To the Jew First

 

 

In two Bible references

You will find this phrase,

Go to Romans 1:16 and 2:10

And thereupon gaze.

 

To the Jew first

But what does it mean?

When examined in its context,

What can we glean?

 

Quite a lot, you’ll see
If you but take a look

But it is important my friend

To read the whole book.

 

Therein is the context

Re the saints at Rome

Made up of Jews and Gentiles

As a diverse one.

 

 

Distinct, yet unified,

By faith in Jesus Christ:

Both Jew and Gentile redeemed

For the same price.

 

And this is critical

As we look to the future,

For we must examine this past

To get a right picture.

 

To the Jew first:

Chronological or priority?

A study of the book of Romans

Will help you see.

 

Who’s more important:

The Gentile or the Jew?

Neither of them is more important;

I thought you knew.

 

 

For in Father Abraham

Both were to be blessed

And in the Lord Jesus Christ only

Both find their rest.

 

Not one way for Jews

And another for Gentiles,

The contrast, I will dare say,

Is one of Satan’s wiles.

 

It’s one of Satan’s tricks

For which many still fall

Believing that Israel’s ethnicity

Is Israel’s all in all.

 

A special gathering in

Is yet reserved for them

Since God did make a promise

Re Abraham’s children.

 

Every promise of God

God does indeed fulfil

And He does so in accordance

With His divine will.

 

 

Some have been fulfilled

And some are ongoing

Like the millions of souls saved

Through evangelizing.

 

And what is more

As I am hoping you see,

This is the promise to Abraham

Given in prophecy.

 

Yes, to the Jew first:

The very first evangelists,

Also, the Gentile, no after thought

But always on God’s list.

 

For in Abraham

All nations are blessed

And their faith in Jesus, the Christ,

Is the utmost test.

 

For since Pentecost

Christ has made all one

And the dividing wall of partition

Is eternally gone.

 

 

 

No difference now

Between Gentiles and Jews

Though it was to the Jew first

That carried the news.

 

 

The blessed news

Of the glorious gospel:

The gospel of so great salvation

Which they did tell…

 

To the Gentiles afar off

Who were brought near

And now before the throne of God

We can all appear…

 

With our sins forgiven

And all iniquities pardoned

And God’s law written on hearts

That were once hardened.

 

 

To the Jew first

Was inclusive by intent

In that the first gospel message

Was for all to repent.

 

The early church

Was both Jew and Gentile,

No afterthought as some esteem

But prophecy all the while.

 

To the Jew first

Was merely the beginning

Of God’s glorious salvation to all

Without ending.

 

One salvation and baptism,

All one in Christ!

No two peoples, as some believe,

No dividing splice!

 

No ethnic division

In the kingdom of God,

All heirs and joint-heirs in Christ!

Shout this abroad.

 

 

To the Jew first

And also to the Greek,

Is the power of God unto salvation

Even as we speak.

 

To the Jew first

And to the Gentile also,

To every man that worketh good

And God’s mercy show.

 

To the Jew first

And to you and me,

Sealed by the blessed Holy Spirit

For all eternity.

 

Stewart Russell © July 11, 2025

 

Consider This

 

 Consider this if you will

Not all Jews are Jews,

This sounds particularly contradictory

Now listen for the news.

 

For they are not all Israel

Which are of Israel

How should we take this:

Physical, natural or spiritual?

 

The truth of the matter is

All three are involved,

If we look carefully at the transition

This matter can be resolved.

 

Jesus once said to the Jews

You are of your father, the devil

And if he were not who he was

It would have been to his peril.

 

The Jews had challenged him

Regarding their father, Abraham

But Jesus seemed to be saying

That is no longer the plan.

 

Being natural has no rights

To that which belongs to the spiritual,

From the old covenant to the new

The spiritual regulates the natural.

 

This will probably be hard

For any naturalized Israelite Jew,

He sees himself as the chosen

And he must have his due.

 

His due to a promised land

As a son of Abraham,

How dare Jesus come and change

What was the original plan!

We see a little bit at a time

That is but a tiny dot

But all too often it swells in our eyes

And our dot becomes the lot.

 

A single piece of the puzzle

Becomes the whole puzzle

And such was the case with the Jews

As it related to Israel.

 

God has a glorious plan

It proceeds from the natural to the spiritual,

From Eden’s creation to a new creation

From the old Israel to the new Israel.

 

No longer the middle wall of partition

No longer the Gentile and the Jew,

Where once these were separate

They are now one not two.

 

Only one way to the kingdom

That is through Jesus Christ the Lord,

Only one way to salvation

That is by believing on his word.

Consider this, I urge one and all

It is not a replacement theology,

It is the working out of God’s glorious plan

Upon which hangs our destiny.

 

Stewart Russell © November 2019

 

More than A Collection of Books 5

Obadiah like Jude consists of a single chapter

That prophesies against the descendants of Esau,

They had rejoiced over the destruction of Jerusalem

And this disrespect for Israel seemed to be the last straw.

Jonah called of God to be a witness to the Gentiles

Was jealous that to Nineveh grace should be extended.

While fleeing to Tarshish he was swallowed by a fish

But God ordered it so that that was not where he ended.

Micah is quoted in the book of Saint Matthew

The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah

But against a dark and worldly background

He prophesied wrath against Israel and Judah.

Nahum prophesied against the great city of Nineveh

That the God of the nations the Assyrians disclaimed

Was the sovereign controller of all human destiny

And even the greatest world power must submit in shame.

Habakkuk, known for ”the just shall live by faith”

Is perplexed that Judah is not punished for her iniquity

The Lord uses the Babylonians to punish Judah

Whereupon Habakkuk questions God’s use of the enemy.

Zephaniah tells of God’s determination to execute judgment

On Judah and Jerusalem because of idolatry,

His message to Judah is a call to repentance

But woe is pronounced on Jerusalem for its treachery.

Haggai’s call was for the people to rebuild the temple

Instead they were taken up with their own affairs

Again he encouraged them giving assurance of God’s presence

The glory of the future temple will be greater he declared.

Zechariah using highly symbolic language in his visions

Predicted the overthrow of the Gentile world powers,

He speaks of Messiah’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem

And his return when he makes Mount Olive his tower.

Malachi like Nehemiah highlighted similar problems

Like withholding the Lord’s tithe and intermarrying,

He records Jehovah’s last pleading with His people

Then the prophetic is silent until the Baptist’s coming.

Stewart Russell © March 2017

Disillusioned or A Pharisee?

Your View

 

I never do anything wrong

Because unlike you I am strong,

I am not a weakling as you are

You and I are definitely not on par.

I am different from you in many ways,

Ways that you can’t even perceive,

If I reveal to you all I am

You would surely not believe.

There is only one of me

And the mold cannot be found,

Search all you wish across the globe

There is no such mold around.

So what is different you might ask

Well already you see what I mean,

It should have been obvious even to you

But I’m not surprised you haven’t seen.

That’s one thing I thought you knew

You’re even less than I thought of you,

However I trust by the time I’m through

You will have agreed to my point of view.

One primary difference that you will see

Is I am better than you at any task

And my intelligence far surpasses yours

Is another point you’ll need to grasp.

What I have accomplished you have not

And what I’ve forgotten you’ll never learn

For that you would need a few lifetimes,

You cannot achieve it in one sojourn.

By now you are getting tired of me

At worst that is a case of envy

And if perchance it is something else

At best it’s probably jealousy.

It also confirms the point I made

That before I ended you would agree

Between you and me is no comparison,

I’m surprised you so quickly see.

For to compare yourself to me

Is to compare a Gentile and Pharisee,

The massive gap you are trying to bridge

Is bordering on impossibility.

Now I see that you are upset

Having quickly accepted my proof

But be assured that such a reaction

Is your admission to this truth.

There is much more that I could share

But surely this little has sufficed

For given the rate at which you agreed

I didn’t have to say it twice.

Conceited you probably think I am

I have ample reason to be,

Disillusioned? No, not the slightest chance

For I am a Pharisee.

Pharisees know who they are

And certainly what they believe

Unlike the Sadducees and Publicans

They are so easily deceived.

Not to mention the Gentiles

Who do not figure in the mix at all,

Dogs more fit their comparison

As a Pharisee I stand tall.

Disillusioned or a Pharisee?

The former is out of the question

A Pharisee is definitely who I am

All others are disillusioned.

My Response

I agree with your appraisal

You are certainly not disillusioned,

You are too aware of the wrong you do

To enter a plea of utter confusion.

Therefore you are without excuse

When the time of your judgment is come,

All other sinners that truly repent

Will be admitted into God’s kingdom.

Then you’ll be left out in the cold

Or in the heat to be more precise,

No doubt at that coming occasion

You will then regret all your vice.

Your greatest vice was in trying to earn

A place in the kingdom of God

Only to lose that for which you sought

Deceived by the fraud of frauds.

Stewart Russell © 2017