Buff Scott Jr.
Sophomore
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2023
- Messages
- 238
- Reaction score
- 73
- Points
- 28
Which Israel In The Grace Era Is
Recognized By God?
Recognized By God?
Pre-Note— It is my conviction that believers in this grace era comprise Israel of the Promise. I have affirmed, and continue to affirm, that because of old Israel’s chronic rebelliousness and whoredom, her husband, God, divorced her and that this rejection—divorce—was formally finalized in A. D. 67-70 when God utilized the Roman Army to remove her as His once favored wife or divine nation. Please give me your attention.—Buff.
<><><>
In Romans 9:1-5, the great apostle Paul expressed his concern and love for his fellow fleshly Jews. He begins to explain and clarify, starting with verse 6.
“But it is not as though the word of God has failed,” he writes. “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means it is not the children of the flesh [old Israel] who are [today] the children of God, but the children of the promise [God made to Abraham] are counted as offspring.”
The true seed or children of Abraham today are children of the promise, a spiritual Israel, rather than of the flesh, for “In Isaac shall your seed be called” [Gen. 21:12].
To put it another way, Paul is clearly saying there is another Israel greater than old Israel. God’s other Israel is comprised of the children of the promise—believers in the Messiah. Consequently, all of those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Messiah, whether Jew or Gentile, may very well be called the “Israel of God,” or God’s holy nation, or spiritual Jews. Paul, in writing to Christian believers at Galatia, spoke of them [Christian believers] as the “Israel of God” [Gal. 6:16].
“Spiritual Jews”? Yes. “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly...No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly” [Rom. 2:28-29]. To be a Jew inwardly translates into being a spiritual Jew.
Peter writes to Christian believers, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession” [I Peter 2:9]. Our God does not have two chosen races, two chosen priesthoods, two holy nations, or two holy peoples. Simply speaking, National Israel in the Middle East is not a holy nation, not even potentially, nor is she a chosen race or people. Old Israel once was, but no longer, because God formally divorced her in A. D. 67-70, during which time her Temple, her sacrifices, her rituals, her ceremonies, her feast days, her form of religious and political government, her Holy City Jerusalem, her dominion, and her kingdom were amputated.
There’s no way to avoid the reality of the biblical testimony. God no longer recognizes natural Jews or National Israel as His elected nation and chosen people. “Israel” is still God’s elected nation, but not old Israel. It is the Israel of the Promise, the redeemed community. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” [Col. 3:1].
Paul addresses these words to Christian believers, not to the Jewish community or to the Jewish nation, and calls them “God’s chosen people.” God has only one holy nation in His domain [1 Peter 2:9]. It is not National Israel. Under Jesus, only those who have been born anew compose God’s holy nation, which is spiritual in nature—not National.
After much patience and longsuffering with old Israel, God disowned her as His once-beloved wife. I see fleshly Israel in the Middle East as a counterfeit copy of God’s once-beloved nation. It was formally over in A. D. 70 for old Israel as a divine nation! God had had enough of His one-time wife who persisted in spiritual adultery. She had become a stiff-neck people. “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers—you always resist the Holy Spirit” [Acts 7:51].
Even Jesus foretold of the disaster that would come upon His one-time wife when He said, “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near...They [Jews] will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations” [Luke 21:20-24]. Jesus made it plain that all this punishment that came upon the Jews was “in fulfillment of all that has been written” [v. 22]. The path of old Israel had ended, never to rise again as God’s favorite nation.
But is God finished with Jews as a race? Absolutely not! No more than He is finished with Gentiles as a race. God has not forsaken Jews or Gentiles. He wants all of them to come to His Son for deliverance and salvation. For the time may come when God will “graft them [Jews] in again...if they do not persist in unbelief” [Rom. 11:23].
My entire thrust in this feature has been that He is finished with the Jews as a holy people and nation or as a religious and political State. We ought to accept the reality that God has only one “Israel” today, and she is the family or one body of believers [Eph. 4:4].
Do I believe National Israel in the Middle East has a right to exist? Certainly! As an established State or Country, National Israel has every right in the world to not only exist but to defend herself against her enemies. And should the Arab Palestinians ever be given a State of their own, whether by diplomatic negotiations or by the State of Israel granting them land they [Israel] now occupy, the attacks on Israel should cease. If they do not, Israel should wipe them off the face of the earth.
