Please throw more light on the bible passage that says, “The riches of the gentiles shall be given to Gods people”.
I think the verse you are referring to is Isaiah 61:6 which says, “But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.”
This chapter can easily be divided into three portions:
- Verses 1-3 tell of the proclamation of the Messiah and the consolation of his message to Israel.
- Verses 4-9 tell of the joyful effects and privileges to Isreal of the Messiah’s coming.
- Verses 10-11 tell of the joyfulness of the believer at the return of the Messiah to the earth.
Let’s look briefly at verses 1-2, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn. We can know without a doubt that these verses refer to the Lord Jesus Himself. He quotes these verses in reference to Himself in Luke 4:14-21. We need not wonder who these verses are speaking of, they are speaking of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord partially fulfilled these words with His coming as a babe in a manger. Let’s compare verse 2 with the words of the Lord in Luke 4:18-21, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Notice that the Lord finished his reading in Isaiah by stating His purpose was “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book…” The Lord did not read that verse in its entirety. The entire verse (Isaiah 61:2) says, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn.” Did you notice that the Lord did not read that He was sent to proclaim “the day of vengeance of our God.” That deed will be fulfilled at a future date when the Lord, the Messiah, will come to the earth to establish His kingdom on the earth for 1000 years.
When that happens, then verses 4-11 will be fulfilled. In that day, all the believing remnant of the nation of Israel will not have time to feed their flocks or plow their gardens. This work will be left to the ‘strangers’, or Gentiles, to do. These people will be occupied with functioning as priests of God. The Lord spoke of that day in Exodus 19:6 where He said, “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” The nation of Israel will be recognized as servants of the Most High God. The riches of the Gentiles will be given to them as the faithful earthly people of God.
What does that have to do with us today? While Israel has to wait for each one to be named priests, every believer on the Lord Jesus Christ is already a priest! Did you realize that? If you are saved, you are a priest of God. Let’s consider the words of the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:5, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” Let’s also read 1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. There you have it from the Word of God. As believers we are holy priests and we are royal priests of God. Not a few, but every member of the body of Christ is a priest. What does a New Testament priest do today? He, or she, offers spiritual sacrifices to the Lord. We read in Hebrews 13:15-16, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” I encourage you to read more about your priesthood and seek to serve the Lord in that capacity. By offering the spiritual sacrifices He longs for, we can know that the Lord is “well pleased.” (192.6)