The great question, which is particularly relevant today, is whether present-day Israel, the Jewish people, is the people of God. Since the outbreak of the war with Hamas, we have been urged from various quarters to stand with Israel on the grounds that Israel is the people of God, that the present state of Israel is the fulfilment of Old Testament promises.
The big question that keeps coming up for me is whether this position, namely that present-day Israel is God’s people and should have our unconditional support, is biblically correct.
Let’s look at a few Bible passages.
If we go back to the covenant at Sinai, a kind of marriage covenant in which God accepts Israel as his people, we read in Exodus 19 that it is not a covenant without conditions. Just the wording:
Exodus 19:3-6
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.
The word “if” clearly indicates that in order to be God’s people, His precious possession, they must then abide by the conditions set before them.
We know from the Bible that things immediately went wrong for Israel when they decided to make a golden calf. See Exodus 32. By doing so they immediately broke the covenant
In announcing that God will make a new covenant, Jeremiah says the following in Jeremiah 31:31-34:
31Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
The question that needs to be asked is who are they who can legitimately claim this new covenant, is it still Israel or do we need to look further afield? It is clear from the text that both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken this old covenant, so a new covenant is needed.
When Paul quotes this text from Jeremiah in his Epistle to the Hebrews, he adds the following in Hebrews 8:6-8;13
6But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
13In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
So the new covenant is a better covenant, and rests on better promises. In the first covenant, the law was written on tablets of stone; in the second, the New Covenant, the law is written on our hearts.
Note: A house is meant as a dwelling place, in this case a dwelling place for God, so the true House of Israel is the place where the LORD dwells in the midst of the people, and that is the reality in which the Church is standing, because the Spirit of God dwells in it.
We need to go back for a moment to the fundamentals that we find in the person of Abraham. In several places God makes promises to Abraham for himself and his descendants. But what was so special about the person and life of Abraham? In Genesis 26:4-5 we read God’s statement to Isaac about Abraham:
4and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 5because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
What is said here about Abraham is characterizing him. If we are to be seen as descendants, we must have the same characteristics. Listening to the voice of God and obeying His service, His covenant, His laws, was characterising Abraham and is therefore also characterising the one who wants to be seen as Abraham’s descendant. In Romans 4:11, Abraham is also called the father of uncircumcised believers, typical here is the “faith that was counted to him for righteousness”. So anyone who has the faith of Abraham can be counted as a descendant. Israel under the old covenant did not fulfil the conditions and was facing a series of judgments. It began with the removal of the promise that they would be a kingdom of priests, but later there were all the hostile attacks, later the division of the empire, later the various exile periods, and finally the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in the year 70 and thus the final end of all the ceremonies associated with the Old Covenant and the temple. Deep down there was only one reason for this, unbelief leading to disobedience.
The question now is whether present-day Israel fulfils these conditions. The population is overwhelmingly atheist, that is, they do not believe in God, only a minority practice Judaism as a religion, and an even smaller minority are Christians, mostly under the heading of Messianic Jews. Does this mean that Israel exists based on faith, or just the opposite?
We are going to look at a number of passages in the New Testament that show us what the people of God, the children of God, have to fulfill in order to be considered Abraham’s descendants.
John 1:11-13
11He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 3:3; 5-8
3Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Galatians 3:16; 29
16Now 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.
29And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. zijt, dan zijt gij zaad van Abraham, en naar de belofte erfgenamen.
Romans 9:6-8
6Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Romans 10:1-5
1Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 5For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
1 Peter 2:9-10
9But 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: 10which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Revelation 5:9-10
9And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10
and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
The above is only a small selection. To be considered Abraham’s descendants, we must have Abraham’s faith, we must be born of the Spirit, we must be in Christ. In the end, Jesus Christ is the only one who fulfils all the conditions. In the Talmud the Jews claim that they will one day reign with the Messiah, but the New Testament clearly shows a different picture. Revelation 20:4 makes it clear who will be allowed to reign with Christ:
4And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Many claims that Israel, the Jewish people, are the people of God cannot be sustained on the basis of the Bible. If we go along with this thinking, however sincere it may be, we are being robbed of our identity which we have received in Christ, we are being deprived of the inheritance which goes with it, and we are allowing disbelief which will ultimately lead to us not walking in accordance with that which God has for us in the Bible. Modern day Israel does not meet the requirements, nor can they rely on the so-called Bible promises regarding the land to which they believe they are entitled. God sent the Jews into the world at the beginning of our era, this was God’s judgement because of unbelief and disobedience linked to the rejection of Jesus Christ, only those Jews who meet the requirements would have a claim, and these are clearly stated in Deuteronomy 30:1-3:
1And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, 2and shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; 3that then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
Having said that, the Bible says this about the promises God has made in 2 Corinthians 1:20
20For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Apart from Jesus Christ, there is nothing to claim for anyone either, He is the heir of all promises (Hebrews 1:2), He is the only legitimate owner of the land, and this land is the place where the New Jerusalem will descend and where we, the followers of Jesus Christ, will be allowed to dwell.
Revelation 21:1-8
1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
