Throughout the Old Testament, God spoke directly with the Hebrews. It was His plan to reach the entire world by way of pouring into them. Obviously, they were expected to pour into the world as generously as they had received. Over the years, pride got the best of them and they became a stumbling block to the world as the Jews grew to believe they were great, while Gentiles, or the rest of the world, were inferior. Jewish people made the blessings they received from God all about themselves instead of all about God.
Therefore, traditional thinking was that Zion/Jerusalem is to be contrasted and preferred above all nations. However, with Jesus’ fulfillment of both law and prophecy, we can now see how prophet these references to Egypt, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and even distant Ethiopia are. Because of Jesus’ completed work, all nations have become citizens of God’s true Jerusalem.
Today, many in the world still behave as stumbling blocks. This may evoke an empty feeling in us that we are inferior and/or don’t belong. While we may not be sons and daughters of God by the blood of Abraham, we are absolutely sons and daughters of God by the blood of Jesus. Of course all of us were “strangers and foreigners”. But now Jesus Himself proves us as authentic members of His household. As such we must disown false messages professed by rogue amateurs and acknowledge Jesus as our ultimate authority. We now have no reason whatsoever to doubt our membership, belonging, and high position in His family. Embrace your family and let emptiness be destroyed in the receiving and sharing of God’s unlimited supply of love for you.
he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”_ Isaiah 49:6 (NIV)
