Anyway, the Jews rejected Jesus three times: 1) by rejecting the message of John the Baptist, 2) by denying the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself, ending up in Him being brought up on false charges and crucified, 3) by stoning Stephen, the first Christian martyr. But you see, the Jews rejecting their Anointed Messiah is great news for us Gentiles! As He said to the Gentile woman, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt 15:24). Now, WE get to share in the blessings that could have belonged exclusively to Israel! Jesus warned that this would happen when he told the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31). Israel had lost EVERYTHING in 70 AD, when Roman soldiers sacked Jerusalem – and burned it to the ground. The temple was destroyed. To this day, the Jews no longer have a place to worship and give atoning sacrifices, even though they recently got some of the land back. They cannot rebuild their temple due to an Islamic mosque being placed there.
A Pharisee by the name of Saul of Tarsus was present at the stoning of Stephen. He himself did not pick up any rocks, but held the coats of the men who did, and gave full approval of this heinous act. He then started to hunt down these so-called “Followers of the Way,” these “Christians,” which meant “little Christ.” He was on the way to Damascus to capture, imprison, and kill Christians, when on the road, a light suddenly burst seemingly from nowhere. It literally knocked him of his high horse. When he looked up at the light, he saw the resurrected Christ. And Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” And he said, “Who are you, sir?” And the Christ responded, “I am Jesus, Whom you persecute.” From then on, Saul became a disciple of Christ, and the first member of His body. He joined the rest of Jesus’ disciples, renamed himself “Paul,” and dedicated the rest of his life to serving God and saving the lost, up until the time he was beheaded by Roman authorities. He gave up everything he had, and he wrote 2/3 of the New Testament (NT) with his epistles (letters). He is the Apostle to the Gentiles, meaning he is our Apostle, the Words of Christ for us are from him. The letter to the Romans is our foundational doctrine.
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