The Last Gentile!

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” -Rom 11:25-27

They have been hated! They have been scattered! They have been blamed and frowned upon. They have been threatened and tortured, and killed. The plots against them have been the most diabolical in history. The pogroms against them have been sinister and demonic. Their setting aside by God has been misread and misunderstood, and misrepresented. Their existence has been despised. Their eradication has been plotted. Yet through it all, their survival has been protected by God, and now they are regathered in the land of their Fathers to complete the unfolding of God’s planned History for them. And only one thing is holding back their final climactic redemption scene from being played out in real time. That one thing? The salvation of the Last Gentile!

THE LAND OF ISRAEL …. Circa 700 BC…

The prophet Isaiah understands the future of his people. God has shown him amazing prophesies that no one else has ever seen about Israel’s ultimate redemption and the Messiah/ Savior who will come from her people.

But he also sees something else!

“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 49:6

Isaiah knows the  Messiah won’t just be coming to lead Israel and be their redeemer. He will also save the Gentile world with His Great sacrifice and mercy. Paul would reiterate this point in Acts 13:47:

“For thus the Lord has commanded us: 'I have set you for a light of the Gentiles, you to be for salvation to the uttermost part of the earth.'”

This was difficult for the chosen nation known as Israel to understand. They believed that the Messiah would one day come in a Davidic-type kingdom to lead Israel in conquering all their enemies and elevate Israel to the apex of the world’s nations while righting all the wrongs done against her in the past. How then would it be possible for Him to treat these Gentile nations as equal heirs to His blessings?

Of course, the problem with their thinking was that they didn’t yet understand He would truly be divine. He would be the savior of the whole world and not Israel only. And … one vitally important detail missed by all…He would come twice!

Messiah being a global Savior and not just Israel’s Hero was embedded clear back in the call of Abraham… the Father of the Jews:

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” -Gen 12:2-3

Israel’s blessings would include being the head of nations when Jesus Christ returns for His millennial reign as her King. The world’s blessings would include the personal salvation that Jesus would offer every person in the world through His redeeming work on the cross!

ISRAEL’S ARROGANCE …

Although they had been given these words of Abraham’s call since their beginning, had been given the law and the sacrificial system and the Prophets to humble them and show them the need to repent and trust God’s mercy, and even though the whole system they were given pointed to the coming Messiah and His Sacrificial death to atone for their sins and redeem them, still Israel remained a self-righteous arrogant people who felt they were better than the other nations of the world.

God had intended for them to be a banner of hope and salvation to the rest of the nations because Israel alone knew the one true God and could bring His loving mercy to the rest of the earth, but instead, Israel hated the Gentiles and believed they were hopeless mongrels, mostly to steer clear of.

The Jews should have known by their own God given law that the Gentiles were always able to come and worship the true God and to partake in the blessings God gave Israel. To do so, they needed to repent and be baptized into the Jewish belief system and practice the feasts and sacrifices as God commanded. In other words, they had to become a Jew by faith, even though not by race. There was even a Court of the Gentiles in the temple that they could enter. Yes, they were considered orphans adopted by faith … but still they were never completely shunned by God and un-savable as many Jews believed. Their own history should have taught them this truth, including one of the most beautiful stories revealed in the Old Testament!

RUTH…

One great irony of the Bible that shows God’s brilliant plan to incorporate the Gentiles into the plan of salvation is the story of Ruth.  Coming near the end of the time of the Judges, Ruth was a Gentile woman who married into the family of a Jewish Woman named Naomi. When Ruth’s husband died, she moved from Moab to Israel with her Mother-in-Law, Naomi, and pledged to spend the rest of her life taking care of Naomi. But Naomi had other plans.

There was a single male relative who was financially secure, and Naomi arranged to have Ruth go and glean his fields by night to provide food for the two women. The man’s name was Boaz, and soon he fell in love with the gentile Ruth, and as a near relative, he was able to redeem her from her widowed condition, and they were married.

Not only is the story a beautiful picture of how the Messiah would redeem the Gentiles, but it is also the bridge book from the time of the Judges to the time of the Kings in Israel’s history. And the Jews should have understood the beautiful incorporation of Gentiles into the unfolding of God’s plan because Ruth would become the mother of Obed, who would be the father of Jessi, who would be the father of King David …Israel’s most honored and beloved king. If Israel needed a reminder of God’s compassion for the Gentiles and His sovereign plan for their inclusion, the story of Ruth stands as that divine hinge—uniting Jew and Gentile in the unfolding of the Messiah’s coming.

THE GOOD SAMARITAN

There are many more indicators in Scripture that God always fully intended to include the Gentiles in His salvation plans and that no one (including Israel) was going to enter Heaven on their own good merit. Jesus used the Good Samaritan story as an example that a rejected gentile could be more faithful to God’s work than the religious leaders of the Jewish people, who thought themselves to be worthy by their lofty positions:

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’, and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply, Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” -Luke 10:25-37

When Jesus told him the Good Samaritan parable, he intentionally used the Samaritan as the good neighbor and the religious Jewish leaders as the bad neighbors. Samaritans were a mixed race of Jews and Gentiles, and not pure blood Jews. The Jews hated them and considered them a filthy race. Another example of the Jews believing the outsiders were rejected by God and unworthy, while they themselves, as Sons of Abraham, were obedient and accepted by the Lord… at least, in their own minds!

Jesus showed them that gentile blood was not preventing the Samaritans from being far more faithful than the Jews who considered themselves righteous. The Jews needed to learn the lesson that “all are unrighteous” and all need the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. But they were a self-righteous people who felt that being sons of Abraham automatically qualified them as righteous in God’s eyes. They should have learned from John the Baptist, who warned them of such faulty thinking:

“And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” (Matthew 3:9)

And from their great Prophet Isaiah, who painted the picture of Israel’s need for a Spiritual redeemer as well as a national one:

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Is 53:6)

And Paul reiterated the lost spiritual condition of unrighteousness in every human being:

“…There is no one righteous, not even one;” -Romans 3:10

Jesus' purpose of using a Samaritan person, who were somehow regarded as even lower than other Gentiles by the Jews, was to show that all people are within the reach of God’s salvation, and it is not reserved only for Israel. Yes, there is an earthly kingdom of Honor and glory reserved for Israel and King Jesus that will indeed place them above all nations for the final Millennium, but even that is not the crowning achievement of the Messiah’s work. His greatest glory will come from being the Savior of all humanity, and even the Jews needed His Sacrificial atoning work at the cross because they, too, were sinners just like the Gentiles, and they needed to see their filthiness in a new light. Without the self-awareness of our sinfulness, there is no repentance …and no hope of seeking forgiveness!  The soon-to-be-born Church (filled with Gentiles and first-century Jews) would soon begin to play out the Good Samaritan Parable to the entire world in real time at the dawn of the “Grace Age!”

THE ROMAN SOLDIER

Although crowds of over 20,000 people in Israel often listened to Jesus preach during His incarnation, and thousands more experienced healings and miracles in His presence, including several who saw loved ones raised back from death to life, few understood that they were standing in the very presence of God in their midst. The demons knew. They proclaimed His Holiness in fear constantly when they encountered him. Peter somewhat understood. But practically none among the Israelites truly realized Jesus was God’s Son in the flesh. But one Gentile did understand the truth. And he was a Roman soldier involved with the Crucifixion!

“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split, and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” -Matt 27:50-54

The belief of this Roman Centurion is not a surprise. In Luke 7, we are given the story of the Roman Centurion whose servant becomes sick, and the Gentile soldier reaches out to Jesus in faith to heal his beloved servant. It is a great story of faith, Jesus said was greater than He had seen among the people of Israel.

“After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now, a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.” -Luke 7:1-10

Jesus made it clear on numerous occasions that His kingdom was not set apart for a self-righteous group grandfathered into salvation by bloodline and elitism. His kingdom is built one heart at a time through faith in the realization of who Jesus is and believing in His redemptive work. And that faith was being made available to Gentiles as well as Jews. It is no coincidence that Gentiles like the Demoniac of the Gerasenes and the Roman Centurion were among the few who recognized Jesus’ Deity and made the declaration that “Jesus is God,” while the people who had been prepared to receive him (Israel) totally misinterpreted their own writings that told of Him. Demons and gentiles had no such misinterpretations.

PETER’S DREAM

Throughout Jewish history, strict adherence to the dietary laws and observances to eat only clean animals and never be defiled by consuming unclean ones was one of the main tenets of the Law! God had given these decrees separating clean from unclean not only for health purposes but also to picture the separation of Israel from the Pagan world in how their diet would keep the Jews a separate people. It did indeed separate them not only in practice but also in conscience, as seen in the first chapter of Daniel.

But all that changed one night when God gave Peter a vision showing how the new  Church would not recognize a difference between Jew and Gentile but would incorporate anyone who would bow their knee to Christ for salvation.

“About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.  This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”

The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

Peter at Cornelius’s House

The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”

Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.”-Acts 10:9-48

The Jews had been called out of the Pagan world to be a separate Holy People and distinguished from all other nations as belonging to God. Not because they were special. But because God chose to show them mercy and use them as a peculiar spectacle, the world would take notice of them. A people with a strange dietary plan and a different system of worship. A people that served only One God and trusted in His guidance and  Protection so much that they even circumcised their baby boys to outwardly show their faith. Their abstention from unclean animals was part of their moral code, and the faithful Jews could not imagine violating its ordinances. It helped set them apart from the rest of the gentile nations.

But now God was telling Peter the decree was over. The newly forming Church was not to adhere to the old Jewish laws. Jesus had perfectly fulfilled those laws and had become the worthy life we all need imputed to us to allow us into God’s Holy Presence. No longer did believers have to be baptized into the Jewish belief system or add  Christ to what the Jews already practiced. Now all believers, Jew and gentile, could come and find their rest in Christ and trust His finished work for their salvation. The big influx of Gentiles was about to come into the kingdom of God, and Israel was about to be sidelined for the next two millennia. And this was relayed to Peter by way of a dream showing how the unclean animals were now clean to be eaten, just as the unclean Gentiles were now free to join the kingdom without the weight of the law restricting them. In the Church, everyone would be equal… humbled at the feet of their beloved Savior. Their cleanliness comes from His atoning blood and perfect life. Not from their own inherent goodness!

“All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” -John 6:37

That would include both Jew and Gentile!

JERUSALEM TRAMPLED

Just as the new Church age was dawning and the Gentiles were being ushered into the kingdom through the missionary work of the early Church Fathers, the Disciples, and the Apostle Paul, Israel itself was being dismembered and its inhabitants carried away into the nations.

Jesus has predicted that Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Romans, and the indication that there would be no Israel for a long period of time can be surmised through many Bible passages and parables.

“They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”- Luke 21:24

For nearly 2000 years, the Church grew, it spread across the world, and it took in both the good and bad elements who claimed to follow Jesus. Many sincere transformed believers, as well as many who were false converts and used their presence to pervert the Gospel message in one way or another. Jesus had predicted this with his parable of the dragnet :

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” -Matt 13:47-50

The Church filled the giant net world-wide … while the descendants of Israel remained dispersed and alienated from their home country… scattered across the earth!

Then … in 1948, the miracle of miracles happened. Israel was reborn as a nation after nearly 2000 years of diaspora. This incredible sign from God showed us that He would soon turn His attention back to the Jews to finish history and return to set up their kingdom. It also signaled that the time of the church age and time of the gentiles … was coming to a close!

CONCLUSION

The fullness of the Gentiles has just about been completed! Israel is back in her nation, and the world is clamoring to force a peace deal upon her and divide her land. The gospel has been taken to the ends of the world, and the internet is now basically everywhere to make the message of Jesus available to anyone searching for Truth.

But somewhere out there … is the last gentile that will come to Christ for salvation … drawn by the Father to belong to the Son! And when that last gentile bows his/her knee to our Lord … the curtain will close on this age and the rapture will happen. When it does, Israel will once again take center stage as the main focus of history. Her final seven-year time clock will start, and the countdown to the Lord’s millennial “Kingdom Come” will begin ticking down the seconds!

God is faithful. All that He has given to the Son will be collected to Him. Just like the last animal to be collected before the Ark set sail all those millennia ago. None that have been chosen by God will be missed. But the time for them to come is quickly running out. The world’s hatred of Israel and determination to corner her with a bad peace deal that will ultimately lead to her destruction is being plotted right now across the world. Under the guise of peace, extermination is being plotted. But God will never let it happen.

Israel is still God’s nation. They will one day be redeemed and become part of the eternal kingdom that the Gentiles have been blessed to be grafted into over these last 2,000 years. But the last Gentile is about to enter the Kingdom, and God is setting His eyes on His Chosen regathered nation to be grafted back into the great blessings He set forth with their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 4,000 years ago. The Tribulation is the final era that will at long last prompt the Jews to accept Jesus as their Messiah and Savior. And when they do, The Lord’s Prayer will finally be fulfilled as God’s kingdom will come … and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!

Amen!

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! -Romans 11:22-24