"The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel"

“These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, 'Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Matthew 10:5-7 ESV).

Jesus’ ministry here on earth was initially to the “house of Israel” and not to the Gentiles. This may cause some of us a moment of surprise, but it really shouldn’t. Remember that God, through His sovereignty, chose Abraham and made a covenant with Him (Genesis 12:1-3), which included three things. First, God promised Abraham a land, that’s why we call Israel the Promised Land. Second, God promised Abraham “I will make you a great nation And I will bless you.” In fact, God said that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore.  Third, God promised, “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This is a promise from God that not only will Abraham’s descendants, the Jews, be blessed, but “all the families of the earth”, the Gentiles, shall be blessed.

God, the creator of everything, in His sovereignty chose to make the Jews His people and to reveal His plan of salvation so that the Jews, through their proclamations and keeping of His word, would be a witness to the Gentiles (all the rest of us).

Remember, God revealed His plan of the Promised Messiah, who would heal all peoples from their sins (Isaiah 53:5). The promised messiah was to be a descendant of King David, who was a descendant of Abraham, and this promised Messiah would be a blessing to “all the families of the earth”. But the initial ministry of Jesus was to the House of Israel, because they were God’s chosen people to receive His blessings.

The Apostle Paul speaks of this “mystery” of God’s salvation that is offered to all, and that the ‘wall that separated Jews from Gentiles’ was not removed until Christ’s death on the cross. Remember, during the Last Supper, Jesus said in Matthew 26-28 during the communion, “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” The New Covenant was not established until the blood of Jesus was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins for “all the families of the earth.”

At this point in Jesus’ ministry, He was still trying to reach out to His chosen people and to give them a chance to repent (to change their minds) about accepting Him as the Promised Messiah. In verse 7, Jesus states, “And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Jesus was stating that He was the kingdom of heaven and that the Promised Messiah has arrived. “is at hand” also means “immediate imminence – even a presence ('It is here')”. Jesus is offering the nation of Israel one last chance to believe that God is a promise-keeper and that the Father has kept His promise by providing the Messiah, the Savior for His people. So, all Jesus was doing was keeping God’s promise to Abraham that He would indeed bless his descendants.

Now, we all know that the nation of Israel, as a whole, rejected Jesus’ Messiahship, and that salvation was opened to “all the families of the earth”. The Temple Curtain was torn into, which demonstrate that there was no longer a barrier between man and God, the dividing wall of the Temple was destroyed by the New Covenant and no longer was there two groups of people, Jews and Gentiles, but now because of Christ’s sacrifice there is “no distinction” between Jew and Gentile, we all are now one family of God.

This is truly the good news or the Gospel to all the world, that Jesus, the promised Messiah from the foundation of the world, has indeed come to save all peoples from their sins. There is only one way to the Father, and that is through the Son, the Lord Jesus, the Promised messiah.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"