Is there an issue that divides the Church more than modern day Israel? So divisive and emotionally charged is this issue that I have personally seen or heard of many relationships broken over it. Brothers and sisters become enemies over it, hurling accusations of antisemitism and false prophets and apostasy, etc. As seekers of the truth we can't avoid it, as many churches do. So what is the truth? Was Israel reestablished in 1948 by God, for God's “chosen people” as most people believe? Are the people in modern day Israel descendants of Abraham, and if so does that entitle them to the ancient land of Israel? Are they supposed to rebuild the temple and await the Messiah for their salvation? Should Christians aid them in defending the land and continued settlement building? We'll answer these questions and more, all from the Holy Bible.
Was Israel reestablished in 1948 by God:
The political nation state of Israel declared its statehood in 1948, about a week after it had begun an ethnic cleansing operation against the non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine*. America, against the advice of some of its wisest leaders**, recognized the new state, despite the campaign of terror they were waging against the Palestinians. The Zionist political state, at birth showing its true nature, should have been a warning that kept a wise country from recognizing them. America's one-sided actions for the political state of Israel have continued to this day. Many religious leaders in America believe if America doesn't support modern day Israel, in whatever they do, God will destroy America***.
** http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/savelives.html http://www.countercurrents.org/gates060410.htm
Despite the absolute support of modern day Israel from the George W. Bush administration, including more arms and money than ever before. Despite a refusal to push Israel for serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians, and to stop the illegal settlement building activities, America has declined rapidly. It's engaged in two major wars with Islamic countries and several other minor combat missions, and is bankrupt, its economy in tatters, and its military personnel are strained to the breaking point. If this is God's favor for supporting “Israel” unquestionably, I would really hate to see His Wrath!
Of course these Christian Zionist religious leaders are wrong in their beliefs about modern day Israel, and in fact America's blind support for Israel is leading to America's destruction. Further, the start of WWIII is as close as an attack on Iran that these Zionist maniacs, masquerading as men of God, are screaming for!
As true disciples of Christ, we are not supposed to be aiding in building kingdoms of the earth, we are awaiting the kingdom to come, ruled by Jesus Christ. If it was God who reestablished Israel in 1948, why would He give it to unbelievers, whose purpose is to rebuild a Temple to begin animal sacrifices so that they can be ceremonially clean? Isn't this a repudiation of Jesus' work on the cross, a further act of rebellion?
Christian Zionists never ask why, nor do they have any answers for these questions:
Why would unbelievers be brought back to Israel by God? The Bible is clear, that repentance always precedes God's blessings.
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
If we, as believers, are the true Temple of God, and together we are lively stones being brought together to form a spiritual house, with Jesus Christ as the Corner stone, the true Temple of God, what purpose would God have to bring the unbelievers back to historical Israel to rebuild a physical temple?
I Corinthians 3:16:
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
I Peter 2:5:
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Luke 20:17:
And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? 18 Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Revelation of John 3:12:
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Are the Jews in modern day Israel still “God's chosen people”?
As hard as it is to understand and accept, with the ubiquitous Zionist influence of the news, church and public education, today's Jews are unbelievers, condemned to die in their sins, condemned to a fate worse than death by unbelief:
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 8:24:
I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
These verses are straight forward and clear, everyone that has died from Christ's first coming to the end of time, who have rejected Christ as the Messiah, will die in their sins. Dispensationalists and others have tried to twist the simple teaching to say there are other ways of salvation, but I know of no other way, nor would I bet eternity on it!
Therefore, to say a condemned people are God's “chosen people” is to twist the Words of Jesus, and the Apostles:
Ephesians 1:4
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
II Thessalonians 2:13:
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
I Peter 2:9:
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Revelation of John 17:14:
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Mat 22:11 - 14
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
But many will still say the “Jews” are God's chosen people!
I say to that, who is a Jew?
Romans 2:28:
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Revelation of John 3:9:
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
The verses above make it clear that the true Jew, the true Chosen of God are so because of their faith in Jesus Christ, not by birth or good works or any other reason, faith in Christ alone!
But, God gave the land to Israel:
The promises, meaning the land and all the other blessings, were/are based on this scripture:
Gen 12:1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
This promise was given to Abraham, and God did indeed make of him a great nation. Abraham's faith was and is a great blessing to all of us who believe, he was the first man who trusted almighty God and God not only blessed him, but he became God's friend!
James 2:23:
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
And Jesus said the same about His disciples:
John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
God gave the land to Abraham's descendants, and took it away, and gave it back again, and took it away, and it is dizzying to think about it, but, God is the same forever and ever, the disobedient will be punished and those that humble themselves and repent will be brought back into the Kingdom of God.
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
The last time God punished the Jews was the most severe, Jesus pronounced the curse and the reason for it to the Jews in Jerusalem at the end of Matthew 23, He also gave them the only way to redemption, to recognize that He was indeed, their Messiah.
Mat 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mat 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the
altar.
Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Mat 23:39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Until they that rejected Him repent and say, “you are the Son of God, our Messiah, blessed are you that came in the name of the Lord”, and then they too can enter into the Kingdom! This is God's marvelous plan for all, this is the truth about salvation, only through Jesus Christ, this is what Paul meant when he said:
Rom 11:1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
By God's Grace, He made a way, the way, to be reconciled unto Him, through faith in His only begotten Son! Although He sent Jesus to the Jew first, He still fulfilled all the promises to Abraham:
Gen 12:3 … and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
All families, all people, all races, everyone that will repent and believe on Jesus Christ and overcome to the end will be saved! And all the promises made to Abraham and his seed are fulfilled through Jesus Christ as the Scriptures testify:
Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Gal 3:17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
Gal 3:18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe.
The promises, the land, all the rest are not by law, or by birth, but by faith in Christ ONLY!
Rom 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Rom 4:14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
To say I am a descendant of Abraham and therefore all the promises are mine by virtue of that fact is false, the Scriptures are more than clear on this:
Luk 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
What is the true Israel of God?
Is it the land now called Palestine, where there is no peace and the condemned unbelievers devise ever harsher treatment to try and break the spirits of those who refuse to leave? No, the true Israel of God is spiritual, like the Kingdom of God, which flesh and blood cannot enter, as represented in Romans 11. Paul explains that the Israel of God is likened to an olive tree and that unbelievers are like branches “broken off”, and believers are “graffed in”:
Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Rom 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Rom 11:23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Rom 11:24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
The Key to any present or future blessings or promises, is faith in the only begotten Son of God, the Messiah! If you read the above verses, you'll see it says that very same thing twice! Verses 20 and 23. It isn't that God has replaced Israel with the Church, it is that He has taken unbelievers out of His Israel and put believers in. Unbelievers are condemned, period!
Now listen closely brothers and sisters, you are the true Jew by faith in Christ! You are part of the true Israel of God by faith in Christ! The true Temple of God is the believer who is being fitted together with other believers to form it, with Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone! If the Zionists or Dispensationalists want to call that “Replacement Theology” so be it, they are blind and are leading the blind into the ditch along with themselves! They seek a physical kingdom and we seek a spiritual one, and the twain shall never meet.
My dear brothers and sisters, rejoice today and forever for what Jesus Christ did for us, for the whole world, for all who repent, obey and believe, our hearts circumcised by rebirth through the Holy Spirit, we have become the true Jews in God's eyes. For all those that are in unbelief, they are now gentiles in God's eyes, whether they are physical descendants of Abraham or not. Walking after the flesh, their hearts turned to stone and eyes and ears closed. They've made the lies of false doctrine their refuge. They are Spiritually dead because they've rejected God's only begotten Son, they should expect nothing but condemnation and a fearful ending when the Lord judges them. All those that further the lies of Zionism, and the rest of these damnable heresies should expect the same fate, because you've led God's people astray.
Amen!
Daniel Mark
