Ezrach'

Two Peoples

I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants. Isaiah 44:1-6

Abraham (the father of our nation) was not called because of his genes (Ezekiel 16:3). He was called specifically because he valued what Hashem valued and would pass that onto his children.

Genesis 18:19 HCSB For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just. This is how the LORD will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him."

Abraham had two sons. Both were directly related to Abraham by blood and both were completely legal according to the laws and social mores of the day. They were Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael, being the oldest, should have, by all rights, had the preeminent position. However, Adonai not only rejected Ishmael’s rights, but even his sonship.

Genesis 22:2 HCSB "Take your son," He said, "your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
Genesis 22:12 HCSB Then He said, "Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me."
Galatians 4:29-31 HCSB But just as then the child born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so also now. (30) But what does the Scripture say? Throw out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never inherit with the son of the free woman. (31) Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

The story of Esau and Jacob presents the same lesson. Esau was the elder son and should have ended up being the tribe’s patriarch. However, because he failed to value the position, the birthright and the blessing, he lost it all to his younger brother. Hashem explains to us,

Malachi 1:2-3 HCSB "I have loved you," says the LORD. But you ask: "How have You loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" This is the LORD's declaration. "Even so, I loved Jacob, (3) but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals."
Romans 9:13 HCSB As it is written: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.

This is because being one of God’s people is a matter of the heart. It is a matter of valuing the same things He does. Again, this is ancient custom.

Genesis 4:21 HCSB His brother was named Jubal; he was the father of all who play the lyre and the flute.

Note: In the Israeli culture, one does not have to be genetically related to be a descendent of a person. Clearly, every person who plays the flute or the lyre are not genetic descendents of Jubal. It is in the sense of their common affinity; their common value system and priorities, that Jubal is their father. This is the concept the apostle Paul was expressing when he said,

Romans 9:6-8 HCSB But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. (7) Neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants. On the contrary, in Isaac your seed will be called. (8) That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but the children of the promise are considered seed.
Galatians 3:6-7 HCSB Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, (7) so understand that those who have faith are Abraham's sons.
Galatians 3:29 HCSB And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise.

So, this obscure passage in Genesis serves to emphasize at least two things: first, it underscores, the Adonaic understanding that ezrach’ (citizenship) is based on values and faith rather than genetic ties. This is not necessarily as strange a concept as some may think. After all, isn't it the same for all Americans? We are Americans, not because of our ancestral bloodlines but because we all agree to the basic concept of the Constitution and agree to abide by the nation's laws.

Second, it emphasizes the fact that the New Covenant authors, though writing in Greek, were first and foremost culturally and linguistically bound by the Hebrew language. It behooves us to interpret all New Covenant ideas through the filter of Hebrew language and culture.

Ruth was a Moabitess and halakhically speaking had no place being allowed in within the congregation of Israel. However, once she said “Your God will be my God; your People will be my People” and backed it up with her life, she was instantly accepted. She further became the grandmother of King David and the ancestress of the Mashiach’.

Deuteronomy 23:3 HCSB No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the LORD's assembly; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the LORD's assembly.
Ruth 1:16-17 HCSB But Ruth replied: Do not persuade me to leave you or go back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. (17) Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do this to me, and even more, if anything but death separates you and me.
Ruth 4:21-22 HCSB Salmon fathered Boaz, who fathered Obed. (22) And Obed fathered Jesse, who fathered David.
Matthew 1:5-6 HCSB Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, (6) and Jesse fathered King David. Then David fathered Solomon by Uriah's wife,
Matthew 1:16 HCSB and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah.

Rahab the prostitute was another Goy turned Israeli by adoption. She too was honored by being allowed in the line of the Mashiach’.

Joshua 6:25 HCSB But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father's household, and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy on Jericho, and she lives in Israel to this day.
Matthew 1:5 HCSB Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse,

It has always been so. Those who deliberately joined God and submitted to His way were grafted onto Israel and considered native-born.

Exodus 12:48-49 HCSB If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD's Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate; he will become like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. (49) The same law will apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you."
Numbers 9:14 HCSB "If a foreigner resides with you and wants to observe the Passover to the LORD, he is to do so according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the foreign resident and the native of the land."
Isaiah 14:1 HCSB For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again. He will settle them on their own land. The foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.
Isaiah 41:8-9 HCSB But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham, My friend-- (9) I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are My servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you.
Isaiah 44:1-6 HCSB "And now listen, Jacob My servant, Israel whom I have chosen. (2) This is the word of the LORD your Maker who shaped you from birth; He will help you: Do not fear; Jacob is My servant; I have chosen Jeshurun. (3) For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants and My blessing on your offspring. (4) They will sprout among the grass like poplars by the streambeds. (5) This one will say: I am the LORD's; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand: The LORD's, and name himself by the name of Israel." (6) This is what the LORD, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts, says: I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but Me.
Isaiah 56:3-8 HCSB No foreigner who has converted to the LORD should say, "The LORD will exclude me from His people"; and the eunuch should not say, "Look, I am a dried-up tree." (4) For the LORD says this: "For the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold firmly to My covenant, (5) I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each of them an everlasting name that will never be cut off. (6) And the foreigners who convert to the LORD, minister to Him, love the LORD's name, and are His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold firmly to My covenant-- (7) I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." (8) This is the declaration of the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: "I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered."
Ezekiel 47:22-23 HCSB You will allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners living among you, who have fathered children among you. You will treat them like native-born Israelites; along with you, they will be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. (23) In whatever tribe the foreigner lives, you will assign his inheritance there." This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.
Zechariah 2:11 HCSB "Many nations will join themselves to the LORD on that day and become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you.

Those who failed to do so, regardless of their genetic makeup, were cut off.

Numbers 15:29-31 HCSB You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an Israelite or a foreigner who lives among you. (30) "But the person who acts defiantly, whether native or foreign resident, blasphemes the LORD. That person is to be cut off from his people. (31) He will certainly be cut off, because he has despised the LORD's word and broken His command; his guilt remains on him."
Deuteronomy 28:15 HCSB "But if you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you:
Cp Deuteronomy 28:43 HCSB The foreign resident among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower.
Ezekiel 14:7-8 HCSB For when anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside in Israel separates himself from Me, setting up idols in his heart and putting a sinful stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me, I, the LORD, will answer him Myself. (8) I will turn against that one and make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from among My people. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Hosea 1:9-10 HCSB Then the LORD said: Name him Not My People, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God. (10) Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not My people, they will be called: Sons of the living God.
Hosea 4:6 HCSB My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons.
Hosea 9:17 HCSB My God will reject them because they have not listened to Him; they will become wanderers among the nations.

The Hebrew people forgot that they too had been adopted. They were not always God’s people. In their hubris, they became sinful, followed false gods and were cut off and cast out of the land of Canaan.

Hosea 9:10 HCSB I discovered Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, consecrated themselves to Shame, and became detestable, like the thing they loved.
Cp Ezekiel 16:3-8 HCSB You are to say: This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. (4) As for your birth, your umbilical cord wasn't cut on the day you were born, and you weren't washed clean with water. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. (5) No one cared enough about you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. But you were thrown out into the open field because you were despised on the day you were born. (6) "I passed by you and saw you lying in your blood, and I said to you as you lay in your blood: Live! Yes, I said to you as you lay in your blood: Live! (7) I made you thrive like plants of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were stark naked. (8) "Then I passed by you and saw you, and you were indeed at the age for love. So I spread the edge of My garment over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine." This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

Much later, John the Baptist dealt with this very issue.

Matthew 3:7-12 HCSB When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to the place of his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. And don't presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees! Therefore every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. "I baptize you with water for repentance, but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to take off His sandals. He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn. But the chaff He will burn up with fire that never goes out."

So we use the term “Hebrew” to mean the people genetically related to Eber. In this we follow the practice of thousands of years:
·         Hebrew “ibri” from “eber” (Bereshit / Genesis 10:21; 11:10-26).
·         Egyptian “Habiru”.
·         Akkadian “Apiru”.

We use Israel either of the political nation in Canaan or of the citizens of God’s spiritual kingdom, depending on the context.

We unfortunately often use the term Jew interchangeably as a generic term. This adds confusion to the conversation and should be avoided.

However, we never confuse Judaism with our Adonaistic idea of Israel. Though Judaism has been around for millennia, modern Judaism was largely developed during the Middle Ages. Its practitioners pay more attention to the Talmud than they do the Torah!

Galatians 1:13-14 HCSB For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I persecuted God's church to an extreme degree and tried to destroy it; (14) and I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
Mark 7:7-9 HCSB They worship Me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commands of men. (8) Disregarding the command of God, you keep the tradition of men." (9) He also said to them, "You completely invalidate God's command in order to maintain your tradition!

Thus, the following descriptors apply regardless of a person’s genetic makeup.

Israel vs. Goyim (the “nations”, “Gentiles” or “pagans”).

Exodus 19:5-6 HCSB Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine, (6) and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation. These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites."
1 Peter 2:9 HCSB But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
1 Peter 4:3 HCSB For there has already been enough time spent in doing the will of the pagans: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.
Ephesians 4:17 HCSB Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts.

Note:“Goy” (Strong’s #1471) literally means “nation” and can even be applied to the nation of Israel (Exodus 19:6). Colloquially, however, it is generally applied to nations other than Israel and is used to distinguish Hashem’s people from the rest of the masses (Leviticus 25:44; 26:33, 38, 45; Deuteronomy 4:27; 2 Samuel 22:44; 22:50; 2 Kings 16:3; 17:8, 11, 15; 21:2; Ezra 6:21).

The obedient vs. the disobedient

Exodus 19:5-6 HCSB Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine, (6) and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation. These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites."
Matthew 5:17-19 HCSB "Don't assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. (18) For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished. (19) Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches these commandments will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
John 8:31 HCSB So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples.
John 14:15 HCSB "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
John 14:21 HCSB The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I also will love him and will reveal Myself to him."
John 14:23 HCSB Jesus answered, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
Ephesians 2:2 HCSB in which you previously walked according to this worldly age, according to the ruler of the atmospheric domain, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
Ephesians 5:6 HCSB Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things God's wrath is coming on the disobedient.
Colossians 3:6 HCSB Because of these, God's wrath comes on the disobedient,
1 John 5:2 HCSB This is how we know that we love God's children when we love God and obey His commands.

Fellow citizens vs. excluded from citizenship

Ephesians 2:19 HCSB So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household,

Natives vs. foreigners

Ephesians 2:11-12 HCSB So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh--called "the uncircumcised" by those called "the circumcised," done by hand in the flesh. (12) At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world.

Abraham’s descendents vs. seed of the Devil

Romans 9:6-8 HCSB But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. (7) Neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants. On the contrary, in Isaac your seed will be called. (8) That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but the children of the promise are considered seed.
Galatians 3:6-9 HCSB Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, so understand that those who have faith are Abraham's sons. Now the Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and foretold the good news to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed in you. So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.
Galatians 3:29 HCSB And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise.

The People vs. Not a People

Romans 9:25-26 HCSB As He also says in Hosea: I will call "Not-My-People," "My-People," and she who is "Unloved," "Beloved." (26) And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God.
1 Peter 2:10 HCSB Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Hopeful and possessing a Messiah vs. hopelessly without a Messiah

Ephesians 2:12 HCSB At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world.

Having God vs. without God

John 8:47 HCSB The one who is from God listens to God's words. This is why you don't listen, because you are not from God."
John 14:6-7 HCSB Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (7) "If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him."
John 14:23 HCSB Jesus answered, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
Ephesians 2:12 HCSB At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world.
Ephesians 2:18 HCSB For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Children of Light (Enlightened) vs. Children of Darkness (Darkened)

Matthew 5:14-16 HCSB "You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. (15) No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. (16) In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
John 3:19-21 HCSB "This, then, is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. (20) For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. (21) But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God."
Ephesians 5:8 HCSB For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light--
Romans 1:21 HCSB For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.

Sons of God vs. Sons of Satan

John 1:12-13 HCSB But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, (13) who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
John 8:41 HCSB You're doing what your father does." "We weren't born of sexual immorality," they said. "We have one Father--God."
John 8:44 HCSB You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.
John 8:47 HCSB The one who is from God listens to God's words. This is why you don't listen, because you are not from God."
1 John 5:1 HCSB Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent also loves his child.

The free vs. the slaves

John 8:31-36 HCSB So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. (32) You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (33) "We are descendants of Abraham," they answered Him, "and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can You say, 'You will become free'?" (34) Jesus responded, "I assure you: Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. (35) A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. (36) Therefore if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

Note:Again the issue arises that true descendents of Abraham are those who obey and who submit to Adonai’s Messiah.

Galatians 4:22-26 HCSB For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman. (23) But the one by the slave was born according to the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. (24) These things are illustrations, for the women represent the two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery--this is Hagar. (25) Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. (26) But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Galatians 4:29-31 HCSB But just as then the child born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so also now. (30) But what does the Scripture say? Throw out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never inherit with the son of the free woman. (31) Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

The living vs. the Dead

Deuteronomy 30:20 HCSB love the LORD your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the LORD swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Matthew 8:21-22 HCSB "Lord," another of His disciples said, "first let me go bury my father." (22) But Jesus told him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
Luke 9:59-60 HCSB Then He said to another, "Follow Me." "Lord," he said, "first let me go bury my father." (60) But He told him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the news of the kingdom of God."
Luke 15:32 HCSB But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"
Matthew 22:32 HCSB I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
John 1:4 HCSB Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men.
John 3:14-16 HCSB Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, (15) so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. (16) "For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 14:6 HCSB Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Ephesians 4:18 HCSB They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.

Those who are near vs. those who are far

Ephesians 2:13 HCSB But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.
Ephesians 2:17 HCSB When Christ came, He proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

Objects of love and mercy vs. objects of wrath

1 Peter 2:10 HCSB Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Ephesians 2:3 HCSB We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and by nature we were children under wrath, as the others were also.
Ephesians 5:6 HCSB Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things God's wrath is coming on the disobedient.
Colossians 3:6 HCSB Because of these, God's wrath comes on the disobedient,

Heavenly (olam habah) minded vs. Earthly (olam hazeh) minded

Olman habah minded

Romans 12:2 HCSB Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
James 3:17 HCSB But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.
Philippians 3:20 HCSB but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 4:8 HCSB Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable--if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise--dwell on these things.

Olam hazeh minded

Philippians 3:19 HCSB Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things,
James 3:14-15 HCSB But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don't brag and lie in defiance of the truth. (15) Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
2 Corinthians 12:20-21 HCSB For I fear that perhaps when I come I will not find you to be what I want, and I may not be found by you to be what you want; there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. (21) I fear that when I come my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and promiscuity they practiced.

Ezrach' - our new identity

Allow me to ask you a question that occurred to me years ago. I was reading in the book of Hebrews and I came across this passage.

Hebrews 2:14-15 HCSB Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, He also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death--that is, the Devil-- (15) and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.

What is the author speaking of if not salvation? The entire book of Hebrews deals with the superiority of Jesus. He is made out to be superior to Moses, superior to angels, superior to Melchizedek etc. So the context is Jesus coming to save us. My question came from reading the next verse:

Hebrews 2:16 HCSB For it is clear that He does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham's offspring.

The question that I asked myself was “Did the Messiah reach out to only the Jews with an offering of salvation or did He reach out to all who will believe? If salvation is offered to any human, regardless of race, then why did the author of Hebrews say that Christ reached out to Abraham’s offspring?”

The attempt to answer this question turned out to lead me into a whole new way of thinking about theology and about my own relationship with the Lord. I came to believe that one of the principle problems that many Jews and Gentiles have is that they have forgotten that Hashem can make a son of Abraham out of anyone He chooses! Listen to the message of John the Baptist:

Matthew 3:8-10 cp Luke 3:8-9 HCSB Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. (9) And don't presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! (10) Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees! Therefore every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Did you notice that John prefaced and ended this remarkable statement by pointing out that God was not looking for genetic lines but for spiritual fruit? The Jews in Jesus’ day (and unfortunately to this very day) forgot that they had not always been Jews! It was the Lord’s decision to approach our father Abraham and to teach Abraham the ways of the Lord that made the idea of Israel even possible!

Ezekiel 16:2-3 HCSB "Son of man, explain Jerusalem's abominations to her. (3) You are to say: This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

Abraham was not a Hebrew until God got hold of him. The Jews were not a people until God got hold of them. The Pharisees forgot that important fact. It is Adonai, not Abraham, who is the true primordial Jew. Adonai taught all the spiritual and ethical concepts we hold so dear to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. If the Jewish people, as a genetic tribe, have any advantage, it is only because Yah granted it.

In frustration with His recalcitrant people, Adonai cried out,

Ezekiel 16:4-6 HCSB As for your birth, your umbilical cord wasn't cut on the day you were born, and you weren't washed clean with water. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. (5) No one cared enough about you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. But you were thrown out into the open field because you were despised on the day you were born. (6) "I passed by you and saw you lying in your blood, and I said to you as you lay in your blood: Live! Yes, I said to you as you lay in your blood: Live!

In essence, He asserted “You were nothing before I came along. I MADE you and you turned against me!”

If we examine the Torah we quickly ascertain that “Jewishness” was NEVER a biological but a spiritual imperative. For example, the same laws, including those regarding Passover, applied to both native Israelis and goyim (a Hebrew term for non-Jews).

Exodus 12:48-49 HCSB If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD's Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate; he will become like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. (49) The same law will apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you."
Numbers 15:13-16 HCSB "Every Israelite is to prepare these things in this way when he presents a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD. (14) When a foreigner resides with you or someone else is among you and wants to prepare a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he is to do exactly as you do throughout your generations. (15) The assembly is to have the same statute for both you and the foreign resident as a permanent statute throughout your generations. You and the foreigner will be alike before the LORD. (16) The same law and the same ordinance will apply to both you and the foreigner who resides with you."

Goyim who desired to serve the Lord and were willing to abide by Hashem’s commandments were to receive the same consideration as a native-born Jew.

Leviticus 19:33-34 HCSB (33) "When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress him. (34) You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.

Did you notice the reason Yahweh stated the foreign convert should be treated as a native-born Jew? It was because of who our God is. He is the source of “Jewishness.” Those who follow Him are by definition Jews.

Let me give you a practical example. Do you remember Ruth? She was a Moabitess, a nation against which a curse had been laid! And yet when she vowed…

Ruth 1:16 HCSB But Ruth replied: Do not persuade me to leave you or go back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

…our merciful God did not merely allow her to live as a second-class citizen in the land, but according the Matthew 1:5 actually included her in the Messianic line! Even Israelis who refuse to admit the Messianic status of Jesus of Nazareth have to admit that Ruth became part of the royal line because by marrying Boaz she became the great grandmother of King David.

However, this principle cuts both ways. This is where the real sticking point is for Judaizers. This is the implication that they simply cannot abide. Just as a goy who chose to obey Hashem’s commands could be considered a native Jew, a native Jew who rebelliously disregarded Hashem’s mitzvoth was cut off from the people. Just as a Goy who submitted to the laws could become a Jew, a Jew who stubbornly refused to obey could become a Goy.

Numbers 9:13-14 HCSB "But the man who is ceremonially clean, is not on a journey, and yet fails to observe the Passover is to be cut off from his people, because he did not present the LORD's offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin. (14) "If a foreigner resides with you and wants to observe the Passover to the LORD, he is to do so according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the foreign resident and the native of the land."
Numbers 15:29-31 HCSB You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an Israelite or a foreigner who lives among you. (30) "But the person who acts defiantly, whether native or foreign resident, blasphemes the LORD, that person is to be cut off from his people. (31) He will certainly be cut off, because he has despised the LORD's word and broken His command; his guilt remains on him."

Note: For a more complete study of what it meant to be cut off and what it took to be cut off from the nation see Genesis 17:14; Exodus 12:15, 19; 30:33, 38; 31:14; Leviticus 7:20-21, 25, 27; 17:4, 9-10, 14; 18:29; 19:8; 20:2-3, 5-6, 17-18; 22:3; 23:29; Numbers 19:13, 20; Proverbs 2:22 cp 1 Kings 9:7 and Jeremiah 44:8; Ezekiel 5:11; 14:8; Romans 11:22

Clearly, because the laws we’ve looked at so far deal with the Passover, a religious act of grateful worship, we are not speaking merely of moral codes or civic laws designed to maintain order within society. Many people today would accept that we should follow the Ten Commandments or say that we should obey the moral dictates of the Old Covenant (with a few notable exceptions). However we are saying that there is something far grander, far more worthwhile available. We are talking about an intimate, spiritual relationship with the Lord that in Hebrew is called d’vekut. So let’s be clear on this issue. What do the Scriptures say are the direct consequences of a gentile, a goy, becoming a bondservant of the Lord?

First, consider the fact that Adonai will receive the petitions of the adopted Jew who by faith directs his prayers toward the Solomonic temple as surely as He will those of a born Jew.

1 Kings 8:41-43 cp 2 Chronicles 6:32-33 HCSB Even for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name-- (42) for they will hear of Your great name, mighty hand, and outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this temple-- (43) may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all the foreigner asks You for. Then all the people on earth will know Your name, to fear You as Your people Israel do and know that this temple I have built is called by Your name.

Isaiah, one of the most important and most highly regarded of Israel’s prophets, predicted this principle would be amplified in the future. He predicted that when Israel would be reestablished with Gentile nations aiding them (as we saw at the end of World War II) foreigners would be united with the house of Jacob.

Isaiah 14:1 HCSB For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again. He will settle them on their own land. The foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.

Hashem gave a word of comfort and assurance to the goyim who desire to become adopted into His strange and glorious nation. He said, “If you desire to convert, I will not exclude you.”

Isaiah 56:3 HCSB No foreigner who has converted to the LORD should say, "The LORD will exclude me from His people"; and the eunuch should not say, "Look, I am a dried-up tree."

He went on to say that adopted Jews will be allowed to pray on the holy mountain and rejoice in God’s house of prayer. Their sacrifices of praise and their burnt offerings will be just as accepted on the altar as those of the born Jew.

Isaiah 56:6-8 HCSB And the foreigners who convert to the LORD, minister to Him, love the LORD's name, and are His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold firmly to My covenant-- (7) I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." (8) This is the declaration of the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: "I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered."

In fact, besides the honor of being part of God’s people, besides the honor of being able to worship in the Lord’s house of prayer, some of us adopted Jews may actually get to serve as priests in the Messiah’s Millennial temple!

Isaiah 66:18-21 HCSB "Knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages; they will come and see My glory. (19) I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations--to Tarshish, Put, Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away--who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. And they will proclaim My glory among the nations. (20) They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. (21) I will also take some of them as priests and Levites," says the LORD.

Isaiah predicted that the goyim would be given the opportunity to be a part of the priesthood. He predicted that the Jews would suffer a Diaspora, a scattering, and that during that time they would proclaim Adonai’s glory to all the nations (can anyone say “New Testament”, or “Apostle Paul”?). Then later the Gentiles would bring “your brothers” (their Jewish descendents) back. It’s clear that it’s goyim doing this because it compares them to the Israelites (i.e. “just as the Israelites bring an offering”). Referring to those fortunate Gentiles, the Lord said through Isaiah “I will also take some of them as priests and Levites.”

It was the prophet Isaiah who penned a verse that is truly the prayer of the Adonaist, those grafted onto the branch of Israel!

Isaiah 63:16 HCSB Yet You are our Father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel doesn't recognize us. You, LORD, are our Father; from ancient times, Your name is our Redeemer.

According to Ezekiel, adopted Jews will even receive an inheritance of land from whatever tribe in which he has chosen to reside.

Ezekiel 47:21-23 HCSB "You are to divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. (22) You will allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners living among you, who have fathered children among you. You will treat them like native-born Israelites; along with you, they will be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. (23) In whatever tribe the foreigner lives, you will assign his inheritance there." This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

The good news that anyone may be adopted into Adonai’s family and become, along with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, one of God’s people was continued in the Brit Hadashah, the New Covenant. The Master reiterated that it was “whoever does the will of the Father”, not whoever is born to a certain genetic line, that formed His family.

Matthew 12:50 HCSB For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, that person is My brother and sister and mother."

This principle sheds light on what our brother Paul meant when he said that Jews are not necessarily biological descendents of Israel. According to him our citizenship is based on our willingness to, by faith, follow God and obey Him.

Romans 9:6-8 HCSB But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. (7) Neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants. On the contrary, in Isaac your seed will be called. (8) That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but the children of the promise are considered seed.
Romans 2:28-29 HCSB For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. (29) On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart--by the Spirit, not the letter. His praise is not from men but from God.

Or perhaps listen to the Lord Himself as He spoke through the Apostle John in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 2:9 HCSB I know your tribulation and poverty, yet you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Revelation 3:9 HCSB Take note! I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying--note this--I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.

Out of His infinite mercy and grace, Adonai has chosen to make a nation out of a people who are not otherwise related.

Romans 9:23-26 HCSB And what if He did this to make known the riches of His glory on objects of mercy that He prepared beforehand for glory-- (24) on us whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? (25) As He also says in Hosea: I will call "Not-My-People," "My-People," and she who is "Unloved," "Beloved." (26) And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

Immutable God has once again proven that He does not change. This adoption process has ALWAYS been a matter of faith and grace. Salvation came just as surely by faith through grace in the Old Covenant as it did in the New.

Galatians 3:6-7 HCSB Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, (7) so understand that those who have faith are Abraham's sons.

Paul told us that there is no difference between Jew or Gentile among believers.

Galatians 3:27-28 HCSB For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (28) There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Many Gentiles have presumptuously taken that to mean that we are all Gentiles! But if we carefully consider the very next verse along with the preponderance of the Scriptures we realize that it is the opposite! We are all God’s people if we have been adopted into His nation. To be a believer is to be a Jew.

Galatians 3:29 HCSB And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise.

One cannot claim to have Yahweh as his father, the Messiah Jesus as his brother and state “I am not a Jew.” If you are not a Jew then you are not one of God’s people! You are not saved!

We may have once been disparate nations, but no longer. We may have once been foreigners, but no longer. Hashem has taken born Jews and adopted Jews and made of them one sovereign nation.

Ephesians 2:11-19 HCSB So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh--called "the uncircumcised" by those called "the circumcised," done by hand in the flesh. (12) At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world. (13) But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. (14) For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In His flesh, (15) He did away with the law of the commandments in regulations, so that He might create in Himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. (16) He did this so that He might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross and put the hostility to death by it. (17) When Christ came, He proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. (18) For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. (19) So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household,

I bring you the good news that Goyish believers are co-heirs, members of the same body and partners of the promise extended to the House of Israel.

Ephesians 3:4-6 HCSB By reading this you are able to understand my insight about the mystery of the Messiah. (5) This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: (6) the Gentiles are co-heirs, members of the same body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Revelation 1:5-6 HCSB and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by His blood, (6) and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father--to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Since it is God who makes one a Jew, it is not the one who is outwardly circumcised but the one who has conformed his heart inwardly who becomes the true Jew (Romans 2:27-29). Just as in Abraham’s case, this is done by simple faith (James 2:23) which can be credited to us as righteousness (Galatians 3:6-9).

This deceptively simple act necessitates “circumcision of the heart” rather than of the flesh. This was as true in the Old Covenant…

Deuteronomy 30:6 HCSB The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you will live.

as it is true in the New…

Jeremiah 31:31-34 HCSB "Look, the days are coming"--this is the LORD's declaration--"when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. (32) This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant they broke even though I had married them"--the LORD's declaration. (33) "Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days"--the LORD's declaration. "I will place My law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. (34) No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying: Know the LORD, for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them"--the LORD's declaration. "For I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sin."

Becoming a true son of Abraham involves repentance of sin, baptism by the Holy Spirit, baptism by water and the production of fruit that is consistent with our repentance. It also involves receiving a new spirit and transforming our outer lives to reflect the new man within us through careful observance of God’s ordinances.

Ezekiel 11:19-20 HCSB And I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh, (20) so they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 HCSB I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. (26) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (27) I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances.

According to that last verse, the difference now is that with the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and empowering us to produce healthy spiritual fruit, we can actually observe those ordinances.

What am I saying? Am I saying that “Fiddler on the Roof” must be our favorite movie? Am I saying that we all need to start wearing kippot and beards or eating gefilte fish? No. I’m saying that we need to carefully examine the implications of being Jewish and allow ourselves to explore that culture; only adopting those aspects which are biblical, relevant and useful.

For example, we can practice many of the feasts that Adonai instituted in the Old Covenant. Obviously we don’t need to make sacrifices for our sins. The Messiah was the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice. However, there were many feasts that had nothing to do with sin. Many of us observe Rosh Hashanah, a festival that celebrates the fact that God created us, invited us into His nation and wants to be our King. Can anyone provide me with any biblical reason why any of that is wrong? Ten days later we observe Yom Kippur. We spend a day in fasting and meditation on our sinful natures, confess our sins to the Lord and ask for His mercy. What is scripturally wrong with that? Nothing.

Am I saying that EVERYONE has to observe these and other feasts? No. But anyone may if they choose to. Those who observe the feasts should not criticize those who do not. Those who choose a more Gentile culture should not criticize those who embrace their Jewishness. I would encourage them to consider Romans 12’s admonition to not be conformed to this world’s culture but instead to be renewed by the transforming of their minds. Listen to the apostle Paul as he specifically addresses this issue.

Romans 14:4-7 HCSB Who are you to criticize another's household slave? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And stand he will! For the Lord is able to make him stand. (5) One person considers one day to be above another day. Someone else considers every day to be the same. Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind. (6) Whoever observes the day, observes it to the Lord. Whoever eats, eats to the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is to the Lord that he does not eat, yet he thanks God. (7) For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.

If we are firmly convinced that a particular kabalah or tradition is useful and does not contradict the Scriptures we are free to observe it as long as we consider one more stricture – we must not cause our brother to stumble. Listen to Paul as he continues:

Romans 14:13-17 HCSB Therefore, let us no longer criticize one another, but instead decide not to put a stumbling block or pitfall in your brother's way. (14) (I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean.) (15) For if your brother is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. By what you eat, do not destroy that one for whom Christ died. (16) Therefore, do not let your good be slandered, (17) for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Jewishness is a matter of the heart. It is about submitting one’s self to the dictates of the Sovereign King of the universe. It is about obeying the ultimate command of loving God and loving one’s fellow man. How could such a condition allow us to get involved in schism and foolish debate? (1 Timothy 1:3-8; Titus 3:9-11)

The term ezrach’ is Hebrew for citizen. Because of Hashem’s grace and mercy we can become citizens of this new country. Brothers and sisters – to be a believer, an Adonaic Christian, someone who takes the Messiah not only as Savior but as Sovereign King – IS TO BE A JEW! Do not pull back from your new identity but relish it for the honor it is.

Other passages relating to or commenting on Ezrach’

Yahweh decided and implemented a plan to create a holy nation. If we are a people it is solely because of His favor and gracious work.

Deuteronomy 10:15 HCSB Yet the LORD was devoted to your fathers and loved them. He chose their descendants after them--He chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today.

1 Samuel 12:22 HCSB The LORD will not abandon His people, because of His great name and because He has determined to make you His own people.
Hosea 9:10 HCSB I discovered Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, consecrated themselves to Shame, and became detestable, like the thing they loved.
Ezekiel 16:3-8 HCSB You are to say: This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. (4) As for your birth, your umbilical cord wasn't cut on the day you were born, and you weren't washed clean with water. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. (5) No one cared enough about you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. But you were thrown out into the open field because you were despised on the day you were born. (6) "I passed by you and saw you lying in your blood, and I said to you as you lay in your blood: Live! Yes, I said to you as you lay in your blood: Live! (7) I made you thrive like plants of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were stark naked. (8) "Then I passed by you and saw you, and you were indeed at the age for love. So I spread the edge of My garment over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine." This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

Ezrach’ has always been a matter of the heart, rather than the genes.

Leviticus 26:41-42 HCSB and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies--and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled, and if they will pay the penalty for their sin, (42) then I will remember My covenant with Jacob. I will also remember My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
Deuteronomy 10:12 HCSB "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you except to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul?
Deuteronomy 10:16 HCSB Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don't be stiff-necked any longer.
Deuteronomy 30:6 HCSB The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you will live.
Romans 2:27-29 HCSB A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who fulfills the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision. For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart--by the Spirit, not the letter. His praise is not from men but from God.

Because Abraham was not a Jew until God got hold of him, and because we see that it has always been a matter of the heart, we understand that God can make ANYONE into a Jew if He sees fit.

Matthew 3:7-12 HCSB When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to the place of his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. And don't presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees! Therefore every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. "I baptize you with water for repentance, but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to take off His sandals. He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn. But the chaff He will burn up with fire that never goes out."

A real heart change results in lifestyle changes. It is when we truly obey God that we demonstrate we are truly His people.

Genesis 22:17-18 HCSB I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies. (18) And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command."
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 HCSB "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you except to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul? (13) Keep the LORD's commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.
Deuteronomy 28:15, 43 HCSB "But if you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you…(43) The foreign resident among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower.
John 8:31-32 HCSB So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
James 1:26-27 HCSB If anyone thinks he is religious, without controlling his tongue but deceiving his heart, his religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 2:8 HCSB If you really carry out the royal law prescribed in Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.
James 2:20 HCSB Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?
James 2:23-24 HCSB So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, and he was called God's friend. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
James 2:26 HCSB For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

We have always thought of ourselves as a people living alone, wandering among the goyim.

Numbers 23:8-9 HCSB How can I curse someone God has not cursed? How can I denounce someone the LORD has not denounced? (9) I see them from the top of rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. There is a people living alone; it does not consider itself among the nations.
Psalms 39:12 HCSB "Hear my prayer, LORD, and listen to my cry for help; do not be silent at my tears. For I am a foreigner residing with You, a sojourner like all my fathers.
Philippians 3:20 HCSB but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 11:13 HCSB These all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.
1 Peter 1:17 HCSB And if you address as Father the One who judges impartially based on each one's work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during this time of temporary residence.

From the very beginning God’s plan was for all people, all tribes and all nations, to be a part of His people.

Genesis 17:3-6 HCSB Then Abram fell to the ground, and God spoke with him: (4) "As for Me, My covenant is with you, and you will become the father of many nations. (5) Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. (6) I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.
Genesis 18:18-19 HCSB Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. (19) For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just. This is how the LORD will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him."
Genesis 22:17-18 HCSB I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies. (18) And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command."
Isaiah 14:1 HCSB For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again. He will settle them on their own land. The foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.
Isaiah 56:3-8 HCSB No foreigner who has converted to the LORD should say, "The LORD will exclude me from His people"; and the eunuch should not say, "Look, I am a dried-up tree." (4) For the LORD says this: "For the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold firmly to My covenant, (5) I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each of them an everlasting name that will never be cut off. (6) And the foreigners who convert to the LORD, minister to Him, love the LORD's name, and are His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold firmly to My covenant-- (7) I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." (8) This is the declaration of the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: "I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered."
Zechariah 2:11 HCSB "Many nations will join themselves to the LORD on that day and become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you.
John 10:16 HCSB But I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Because we are adopted into The People what was formerly out of reach is now ours to possess.

We can enter the Temple.

Ezekiel 44:9 HCSB "This is what the Lord GOD says: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, may enter My sanctuary, not even a foreigner who is among the Israelites.

Compare

Hebrews 10:18-19 HCSB Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. (19) Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus,

We will possess land in Canaan.

Ezekiel 47:22-23 HCSB You will allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners living among you, who have fathered children among you. You will treat them like native-born Israelites; along with you, they will be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. (23) In whatever tribe the foreigner lives, you will assign his inheritance there." This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

Whenever we began to adopt the world’s ways they became a snare to us.

Psalms 106:35-36 HCSB but mingled with the nations and adopted their ways. (36) They served their idols, which became a snare to them.

So we consider the Scriptures to be not only a source of doctrine or dogma, but also a source of culture and language.

Romans 12:2 HCSB Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

With the gift of the Holy Spirit comes the power to obey God’s commandments. What was formerly impossible, through the saving blood of Christ and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit is now possible. That is part and parcel with Hashem being our God and we being His people.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 HCSB "Look, the days are coming"--this is the LORD's declaration--"when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant they broke even though I had married them"--the LORD's declaration. "Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days"--the LORD's declaration. "I will place My law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying: Know the LORD, for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them"--the LORD's declaration. "For I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sin."
Ezekiel 11:19-21 HCSB And I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh, so they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts pursue their desire for detestable things and abominations, I will bring their actions down on their own heads." This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 HCSB I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances.

Rebellion against God and rejection of His ways cuts one off from The People.

Ezekiel 14:7-8 HCSB For when anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside in Israel separates himself from Me, setting up idols in his heart and putting a sinful stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me, I, the LORD, will answer him Myself. (8) I will turn against that one and make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from among My people. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

God warned Israel through Moses that whoever would not listen to the coming Messiah would be cut off from The People.

Acts 3:22-23 HCSB Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He will say to you. (23) And it will be that everyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from the people.

Those who once were not God’s People now can be. Those who once were God’s People, because they rejected God’s ways, are cut off.

Hosea 1:9-10 HCSB Then the LORD said: Name him Not My People, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God. (10) Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not My people, they will be called: Sons of the living God.
Hosea 2:23 HCSB I will sow her in the land for Myself, and I will have compassion on No Compassion; I will say to Not My People: You are My people, and he will say: You are My God.
Romans 9:22-33HCSB And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction? And what if He did this to make known the riches of His glory on objects of mercy that He prepared beforehand for glory--on us whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? As He also says in Hosea: I will call "Not-My-People," "My-People," and she who is "Unloved," "Beloved." And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God. But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: Though the number of Israel's sons is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved; for the Lord will execute His sentence completely and decisively on the earth. And just as Isaiah predicted: If the Lord of Hosts had not left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah. What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness--namely the righteousness that comes from faith. But Israel, pursuing the law for righteousness, has not achieved the law. Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written: Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over, and a rock to trip over, yet the one who believes on Him will not be put to shame.
Romans 10:19-21 HCSB But I ask, "Did Israel not understand?" First, Moses said: I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding. (20) And Isaiah says boldly: I was found by those who were not looking for Me; I revealed Myself to those who were not asking for Me. (21) But to Israel he says: All day long I have spread out My hands to a disobedient and defiant people.

Those who reject knowledge – God’s mitzvoth – are rejected from being His.

Hosea 4:6 HCSB My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons.
Hosea 9:17 HCSB My God will reject them because they have not listened to Him; they will become wanderers among the nations.

Zacchaeus became a Jew on the day he confessed his sin, made restitution and determined to follow Jesus.

Luke 19:9 HCSB "Today salvation has come to this house," Jesus told him, "because he too is a son of Abraham.

When we accept Christ we become the children of God.

John 1:12-13 HCSB But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

Gentile followers of Christ do not replace Israel. They do not supersede Israel. They are not a temporary stand-in for Israel. There has always simply been one people, followers of God, some native born Jews, others born foreigners. All require grafting onto the Root of Jesse. Those who refuse to obey and produce fruit are cut off. Those who humbly obey are grafted on.

Romans 11:17-26 HCSB Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them, and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, (18) do not brag that you are better than those branches. But if you do brag--you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you. (19) Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." (20) True enough; they were broken off by unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. (21) For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either. (22) Therefore, consider God's kindness and severity: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness toward you--if you remain in His kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (23) And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again. (24) For if you were cut off from your native wild olive, and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these--the natural branches--be grafted into their own olive tree? (25) So that you will not be conceited, brothers, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery: a partial hardening has come to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. (26) And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Liberator will come from Zion; He will turn away godlessness from Jacob.
Galatians 3:6-9 HCSB Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, so understand that those who have faith are Abraham's sons. Now the Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and foretold the good news to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed in you. So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.
Galatians 3:28-29 HCSB There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise.
Ephesians 2:11-19 HCSB So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh--called "the uncircumcised" by those called "the circumcised," done by hand in the flesh. At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In His flesh, He did away with the law of the commandments in regulations, so that He might create in Himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. He did this so that He might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross and put the hostility to death by it. When Christ came, He proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household,

How is true circumcision, true Jewishness, described?

Philippians 3:3 HCSB For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh--