Like It Or Not, Israel Is God’s Unique Nation
In Amos 3.1-2 God’s Word declares, “Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” God denounced the sins of Israel and promised to punish them. At the same time, He declared that there is no other nation or people that has this special relationship with God. Its identity is unique – a nation created and chosen by God for His purposes.
We live in times of confusion, when more and more evangelicals manifest their ignorance and unbelief concerning God’s Word about Israel. Undoubtedly, Israel is, not was, His exclusive nation. Israel was not born, as some think, on May 14th of 1948 in Tel Aviv, when she declared her independence, but centuries earlier, when God promised Abraham, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee...” (Gen. 12.2). The existence, election and blessing of the nation of Israel all depend on God, who cannot lie. Has any of this changed in our times? Is God finished with Israel, as some teach? Romans 11.1-2 addresses these questions, and remember that this was written AFTER Israel had rejected and crucified the Messiah. “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.”
The Scriptures speak with clarity, but some men continue babbling their errors and confusion, and many in the evangelical community, unlike the Bereans, believe them without searching the Scriptures to see if these things are so.
The “Christian Palenstinianism”[1] movement has arisen, and is yet another gross error. Any careful student of history knows that Israel is not Palestine. This is an incorrect nomenclature, because first, “Palestinian” does not even refer to a distinct ethnic group. As Arab believers in the Middle East have repeatedly said, there is no such thing as a “Palestinian people.” The idea is a myth created by terrorists and liberal politicians, and foisted on the gullible public by the news media and other antisemitic entities. Second, there is no “land of Palestine.” The so-called Palestinians and other Muslims show it on their maps, and refuse to recognize Israel on those same maps. But the Holy Scriptures do not recognize the supposed “Palestinian people,” nor is their supposed land on God’s map. In the Scriptures God calls it, “the land of Canaan” (Gen. 11.31; 12.5, etc.).
The inhabitants were, “The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites” (Gen. 15.19-21). But God drove them out when their cup of iniquity was full (Gen. 15.16; Ex. 33.2) and gave the land to Israel, as is His sovereign right. Israel was reminded of this in Leviticus 18.24-25, where we read, “...in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.”
Therefore, by divine intervention the land of Canaan became the land of Israel, as God promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, the children of Israel. The Hebrew name is “Eretz Yisrael” – “the Land of Israel.” According to the Holy Scriptures, by promise and divine declaration, all this land, without partitions, belongs to the nation of Israel, and it includes even more land than they currently possess!
History shows that it was actually the Roman conquerors who changed the name of Israel to “Palestine,” the Latin word for Philistia (the land of the Philistines). They apparently did it to further insult and humiliate the Jews, calling their land by the name of their old enemy the Philistines. In the King James Bible the word appears once as “Palestine” (Joel 3.4), and three times as “Palestina” (Ex. 15.14; Isa. 14.29, 31), but all refer to Philistia, and this has been corrected in other versions.
Another error regarding Israel is that of the so-called “Ten Lost Tribes” that supposedly appeared in other parts of the world. Joseph Smith, the womanizing false prophet and founder of the Mormons, invented and taught that remnants of the ten lost tribes arrived in the Americas. No archeological evidence has ever been found to support such claims. Other groups teach what is called “British Israelism” or “Angloisraelism,” a doctrine based on the hypothesis that some people groups in western Europe, particularly Great Britain, descend directly from the ten “lost tribes.” Some even teach that the royal family of Great Britain descends from the lineage of King David.
These ideas have all been refuted by
modern genetic, linguistic, archeological, and philological investigations. The
Bible knows nothing of any “lost tribes.” 2 Chronicles 11.13-16 informs that
priests, Levites and others from “all the tribes” abandoned the
idolatrous northern kingdom of Jeroboam, and went to live in Judea and
Jerusalem.
“And the priests and the Levites
that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts. For the
Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and
Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest’s
office unto the LORD: And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for
the devils, and for the calves which he had made. And after them out of all the
tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came
to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the LORD God of their fathers.”
Thus, all the tribes were represented in the southern kingdom of Judah. In the year 722/21 BC Samaria fell and those who remained of the northern kingdom were deported as captives and never returned. But there were remnants of all these tribes in the kingdom of Judah, who would then be among those who later went into Babylonian captivity in the three deportations by Nebuchadnezzar, the last being when Jerusalem fell in the year 586 BC. Descendants of these captives returned seventy years later, rebuilt the temple and the city, and dwelt in the land. It is true that we do not have further data concerning the tribes, but to God they are not lost, nor were they assimilated into Gentile nations.
In His time God will make known all the necessary information for the reconstitution of the tribes of Israel, His nation. Revelation 7 refers to the time of the Tribulation, when 144,000 sealed Jews, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes, will announce God’s Word on the earth. God knows where the tribes are, and that they are not western nations, nor the Church, nor much less the so-called “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” but Jews, descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons!
Another error and enemy of Israel is Replacement Theology[2], also called Supersessionism. Along with other erroneous teachings found in Reformed theology, its roots are in Roman Catholicism. Catholicism uses evasive or ambiguous language to avoid openly declaring what it believes, that the Jews have been disinherited. But this has been taught since the times of the incorrectly called “apostolic fathers” or “church fathers” (titles prohibited in Matthew 23.9). Justin Martyr (100-160 AD.), Hippolytus of Rome (200 AD), and Tertullian (approx. 160-220 AD) taught that Christianity replaces or supersedes Israel in the plan of God. This erroneous theology teaches that the New Covenant is with the Church and annuls all biblical (divine) promises made to the nation of Israel. Hence, when they read the word “Israel,” they mistakenly think “church”.[3]
It is not surprising to find Reformed Churches teaching such things, since their roots are in Rome. But today an increasing number of evangelical churches share in this error. Those who allege that Israel has been permanently cut off for her sin are apparently ignoring important Bible passages in the Old and New Testaments.
For example, Jeremiah 31.31-37
announces the New Covenant. Clearly here and in Hebrews 8 this covenant is
promised to “the house of Israel” and “the house of Judah” (Jer.
31.31). Do we really believe that all Scripture is inspired of God, and that
God is wise enough to choose the correct words? Israel and Judah are not
Gentiles! Centuries later, and carefully note, AFTER the death and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the epistle to the Hebrews was written, also by
divine and inerrant inspiration. Chapter 8 announces that this Covenant is
still future with respect to Israel. Read it below and remember that God always
fulfills His promises.
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 8.8-12).
In Jeremiah 31.35-37 God utilizes
striking language to guarantee this future blessing and special place that
Israel occupies in relation to Him. Nothing on earth can alter this.
“Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light
by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night,
which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his
name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed
of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith
the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth
searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that
they have done, saith the LORD.”
So, as long as the Sun, Moon and stars are in the heavens, and man cannot measure the heavens, Israel will be God’s nation (vs. 35-36). Scripture declares that Israel will be a nation before Him “for ever” (v. 36), and that He will not cast off the seed of Israel for what they have done.
Romans
11.1-2 is another important text,
“Hath God cast away his people?... God hath not
cast away his people which he foreknew.”
Scripture
teaches that not all Israel, but “some of the branches” (Rom. 11.17) were
broken off due to their unbelief (v. 20), but not forever. The inspired,
infallible Word assures us,
“And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Rom. 11.26-27).
God
Made Israel
The Bible declares that God, not men, created the nation of Israel. That fact is not subject to our approval. Therefore, God will govern, defend, and bless Israel, His creation. Ethnically the Israelites descend from Noah’s son Shem (Gen. 10.21-31; 11.10-26), thus they are Semitic.
But God appeared to Abraham when he
lived in Ur of the Chaldees (Acts 7.2), in Mesopotamia. He already belonged to
a people, but God called him to leave that idolatrous people and promised to
make him a nation (Gen. 12.1-3), guide, protect and bless him. God led him to
another land and promised it to him as an inheritance. Genesis 13.14-17 gives us this promise or
covenant, which often has been incorrectly called the “palestinian covenant.”
We repeat, at that time there was no
Palestine, only Canaan, and it
later came to be the land of Israel, called “the promised land” because God
promised it to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his 12 sons and their descendants. It
was not called Palestine.
“And the LORD said unto Abram,
after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from
the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
For all the land which thou seest, to
thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy
seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the
earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in
the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”
Note that God promised to give it to them “for ever,” that is, to Abraham and his descendents. Remember that God told Abraham, “in Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Gen. 21.12), which eliminates any claim by Ishmael’s descendants. Again, in Deuteronomy 4.40 we read, “...which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.” It contradictory that some evangelicals teach (correctly) that believers are saved “for ever,” but deny that Israel has a covenant “for ever.” God uses the same terms for salvation and for His future plans for the blessing of Israel.
The New Covenant is unilateral, and therefore eternal. It has neither conditions nor expiry date. For this and other reasons, the United Nations has no authority to approve any resolution to partition the land of Israel as it did in 1947, giving part to the Arabs and part to the Jews. God owns the land, and He gave the whole land to Israel for ever.
In Deuteronomy 4.32-34 God inspired
Moses to speak to the nation of Israel that was about to enter the promised
land:
“For ask now of the days that are past, which were
before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from
the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing
as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the
voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and
live? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another
nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty
hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that
the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”
The answer to all these questions is
“No.” No other nation has ever enjoyed these privileges, “since the day that
God created man upon the earth” (v. 32). The questions and their answers
affirm that God took Israel for Himself, brought her out of Egypt as a nation,
and revealed His presence and power by signs, wonders and judgments. This is
unique in human history, and thus God took for Himself the nation that He had
made. In verse 35 Moses declares, “Unto thee it was shewed, that thou
mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him”. In
Psalm 106.5 we read,
“That I may see the good of thy
chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with
thine inheritance.”
These three expressions, “thy chosen,” “thy nation,” and “thine inheritance” refer only to Israel. She is God’s chosen nation. No other nation can truthfully say this.
In
Isaiah 43.1, 7 and 15 God reveals Himself as the Creator of Israel.
“But now thus saith the LORD
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel” (v. 1). “...I
have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him” (v.
7). “I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King” (v.
15).
In verse 21 He declares, “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.” When Isaiah announced these things, Israel was enroute to divine judgment and exile, in the following generation, in Jeremiah’s times. Nevertheless, God declares that the nation is His, and that it has a future, “they shall shew forth my praise.” If we compare these expressions with the teaching of Romans 9-11 we find that after a long period of chastisement, God will restore Israel, at the end of the times of the Gentiles (Rom. 11.25). Israel is the nation formed by God to be His special treasure and to publish His Name on the earth.
We remind those who point to her sins and failures that Isaiah 43.21 is not a mere hope or dream, but a divine promise. God declares, “they shall shew forth my praise.” As previously mentioned, Jeremiah 31 and Romans 11 clearly teach that God has not finished with Israel. She is the only nation on earth, in the history or future of humanity, that was created by God and for God. Romans 9.5 says of the Israelites, “...of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” By the nation of Israel Christ came into the world, and He is Lord, God and blessed for ever. In a sense, those who are antisemitic are also antichrist.
God Sovereignly and Uniquely Chose Israel
Chapters 9-11 of Romans clearly
speak about the nation of Israel, and yet they have been misinterpreted and
twisted to teach the ideas of theologians instead of the truth of God. These
chapters teach concerning the national election of Israel as God’s people, not
the election of individuals for salvation. They do not support the doctrines of
Calvinism or Reformed churches, because they do not teach that God chose or
predestined certain individuals for salvation and others for perdition. David
Dunlap comments in his excellent book, Limiting Omnipotence,
“Throughout Romans nine Paul traces the future of two groups within the nation of Israel: a remnant, a small number of believing Jews who have come to Christ, and the larger number, who rejected Christ. He argues that the spiritual condition of the nation of Israel does not prove God’s unfaithfulness or unrighteousness. Paul proves that it is in accordance with the Old Testament Scriptures for God to reject those Jews who were seeking a righteousness of works and to accept those Gentiles who were willing to come to Christ by faith. Paul sets forth God’s free and sovereign election of a nation. This election does not extend to the salvation of men, but is solely concerned with the privileges and eternal purpose of God for the nation Israel.”[4]
If
we lose sight of the sovereign workings of God with Israel as His elect nation,
we cannot understand these chapters. Remember what we have seen in Deuteronomy
4.32-34, how God created Israel, and chose the nation to occupy a special place
on earth that no other nation or group may occupy. Deuteronomy 7.6 declares,
“For thou art an holy people unto
the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto
himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”
By this sovereign choice Israel occupies a unique place, “above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” As Romans 11.29 states, “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (that is, irrevocable). Contextually, this refers to Israel. God’s chosen nation has a glorious future that does not depend upon men or nations.
In
Deuteronomy 10.15 Moses declared to the Israelites:
“Only the LORD had a delight in
thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above
all people, as it is this day.”
It was a divine choice, made of course with foreknowledge, knowing the future and all that Israel would do. But God’s sovereign purposes will not be frustrated by the failures and sins of the chosen nation. He loved the patriarchs and those their descendents after them (Deut. 4.37; 7.7-8). Centuries after this election, generations later, and even with their history of sins and failures, God still declares, “as it is this day.” His purposes had not changed nor were His promises annulled. God’s grace will triumph, for, as in our own case, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5.20). The nation of Israel, seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, will show forth His praise.
In Deuteronomy 32.6, in the Song of Moses, the question sounds out, “is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?” Then verse 9 answers, “For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.” Never is such language used of any other people. Israel did not make or choose God. He made and chose Israel!
In 2 Samuel 7.23-24 David prayed in
response to the covenant that God made with him to bless his lineage and
establish his throne forever,
“And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, LORD, art become their God.”
Those who teach that Israel has been cut off and rejected forever are in grave error. Their word is not like God’s. He has established Israel for Himself as His people for ever (v. 24). What part of “for ever” do they not understand? The divine promise has no condition or expiry date. Many nations, some of them great, have disappeared, and their remains can only be seen in museums. But Israel is not like the nations, because it is God’s.
Psalm 33.12 declares, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” That nation, as we have already seen, is Israel. This verse cannot be applied to any other nation. God chose Israel alone for His inheritance. Again, in Psalm 144 David celebrates the divine care of Israel. Verse 15 ends by saying, “...happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.” This blessed, happy people whose God is the LORD, is not the United States, the United Kingdom, or any other nation except Israel. The blessings named in this beautiful Psalm are rooted in the promises of God to Israel in Leviticus 26.3-12 and Deuteronomy 28.1-14.
In Psalm 147.19-20 we read these
very meaningful words,
“He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.”
Strangely,
books like La Fe de Millones (“The Faith of
Millions”) allege that the Roman Catholic Church gave us the Scriptures, and
that therefore we owe her a debt of gratitude! But before they decorate
themselves with medals, they should read what God says. He declares that He
gave His Word, His statutes and judgments, to Israel. The apostle Paul under
divine inspiration confirmed that centuries later.
“What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Rom. 3.1-2).
The patriarchs, priests, Levites, judges, kings and prophets were all Jews. In the New Testament, Christ and His apostles were all Jews. This exclusive privilege of being the divinely chosen vessel to communicate God’s Word to men belongs only to Israel. He has not done so with any other nation, and declares that the nations have not known His judgments (Psa. 147.20). No church, seminary, Bible society, synod, council, or any other human body has a voice or vote in what God has done.
Amos 3.2 reinforces the truth that God has a unique relationship with Israel. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth”. Remember Deuteronomy 10.15, “Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.” Notice the word “only.” It means “uniquely.” This did not happen with any other nation. Israel occupies the place of privilege and all other nations of the earth are in another position – outside. All nations of the earth are divided into two groups, Israel and the Gentiles.
We continue into the New Testament, where Romans 3.1-2, as we have seen, asks and answers a very important question, especially considering the events that occurred between the Old Testament and this epistle.
Christ came, was rejected, crucified, then rose from the dead and ascended alive into heaven. The dispensation of grace began, that is, the age of the Church. The gospel went out to the Gentiles and there were many believers among them, even in Rome! After accusing the Jews of sinning and being under divine judgment like the Gentiles, Paul anticipates the question that some will have. What advantage does the Jew have, since all have sinned? The answer is, “Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (v. 2). This reminds us of Psalm 147.19-20, “He sheweth his word unto Jacob”, and not to any other nation. Israel has a great advantage – her reception of the oracles of God, divine revelation, the Scriptures. Peter wrote, “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1.21). These “holy men of God” were Jews. They, and Israel, were the first to know what God had said. But alas, they were careless and abused the blessing, and it became the cause of their condemnation, exactly as Deuteronomy 28 warned.
But God’s Word was never given through another people. All other oracles are false, for example among the Greeks, the Delfic Oracle, the Oracle of Zeus in Dodona, the Oracle of Dione, etc. There are other oracles, in China, in the polytheism of the Celts, in Hinduism, in Tibetian Buddhism, among the Aztecs and Maya in the Americas, and others. The Mormons, Muslims, Christian Scientists and even the Adventists have their own books. The world is full of counterfeits and imitations, but God only has one Word, the Bible, the “faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), and it was first given to Israel.
Conclusions
Given the unique place that Scripture assigns to Israel, it should be clear that the Church does not ever take the place of Israel. However, this is taught among evangelicals. Popular Reformed teachers like R. C. Sproul declare that we are a spiritual Israel, and that there is no other.[5] But all such are in grave error, and since they lack discernment, and err on so clear a point, one wonders, should they be trusted on anything else? God’s people need to return to the Berean practice of searching the Scriptures daily to see for themselves what is true, and develop spiritual discernment, sound judgment.
In apostolic times three distinctions were given by inspiration in 1 Corinthians 10.32, Jews, Gentiles and the church of God. Israel never becomes the Church, nor does the Church become or replace Israel. They are completely distinct and separate entities in the mind of God, and His mind is expressed in Scripture.
The expression, “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6.16) confuses some. It does not refer to Gentile believers nor to the Church, but to Jews who have believed the gospel (Rom. 1.16 “to the Jew first”) and are redeemed. The expression is comparable to the words that Christ used of Nathanael, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile” (Jn. 1.47).
Some express doubts
because, they say, Romans 11 declares that Israel was cut off and the Gentiles
believers were grafted in. They hear teachers say that God has finished with
Israel, and on the surface this appears correct. But we have already shown that
a careful reading of the chapter confirms that Israel has not been cut off
forever nor cast off (Rom. 11.2). God’s earthly people, Israel, except for the
believing remnant (Rom. 9.27; 11.5), has been broken off because of their
unbelief. Remember verse 17, “some of the branches.” But the chapter
clearly teaches that after chastisement will come conversion and blessing.
Verse 15 speaks of “the receiving of them.” Verses 23 and 24 speak of
them being “grafted into their own olive tree” because “God is able to
graft them in again”. This should remind us of the divine promise made in
Jeremiah 46.28,
“Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.”
Returning to Romans 11, in verses
18-23 the inspired apostle gives a solemn warning to the Gentiles, including
those who profess to believe. The anti-Semites of today, the false brethren in
churches, and errant evangelicals who reject Israel as God’s people should heed
the warning of coming judgment and repent.
“Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.”
These are solemn words, the “severity of God” ... “lest he also spare not thee” ... “thou also shalt be cut off.” Many apparently ignore the divine warning, because Christendom is full of “Christian” voices that declare that God is finished with Israel and she has no future. Have they not read? Are they ignorant of what God has said? They are like the Sadducees whom Christ reproved, “Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?” (Mk. 12.24).
The divine warning is for the Gentiles of our day. “Boast not against the branches... Be not highminded, but fear.” The word “fear” is translated from the Greek word “fobeo.” We get our English word “phobia” from it, which means an intense fear or anxiety. It is not irrational, but sane, because if God did not spare Israel for her unbelief, and she is His chosen nation, neither will He spare the Gentiles. Christendom, the false version of Christianity, is full of false believers, false brethren who will not endure sound doctrine, but who heap to themselves teachers according to their own desires (2 Tim. 4.1-4). They have turned their ears away from the truth, and have been turned to fables. That time has come. Divine judgment is soon to fall on that great false church. The warning goes out to those who do not desire sound doctrine, steadfastness and obedience to the faith. “thou also shalt be cut off” (Rom. 11.22).
The age of the Church will soon end, and God will again work through Israel. She will be grafted in again to the place of privilege and blessing. “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew” (Rom. 11.2). Verse 25 describes the current condition of Israel, “... blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” The word “until” marks the limit. Israel will not always be blind or unbelieving. When the present interval concludes, then “all Israel shall be saved” (v. 26). “Israel” does not mean the Church, but refers to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), the twelve tribes, the nation. It must be so because Romans 11.29 states that “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
In summary, God sovereignly created the people and nation of Israel, chose her, and put her in this unique and favored place as His nation. He chastises Israel for her unbelief and disobedience, but promises that one day there will be a national conversion. His promises of blessing will be literally fulfilled in Israel, not the Church. Israel will dwell for ever in the land that God has given her, and no government or power on earth can change that. Amos 9.15 promises, “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.” Therefore, no nation, church or other group can ever take the place that Israel occupies in the heart and plans of God. To her alone among the nations God declares, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31.3).
Eventually, all those who today wrongfully occupy any part of the land that God has promised to Israel “for ever” will have to abandon it, because it is not theirs to keep. It is useless for them to appeal to history or international law, because God’s sovereign promises to Israel predate and overrule all else.
In Ezekiel 47 and 48 we see the future limits that God has marked and reserved for the nation of Israel, and it is much more than what appears in any map of Israel – from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates. The nations have no right to occupy land that God has promised to His elect nation. He has patiently permitted it in the days of Israel’s unbelief, but that time will soon be over. They have invaded and occupied land that belongs to another. They have taken land given to them by those who have no authority to give it.
In Genesis 13.14-17 and 15.18-21 God promised it to Abraham and his descendants “for ever.” Again, lest anyone be confused about those descendants, remember that in Genesis 21.12 God declared to Abraham, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Not in Ishmael or others. Those who descend from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the chosen of God to inhabit the promised land, Eretz Yisrael.
The nation of Israel has a great and glorious future, not due to the favor of the nations, but because Almighty God guarantee it.
Even
the false prophet Balaam recognized this. He was incited by ancient enemies of
Israel to curse them, but he could not. From the mountaintops of Moab he
declared under divine impulse,
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it” (Num. 23.19-20).
What Should We Do?
Finally, we should believe God, that is, believe what He has said about Israel. Romans 11.28 sums it up,
“As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.”
Let no one misunderstand the text. The unbelieving Jews make themselves enemies of the gospel and those of us who believe, and are jealous of us (Rom. 10.19; 11.11). The conversion of Gentiles to the true God disturbs them. But the enmity is on their part, not ours. We love them, because we love the Jewish believers like Abraham, Moses and his parents, Joshua, Ruth, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Esther and the prophets. We believe the promises given to the patriarchs of the nation. Like the apostle Paul, we should ardently desire and pray for the salvation and blessing of Israel (Rom. 10.1).
Israel is still the touchstone of all the dealings of God with the nations, and the centerpiece in the fulfillment of prophecy. God promised Abraham, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12.3). History is littered with the wreckage of people and nations who have hated and cursed Israel and persecuted the Jews. But humanity seems incapable of learning the simple lesson!
Proud and hateful Haman planned the extinction of the Jews in the ancient Persian empire (Iran), but was hanged on the gallows that he had raised for Mordecai the Jew.
Hitler, Himmler y the rest of Nazi Germany carried out their “Final Solution,” a cruel, horrifying and inhuman Holocaust to exterminate them, by mass executions and death camps with gas chambers and ovens. The German state-sponsored anti-Semitism ended the lives of more than six million Jews. The Third Reich came to a disastrous end and their ignominy remains, as indeed it should. The Holocaust museums are there to educate and remind the world, with the hope of avoiding such injustice, prejudice, and horrors.
In 2005 Ingimar DeRidder wrote,
“The President of Iran gave us a glimpse into the mind of fanatical Islamic fundamentalism. He said that ‘Israel must be wiped off the map.’ It was chilling. Many thought smallpox had been completely eradicated from this planet, but it still lives in test tubes and laboratories across the globe just waiting for someone to let it loose.
Anti-Semitism is alive and well also. The idea of ‘wiping Israel of the face of the earth’ is an old idea. Assyria tried it, Babylon tried it. Rome burned Jerusalem to the ground. Hitler used gas chambers and incinerators, but all have failed to destroy God’s promise to Abraham.”
But alas, men do not learn from history, and as the saying warns, they are doomed to repeat it. It seems the nations insanely stand in line waiting their turn to come under the curse of Genesis 12.3. For example, evil Haman was hung in Iran, and his household and all enemies of the Jews were killed. But today that nation evidences that it has learned nothing from history. It is a leader of antisemitism and a sworn enemy of Israel. How will it end? All who believe God know the answer! “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God” (Am. 9.15).
We should love the nation of Israel, not to receive personal blessings, but because God loves her! We should desire her well-being, even though Jews still oppose the gospel and in Israel “missionary” is a dirty word. It is neither advisable nor necessary that we get entangled in Israeli politics, nor must we agree with whatever the Israeli government does, but we should not be their enemies.
The apostle Paul, a converted Jew, was
never an enemy of Israel. Consider his words.
“I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen” (Rom. 9.1-5).
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” (Rom. 10.1).
“I say then, Hath God cast away
his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of
the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew” (Rom. 11.1-2).
God sovereignly controls the destiny of His nation. Israel is “the apple of his eye” (Zech. 2.8) and He will not abandon her. God will come to Zion and dwell in the midst of her (Zech. 2.10). We long to see this great day of joy and blessing. May we remember and practice what King David wrote in this Song of Degrees,
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.
Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.”
Psalm 122.6-9
[1] Appendix B - Article by Dennis Swick: Christian Palestinianism Gains Ground Among Evangelicals
[2] Appendix A, article by Dr. Renald Showers.
[3] To our beloved Jewish friends, we declare and certify that such people do NOT represent true Christianity, just as some Jews unfortunately do not represent Judaism. True Christians are not enemies of Israel, but pray for the peace of Jerusalem and love the Jews.
[4] Chapter 9, page 181, Limiting Omnipotence, David Dunlap, Gospel Folio Press, 2014
[5] Covenant Theology is an error that among other things denies the distinction between the nation of Israel and the Church. It began as a system in the 16th and 17th Centuries, in Switzerland and Germany. The Westminster Confession of Faith in England was the first to use that term.
