When Israel is led out of Egypt, they meet God, the LORD, at Mount Sinai. There, God makes a covenant with Israel, comparable to a marriage contract. This covenant is accompanied by extreme manifestations, so much so that the people refuse to listen to the voice of God and ask Moses to act as a kind of mediator. All this can be read in chapters 19 and 20 of the book of Exodus. If we zoom in on what God had to say to the people, we find the following text:
3And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. 5Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
(Exodus 19:4-6)
We have in previous chapters read about how Israel was led out of Egypt and how God dealt with Pharaoh and his army. When the people finally arrived at Mt. Sinai, the first thing God did through Moses was to challenge the people to be His representatives in the world. Because of sin, the world was under the control of darkness and Satan and his cronies, and Israel was to be the only people that God would bring back under His rule. Israel was to serve as a kingdom of priests, a holy people set apart for God who would be uniquely devoted to Him. However, there are two conditions that Israel must fulfill, namely, to listen to what God has to say, and to abide by it, that is, to submit. The words “if” and “then” in the verse make it clear that the covenant offered is conditional. If Israel is willing to do this, then they may be God’s people.
As we read through the Bible, one thing that becomes very clear is that the vast majority of the people were not willing to meet the conditions that were set, they refused to be different from the other nations around them, with the result that God broke the covenant or marriage contract. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah, among others, point this out. Just the texts:
1Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
(Isaiah 50:1)
8And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 9And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
(Jeremiah 3:8-9)
Both texts show that God, after being confronted with the disobedience of the people for a considerable period of time, decides to end the marriage covenant of Exodus and to give Israel a certificate of divorce. Only under very strict conditions could there be a restoration, which required the death of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 8, Paul explains this by quoting the promise of a new covenant from Jeremiah 31:31-34. So the new covenant is in Christ, for all who believe, first for the Jews, but later also for all other nations who were not part of the first covenant.
The question to be asked today is whether the claim that today’s Jewish people can still be considered the people of God can be sustained. Today’s Israel is overwhelmingly composed of atheists, a much smaller proportion of believing Jews, and only a very small percentage of Christians. Today’s Israel is one of the leading countries in terms of abortion and homosexuality, things that are explicitly against the commandments of God, but that is not all. In the book of Proverbs we find a number of things that God hates, one of which is the shedding of innocent blood:
16These six things doth the LORD hate:
Yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17A proud look, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
18An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
Feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19A false witness that speaketh lies,
And he that soweth discord among brethren.
(Proverbs 6:16-19)
If Israel decides to bomb the Palestinian area of Gaza in 2023, not only will Hamas fighters be affected, but women and children will be the most affected, and the infrastructure will be destroyed, while the number of Hamas fighters does not seem to decrease, but seems to increase. Simply scattering bombs in an area where civilians live, among whom are also many Christians, is tantamount to shedding innocent blood and, as in the Old Testament, will ultimately result in God’s judgment. If God said goodbye to ancient Israel because they did not fulfill the terms of the covenant, the same is true today. What I think is worse is that many professing Christians approve of what Israel is doing in Gaza and also in the West Bank. I even hear rumors that people in Christian circles are suggesting that Israel is doing what was once required by God in the time of Moses, namely to exterminate Amelek; the Palestinians would in this view represent Amelek. The suggestion that the Palestinians would represent Amelek is based on nothing; Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ have nothing to do with Amelek. By agreeing to this war violence, there is blood on the hands of these people who call themselves Christians, I cannot see it otherwise.
15And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. 16Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
(Isaiah 1:15-20)
Receiving forgiveness is clearly conditional; we receive the blessing if we are willing, but if we are unwilling, we come under the curse. Repentance is the necessary condition for receiving forgiveness; if we do not repent, the bloodguiltiness remains upon us with all its consequences. Turning our backs on innocent people, even if they are Palestinians, is a sin; only repentance brings forgiveness. This is what God says in Isaiah:
1Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. 3For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
(Isaiah 59:1-3)
God’s heart is clearly set on salvation, but not without conditions. We must repent.
This is what Jesus taught:
9Blessed are the peacemakers:
for they shall be called the children of God.
(Matthew 5:9)
