Has God Turned His Back
on Israel?
Last week we saw that
Israel will not have peace until they
accept Jesus as their Messiah and Lord. But does that
mean that God is through with Israel and that He has written them
off? Some feel that because of Israel’s failure and especially,
because of their rejection of the Messiah, God has
rejected them and replaced them with the Church. They
feel that the covenant and the promises to Israel
will now be fulfilled in and through the church. But is
that true?
The answers must lie in the
Scriptures rather than in our opinion or feelings on the
matter and, in fact, the scriptures are clear that God
is not done with Israel
yet. Paul asks this very question: “…has God cast away
His people” to which he replies: “Certainly not!”
(Romans 11:1). The next verse says it plainly: “God has
not cast away His people whom He foreknew”. In other
words, even though God knew before He made the covenants
with them, that they would turn out as they did, he
never-the-less made the covenants and He has not cast
them away. Notice that Paul refers to them as His
people. Even though they are disobedient, and rejected
and crucified the Messiah (Acts 2:23, 2:36, 4:10), God
still calls them His people!
Even though Israel has been blinded (Isaiah 6:9-10, 2Cor
3:14, Romans 11:8-10), the Lord still has a remnant of Israel
that is true to Him. (Romans 11:5). It seems to me that
Paul is even suggesting that there has always been a
remnant from the time of Elijah right through till
today. (Romans 11:3-4). It is this remnant to whom the
Lord will be faithful and through whom He will fulfill
his promises.
When we, as Gentiles, boast
against Israel and claim that we have replaced Israel we
go directly against Paul’s admonition that we should not
do so because the same God who put Israel aside in order
to graft us (Gentiles) in, is the One who can and will
graft Israel back in again (Romans 11:23). If God could
save us, not because of our merits but because of His
mercy, then He can save Israel
even though they have been disobedient by bestowing on
them the same mercy He has bestowed on us. (Romans
11:30-31).
It is also important to go
back to the original covenant between God and Abraham.
Genesis 17:6-9 records it as follows: “I will make you
exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you,
and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My
covenant between Me and you and your descendants after
you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant,
to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I
give to you and your descendants after you the land in
which you are a stranger, all the
land of
Canaan, as an everlasting
possession; and I will be their God.” It is important to
notice that God said the covenant would be an
everlasting covenant. There is no statute of limitations
or expiry date to the covenant. This means that the
covenant still stands.
“Oh, but Israel
was disobedient and rejected Jesus so God is no longer
bound by the covenant”, I hear some say. Well, let’s
look at the terms of the original agreement. It did
contain a clause that covered what Abraham’s descendants
had to do as their part of the covenant: “This is My
covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and
your descendants after you: Every male child among you
shall be circumcised… and My covenant shall be in your
flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised
male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his
foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people;
he has broken My covenant.” (Genesis 17:10, 13, 14).
That’s it. All Israel was expected to do was to
circumcise the boys. There is not a single requirement
that they must love, obey or serve God and accept the
Messiah. God did not put all that in the contract
because He knew they were incapable to perform any such
condition. So He only asked that they be circumcised. He
is specific that if they neglected circumcision, the
covenant would be broken. Has Israel
broken the covenant? No. To this very day every Jewish
male child is circumcised on the eighth day, exactly as
the covenant required. In spite of Israel’s many sins, idolatry,
disobedience and unbelief, they have kept the only part
of the covenant God required of them. Thus as far as Israel’s part is concerned, the
covenant stands.
So if the covenant has been
annulled, then it is God who has annulled it. But if God
annulled the covenant for any reason, including Israel’s disobedience, sin or
rejection of the Messiah, God would break his word and
become a liar. That is impossible. For God to break
covenant, He would have to deny Himself which He could
never do. 2Timothy 2:13 says: “If we are faithless, He
remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” To even
suggest that God could break His covenant and His word
is blasphemy. It is impossible for God to lie. (Titus
1:2, Hebrews 6:18). Thus the covenant stands and God
will fulfill His promises to Abraham.
Those who suggest that God
has broken covenant are on very dangerous ground. If He
could break the covenant with Abraham and his
descendants because of the fact that they were
disobedient, what chance do we as Gentiles have? Why are
we still saved? Surely He should have rejected us long
ago. Are we not just as unfaithful, disobedient,
unbelieving, sinning and idolatrous as Israel? Only those who are seriously
deceived can suggest that we, as Christians, are any
better then Israel.
So if He rejected them, He has to reject us. But we are
saved and stand by grace and He will save them and
fulfill the covenant to them because of His grace.
I am so glad I serve a God
who is faithful, who keeps His promises and who fulfills
His covenants. If it were not for that fact, we would be
living in constant fear and uncertainty, just waiting
for the moment when He will turn against us and throw us
out. But no, He can be trusted, He will keep His word
and with Paul we can say: “I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have
committed to Him until that Day” (2Timothy 1:12). Jesus
Himself said “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My
words will by no means pass away” (Mark 13:31).
So, for a while He has set
Israel aside that He may be gracious to us also, but
very soon He will snatch us away to be with Him and then
He will begin to deal with Israel again and then
finally, in the Millennial Kingdom, all the promises
will be fulfilled – literally to a literal people. In
the mean time let as walk in humility before Him who has
been gracious to us and recognize that it was Israel
who gave us the Bible and the Savior. May we also
remember that “salvation has come to the Gentiles to
make Israel envious”. (Romans 11:11, NIV).
Are we doing that? Do the Jews look at what the church
has in Jesus and do they envy us? I’m afraid not, but
rather because of the “church’s” disobedience we have
brought dishonor on the name of the Lord! May we live in
such a way that we may fulfill this scripture and that
Jews would desire to have what we have – the Messiah.
Anton Bosch
anton@ifcb.net
3310
W Magnolia Blvd
Burbank,
CA, 91505
Tel
818 846 5520
www.burbankchurch.org