Our identity in Jesus / Yeshua
Knowing what it means to be "In Messiah Yeshua" deepens our understanding of who we are "In Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 1:1).
To really appreciate our spiritual identity as 'grafted in' Gentiles, we need to understand how Jesus, as Yeshua the Messiah of Israel, turned Israel's relationship with God upside down.
At first, God's chosen people had to submit to His authority and be accountable to Him in order to gain His acceptance, such that if they obeyed Him, they'd be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" who He'd then affirm as "His treasured possession" (Exodus 19:5-6).
However, by atoning for their disobedience through His death on the cross, Israel's Messiah Yeshua totally transformed their relationship with God. So that if they'd accept His sacrifice for their sins God would then accept them, and give them His unreserved affirmation as His treasured possession. And if they acknowledged their accountability for the extent of His grace in doing so, they'd have His authority to be the kingdom of priests and the holy nation He'd called them to be. Thus enabling His purposes through them to be fulfilled.
"To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (Revelation 1:5-6)
For us who are "in Christ Jesus" / "Messiah Yeshua" (Ephesians 1:1) through being 'grafted in', our identity as expressed in Revelation 1:5-6 can then be summarised in three words:
- Loved not just because of God's general love for the world, but because of His original covenant of everlasting love for Israel
- Freed through Israel's Messiah fulfilling all God's requirements for righteousness, lifting the burden of sin and giving us totally undeserved acceptance and affirmation
- Called as Israel was, to be part of a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, such that if we acknowledge our accountability for what we've been given, we can be given the spiritual authority we'll need
This can then transform how we understand our potential and purpose, and therefore of who we really are "In Him".
Dig Deeper
How could Israel understand:
- God's authority?
- Their responsibility?
- His affirmation of them?
- His acceptance of them? (Exodus 19-20)
How did Jesus/Yeshua change this? (Romans 8:31-39)
In the light of being 'grafted in', what does it mean to be:
- loved (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)
- freed (Ezekiel 36:25-26)
- called (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
And to be part of:
- a kingdom of priests? (Isaiah 61:6)
- a holy nation? (Deuteronomy 26:16-19)
