Blinding Unbelief

So, currently, during the day while I’m working, I’m listening to a guy teach a Sunday School class to a group of adults on the book of Hebrews. His insight is amazing. We’re somewhere around chapter 9, but I’m not exactly sure, as I said, I’m working while listening. The information sticks, but the details like where we’re reading from sometimes escape me. In any case, God made a connection in my mind in what he told me through this teacher and it’s so great, I wanted to post it so I could always have my thoughts written out, as well as if anyone else ever reads this, maybe they can be edified by it as I was.

The idea is this…

In the Old Testament the nation of Israel chose NOT to believe God when He promised He would give them the ‘Promised’ land. They had seen His power. They had tasted His blessings. They knew He was God. Yet, corporately as a nation as a whole, they chose to believe that they would die if they tried to take the land of Canaan. In fact, they actually complained that they didn’t understand why God would bring them out of slavery in Egypt just to watch them die and their children die in battle against the Canaanites. In essence, they didn’t believe God would keep His word and give them the land of Canaan (which is symbolic of being given salvation). As such, they planned to stone Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, and then return to Egypt (which is symbolic of being in bondage to sin).

Wait a second, Israel was supposed to be a light to the world. ALL nations were to be blessed through Israel. How would ALL nations (the Gentiles, the world, more specifically… me) be blessed if Israel didn’t believe God and was sentenced to not being accepted into Jesus’ salvation?

In my paraphrase, God said, “You’re worried about your kids? Ok, I’ll take care of them. I’ll let them into Canaan (the promised land, my rest, the rest from my works, my Sabbath, my salvation) and they will be cared for, but because you have not believed in Me, you will not enter. Because you have not believed Me, you will wander the wilderness (symbolic of “a lonely place” later on in the gospels) until every one of you dies.”

In other words, the excuse Israel gave was their kids. So, because they were unbelievers, they weren’t saved, and the choice to believe Jesus fell to their children. Their children did believe and were saved.

Parallel this with the nation of Israel not recognizing (believing) that Jesus was their Saviour. They were given EXACT information as to who their Saviour would be, and even an EXACT date that He would make Himself known back in the book of Daniel. Yet when He did, they didn’t believe Him. Beyond that, their response was “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! May his blood be upon us!” They didn’t believe Jesus was the One who created everything. They didn’t believe that Jesus was the One who made the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They didn’t believe Jesus was the I AM from the burning bush. They didn’t believe Jesus was the One who brought them out of their bondage in Egypt. They didn’t believe Jesus was the One that spoke to them from Mount Horeb. They didn’t believe Jesus was the One who wrote the 10 commandments with His own finger in stone. They didn’t believe Jesus would take them into the promised land. They didn’t believe Jesus was God. And why not? When you stop and think it through, it’s really understandable that Jesus is God – as Israel would’ve understood. Think about it. When God made His promise to Abram, did He say, I am God “the Father”? No. When God reiterated His promise to Isaac and later Jacob, did He say, I am God “the Father”? No. When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush did He say, I am God “the Father”? No. There is no mention of God “the Father” in the Old Testament. So when Jesus shows up in the New Testament why should there be any doubt that Jesus is God based on the miracles that everyone saw Him perform and the way in which He identified Himself? Yet, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! May his blood be upon us!” And so it is.

Because they didn’t believe Jesus was God – because they didn’t believe Jesus was their Saviour, “…blindness, IN PART, was given to the Jews…” But wait, how will ALL nations (the Gentiles, the world, more specifically… me) be blessed if the nation of Israel is again blind? Jesus goes on to say, “…until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.”

While growing up, I’ve often wondered how the nation of Israel could be so stupid. How could they see God’s power, see Him, hear His voice, and still disbelieve Him; at times so blatantly as to make a golden calf and call it God. Why wouldn’t they call out to Him if they had doubts? How could they so easily forget the 10 plagues God used to spiritually dethrone all of Egypt’s false gods and bust them out? Now I think I know why. God had the nation do this so it would be recorded and He could show Christians like me the similarities between the nation of Israel who didn’t believe Jesus would keep His word by taking them into Canaan (saving them), and someone today not believing Jesus would keep His word by taking them into Eternal Life (saving them).

So the Jews are again blindly wandering in a lonely place of unbelief while others are being brought by into salvation by Jesus. And as soon as Jesus has every Gentile in that He has always known will choose to believe Him, He will take the blindfold off of Israel and they will recognize Him as their Saviour by the nail prints in His hands.

God is so good. God is so good. God is so good. He’s so good to me!