Honoring Our Spiritual Heritage
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By International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Crosswalk.com
As God’s chosen people—Jews and Christians alike—we celebrate our shared roots and the legacy of God’s holy work that He has done through Israel. By supporting Israel, Christians show their immense gratitude to the Jewish people for their role in preserving and passing down these sacred truths. Through their faithfulness, often in the face of great adversity, they have shared the knowledge of God with the world since the days of the Bible.
In fact, in the Christian Bible, the Apostle Paul—himself a Jew—says of “the people of Israel”:
“Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah…” (Romans 9:4-5).
What Paul is telling Christians—those who lived during his time and Christians in today’s world—is that the very foundations of our faith—the patriarchs and matriarchs, the covenants, the prophets, and the Torah—all come through Israel.
Let’s take a look at each of these cornerstones of our shared spiritual heritage, and how each one was given to us all, as people of faith, by God through His Chosen People, Israel.
The Patriarchs and Matriarchs
Of course, among the people of Israel are the men and women upon whom our faith was founded. It began with Abraham, who God promised would bear offspring as numerous as the stars (Genesis 15:4–5), who would be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4), and whose descendants would have Israel as their everlasting possession (Genesis 17:8).
Isaac, the second patriarch of Israel, had a critical role as the link between his father Abraham and his son Jacob, the first and third patriarchs. Isaac is the conduit through which God’s knowledge and promises were passed down through generations.
Then we have Jacob, after whom God’s people—Israel—are named: “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel” (Genesis 32:28). The Jewish people are not known as the children of Abraham, nor the children of Isaac. God’s people are the children of Israel. Jacob is also the only patriarch whom the nation of Israel can claim exclusively. Abraham was the father of Isaac, but also of Ishmael. And Isaac was the father of Jacob, but also Esau. But Jacob fathered 12 sons who became leaders of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel.
Jacob’s grandmother, Isaac’s mother, and Abraham’s wife was Sarah, the first of the Matriarchs. Even though she spent only 37 years as an actual mother, Sarah is the Matriarch of Israel, the Matriarch of all the other Matriarchs, and perhaps the most important woman in history.
The second Matriarch, Rebekah, is truly the mother of Israel, as her son is Jacob. Rebekah’s love for her son was certainly aligned with God’s, as we read in Malachi 1:2-3, “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” And with courage and fierce determination, Rebekah did what needed to be done for her family, and for the nation of Israel. Her strength and courage are an everlasting legacy for people of faith today.
Of the four Matriarchs of Israel, only one is considered by the Jewish people to be the mother—Rachel, who is affectionately referred to as “Mama Rachel.” Although she only gave birth to two of the 12 brothers who formed the nation of Israel, Rachel is considered the mother of all Israel. And of all the Matriarchs, Rachel is the one believed to be with the descendants of Israel on their life journeys.
Leah is the fourth and final Matriarch of Israel. While all four are the spiritual mothers of Israel, Leah is the biological mother of half the 12 tribes of Israel and the eternal mother of royalty and priesthood. Judah, Levi, Moses, Miriam, Aaron, David, Solomon, and Hezekiah are just some of those who came from Leah’s line.
The Covenants
One of the foundational principles in the Bible is that God and Israel are eternally linked by covenant. This covenant, or brit in Hebrew, is everlasting and binds God with all future generations of Israel, too (Deuteronomy 29:14-15). The first covenant described in the Torah was between God and Noah, entered into after the flood. As part of His agreement, God promised never again to destroy the earth with a flood. Noah promised that he and his descendants would observe basic moral laws (Genesis 9:1-9).
The second covenant described in the Torah was between God and Abraham, in which God promised Abraham countless descendants and also to make him into the father of a great nation. God promised Abraham that He would be his God and the God of his descendants, and that He would give them the land of Israel as an eternal possession (Genesis 17:7-9). Abraham, as part of his agreement, promised to believe in God and to act justly and righteously before Him (Genesis 17:11).
The Torah
A third covenant was made between God and the entire nation of Israel at Sinai. In an event that would forever change humanity, God spoke to the nation, giving them the Ten Commandments and the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. God charged the people of Israel with transmitting His Word to the world, a covenant that exists to this day.
For the first time in history, all humankind was given God’s requirements for holy living. The Law revealed God’s righteousness and holiness (Exodus 19:23), and established His standard of righteousness for His people (Deuteronomy 7:6; Isaiah 62:12).
When God gave His Torah to the nation of Israel, there was now an objective source, the one true God, Who dictated right and wrong, good and evil, and Who gave instructions on how to live a life of purpose and meaning. These laws for living were entrusted to Israel so that they might share them with the world—including the millions of Christians who still stand with them.
The Prophets
Over 3,000 years ago, the Torah made some bold predictions, promises that seemed impossible to come to pass. The Bible claimed that if the Jewish people were not obedient to God, He would expel them from the land of Israel and “scatter you among the nations” (Leviticus 26:33). This is exactly what happened to the nation of Israel, which was exiled to all four corners of the globe.
But God also promised that though the people of Israel would be dispersed and persecuted, they would also return to the land. In Jeremiah 31:8, God promised, “See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth… a great throng will return.”
Through prophecy, God has given all of us—Christians and Jews—the opportunity to participate in bringing these prophecies to fruition. Those words written so many years ago were not written to impress us with God’s might; they were written as a calling for each of us to help fulfill His plan for the world.
Our Biblical Heritage
As people of faith who love God and His Word, Christians and Jews share a divine inheritance rooted in His eternal promises to Israel. Together, we honor the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, the Bible’s prophets and their prophecies, and the Torah, rejoicing in the covenants that unite us. And together, may we bring God’s Word to the world.
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Photo credit: ©International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is the leading non-profit building bridges between Christians and Jews, blessing Israel and the Jewish people around the world with humanitarian care and lifesaving aid.
