Yearbook Christians

Schools and colleges in America have “Yearbooks” for the graduating class. It’s a collection of pictures from their school for them to remember, including pictures of sports, dramas, events, arts, graduation, etc. Although many students are featured in the yearbooks, special attention is given to the graduating students. When students get the yearbooks, they search for their pictures first. Based on this, a preacher said, “Most Christians come to the Scriptures as they do to yearbooks – they open the pages to see where they are, where they fit in, and what the scriptures say about them.”

This is a good observation. We tend to read the Scriptures from “Christianity’s perspective” or “the church’s perspective.” We forget that God dealt with a group of people, the Hebrews, for centuries before he established the church through Jesus, the Messiah, that included Hebrews (like the apostles and early churches) and Greeks/Gentiles (like you and me).

John’s arrival was a message of hope and blessing to the Hebrews because . . .

“He shall turn many children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will proceed in the spirit of Elijah to turn the hearts of the parents, children, and disobedient into righteous people with wisdom and to prepare for the Lord an equipped people.” (Luke 1:16–17)

John’s birth brought great happiness to his parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. His birth brought great joy to many Israelites because he would turn (epistrefo) their hearts to the Lord, their God; he would turn (epistrefo) the hearts of the parents, children, and disobedient people to become righteous people. The Angel of the Lord repeated this twice because that was John’s ultimate mission!

The verb “turn” (epistrefo) and “repent” (metanoeo) were synonyms, showing someone’s turn-around or about-turn action. The Lord said, “If a person sins seven times against you daily and turns (epistrefo) to you seven times saying, ‘I repent’ (metanoeo),’ forgive that person” (Luke 17:4). Peter and Paul said to the Israelites in Jerusalem, “Repent (metanoeo) and turn (epistrefo) for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 3:19 and 26:20).

Since their return from the Babylonian Exile in the late 6th century B.C., the Hebrews have been turning away from the Lord their God. John’s arrival was to turn their hearts back to God, for them to make a turn-around in their faithless living.

In the process, he would present them as wise, righteous, and fully equipped people to carry out God’s mission in the world. From the first selection of their forefather, Abraham, the Israelites were to be a blessing to every nation around them by showing the greatness of their God and drawing people to him. Instead, they became selfish and isolated, separating themselves from the nations and not being a witness to them of YHWH’s greatness. Over the centuries, their wandering and sinful lifestyles further chased the nations from coming nearer to YHWH. But John had come, firstly, to draw the Hebrews to YHWH God so that they would become righteous, wise, and prepared people to share the good news. True to John’s mission, the Messiah Jesus, all twelve apostles, and several early eyewitnesses and churches were Hebrews. They drew fellow Hebrews and the nations to YHWH!

Over the centuries, the divide between the Hebrews and Greek/Gentiles has grown so large that some Christians have become antisemitic. That’s purely wrong. Hebrews first and then Greeks!