The Church and Israel

What about the Remnant of Israel?

Questions We Should Ask as We develop an Understanding of Eschatology and Our Focus as God’s People:

What are the promises of God to Israel to be fulfilled?

How are these promises fufilled?

Is the modern state of Israel the same Israel in Covenant with the LORD in the OT?

Here is a brief and non-exhaustive overview.

What are the promises of God to Israel?

Promise to Abraham Genesis 12.1-3,7

Genesis 12:1–3 NASB95

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Genesis 12:7 ESV

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Promise to David 2 Samuel 7.16-17

2 Samuel 7:16–17 ESV

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

Promise to Moses Ex 19.3-6

Exodus 19:3–6 ESV

while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Promise of a New Covenant Jeremiah 31.31-37

Jeremiah 31:31–37 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name: “If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.” Thus says the Lord: “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord.”

Promise to Abraham

Great Nation

Blessings

Great Name

Bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you

All families will be blessed

Land

Promise to David

Kingdom shall endure for ever, throne shall be established.

Promise to Moses

chosen nation, God’s nation

kingdom of priests

this is conditional (if/then)

Promise of a New Covenant

New Covenant

Context: God’s people had walked away again and again.

“… My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them...” v. 32

How are these promises fulfilled?

The NT Sees Jesus as a Fulfillment

John 5.39,46

John 5:39 NASB95

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;

John 5:46 NASB95

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.

Luke 24.27

Luke 24:27 NASB95

Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

2 Corinthians 1.20

2 Corinthians 1:20 NASB95

For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

“How Christ Fulfilled and Ended the Old Testament Regime” by John Piper

1. The blood sacrifices ceased because Christ fulfilled all that they were pointing toward. He was the final, unrepeatable sacrifice for sins. Hebrews 9:12, “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”

2. The priesthood that stood between worshiper and God has ceased. Hebrews 7:23–24, “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.”

3. The physical temple has ceased to be the geographic center of worship. Now, Christ himself is the center of worship. He is the “place,” the “tent,” and the “temple” where we meet God. Therefore, Christianity has no geographic center, no Mecca, no Jerusalem...

4. The food laws that set Israel apart from the nations have been fulfilled and ended in Christ. Mark 7:18–19, “[Jesus] said to them, . . . ‘Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him?’ . . . (Thus he declared all foods clean.)”

5. The establishment of civil law on the basis of an ethnically rooted people, who are ruled directly by God, has ceased. The people of God are no longer a unified political body or an ethnic group or a nation-state, but are exiles and sojourners among all ethnic groups and all states. Therefore, God’s will for states is not taken directly from the Old Testament theocratic order, but should now be re-established from place to place and from time to time by means that correspond to God’s sovereign rule over all peoples, and that correspond to the fact that genuine obedience, rooted as it is in faith in Christ, cannot be coerced by law. The state is therefore grounded in God, but not expressive of God’s immediate rule. Romans 13:1

It seems that Jesus picks up where Israel had failed in the Mosaic covenant. He is Prophet, Priest and the Perfect Sacrifice.

What about the Promise to David?

Matthew 1:1 NASB95

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

What about the Promise to Abraham?

Paul sees these Promises as fulfilled in Christ. Gal. 3.16

Galatians 3:16 NASB95

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.

So, how do we understand Israel’s relationship with the church?

4 Perspectives popular in Evangelicalism, but not exhaustive of all views.

Traditional Covenantal Theology

1) Covts. of Redemption, Works, and Grace.

2) Salvation in both Testaments is by Grace through Faith in IX. OT belief in a coming messiah, NT belief in IX as the messiah.

3) the church is the spiritual Israel, sacrifice is Jesus Christ, Priesthood is for all believers, temple is the hearts of believers, the promised land is the Kingdom of God.

4) no future role for the Jewish nation and all OT expectations are fulfilled in Christ.

Traditional Dispensationalism

1) God deals with humans in different ways in different dispensations

2) the promises of the OT will literally be fulfilled.

3) Jews today are Israel. NT meaning is not consider in the promises to the Jews

4) Church will leave at the rapture, Jews will experience a tribulation and turn to Christ, they will also experience fulfillments of the OT promises. (distinction)

Progressive Dispensationalism

1) distinction between church and Israel.

2) emphasis on Historical-grammatical hermeneutic and that Christ will fulfill those scriptures.

Progressive Covenantal View

five statements

a) The oneness of God demands one people.

b) The people of God are his by divine election and spiritual birth.

c) The people of God arise from the supporting root of historic Israel.

d) The marker of the people is the internal presence of the Holy Spirit.

e) The people of God are the body of Christ.

they affirm that the church today is the people of God without accepting the notion of replacement.

Exclusion of many views

there are many more perspectives outside of the evangelical world.

Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Wider Protestant views, perspectives of Christians in the Middle East (Dr. Yohanna Katanacho, Palestinian Christian involved with Alliance Church in Jerusalem and church planting work in Galilee)

some more thought should be given here.

What do you think?

What about the Modern state of Israel?

created in 1948

some things to consider if continuity is to be assumed.

DISCLAIMER: this does not advocate a political view, rather this is thought exercise designed for self theological assessment.

The question becomes what is to be Israel?

based on territory or borders?

Hebrew, Israelite, or Jew?

A person could be a Hebrew but not Jewish or Israelite—for example, Abraham. A person could be a member of Israel and a Hebrew without being Jewish—for example, the prophet Samuel. He lived at a time in which the referent “Jew” was not yet coined. In fact, the word “Jew” does not occur in the Pentateuch. It is a post-exilic term. One could be Jewish but not an Israelite or Hebrew—for example, Antiochus the Macedonian king (2 Macc 9:17). A person could be brought into the household of Israel and could become Jewish, but not a Hebrew or a descendant of Jacob—for example Achior the Ammonite (Jdt 14:10). In addition, the book of Esther informs us that many nations became Jews (Est 8:17). In short, the terms “Israel,” “Jew,” and “Hebrew” are not identical. We cannot define Israel in a simplistic way that ignores its multiple meanings, social locations, and diversity in the genre of the text.

The question is more nuanced that we might think.

So what do we do?

“move away from an event-centered eschatology...”

“focus on a theocentric eschatology … Christocentric eschatology in which we discover the heart of the missional God.”

The question of the relationship of Israel and the church needs to shift away from ontological discussions and move into more functional ones. How can the church be a blessing to Israel and the rest of the world? How can the Jewish people be a blessing today?

The reality is that there are Jews, Gentiles, Palestinians, etc. that need the Gospel of Jesus. The church is tasked with the imperative to exult Christ to all nations.