PREFACE
Due to the delicate nature of this subject, I intend to introduce this series differently than previous ones. Though the material in this series originates from a study I conducted roughly 4 years ago, the subject of Israel holds a different connotation today in Canada than it did back then. In return, I approach this series with hesitation, given the recent developments surrounding the war in Gaza after the heinous attacks from Hamas on October 7th and the strong reactions from those aligned with either side. I questioned whether this was the right moment to continue our earlier series, given the sensitivities surrounding it in light of the wave of protests sweeping countries around the world—including Canada—and the fact that even our own government officials have begun weighing in, many expressing sympathy for the Palestinians. This has been evident in the Palestinian flag being flown in cities such as Toronto and Calgary, a clear sign of their affiliations. That, and of course, the sheer amount of Jew hatred that has infected our society.
As I just noted, I acknowledge that today, a discussion about Israel can be particularly delicate. Even so, our purpose here is not political analysis but a theological examination. It is an attempt to give an overview of Israel’s relationship to Jesus and the conclusions that follow. Despite the objections of some, my aim is not to incite or encourage hostility toward the Jewish people. My desire is simply to engage others with theological questions that some consider off‑limits even prior to the October 7th events, and I do so believing that these are matters Christians and others should thoughtfully contemplate even if some of these are considered banished in certain ecclesiastical contexts. It is a natural continuation from our last series which focused upon the Gentiles. I acknowledge that affirming Jesus Christ as Israel’s Messiah may be objectionable to individuals within both the Jewish and Islamic traditions. Yet, I firmly believe that Jesus’ coming in the first century did not overturn the teachings of the Old Testament—whether in the Torah or beyond—but fulfilled them and has brought hope to the physical descendants of Abraham and to the whole world.
INTRODUCTION
While the biblical writers focused much of their attention on God’s interaction with individuals such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and others, as we saw in our last series, there is no small amount of revelation devoted to the providence of God in relation to future of the nations. What Scripture tells us about different ethnic groups is deeply significant—not only for understanding God’s work in the past, but also for recognizing what awaits us as we move toward His glorious hope. God has a plan for the nations and the various individuals within them. While our previous study lead us to consider the state of the nations in scripture and what to expect for their future in relation to the victory of Christ, we will now move to focusing our attention upon a particular nation. This is the nation that, in a primary sense, received God’s focus and attention throughout much of the Bible—namely, Israel.
The significance of Israel cannot be downplayed in God’s plan when one filters through the pages of the Holy Scriptures. Since I first began attending church over twenty years ago, I’ve often been told that if we want to understand the times we’re living in—and what lies ahead in this age—we must look to Israel. We must be grounded in a biblical insight of the future of Israel to find our place in God’s story. There are many expectations described in scripture for this nation, and these are instrumental in God’s plan. These same individuals who attempted to teach me about the end-times were quite adamant in endorsing the idea that proper biblical interpretation, especially in understanding the nature of the church, church practice and biblical eschatology, needed to be contrasted with God’s plan for Israel. Further, reading and interpreting the scriptures was only accomplished when we keep the Church and Israel apart as two separate people of God with distinct purposes. According to their view, whenever the Bible refers to Israel—or to related identifiers such as Judah or the House of Jacob—those references should be applied to the direct physical descendants of Abraham. To deviate from this primary interpretive framework, they argued, was to open the door to liberalism and a distorted view of God’s purposes and plan. This was especially important when we considered the promises related to the Covenant made with Abraham in Genesis 12, 15 and 17. According to them, the greatest error in biblical interpretation is to confuse these promises and apply them to the church—especially the land promises. They were adamant that the blessings for the Old Testament people of God that have not been “fulfilled”, and this completion will only happen in the future once the church is raptured away from this earth and God’s focuses His attention on His chosen nation. We intend to show that the message of the New Testament actually points in the opposite direction. We will argue that, according to the New Testament, the promises given to Israel find their ultimate realization in a fulfillment that also involves their expansion.
APPROACH
In our previous study on the future of the nations, we followed an interpretive approach that read Old Testament references through the lens of their New Testament fulfillment. Our method involved reading Old Testament texts in light of Christological fulfillment, understanding their promises as shadows or types made clear in the New Testament. Our hope is to continue that approach in this series as well. We will pose questions such as: How does the New Testament spell out the fulfilment of those Old Testament promises about the future blessings of Israel? How are they related to a fulfillment in Jesus Christ? Our central thesis, then, is that Jesus Christ is the true and final Israel, and that believers—by virtue of their union with Him—become the true Israel and heirs of God’s Old Testament blessings and promises. Regardless of ethnicity, everyone united to Christ as His church receives these promises whether Jew or Gentile.
WHAT MAKES ISRAEL, ISRAEL?
Prior to delving into our series, we should lay out an important consideration as it pertains to the identity of the Israel of God. Our effort to show that Jesus is Israel—and that the church, as His body, shares that identity—will rely not primarily on explicit statements but on strong New Testament inferences. There are no explicit statements per say that come out and make the claim in our assertion. However, just because something is not explicitly stated in scriptures doesn’t mean it can’t be implicitly defined. So, let’s posit the following question and consider the nature of the Israel of God and the driving force behind our claim: What exactly makes Israel, Israel? What are the unique attributes that identify this nation and sets it apart in scripture from all other nations? A definition of the term “Israel” to the modern 21st century Christian is generally associated with the state of Israel, a democratic nation located in the middle east. These are citizens living in a country north of Egypt, a nation which many Christians in North America today believe was “reborn” in 1948 after the United Nations approved a plan to officially declare Israel as an independent state. So, they are thinking largely in terms of a geographical/political definition with the term. While there are important demographical considerations in scripture of the land, the primary reflection requires us to focus upon an ancestral and theological definition. We need to think about the attributes that define ‘Israel” under the Old Testament and most importantly, in the New Testament. While there are MANY defining features to the identity of Israel, we will address characteristics that are unique to Israel such as that they are the descendants of Abraham, recipients of the promises, especially the land promises, the law, a unique priesthood, a unique temple associated with its exclusive worship and the markers of its citizenship within that land.
BEFORE MOVING ON
As I mentioned earlier, there are present day discussions being held on modern-day Israel and their identity as God’s people. While some of these conversations are theological, the majority tend to lend themselves to the political spectrum. Some pledge their undying support for the modern state of Israel politically based upon their understanding of the bible’s revelation about those called “Israel”. On the other side, you have individuals repudiating the claims of Israel’s favoured position in God’s plan through the political actions of the State of Israel in our day, and in the form of antisemitic conspiracy theories. In both instances, they are using the current news to interpret the question of Israel’s identity. I want to remind our readers that our focus in this series is entirely theological. On the one hand we repudiate the accusations of Israel’s attempts at world domination but at the same time we recognize that today’s Judaism (in most of its forms) is a completely different rendition of Judaism than what we read in the Old Testament. Talmudic Judaism unquestionably teaches some blasphemous doctrines that should offend and be rejected openly by the average Christian[1]. We do not believe that modern-day Israel is currently God’s chosen people but a people who have turned away from their God and His chosen Messiah, yet we believe there is still hope for them. We believe that one day, as the church became Israel in Christ, Israel will be a part of the church in Him. These promises have been muddied by those who attribute them exclusively to the physical descendants of Abraham while most Christians have not recognized that should attribute these promises to themselves. Our purpose is to find a balance where we see the promises to Israel as fulfilled in Jesus which trickle down to the believers in Jesus Christ. If Christians are the people of God, through Jesus Christ, those who receive the promises, then why do we grant them to another people? As our readers will see, we believe there is still a bright future in God’s plan for Israel and salvation available to the physical descendants of the patriarchs.
In the first part of this series, we will re-evaluate the Abrahamic Covenant and how it relates to the promises to Israel.
[1] Such as Jesus identified as a sorcerer and a false prophet who is in hell in a pool of boiling increment.
The Moncton Herald 