Jesus Was The Rock That Led Israel
The New Testament as well as the Old describe God’s coming down to be God in the flesh to mankind. God, in His immense love, had planned to send His Son –– one of the members of the God family –– to save us. The Apostle Paul, author of most of the New Testament, clearly reveals that Jesus is the God of ancient Israel.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.” (NKJV)
Paul is telling a primarily gentile congregation that they are part of Israel! They are, as far as God is concerned, added in or grafted into Israel. It was actually Jesus who destroyed Pharaoh and His army in the Red Sea. Jesus saved Israel physically from slavery in Egypt and He is saving true believers today from slavery to sin.
I Corinthians 10:5-6, “But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.”
Paul is telling believers that the lessons learned in the history of ancient Israel are our examples. All believers are “Israelites” and must learn from the examples in the Old Testament. Failure to do so could cost us our salvation. It must be taken seriously!
1 Corinthians 10:7-11, “And do not become idolaters… and rise up to play. Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did… nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed… Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus was the deity that anciently dealt with mankind.
John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:29, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”
John 1:34-36, “And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
The Apostle John describes Jesus as a member of the God family; the word, the son of God, was sent to mankind to save us.
The Bread of Life Sent From God
Jesus, as the God of the Old Testament, walked and dealt with the Patriarchs of the Bible. His admission of this told the clerics of His day that He was God.
John 8:56-59, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. Then the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ Then they took up stones to throw at Him;”
Jesus bluntly told them that He was God the Son and they tried to stone Him for what they considered blasphemy. Further, Jesus said that He is the bread of life from God sent for all mankind.
John 6:40-41, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” God the Son is God the Father’s great gift to all mankind. Abundant thanks!
Replacement Theology is a False Premise
This premise underlays the basis for much of the misunderstanding of the Bible. Replacement theology asserts that the Church replaces Israel and the belief that Israel is no longer important to God. It is true that God has temporarily divorced them because THEY broke the covenant agreement. But it is clear in the New Testament that gentiles are grafted into Israel.
Romans 11:23-25, “… For God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion…”
Most worldly clerics have been misled and become wise in their own eyes. God has not permanently forsaken Israel. Many of them were and are converted. Who are the Israelites?
Romans 9:4-5, “…Who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”
Replacement theology misleads clerics to assert that the Old Testament is done away. Neglecting or not fully respecting any portion of God’s word is a huge spiritual mistake! It takes an understanding of the past to properly apply some ancient concepts to our age. Clearly, their motive is avoiding the portions of God’s law which they have not been keeping, such as the Sabbaths.
Who gave the Ten Commandments to Moses? Jesus Christ! He was the one who met with and instructed Moses and others. One revealing factor is the question, “Did New Testament teachers apply Old Testament Laws, even minor ones, to New Covenant believers?”
1 Corinthians 9:9-10, “For it is written in the law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.’ Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt…”
The answer is a resounding “Yes!” Paul applies Old Testament Laws and the principles behind them to New Covenant gentile believers! Paul firmly supported the Old Testament.
Acts 24:14, “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.”
It is an erroneous over simplification to say that God is finished with Israel and the Old Testament is now invalid. Some theologians believe that the calling of gentiles was God forsaking Israel which it was not. It was also not the forsaking of all that God the Father through the Son Jesus had inspired in the Old Testament. The Old Testament predicted that God would call the gentiles.
Romans 4:17, “(As it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed — God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;”
Paul is quoting Genesis 17:5 to these believers in Rome. The New Testament and the Old Testament work in harmony. The New Covenant does not undermine the Old Testament but instead supports it at an even deeper level.
