Israel - the People of God
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The State of Israel
The State of Israel
The Israelites rejected God’s rule long ago. 1 Samuel 8:5-7; 2 Chron 36:15-17
and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.
However, God persisted with His dealings with Israel until there was no remedy. 2 Chron 36:15-17
And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.
Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak; He gave them all into his hand.
This was the fulfillment of the blessings and cursings mentioned by Moses. Deut. 28:15-48
The modern state of Israel was created in 1948, after WWII.
There is no problem at all with its existence, but just because the claim is made does not mean that this nation is God's Chosen People.
We can have our own political opinions about the conflict over there, but whatever our opinion is, we cannot claim it on the basis of Scripture without misusing it.
Premillenialism and Zionism are two sides of the same coin. Rev 1:1; 22:6
Premillenialism is the belief that Revelation is a literal message about what will happen at the end of the world.
Thus, the events of Revelation become future literal happenings. Jesus on a white horse. Sitting on a throne in the land of Israel. 1000 years of tribulation. Debates over pre and post rapture. None of it makes any sense in terms of the Bible.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.
Most of premillenialism can be answered with this simple fact. Whatever Revelation is about, it is about something that occurred within the 1st Century. Early/Late date agrees on this. Whether you believe early/late date does not change the message of Revelation, but premillennialism does.
Premillenialism also ignores much of Acts to Jude in terms of what is said there about the final judgment and the end of the world.
Most who believe this may never have even heard the term, but because of the spread of this false doctrine simply believe it to be what the Bible says.
This ties in with the fact that they believe the 144k mentioned in Revelation will be converted Jews who will inhabit the land of Israel.
They lean on prophecies in the Old Testament that have already been fulfilled in order to legitimize their faith.
Zionism is the belief that Jews should inhabit the land of Israel based upon the promises God made to Israel in the Old Testament.
Self-explanatory that these two things go hand in hand. Zionism is a political movement, and premillenialism is its supporting doctrine.
Started in 1897 under Theodor Herzl, and was later led by Chaim Weizmann.
Not long after, in 1909, the C.I. Scofield Reference Bible was first published, which popularized premillenial thought. Coincidence?
The Bible teaches us to distinguish between fleshly Israel, Spiritual Israel, and the modern secular state of Israel. 1 Cor 10:18; 2 Cor 3:14-16
Paul makes mention of “Israel after the flesh” (1 Cor 10:18; 2 Cor 3:14-16).
Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?
But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
This is Israel AFTER Pentecost. Israel without Christ, and thus without God. Still continuing to carry out the Law of Moses, but with a veil over their eyes.
A question for our friends who believe that the modern nation of Israel are God’s chosen people: How do you get from a people reading Moses with a veil on their heart BACK to somehow being God’s chosen people again?
God's Chosen People are those who serve His Son Jesus. Rom 4:16-17; Gal 6:15-16
Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
The NT authors were very particular in their choice of words in order to stir the Scriptures into remembrance for the Jews among them. Their specificity (in reality the Holy Spirit’s specificity) helps make these things clear for us.
The Israel of God are those who have the faith of Abraham.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
God made Promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)
God made Promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)
Land. Gen 12:4-7; 15:18
Specifically, the land that Abraham is now in – Canaan (Gen 12:4-7; 15:18).
This promise would carry throughout the generations to follow.
It is this promise that is among the sources of the struggles over the “holy land” today.
Nation. Genesis 46:1-4
Specifically, the people of Israel. This would be primarily fulfilled in the generations of Jacob/Israel's children.
Genesis 46:1-4 – God had a plan for His People in Egypt – though they were to be enslaved, God would use their 400 year stay in Egypt to make them numerous.
Seed. Genesis 3:15
Specifically, the seed that would bless “all nations”.
The Israelites were not the fulfillment of this prophecy. Where and when have they “bruised” the head of Satan?
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.”
This is the great prophecy that the Hebrews looked for throughout the generations – salvation in the Messiah.
All of these promises have been fulfilled.
All of these promises have been fulfilled.
Land
Some make the claim that this promise has not yet been fulfilled, and that one day we will see this fulfillment. Gen. 17:8,13; Gal. 6:15; Rom 2:28-29; Deut. 15:17
Possession of the land everlasting Gen. 17:8
BUT, so was circumcision and bondage of a willing slave - Gen. 17:13; Gal. 6:15; Rom 2:28-29; Deut. 15:17
This promise has been completely fulfilled. Joshua 21:43-45 1 Kings 4:21; Ps 105:42-44
Joshua 21:43-45
Joshua confirms this in his own words.
Joshua 23:14 "And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.
Solomon ruled over the land that had been promised.
So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
God remembered His promise. Note the tense in this psalm!
For He remembered His holy promise,
And Abraham His servant.
He brought out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with gladness.
He gave them the lands of the Gentiles,
And they inherited the labor of the nations,
Another land promise was fulfilled after the Babylonian Captivity. Jer. 29:10-11; 16:14-15
For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
Nation. Ex 12:37; Deut 10:22; Rom 11:25-27
This is not typically disputed, though there are differences among scholars as to how many left Egypt.
Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children.
600,000 men means likely twice as many women, and the number of children adds to that. There might have been as many as 2 million Israelites who left Egypt.
Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.
Regardless, they became a nation at this time, especially at Sinai when God gave them their covenant.
Israelites in the 1st century had the same hope as anyone who is of that bloodline today.
For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
Seed. Acts 3:25-26; 13:32-33,38; Gal 3:8-9,18,29
The only fulfillment we can find is in the person of Jesus Christ.
Acts 3:25-26; 13:32-33,38; Galatians 3:8-9,18,29
You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”
And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm:
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.’
Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins;
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.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
The Jews rejected the final fulfillment in rejecting Jesus.
The Jews rejected the final fulfillment in rejecting Jesus.
They judged themselves unworthy. Matt 21:28-32; Acts 13:45-48
Matthew 21:28-32 - Jesus knew it.
“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said to Him, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.
Acts 13:45-48 – The Apostles told them so.
But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us:
‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles,
That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
Their rejection led to their destruction. Luke 13:34-35
Luke 13:34-35 – Jesus' great prophecy foretells Jerusalem's destruction at the hands of the Romans in 70 A.D.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
The Hope of Israel is Our Hope.
The Hope of Israel is Our Hope.
The dispersion of the Jews had a hope from God. Deut 28:58-68 ; 1 Pet 1:1-4
“If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD, then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses. Moreover He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the Lord bring upon you until you are destroyed. You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
“Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. In the morning you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see.
“And the Lord will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, ‘You shall never see it again.’ And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
This promise would come through the Messiah. Acts 28:20; Jer. 17:13; 23:5-8
For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”
Paul is speaking to Jews in Rome. His language is not an accident.
O Lord, the hope of Israel,
All who forsake You shall be ashamed.
“Those who depart from Me
Shall be written in the earth,
Because they have forsaken the Lord,
The fountain of living waters.”
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and prosper,
And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell safely;
Now this is His name by which He will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”
The promises made to the fathers were confirmed in Jesus. Rom 15:8-13 ; Eph 2:11-15
Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written:
“For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles,
And sing to Your name.”
And again he says:
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”
And again:
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles!
Laud Him, all you peoples!”
And again, Isaiah says:
“There shall be a root of Jesse;
And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles,
In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul quotes from the “song of David”, 2 Sam. 22 and Psalm 18. Again, this is not coincidence. Paul is being very purposeful! It shows us that these promises were fulfilled in his time.
Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
Pray for the innocent individuals in the secular conflict in the middle east, in Israel and in Gaza, and their rulers, that they will be saved in the Kingdom. Jn 18:36; 1 Tim 2:1-4
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
The conflict over there is entirely secular.
Some are saying it will become a war, and indeed the US may get involved on the side of Israel.
Where Gaza, Ashkelon, etc. are - Ashdod still in the region of Israel. Gaza strip and West bank is Palestinian occupied.
Both Israel and the Palestinians claim Abraham's lineage, and for all we know, they may be of that line physically, but in terms of the Bible and religion, unless they have the faith of Abraham spoken of in Romans (which we can and should ALL have), then they are in the same place spiritually as any other people. They, and we, need the blood of Christ in the Kingdom, which is now.