Study – Grow – Know

Not All Jews Believe in Any God

February 19, 2016 at 10:27 AM Leave a comment

Petra, built into solid rock and once part of Edom, is now an abandoned city in Jordan. Likely thinking they were invincible, they were overcome by the Babylonians in the 6th century BC.

I was reminded again this morning of people who are Jewish by birth but often have no real belief system apart from the lies of the left. Though we Christians tend to think of Jewish people as one group that has, at the very least, some inkling that God exists and has a plan for their life as a nation, the reality is that Satan has probably targeted and attacked the Jewish people harder than any other group. The reason is manifold, but I believe is mainly due to the fact that from the nation of Israel came the Messiah/Savior (Revelation 12 for a very brief overview of God’s plan of redemption).

Satan clearly has it out for the Jewish people in general and has done everything possible to make them stiff-necked and even atheistic where God is concerned. Satan has used numerous dictators throughout history to try to eradicate Jews. He is currently using several leaders from Islamic nations to boast about eliminating all Jews from the Middle East, though I don’t think they really want to stop there. What they speak aloud Satan whispers in their ear. They do his bidding and have his desires (mainly hatred) as their motivation.

It all boils down to God creating and using Israel, the Jewish nation, to bring a Messiah/Savior into this world. Without Israel, we would not have Jesus and this alone is the reason Paul tells us that we Christians owe a debt of gratitude to the Jews (which he spells out in Romans 3 and read carefully 9-11; see also John 4:22).

When Satan can cause any Jewish person to become an atheist or turn to liberal, left-leaning rabbis (who are generally also atheistic, though having a semblance of religiosity), he has truly accomplished a great deal. There are many Jews (and Gentiles) who reject the notion that God created and used Israel for His own purposes. Like Esau and Edom, these people stand resolutely against Israel and do not even consider that God’s plans and purposes intend to bring a final remnant to Him at some future point as is foretold throughout the Old Testament.

This is exactly what got Esau/Edom in trouble with God. Esau (Edom) was the brother of Jacob and we all know what God said about these two men. “Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated,” (Malachi 1:3; Romans 9:13). When God says He “hated” or “loved” He is not using those terms the way we would use them. God’s “hatred” amounted to rejection of a particular person, in this case Esau for reasons originally known by God, but became clear to us later.

But the truth is that Esau made stupid decisions based solely on selfishness. He sold his birthright to Jacob in exchange for some soup (Genesis 25:29-34). He did this because he was hungry and because he placed no value on his birthright. In rejecting his birthright, Esau was actually rejecting God. Because of that, Esau and his ancestors became anathema to God and caused numerous problems for Israel.

In fact, Esau’s actual hatred of his brother Jacob pushed him to take action against Jacob. Jacob was the direct father of the twelve patriarchs who directly formed the nation of Israel. Esau was not part of that and in essence, his evil actions, while directed against his brother Jacob, were actually counted as being against the nation of Israel.

For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity; his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever, (Amos 1:11).

Because of Esau’s evil attitude (resulting in what Esau did against Jacob/Israel), God decided that Edom (formed by Esau’s ancestors) would be punished for Esau’s original treachery. In Genesis 36:1, Moses points out that Esau is Edom. Moses repeats this fact in verses 8, 19, and 43 of this same chapter of Genesis. The fact is undeniable.

If one studies the ancestry of Esau, there is really nothing good that comes from him. He was disgraced, judged, found wanting, and condemned. He was a “Jew” who stood against his brother Jacob and ultimately stood against Israel itself. In Numbers 20, we learn that Edom would not allow Israel to pass through “their” land. They withstood them so forcefully, that Israel chose instead to back off and go around them. This created a huge problem for Israel, one that God did not allow to go unpunished against Edom.

There are, unfortunately, plenty of Jews today (by birth) who routinely stand against Israel. In fact, many of these Jews are complete atheists and would have likely stood against Moses during the Exodus. You can try to debate them as I did this morning, but it will usually come to nothing. Be ready for that. But also, be ready to pray for them. Once you have engaged them, they are on then your prayer radar. You will have an obligation to bring them before God for Him to open their eyes to the truth.

This morning several Jewish men tried to take me to task on a social network over the issue of abortion. The ranting, circular reasoning, and attacks were interesting to say the least. One even tried to use (liberal) “rabbinic tradition” because he knew he could not stand on the Mosaic Law itself. When in doubt, search high and low for someone in authority who agrees with your position then go from there. If you’re a liberal Jew, avoid the Torah and Tanakh at all costs. Better to quote liberals.

The problem of course, with discussions on a social network is that rarely are people today interested in actual discussion. Most cannot handle it or know how to engage in it. I don’t prefer it myself. This is due largely to the fact that we have become a society of memes, labels, character assassinations, and sayings. Multi-layered issues are often narrowed down to a single saying or meme. Too often people respond out of insecurities or hate, which often come out in sarcasm or profanity-laced comebacks.

This makes it difficult for the Christian who endeavors to present truth in a way that glorifies God, without the sarcasm, without the rancor, without the anger or hate. Here’s what I’ve learned. People will generally do whatever they can to pump themselves up, to affix blame on someone else, and to save themselves from looking small and childish. They’ll use circular reasoning or simply attack. If you address one point, they’ll ignore that and focus on something else you never even said in order to create a convoluted mess.

Paul was right as he tells us in 2 Timothy 3:1-3 about what we can expect from people today.

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good…

This will occur more and more over time as the end of this age approaches. The age to come is the one in which Messiah will rule. This age leads to that, but before we get there, the world must go through a complete transformation in which a one-world global system of governance will occur, to be led by Satan’s spiritual son, Antichrist.

We will know that we are in the final stages of this when the final seven years of tribulation begin according to the event that kicks it off (Daniel 9:27). Understand that there will be seven specific years that will lead up to and culminate in the physical return of Jesus. Once the final seven-years (or Tribulation) begin, the countdown to His return starts. However, even with that, Jesus has clearly warned that no one will know the day or hour of His return (Matthew 24:36). He said this in the context of His comments regarding the final seven years and more specifically, the final three and a half years once the “abomination of desolation” occurs by Antichrist.

Fellow Christian, it is not going to get easier. It is going to become more difficult. Problems in life created by increased lawlessness throughout global society will separate immature, carnal Christians from those who take fellowship with God seriously. If you are not walking in fellowship with God, you are not being empowered to stand against the evil that is becoming openly prevalent today. Without being in fellowship with God, you will see people as “enemies” instead of as people who need the only salvation that is available today, in Jesus. They are not our enemies. They are enemies of the cross, but even so, our job is to present to them the gospel that saves.

If you are a Christian, you are saved. You have salvation because you have Jesus who lives within you thanks to the Holy Spirit. Your legal standing before God has gone from “unrighteous” to “righteous.” This is the start. When you die, if nothing else, you will have salvation even though everything else you might accomplish in this life – done in your own strength – will burn up at the Bema Seat of Judgment (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

But while going from “unsaved” to “saved” or “unrighteous” to “righteous” is absolutely preferred, we must not end up like the Laodicean believers who routinely gathered for worship and had a lot of activity happening in their church, but lacked fellowship with God! Read Revelation 3:14-22 to learn that Jesus was not only not impressed with that group of believers, but He was ready to spit them out of His mouth.

No, they were not going to lose salvation (that’s biblically impossible). But the door to fellowship was going to be closed by Jesus Himself until such a time as they were ready to return to Him like the Prodigal Son did (Luke 15:11ff).

God wants to give us salvation, but He also wants us to share in fellowship with Him, which is not automatic just because a person has salvation. Fellowship is the only thing that will keep us unspotted from the world and living a life that coincides with how God now defines us: righteous. We must endeavor to enter into and maintain fellowship with God every day of our lives.

Entry filed under: christianity, Islam, israel, Judaism, Political Correctness, Politically Correct, Politics, Religious - Christian - End Times, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology, salvation, second coming. Tags: edom, esau, israel, jesus messiah savior, jewish, middle east, mosaic law, rabbinic tradition, satan.