TSIYON NEWS

From Eliyahu

Consider this:

 

Everyone wants to think they are somehow special. Reasons for perceived specialness vary greatly. Attaining wealth makes some feel special. Some feel special because of talents or abilities at a level most others have not attained. Others feel special because they belong to some group or class of people who are deemed as special by the larger society. Performers, artists and actors feel special when they receive accolades from their audience, and even their critics. A lot of people feel special when they get a big following or a lot of likes on YouTube or Facebook. These are just a few examples of what can make people feel special.

 

That sense of specialness, whatever it is based upon, is very important to the well-being of the individual, because that specialness is key to a person's sense of self - ones personal identity. Identity is important because it defines who you are, and therefore has a big impact on your goals and choices in life.

 

However, "specialness" is a door that swings two ways. Certainly, everyone is unique, but not necessarily received by others as special. While feeling special is pleasing to a given individual, it may not be so pleasing to onlookers who may be envious or resentful toward that person who is pleased with the specialness they are enjoying. Often, specialness of others is seen as unjustified and unfair, especially when it is deemed as not having been earned. Charges of "inequality" soon follow, with attempts to tear down the specialness of that other person or group of persons. In that case, specialness is not such a positive value. If you think about it, I'm sure you will see how these two sides of "specialness" have a lot to do with the divisions and troubles now bringing conflict and hatred into our world.

 

Biblical Israel has struggled with this issue of being special. Think about it - one nation chosen by God above all other nations - that is an intolerable idea to so many people! They say God loves everyone the same, right? How could this even be true that He chose Israel above all other peoples? And yet, He did. The Scriptures make this very clear in numerous places, including here:

"For you are a holy nation to YHWH your Elohim: YHWH your Elohim has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth."  Deuteronomy 7:6

Is that fair? Yes it is, and I am about to tell you why.

 

Before YHWH chose Israel above all other nations, all other nations of the world had already rejected YHWH. This happened at the Tower of Babel, when the forefathers of all the nations of the world joined in unity together to rebel against the Creator, making that decision for themselves and their offspring - all the nations of the world. Since all nations had already rejected YHWH, He was completely justified thereafter to create one nation to be uniquely His in the world He had created. That one nation is the nation of Israel.

 

Realize "nation" in the Biblical context means a group of people descended from a common ancestor - in this case, descended from Abraham, his son, Isaac, and then Abraham's grandson, Jacob. Jacob was given the new name of Israel by God, and Israel's descendants are called in Scripture "the children of Israel" - Just "Israel" for short. At Mount Sinai YHWH made a Covenant with Israel constituting them as His "holy nation." "Holy" means "set apart" as His "own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth." That's about as special as any nation could get! 

 

OK, that satisfies why and how YHWH chose Israel as His special nation, but where does that leave everybody else?

It has always been part of YHWH's national Covenant with Israel that individuals from any other nation could join themselves to the Commonwealth of Israel through worship of Israel's God and obedience to God's Commandments for His nation. Since there is one law for native Israel and for the foreign born alike, then any person can become fully a part of the chosen nation whether of actual blood descent of Israel or not. Ever since ratification of the renewed Covenant by the atoning blood of Messiah, any person of any nation who puts faith in the Messiah may be joined to Messiah's nation - the nation of renewed Israel.

 

So how is this any different from being part of the Church? It is different. On a national level, you can either be part of the nations of this world that rejected God (part of the world), or you can be part of the nation of Israel YHWH created and raised up for Himself - there are no other choices. Paul explained this to brethren of Gentile birth in these words:

"Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, ..that you were at that time separate from Messiah, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without Elohim in the world." Ephesians 2:11-12

Notice that being "alienated from the commonwealth of Israel" was seen by Paul as being "without hope in the world." Paul goes on to point out how their national status changed on putting faith in Messiah.

"But now in Messiah Yeshua you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Messiah. ..So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones, and of the household of Elohim" Ephesians 2:13, 19

The word "citizens" is never used to describe religious membership, but it is used to describe national membership. At the time Paul wrote this, it was understood that when Gentiles put faith in Messiah, they were accepted into national citizenship as "fellow citizens" with the "holy ones" i.e. citizens of the Holy Nation of Israel. That's how it was in the 1st century assembly instituted by Messiah.

 

In the 2nd century far more Gentiles in the Gentile nations put a sort of belief in Jesus. I say "sort of" because while those Gentiles wanted the benefits of Israel's Messiah, they did not want to be identified with Israel. What they wanted is Jesus, and their native culture, complete with pagan philosophies and customs. Having superior numbers, it was easy for them to break off from the original Israel-centric movement to start their own Christian Church instead. This later solidified into the Catholic Church, and later the Protestant Churches. While many of these folks may be saved through faith in Messiah, they do not identify with Messiah's set apart nation of Israel.

 

Here at Tsiyon, we are working to restore as many believers as possible to Messiah's nation, the set apart nation of Israel. This is the one holy nation out of all of the nations of the world that has been chosen "to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth."

 

So how does being a part of His holy nation effect our lives? For one thing, it effects our identity in every way! Some of what this means for us will be discussed in our meeting tonight. Our discussion will focus on Deuteronomy 7&8, and our theme will be "A Nation Set Apart."  The meeting will be at  Tsiyon.Net at 8 PM, CST. We will be talking about things that will change your life.

 

Blessings and good health to you,

 

Eliyahu
Tsiyon.Org

 

PS - a new episode of Hebraic Insights In The Gospels podcast is posted.
 

PS - Join us next week at Tsiyon.Net! Remember this.