This is our favorite bakery in Chambersburg! I would have really enjoyed some food and coffee if it hadn’t been closed and I hadn’t been locked out! I actually knew it was past their hours and just wanted to illustrate a point: It’s tough feeling like an outsider with no access. Thankfully we don’t have to feel like that with Jesus.
Ezekiel 47:22-23 says this about the Jews’ future in the Promised Land: “And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. 23 And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD.”
I love the inclusion of foreigners in God’s plan because it illustrates God’s heart for all people.
The Gospel isn’t about keeping outsiders away but turning outsiders into insiders, giving everyone a chance to become a part of God’s family.
It’s not about telling people they don’t belong but telling everyone how they can be received into God’s family by repenting and believing.