Are the Jews saved under one covenant and the Gentiles saved under another or is Jesus the only way to be saved? Are the Jews saved under the everlasting covenant God made with Abraham or do they have to believe in Jesus (Genesis 17:7-8)? The answer seems clear to me, but some Christians have heard someone they respect say today’s Jews are saved even though they haven’t accepted Jesus as their Messiah. That confuses many people and the controversy just won’t go away.

In the past, I have been critical of people who won’t condemn homosexuality because they don’t want to offend the gays. Now, I will say that there are some people who won’t say the Jews must accept Jesus because they don’t want to offend them. Loving people doesn’t mean we should tell them what they want to hear. Even if we prefer to teach what we think is a kinder, gentler message, we must not turn away from the truth.

The Jews would not accept the verses below, but these verses should guide the Christian theology.

When Jesus was asked to heal the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter Hesaid,“I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24).If the Jews could be saved another way, why was Jesus sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel? Why was He sent to them, if they don’t need Him?

During a controversy with some of the Pharisees, Jesus said, “If ye believe not that I amhe, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).It sounds to me like He said their sins wouldn’t be forgiven, if they rejected Him.

When Thomas asked Jesus, “How can we know the way?” Jesus replied,“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

“No man” includes the Jews. It is not Jesus or the Law. It is Jesus or not at all.

In his sermon of the day of Pentecost, Peter specifically addressed some of the Jews like this, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.Now when they heardthis, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Menand brethren, what shall we do?Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:36-38).

These Jews needed to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins.

When Peter and John were arrested and brought before the rulers and elders of Israel they said, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name [the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth] under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

God’s covenant with Abraham is extremely important, but salvation in the name of Abraham does not exist.

When the apostles were arrested and brought before the Jewish council in Jerusalem, Peter and the other apostles said, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.Him hath God exalted with his right handto be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:29-31).

God exalted Jesus by placing Him at His right hand as a Prince and Savior to give repentance and forgiveness to Israel. If Israel can be saved by keeping the Law, why does Israel a Savior?

When Paul appeared before the church council in Jerusalem to discuss whether Christians have to keep the Law of Moses to be saved Peter said, “And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even ashe did unto us;And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they” (Acts 15:8-11).

Peter was saying Jews and Gentiles are saved the same way.

Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). The gospel is for everyone, Jew or Greek (Gentile).

Paul said, “If anyman preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9). There is just one gospel.

Paul said, “For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16; also see v. 21). Israel cannot be saved by keeping the Law.

John said, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father:(but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also” (1 John 2:23; also see 1 Timothy 5-6). Israel cannot deny Jesus and be saved.

I love Israel and believe many Jews Old Testament Jews were under the new covenant and were saved by faith in their coming Messiah (even though they didn’t know His name), but they were not saved by keeping the Law (Jeremiah 31:31). I also believe all Israel will be saved at the Second Coming because they will turn to Jesus (Romans 11:26; Zechariah 12:10-14). I love to study the Old Testament sacrifices because I believe they point to the Messiah, but they don’t replace the Messiah. Whatever we do, we must support Israel.

FYI: God Has Spoken (And We Know It) by Daymond Duck is available, (linked to my publisher @ https://www.raptureready.com/terry/book17.html). Books and a Kindle version are available at amazon.com. A Nook version is available at bn.com. Check out what it says about Syria, Russia, Iran, Egypt, natural disasters, the Two-State Solution, etc.

Prophecy Plus Ministries
Daymond & Rachel Duck

Current events are often an indicator or a reminder of things to come. In 2012, the Oklahoma State Legislature authorized someone to put a monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Oklahoma State Capitol. But there are people who don’t want the Ten Commandments on State Capitol grounds and there are others who want a statue of Satan erected next to the Ten Commandments. The ACLU sued to have the Ten Commandments removed and the Satanic Temple in New York started raising funds to erect a 7-foot tall statue of Satan next to the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments were given by God. The second Commandment concerns the construction and worship of statues or images. God said, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that isin heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Ex. 20:4-5). This clearly forbids building and worshipping a statue of any kind, especially a statue of Satan.

But Satan is the arch enemy of God. He wants people to ignore the Ten Commandments (Gen. 1-7). He knows that God created people with an inner desire to worship and he wants that worship directed toward himself (Isa. 14:12-14). He was behind Nimrod’s (a name that means “let us revolt”) effort to establish a one-world religion at the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9).

The Tower of Babel was in Babylon. That is where King Nebuchadnezzar set up the great image or statue that was 60 cubits high and 6 cubits wide. He even tried to force Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego to worship it (Dan. 3:1). Some students of Bible prophecy believe the number 6 is significant because Adam was created on the sixth day, people should work 6 days, 666 is the number of the Antichrist, and so forth. Some also believe the forced worship of a statue in Daniel’s day is a type of the forced worship of the statue of the Antichrist that will be set up at Israel’s rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem during the Tribulation Period. Some even believe the efforts of Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar and others to establish a Global religion prefigures the efforts of the False Prophet to establish a Global religion in the future.

As history moved to the second century BC, a Seleucid king symbolized by a little horn that turned out to be Antiochus IV or Epiphanes came to power (Dan. 8:9-22). This little horn grew in power. He attacked Jerusalem, killed about 100,000 Jews, sold about 40,000 into slavery, stopped the animal sacrifices, forced the Jews to blaspheme God and forced them to stop reading the Scriptures (including the Ten Commandments). He set up a statue at the Temple called the abomination that maketh desolate (Dan. 11:31), forced the Jews to worship it; and the angel Gabriel revealed that all of this is a picture of a coming king of fierce countenance who will oppose the Prince of princes (Dan. 8:23-25).

He will set up his abomination in the Temple area, the Jews will abandon the Temple or make it desolate (Dan. 9:26), it will happen at the middle of the Tribulation Period (Dan. 9:27), and the statue will stay there for 1290 days (Dan. 12:11).

Jesus was speaking about His own coming and the gospel going all over the world at the end of the age when He warned the Tribulation Period Jews about this abomination of desolation (Matt. 24:3, 14-15). He said, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whosoever readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains” (Matt. 24:15-16).

John the Revelator said people will worship the dragon (Satan) and the Antichrist (Rev. 12:9; 13:4). He also said the False Prophet will make an image or a statue of the Antichrist and demand that those who don’t worship it be killed (Rev. 13:11-15).

In summation, God gave the Ten Commandments and He wants everyone to obey them. But the ACLU wants them removed from the Capitol grounds in Oklahoma. The second Commandment forbids the erection of a statue and Satan worship. But the Satanic Temple wants a statue of Satan erected and they have designed one that will allow people to sit in Satan’s lap. The Bible teaches that two powerful Satan worshippers will soon appear (the Antichrist and False Prophet). They will erect a statue and order the death of all who refuse to worship it. The Bible says all who do will suffer the wrath of God (Rev. 14:9-10).

FYI: God Has Spoken (And We Know It) by Daymond Duck is available, (linked to my publisher @ https://www.raptureready.com/terry/book17.html). Books and a Kindle version are available at amazon.com. A Nook version is available at bn.com. Check out what it says about Syria, Russia, Iran, Egypt, natural disasters, the Two-State Solution, etc.

Prophecy Plus Ministries
Daymond & Rachel Duck