God's Chosen People Part 1
The Israel Debate • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Today we begin a series of lessons to address the growing discussion surrounding the modern day Israel and why so many in the religious world are supporting Israel.
The reality is that this modern conflict and it’s “Christendom” supporters are supporting Israel for the same reason, many years ago, they supported Israel regaining it’s nation once again.
In one article written by a preacher for whom I could not tell which denomination he preached for wrote these two reason as why all Christians should support Israel.
“In Genesis 12:3, the Lord says of Israel, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you…I passionately believe this promise from God is as true today as it was centuries ago…Every other nation was founded by an act of human will, but Israel is unique in that it was established by an act of God. It was promised to Abraham by God in an eternal covenant. Genesis 17:8… The existence of Israel from tis beginning is truly a miracle, and the fact that Israel exists to this day is testament to the Lord’s timeless promise.” 1
Another gentleman, Jack Hayford, in an article discussing reasons Christians should stand with Israel would write…
“We live in a sobering moment in history. It calls us, as believers in Jesus Christ, to take a stand with Israel…Perhaps the most pointed statement regarding the importance of the Jews is from the lips of our Lord and Savior Himself. In His conversation with the Samaritan woman, recorded in John 4:1-26, Jesus is very definitive: “Salvation is of the Jews” (v. 22).”2
We could continue quoting different people but this summarizes the majority feeling amongst those in the realm of “Christendom.”
Now, before I continue I want to say, the lessons we are about to look at over the next few weeks simply to look at the question of whether or not a Christian “must support” Israel today from a biblical perspective.
With that said, if it is the case that biblically Christians are not required to support Israel that doesn’t mean they then must be in support of Hamas or Palestine. In the same way a person, not personally effected by Russia and Ukraine, can simply “not take sides” so too it is the case with Israel in Palestine if it is the case that biblically Christians do not have to support modern Israel.
So with that in mind, let’s being this study by looking at our first lesson on “God’s Chosen People.”
Israel’s Biblical History
Israel’s Biblical History
Raised By God.
Raised By God.
All the way back in Genesis 3:15, after the fall of man into sin, God made a promise to Adam and Eve.
Genesis 3:15 (ESV)
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
From that moment on God set forth what is typically called “The Scheme of Redemption.”
In other words, God set out to miraculously and providentially bring about the “fullness of time.”
Galatians 4:4 (ESV)
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law
In this process God did many things, and one of those things he did was promise to create a nation that would be his and that he would “bless all the earth.”
That promise was made to Abraham.
Genesis 12:1–3 (ESV)
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
That promise got is start in fulfillment when Abraham had his only child with his wife Sarah.
1 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.
Got continued to renew his promise with different generations of Abraham.
He promised Isaac, Jacob, and we finally see this family line become a nation while in Egypt.
Joseph, Jacob’s son and Isaac’s grandson, became second only to Pharaoh with God’s blessing and moved his family there. God used this time to grow the nation of Israel into a mighty nation while in captivity to Egypt.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
Over the next 430 years Israel grew into this mighty nation with some estimating that they were near a million people strong.
When the Israelites cried out God we then have the great exodus of Israel from Egypt and into the “promised land.”
This took time due to the first generations stubborn and rebellious heart, 40 years, but eventually they went to take the land under Joshua’s command.
But before that, as you noticed, I mentioned this land they were to conquer as the “Promise Land.”
That’s because God had made a promise with Israel that he would bring them from Egypt to a land flowing with milk and honey.
Exodus 3:17 (ESV)
17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.
This promise started with Abraham but at his time the “land was not yet filled up with sin.”
Genesis 15:16–18 (ESV)
16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land…”
This of course happened and God fulfilled his promise.
Joshua 21:43–45 (ESV)
43 Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
Summary
Summary
However, though God kept his promise and did exactly what he said he would do, the Israelites did not do what they were supposed to do, to keep the promised land.
That brings us to our second point…
The Promise’s Provision
The Promise’s Provision
The Contingent.
The Contingent.
Yes, God promised the nation he would give them the land for “all time.”
Deuteronomy 4:40 (ESV)
40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.
Now, some might look at this and say as one man wrote, “There are both a conditional and unconditional aspect to God’s promise. God offered blessings within the Promised Land conditionally, related to the Israelites’ obedience. Yet God made an unconditional vow that Israel would have the Promised Land “for all time.”
However, not only does it take grammatical gymnastics to get that it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny in other passages wherein God makes this clear that God would remove them from the land given them.
Joshua 23:15–16 (ESV)
15 But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.
So, did Israel keep their end of the promise made to them by God?
In Jeremiah 11:10 we read this…
Jeremiah 11:10 (ESV)
10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers.
Jesus himself declared how, even the remnant didn’t keep his covenant, and lost their right fully to the land.
Matthew 23:37–38 (ESV)
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate.
Israel’s ultimate destruction would come in AD 70 when Rome destroyed it as prophesied by Jesus.
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Matthew 24:34–35 (ESV)
34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
In Josephus’ book “The War of the Jews” in 6.8.406…
“But although they had this commiseration for such as were destroyed in that manner, yet had they not the same for those that were still alive, but they ran every one through whom they met with, and obstructed the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole city run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of many of the houses was quenched with these men’s blood.”
Summary
Summary
The reality is that the nation of Israel did not keep their covenant with God and were removed from the land.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The idea that we must support the modern nation of Israel because God promised Israel the land “for all time” and therefore God is keeping his promise to this day with “modern Israel” is not beneficially sound.
Israel was left for desolation and destruction by God or as Paul would put, the natural branches “Israel” were not spared.
Romans 11:20–21 (ESV)
20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Endnotes
Endnotes
5 Reasons Christians Should Always Support Israel by Jentezen Franklin (https://www.jpost.com/christianworld/article-698962)
8 Biblical Reasons To Stand With Israel Today by Jack Hayford (https://firmisrael.org/learn/8-biblical-reasons-stand-with-israel-today/)