The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel

The New Covenant as it applies to Gentiles (Continued)

The Jewish Rabbi. Saul of Tarsus, Rabbi and special envoy of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, was given letters of authority to extradite and imprison any followers of Jesus who had fled to Damascus. He himself was to execute the extradition warrant. He was on this mission, and had almost reached Damascus when he had a traumatic experience. He was blinded by the glory of God, and heard a voice speaking to him out of heaven. It was Jesus Himself, asking “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9.4) He fell to the ground and acknowledged that Jesus was alive and the true Messiah of Israel.  “So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:6) What did the ascended and glorified Messiah commission Paul to do? Ananias, a disciple of Jesus, living in Damascus, was given the first intimation of the high profile mission that Paul was to undertake. “He is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.” (Acts 9:15) Note here that it is the risen Messiah that authorizes the widening of the New Covenant to embrace not only the children of Israel, but also Gentiles. The offer of the gospel to non-Jewish nations was not an initiative thought up by the early Church leaders – it was an initiative imposed from the throne of God.

This should not have been a surprise to those who were students of the T’nach. Isaiah had already indicated that the suffering servant of Jehovah should not only be the Savior of Israel but also a light to the Gentiles. “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isa. 49:6) This was a great support and strength to the Savior, especially in the garden of Gethsemane when He faced His final rejection with its associated death sentence. To limit the benefit of the sacrifice of the Son of God to just the Hebrew race is, in the words of Scripture, “too small a thing”. His sacrifice and the salvation it purchased must be available to all peoples, that is, “to the ends of the earth”. Matthew, when he wrote his gospel, understood that the Gentiles were included and wrote of another prophetic utterance from Isaiah. The curious quote was inserted in the narrative of the twelfth chapter of his biography when the official rejection of the Messianic claim of Jesus was about to be confirmed. The Isaiah prophecy was, “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory; And in His name Gentiles will trust.” (Matt. 12:17-21) Matthew, writing for a Jewish readership, is indicating that if Israel would not receive Jesus as Messiah, many of the Gentiles would. Luke’s writing also made the point. When he gave the history of the birth of Jesus, he recorded the event that took place in the Temple when the infant Messiah was presented to the Lord. An elderly Israelite Simeon took up the baby into his arms and said to the Lord, “my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:30-32)