https://youtu.be/QoKAL4E9CWU
In our verse-by-verse study of Romans last time we started chapter 3. We made it through the first phrase of verse 1. Rom 3:1 "What then the advantage of the Jew?"
This brought us to a discussion of their advantages and we noted that if they are unbelievers then their advantages are not advantages under the principle of the advantages are not advantageous without the advantage.
This means all blessings from God that are advantageous are predicated on being adjusted to God's perfect justice. This is true for everyone Jew and Gentile.
This brings us to the fourth point in the doctrine of why the Jew and Israel have privilege, advantage, or pre-eminence that is the unique discipline and restoration of Israel.
The pre-eminence of Israel is related to the fact that even though they were severely punished four times under the 5th cycle of discipline they will be regathered and restored at the Second Advent.
No other nation has ever suffered the 5th cycle of discipline and then been restored to become a nation again. Only Israel so hat is unique. Three times they have been a nation, the United Kingdom, the divided kingdom (Ephraim in the north and Judah in the south), then Judea. The present nation of Israel is not a client nation.
The fifth point of pre-eminence is the survival of the Jew under constant conditions of anti-Semitism. They have survived, and will continue to survive, and they will survive during the tribulation under the most concentrated of all satanic attacks.
The sixth point of uniqueness is the Millennial Israel. The pre-eminence of Israel is related to the glorified status in the Millennium. Israel will be unique among nations Zech 14:16-21;
The seventh principle is the principle of the priest nation. Four times throughout history Israel will be a priest nation.
So a summary of the advantages of being a Jew are as follows:
There is a salvation advantage. There is no advantage in being an outward Jew per Rom 2:28; unless one is an onward Jew per Romans 2:29. The advantage comes in adjusting to God's justice for salvation.
There is no advantage in being a Jew by race or a Jew nationally. It is the spiritual heritage of Israel that is the predicate for the advantage. T
There are no advantages in life for anyone unless they are related to God's integrity.
There is a doctrinal advantage. The Jews have been recipients of God's written and oral revelation Rom 3:2. The Jews as a priest nation were the custodians of the canon of scripture. This means that there was always an opportunity for adjustment to God's justice because all doctrine for that adjustment resided in Israel.
There is the dispensational advantage. In the dispensation of Israel the Jew had the whole realm of doctrine except for mystery doctrine of the Church Age that was not disclosed until after Jesus was resurrected, had ascended into heaven and was seated at God's right hand.
He had the unconditional covenants and the establishment principles delineated by the Mosaic Law. In the dispensation of the Church the Jew becomes a member of God's royal family through salvation adjustment to God's justice, just as the Gentile does.
In the dispensation of the Millennium the Jew has maximum benefit from the fulfillment of the unconditional covenants, and the Jew and Israel will be the priest nation throughout the Millennium and forever.
They will have the advantage of the greatest government administration in all of history, Jesus Christ will rule as the absolute monarch for one thousand years and then forever.
They have advantage from Divine establishment. Every nation has an advantage when it has Divine establishment. The Mosaic Law not only defined freedom but it set up a constitution for national government that includes principles of establishment. The Jews always benefited from the keeping establishment doctrine under the Mosaic Law.
A cultural advantage that comes from the cultural concepts related to doctrine in the Mosaic Law that when kept, protected the nation from evil. They have the priest nation advantage during the dispensation of Israel and the Millennium.
This brings us to the doctrine of the priest or client nation to God.
A client nation is a national entity under God's patronage that is assigned the responsibility for the formation, preservation, communication, and fulfillment of the canon of Scripture.
Before Israel became a nation, custodianship of the word of God involved verbal divine revelation without scripture. But since Israel has become a nation, it is involved in the authorship, custodianship and dissemination of God's written Word.
Additional responsibility was assigned to Israel in the formation of the New Testament, since most of the writers were Jews.
During the time of the formation of the New Testament, the client nation changed from priest nation Judea the client nation Rome, in 70 A.D.
In Exod19: 4-6; we have a reference to the client nation concept, "You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself.
Now therefore, if hearing, you will obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine;
then you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to Me. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel."
Deut 7:6; "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."
Deut 26:18-19; "And the Lord has today declared you to be His people, a people for His own (a treasured) possession, as He promised you; therefore, you are to keep all His commandments;
and that He will set you high above all nations which He made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a holy people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken."
There are two categories of priest or client nations to God in human history: the Jewish priest nations of the Old Testament with a specialized priesthood and the Gentile client nations during the dispensation of the Church with a universal priesthood.
No Gentile nation of the Old Testament was a client nation to God. The Gentile client nation category follows exactly the same pattern as Israel with some dramatic differences related to the uniqueness of the Church Age, both in grace provision and in spiritual life.
Client nation is a synonym for a priest nation. The name "priest nation" is used for Israel because it had a specialized priesthood. The term "client nation" is used for any Gentile nation that performs the same functions during the Church Age.
In Roman history, a client was someone dependent on another family. Instead of calling a Gentile nation a priest nation as such, the believers in the Church Age are a holy priesthood and a royal family of God dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ.
1Pet 2:4-5; "And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but elect and precious in the sight of God,
you also, as living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house ( Heb 3:6) as a result of a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through the agency of Jesus Christ."
Israel was always called a holy nation. The Church is called a holy priesthood because in the Church Age, every believer is a priest.