Through the Old Testament and in the person of Jesus, there was a great mystery that was being revealed: That the hearts of the Israelites would be hardened, the hearts of God’s own people, the ones that he had specifically chosen through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so as to allow the Gentiles to come in to his kingdom and be his people.
This went against everything that that Israelites thought that they had understood about God since the beginning of their relationship with the Lord. They were supposed to separate themselves from the Gentiles. They were supposed to “come out” from amongst the Gentiles. They were even supposed to rid the land of the Gentiles, of the Canaanites, as they entered the Promised Land that God had given them.
And now, had this all changed? Now, are you telling us that God, our God, has accepted these godless people?
Yes, in fact, that is the mystery that the people of Israel finally understood from God. Paul explains it to the Romans:
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;
Romans 11:25-27
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
The Israelites’ hearts were hard toward God. They rejected him. They did not follow him. They were interested in the benefits of God, but they were not interested in God himself. They would not repent. They would not leave their old way of life, continuing on and on to even worship other gods on the high places.
The Israelites would only continue on the path that they were on. They killed the prophets that God had sent to them, those who had called them to repentance. They wouldn’t heed the warnings that the Messiah was coming.
So God announced a new covenant. The old covenant had been broken. The Israelites had not obeyed God. They were not interested in being God’s people, so God opened the doors to the Gentiles, to anyone who would believe, through Jesus. No longer are the people of God those that have received the law. No longer will his people just be the people of Israel. Instead, it will be those people upon whom God has written his law upon their hearts. Instead of a written law that must be obeyed to the letter, it is a spiritual law that is obeyed by loving God, walking by the Spirit of the Lord, and naturally doing that which the law requires, and more.
These people will be God’s people. And these are the people for whom God will be their God.
So everything that the Israelites thought that they knew changed, and this is the mystery that was being fulfilled in God. Those whom it seemed were the godless, who always had the finger pointed at them as the “dogs”, or the wrong people for God… these are the people who will now be God’s people.
It is a true mystery, indeed. It doesn’t seem to make sense. Those who are not God’s people suddenly… are.
This is because Jesus made all of the difference. He changed everything. God stepped into the world and called the people who were not his people now, suddenly, to be his people. It wasn’t because he just accepted them, including the way that they were acting. They couldn’t just continue living as they had lived before. No, they still had to repent and follow Christ, leaving their old life behind and living in the way that Christ called us to live. But it could be anyone. Anyone!
And even still today, anyone can follow Christ. The mystery is still intact. Anyone can be part of God’s people. Anyone can know him. A Muslim. A Buddhist. An atheist. Gay. Straight. Whether they call themselves a Christian or not. Whether they grew up in a Christian nation or not. Everyone can come. They can all come.
However, we must come to him on his terms. Not ours. We are the people and he is our God, if we will repent. If we will leave behind our sins and follow the ways of God. He will be our God and we will be his people, if we come to him through Christ who pays for our sins and allows us to enter his kingdom. This is the mystery, that God is not just the God of the Hebrews, the God of the Israelites. He is our God if we will come to him through Jesus. He will write his laws on our hearts. He will change our hearts from stone to flesh. He will make us come alive again and we will be his people, living for him, glorifying him as the people within his kingdom. Forever.