Rabbi Schneider - Jew and Gentile Alike
I’m picking up now in the 17th verse of chapter 2. Hear the word of God. «He came,» speaking of Yeshua, «and preached peace to you who were far off and away, to those who are near». Let me read that again. «He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near». Who was far away? The Gentiles. Who was already near? The Jews. So Yeshua came and preached salvation to the Gentiles that were far away, because remember, up until Yeshua came, the world of the Gentiles didn’t have the revelation of God. Only the Israelites did. Only the Jews did. But Yeshua came to bring revelation to those who formerly did not know God, the world of Gentiles, and he came to preach peace to the Jew.
Remember, Paul said the gospel is to the Jew first and also to the Greater, to the Gentile. Paul continues on here. And he’s speaking to the Gentiles, because remember, Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. Peter was the apostle to the Jew, Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. And so Paul continues speaking again to the Gentiles. «So through Him we both,» Jew and Gentile alike, «have our access in one Spirit to the Father».
So now Jew and Gentile alike have been made partakers of the same spirit. We drink of the same spirit. It’s no longer the basis of the law, which separated Israel from the rest of the world, because now the Lord has made a new way. The righteousness of God, apart from the law, has been revealed. It’s the righteousness by faith that comes to both Jew and Gentile alike through Messiah Yeshua. We both have access now to the same Father, and we both approach Him the same way, not by the works of the law anymore, but through the shed blood of Messiah Jesus. So now Paul continues to address the Gentiles, and he says, So you are no longer… you’re no longer a second-class citizen if you’re a Gentile. Don’t feel like a second-class citizen.
«So you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are,» I’m speaking to you, Mr. and Mrs. Gentile, in the love of God, «you are now fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household…» So I don’t want you to think of yourself, if you’re a Gentile, as second-best. A lot of Gentiles they so admire Jewish people for being God’s first covenant people. They’re so in awe of that that they see themselves almost as second-class citizens. And there’s two problems with that. Actually, there’s three problems. Number one, it’s not biblical, because Paul just got done saying you’re no longer an alien. You’re now a fellow heir of the kingdom of God. You’re on equal footing. Jew and Gentile are one in Messiah.
Okay, so number one, the problem with thinking that you’re inferior to Jewish people, it’s unbiblical. Problem number two with that is it gives you a wrong self-image and a wrong identity. You’re on equal footing. You have equal access. You can go as far as you want to go with God. And just because someone’s Jewish, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re closer to Hashem than you are, because you can get as close to Him as you want to get. If you just keep on pressing in and keep on giving Him your life, keep on drawing near to Him, He’s going to draw near to you.
So number two, the problem with thinking that Jewish people are superior is that it keeps you in a place where you have a wrong identity. And problem number three, beloved one, is that if you’re a Gentile and you hold Jewish people over here to the point that you almost idolize them, it prevents you from being the solid witness to them that the Lord has called you to be. I’ve led many groups to Israel, and of course, through my ministry I’ve met many people. I’ve even pastored many Gentile people. And what I have oftentimes found is that Gentiles are so in awe of the Jewish people because they read the book and they read about God’s love for the Jewish people.
They read the book of Deuteronomy where the lord said to the Jewish people, «You alone have I chosen to be a people for Myself above all the peoples on the face of the earth». And that’s true. Israel is the chosen people of the first covenant. And only they had the revelation of Yahweh. But Paul just got done telling us that now through Yeshua, the message of redemption has been preached not only to Jewish people but to the Gentiles that were far off. And now this message of salvation in Messiah Yeshua makes us equal in Him, Jew and Gentile, one in Messiah, no dividing wall. So if you think the Jewish people are way up here, what’s going to happen is you’re not going to witness to them.
And so a lot of Gentile people that love Yeshua, they get around to Jewish people and they’re just so blessed to be around a Jewish person, the first covenant people, and they think to themselves, you know, they’re a Jew. And they’re afraid to talk to them about Jesus because they think, who am I to tell this person about Yeshua? They’re the first covenant people. They’re the apple of God’s eye. And they are. But beloved, Yeshua said to the Jewish people, Yeshua said to the Jewish people, unless you believe that I am He saying to the Jew, you will die in your sins. Jews need Messiah just as much as you do. So, I hope that I’m bringing clarity here that you can’t think of yourself as somehow being inferior to Jewish people, because now Jew and Gentile are one in Messiah. We both come in through the same way, and we both can go as far as we want to go.
Now, it is true that there’s oftentimes a special anointing on Jewish people that know Messiah. And this is in fulfillment of Zechariah words that in the last days, ten men from all nations will take ahold of the garment of a Jew and say, We want to go with you, for we know that God is with you. I believe that the foremost evangelist in the last days will be Jews, but this does not in any way make Jewish people superior to the Lord. It just means that they’re fulfilling their calling, because they’ve been called to be a light to the nations. And the Scripture says, If Gentiles were blessed when Jewish people rejected the Gospel… Because as a result, beloved one, of Jewish people rejecting the Gospel, Paul was sent to the Gentiles.
Remember, Paul was at the temple, and Paul was thinking that he was going to go tell all his Jewish brethren about Yeshua, once he had the vision, when Yeshua appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and Yeshua blinded Paul and knocked him off his horse. And Paul said, «Who are you»? And a bright light said to him, «I’m Yeshua. Now get up and stop… and it’s going to be told what you’re going to do for me». And Paul remained blind for a while, and then Yeshua opened his eyes, and Paul was fully convinced that Yeshua of Nazareth was the prophesied Jewish Messiah, and of course, that set the trajectory for the rest of Paul’s life. He became the apostle to the Gentiles.
So as a result of the Jewish people rejecting Messiah, because when Paul was at the temple after he had this vision on the road to Damascus, he thought he was going to go to the Jews, but God said, they will not receive your testimony, Paul. I’m sending you far away to the Gentiles. So, Paul says, because of their rejection, I was sent to you, and you were blessed. How much more will you be blessed, Paul, speaking to the Gentiles, when Jewish people receive the Messiah? So it is true that there’s still a unique call upon Jewish people to be the evangelist of the world, but in no way does that cause us to be spiritually above anybody else. It’s just a calling in God’s redemptive plan. And we’re all called, right?
I mean, there’s many Gentiles that are powerful evangelists, many Gentiles that have a powerful prophetic ministry, all the different types of giftings. But we have to have balance to this. And the problem that I’m addressing is many Gentiles are so enamored with Jewish people, and they don’t think enough of themselves that they’re not even witnessing to Jewish people. And beloved, this ought not to be, because when Yeshua came when He was walking on the flesh and the earth, do you know He went only to the Jews first? When a Gentile person came to Him, Jesus said, I’ve come only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And of course, the Gentiles said, yes, but even the dogs eat the scraps from under the table. And Yeshua was so moved with compassion and love, He blessed this one. So He was moved with compassion. But when Yeshua came, He just came to the Jewish people. It was after Yeshua ascended to heaven that the Scripture that Paul just got done giving us was fulfilled when Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles. And so Paul was once again saying here, that peace was preached to you who are far away and to those who are near, for through Him we both now have access in one spirit to the Father.
So just continuing on, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fit together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. So we come together in unity now. And it’s a beautiful thing, being filled with the Spirit, having the love of God that unites us together, Jew and Gentile, one in Messiah. There’s a song, one of the early messianic songs, that was by one of the Chernoff brothers, by a group called Lamb. And it was Jew and Gentile, one in Messiah. And it went something like, Jew and Gentile, one in Messiah, one in Yeshua, one in the Father. Jew and Gentile, one in Messiah, one in Yeshua’s love, bum, bum.
I used to actually have that song played at the beginning of each one of our Shabbat services. This is what Paul is talking about here. And listen to what Paul says in the 22nd verse. Again, he says, «We are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit». Now think about this. We are being built together, Jew and Gentile alike, those that are of the remnant, those that are chosen from amongst both Jew and Gentile, those of the elect, of the Father. We are being built, listen now, in the Spirit, to be the dwelling place of HaShem, of God.
And a lot of people today are struggling with identity. Who am I? I don’t know if you’ve ever visited our website, whoami.com. We’re going to revise it soon because it’s a bit dated. But I answer that question, who am I? Because I think it’s the second most fundamental question of the universe. The first most fundamental question is, is there a God and who is He? The second most fundamental question of the universe is, who am I? Who is God and who am I? And so we, a lot of us, are looking around and you’re trying to figure out, who am I? Am I a boy or a girl? Isn’t that… it’s so confused anymore with the culture that we’re living in, the whole transgender movement, people looking for identity in their profession.
All types of things are going on. People are looking to find out who they are. They want to be comfortable in their own skin. Well, Paul helps us to understand who we are when he tells us that we’ve been called and chosen out of the world to be a dwelling place of God’s Spirit. We wake up in the morning and you don’t have to look to the world to find out who you are. If we’re serious about the Word and serious about our walk with Hashem, know that the Lord told us here that you and I are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. And so when I wake up in the morning, I need to present myself to the Lord.
Paul said in the book of Romans that we’re to present the members of our body as a living sacrifice to God. The Lord said, «If you come out from the world and cleanse yourself of these things,» He said, «I’m going to receive you to Myself». Isn’t that what we want, to be drawn in to a closer walk with God? So if we’ll realize that we are being built up to become the dwelling place of God, to become a habitation. You see behind me the Dome of the Rock, that golden dome, that’s a Muslim shrine now. That’s where the temple of Yahweh used to be before the Romans came in and destroyed it in 70 A.D. The Shekinah glory of God used to dwell in Yahweh’s temple.
Now God’s dwelling placesa is in you and I, who He created in His own image. But in order for Him to find a resting place in us, in order for the glory of God to settle upon our soul so that we could experience His shalom, the shalom of Yahweh, His glory, His presence and His beauty, in order for that to happen, we need to come out of the world and cleanse ourselves of it so that we can become the dwelling place of God. So Paul says, «…we’re being built up together into the dwelling place of God in the Spirit».
I want to really encourage us to take that seriously. You are God’s dwelling place. We’re His temple. So we don’t want to have a temple that we have a caretakership over, that we’ve been given authority over, that we’ve been given the responsibility of hosting. We don’t want to allow our temple to be defiled because God can’t rest in a defiled temple. So if you’re serious about experiencing God’s presence, the Bible says we need to come out of the world. And the Lord says, «And I will receive you to Myself, and I will be Your God, and You will be My people».
You know, David said, «Your presence is better than life». Remember that old hymn? Thy lovingkindness is better than life. Thy lovingkindness is better than life. My heart will bless Thee, my lips shall praise Thee. I will offer Myself to You. You, my beloved friend, are the dwelling place of God. Let’s come out of the world, and He will receive us to Himself, and we’ll experience the loving kindness and the beauty of His presence and peace in our very souls.