Communion

When talking about intimacy with God and having God’s heart for Israel; communion is a natural outflow of that.  It is an easy transition to make when we join hearts with Jesus because joining heart to heart means loving what He loves.  Israel is what he loves.  Jerusalem is where He will establish His throne and the Jewish people carry his DNA.  

I was at the skate park, waiting in the car, meditating and praying while my son and his friend enjoyed their scooters and skateboards.  I was sitting under a maple tree and noticed it had two trunks that shared a common root system.  It was hard to tell whether they were two separate trees that grew tightly together and became joined, or were, indeed one tree that had separated into two.

However, about two feet from the ground, the trunks separated and became two distinct trunks with a space of a couple of inches between them.  They grew parallel for about 6 or 7 feet, and then began to grow toward one another.  Not only that, they began to twist together.  At the point of their joining, it appeared that they were embracing; kissing, even—sharing life.

         

This began to remind me of the Jew and Gentile—the One New Man.  We share a common root.  Christianity was birthed from Judaism.  You can have Judaism without having Christianity, but you cannot have Christianity without Jewish roots.  The root of Judaism supports the trunk of Christianity.

Together, we share the same prophets, priests, kings and Jewish history. The entire Church was Jewish until Peter, a Jew, got the revelation that Gentiles could receive salvation and Paul, also a Jew, took the message of the Gospel throughout Asia and Europe.

Just as that tree near the skate park had one trunk, so we have one and the same heritage!  Jesus came to fulfill every jot and tittle of the law to make it fuller, not do away with it, and not do away with Judaism.  When the Gentiles received the gospel, they were grafted into everything the Jews had—the prophets, the promises, the covenants.

Only during the Middle ages did the tree begin to separate and the Jews go one way and the Church, another.  For years there has been ignorance and even arrogance on the part of the church; lording it over the Jewish people for their temporary rejection and blindness to the Gospel.  Instead there should be deep appreciation of the heritage and the heart and dedication that has kept God at the center of life for centuries.  There would be no hope of the promises of God ever being fulfilled, if the Jews had not kept faith in God’s Word to them as a people.         

God has dealt severely with the Jewish people throughout history—loving them—leading them—correcting them—always with a future in view—an ultimate time when He would gather them to Him as His own and they would recognize Him. 

As this present age draws to a close, Jew and Gentile are being drawn together, coming closer and closer to being united in direction, vision, and purpose.  Each is recognizing the need for the other.  Just as the church cannot exist without her Jewish heritage, so now, the Jew cannot go forward without the help, support and prayer of the church.

As we begin to embrace our Jewish heritage and the calling to the One New Man, our purposes will join.  We will breathe new life into each other.  The lines of demarcation between territories will become blurred.  It will be just like that tree I was sitting under.  As looked further up, the branches were intertwined.  The leaves were all mixed together.  It created a wonderful canopy of shade.

So it is, when we join our hearts with what Jesus loves.  We will have a common goal, a common passion and a common cry.  We will create a common canopy of love and protection and shade where unbelievers in the nations can come and find refuge and revelation of what makes this unity and cooperation possible.  That is my dream.