God's Chosen People Part 3
The Israel Debate • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
We have this month taken time to discuss “The Israel Debate” that has become such a focus over the last several months.
The questions we have set out to answer is, “Are Christians required to support modern Israel?”
To answer this we first had to determine what “God’s Chosen People” meant and now means.
It used to mean the nation of Israel that God raised up and gave the promised land to (Ezekiel 16:6-9; Genesis 12:1-3).
However, the nation of Israel broke it’s covenant with God which was a condition of it keeping the promised land (Joshua 23:15-16; Jeremiah 11:10).
God promised and prophesied that he would establish a “new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
That new covenant, the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13) which is the church (Hebrews 12:28), was established making the church “God’s Chosen People” now.
Colossians 3:12 (ESV)
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved…
If Christians are “God’s Chosen Ones” then why are so many demanding that Christians support Israel “as God’s chosen people still?”
So, this morning we are going to explore some of the most common reasons given for why Christians “must support modern Israel” by those who profess such.
Jesus Demanded Support
Jesus Demanded Support
Salvation Is Of The Jews.
Salvation Is Of The Jews.
One of the most often quoted scripture comes from Jesus’ own words found in John 4 when he was talking with the Samaritan woman.
Specifically in John 4:22 Jesus says to the woman who asked who was right in their place of worship the Samaritans or the Jews.
John 4:22 (NKJV)
22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
This is then tied to the fact that the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 is still in force.
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.”
“…the ‘Promised Land’ belongs to the Jews in belief and unbelief, in obedience and in disobedience, forever. (It is an unconditional promise, with no time limits or conditions.)…I believe, as an Evangelical Christian, that the Jewish return to their current homeland in the twentieth century was, and is, a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.” Dr. Richard D. Land 1
We have already showed how this promise was conditional and not blanked to the Israelites.
That this promise was “not unconditional” but “conditional.”
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.”
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.
So what about what Jesus said that “salvation is of the Jews.”
A quick look at other translations demonstrates what the KJV and NKJV lack in translation.
22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
22 “You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
22 Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
There is no doubt that “salvation came from the Jews” as it was the nation of Israel, the Jews, that Jesus was born into.
The question is did salvation “stay with the Jews” and we know that is not the case, it moved to the church Christ established made up of both Jews and Gentiles.
Galatians 3:28 (ESV)
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Summary
Summary
Salvation certainly came from the Jews in Christ as Peter declared in Acts 4:12…
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
However, salvation did not continue with the Jews “alone” as is made obvious by the Jewish Christian’s demand to follow the Law of Moses and that being rejected by the apostles, elders, and local Christians in Acts 15.
Another common if not baffling argument resides in declaring…
The Jewish Root
The Jewish Root
Gentile Branches From The Jew Root.
Gentile Branches From The Jew Root.
The argument is clearly given by Jack Hayford who would write in his article “8 Reasons To Stand With Israel Today.”
“In Romans 9-11, the apostle Paul deals specifically with the question of the Jews’ role in God’s providence and purpose. Within the whole of the Bible, these three chapters virtually stand alone as an elaboration of the theology of God’s dealing with Jews. The Jews were the first fruit—the first people (through Abraham) to understand a covenant God. Then, they relayed the riches of that truth to the world, and through their agency the Messiah came into the world. The Word of God calls Jews the “root” and Gentiles the “branches” (Rom. 11:16-27).” 2
Let’s read Romans 11:16-23.
Romans 11:16–17 (ESV)
16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,
Romans 11:18–19 (ESV)
18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
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.
Romans 11:22–23 (ESV)
22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
Now notice that Israel is not the “root” but the “natural branches” and those branches were broken off became of their unbelief (Romans 11:20). Who is the root, Jesus of course, not the Jews.
John 15:5 (ESV)
5 I am the vine; you are the branches…
The argument continues however in the following text in Romans 11:26-27…
All Israel Will Be Saved.
All Israel Will Be Saved.
Let’s read Romans 11:26-27.
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; 27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
Again this passage is taken out of context with the rest of the book as Paul already declared what a “true Israelite” is.
Notice what Paul said earlier in Romans 2:28-29.
Romans 2:28–29 (ESV)
28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Summary
Summary
This is why “all Israel will be saved” because today when on obeys the gospel and is added to the kingdom of Christ, the church, they become “spiritual Israel” i.e., God’s chosen people.
It is no longer a “physical nation of Israel” that God supports with earthly lands but spiritual Israel as it was always intended.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Now next week we will discuss Professionalism's role in this and take time to dive into that doctrine.
But for today this is sufficient to demonstrate the inconsistencies and misrepresentations of God’s word to fit agendas rather than rightly handling God’s word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
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
https://www.christianpost.com/news/why-do-so-many-evangelicals-so-strongly-support-israel.html
https://firmisrael.org/learn/8-biblical-reasons-stand-with-israel-today/