A summer event gathering family from across the country has had me thinking about God's upcoming family reunion. Ours was a mini-family reunion, but the one that happens in the book of Revelation will be on a scale no one has ever seen. You have to search for it in the midst of the trumpets, earthquakes, angels, battles and all, but Father God will also be gathering His family during that turbulent time before Yeshua returns for His Bride. That's what the Bride is--a family of believers drawn from every tribe and nation. We use a wealth of language to identify the body of believers: chosen, Bride, children, joint heirs, commonwealth of Israel, people of God, grafted in, adopted--all terms that enrich and expand God's original idea of a family living together with Him in paradise.
It is through Jesus the Jewish Messiah we are adopted into the family of God. We Gentiles are Ruth to the Jewish Boaz, invited into the salvation story written by Israel's God. Our savior is Jewish, our Scriptures were given through Jewish authors, our apostles were Jesus' Jewish disciples. In the earliest decades, believers were overwhelmingly Jewish. The thousands saved at Pentecost were Jews who'd come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Shavuot. So it's pretty clear our adopted family is Jewish, yet most of that people group is missing from our midst. Our family is incomplete and the final family reunion won't happen until the whole family is ready. Jesus will not return for an incomplete Bride, so He waits patiently for His house to fill.
The unbreakable promises God gave His original covenant people can only be completely fulfilled when they take their place in the family of faith, releasing greater riches when they do (Romans 11:12). God will certainly restore them--He has said He will. We who enjoy the benefit and richness of the new covenant have a vital part to play in welcoming them back. Our part is to live so in love with the Jewish Messiah that we make the Jewish people jealous and curious, drawing them back. "And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again." Romans 11:23. That is what our Father does, takes what the devil has broken and makes it new again. He finds what's been lost, restores the damaged, heals the wounded, revives the dead. Israel's calling was to invite the nations to worship Israel's God. Now we who believe are called to invite Israel, through their Messiah, back into full family relationship.
As Pastor Don Finto says, "Your elder brother has fallen, will you help him get up?" How do we do that? We can ask Father to fill us with love for Jewish prodigals. We can prepare for the upcoming family reunion by investigating God's olive tree. We can ask the Holy Spirit to shine His light on attitudes toward the Jewish people that may not reflect the love of Christ. We can pray, become informed, assist and stand with the Jewish people. We can acknowledge and grieve the wounds the church has inflicted on the Jewish people, making it difficult for them to 'see' their own Messiah.
All Israel shall be saved is a promise that seems impossible, but don't we serve the God of the impossible? I want to be part of His plan to show the Jewish people the loveliness of Messiah. I want to say ‘thank you’ for the grace I've received via the Jewish people. The gospel is the power of God, "first to the Jew." (Acts 13, Romans 1:16 and 2:10). So I want to financially support Messianic ministries in the Land which daily bring the gospel to the Jewish people. We have an elder brother who has become estranged from his spiritual family--I want a part in God's plan to entreat him to return!
The reunion invitation has been given. We've been asked to save the date even though we don't know the date exactly (definitely a God thing). In what time remains, God help us prepare for the best, biggest and most amazing family reunion ever!
“And now the Lord says...
It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 49:5-6
Amen!
Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem, Israel
...and in this way all Israel will be saved." Romans 11:26
