ViaCrucis
Confessional Lutheran
- Oct 2, 2011
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You may want to review who Jesus said he came to save
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever trusts in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." - John 3:16
Oh, I'm sure you you were thinking of Matthew 15:24, where He says, "I came only to the lost sheep of Israel", and you wanted to use that to say that Jesus only came to save "Israelites". And, if I have to hazard a guess, I'm pretty sure that what you would mean by "Israelite" isn't what any of the rest of us would mean.
But let's be perfectly clear, Matthew 15:24 doesn't say that Jesus came to save "Israelites". It says He came for the lost sheep of Israel, the Jews. This is in the context of a Gentile woman who comes to Jesus, and Jesus only says this in order to test her faith. What happens when she responds in faith? He says, "Dear woman, great is your faith! It shall be as you desired." And her daughter was healed.
And later what do we see in the Acts of the Apostles? St. Peter receives a vision from God, and in the vision what does the Lord tell him? "Do not call unclean what I have made clean" and so the Apostle goes to the house of the Gentile, Cornelius. And what do we see happen here? God's sign that the Gentiles--the Greeks, the Barbarians, the Latins, the Scythians, all nations of the earth, of every tribe and tongue--were equal partners with the Jews in God's promises in Christ.
And so, St. Paul is clear, "Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all." (Colossians 3:11)
And so, Christ's commission to His Apostles, "You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8), and likewise as He says in Matthew, "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all which I have said to you."
To all the nations, to every last tribe and tongue. To every last person, regardless of who they are.
And that, that is why Christ said that He came for the whole world, that God's love, for the whole world, is why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Eternal Logos, the only-begotten Son, Second Person of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity has become one of us, a man. Born of Virgin Mary the blessed Theotokos, and who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, buried, and dead. And on the third day rose again, victorious over sin and death for all men, and ascending into the heavens, seated at the right hand of the Father with all power, authority, and dominion until the day He returns, in glory, as judge of the living and the dead--and see His unending reign, the kingdom without end.
And on that Day, when God has renewed all things,
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads." - Revelation 22:1-4
For God shall be all in all, the glory of God shall fill the heavens and the earth, and there shall be world without end.
All.
Everyone.
All nations.
All tribes.
All peoples.
The whole world.
Christ the Lord even came to save antisemitic bigots, therefore repent and believe the Gospel.
-CryptoLutheran
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