Plan of Salvation
The Son of God, Lord Jesus Christ, who was incarnation of the Father in heaven himself, was sent in to this world, as a result of provisions the eternal living God made for all of us. The plan of salvation was envisaged by God for every one of us even before the foundation of the world. Jesus came in to this world, so that whoso ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The question arises on few verses which say that he was sent unto the lost sheep of Israel. Does it mean that others were excluded from this plan of salvation? In the following few paragraphs I am expounding few facts from the Holy Bible.
Predominantly the coming of Lord Jesus Christ was to seek the lost from Jews, who were his own people. Jesus himself was a Jew. The offer of salvation, was, therefore, was first to the Jews, and then to the gentile. It was indeed a prioritization. Firstly, we read that in Matthew 15:24 "But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel". But the offer of salvation did not end there. Matthew 15:26-27 speaks of this fact, when a woman whose daughter was sick, and she prayed for help, Jesus said, "But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs". And she said, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table". Then, Jesus had compassion on her and helped her. Matthew 15:28 "Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour".
There are few more facts that we may need to ponder over to learn about this truth that Jesus not only came for JEWS, but also for Gentiles.
John 21:25 reads, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen." This verse indicates to us, that there were many things that Jesus did, and many miracles that he did were not recorded in the Bible.
Many Christians get confused on the point as to who the Jews are who the gentiles are. If we read the following verse, we see there was a war among Israelites themselves, the descendants of Jacob, who was blessed as Israel. Jacob's children were twelve in number and they were called twelve tribes. These twelve tribes were generally called, Jews, and all those who do not belong to these twelve tribes were called, Gentiles. But then, if we study more about the details, based on this verse, 1 Kings 12:21 And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, we realize that the Kingdom of Israel, which consisted of 12 tribes of Israel was divided further into two: Northern kingdom that had 10 tribes and Southern kingdom that had 2 tribes. Rehoboam was the grandson of King David and son of King Solomon. He was responsible for the division of the whole kingdom of Israel in to two. Rehoboam's tough attitude restricted his people's freedom when he offered them a "take it or leave it" choice. All those who did not pay heed to his way of dealing the things were asked to leave Southern part of Israel, which he ruled. Many Israelites, who did not like his reign left southern part of Israel and moved to the Northern part of Israel. His tough attitude toward the people, led to many to leave him even forgoing their homes and property. The tribes that moved to Israel were ten in number. Rehoboam ruled over the two tribes of Israelites, who lived in the cities of Judah. This is the reason why whole Israel is in rebellion with the house of David until this day. The twelve sons of Jacob are the twelve tribes of Israel. These are the sons of Jacob through his two wives and two handmaids.
The sons of Leah:
(1) Reuben, (2) Simeon, (3) Levi, (4) Judah, (5) Issachar, (6) Zebulun:
The sons of Rachel:
(7) Joseph, and (8) Benjamin:
The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid:
(9) Dan, and
(10) Naphtali:
The sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid:
(11) Gad, and
(12) Asher:
(Genesis 35:23-27)
One of the tribes, the tribe of Levi formed into Priesthood, and they got dispersed in to all other eleven tribes. Some of the known ones from this Levi's tribe were, Moses, Aaron, and John the Baptist. Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, then became individual tribes, making the total number of tribes as twelve. An important tribe from among these twelve tribes was, the tribe of Judah, whose descendants alone is only the true "JEWS". Included in this JEWS was also the tribe of Benjamin. Inasmuch as the tribe of Levi was loyal to the tribe of Judah, they were also called, JEWS. All others, who were not Jews, were called, Non-Jews. From the tribe of Judah, came the very important descendants, King David, and Jesus Christ.
Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BC and the ten tribes that were in the region were taken into exile to Assyria (2 Kings 17:1-23). These are known as, "Lost Ten Tribes", who never returned to the Northern Kingdom again. When Jesus took birth on this earth, these lost ten tribes were already scattered all over the world.
The descendants of Judah, in the southern kingdom that had the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were only called, “Jews. The tribe of Levi was later, added to be called as "JEWS", because they were loyal to the southern kingdom, especially, to king David. In the general sense all of them are Israelites.
The Ministry for Jesus:
Jesus is called the "Lamb of God" because he is the one, who takes away the sins of the world, and was the one to be crucified on the cross of Calvary. John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness pf Judea, saying, "..Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 3:2) John was not the light but he was the one, who was sent to bear witness of the light, the true light. The true light was Jesus, who came for his own, but his own people did not receive him, so he gave the power to become the sons of God to all those who received him. He was the WORD that became flesh, and dwelt among us. "The law was given by Moses, but the grace and truth came by Jesus Christ". (John 1:17)
John saw Jesus come to him the next day, and he testified about Jesus as follows: "...Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29. After having been baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus started his ministry. The ministry of Jesus was greatly around the Sea of Galilee and in the Galilee. The sea of Galilee flows from the Northern part of the Israel to the South and exits there. Tyre and Sidon were the ancient cities in the North. Sidon was oldest city, but Tyre surpassed Sidon in prosperity. Tyrians and King David had friendly relation with each other. Jesus referred to this city of Tyre and spoke in Matthew 11:21-22 as follows: “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.” Even before Jesus said these words, Tyre was ruined (Isaiah 23:1, Jeremiah 25:18,22, Ezekiel 28:1-10, Amos 1:9-10, Zechariah 9:2-4). Decapolis was a group of city located around the sea of Galilee. Although the native place of Jesus was Nazareth, he left that places and went to Capernaum and Decaplis and ministered there. Capernaum came under the wrathful words of Jesus, who said, in Matthew 11:23-24 "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. These cities were in the northern province of Israel, from where the ten tribes were went in to captive under King Assyria, and very few returned to Northern part of Israel. Greater part of these ten tribes were scattered all over the world, and never returned to Israel. That would mean, Northern part had Non-Jews, who are also called, Gentiles, and Southern province had Jews, from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of Benjamin, and from the tribe of Levi. Also was Samaria toward southern part of Israel
Jesus saved Samaritan woman, in the southern province of Israel, and many in the northern part of Israel. Although we can not say specifically, we can derive our thoughts greatly based on the fact that the ten tribes were lost from northern part of Israel, Gentiles were there in that region. That would also give us an understanding that Jesus saved Gentiles in that region. He healed, in the region of Decapolis, a demon-possessed man near Gadara (Mark 5:9-13), a deaf man (Mark 7:31-35), and people suffering from various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics (Mark 7:31-35). The healing was also done on the borders of Tyre, Sidon, and Decapolis in the northern region of Israel, where there were no Jews. One Woman's daughter was healed as we read in Mark 7:24-30) We read in Mark 7:26 “The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.” The Jews called all persons Greeks who were not of their nation. Romans 1:14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. Jews are not Greeks, and Greeks are not Jews. Jesus granted this woman her desire as "crumbs" to "dogs". But that does not mean, the gentiles were equivalent to 'dogs'. No doubt, Jesus came to save sinners, and to seek the lost, but he also had compassion on Gentiles. His ministry was prioritized to take care of Jews first and then Gentiles. True to his own words, Jesus was sent to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
"I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mat 15:24).”
Yes! It comes under the purview of prioritization. The coming of Jesus and offer of salvation was first to JEWS and then to Gentiles.
Jesus said, "
Matthew 11:15 "
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Dear Friend,
Today is the day of salvation. Please confess your sins
to Jesus Christ and be blessed. Receive Salvation and
eternal life. Jesus is the Way, the truth, and the
life. Holy Bible says God created man, in his own image and named
him as Adam and God put him in a very comfortable place
called 'the garden of Eden' and gave him a wife, whom
Adam named as Eve. God gave Adam and Eve all the freedom
except for eating the forbidden fruit, which Eve and
Adam ate and brought sin into this world. In order to
redeem mankind from their sin God sent his one and only
son, Jesus Christ, who died for our sake, was buried,
rose from the dead and ascended in to heaven.
JESUS SAVES YOU
God bless you
Leslie M. John
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