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“And He [the Lord] said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live” (Acts 22:21-22).
Here we see Paul trying to explain the gospel to that Jewish mob, and trying to show them why he preached the way he did. They listened to him until he spoke about going out to preach to the Gentiles, and then they started a riot. They could not bear to think that God was going to bless the Gentiles, who were outside the nation of Israel. But even back in the Old Testament, God had spoken quite a few times about bringing the Gentiles into blessing too, and the Jews should have realized this. However, they did not want to believe it, and sadly, it is easy to refuse something when we do not want to believe it.
Most of you who read this calendar are Gentiles, and we should all be very thankful that God chose to bring us into blessing in Christ. Yes, the nation of Israel is God’s chosen people, and He has not forgotten about them. But for now, God is forming His church from every race and nation, and both Jews and Gentiles may come and be saved on the same basis.
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