I find this a very strange statement. Jesus' earthly ministry was to Israel. If not then why did He say this?--->
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matt. 15:24
His Earthly ministry to Israel does not nullify His sacrifice on the cross being open to all.
I am a person who takes the scripture at face value.
Jesus uses the sheep metaphor a lot when describing the house of Israel.
I want chickenman, Nick or any of those with the 'secret order of smack' in their profile to answer his one. These folks display an excellent grasp of scripture.
John 10:15-17
As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 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.
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. |
Jesus mentions 'Other sheep'. Who are these other sheep?
"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." Jn 10:16
This is a reference to Israel, the sheep of the dispersion, and is a reference to the re-uniting of the northern kingdom, Israel(10 tribes), and and the southern kingdoms, Samaria(the tribes of Joseph and Ephraim). The Jews were always referred to as sheep.
"Israel
is a scattered sheep..." Jer. 50:17- see also Is. 40:11, 63:11;Luke 12:32(all Jews-no Gentiles); Psalms 44:11, 78:52, 80:1; Ez. 34:11-12 ;Zech. 13:7-9 and on and on and on......
"In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers." Jer. 50:4-7
"The Lord GOD, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith,
Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him." Is. 56:8
"The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 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(Benjamin and Levi-my comment): And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in t! hine han d. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all." Ezekiel 37:15-22
"For
ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." 1 Peter 2:25
And who is the "ye" Peter is writing to? The dispersia-Jews, never Gentiles:
"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia..." 1 Peter 1:1
"The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine, for
ye are strangers and sojourners with me." Lev. 25:23
Prophecy/warning of this dispersia:
"The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and
shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth." Deut. 28:25
"Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto
the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?" Jn 7:35=Jews dispersed abroad among the Gentile nations.
"... had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen..." Acts 1:2 -Jews-no Gentiles
"And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)..." Acts 1:13-15 -Jews, no Gentiles
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." This is the same "they" of Acts 1:26-Jews-no Gentiles.
PENTECOST was a JEWISH feast day. These are THE DISPERSIA.
Pentecost was a JEWISH Feast. You HAD TO BE JEWISH to participate in this obligation. A Gentile could only be included if he was a proselyte.
"And there were dwelling at Jerusalem
Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven...." Acts 2:5 Jews-no Gentiles
"Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." Acts 2:9-11 =the dispersia of Jews scattered abroad. Pentecost was one of the feasts mandated by the Law of Moses(the other being Passover and Tabernacles), where every every male JEW had to attend in Jerusalem. This explains why the big crowd! This was a mandatory JEWISH feast day=NO GENTILES ALLOWED!
Peter, as late as Acts 10:28, would have no company with any Gentile:
"And he said unto them, Ye know
how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean..."
This was part of the Law of Moses-JEWS were to be SEPARATE from the heathen nations=GENTILES. Hence, the meaning of a"holy" nation=separated by the LORD God for service to be the vessel,or channel of God to reveal the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the heathen nations:
" Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. " Ex. 19:5,6
"And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people. Lev. 20:! 23-24 =SEPARATION=HOLINESS
"For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." Deut. 7:6, 14:2, 26:18-19
Acts 2:38 "every one of you" ARE JEWS.
Peter addressed in Acts:
"ye men of Judea" 2:14 JEWS mandated to come to Jerusalem for Pentecost
"ye men of Israel" 2:22 " " "
"men and brethren" 2:29
Peter would not be "caught dead" associating with a Gentile-he is referring to his fellow Jews:
"let all the house of Israel" 2:36
Acts 2:39
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and
to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call."
This is a reference to the COVENANTS promised to the JEWS all throughout the OT. Gentiles had no covenant promises:
"
Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory,
and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises..." Romans 9:4
"Now I say that Jesus Christ was
a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, t
o confirm the promises made unto the fathers..." Romans 15:8
The circumcision were Jews. The fathers were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Romans 15:8 explains :
"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Mt. 10:5-6
"But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Mt. 15:24
"afar off" is a reference to the dispersia scattered abroad:
"O LORD, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near,
and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee." Daniel 9:7
The Gentile condition:
"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world..." Eph. 2:12