For several years...

The Lord has been giving a message that has ignited a flame in me regarding the Commonwealth of Israel as spoken of in Ephesians 2.

"11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands--

12 remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Messiah Yeshua you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.

14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into “one new man”, thus establishing peace, (Ephesians 2:11-15)

In the above verses it states that Gentiles before coming to faith in Messiah are excluded from the Commonwealth and foreigners or strangers to the covenants. These are powerful words that should not be glossed over. In these verses, as well as those that follow we find the key to God’s plan for the body of Messiah.

To fully understand this, we need to go back to the Tanakh (Old Covenant) and see if there is anything that God might have said related to this subject. I think the best place to start would be in the beginning, so let us look at Bereshit (Genesis) and the promises that God made to Abraham:

1 "Now the LORD said to Abram,
Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father's house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;

3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3)

 

We are all familiar with these verses, however, a few years ago I discovered something very significant about this passage, and specifically one word that caused the flame I spoke of to ignite. That is the last word in our verses, the word “blessed.” On the surface it would not appear that this would be a significant revelation, but when one looks at this word in Hebrew a whole new way of thinking about the body of Messiah is revealed.

וַאֲבָרְכָה, מְבָרְכֶיךָ, וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ, אָאֹר; וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ, כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה

In the Hebrew from Genesis 12 above, reading from right to left, we come to the fifth word, which is “v’nivrechu.” This is the final word “blessed” in verse 3. This word only seems to appear a few times in scripture and only as it relates to the promises made to the patriarchs. In all other cases the word “blessed” uses a different Hebrew construct. So, why is this word so important?

The answer actually lies with the Chazal (Sages) of Rabbinic Judaism. In the Babylonian Talmud in tractate Sotah 43 the Rabbi’s discuss the subject of planting and grafting, and there they identify the word “v’nivrechu” as an agricultural word derived from the Hebrew infinitive “mavrich”, which means “grafted in.” In the text of the Talmud and in the Mishna Kilayim 1, “v’nivrechu” is a word related to “mixing or grafting.”

Based on the above, we can now translate the second part of Genesis 12:3 as;

“And in you, all of the families of the earth will be “mixed or grafted.”

This has a significant impact on what we as believers in Messiah think as it relates to the overall body of Messiah. This automatically makes one think of the words of Rav Shaul (Paul) in Romans 11. Shaul speaks of the natural branches that were cut off, and the branches of the wild tree that were now able to be “grafted” into the olive tree.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,

18do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.

If we study the “olive tree” in scripture we will see that it is referring to Israel. Does this mean that all believers are grafted into physical Israel? The answer is no. To learn what the Gentiles are grafted into we simply need to look at another one of the verses in scripture related to the promises given the patriarchs. In Genesis 35, we read the following:

11 God also said to him, "I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you.

12 "The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you."

Now we see that God not only promised Abraham that all the families of the earth would be “grafted in”, but now through Jacob or Israel as God called him in the previous verses, he would establish a nation and a company of nations. This speaks so clearly to the verses we read in Ephesians related to the “Commonwealth of Israel.” You see a commonwealth is nothing more than a company of nations, as it is described here.

So, what have we learned? We have learned that in Abraham, God made the promise that all the peoples of the world would be grafted in or mixed. We see this perfectly expressed in the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt and stood at Har Sinai to receive the Torah. Our God, in his loving kindness has always made a way for the foreigner or alien to sojourn with the nation He established.

We have learned that the grafting in takes place when the wild olive branch is grafted into the olive tree, which represents Israel, but we are not speaking of physical Israel. Then what are we speaking of? The answer to that question takes us back to our original verses in Ephesians.

12 "remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

What the Gentiles or “wild branches” are grafted into is the “company of nations” spoken of to Jacob, or called the commonwealth of Israel here. This is a spiritual entity that God has designed from the beginning to be made up of those of the physical descendants of Abraham, and the aliens and foreigners from the nations. These are aliens and foreigners who have chosen to embrace the One True God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to sojourn with the nation that He chose to be set apart. This whole process is only made possible through the blood of the Messiah. The dividing wall has been broken down and we are all now “One New Man” in Messiah.

19 "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God'S household,

20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Messiah Yeshua Himself being the corner stone,

21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,

22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Not only do the foreigners and aliens get grafted in, but in verse 19 it states that they become “citizens.” Citizens of what? Not citizens of the Church, but citizens of the COMMONWEALTH! In this country if someone from another country decides to become a citizen they are then subject to all the same laws as the natural born citizen and they are also entitled to the same rights of the natural born citizen. Thus, there can only be one law for all in the commonwealth, and in the commonwealth of Israel that Law, or what I like to call constitution, is the Torah.

I believe we can sum it all up in the words of Rav Shaul, when he wrote:

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;

5 one Lord, one faith, one immersion,

6 one God and Father of all (who is over all and through all and in all

AND...

THERE IS “ONE NEW MAN”