Did Jesus only die for the Israelites?

When sin first entered the world, due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve, when they ate the forbidden fruit, God promised them that a Saviour, a Seed of Eve, would come to save the human race, through His words to the serpent. This was the first Messianic prophecy to humanity as a whole, at a time when the nation of Israel was not even thought of.

Genesis 3:15   “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

Around two thousand years later, God called Abram from Ur of the Chaldees, whom He later named Abraham, and made a covenant with him, and talking about the Messiah to come, said to him:

Genesis 12:3   “ … in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 22:18   “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

This same promise was repeated to his son Isaac, and to his grandson Jacob. Yes, Abraham was the father of the Jewish people, and was specially called out of the idolatrous nations of the east, to serve God only. He was promised that his descendants would be a huge multitude, and that the land of Canaan would belong to them, but most importantly, that the Messiah would come from his seed, which would bless the nations of the entire world. That does not sound like a God who is only out to save Abraham’s descendants, but the entire human population. 

Isaiah 56     ⁶ “Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant—
⁷ Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar;
For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Malachi 1:11   For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts.

We can see in the passages above, that the Messiah would not be only a Saviour to Israel, but to the Gentiles, to all nations. Foreigners would join Israel because of their wonderful God, and be fully accepted, and God’s name would be great among the Gentiles.

When the Messiah appeared at last as Emmanuel, God with us, named Jesus as instructed by the angel, He spoke of His Father as the God who loved the whole world, not just Israel. And just before He left to return to heaven, He gave instruction to His disciples to go to all the nations of the earth with the good news of salvation. 

John 3     ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Matthew 28     ¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Jesus treated everyone alike, Jews, Romans, Samaritans, Syrians and others were all the same to Him. He spoke to them all, healed their sicknesses, fed them, preached to them, and even raised some from the dead. No person, regardless of nationality, was treated different from the Jews. This makes sense, as all of the nations had a common ancestor, the first human, Adam. 

Acts 17:26    And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.

Acts 10     ³⁴ Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. ³⁵ But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.”

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. ⁴⁵ And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.

Acts 26   ²² “Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— ²³ that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

Romans 5     ⁶ For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded

to many.

¹⁸ Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

Galatians 3     ⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”

¹⁶ Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. 

²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

1 Timothy 3:16   And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.

Revelation 7     ⁹ After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

1 Timothy 2     ³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9   The Lord is … not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

As you can see from all of the many Bible passages, God has no favourites, and wants every human being, from all nations on earth, to be saved to live with Him forever.