Did Christianity Replace Judaism? Part 2
When you get to the New Testament, it’s evident the writers care deeply to show how Jesus is where the history of Israel—the history of our world was headed.
RECAP
As we have seen, in the beginning God created this beautiful, ordered world to be run by faithful humans who bear His image and partake of His divine life in His presence (Genesis 1-2). As a result of mankind’s choice to rule by our own wisdom, we have become subject to a state of exile within the world God created for us to live (Genesis 3-11). In response, God began to reveal His plan to redeem His good world from the corruption humanity had brought upon it by selecting certain people throughout history and making covenantal partnerships (Abraham and David) with them. God promised to carry these people forward until the day His promise of redemption would be complete.
Israel in its entirety—their presence as a people, their law, the promise of the land, the covenants, the divine tabernacle presence—all of it was not merely for Israel’s own benefit but for them to be the means by which God would bring all mankind back under His kingdom rule forever.
Therefore, the history of the Old Testament is hyper focused on Israel’s relationship to the nations surrounding them. Unfortunately, rather than bring God’s blessing to the nations, Israel became subject to the same powers of evil that claimed the other nations’ allegiance. They constantly broke faith with their redeeming God revealing that they too needed the hope of redemption and restoration. As a result, God sent His people into exile to be scattered out into the nations until the day when His promises would finally be revealed to His people.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
Over 500 years after the Israelites went into exile Matthew writes,
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1 ESV).
Out of all the possible statements he could have made, Matthew chose to begin his account of the good news with a genealogy. And not just any genealogy, but one that has been followed throughout the entire history of Israel from the very beginning of her existence. By conveying that Jesus is the son of Abraham and the son of David, Matthew is telling his readers that God’s promises have come—that Jesus is bringing Israel’s entire history to its culmination. He is the offspring of Abraham Who will bring God’s blessing to all nations (Genesis 12) and the son of David Who will sit on David’s throne forever (2 Samuel 7:12-13) and Who will be revealed as the Son of God to receive all nations and the ends of the earth as an inheritance (Psalm 2). For Matthew, everything that follows is viewed through this framework.
Jesus is Immanuel (God with us) (Isaiah 7; Matthew 1:18-25), the Ruler Who will shepherd the people of God in (Micah 5; Matthew 2:1-6), He was delivered from a similar fate as Moses when the king, out of fear, demanded that all sons two years and younger be killed (Exodus 1; Matthew 2:16-18), He came up out of Egypt as the Israelites did from slavery (Exodus 14: Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:13-15), and He was led into the wilderness to be tested 40 days corresponding to the 40 year testing of the Israelites in the wilderness when their spies had spent 40 days spying out the land only to come back and encourage the people to go back to Egypt (Numbers 13-14; Matthew 3). Jesus went up on a mountain to deliver His law as Moses did on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19-40; Matthew 5-7). He healed and set free those oppressed by the enemy as a king would do for his people and when interacting with the other nations Who desired God’s mercy He was a blessing to them! Finally, at the end of His life, He humbly rode into Jerusalem on a donkey like a king rides into a city (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1-10) to confront the powers that rule over it, was exalted up onto a cross, and died conquering the enemy who holds the whole world in bondage, paying the redemptive price to set free those who are enslaved to sin reminding us of the Passover when God provided a substitutionary lamb to preserve the people of Israel so that He could lead them out of oppression and into a land where His presence is with them (Exodus 12-14)—the land promised to Abraham flowing with milk and honey!
There are many more details in Matthew’s account but I selected these to show you that Matthew depicts Jesus as fulfilling all things pertaining to Israel and therefore stands in representation on their behalf so that He is able to do what they could not do for themselves—what we all cannot do for ourselves—in providing forgiveness of the debt of our sin and bringing us into right relationship to the God Who created us. Jesus is the faithful Offspring of Abraham Who brings God’s blessing to all nations and the Son of David Who reigns over all creation (Matthew 28:18-20.
PETER AND CORNELIUS
After being raised from the dead, Luke tells us that Jesus spent 40 days teaching His disciples about God’s kingdom and as He was teaching them they asked Him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6 ESV)
Jesus responds by saying, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8 ESV)
Notice Jesus does not rebuke their belief about the kingdom and it’s connection to Israel. He reminds them that God’s kingdom will be revealed in His timing and by His authority and though the kingdom being restored to Israel first is key to understanding the rest of Acts it is going to spread far beyond just the nation of Israel. If you have been tracking with the history thus far, you know that the Kingdom being restored to Israel is significant. For Israel to come under the kingship of God means that the promise to bring God’s blessing to all nations can now move forward.
“And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”” (Acts 1:9-11 ESV)
Luke is showing us that after Jesus’ decisive victory over sin and death He was enthroned at God’s right hand as the ruler and King over all creation as the Psalms and the Prophets said (Psalm 110; Daniel 7).
In the very next chapter, there is a Jewish festival happening in Jerusalem (Pentecost—exactly 7x7 or 49 days after Passover; the 50th day—the celebration of receiving the law at Mt. Sinai) and Luke is sure to include the fact that many Israelites who had been scattered during the exile were coming back to Jerusalem to celebrate. It is in this moment that God chose to restore the kingdom to Israel. In an upper room, the first group of disciples (all Jews) were gathered together a violent wind surrounded them as God poured out His Spirit on them and they began to speak in other tongues. The Jewish people who were in Jerusalem for Pentecost heard them speaking in their own languages and as they heard the Good News about Jesus, 3,000 of them responded and were baptized becoming a part of the community of Jesus’ disciples. This continued for the next several years as Jesus, through His Spirit, worked entirely through this Israelite community bringing more and more Israelites into God’s kingdom (Acts 2-9).
Up until this point, the kingdom of God’s people consisted entirely of Jews. The nations had yet to be brought in. That is when Peter is given a vision of all the animals that were declared unclean in the law of Moses—a dietary restriction that set Israel apart from the nations surrounding them. “And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”” (Acts 10:13-15 ESV)
After seeing this vision 3 times, 3 gentile men show up explaining they were sent by a Captain in the Roman army named Cornelius, who feared God and had received a message from God to send for Peter so that he could hear the message Peter had for him.
Peter goes with the men to meet Cornelius and when he gets there he declares how the history of Israel culminated in Jesus and His death for sins on the cross, His victory over death in His resurrection, and His enthronement as Lord. As he was speaking the Holy Spirit was immediately poured out upon the gentile audience just as the Jews on Pentecost, revealing to Peter that the blessing of God is now extended to the nations through the offspring of Abraham. Peter realized in that moment what God desired all along saying, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34-35 ESV)
PAUL
The final place I will stop is a few of Paul’s letters. If you read Paul’s writing you will immediately see that the reconciliation between Jew and gentile relationships was significant. But why? Let’s explore some of his writings.
In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul begins by reminding them that God is bringing unity to all things in heaven and on the earth under Christ (Ephesians 1:10). Unity, therefore, is a natural implication of the gospel. Not just of people but unity of all things in all creation under the One Head, Jesus the Messiah.
As we have seen, a global rebellion is what lead to humans being scattered and divided therefore unity would mean to bring humans back into a right relationship to their Creator and King with their sole allegiance directed toward Him alone.
God’s life-giving presence has been made accessible to humanity through Jesus. The cross of Jesus has become the Tree of Life! In return, He calls all humanity to Himself, offering a different kind of human life. One connected to the true eternal-life source, the Father Who created us all.
In Ephesians 2 he explains how this new community is the manifestation of God’s promises extending from the offspring of Abraham to the nations. He writes to the gentiles saying, “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:12-13 ESV)
For Paul, Israel was to be the vehicle of God’s blessing to all nations and by Jesus being born into the family of Abraham, He became the way in which that promise became a reality. Jesus is the offspring of Abraham through Whom the promise of blessing comes to fulfillment. Paul makes this argument in his letter to the churches in Galatia (a predominantly gentile community) when he writes: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16 ESV)
He also writes: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:27-29 ESV)
Another passage that helps shed light on this concept is 1 Corinthians 10: “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 ESV)
Paul is writing to a church that is mostly full of people who are not Israelites and he speaks of the history of Israel using inclusion terms like “our fathers.” He is telling the nations, now that you are part of this covenant family, their family history has become your family history. You are a part of Israel and their history. You have been brought into a narrative that goes all the way back to Genesis 12—rather, all the way back to Genesis 1-3!
Though the nations were scattered in their pride, they have been brought back under the blessing of God through the family of Abraham by the life and power of his offspring, Jesus of Nazareth, through His life, death, and resurrection, and have now been given family status within the very household of God, even being called His children!
So you see it is not about replacement. It is about inclusion and extension. The church (Greek: Ekklesia; meaning assembly or those called out from a scattering into an unified group) is the inclusion of all nations into the One house of God, under the rule of the One faithful Israelite. To be a Christian, is to take part in an identity that gives special status within the household of God. Through Jesus we are now His children, and heirs according to His promise.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
(1 John 3:1-3 ESV)
The final book in the Bible contains a vision of the global redemption made possible by the slain lamb. John writes:
“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”” (Revelation 5:9-10 ESV)
Now as we, the global, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, community of God’s people, await the future hope, may we pray with Paul as he says: “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:15-23 ESV)