Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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From conversations with Preacher Clark, late 1970's.
When the management of a company is restructured by the owner, employees of that company must recognize the new management if they want to retain their positions. It is impossible for a foreman in the company to keep his job if he refuses to receive orders from the new manager. "I know that the old manager worked for the owner", he might say, "but this new guy, I don't know where he came from."
This is how it was when God changed the way of salvation from the Law of Moses to the grace of Jesus. "We know that Moses came from God," some of God's old foremen said at one point, "but as for this man from Nazareth, we don't know where he's from" (Jn. 9:29). Many of the men who were God's foremen in Israel, the scribes, priests, and elders, refused to acknowledge the new management and led a rebellious boycott against Jesus and his instructions. They preferred the old way of doing business because they had learned to manipulate that old way to their own advantage, and they were unwilling to change. There was something about this new Manager's personality and the New Contract that he brought to the table that made them know they would never again be able to manipulate things in the company as they had done before.
Paraphrased, Jesus described the attitude of Israel's leaders this way: "No man who is accustomed to the old wine thinks the new will be better." "The Law came by Moses," John wrote, "but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Moses' method of governing Israel (dictated to him by God) was the Law, and the Law was wonderful and precious. After all, it was of God. But the way of God's new management was by the grace and truth of the Lord Jesus. This way of grace was a better way, but it was suspect to many who were accustomed to the old.
Jesus, however, acknowledged God's absolute right to structure the way of salvation any way He was pleased to do it. "They were thine," Jesus prayed to his Father, the Owner, in one place, "and thou gavest them unto me." And he was determined, even in the face of heated opposition, to do things as the Owner told him to do them. He was determined to enforce the New Contract that he had been ordered to implement.
God did not in one moment reject Israel and turn to the Gentiles. He gave Israel, His old employees, time to grow accustomed to the new management, and He retained every Old Covenant employee who was willing to work with the man He had appointed as new plant Manager. Many thousands did submit to the new Manager, but most did not. And in time, God began to fire those in Israel who refused to work under the New Contract rules. To replace those fired workers, God turned to the Gentiles, and for His chief recruiter of Gentile personnel, He chose a Jew named Paul.
Paul and Peter were two men who acknowledged the change in management, and they were both given very important jobs in the company. Paul said that God sent him to the Gentiles (to hire replacement workers), while Peter was charged with continuing to persuade the Jews (the old employees) to stay with the company (Gal 2). To see how patient and kind an Employer God is, one need only read Romans 11, in which Paul states that it is company policy to re-hire any Jew who was fired but who later decided to submit to the new Manager. In Paul's words, God is willing to "graft them back into the tree" if they will only agree to submit to Jesus, God's new Manager. He also warned God's new employees (Gentiles) not to become proud of the fact that they now have jobs in the Company of Saints while many Jews do not. For it is included in this New Contract that any employee who becomes "puffed up" with pride will be terminated.
Then, let us stay humble, work hard, and pray that the Jews will someday discover that Jesus was really the new Manager God promised to send with a New Contract and that the change in management was intended for their blessing. It was, for all people, a far better contract than the first one was. It may be that the Jews will have their eyes opened and will join again the Company of Saints doing the work of the Lord. All who love the Owner hope that will happen.