| It is bewildering how so many today choose the unbiblical path of antisemitism, Replacement Theology, etc., when there are so many wonderful things to learn about the nature and character of God by examining His relationship with Israel.
Deuteronomy 7:6-8
“For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
There are a multitude of wonderful lessons for us to learn from these verses, but there is something we need to recognize in order for us to see them. When God makes a statement to Israel that is based solely on His nature and character, we, as the church, are free to embrace that aspect of His nature and character as applicable to us as well. Why? He is the Lord and He does not change.
Think about the above passage in Deuteronomy. Israel is called a chosen people and special treasure among all the peoples of the earth.
1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Israel is a chosen people, and the church is a chosen people. Israel is a special treasure, and the church is His own special people. These, and other things, are true because they are based on the nature and character of God and they apply to all who believe.
The main thing, however, we need to remember and learn from Israel is that God is Omniscient. This, too, is part of His nature. Omniscient means “all knowing”. That means that when God chose to set His love on Israel, He did so with full disclosure. In other words, He knew full well what would happen in the future. He knew they would complain soon after plundering the Egyptians and ending over 400 years of enslavement.
Exodus 16:2-3
Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Numbers 21:4-5
Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”
It was after ten plagues, the last of which killed the firstborn of all livestock and humans in the homes of those who did not apply the blood of a lamb to the doorposts and lintels of their home. It was after watching the Red Sea close over the pursuing Egyptian army, and after being fed miraculously each day and having had water supplied through supernatural means. It was after all those demonstrations of God’s great power that the Israelites said, “We had it better as slaves in Egypt.” God knew all this would happen before He ever chose them. He also knows all about each of us and yet called us chosen as well.
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God demonstrated His love through the death of His Son while we were yet sinners. He knew that after He saved us we would, at times, question His timing, not obey His word, and walk in the flesh on occasion. Yet we can look back to the history of Israel and see that what Paul wrote to Timothy has always been true about our God:
2 Timothy 2:13
If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
No Christian today should be denying that modern Israel is Biblical Israel. Every Christian should be rejoicing in the fact that there is a modern Israel, because God keeps His word and all of it is true. He promised to bring them back into the land and He did. If He did not do so then He did not fulfill Ezekiel 37, and Jeremiah 31 isn’t true:
Jeremiah 31:35-37
Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): “If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the LORD: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD.”
If God cast off Israel for all they have done and the Lord does not change, then that means He can cast off the church as well.
But our God is faithful! He cannot deny Himself. He knew all about the Jews before He chose them and He knew all about the church before He chose them. What He chose to do for both is save them through the blood of His only begotten Son which is pictured in the Passover Lamb that allowed the Israelites to exit from Egypt.
We should celebrate the fact that after nearly 2000 years the Jews are back in their national homeland and rejoice that it proves, no matter how long it takes, God is faithful to His word.
If you are in a season of waiting today, hang on and don’t give up. God is faithful to His word and He has called you, as a believer, His chosen and special people.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus |
