal Israelite or a Jew in our time, it is by obeying God's Law. Thereafter the same law will apply to the native born Israelites and the foreigners as clearly stated by Exodus Chapter 12:49.

In short, anyone from any race, nation, language, tribe or skin color can be included in God's covenant by obeying God's Law. This is one of God's Word wonderful secret.