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Continued:
God's Covenants never were and are not now based on race to the exclusion of those who are not biologically descended from Abraham. From the very first Book of Sacred Scripture, when God made a Covenant with Abraham, there were included people who were not the literal, physical descendants of Abraham. Exodus 12:48 reads:[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, verdana, sans-serif] "And when a stranger [ie, a non-Hebrew] shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof." [/FONT]
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Though proselytizing the Nations was not the goal of Old Testament Israel, all were welcome to the Covenant, as all are welcome to Christ today (in fact, at the time of Christ, corrupted Judaism was a proselytizing religion as a matter of historical fact, though not as a part of the intrinsic nature of the Old Covenant 1). The literal bloodline of Abraham was important for the hereditary Aaronic priesthood and for prophetic reasons -- the prophecies of the Messiah (this is why all those boring Old Testament list of "begats" are so important!).
After Christ came, He spoke, over and over, of those who claim to be Jews but are not: [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, verdana, sans-serif]Revelation 2:9
"I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan."
Revelation 3:9
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.[/FONT]
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Foreshadowing the New Covenant, John the Baptist, too, said that the children of Abraham are not necessarily genetic descendants: [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, verdana, sans-serif]Matthew 3:7
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.[/FONT]
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What does St. Paul say about the fleshly sons of Abraham versus those sons of the promise of Abraham? [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, verdana, sans-serif]Galatians 4:21-31
Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. [/FONT]
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Those self-proclaimed "sons of Abraham" were the same ones whose Temple was destroyed by His judgement in A.D. 70. (see Apocalypse: The Whore of Babylon, The Beast, & the Rapture).
The Truth then is the same as it is now: Jesus Christ, prefigured in the Old Testament and predicted by the Prophets, is Lord. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, verdana, sans-serif]Romans 11:16-21
...if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. [/FONT]
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Branches were grafted in, branches were broken off, but the tree remains the same tree, and the "root" is Christ! [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, verdana, sans-serif]Isaiah 11:1, 10-12
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit... In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. [/FONT]
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And how do those broken-off branches get grafted on again? [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, verdana, sans-serif]Romans 11:23
And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.[/FONT]
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The same way as anyone else. Nonetheless, a good number of Protestant groups have come to believe that God has one plan for genetic Jews and another for Christians, thus denying some of the basic tenets of the Christian faith-- the inefficacy of the Old Testament sacrifices (though they point forward to the New Covenant) and the necessity of Christ's sacrifice for salvation!
If Jeremiah 31:31-34 isn't clear enough, I don't know what is: [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, verdana, sans-serif]Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.[/FONT]
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... one more time: who is this New Covenant with? ISRAEL.
"Israel after the flesh" (i.e., modern Jews) may be grafted in again in the same way Gentiles are grafted in to the tree of spiritual Israel: repentance, faith, and baptism.[/FONT]