“What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God,” Romans 3:1-2.
I began this study having read the text of Scripture heading this article as part of my daily reading.
As noted in our introduction to part 1 of this study, ‘In a day when the Bible is cast aside by society in general, and even by those organisations which profess to believe and preach its truths but who in fact most wickedly deny its divine origin and infallibility, these words of Paul should be most precious to every Christian.
Paul is saying that the Jewish nation in times past, had an advantage over all other nations because God in mercy had committed, entrusted to them, the “the oracles of God”, or the “Holy Scriptures”!’
We move on to some more considerations of the benefits belonging to those who own and believe the Holy Bible.
III. THE BIBLE ALONE PROVIDES AN INSIGHT TO GOD’S PURPOSE AMONGST THE NATIONS.
I regularly scan the news headlines that I can access on the internet. There we will find the tangle of opinions and speculations, all uttered with the great of certainty, of ‘experts’ in all matters related to science, social trends and political developments! It will soon be discovered that the opinions and speculations of today are abandoned tomorrow and their authors usually denying that they never at any time espoused them!
With regards the future and the outworking of God’s purpose amongst the nations, man is in total darkness without the Bible! Consequently, a consideration of history reveals mankind ever relating the mistakes of yesterday!
The wise man Solomon said: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun,” Ecclesiastes 1:9.
This repetition is the result of the refusal of man to heed what the Bible says of the purpose that God would have men understand and yield to!
Disobedience of God always results in divine retribution and disaster for the rebellious. Early in the Bible record we read of the descendants of Noah being instructed by the Lord “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,” Genesis 9:1.
In chapter 11, we find that the descendants of Noah, as their numbers increased, moved in an easterly direction, they came to the land of Shinar in modern day Iraq. There they stopped their migration and in defiance of God, decided that they would settle there.
“And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth,” Genesis 11:2-4.
God’s purpose for them was to have them “scattered abroad” and the earth thus re-populated. They had learned nothing from the judgment that had followed the self-willed, who had perished in the universal flood!
Their defiance of God’s purpose to replenish the earth is soon followed by their rejection of the worship of God and their turning to idolatry.
The verse that reads: “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven,” (verse 4) does not indicate that they had a desire to just build very high tower but rather a tower that would provide ‘another way to heaven’!
It is a rejection of the worship of Noah and of Abel – the worship of the true God.
Punished
This folly was punished by the Lord in the ‘confounding’ the “one language, and of one speech” which all used heretofore into many languages. The earth still struggles with the consequences of that judgment!
“So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city,” Genesis 11:8.
That incident typifies the abiding inclination of mankind to reject God’s providential purpose amongst the nations and instead pursue their own agenda!
1. God’s purpose amongst the nations centres upon Israel. That may be seen in the early chapters of Genesis where the record of God choosing the man Abraham and making a covenant with him which was a promise to bring forth a nation of him. That nation was Israel.
The first ‘edition’ of that promise is given in chapter 12 of Genesis, where the history of the chosen people begins.
“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,” Genesis 12:1-3. That promise is repeated to successive generations of Abraham’s descendants and enlarged upon throughout the rest of the Bible.
The Lord only had a place for other nations in as much as they related to Israel. Everything CENTRED around the small portion of God’s earth.
That has always been ‘a thorn in the flesh’ for those nations and despots who would seek to exalt themselves to a position at the ‘nucleus’ of world affairs. Those who have tried to thwart God’s purpose have paid a heavy price!
A consideration of Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Napoleon and, in more recent times, Hitler, illustrates the futility of such ambitions. Doubtless, in a few more years, some current self-exalters, who seek to join the ranks of those just mentioned, may be added!
Land of the prophets
Israel has been the land of the prophets, the revealers of God’s purpose. It is the land to which the Christ of God, the Redeemer of God’s elect came, preached in, was crucified as a sacrifice to redeem His people and from which He sent out His apostles to preach the Gospel to all the world.
The universal and intensifying hatred of Israel amongst the ungodly is but verification of the truth that the people and the land are central to God’s purpose amongst us!
2. God’s purpose is centred upon Jerusalem. In Genesis 11, already referred to, the name ‘Babel’ or Babylon appears. It was man’s choice of a city. Throughout Holy Scripture that name appears again and again. It is always linked to rebellion and hatred of Israel. It is still in existence but will rise again to greater heights and dominate the political and mercantile affairs in that region of the world within the borders of the old Roman Empire. The city that they “left off to build” (Genesis 11:8) will be rebuilt and extended during the last days and become the citadel of the Antichrist.
Daniel’s prophecies
The prophecies of Daniel chapters 2, 7, 8, 10-12 as well as Revelation 14, 16, 17 & 18, all of which refer to the last days of this present age, indicate the domination and evil presence of a rebuilt Babylon, inhabited by the full manifestation of the rebellious spirit which the Lord judged in Genesis chapter 11.
On the other hand, Jerusalem has been specifically chosen by the Lord to feature in the greatest of His redemptive acts. Yes, it has been long corrupted and defiled by sin but there is a future day when it will be purged and cleansed and become the seat of Christ’s glorious reign on earth.
Christ will return to Jerusalem’s precincts. “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east,” Zechariah 14:3-4.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” Isaiah 2:2-4. No, the Lord has not forgotten Jerusalem but it will yet be seen as described by the Psalmist.
“Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King,” Psalms 48:2.
All this and more is hidden from those who have no Bible and from those who read its pages with faithless and unbelieving eyes!
3. Regardless of the fact that I am repeating that which I have already touched upon, I must emphasise that there is one nation that God has chosen as His and through which He will accomplish His will and purpose. I will briefly give some Bible verses which emphatically underscore that truth.
“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth,” Deuteronomy 7:6,
“Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth,” Deuteronomy 14:1-2.
“This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: and the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; and to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken,” Deuteronomy 26:16-19.
That is not how they are today. Rather they are under judgment because of their rejection of their Messiah.
Change
But that will change one day soon!
“For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD,”Isaiah 54:7-17.
“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace, . . . Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and 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 graffed 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 graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear,” Romans 11:1-5, 12-20.
“The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness, . . . And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God,” Zechariah 12:1-13:1, 8-9.
“Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,” Zechariah 14:1-4.
One final quotation, and that from the lips of the Saviour.
“Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” Matthew 19:27-28.
Yes, the Lord has a glorious future planned for the land, for Jerusalem and for the people of Israel!
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Wednesday, 11th February 2026