Christ came for all humans

Rev Enoch Thompson | March 22, 2023 | Matthew 10:5-6

KEY VERSE:

⁵These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. ⁶Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. Matthew 10: 5-6 (NIV)

MESSAGE:

Christ came for all humans? The text seems to say differently. He seems to have come for only the Jewish people, and that seems to be the reason for the assignment direction that He gave to His Apostles. Well, this is a misunderstanding of the text which comes up if we fail to understand the message of the text and fail to put the text in the larger context of the total Gospel narrative and the rest of the Bible. We need to understand this text so that we can celebrate God’s goodness towards us, whether we are Jews, Samaritans, or Gentiles. Christ came to save all humanity from the rule of Satan and the power of sin leading us to an eternal Hell.

Evidently, the Lord Jesus in this assignment specifies the people to whom the Apostles must carry the Gospel. They were not to go among the Samaritans who were a “contaminated” mix of Jews and Gentiles, and the Gentiles of every kind and form. Did it mean that the Lord was not interested in the non-Jews then and now? Certainly not, if we understand the point, He was making.

God is strategic in all His ways. In creation, He created the sea before He created fishes. In the new creation, He made Israel a pilot case of the salvation story before expanding it for the entire human race. The Jewish people had been prepared by the Law and the Prophets, and by the promises of God to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to be a special people who will be a servant people of God to the nations. The blessing of all humanity was contained in the blessing of Abraham in his call (Gen. 12:3). The twelve Apostles were chosen as a representative group of the twelve tribes of Israel. They were to take the Gospel to the nation of Israel, for the nation to become the servant of the Lord to take the Gospel to the nations.

When Christ came He needed to offer Israel the first right to accept the Gospel as that chosen humanity that had been prepared for the truth that had been enacted daily in the Temple sacrifices. When they rejected the Gospel then it was taken to the nations. The Apostle followed the same tradition. When he went into a city he first looked out for the Jewish synagogue and presented the Gospel to the Jews. When they refused it, he turned to the Gentiles. Salvation was channelled through the Jewish nation, the Saviour, God in human-form was a Jewish man, the first Apostles of the Lord were Jews and the Church started as a Jewish movement. However, we do not need to become Jews to become disciples of Christ.

Christ came for all humans, but He needed to use the nation of Israel as His agent in the publishing of the Good News and therefore needed to give them that first right of acceptance of the Kingdom.

FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE:

Do you realize that God has given you certain privileged roles in some matters of strength, wealth, health, knowledge etc? Do you see these as opportunities to serve God and to be held accountable? Don’t miss out on your providential way and giftings.

PRAYER:

Dear Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that you came for the world, not just Jews, and you came to save all, as many as would believe. I acknowledge you as my Saviour and my King, and I know I am accepted in the Kingdom of God. Please help me to bring other people to the same faith and acceptance. Amen.

THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING.

SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!