Heirs Together With Israel

Ephesians 3.1-6

Think of how God preserved Israel in the attempts to annihilate the Jewish people.

Exodus 1.15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
v.22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

The Book of Esther


The Crusades: As we remember the crusades we see an image of Kings purging Muslims. However a lot of purging was done on Jewish turf. From various Jewish towns being pillaged for food or money(particularily in north Israel) or cultures in Antioch or Jerusalem it is shown through these genocidal actions how the Jews were viewed as a curse needed to be cleansed as it had an alien attitude in comparison to Christianity.

The Black Death: The plague was a disaster on biblical proportion. Over half of Europe was brutally cut down and in such times there needed to be a seemingly sound explanation. For a lot of central European countries the obvious place to turn would be the Jews poisoning the wells on behalf of their close mysterious society being seen as strange and beyond sound explanation. This resulted in purges of genocidal intention throughout 14 century to 17 century as the majority of the population wanted to punish them for doing such deed(of cause they didn't it was pesticides).

The Holocaust in the last century
6,000,000 Jews killed
67% of the Jews

2,000 years after Paul wrote to the Ephesians the connection with Israel still exists. The Babylonian Empire, the Medo Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, The Roman Empire, the British Empire, the USSR, the Soviet Empire, the Iron Curtain are no more.
The promises of these Pharaohs, Emperors, Leaders do not stand because these kingdoms have passed. The promises made to Israel before any of these Empires came about and those made while some of them were in existence still stand and are for us!!!

Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:7-9, 29 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.v.29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

These things were written to Gentiles, non Jewish people.

We are blessed along with Abraham:
Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you,and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 15:1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:“Do not be afraid, Abram.I am your shield, your very great reward.”

Genesis 18:18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.

Genesis 22:14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

Joint heir one who obtains something assigned to himself with others, a joint participant.

* I will bless you.
* I will protect you and I am your Reward.
* All nations on the earth will be blessed through you.
* The LORD will provide.


The announcement made to the shepherds is for us as well.
Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Isaiah speaks of the coming Messiah, how that He will sit upon the throne of David and order it and establish it in righteousness and in judgment from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Host shall perform this. And yet, Isaiah said that God's righteous servant would be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him. But He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to our own way, and God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And how He would be numbered with the transgressors in His death. The LORD will provide Himself. He loved the church and gave Himself up for her. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body: This describes the mystery itself - that believing Jews and believing Gentiles are joined together into one Body of Christ, into one Church, and no longer separated before God by distinction, the walls in the temple and the promises made to Israel.

Jacob, who became Israel received the promises of his grandfather Abraham and his own.

The blessing of Isaac:
Genesis 27:28-29 May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness—an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you.Be lord over your brothers,and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”

Jacob's Dream at Bethel:
Genesis 28:13-15 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Partakers of His promise in Christ: The truth of this mystery means that Gentiles are now full partakers of His promise. This was a privilege no longer reserved only for the believing Jewish person.
Through the gospel: This could only happen through the gospel, where all men have an equal standing in Jesus. This is the same gospel Paul is a servant of, because of the gift of grace given to him by the working of God’s power.

He makes mention both of the mystery that was revealed and of the revelation of it. (1.) The mystery revealed is that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ, by the gospel (v. 6); that is, that they should be joint-heirs with the believing Jews of the heavenly inheritance; and that they should be members of the same mystical body, be received into the church of Christ, and be interested in the gospel-promises, as well as the Jews, and particularly in that great promise of the Spirit.


1. This Mystery
hidden thing, secret, mystery
not obvious to the understanding
a hidden purpose, secret will

We didn't see it fully until after the Holy Spirit was outpoured.
The Book of Acts chronicles this truth:
Acts 10:34-35, 44-45 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.

At the first Council of the Church, held in Jerusalem, around 50AD
Acts 15:12-18 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up: “Brothers, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: “‘After this I will returnand rebuild David’s fallen tent.Its ruins I will rebuild,and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,and all the Gentiles who bear my name,says the Lord, who does these things’ that have been known for ages.
Up to that time
Matthew 15.21-28

2. Heirs Together With Israel
one who has acquired or obtained the portion allotted to him
The Promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob fit perfectly into the Great Commission.

3. Members of One Body

The Church
The Body of Christ
Christian Unity

4. Sharers Together in the Promise of Christ

The Messiah

Isaiah 1:26: "And I will restore your judges as at first and your counsellors as in the beginning; afterwards you shall be called City of Righteousness, Faithful City." (Isaiah 1:26)
Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance. (Isaiah 2:4)
The whole world will worship the One God of Israel (Isaiah 2:11-17)
He will be descended from King David (Isaiah 11:1) via Solomon (1 Chronicles 22:8-10, 2 Chronicles 7:18)
The "spirit of the Lord" will be upon him, and he will have a "fear of God" (Isaiah 11:2)
Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership (Isaiah 11:4)
Knowledge of God will fill the world (Isaiah 11:9)
He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations (Isaiah 11:10)
All Israelites will be returned to their homeland (Isaiah 11:12)
Death will be swallowed up forever (Isaiah 25:8)
There will be no more hunger or illness, and death will cease (Isaiah 25:8)
All of the dead will rise again (Isaiah 26:19)
The Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness (Isaiah 51:11)
He will be a messenger of peace (Isaiah 52:7)
Nations will recognize the wrongs they did to Israel (Isaiah 52:13-53:5)
The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance (Zechariah 8:23)
The ruined cities of Israel will be restored (Ezekiel 16:55)
Weapons of war will be destroyed (Ezekiel 39:9)
The people of Israel will have direct access to the Torah through their minds and Torah study will become the study of the wisdom of the heart (Jeremiah 31:33)[10]
He will give you all the worthy desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4)
He will take the barren land and make it abundant and fruitful (Isaiah 51:3, Amos 9:13-15, Ezekiel 36:29-30, Isaiah 11:6-9)

The Good News of Christmas is Christ Has Come!
The Good News of Good Friday is Christ has died for our sins
The Good News of Easter is He Rose Again! He is alive forevermore!
The Good News of the Ascension is He is coming again!
For all the people, everyone. Our neighbors, friends, family, people we work with. They all need Christ.

Heirs together with Israel, sharing in the promises made to them by the LORD. Through followers of Jesus today all the nations on the earth will be blessed it is happening and we are part of it.