What does God say about Israel? Over the centuries the church had much to say about Spiritual Israel. But what does God say? Has He rejected Jacob-Israel due to rebelliousness? Has He subsequently changed Israel’s identity to a Gentile-dominated Spiritual Israel, as many mainline churches teach? That would be highly problematic given the clear promises found in the Old Testament.
So, what does God say about Israel? Let the Bible speak.
Blessing and cursing Israel
Supersessionists don’t see Gen 12:1-3 as Israel-centric, but rather those in Christ (the church). They usually appeal to Gal 3:16 and the seed, singular (meaning Christ) as if it somehow refutes the Zionist position. However later OT passages make it clear that Gen 12:3 refers to Jacob-Israel.
God says to Abram: I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Gen 12:1-3
Isaac blessed Jacob-Israel: Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!“ Gen 27:29
Balaam refused to curse Israel.
God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” Num 22:12
Read from verse 5 for context (Jacob-Israel): He crouched, he lay down like a lion and like a lioness; who will rouse him up? Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you.“ Num 24:5-9
Leviticus
Supersessionists use Leviticus 26 as proof that God abandoned Israel because of its disobedience. Lev 26:1-39 issues dire warnings and consequences. But at verse 40 we find a change where God says that “if” they confess their iniquity and humble themselves, He will restore them. In fact God goes on to promise:
Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.” Lev 26:44-45
In “Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict” Michael Rydelnik notes that Israel’s ownership of the Land is unconditional. It is the enjoyment of the land that is conditional to obedience. That is the contrast we find in Lev 26.
Deuteronomy
We again find the idea of blessing and cursing in Deut 30:1-10. And there we see the promise that God will redeem Israel along with a dire warning for its enemies:
And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you..
…the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the LORD your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD and keep all his commandments that I command you today.
Isaiah
Isaiah 59:20-21 promises that a Redeemer will come to Zion to those in Jacob, and a remembrance of God’s Covenant with Israel, plus a promise concerning God’s Spirit and words not departing from them.
Anti-Zionists will find much of Isaiah 60 offensive to their supersessionist sensibilities. For example, Israel-Jacob shall suck the milk of nations and nurse at the breast of kings (v 16). And this:
The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age. Isaiah 60:14-15
Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. Isaiah 60:21
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. Isaiah 62:1)
Jeremiah and the Psalms
In Jeremiah chapters 30, 31 and 33 we see an ongoing confirmation of the above. In Jer 30, God affirms His everlasting love and faithfulness to Israel (v 3). Then in Jer 31:31-37 God promises to make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jer 31:33
God then affirms:
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar – the LORD of hosts is his name:
“If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.”
“If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.” Jer 31:35-37
In Jer 33:24 God asks:
Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The LORD has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.
Sound familiar? God repeats the same cosmic order everlasting nation promise in the next verse. In light of this comparison, it is worth remembering Psalm 148. Of the cosmos, the psalmist writes:
Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. Psalm 148:5-6
For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession. Psalm 135:4
Note Psalm 136: God’s steadfast love for Israel endures forever! Also Psalm 98, and many others.
Ezekiel 36
There isn’t space to fully explore Ezekiel 36. For that, I recommend David Guzik’s exposition HERE. But briefly, God vows to redeem Israel for His name’s sake. He will put His Spirit into them and restore them to their Land.
Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach. Ezek 36:6-7
But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. Ezek 36:21-22
I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. Ezek 36:24-28
Last thoughts
This post barely scratches the subject’s surface, though it is, perhaps, overly long. What we presented declares God’s position on Israel. Yet, predictably, a blogger who responded to J. C. Ryle’s Scriptural position on the future of the Jews wrote:
Concerning the meaning of the word ‘Israel’, Scripture is clear that the true Israelite is one who is united to Christ through living faith in him… Similarly, Paul (in Gal 3) is at pains to affirm that Christ is the seed of Abraham, and that those who are in Christ – both Jewish and Gentile believers – are likewise the children of Abraham.
The identity of the recipients of the promises in the above prophetic verses is abundantly clear to anyone who hasn’t frontloaded their theology with the assumptions of supersessionism and/or Fulfillment Theology. Such assertions disregard the implications of not taking God at His Word. To grasp at a single NT verse like Gal 3:16 and impose an interpretation on it, while avoiding the comprehensive OT data in order to defend a theological tradition, is like that old cliché about the tail wagging the dog. In this case it’s more like the tail wagging the elephant.
God redeems Israel-Jacob for His name’s sake. He plainly said so. Thus Israel will be in Christ. Scripture never refers to the mostly Gentile church as Israel.
Maranatha!
Further Resources
David Baron: “Israel in the Plan of God”
For an analysis of the Galatians 3 supersessionist position, read Michael Vlach’s article: Does Galatians 3 Really Teach That Israel Is No Longer God’s People? Read also: Variations within Supersessionism and How is the Church Related to Old Testament Fulfillment? You can find his YouTube Channel HERE
Peter Goeman’s YouTube Channel is very helpful HERE
Lastly, I cannot recommend Dr. Paul Henebury’s works strongly enough. See his series on Replacement Theology. He is also writing a blog series questioning the logic of claiming the OT needs the NT to rightly interpret it. See Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 (with more to follow). Again, one takes this deductive NT re-interpretive stance when one finds that the OT doesn’t comport to one’s theology.
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