Q361 : God’s Work with Non-Jews in the Old Testament

I have greatly benefited from your teaching: Revelation, Daniel, Israel and now Ezekiel. Your thorough handling of these books/subjects is rare and excellent! I discovered your web sight/teaching through Precept Austin.

As I listened to your discussion on Ezekiel ch 6 you mentioned that it seemed when God chose Abraham the world was close to 100% pagan—of course he and his father were pagan, but what about Melchizedek and possibly Job? These 2 men seem to come out of nowhere during the lifetime of Abraham and show us that God was and is working in ways we know very little about. What do you think? I hope you don’t mind my comments.

I wish you had a fellowship/assembly here in Tulsa-we need sound teaching desperately as this is the capital of many false doctrines and teachers.

I pray for you.

Thank you for your faithfulness to Him

A361 : by Tony Garland

It is always a blessing to hear how our ministry is helping others come to know God's Word better—thanks for sharing!

Regarding your question: I think your observations are accurate. There are intriguing glimpses of "God-fearing non-Jews" prior to the calling of Abraham. (Of course, it doesn't really make sense to call anyone a "none-Jew" or "Gentile" prior to the time of Jacob who became Israel from whence Jewishness came to be.) We know that God chose Abraham out of the midst of a pagan culture, we don't really know all the other people through whom God might have worked in other places—since they are not the focus of biblical revelation in the OT which focuses, from Genesis 12 onward, on God's purpose for the world through Israel.

I appreciate and value your prayer on behalf of myself and our ministry.