But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel
Matthew 10:5-8
¶ These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Matthew 15:21-24
¶ Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
In both scriptures we can see that Jesus was sent chiefly to the lost sheep of Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel, first to the remaining house of Judah, or the Jews.
You see Israel, the people of Israel, received from God the law and Covenant. A covenant of conditions was given to a people chosen by YHWH to be a special holy people to God. By obedience to the laws of God Israel would be blessed by YHWH to be a light unto the nations and the heathen peoples not of Israel.
No one else but Israel received the laws of God given to Moses and taught to the children of Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel.
Israel was promised by God if they obeyed his commandments, they would be a kingdom of priests and a peculiar treasure.
Exodus 19:5-8
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which YHWH commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that YHWH hath spoken we will do.
Israel accepted God’s conditions his laws and bound themselves to the covenant of God.
Exodus 24:3-8
And Moses came and told the people all the words of YHWH, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which YHWH hath said will we do. 4 And Moses wrote all the words of YHWH, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto YHWH. 6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that YHWH hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which YHWH hath made with you concerning all these words.
As soon as Israel accepted the conditions of Almighty God, very soon they would sin greatly against God and his holy laws by worshiping a golden calf claiming it as their god which brought them out of Egypt.
Exodus 32:7-8
¶ And YHWH said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
It would not be first time or the last time Israel would sin against God and God knew this. That is why he instituted the laws and statutes for Israel to follow and obey and God instituted a way for Israel to atone for their sins they would commit against a holy righteous God. YHWH demanded offerings for sins and the people to bring these offerings to God so that their sin would be forgiven them.
But Israel did not obey God nor his commandments and statues although Moses had warned them of their future if they did not obey all God commanded them to love YHWH with all their might.
Deuteronomy 10:12-15
¶ And now, Israel, what doth YHWH thy God require of thee, but to fear YHWH thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve YHWH thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, 13 To keep the commandments of YHWH, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? 14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is YHWH’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. 15 Only YHWH had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
Moses warned them repeatedly.
Deuteronomy 4::26-31
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 27 And YHWH shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither YHWH shall lead you. 28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But if from thence thou shalt seek YHWH thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to YHWH thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; 31 (For YHWH thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
The children of Israel continued to sin and even worshiped the idols and gods of the peoples of the lands YHWH told them not to. Eventually God could no longer stomach the sin of his people and so he began to cast them away off the land of the Israel.
The first punishment on Israel was in 722 B.C. when God brought the Assyrians to remove ten tribes of the 12 tribes of Israel away into the Gentiles never to return to the land of Israel.
The remnant of the 12 tribes was the house of Judah, two tribes remaining from the twelve tribes, of which the ten tribes house of Israel was long gone into the nations not of Israel.
God now removed the remnant house of Judah, the Jews, into Babylonian captivity for seventy years in 586 B.C. After the seventy years God would restore a small remnant of the Jews of the house of Judah to rebuild Jerusalem and the second temple and repopulate the land and wait on the Messiah.
God, through his prophets, had announced the coming of the anointed one, or the Messiah, of Israel.
Daniel 9:24-25
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
God also declared the New Covenant to be made with the lost house of Israel and the remnant house of Judah.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith YHWH: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHWH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know YHWH: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith YHWH: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
The children of Israel were now lost in their sins and lost in foreign lands scattered about the world, but God remembered his covenant and promise to save Israel, all twelve tribes, and remove their sins and bring them back to him to worship in truth.
God’s prophets foretold of a child and a child born of a virgin birth whose name would be called Immanuel, meaning “God with us.”
Isaiah 9:6-8
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of YHWH of hosts will perform this. 8 ¶ The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
Isaiah 7:14-16
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
Roughly seven hundred years after the land had been forsaken of both kings, of Israel and Judah, the promised prophesied savior had come, born of a virgin of Israel, a daughter of Judah.
Matthew 1:18-23
¶ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
God was now with man, his people Israel. He was born to take away the sins of Israel, the lost sheep of the twelve tribes. God had come in the flesh of mankind, to remove sin of the people he chose and made the covenant with and declared the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the forefathers of the children of Israel.
Genesis 12:1-3
¶ Now YHWH had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
That blessing in Abraham and his seed was the promised seed who would one day through out of Israel come to be a blessing to all the world.
This was the promised anointed one of God, the Messiah of Israel who would save and redeem Israel from her sins and the sins of the world.
John 1:29
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
The Lamb of God had come to earth to be an offering for the sins of Israel and to make atonement for all others.
God in the flesh, who tabernacled among his people Israel and had had a three-year ministry proclaiming the coming kingdom of God, was to be prepared as a lamb to be put to death on the Passover to bring salvation to the children of Israel to free them again from the Egyptian bondage of their sins against a holy God of Israel.
This was Jesus, the Son of God, who had come in the name of his Father, YHWH, to bring to Israel YHWH’s salvation.
Luke 19:35-38
And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon. 36 And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. 37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; 38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
Shortly after his entrance into Jerusalem, the man Jesus was arrested on the night of the Passover and judged and later crucified bleeding his holy blood on the cross for the sin of the world and his chosen people Israel.
At about 3 pm on the Passover day of 33A.D. our Savior died on the cross for remission, or forgiveness, and the atonement of all sin.
He would not be dead for long, for he foretold his own death and resurrection on the third Hebrew day following his death on the Passover day.
Luke 9:22
Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.
John 2:19
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Before Jesus died on the cross, he declared the New Testament, or New Covenant, which God made with Israel.
Matthew 26:28
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mark 14:24
And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
Luke 22:20
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Jesus revealed himself to the people, but they largely did not believe.
John 8:19-25
Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. 20 These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come. 21 ¶ Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. 22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. 23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. 25 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.
John 8:56-58
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
John 10:25-30
Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. 26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one.
Jesus was sent from the Father to save Israel and all others that whosoever would believe in the testimony of Jesus and his work of the cross would receive everlasting life.
John 3:16-18
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Jesus died for the sins of Israel and the ungodly.
Romans 5:6-8
¶ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Jesus bled for the sin of his people Israel and the sins of the world to free us from our shame of our sin and an otherwise impending death in the wrath of a just righteous God.
Before Christ Jesus we were all destined to die a death of sin and destruction in the fiery fury and wrath of God, but God by his great mercy, grace, and love, took upon him those sins and the punishment we deserved by sending his Son to die an offering for our sins that whosoever would believe in his death and resurrection would receive remission of their sins and everlasting life.
This message was written chiefly to the lost sheep of Israel of the twelve tribes of Israel lost into the Gentile nations and those surviving as the remnant house of Judah today.
Heavenly Father, hallowed be your beautiful name, bless you for sending your Son Jesus to die on his cross for the sin of all men, but chiefly for Israel. You by your love and blood have redeemed your people, Israel! Bless you forever and praises be to God in the highest!
Are you a lost sheep of the house of Israel?
Are you a lost Gentile?
Are you a lost Jew?
Do you know your savior?
Do you know Jesus?
He died for your sins!
Won’t you believe in his holy saving name?
Will you believe and be baptized?
Wil you repent of your sins to the one true living God!
What must you do to be saved?
Are you covered by the blood of the lamb?