Matthew 15:21-30
1 Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” 23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” 24 But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.29 Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. 30 And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.
Most of what we glean from Scripture is the result of looking over a passage again and again. We have to look at the exact words said by whom they were said and the implication of those words. The passage above is no different. Ever wondered who Yeshua came for? Yeah, I know what we have been taught, but I want to look at who He said He came for.
According to the passage above, He came for “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” What? Who is the lost sheep of the house of Israel? At this point we have to start questioning what we have been taught about Yeshua’s special mission for the gentiles: the church. It is taught that Yeshua is doing something different with the church than the Father is with the Jews. Somehow Elohim has a two pronged salvation in the works. Except this does not kosher with Scripture.
Jeremiah 50:6
6 “My people have become lost sheep;
Their shepherds have led them astray.
They have made them turn aside on the mountains;
They have gone along from mountain to hill
And have forgotten their resting place.
The prophet Jeremiah says that Elohim’s people have become lost sheep. So was Yeshua referring to His coming to only descendants of the tribes of Israel in Matthew; more specifically the Jews? At some point you will have to settle the question of who is Israel and what that means to your faith.
Ezekiel 34:12
12 As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.
Ezekiel says that YHVH is coming for His scattered sheep and then we see in Matthew that He comes only for the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
John 10:22-27
22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. 24 The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. 26 But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Yeshua was in Jerusalem and tells the Jews gathered around Him that they do not believe because they are not His sheep. So the lost sheep of the House of Israel does not exclusively mean Jews. It is defined by those who hear His voice and follow Him.
Jeremiah 18:6
6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
Jeremiah 31:33
33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Amos 9:8-10
8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will destroy it from the face of the earth;
Nevertheless, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,”
Declares the LORD.
9 “For behold, I am commanding,
And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations
As grain is shaken in a sieve,
But not a kernel will fall to the ground.
10 “All the sinners of My people will die by the sword,
Those who say, ‘The calamity will not overtake or confront us.’
Elohim is going to shake the House of Israel which is among the nations. The goats will be separated from the sheep die by the sword. What is fascinating is the word for nations in Hebrew is go-e which means nation, usually of non-Hebrew people. Part of the House of Israel is His sheep scattered among the nations (Ephraim). Every believer, Jewish or non-Jewish, scattered among the nations is part of the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
Romans 11:25
25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,
“THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION,
HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.”
Paul says that Israel has a partial hardening until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in and so “all Israel” will be saved. Jews were blinded to the Messiah so they would sacrifice Him for our sins and non-Jews have been blinded to their Hebraic roots until the fullness of the Gentiles. Now we are in the days of the scales falling off our eyes. Jews are seeing that the Messiah for the first time was Yeshua and that Ephraim is alive in the nations and non-Jews are seeing their Hebrew roots and that Judah is their brother for the first time.
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