Welcome back Bible lovers!  It is good to study and fellowship with one another, so I hope you are finding blessing here.

Yesterday I introduced God’s 3-fold call upon Israel and we launched into the first of those three: the birthing call.  Through Abraham, God birthed His purpose: world redemption.  Let’s continue that thought by considering what a tremendous debt we Christian have.

We learned from Romans 9:4-5 that, to the Jews belong:

• Adoption
• Glory
• The covenants of God
• The giving of the law
• Worship
• Promises
• The patriarchs
• Jesus Christ himself!

Furthermore, Romans 3:1-2 tells that the oracles of God were entrusted to the Jews!  And yet, we have become partakers of all those marvelous gifts.

But consider this: Jesus became our gift as He was crucified “King of the Jews.”  Jesus wasn’t a Christian…He was a Jew.  Not just any Jew, but King of the Jews.  He was recognized as such by the wise men at His birth (Matthew 2:2), by Pilate as He stood accused before him (Matthew 27:11), by Romans (Matthew 27:28-29), and by the sign which hung above His head on the cross (Matthew 27:37).

We must understand that the church did not bring Jesus into the world…Israel brought Jesus into the world!  It was Jesus, a Jew, who brought the church into the world!

We owe a debt we cannot pay.  God birthed His plan for eternal blessing through Abraham and offered the gift to us through the Jews.  How do we compensate the Jews for giving us so much, including their Messiah…our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?  We cannot repay the debt.  But what we can do is share the Jewish Messiah with others, and move the Jews to jealousy!  (Romans 11:11)

That’s the birthing call God gave to Israel.  Stick with us as we take a look at the suffering call next.