Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
A problem many Christians have with a return to Old Testament style worship in the Tribulation, and on into the millennial reign of Christ is where does the Gentile fit into the picture? Today the Gentile dominates the picture, and the Jew must conform. There is no option; the Jew must become a New Testament Christian. The Tribulation period prophetically records a change in dispensations from the Church back to Israel. In that day the Jew will again dominate, and the Gentile will have to conform.
A very brief and abbreviated overview from a dispensational view of the entire Bible:
Genesis 1 - 11: Pre-flood & First Part of Post-flood
Basically unknown? A number of dispensations are represented here, but with little Bible information it is debatable where each would start and end? The story of the coming Christ may have been written in the stars before the flood? There were altars and sacrifice, but no central place of worship. A scarlet thread of Godly men can be found from Adam to Abraham through all these generations. The standard must have been quite high if Job (called perfect and upright) reflects this era? Trust in the promise of God's provision is also very apparent. The certainty of a physical resurrection is one of the oldest principals revealed.
Job 19:26-27
26And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
27Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
KJV
Genesis 12: - End Old Testament: Abraham and the Jewish Dispensation
The people Israel are chosen (God's chosen people) to carry the scarlet thread into a new dispensation.
Matthew - Revelation 3:22: The Christian Church Dispensation
The Church is chosen to carry the scarlet thread into this new (Church Age) dispensation.
Revelation 4 - End of New Testament: The Jewish Kingdom Dispensation
A restored Israel again (through the tribulation and into the millennial reign of Christ) carries the scarlet thread as the Kingdom of Heaven is realized here on earth with Christ's earthly reign. Then eternity future is revealed.
Where the Gentile Fits
It is important to know where the Gentile fits in this coming all Jewish dispensation. One thing that must be acknowledged is that there can't be two ways of salvation. There can't be one salvation for the Gentile, and another for the Jew all at the same time in the same dispensation! The Church must step aside for Israel. It happens at the rapture. All those bound by New Testament Theology, the theology of the mostly Gentile Church of today, will be gone before this next dispensation starts. There is a clean break! Now God can change the responsibilities of man, and there are no theological problems. The only ones who were bound by New Testament doctrinal obedience are gone. The Jews after Pentecost had to come out of Judaism. Those Jews are the foundation (The Jewish Apostles) of the Gentile Church of today. There was no salvation to be found in Judaism any longer once the Church age started. There had to be a clean theological break! The Jew struggled to the end with his Biblical responsibilities during the last dispensation. God destroyed the Temple ending Biblical Judaism, and making it impossible for them to obey God under the old system. God must likewise destroy the Church so He can bless Israel in this next dispensation. That is exactly what He does at the rapture. Our dispensation saw God destroy Israel so we Gentiles would be blessed. Now the reverse must take place so all dispensations of all times may come together in Christ. The Old Testament and New Testament will come together during the Tribulation. There will never be a need for a Newer Testament! The Kingdom of Heaven cry by John the Baptist through Christ will find its fulfillment after the rapture. This time Two Jewish men in sackcloth will cry out that same message. This time the Jew will respond. Not every Jew gets saved, but enough respond where God considers what He sees as representative of the Nation. When the Kingdom was offered the first time, God declared the Nation as rejecting the call. This will not be the case in the Tribulation and beyond. It will not be a repeat of the call for Barabbas!
John 1:11-12
11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
KJV
What happens to the Gentile when God turns the world upside down again? A good place to look is in the Old Testament. Israel was the focus of all God was doing in this world at that time. Today we send out missionaries. In those days a missionary's targets were expected to come to Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple. To obey God in the Old Testament, after He established Israel, was to come to the Tabernacle or later the Temples and to sacrifice. To obey was to sacrifice! Provision was made for the Gentile to be obedient. The Gentile nations never flocked to Israel, but the provision was there for the individual. Ruth is a good example of this, and I will look into her story later (my daughter Ruth bears testimony of this little Gentile Moabite girl's quest to obey God).
The Gentile in the Old Testament is called the stranger. In today's context it is somewhat like a worldly sinner just saved, and having his or her first experience going to Church. It would be on the verge of learning a whole new language, and absolutely a new culture. They would certainly be strange to the seasoned Church goer who knows the lingo. They would need be weaned from the world through discipleship until the strangeness wears off. Shameful is the Church that adjusts to the stranger, and makes the stranger comfortable in his or her old worldly surroundings. It must be the other direction.
Israel was taught how to be compassionate to the stranger because of personal experience.
Gen 15:13
13And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
KJV
The Egyptian experience taught Israel what not to do. It taught them why God made special rules for treatment of the stranger among them.
Ex 22:21
21Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
KJV
The Gentile stranger is important to God. The Gentile stranger was to be important to Israel also There are two Biblical categories that strangers fall into. One I will call the good stranger, and the other the bad stranger. One is acceptable to God, the other totally rejected.
Num 9:14
14 And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.
(KJV)
This is an example of the good stranger. He was obedient to God's command, and Israel on their part were to treat him the same as any Jew born in the land. Clearly no prejudice was allowed. Red and yellow, black and white, all were one (or at least suppose to be) in this Old Testament economy.
The Bad Stranger
Num 1:51
51 And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.
(KJV)
This stranger could never participate in the Jewish Passover as the good stranger could. This was the enemy. This stranger the Holy God has no tolerance for at all. His condemnation is a foreordained fact. Put to death was the command!
There are several Hebrew words that are used in referring to the Bad Gentile stranger. Words like:
Nekar 36X
OT:5236
nekar (nay-kawr')' from OT:5234; foreign, or (concretely) a foreigner, or (abstractly) heathendom:
KJV-alien, strange (+-er).
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
It is always the bad stranger, and his strange gods. He always has a negative connotation.
Gen 35:2
2Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
KJV
Ex 12:43
43And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:
Deut 31:16
16And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
KJV
This stranger was so polluted that everything he touched became polluted also.
Lev 22:25
25Neither from a stranger's hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them: they shall not be accepted for you.
God well knew the bad stranger. He was bad in his natural condition. Israel twice lost the land, Jerusalem, and the Temple because of its whoredom with this type stranger. He was unwelcome, and under the death penalty. Israel was commanded to separate themselves from this stranger forever.
Nokriy 46X
A Hebrew word for the bad Gentile stranger.
OT:5237
nokriy (nok-ree'); from OT:5235 (second form); strange, in a variety of degrees and applications (foreign, non-relative, adulterous, different, wonderful):
KJV-alien, foreigner, outlandish, strange (-r, woman).
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
A negative word for the bad stranger.
The holy Jew was not to eat certain things that were all right for the bad Gentile stranger to eat. The Jews could give or sell them things that were declared unclean.
Deut 14:21
21Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
KJV
This ordinance would drive home the point of separation between the bad Gentile stranger and the holy Jew who was chosen of God. The Church also is not to partake of many things that are all right for the world to partake. We also need to realize we are special as God's chosen! The rules are different for us.
It is this next kind of bad Gentile stranger (Herod) who would have killed the Jewish Messiah as a babe in Bethlehem had he been able.
Deut 17:15
15Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
KJV
King Herod was not a Jew, but an Edomite. The Jews under the Maccabees invaded Edom, and forced them by the sword to convert to Judaism. King Herod is an eternal reminder of what this kind of evangelism produces. Today we use rock music disguised as Christian instead of the sword, and then wonder at the long term results?
The problem over the strange wives that so disturbed Ezra & Nehemiah are of this same type bad Gentile stranger. How important it is for young Christians to know the dangers of marring an unsaved mate!
Ezra 10:10
10And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
KJV
It is a sad day when the one representing God is categorized by his peers as being like this same rejected stranger. When the tables turn, and the Church becomes so worldly that the fundamentalist becomes the stranger among them. The Fundamentalist of today laments with the Psalmist.
Ps 69:8
8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.
KJV
Towshab 14X
Another Hebrew word for the bad stranger.
OT:8453
towshab (to-shawb'); or toshab (1 Kings 17:1) (to-shawb'); from OT:3427; a dweller (but not outlandish [OT:5237]); especially (as distinguished from a native citizen [active participle of OT:3427] and a temporary inmate [OT:1616] or mere lodger [OT:3885]) resident alien:
KJV-foreigner, inhabitant, sojourner, stranger.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
This might well include the diplomatic corps which inundate all earthly governments. The foreign nationals who come by twisted arm or for gain, but not for conversion.
Ex 12:43-45
43And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:
44But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
45A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof.
KJV
I suppose it is not a bad thing for a Gentile stranger to be sold out of paganism unto the chosen people? They would have a better chance of being saved.
Lev 25:45
45Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.
KJV
I know what a tender spot I touch today when blacks in America are confronted with slavery as a positive thing. I can't express the pain every black person must feel knowing they were once treated as chattel by most of the world. I also know there are those who still see them as chattel, and are looking for any ammunition they can use to promote their perverted views. Yet, let's face a fact of life. There are blacks who are saved both yesterday and today because of slavery (more correctly in-spite of it). My dad had to die for my rebellious spirit to be broken. It was the hard way to submission in Christ, but how glad I am it happened for my sake. It may be that the missionaries wouldn't go? God instead brought the blacks to a country where they could hear the gospel message. I know the hardships of slavery birthed some of the most heartfelt hymns to Christ that have ever been written. That alone is a great badge of courage, Here, unsaved (bad) Gentile strangers are to be bought. Not just black gentiles, but red and yellow, black and white gentiles, they are all precious in His sight. There always seems to be better ways to do things. I will only rest on the loving God I know from the Bible who makes no mistakes. Only He can take mankind at his worst, and gain the victory.
This sale of people could go both ways.
Lev 25:47-48
47And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family:
48After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him:
KJV
What a wonderful example of redemption comes out of slavery. Who, but a black American could better hold this truth in their heart? Christ has redeemed him or her from the slave market of this world of sin. Redeemed to an inheritance incorruptible awaiting them in heaven where they will be set upon thrones of princes for all eternity. What a redeemer is our Christ! It will not be a black heaven for blacks, and a white heaven for whites like most of our Fundamental Churches represent, but we will be one in Christ!
God made provision for those who might innocently break the law of the land of Israel for even the sin of ignorance or mistake or accident were all still sin. The bad unsaved Gentile stranger needed to know that even these sins were covered by God.
Num 35:15
15These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them: that every one that killeth any person unawares may flee thither.
KJV
There is acknowledgment in the Bible that every saved Jew was once as lost as any unsaved bad Gentile.
1 Chron 29:15
15For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
KJV
Ps 39:12
12Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
KJV
This is like a New Testament doctrine I'm very familiar with.
Eph 2:3
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
KJV
All Jews were once just like the bad Gentile stranger. They came into this world in the same lost condition spiritually. Every Jew needed a circumcised heart before any of the eternal covenant promises could have effect. What joy for the Old Testament Jew to have the same joy of the Christian who knows that Christ can break through to reach such as these.
Deut 10:16
16Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
KJV
Deut 30:6
6And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
KJV
Jer 4:4
4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
KJV
Jer 4:14
14O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
KJV
Rom 2:28-3:1
28For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
KJV
Col 2:11
11In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
KJV
Zuwr, 77X
Another Hebrew word that is negative toward the gentile stranger.
OT:2114
zuwr (zoor); a primitive root; to turn aside (especially for lodging); hence to be a foreigner, strange, profane; specifically (active participle) to commit adultery:
KJV-(come from) another (man, place), fanner, go away, (e-) strange (-r, thing, woman).
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
It was under the influence of this kind of bad Gentile stranger that the death of Aaron's sons took place.
Lev 10:1-2
10:1And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.
2And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
KJV
The rather difficult command of God about a brother having to marry a dead brother's wife has clearer meaning when looked at through the context of saving her from a bad unsaved Gentile stranger.
Deut 25:5
5If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
KJV
These bad Gentile strangers are so from birth.
Ps 58:3-4
3The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
KJV
So much for the worldly philosophy that says we are all born good? Not so, according to God.
Have you ever wondered where the term backslider came from? It was applied to Israel when Isaiah revealed what had happened in their heart.
Isa 1:4
4Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
KJV
"they are gone away" is the word Zuwr. They have returned to the same position that the bad Gentile stranger has. It was revealed as a backward motion. Play with the worldly Christianity of today, and see which direction your Church will go. It is a sad thing for me to make the indictment that Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, and many other high profile Evangelical Christian leaders have led in the Zuwrthing of Fundamental Christianity. I don't know that the good is somehow suppose to outweigh the bad. I only know what is right, and what is wrong. I know that the stranger who is to be put to death sits next to the preacher on the platform at many crusades. I might also mention that Zuwrthing is not something new. It works because it is what the people want. All it needs is someone to see fame by using it.
Jer 2:24-27
24A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
25Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.
26As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,
27Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
KJV
How many backslided Christian Churches that once preached the Gospel must now cry this lament of Jeremiah?
Lam 5:2
2Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
KJV
God makes a prophetic promise to Israel about this bad Gentile stranger. There will be a day when the land will be cleansed of them, and their evil influences. It will be the day when God dwells in Jerusalem. It will be when Jesus Christ comes the Second Time to sit on the throne in His Holy Temple.
Joel 3:17
17So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
KJV
There was hope for the Bad Stranger (Grace in the Old Testament).
God made some startling provisions. The eunuch was also as rejected as this bad stranger. He could not be clean and pure under the Biblical Law.
Deut 23:1
23:1He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
KJV
It was very clear the eunuch just like the bad stranger would never enter the holy places of Israel. How could he obey God? How could he sacrifice? A sinner has the same prospect of ever entering heaven! Yet, God makes a unique provision for the eunuch and the bad stranger in Isaiah.
Isa 56:2-8
2Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
3Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
4For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
5Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
6Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
8The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.
KJV
The Good Stranger
There is another Hebrew word for the gentile stranger, but this time for a very different kind. This is the good Gentile stranger. Here is how the Gentile who comes to Christ fits into a Jewish dispensation.
Ger 92X
OT:1616
ger (gare); or (fully) geyr (gare); from OT:1481; properly, a guest; by implication, a foreigner:
KJV-alien, sojourner, stranger.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
The rules for this good stranger were the same as the rules for the Jew born in the land. The good Gentile stranger was to be Jewishized much as the worldly sinner who gets saved must be Christianized. The rules that apply to the seasoned Church goer now apply for him or her also.
Ex 12:19
19Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
KJV
Ex 12:48-50
48And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
50Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
KJV
One law for both Gentile and Jew. No prejudice allowed. Whatever the color of skin might be, the command was to treat them exactly as if they were a Jew born in the land. I do not think that as a Gentile I would be too upset at becoming a Jew under these circumstances. God sets the rules, and we are all equally responsible.
The good Gentile stranger was to obey the Jewish sabbath observation.
Ex 20:10
10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
KJV
I wonder if during the tribulation when the Jewish dispensation is back in force that the good Gentile stranger who maybe was an apostate Christian will be required to change the worship day from Sunday to Saturday? I think so! This is not some endorsement for those false legalistic Seventh Day Advents, but when everything changes back to Israel, I think the seventh day Sabbath will also change back to where it was. Who knows, but we will have two Sabbaths each week?
I don't think the Jewish trains will run on Saturday in either the tribulation or the millennial reign of Christ.
Ex 23:12
12Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
KJV
This good Gentile stranger is seen taking part in the most holy of all Jewish rituals commemorating the Day of Atonement.
Lev 16:27-30
27And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung.
28And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
29And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:
30For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
KJV
The restrictions on blood which is such a crucial element in Calvary and salvation are applied equally to the good Gentile stranger, and being an old Montana hunter I noticed the rules for hunting game apply equally here also.
Lev 17:12-14
12Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
13And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
14For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
KJV
There was a great argument that split the Fundamentalists of North Carolina some years back. A large number of pastor's wanted to excommunicate John MacArthur for saying the blood of Christ flowed down the cross into the dust. He was arguing against those who would make a brazen serpent out of the blood of Christ as the Roman Catholic Mass does this very day, or the Jehovah Witness's refusal for blood transfusions. MacArthur was accused of dastardly treatment with the blood of Christ. It's too bad they were all city type pastors who buy their clean packaged meat, and there were no hunters among them. We know that all blood to an extent represents the blood of Christ, or at least reminds us of it. A hunter knows the proper treatment with blood after the kill. We burn the tattered old American flag in respect, and we cover the blood with dust out of that same respect. It would be nice if some pastors would read their Bible before jumping on some band wagon. This covering the blood with dust is not some hygienic provision, but clearly related to respect for the blood of Christ.
When Israel failed to obey God, and degenerated into an abomination. The good Gentile stranger was held as accountable as the natural born Jew. Both were expected to obey, and both answered equally to God when they failed.
Lev 18:26-27
26Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
27(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
KJV
Many seeking God's will often leave the comforts of this world behind. The pastors and missionaries I know are a sorry lot. Not much money. Usually driving, wearing and even eating other people's discards and throwaways. I even heard first hand of used tea bags being put in the missionary basket. It really happened. I know a pastor and his wife and seven children who ate peanut butter sandwiches for a whole month because there was nothing else to eat. Never once did he or his family complain, but rather counted it a blessing to be serving God in that little country Church. God knew the circumstances that many good Gentile strangers would be coming from. He made provision.
Lev 19:10
10And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
KJV
A call to come to this land of Israel, to this city of Jerusalem, to this Temple for worship and sacrifice is made easier with the provisions God put in the Biblical Law.
God was very clear on the attitude He expected from His children. He taught them the experience of being strangers themselves so they would obey from the heart, and not just because God said it.
Lev 19:34
34But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
KJV
Harry Saltner of Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago was such a man who could love the stranger. I don't think he liked me much because I lack discipline. I watched him pray on his knees before every service even though his arthritis in later years made this an excruciating painful endeavor. He loved those bums that came in off the skid row streets of Chicago in ways I never could. He would greet those wine soaked dirty bums before the service as if they were great gentlemen honoring him with their presences. He would shake their hands ,and tell them to listen to this young preacher who was going to tell them about Christ. Thank God for the Harry Saltners' of this world. They who love the stranger as thyself.
Molech means child sacrifice. It was common among the pagans as recent archaeology of Aztec, and Mayan ruins attest. They learned this practice from the Gentile world of Old Testament times. It was an abomination to God with strong repercussions when discovered. The good Gentile stranger was to guard against it as diligently as the Jew. He was to take action standing shoulder to shoulder with the Jew when death sentence punishment was administered to those who worshiped Molech. I wonder how many of our children are sacrificed to the liberal abortionists these days? Molech is alive and well here in America. I'm not an advocate of violence to abortionists. I know Biblically we are to let God deal with their heinous crimes against babies. I can only feel sorry for their final end which will be a thousand times worse then the crimes they have committed against the most vulnerable of our society. They will abide under the wrath of Almighty God for all eternity. I have little hope they will ever turn to Christ for forgiveness and redemption.
Lev 20:2
2Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
KJV
The greatest privilege of all is to freely give God an offering. I can only imagine the stench that must rise from this world of sin. The Jew could, out of love for God, offer when no offering was required. Just something special for God.
Gen 8:20-21
20And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done
KJV
Ex 29:18
18And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
KJV
Lev 17:6
6And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD.
KJV
How sad that the TV hucksters turn this wonderful truth into a money making gimmick. They will account some day! The real truth here for the one who loves God is that there is something we can do that gives God pleasure. It was not limited to the natural born Jew, but the good Gentile stranger could also give from his heart at any time.
Lev 22:18-19
18Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all his vows, and for all his freewill offerings, which they will offer unto the LORD for a burnt offering;
19Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.
KJV
The forgiveness of sin was also available to the good Gentile stranger. This is clearly what the blood is all about. Why it should be respected and honored, but also why it should not be made into a brasen serpent.
Num 15:25-29
25And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ignorance:
26And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.
27And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering.
28And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.
29Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.
KJV
The red heifer has been in the news of late. I even heard that it would be a legitimate target for a Moslem atomic bomb? Whatever the fate of this red heifer may be; the good gentile stranger was allowed to participate and responsible to keep the ceremony active.
Num 19:10
10And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.
KJV
The Judges of Israel were given special instruction to be fair to the good Gentile stranger. I think the Judges of Roe vs Wade can take a lesson here. Honorable treatment is demanded. Even for the silent voices of the victims of Moloch.
Deut 1:16
16And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
KJV
The good Gentile stranger is put in the same category as the widows and fatherless. It is a good category to be in. I once had a Bible Study in a Hutterite colony in Montana. They would jack my car up and put logs under the axils. The children would throw stones through the windows of the one lady who allowed me to visit. My dad had recently died, and my mother made new friends among the widows of the Church. They gathered together for Bible study and support. She wrote me a letter asking if I had any prayer requests. Needless to say the Hutterite colony became a prime topic. Over a three year period more the half of the 80 members of that colony were coming to the Bible Study. We had Bible School students teaching all the various age groups. The secular school teacher even came because of the change she saw in the children. Then my mother died. The prayer group disbanded because she did all the driving picking everyone up. I never got back into the colony for a forth year. I know the power when the widows pray. I believe it is there for the fatherless, and the strangers as well.
Deut 10:18
18He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
KJV
Deut 14:29
29And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.
KJV
Deut 16:14
14And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
KJV
Something very special about the good Gentile stranger (the Ger) is that in the millennium he reappears. Ezekiel is taken forward in time to a Third Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. It is clearly the Temple where Christ reigns over the earth because it is the only earthly Temple in the Bible with a throne. The good Gentile stranger is here. If you wonder what happens to the Gentile in a Jewish dispensation then here is your answer.
Ezek 47:22-23
22And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
23And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD.
KJV
I think I'll give up my Bohemianism for this. I have no problem at all conforming to the Laws of this King. If this is what being a Jew in the millennium is, and it certainly is, then proselyteizer of that era here I come. Red and yellow, black and white. All equal with the natural born Jew. All worshiping the same God, the same Lord Jesus Christ, the same King of the Jews. All under the same standard. What joy to be a good Gentile stranger in the millennium. The opportunity the American Church missed will find fruition in of all places Judaism. The Kingdom of Heaven will be realized through the Jew. The full circle of Christ throughout all dispensations will be closed. It will take place in the land of Israel, in the city of Jerusalem, at the Holy Temple of the living God. I, as a gentile, will be there to see these events come together at the second coming of Christ. I'll have already been raptured and perfected, but I will see with mine own eyes just like Job the glory of that day.
Addendum #1 - Abraham's Gentile Servants of Circumcision
Theological Problems with Messianic Jews
The recent messianic movement among possessing saved Jews (and many more unsaved professing Jews) is blasphemous to the dispensational view of the Bible. They are told to obey Jewish Law rather then the New Testament. Pork is a forbidden substance, and circumcision becomes mandatory as a picking and choosing of Mosaic Law is observed. Every Messianic Jew who refuses to eat pork because of Jewishness in a real sense slaps Peter, and God in the face. They put the Old Testament law (only that part of the law of their choosing) above the New Testament revelation!
Acts 10:11-16
11And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
15And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
16This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
KJV
Paul's battle with the Judaizers of his day is comparable to the battle of today with the Messianic Jewish movement. Someone's theology has become blasphemous. Someone is trying to walk with one foot in one dispensation, and the other foot in another!
The blasphemy is smoke-screened by a cultural proposition. In my own case, I do not attend a Bohemian Church made up of Bohemians who might tolerate a few "not of our culture" folks who try their best to look Bohemian. Yet, with the Messianic Jew this attitude is the reality, and promoted as Biblical for our day. I'm almost afraid to inform them again that the middle wall that separated the Gentile from the Jew in the Old Testament was torn down by Christ.
Eph 2:14-15
14For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
KJV
Today, the Jew and Gentile are one if saved, and so part of the Christian Church. We should be able to sing a familiar children's song thus: "American Indian , Asian, Negro, Anglo, and Jewite. They are all precious in His sight - Jesus loves the little children of the world." We are all one in this dispensation. The middle wall of the Temple that separated the Gentile World from the Jewish world has been broken down by Christ in this dispensation. As a Christian, I have no business forcing Polka music on my local Church any more then a Messianic Jew has of pushing Jewish tradition on anyone (Jew or Gentile)! With few exceptions, the American Church has failed miserably in this command for unity. The blacks have their Churches. The whites have theirs. There are black Baptists, and white Baptists. The Asians have their Churches. The Hispanics attend their cultural Churches. And now, the Jews would follow this lowest of Church failures by having their own Messianic Churches. I'm not talking about culture here. I know when a missionary goes to Mexico he will have (if God blesses) a Church made up of cultural Mexicans. The same is true of any missionary in Israel though Jewish law forbids missionary activity. I'm talking here about the American Church, and I'm not talking about individual cultures. Polarization is and has for a long time been taking place, not the unity that God commanded. Not the acceptability on the bases of salvation rather then culture. No other Nation had as great an opportunity to exemplify Christian unity as did the American Church. Why should the Messianic Jew now follow our biggest failure? Culture should never have preference over Bible teaching. Polygamy was opposed by the early missionaries in Africa to their credit even when it cost them acceptability among the lost. The same should hold for a Jewish culture that demands obedience to a Sabbath day that changed with the present dispensation, or any other chosen laws. It should be all or nothing! Either obey all the Old Testament meaning sacrifice on the Temple Mount, or acknowledge the Old Testament is set aside in this dispensation for the New.
Messianic Jews are following the worst example rather then rising above. The Jewish culture of today is not Old Testament Biblical Judaism, but rather the leaven of the Pharisees. When the Church dispensation started, Old Testament Judaism ended. A Rabbinical system built upon the Mishna and Talmud was inserted to substitute the loss of the Land, Jerusalem, Sacrifice, and the Temple. It is almost as cultic as Mormonism. The Mormons added the Book of Mormon to the Bible, and the Jews add the Mishna and it's companion Talmud to the Old Testament. The analogy is not absolute because Judaism was Biblical at one time, and some of those Biblical concepts, though veiled, are there. The Book of Mormon has no such claim. Jesus Christ never appeared to some mythical 10 lost tribes of Israel in mythical cities of South America. There is no archeology of the Book of Mormon as is for Israel, Jerusalem, and the Bible.
Modern Judaism just as Mormonism is a system based on good works through keeping man-made precepts of the Biblical law. Jesus warned and warned again against the dangers this philosophy (doctrine) of the Pharisees.
Matt 16:6
6Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
KJV
Matt 16:11-12
11How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
12Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
KJV
Mark 8:15
15And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
KJV
Luke 12:1
12:1In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
KJV
Modern Jewish culture is not any different then the religious cultures of the Mormons, or the Roman Catholics, or any other man made religious culture. When Christ comes, the culture goes. Or, at least it should! I still like my dumplings and sauerkraut, but I detest the beer drinking, polka playing culture I grew up in. There is nothing I would want to pass on to my children today, but Christ. I have exchanged my Bohemianism for a universal citizenship in heaven. I can sing without being a hypocrite: red and yellow, black and white they are precious in His sight. We are all united as one in Christ. The separators of this dispensation are not ethnicisms, or cultures, but Biblical doctrine. Because of doctrine, the Church was to be separated from the world, worldliness and false religion even more then Israel was to be separated from the Gentiles in Old Testament times.
2 Cor 6:17
17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
KJV
1 John 2:15-18
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
KJV
Why have I jumped on the Messianic Jew? It is because the New Testament doctrine of the unity of the spirit (if saved and submitted) becomes meaningless. They are writing, with no authority, a middle road doctrine that obeys some Old Testament laws, a lot of cultural tradition, and then try to make it all fit in a New Testament context. I believe God will put Old Testament Biblical Judaism into a New Testament context, but not with the leaven of these Messianic Jews.
Acts 21:20-21
20And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
21And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
KJV
Gal 3:10-11
10For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
KJV
Gal 5:1-4
5:1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
KJV
I have no use for any professing or possessing Christian who picks and chooses which doctrines should be obeyed, and which should be brushed aside out of convenience. I have no use for any Christian (professing or possessing) who reject a fellow Christian because of ethnic or cultural background. We live in the mostly Gentile Church dispensation. We must obey all the doctrine of this dispensation. Jewishness and Bohemianishness must step aside for Christ. A day is soon coming when God will change dispensations. Not till then will the doctrine be changed (yet not really changed). What is theologically wrong to do today will again find Biblical authority to be put into practice. Circumcision will again be a commandment. Old Testament Judaism will be revived by God. All the Old Testament law will be enforce again. I believe it will start with Two Jewish Witnesses, and 144,000 specially chosen Jews who will represent the twelve tribes of Israel. They will be true Messianic Jews, not the disobedient ones of today. Any Messianic Jew of today, if really saved, will be raptured with the Church before this next dispensation starts. Doctrine dictates that all the saved will be raptured together. The Messianic Jew of today has no part in the next dispensation.
The power in the blood of which we sing will be center to the Third Jewish Temple in the next dispensation. The book of Leviticus will rule the singular teligion of the next dispensation. Two Jewish men (the TWO Witnesses of Revelations 11) will be the first real Messianic Jews.
I'm going to add some addendums soon on Ruth, Abraham and his servants, David's mighty men, and other interesting things about Gentile strangers. Come back again.
Edited by DDSrail - August 29, 1999
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