“How shall I give you up, Ephraim? Shall I deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you like Admah? Hosea 11:8

How –  In systematic theology, we often speak of God’s omnipotence.  It is simply the doctrine that God can do anything that can be done.  But did you know there are some things even God can’t do.  Why can’t an all-powerful being do these things?  Because they are impossible, that’s why.

The usual range of impossible things falls in the self-contradictory category.  So, God can’t make a rock so big that He cannot lift it.  The idea is logically self-contradictory.  It does not diminish the doctrine of omnipotence at all to say this is something even God can’t do.  It just doesn’t make sense.  There is, however, another category of things that God cannot do.  These things are ethically impossible.  For example, God cannot sin.  The idea of sin is a contradiction to God’s character.  No one would argue this point.

But apparently there are a lot of believers who would argue God can break His promises.  They don’t see this as logically or ethically contradictory, so they claim God can change His mind and do something He promises not to do.  For example, in Hosea God speaks about His love, care and promise to Israel.  God says it is simply inconceivable that He will give up on Israel.  He will never break His promise, so it is impossible for Him to abandon Israel, no matter what the people do.  “How shall I give you up?”  The Hebrew adverb (‘eyk) anticipates the answer, “Impossible!”  There is no other way to understand this question.

If you agree (and it’s very difficult to see how you couldn’t), then we are forced to a conclusion many will find startling, perhaps even uncomfortable.  God deals with all people via Israel.  God’s first love is Israel.  God’s intentional plan of redemption goes through Israel.  What God does with Israel has consequences for everyone else.  Every Gentile is a Gentile because he or she has a relationship to Israel and it is that relationship that defines how God interacts with Jews and Gentiles.  Let’s put it as sharply as possible.  God is not your God.  He is the God of Israel.  Israel is His people.  If you are not related in some way to Israel, then Israel’s God isn’t your God.  Ruth is the example of a Gentile believer.  “Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.”  We can’t go around Israel to get to God.

You might object.  “But look at the history of the Church.  Look at all those people – Gentiles – who became believers.  Look at all they have done for the Kingdom.  They didn’t become Jews.  They didn’t move to Israel.  How can you say that we must be connected to Israel?”  The answer is simple:  Balam’s donkey.  God uses what we give Him to use.  He uses the mistaken, misunderstood, even deceptive and deliberate efforts of men to avoid affiliation with Israel.  He uses it, but it is not His design.  Yeshua tells us that deliverance comes through Israel.  He tells us “first to the Jews, then to the Greeks.”  Sha’ul reminds us that we are grafted in.  Nowhere is there any proclamation that we supersede Israel.  Nowhere is there any suggestion that we replace Israel.  Everything depends on Israel, including our relationship with the Father.  We don’t become Jews, but we do become adopted citizens of His Kingdom.

Here’s today’s question:  Do you think of yourself in relation to Israel’s God?  Do you see that God’s interaction with Israel is His interaction with you?  Are you a Gentile grafted in?  Or did you think God forgot His promise and now deals directly with you?

Topical Index: Israel, promise, Gentile, Hosea 8:11, ‘eyk, how

One more thought:  Fulfilling a commandment of the Lord brings righteousness into the world.  It is as if each completion of His instructions adds one beam of light in the dark universe.  The essence of light is not its quantity but rather its effectiveness in penetrating the dark.  So, even the smallest sign of obedience brings righteousness to light.  Today, just fulfill one small instruction in righteousness and watch the light grow.