HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2009 / MAY/JUNE / MCMINIMY

MAY/JUNE 2009
VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3

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A R T I C L E S

 

I am not a spiritual Israelite

Autumn McMinimy

 

As an Adventist, I was a spiritual Israelite. All my life I had believed that Adventism was "spiritual" or "modern" Israel, and I felt like one as I observed the Jewish Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, careful not to work, play, or entertain anything unsacred on that day. My food even tasted like an Israelite's as I observed the Levitical food laws of clean and unclean meats.

I was told that I and my fellow Seventh-day Adventists kept Jesus from coming back the second time, that like ancient Israel, we were wandering in the wilderness with unperfected characters, keeping the entire planet from going into the Promised Land.

"For forty years did unbelief, murmuring, and rebellion shut out ancient Israel from the land of Canaan. The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. In neither case were the promises of God at fault. It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord's professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years" (Ellen White, Evangelism, p. 696).

This delay was our fault. We, like ancient Israel, had not heeded the instruction given to us by our prophet. Israel had a succession of prophets. We had Ellen G. White: "The desolation of Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah is a solemn warning to modern Israel, that the counsels and admonitions given them through chosen instrumentalities cannot be disregarded with impunity" (EGW, Prophets and Kings, p. 416). According to Mrs. White, I, as a "spiritual Israelite", was in even greater danger than my ancient idolatrous counterparts: "Modern Israel are in greater danger of forgetting God and being led into idolatry than were His ancient people. Many idols are worshiped, even by professed Sabbathkeepers" (EGW, Testimonies For The Church, Vol. 1, p. 609). Anxiously, I felt that I had made things and people into idols and tried desperately to rid myself of these.

Although there was no temple standing, like a good Jew, I learned every detail of the sanctuary; the inner and outer courts, the holy and most holy compartments, the furniture, the services, and even the festivals. According to Mrs. White I lived in the anti-typical "Day of Atonement" and I had to "afflict" myself, not for just a day, but for my entire life. Like Israel of old I believed that if I had even one unrepented sin there would be horrifying consequences. The "close of probation", a term that referred to a time when the door of God's mercy would be shut tight to me forever, would be my doom. The "door" being "shut" at the time of the "midnight cry" I knew referred to Jesus' parable of the wise and the foolish virgins. For me this parable remained a deadly mystery and was a source of keen anxiety.

 

Escalating Fear

"Lord, lord, Open up for us," the foolish virgins cry as they knock on the door, begging to be let into the wedding. But the bridegroom's answer to them is one of the most ominous in the entire Bible. "Truly I say to you, I do not know you" (Mt. 25:11, 12).

I would spiral into a panic attack every time I thought of it. Was I a foolish virgin? Was I a wise one? I simply had to know. What did the extra oil mean? And where did I go to buy this extra oil? Mrs. White warned; "The parable of the ten virgins was given by Christ Himself, and every specification should be carefully studied. A time will come when the door will be shut" (Manuscript, Vol.16, p. 270).

There were other places where Jesus used the same expression, "Lord, lord", that struck fear into my heart. "‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you'…" (Mt. 7:22, 23).

As a "spiritual Israelite" Jesus' words held nothing but fear for me. "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." My interpretation of this passage came from Mrs. White. "Before you are two ways—the broad road of self-indulgence and the narrow path of self-sacrifice. Into the broad road you can take selfishness, pride, love of the world; but those who walk in the narrow way must lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset. Which road have you chosen—the road which leads to everlasting death, or the road which leads to glory and immortality?" (EGW, Our High Calling, p. 8). Oh, how earnestly I worked to enter in through that narrow gate. But as a "spiritual Israelite" I could not say or even feel that I was saved (EGW, Christ's Object Lessons, p. 155).

 

Parables come alive

One day, however, while reading the Gospels, I found a passage that paralleled the door-shutting, "I never knew you" passages that had terrified me. In Luke 13:25-30 Jesus once again warns of a door shutting on people who call Him "Lord". As in the other passages, the people plead with Him, "‘Lord, open up to us!' then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.'" However, how they answer Him back gave me a revelation that I had never before seen. "Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets;'" I was absolutely stunned by this answer as it could never apply to me but only to those living at that time with Jesus! Excitedly I read on. After Jesus tells them to depart He says, "In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out." Again the realization hit me that he was speaking to the Jews of that time as He makes reference to the patriarchs and the prophets. But the last sentence intrigued me the most. "And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last" (Lk. 13:25-30).

"We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets." With these words new meaning flashed into my mind. Could it be that most of Jesus' dire warnings in the gospels were meant for the people of His time? In this passage in Luke 13 it was these people in particular who have the door "shut" tight upon them while people from the east, west, north and south sit down with the patriarchs and the prophets. Who were these people from the four corners of the earth? With eyes opened now, I saw this contrast everywhere I looked in Scripture. "I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the darkness…" (Mt. 8:11, 12). I realized that the "sons of the kingdom" referred to the Hebrews.

I found that the familiar parable in Luke 14:23, 24 now held new meaning for me. "And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'" The men who were invited were the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And what was the dinner that Jesus was referring to? Why, it could only be the marriage supper of the Lamb, of course; the same dinner that the five foolish virgins could not share! In Matthew 22, Jesus tells the same parable except, instead of the invited guests merely making excuses, they mistreat the king's slaves and even kill them. The king then destroys those "murderers" and sets their city on fire—the same way in which ancient Jerusalem was to be destroyed. Then he tells the slaves to gather together "all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests." This parable parallels the parable of the vineyard found in Matthew 19, Mark 12, and Luke 20 where the "vine-growers" mistreat and kill the owner's slaves and finally his son. In Luke 20, when Jesus tells the chief priests and scribes that the owner will come and will "destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others," they exclaim in horror, "May it never be!"

Everywhere now it seemed my eyes saw things so clearly. I swept through the gospel of John and realized that the entire story centered on the controversy over Jesus being the Messiah and the Jews not believing in Him. John's gospel is entirely about Jesus proving that He is the Promised One and the Jews' subsequent rejection of Him. How had I missed this central theme, I wondered? Somehow, all those years, I had been too wrapped up in myself and in worrying about my own salvation to see what the Gospels were truly saying. Here I had been worrying about keeping the law when, 2,000 years ago, Jesus had been declaring to the Jews that "This is the work of God, that you believe in Whom He has sent" (Jn. 6:29). And since the Jews did not do the "work of God" by believing in Him, the gospel was then given to the gentiles, and throughout the book of Acts this spread of the gospel was the very thing that enraged the Jews. In fact, the evangelism of the gentiles is the reason the Jews persecuted Paul so viciously. The controversy in Acts was that salvation had been given to the gentiles—without the law! This previously hidden reality stuck in the craw of even the Jews who had become Christians!

 

I am a gentile!

As I kept reading and studying, the incredible truth dawned upon my mind. I wasn't a spiritual Jew! I was a gentile! All of those horrible warnings Jesus had given had never been intended for me. Jesus had been pleading with a people who were about to kill their Messiah. Indeed, even before Jesus' ministry, John the Baptist had warned the inhabitants of Jerusalem; "…do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up Children to Abraham" (Mt. 3:9, 10). I was one of these very "stones" that John had been talking about. John's statement that follows this declaration used to strike fear in my heart: "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Mt. 3:11). Now I realized that John was warning the people of that generation that being the seed of Abraham would never save them. The term "already laid" meant that their time was almost up and the kingdom was about to be taken from them and given to others. And I was one of those "others" to whom the Kingdom of God was given when ancient Israel rejected Jesus. I was one of those from the east and west who would recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! I was one of those the slaves had gathered to fill His wedding hall—"both good and evil". I was one of the ones who was last and therefore now would be first! I hadn't rejected Jesus! I had accepted Him! I believed in Him! I was a believer!

And that narrow gate that I had found so elusive? That narrow gate is Jesus! It isn't a lifestyle of doing the right works. No, Jesus was declaring to them that there was only one gate by which someone could be saved—and He was that gate. The gate is not a way of living; the gate is a Person—Jesus Christ, the Righteous! He was that "shut door" to Jerusalem of old because they would not believe in Him. "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved…" "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep" (Jn. 10:9, 7). That door was not shut to me. I had entered the door; I had believed. The door of probation would never close on me, for that door was Jesus!

I had finally found my true identity. I was not a "spiritual Israelite" living by old covenant laws. I was not a foolish virgin. I was a gentile believer under the new covenant. And I had finally found that narrow gate, that wonderful door. It was my precious Savior, Jesus Christ. †

 

 

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Autumn Heather McMinimy spent her formative years on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, before moving to Orange County, California, as a preteen. She was a fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist with two great-uncles who were singing evangelists. She left the church six years ago. Autumn went through the Adventist school system including Pacific Union College and Loma Linda University. Autumn holds a bachelor's degree in social work from Arizona State University. She resides in Garden Grove, California.