Contrasts Between Israel and the Church
James Harrison Smith
Table of Contents
Contrasts Between Israel and the Church
THE CALL
The call of Israel, whose founder was Abraham is earthly: “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land” [Canaan] (Gen. 12:7). The Lord said to Jacob (Israel): “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed” (Gen. 28:13).
The call of the Church (that is to say, the whole of all sinners saved by the sovereign grace of God from the day of Pentecost until the moment of the coming of the Lord), is heavenly. “Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling” (Heb. 3:1). “Our conversation is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). “The hope which is laid up for you in heaven” (Col. 1:5); “Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Blessed “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).
When was the call made? Abraham was called by the Lord in about 2000 B.C. (According to the genealogies in Genesis, fixing the date of the creation of Adam at 4004 B.C.). The church was chosen in Christ before the world was created: “According as He (Christ) hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph. 1:4-5). Well may we exclaim with reverence and adoration, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted [or: favored us] in the beloved [in Christ]” (Eph. 1:6)!
THE SACRIFICE FOR SIN
The sacrifices of clean animals and birds offered for the Israelites were provisional and could not erase once and for all their sin, as we read in Hebrews 10:1-4: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sin every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”
But it is the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, that now forever perfects the repentant sinner and all sinners saved by the grace of God — the Church. “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ... . this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God ... . For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:10-14).
For Israel, then, there were many sacrifices that were temporarily effective; for the Church it was one sacrifice that was eternally effective.
THE PRIESTHOOD
In Israel, the high priest, or pontiff, was from the tribe of Levi, from the descendants of Aaron. They were made priests “without oath.” They had to offer sacrifices first for themselves, then for the people, repeating them often. They served according to “the law of the carnal commandment” in the earth. “By reason of death they could not remain.” Being but men, all died.
ENTERING THE PRESENCE OF GOD
In Israel, no one could enter the presence of God except for the high priest, and he could enter only once per year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the sins of the ignorance of the people (read Heb. 9:7). No other Israelite had the liberty to enter into the presence of God.
What a contrast with the privilege and the liberty to enter that every Christian has! Why? Oh, because the blood of Jesus Christ has been shed! “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh” (Heb. 10:19-20).
THE HIGH PRIEST
The high priest of Israel was a sinful man; he had to offer sacrifice for himself; and after awhile he had to die. On the other hand, our high priest, Jesus Christ, was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore” (Heb. 7:26-28).
Death put an end to the priestly intercession of the high priest of Israel; but our High Priest, raised from among the dead, does not ever die; “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).
The priest in Israel carried out the functions of his priesthood on the earth: but Christians “have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Heb. 8:1).
For the Church, the high priest is the Son of God. According to the flesh, He was from the lineage of David from the tribe of Judah. He was made a priest “with oath”: “the Lord took an oath, and he will not repent of it: Thou art are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec.” He is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” He did not have to offer a sacrifice for Himself first, because He never sinned in thought, word or deed. He offered Himself for sinners. Such an high priest serves “at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high” and “according to the power of an endless life.” He will never die. “For which cause He can save to the uttermost them that come unto God through Him, living always to make intercession for them.” (Read Hebrews chapters 7, 8, 9, 10).
THE ADORATION
The offering to the Lord by the Israelites and the offering to the Father by the true Christians (the believers) are two very distinct things. In Israel, only the children of one tribe, Levi, and from only one family, that of Aaron, could offer worship.
C. H. Brown said, “Let us consider the worship in the temple as it is described to us in 2 Chronicles 5:12-14: ‘also the Levites which were the singers ... being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets: It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord ... so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.’ Here, brothers, we have divinely sanctioned the order of adoration for the old dispensation, Judaism, the period of the behavior of God with His earthly people, before the cross.”
On the other hand, in Christianity every true believer, washed with the precious blood of Christ, can offer worship to God. Peter, writing to the Christians that were previously Jews, said, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). And the inspired author (without doubt, Paul) wrote to those that were previously Hebrews: “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name” (Heb. 13:15). Both were directed to all the believers, not to a special class.
In Philippians 3:3 we read: “we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit.”
When the Samaritan woman said to the Lord Jesus: “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship,” she gave him the opportunity to speak of the change from Judaism to Christianity, as the Lord answered: “Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father ... . The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:20-24).
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
The Israelites, who did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, could not worship God “in spirit and in truth.” They had to make use of instruments made by man: cymbals, flutes, psalteries, harps, trumpets, etc. But the Christian has the best instrument, one that the Spirit of God, which dwells in him, can play: his heart. “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:19-20). It is with the heart, beloved brothers in Christ, that we worship the Father, not with musical instruments made by man. The Spirit of God does not play such instruments, but He wants to play thankful hearts, of sinners saved by grace.
TEMPLES
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “and let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8). Then by divine commandment Moses and certain of the Israelites built the tabernacle. “Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Ex. 40:33-34). This tabernacle was the dwelling place of the Lord with His earthly people during their pilgrimage through the desert and throughout many years in the promised land of Canaan.
But when the kingdom was established, the temple was constructed by Solomon in the place ordered by the Lord in Jerusalem. We have already read how “the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God” (2 Chron. 5:14).
But, how great the change in Christianity! The believer himself is “the temple of God” which now “does not inhabit temples made with hands” but by “the Spirit of God” dwells in the bodies of the believers in Jesus Christ. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (Acts 7:48; 1 Cor. 3:16). As much collectively as individually, the believers as “the body of Christ” are “builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22). What a blessed privilege granted to every believer in Christ Jesus, that of being “the temple of God ... the dwelling place of God”! (See John 14:23).
REMEMBRANCE
The Israelites were redeemed from their sad state of slavery under the power of Pharaoh in Egypt, with the blood of the sacrificed lamb. God ordered them: “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it ... . And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever” (Ex. 12:7-8, 24). According to the command of the Lord, the Israelites had to keep the solemnity of the Passover: “in the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s Passover” (Lev. 23:5). “Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover in the appointed season. In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it” (Num. 9:2-3).
It was no longer necessary that they sprinkle the threshold and the two posts of their houses with the shed blood of the sacrificed lamb, but they did still eat his flesh roasted with fire and with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
But the Israelites were very disobedient to the Word of the Lord, very negligent in eating the Passover. Read 2 Chronicles 30:1-3. They were not gathered together in the first month on the fourteenth day of the month, with the desire to eat the Passover in Jerusalem, the place that the Lord had chosen “to place His name there” (Deut. 16:2). In addition to this, the priests were not found in holy conditions in order to carry out their responsibility. But the Lord, who foresees everything, had made a provision for such a situation in the law of Moses; read Numbers 9:9-11. Read also verse 13, which demonstrates the displeasure of the Lord when the Israelite did not keep the Passover: “that man shall bear his sin.”
Having said that, for the Christian, what commemoration substitutes for the Passover of the Israelite? It is the Lord’s Supper.
Let us consider these comments: for Christianity, “Egypt” symbolizes the “world”. “Pharaoh” is a figure of the “Devil”, the “prince” of this world (John 13:13). The Passover symbolizes Christ’s death for our sins: “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). The “feast of the unleavened bread” (Lev. 23:6) presents the idea of the holy life that the Christian should live: “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:8).
Jesus, almost at the moment of leaving this world, did not give us a Mosaic commandment, but expressed an ardent desire when He instituted the supper: “And taking the bread, having given thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying: This is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood that is poured out for you.” In this moving manner Jesus spoke to the eleven. And to us the believers in Him, has He not told us something similar? Emphatically, yes! The Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul said: “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:23-25).
How long should the redeemed of the Lord Jesus fulfill His fervent request? “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come” (1 Cor. 11:26).
UNTIL HE COME! And how often? “As often” without saying how often. But, what instruction is understood from this Scripture? “The first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7).
In contrast with the Israelite that could only eat the Passover one time per year, is it not moving, the invitation of the Redeemer to the Christian: “Do this as often as ye eat, as ye drink, in memory of Me?”
PRAYERS
In certain respects, the prayers of the Christian and those of the Israelite lift to God the same desires, wishes and supplications. As examples of these classes of prayers, we cite the following:
“Preserve Me, O God: for in Thee do I put My trust” (Psalm 16:1).
“Let the words of My mouth, and the meditation of My heart, be acceptable in Thy sight” (Psalm 19:14).
“Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:1-2).
But the prayers of the Christian and of the Israelite that are characteristic of their respective callings are very different, because their callings are so distinctive, as we have already observed.
The inheritance of the Israelites was earthly. They had enemies that wanted to take away their lands. They asked the Lord that He would give them the victory in the battle with them. The following is a typical prayer of the Israelites: “And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee” (2 Chron. 20:10-12).
This was a collective prayer, that of all the Israelites. The following is that of one person, pleading for the intervention of the Lord against his enemies: “Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out Thine indignation upon them, and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them” (Psalm 69:22-24).
But, in marked contrast, the Church of God, and the individual believer, does not ask that his enemy will be cursed, but rather the opposite: they ask — as their Lord and Saviour asked — for pardon for them. As He was crucified, Jesus prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). In the same way, Stephen, when the irate Jews were stoning him, prayed: “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” (Acts 7:60), as Jesus had taught to His own: “Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).
Intentionally, the Apostle Paul, on writing his last epistle, 2 Timothy, did not pronounce a curse against “Alexander the coppersmith.” The correct translation of his writing is this: “Alexander the smith did many evil things against me; The Lord render to him according to his works” (2 Tim. 4:14 JND).
According to the spirit of the “grace of God,” it would have been impossible that the longtime servant of the Lord, which said: “being reviled, we bless” (1 Cor. 4:12), would write a curse.
There is another class of Christian prayer, that which is related to the heavenly calling. There was likely more than one Israelite who prayed that God would allow him to know his calling, but that was already his earthly inheritance in Canaan. However, the Christian does not have a visible inheritance in this world, but rather an inheritance that is invisible to the mortal eye and incomprehensible to the mind of the natural man. When someone is recently born of God, he is a child regarding spiritual things. But he continues growing bit by bit in the knowledge of them. Because of this he needs the apostolic prayers, for example:
“[I] cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints ... ” (Eph. 1:16-18, but read the passage at the end, Eph. 1:23).
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:14-19).
BLESSINGS
The blessings characteristic of the Israelites were earthly. There are many Scriptures that describe them, for example:
“And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land [the land of Canaan]” (Gen. 12:5,7). Jacob and his twelve sons were the “seed” of Abram, called “the children of Israel.” “And the Lord said to Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it” (Ex. 33:1).
“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket at thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out” (Deut. 28:1-6).
But the children of Israel did not obey the commandments of the Lord; accordingly they lost His blessings and the land of Canaan (or Palestine). The ten tribes were scattered among the nations (read 2 Kings 17) and no one knows where they can be found even today. The other tribes, Judah and Benjamin, were taken captive to Babylon afterwards. A remnant returned to Jerusalem. Their descendants crucified their Messiah, Jesus. Later the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in the year 70 and the Jewish survivors were scattered and until today live in all parts of the world. Today there are 2 or 3 million in Palestine and the nation is called “Israel.” Materially, they are making great advances, but they are still unbelieving and without repentance; and so they will be punished more than ever before in the days of the great tribulation that is coming (Matt. 24:21-22). Then some of them — the remnant — will repent and will receive their great Messiah, Jesus Christ, when He comes (read Zechariah 12:10,14; Matt. 24:30; Matt. 26:64).
In contrast with all of that, the blessings of the church are very distinct and elevated: blessed “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:3-7).
What a marked contrast! The believers in Christ Jesus, sinners saved by the infinite grace of God and cleansed from every stain of sin by the precious blood of Christ, are blessed — not with the fruits of a portion of the land of Canaan, but rather — with all spiritual blessings. There are many, and believers are blessed with all. In addition to this, they are of the highest category. Speaking reverently, God, the Father Himself, could not have conceived blessings that were higher, more sublime, and more worthy of His person than these. It is enough to meditate on this passage in Ephesians in order to understand and appreciate what are the celestial blessings that are poured out on those that are made children of God by the adoption to Himself by way of the Lord Jesus.
Here on the earth, God only promises the believers three things: food to sustain our life; clothing to cover the body; and persecution while we are in a world that is in opposition to Christ, our Saviour and Lord. He is above in the heavens; that is where our home is; and that is where our inheritance is: blessed “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”
DIVINELY INSPIRED BOOKS
At the beginning of human history, it was not necessary to transmit information through writing, since the duration of the lives of the patriarchs was measured in centuries, not in years, meaning that Isaac would have been able to learn from the lips of an eyewitness what had happened when God sent a universal flood that drowned the world of the wicked. And Shem was a contemporary with Methuselah and Lamech during a century, and these with Adam during 240 years and 50 years, respectively. Adam lived 930 years, and Shem, 600 years. So it is easy to understand how the knowledge of God was orally transmitted, but with accuracy.
With the development of civilization in the Near East after the flood, the art of writing was also developed in various ways.
The time arrived when the Lord wanted to communicate His mind by writing and commanded Moses to write (See Ex. 34:27-28) the five books called “the law of Moses” (Luke 24:44): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The book of Job, was a written history, probably by “Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite of the kindred of Ram” (Job 32:2), also from ancient times. It was possibly written before the books of Moses. “Buz” (father of the Buzites) was the nephew of Abraham (see Gen. 22:21).
After that, the rest of the historic books of the Old Testament, and the writings of the prophets, were all written by “holy men of God ... as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21), as the Lord wanted to communicate His mind. These are comprised of two groups, denominated by the Lord Jesus, “the prophets, and ... the psalms” (Luke 24:44). The “prophets” are the books from Isaiah until Malachi, 16 books. Malachi, which ends the Old Testament, was written around the fourth century B.C.
There are 39 inspired books in the Old Testament. The apocryphal books (the word means: “of doubtful authenticity”) that appear in some editions of the Bible are not inspired by God. There are four reasons that they are not a part of the canon of the Holy Scriptures:
1. The books do not have the seal of authenticity “Thus said the Lord,” an affirmation that is written hundreds of times in the canonical books.
2. The Israelite priests, who guarded the Holy Scriptures with an ardent jealousy and caution, did not recognize them as canonical.
3. The Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles, which frequently cited the Old Testament, did not select a single one of the apocryphal books.
4. Jerome, the translator of the Vulgate (from the 4th century A.D.), the Catholic Bible, excluded the apocrypha from the canon. In his preface to the book of Tobias, he said that it was not found in the Hebrew Scriptures. Athanasius, Origen, Eusebius, Christian fathers from the early centuries, did not recognize the apocryphal books as part of the canon. All authority, Jewish and Christian, rejected them until the Council of Trent (1545 A.D.).
The Old Testament began with creation, the masterpiece of God, but ended with a curse, “lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Mal. 4:6), the result of the failure of man.
The New Testament begins with the coming of the creator to the world, made flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ, and ends with a blessing, “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Rev. 22:21). The marked contrast between the content of the Old Testament books given especially to the Israelites, and the content of the New Testament books given especially to the Christians, is expressed in just one verse: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
The books of the New Testament are divided into four classes: the 4 gospels, Acts, the 21 epistles and the Revelation, 27 books in total. They were written in exactly the same way as those from the Old Testament “the holy men of God” (apostles and others) wrote, “as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21). “The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37).
They were all written in the short interval between the Day of Pentecost, the day of the formation of the Church, and the end of the first century A.D. The Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church, saw the spiritual need of His redeemed people, and had the Word of God finished by further writings, so that it wasn’t lacking any teaching or instruction: “the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:15-17).
SEPARATION
The separation of Israel. The nation of Israel was set apart from the rest of the nations for the Lord Himself, according to His sovereign will and His multiple wise reasons. We cite some passages in order to demonstrate this:
“For wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not in that Thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth” (Ex. 33:16). “For Thou art an holy people unto the Lord Thy God: the Lord Thy God hath chosen Thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you” (Deut. 7:6-8).
“When the Most High divided the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance” (Deut. 32:8-9).
Speaking practically, Canaan, or Palestine, is situated in the geographical center of the area of all of the lands in the entire world. In addition to this, it is situated in the intersection of the North and the South, between the East and the West. There the Lord prepared the earthly inheritance of His people Israel, with the lands of the nations all around. There Israel, a small people in number, would have to depend on the “arm of the Lord” (Isa. 53:1) for His protection and preservation.
In order to maintain a nation that was complete and preserved from the reigning idolatry, the Israelites were forbidden to marry the Gentiles: “Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods” (Ex. 34:15-16).
In a word, it was the will of the Lord that His people Israel would be a faithful witness for Him, the Creator God, the only true God; and for this reason it was essential that the people stayed totally apart from the surrounding nations and their prevailing idolatry. Israel disobeyed.
The separation of the Church. It is totally distinct from that of Israel. It is not a question of isolation behind walls of numerous, meticulously specific commandments, given to a small people geographically situated in one location. The believers in the Lord Jesus, which are members of His body, that is the Church (Eph. 1:22-23), are chosen from all of the scattered nations from all parts of the world. In Acts 15:14 we read “how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name.”
The separation of the Church is a spiritual and moral separation, not of a physical or geographical character. When Jesus prayed to the Father a little before He returned to heaven by way of the Cross, speaking of His own, He said: “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth” (John 17:15-19). While we live, we believers are in this world, but, by divine calling, we are not of the world. The Lord pointed out the purpose that He had in leaving us in the world after saving us from our sins (since after saving us He could have taken us immediately to the Father’s house). As the Father sent Him into the world in order to testify to the truth, in the same way the Son sent us to the world in order to proclaim the truth. And when it comes to our separation from the world, He separated Himself in heaven with the goal of interceding for His redeemed people on the earth, in order to maintain us practically separated from the evil that surrounds us. Among so many other dangers that stalk us, there is that of the unequal yoke: “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:14-18).
EDIBLE THINGS
For Israel. In Leviticus 11, the detailed laws about what the children of Israel could eat, or could not eat, are written (Lev. 11:1-31). Everyone knows that the orthodox Jew does not eat pork, since for him, according to the law of Moses, it is an unclean animal.
In this literal and specific instruction given to the Israelites, there is an instruction for the Christian. The clean and edible animals, such as cattle, sheep, goats, etc., had split hooves, and chewed the cud. For the believer, the split hoof speaks of walking separated from the world situated in evil (read 2 Cor. 6:14-18): and chewing the cud speaks of meditation on the Word of God after reading it, like a sheep that swallows food and later returns it to its mouth and chews it slowly.
There is sufficient spiritual instruction for the Christian in what the Israelites were forbidden to eat. For example, the “owl.” It is a nocturnal bird. The Christian is “of the day.” Another is the “pig.” Yes, it has a split hoof, but it doesn’t chew the cud. The believer that does not meditate daily on the Word of God is in great danger of falling into worldliness.
For the Church. The instruction given to the Christian is totally different from that which was given to the Israelites; it is also very simple and yet, at the same time, comprehensive:
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their consciences seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained” (1 Tim. 4:1-6).
This passage is very important. It was necessary that Timothy, as a good servant of Jesus Christ, suggest this to the brothers in Christ. It makes us understand that forbidding marriage, and abstaining from the food that God created, are demonic doctrines proceeding from spirits (not of truth, but rather) of error. There are many apostate sects called Christians that teach and practice such doctrines. The word of God does not produce any result in their conscience, because it is cauterized, and they speak lies with hypocrisy. It is a terrible situation when human beings are not sensitive to the truth!
Everything that God has created, of that which is edible, is good for eating; it is nourishment authorized by the word of God, and by prayer. This authorization granted to us by the Lord, while Israel is still placed to one side by their rejection of the Messiah, conforms to the original authorization granted to Noah and to his children when they left the ark: “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things” (Gen. 9:3). There was only one prohibition: “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat” (Gen. 9:4). Man, by his sin, had lost the right to life. This prohibition given at the beginning of the post-flood age, has continued in effect. It was repeated to the children of Israel (Lev. 17:10-14). And it was reiterated to the Christians by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 15:20,29).
To deny the Christian the right to marry or to eat flesh is apostasy of the true faith.
THE SWORD AND WAR
Christians who are well instructed in the Word of God know that there is an enormous difference between the earthly call of the Israelite and the heavenly call of the Christian and equally between the war suited to the Israelite, or rather the Jews, and that which is suited to the Christian.
“The Israelite was the minister of the just government of God on the earth; the Christian is the example of the grace of God toward the world.”
The Lord, in order to establish His laws on the earth, commanded the Israelites to take the sword and wipe out the Canaanites that were in Palestine, idolatrous and morally corrupt people, whose wickedness had filled the land. Read Joshua 5:13-15. The “Prince of the army” the Lord Himself, appeared with a “drawn sword in His hand.”
But, how did Jesus enter into the world, an unequaled example of the grace of God? He entered with the sword of the world against Him, and He submitted to it: Herod tried to kill Him when He was a boy. Pilot condemned Him to death as a man.
And, what instruction did the Lord Jesus give us regarding our relations with men? “Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matt. 5:39).
And, in contrast with the commandment given to the Israelites, what is the great commission given to Christians? “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). “Go ye into all the world,” not only to the land of Canaan. “Preach the gospel,” or, rather, the good news; not make war; go “to every creature,” not just to one people.
The calling of the Christian is heavenly: “partakers of the heavenly calling” (Heb. 3:1). His war is not earthly, but rather spiritual: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). The devil is the “Prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), and these principalities, etc., are his kingdom. We have to fight against them. And with what sword? One of steel? No! The sword of the Spirit: “take ... the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17).
THEIR RESPECTIVE MISSIONS
The main mission of Israel was to give testimony of the true God, revealed to them as Jehovah. After the flood in the days of Noah, very little time passed before men began to make idols and worship them. The father of Abraham, Terah, was an idolater: “And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods” (Joshua 24:2).
It was the Devil who introduced into the mind of Eve the idea of “gods” (Gen. 3:5). But, behind the idols are demons: “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God” (1 Cor. 10:20).
God separated Abraham from the idolatrous house of his father, Terah, from his relatives and from his homeland, Ur of the Chaldees (Gen. 12:1) starting through him a separate people in the land of idolatry and putting him as a witness of the true God, the Creator. The great-grandsons of Abraham, that is, the twelve sons of Jacob, and his descendants, formed the people of Israel, to whom the Lord God gave the law, the Ten Commandments. The first of these says: “thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” The second says: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Ex. 20:3-4).
But, in this, their great commission that they received to carry out among the nations, that of giving a faithful testimony of the Creator God, Israel failed and became the most idolatrous of all the nations (read 2 Chron. 33:9; 36:14-16). The word “god” in its false meaning, or idols, occurs approximately 230 times in the Bible. About 90 occurrences denounce the idolatry of the Israelites themselves.
In contrast with Israel, what is the great commission given to the Church? It is that of giving testimony to Jesus, the eternal Son of God, revealed in flesh, and in His own person “who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen” (Rom. 9:5). “Worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). Together with this testimony to His person goes the testimony of the value of His redeeming work, called “the gospel of God ... concerning His Son Jesus Christ out Lord” (Rom. 1:1-4).
So it is that Christians are charged with the responsibility of announcing and defending the worthiness and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, at the same time, trumpeting to everyone that there is salvation from sin and eternal condemnation offered to as many as believe in the merit of the expiatory sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16). “For necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16). “Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27). “Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (2 Tim. 4:5).
But, what will we say of the testimony of the Church on the earth? Has it not failed? Oh! It has been more unfaithful than Israel. In this aspect, there is no contrast between Israel and the professing church: both have dishonored these principles, but the Church even more than Israel. In a large sector of Christianity, idols have multiplied a hundred times more than in Israel. The preaching of the true gospel of God about His Son, the only Saviour of sinners, and of the remission of sins through faith in His precious blood, has been suppressed, and the preachers of the truth have been persecuted, tortured and killed by the thousands.
In the end, man has failed completely. “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?” (Isa. 2:22). Rather let us contemplate the glorious Man, Christ, who honored God in every circumstance, in every moment, in thought, in word and in deed: “to Him who knew no sin ... there is no sin in Him ... He who did no sin; neither was guile found in His mouth: who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously; who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness” (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 John 3:5; 1 Peter 2:22-24). To Him be the glory forever and ever!
ENEMIES
Those of Israel. When Abraham lived in the land promised to him and to his descendants, the Lord said to him about them: “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full ... The Kenites, and the Kenizites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites” (Gen. 15:16,19-21). These people were corrupted. Leviticus 20:1-23, particularly Leviticus 20:23, establishes this fact. Because of this, the Lord commanded the Israelites to completely destroy these evil people because they were the enemies of God and of them.
The Israelites destroyed the Canaanites (Num. 21:3), the Amorites (Num. 21:21-35); and thirty-one Kings and their people (Josh. 12:7-24). Those that they did not wipe out corrupted the Israelites themselves, as it is written in the book of Judges and in the historical books of the Old Testament.
Israel entered the promised land with sword in hand in order to finish off the enemies of God. But Christ entered the world with the sword of the world against Him, and He submitted to it. Hence the contrast between the due attitude of the Israelite and that of the Christian, the follower of Christ.
The enemies of the Christian. He himself is not the enemy of anyone, but those that oppose the Christian truth are his enemies since they are enemies of Christ Himself, who is “the truth.”
The Christian should never lift the sword of steel to defend himself or by the commandment of “Caesar.” Christ told us: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).
The sword of the Christian is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6:17).
THE JEWISH GARMENTS
There is a very marked difference between the prescribed garments of the Israelites, especially for the priests. We cite some passages in this respect: “And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office. And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work” (Ex. 28:2-6).
“Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on” (Lev. 16:3-4).
These two passages are sufficient to show that neither Aaron nor his sons could carry out their priestly office without wearing the holy garments prescribed by the commandment of the Lord.
About garments, there was one commandment for all the people: “thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts, as of woolen and linen together. Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself” (Deut. 22:11-12).
The Israelites were forced to obey the letter of the law with these commandments. However, even among them, the earthly people of the Lord, the garment was used in a symbolic way; for example:
“The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isa. 61:3).
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isa. 61:10).
THE CHRISTIAN’S GARMENT
The little that is written in the New Testament does not give a basis for one type of garment for “the clergy” and another for “the lay person,” nor are there any instructions that give place to the recognition of such distinctions among Christians. The group of all the believers constitutes “a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices ... a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:5,9).
In the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the only instruction regarding garments given to the apostles was this: “ ... neither two coats” (Matt. 10:10), without specifying what type, implying that it was the ordinary garment of any man. The only comment about the garments of Jesus Himself, is that “His robe was seamless, all woven from the top.” It was mentioned because the Roman soldiers said amongst themselves: “Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scriptures might be fulfilled, which say ... for My vesture they cast lots” (John 19:23-24).
When it comes to modesty, yes, Scripture speaks emphatically: “That women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works” (1 Tim. 2:9-10). “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves” (1 Peter 3:3-5).
There is nothing said about the garments of the man in the New Testament. But the word “garment,” or its equivalent, is used symbolically in the New Testament. “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:14). See Eph. 6:14-15 and Col. 3:12.
Christianity has not paid attention to the teaching and instructions of the New Testament, rather it has adopted the clothing and the old skins of Judaism (read Luke 5:36-39), modifying them a little and thus corrupting the simple pious practice of Christianity.
Finally, the Christian can draw out much spiritual gain from what the Old Testament says about garments, etc. For example, the garments of the high priest, Aaron, speak to us of some of the glories and virtues of the Person of Christ. And an Israelite that was illegally dressed in wool and linen makes us think about a carnal Christian, walking with one foot in the Church and the other in the world. And the mourning clothes that were worn of old in memory of a fallen loved one, speak to us of the humble spirit that should characterize the servant of the Lord who feels the ruin that has happened to the Church that is called by the beautiful name of Jesus Christ.