December 21, 2023

Our family comprises many adults and children who are not related by blood but still fall under the family category. We even have people not related by marriage that we consider ours. They live among our family; we love them dearly and embrace them as our own. Similarly, God’s chosen people, the Israelites, were and are comprised of many different ethnicities. I found a nice little tidbit of information to clear my understanding. For my entire salvation in Jesus, I have believed that God only made a covenant with the Israelites and didn’t extend it to the Gentiles until Jesus in the New Testament. Gentiles living amongst the Israelites were also brought under God’s covenant if they relinquished their idolatry and trusted in him.

Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day: Deuteronomy 29:11-12

We are the stranger in the camp! Paul clarified that Gentiles are also a party to the transaction of salvation, our covenant through Jesus, but it was initially brought up in the Old Testament here in Deuteronomy. I love when the puzzle pieces fit nicely into place and the Old and New Testaments work together to confirm and verify our beliefs.