Our focus, for the moment, is on The Westminster Directory for the Public Worship of God and the Westminster Larger Catechism, with a particular focus on “the conversion of the Jews.”
The following from The Westminster Directory for Publick (sic) Worship,
(Of Public Prayer before the Sermon) is very relevant in a day in which
militant Islam is brazenly and unashamedly attacking and even killing Jews in relatively
peaceful places such as Australia. Note that we are to pray for “the conversion
of the Jews” and deliverance from the cruel Turk (i.e., Islam), yes, and we are
even to pray for Australia! and for the removal of heresy, heresy being that
which does not conform to the Westminster Standards.
“To
pray for the propagation of the gospel and kingdom of Christ to all nations;
for the conversion of the Jews, the fulness of the Gentiles… for the
deliverance of the distressed churches abroad from the tyranny of the
antichristian faction, and from the cruel oppressions and blasphemies of
the Turk; for the blessing of God upon the reformed churches, especially upon
the churches and kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, now more strictly
and religiously united in the Solemn National League and Covenant; and for
our plantations in the remote parts of the world: more particularly for that
church and kingdom whereof we are members, that therein God would… prevent
and remove heresy, schism…” (Abbreviated.)
We see that, unlike Islamism,
which is called blasphemy, there is special place for Jews. In accordance with
the Westminster Standards, we are to pray for their conversion. We would
contend that the reformed churches have been somewhat slack in this regard. The
attack of militant Islamists killing fifteen Jews and wounding even more on the iconic Bondi Beach, Australia on the Lord's Day (Sunday, 14th December 2025) has left us
wanting.
In some ways in Western nations
the Jews have become “the canary in the coalmine.” As has been illustrated too many
times to deny, “the cruel oppressions and blasphemies of the Turk [i.e., Islamists]”
have an especial hatred toward the Jews. Yet, we are to “pray for the
conversions of the Jews.” Why are we to pray for the deliverance from the
cruel oppressions and blasphemies of militant Islam while praying for the
conversion of the Jews? The answer lies in the Bible. However, in brief, the former are
the oppressors while the latter are oppressed. Christianity is, or ought to be, a buffer zone between.
Christian countries,
while praying for the conversion of Jews, should offer them protection from
persecuting forces such as militant Islam. However, many Christian churches do
not pray for the conversion of the Jews, believing instead that they already
are “Gods chosen people”, and as such, do not need to be converted to Christ!
This, of course, means that we ought also to be praying that “God would… prevent
and remove heresy, schism…” To know what constitutes “heresy” we would therefore
need to (re)familiarise ourselves with the much neglected Westminster
Standards!
Let us revisit that which
we have already noted is in The Directory of Public Worship, only this time as
it is stated in the Westminster Larger Catechism.
In its exposition of The
Lord’s Prayer, the Westminster “Divines” wrote:
A.
In the second petition (which is, Thy kingdom come,) acknowledging
ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we
pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel
propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the
Gentiles brought in… (Abbreviated)
So, again we see that
included in The Lord’s Prayer is that we are to pray for the Jews to be called.
The “prooftext” appended to this line is Romans 10:1, “Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” For the
related, “the fulness of the Gentiles brought in,” is included the “prooftext”
Romans 11:25-26, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this
mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all
Israel shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Sion the
Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”
Commenting on the words “the
Jews called” in the Westminster Larger Catechism, GI Williamson puts his
finger on the confusion in the churches today where he says,
It is very important that a clear distinction be made between the return of many Jews to the land of Palestine and the return of many Jews to the God of the Bible. It is true, of course, that in God’s providence there is again – after nearly 2,000 years – a Jewish state in Palestine. It is for this reason that many Fundamentalist Christians refer to the Jews as “God’s people” and their return to the land as a fulfillment of Bible prophesies. But it is not true that Jews who reject Jesus as the promised Messiah are God’s people. No, the true Israel of God is the Christian church. It is that people who believe in Jesus as the Christ of God. In the early days of the church’s history it was predominantly Jewish (as the Book of Acts shows). Into that Jewish church the Gentiles were engrafted, becoming “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19). It is only when the Jews – whether individually or en masse – return to the Messiah of God that we can rightly speak of them as “the people of God.”[1] If
If we are to pray for “the
conversion of the Jews” it would be good to know who the Jews are. How does one
become a Jew? Is it through birth or conversion or both? If Atheist Jews are
still Jews, then it must be through birth, but if you or I can become a Jew,
then it must be through conversion. However, what does any of this have to do
with the nation of Israel that was founded in 1948? If you or I convert to
become a Jew, apparently, we would qualify to become citizens of Israel. Therefore,
being a Jew is about birth and conversion. David E. Holwerda speaks of the difficulty
of decerning who we are to pray for where he says,
Who
is a Jew? The answers vary greatly and contradict each other. Some claim that a
Jew is one who is born a Jew, while others assert that no one can be born a Jew
because being a Jew is a matter of decision, a matter of religion or of
fulfilling a messianic purpose. Defining “Israel” or “Jew” is, then, an
extremely difficult task.[1]
If the Gentiles have been engrafted into the same Jewish “olive tree” (Rom. 11:17) and have become “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19), then there truly is “no distinction between Jew and Greek” (Rom. 10:12; cf. Gal. 3:28) and truly “He has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation” (Eph. 2:14). Therefore, whoever the Jews are for whom we pray to God to convert, they would have to be natural branches regrafted back into the “olive tree” from which they had been broken off.
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Of these lopped off
branches Paul says, “But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy,
salvation has come to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:11b). The idea seems to be that
the Jews are supposed to become jealous seeing Gentiles being engrafted into
what is/was their “olive tree”. Therefore, the question is: Have and are we
Christians doing a good job of making Jews jealous of our “salvation”?
Before we as Christians begin
to beat ourselves up for our failure to make the Jews jealous of our being
included in God’s plan for Israel, we ought first to acknowledge that it is God’s
plan not ours. It is God’s doing. Throughout Old Testament times He sought to
shield His people from the evil influences of the world like a parent homeschooling a child. However, now that His people have come of age, now that they have graduated,
His people have been sent into the world to gather, as it were, branches, not
for firewood but for engrafting into the mature olive tree. Beforehand the tree
was too immature to sustain the Gentiles. But now, not only can the “olive tree”
accommodate the Gentiles, it can also give life support to those Jewish
branches that were broken off to accommodate the Gentiles.
When did the pruning of
the olive tree take place? Included in the Westminster Standards is the
familiar Westminster Confession of Faith. Speaking of Old Testament Israel in
relation to the giving of His Decalogue to them, the Confession says,
3. Besides this law, commonly called
moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a Church under age,
ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship,
prefiguring Christ, His graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly
holding forth divers instructions of moral duties. All which ceremonial laws
are now abrogated under the New Testament.
4. To them also, as a body
politic, He gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of
that people, not obliging any other, now, further than the general equity
thereof may require.[2]
Like a child with crooked teeth being
restricted in what she could eat and drink because of metal braces, when those
braces are removed, the teeth are straight, and all the food and drink
restrictions are gone. No longer a child, all grownup and mature, she is now
free to go out into the world and woo it with her “million-dollar” smile. As a horticulturist,
her job now is the business of grafting.
The branches that were
broken off are those that were that had made idols of mere signposts, the
ceremonial and judicial laws of Old Testament Israel. Like those who worship
the elements in the Lord’s Supper, they have mistaken the symbol for what it signified.
These are the broken branches. They can be regrafted should God be pleased to
do so. As Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the
increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters,
but God who gives the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6-7).
Since it was God who
broke off the branches and it is God who regrafts, what then is left for His
Church to do? As Adam was mandated to “tend and keep” the Garden in Eden, in
time even to extend its borders to encompass the whole world, so the bride that
the Father has chosen for His Son, now fully mature, is to plant and water till
the Garden till it has grown worldwide. Then the Groom returns to wed His smiling
bride. Therefore, praying for “the conversion of the Jews” is simply Christians
asking God to give the increase.
The ”olive tree” is the bride of Christ. The tree is now mature but just as it takes engrafted branches time to take and for the life-giving sap to flow throughout, so we wait for the new branches to bear fruit.
How do we Christians go about the business of
attracting the Jews? We do so by being attractive. This is where we have fallen
down. The Jews have been shunned by nation after nation down through the
centuries climaxing in the horrors of the Nazi holocaust. We are to be praying for the
conversion of the Jews, not their extermination!
As difficult as it may be to determine who exactly qualifies as a Jew, let us not let that put us off from praying that God would convert them. Meanwhile, let us make the Jews jealous.
[1] David E. Holwerda, Jesus &
Israel, One Covenant or Two?, (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1995), 28.
[2] Westminster Confession of Faith 19.3-4.
[1] GI Williamson (Editor) commenting in The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary by Johannes G. Vos, (P&R Publishing, Phillpsburg, New Jersey, 2002), 552-3.
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