Here’s a good question:  “To whom do the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants” belong??

I was raised in the church.  Among the many things I was taught (oversimplifying here…), was that the church had the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the Messiah.  While not necessarily stated in direct terms, the implication is that the blessings and covenants, the glory and Messiah, because of the rejection of (some of) the  Jews, were all transfered or conferred upon the church.

With that very general premise in mind, let’s take a look at what Scripture says and consider the implications…

Rav Shaul, the Apostle Paul, wrote a letter to the believers in Rome, some 30 years after the ascension of our risen Meshiach, Yeshua (Jesus).  In the ninth chapter he begins a section dealing with grafting in and the relationship of those who claim Messiah, whether Jew or Gentile.  Here are the first five verses, relevant to our discussion as we answer the question, ‘to whom belongs the adoption, and glory and the covenants..?”

I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, ² that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, ⁴ who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, ⁵ whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.  Romans 9:1-5

Shaul (Paul) grieves for his brothers, the Jews, those of Hebrew/Israelite descent in the flesh.  And he does so because they have something, but have missed something.

The obvious thing they have missed is their Meshiach, Yeshua ben David.  (Messiah Yeshua, Son of David.)

But, what do they HAVE that should lead them to the Messiah?  Let’s list them from this passage:

• to whom belongs the adoption as sons
• the glory
• the covenants
• the giving of the Law (Torah)
  
• the temple service
• the promises
• whose are the fathers
• and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh

Wow!!  You catch that list?  And, Shaul says they ‘have,’ not ‘had’ these things.  His brothers, according to the flesh, 30 years AFTER Messiah’s coming, HAVE these things.

The gravity of these verses cannot be overstated when compared to christian ‘theology.’

Churchianity teaches something like this:

The Jews rejected Jesus, their Messiah, so we were adopted (in their place), were given the glory, the new covenant, the promises and the Messiah.  They can keep the Law, the temples services…  Well, they lost that… and they can keep the fathers.

Essentially, christian doctrine takes what it wants and leaves the rest not understanding what the above quoted verses say.  Read the core part again,

…who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, ⁵ whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

Hmmm….  Now, we got us a problem!  Before you ‘hang up the phone’ or run for the exits, let’s see if the rest of Scripture substantiates this!  We will not look exhaustively at each of these, but a few more verses will help see the validity of the claim and help you begin your search for truth and the paradigm shift that comes with it!

– Adoption: Simply, the church rightly teaches that we are adopted as sons and grafted in, but they rarely, if ever, follow the teaching to its logical conclusion!  Ephesians 2:8-22 articulates in detail that when we are saved by grace through faith, we are called to ‘walk’ in the ancient paths and are members of the commonwealth of Israel.  We become partakes of the covenants and promises, but as citizens of the higher kingdom, we become subject to the commandments of our King.  Exactly WHO is the Lawgiver Ya’acov/Jacob (incorrectly translated as ‘James’ to keep the king happy…  ) says is the only one able to save??

If we are adopted, do we not get a new name?  Do we not become sons?  It would be really odd to go to the expense and trouble of adopting a son, giving him an inheritance and then have him reject all of the culture, heritage, rules, language and holidays of the adopting family.  Particularly if he had the audacity to claim he loved the family and had preferential treatment!!  Yet, isn’t that what the church has done?  “Yep, we’re adopted, but we don’t have to do all that stuff…  We just get the goodies.”

–Glory: Over and over in the Tanakh (‘old’ Testament) we see the glory of Yahweh falling on the Tabernacle and in the Temple.  See Exodus 24:16-17; 29:43; 33:18-22; 40:34-35, I Chronicles 16:24-30; and II Chronicles 7:1-3ff.  And, in case you think this glory was transferred at the resurrection, Revelation 21:23 speaks of the ‘glory of God’ lighting the New Jerusalem which, if you read the first part of the chapter, you will find it has twelve gates named after the twelve tribes to whom the glory was revealed at Sinai…  No Baptist gate, no Presbyterian gate, no Methodist gate, etc…  (Which gate you going in?)

–Covenants: The church teaches that to them belongs the ‘new’ Covenant, and many are audacious enough to claim other covenants a well…  So, exactly who IS the ‘new’ Covenant with?  Hebrews 8:8, quoting Jeremiah 31:31 says, ‘For finding fault with them (the priests) He says, “Behold, days are coming says, Yahweh, when I will effect a new covenant (Greek word ‘neos’ means renewed) with the House of Israel and the House of Judah…”  Where is the covenant with the Gentiles??  I defy you to find ANY covenant with the Gentiles!!  Are you grafted in?  Do you understand what that term REALLY means?

-The Torah: The previous sequence, taken directly from the passage, leads us to Torah.  Now, the church LOVES to skip over this one.  ‘That was nailed to the cross’ they tritely quote…  Nevermind the fact that Scripture NEVER says that!!  (I’ll give you a thousand dollars if you can show me where it says the Law was nailed to the cross.  Just leave the verse in the comments section and I’ll get back with you…)

So, back to Torah…  Since we just looked at Hebrews 8:8, and you are checking behind me and have your Bible open, read verse 10.  My NASB says, ‘For THIS is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my TORAH into their minds and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God…”  Go read the Jeremiah passage being quoted and note the exact HEBREW word being used.  For simplicity, here is a link: From the JOB in English and transliterated Hebrew.

For more info on this paradigm shifting verse, just cruise this blog or go to 119 Ministries and study for yourself instead of spoonfed doctrines from pulpits, seminaries, etc..

–Temple Service: By now, you are starting to get the idea, so I will not tackle this one since it is so long and involved.  Suffice it to say, we have a High Priest and Ezekiel 40-48 details a future Temple and its service….

-The Promises:  The church loves to pick and choose through these…  They sort them into ‘ours,’ theirs,’ and ‘for both of us.’  Well, let’s just pull one out that is a paradigm shifter:  Read Ezekiel 37:24-28  and answer these questions:

• Who is the Davidic King/Shepherd?
• What will He teach/require obedience to?
• Where will His kingdom be?
• Who will live in His Kingdom?
• How long?
• What is the covenant He will make?
• Where will the church’s ‘Jesus’ be in this picture?

–Fathers:  This one is kinda fun!!  The LAST chapter in the christian Bible is Malachi 4.  The Tanakh (Jewish ‘old’ Testament) has the books in a different order, but just maybe Abba Yahweh put this last in the christian Bible to highlight something…  )  The whole chapter, all six verses, are eschatological. They all deal with the end times.  The first three verses deal with the impending destruction and the safety/security that come from knowing and abiding in His name.  Interestingly, here are the last three verses of the ‘old’ Testament:

⁴ “Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

⁵ “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. ⁶ He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

In this context, who are the fathers?  Who are the children?  One of the last paragraphs of this piece on the church’s antisemitism answer those questions.

–Messiah’s lineage:  The church does not dispute Yeshua’s lineage/heritage, but somehow they forget all of this when discussing/teaching the fact that we are grafted into Him and His root.  (See: Jesus.  False Messiah.)  They even get so warped as to teach that the Jews have to come to US for salvation!  WOW!!  Who’s Messiah IS He anyway??!!  See the previous paragraph on the fathers!

–Messiah Himself:  The church loves to wrap their arms around this one and claim Yeshua for themselves…  but would they recognize Him?  The fact is, most not only would not recognize Him, but they would flat out reject Him because He is NOT the Messiah of their doctrines.  Like the Pharisees and religious rulers of the day in Yeshua’s first coming, they prefer their own commandments and doctrines over the simple truths of the Word.

Hazarding a guess here, but I bet you have been sufficiently challenged that I do not need to go a step further and demonstrate that the church started at Mt. Sinai, NOT at Pentecost (Shavuot).  If you want to pursue that 0n your own, here is the verse to begin that plunge: Acts 7:38 ….  Do a word study on ‘congregation’ in both Greek and Hebrew…  )

When we set out, our purpose was to answer the question, ‘to whom belongs the adoption, and the glory and the covenants…”?  If you are like me, when I began this journey, the answers may have shocked or shaken you.  I pray you do as I did-  Have the courage, the spine to find a quiet place, get on your knees and pray a very simple prayer:  “Father, I desire truth.  I don’t care what it costs.  I just want to know You and I want TRUTH!”

Our Father is loving and gentle as He begins to cut away the false doctrines of men (Jeremiah 16:19-21 NGB) and circumcise your heart.  The resulting truth leads to HUGE peace and fulfillment as well as blessings you can’t even begin to imagine.

I pray this study has challenged and blessed you.

HIS promise of blessing over you:

Yahweh will bless you and watch over you.
Yahweh will smile on you and be kind to you.
Yahweh will look on you with favor and give you peace.

Shalom, Pete