Dispy PreMil VI: Biblical Clarity on Israel

Given the global events of the past few days and the shamefully unbalanced nature of internet and social media comment sections in regards to those issues, I’ve decided to jump ahead a step or two and try to sketch out what I consider to be a biblically balanced approach to the issue of Israel. Far too many people handle this subject with either a complete lack of nuance and precision or simply a heavy-handed and blind commitment to one side or the other. Like most truth, this one requires balance and the will to live in the tension of “both/and,” as opposed to the relative simplicity of “either/or.”

Relevant to the current series of study, let’s begin with this: one of the central tenets of the Dispensational Premillennial position is that the national institution of Israel holds a special and unique place in the economy of God as His one chosen, covenant people. They are a nation “holy to the Lord,” and “chosen… to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth,” (Deuteronomy 7:6). Despite their history of rebellion which culminated in the rejection of their promised Messiah, they have not been completely rejected, but spiritually hardened and cut off for a time, “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,” (Romans 11:25), at which point, “all Israel will be saved, as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’” (Romans 11:26-27)

As a nation, Israel was given promises no other nation on earth ever received and those promises have neither been transferred to nor superseded by the New Testament Church. Some of those promises have yet to be fulfilled, but the New Testament provides absolutely no reason to believe that they will never be. There will only be one recognizable institution in Heaven, and it will be the nation of Israel.

These beliefs are core to the Dispensational Premillennial position and are essentially rejected by all other eschatological camps. Amillennialism, postmillennialism and historic premillennialism all insist that the Church has permanently replaced Israel in the affections of God and that no definite, specific, or unique future for the nation remains outside of what individual Jews may find within the Church.

So, for the sake of biblical balance, allow me to clarify some things that the Premillennial Dispensational understanding does and does not mean:

It does not mean that Jewish ethnicity is an automatic guarantee of salvation. 

The Bible has never taught this idea and has, in fact, been explicitly clear that the exact opposite is true. John the Baptist said, when confronting the Pharisees and Sadducees:

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” - Matthew 3:7-10

Repentance, said John, and not ethnicity, was the key to pleasing God and fleeing His coming wrath.

Paul, of course, concurs when he says:

“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 that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” - Romans 9:6-8

Genesis 15:6 tells us that Abraham, the first Jew, “believed the LORD, and [the LORD] counted it to him as righteousness,” and Hebrews 11:6 declares, “without faith it is impossible to please God.”

In essence, both Jews and Gentiles are and have always ever been saved the same way: by placing their trust in God, believing in His Word and His Son, and by repenting of our sins. The Bible is abundantly clear that Jewish ethnicity or citizenship in the nation is not enough to save anyone. Not all Israel is Israel. Never has been, never will be.

It does not mean that Judaism is a biblically legitimate religion.
As Paul tells us in Romans 11, the Jews have been hardened and cut-off. Their Judaism avails them nothing because it is not based in truth. Again, as Paul points out about his ethnic brethren:
“…my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” - Romans 10:1-3

The Jews need the gospel of Jesus Christ for the same reasons any Gentile does: because they are dead in their sins and require the mediation of the only One who can save them. Yes, the Jews have the Torah and the rest of the Tanakh (the Old Testament), they have Moses, they have the covenants and the prophets and the history. They know who Yahweh is and they have a completely unique relational history with Him.

But none of that - none of it - is enough to save them. Because they also have the Talmud and the rejection of the Messiah and the hardened hearts and the stubborn refusal to believe the promises Yahweh made to them.

When it came to Jesus Christ, who was the living, breathing, perfect embodiment of all that their scriptures had been teaching them for all those centuries, they turned their backs and murdered Him. The Judaism of today is a direct theological descendent of the Pharisaism that rejected Him then, and Moses and David and the prophets that they so respect and revere would rush to tell them of the error of their ways.

Judaism is not Christianity without the New Testament. It is a rejection of the New Testament in favor of the Talmud: an apostate and rebellious religion that dismisses the life, ministry and death of Christ as heretical, blasphemous and insignificant. Being a good Jew today will get you as much of eternal life and Heaven as being a degenerate atheist or militant Muslim.

It does not mean that the modern, secular state of Israel is perfect or blameless.
Saying, “I stand with Israel” means different things to different people. For some, it amounts to a full-bodied, all-encompassing endorsement of everything the Israeli government does. No matter what transpires or what the facts on the ground may be, many Christians default to “I stand with Israel” and give the issue no more thought or reflection than that.

This is a mistake.

The Bible has given us ample reason to distrust human governments and be skeptical of humans who pursue power. This wisdom still applies in the case of Israel. In fact, you cannot read the Bible honestly and come away thinking that Jews at the highest heights of governmental power ought to be blindly followed or uncritically trusted. The exact opposite is true.

More than that, the modern, secular state of Israel shares many of the same corruptions and wickedness as any other modern, secular state. They prize their ethnic religion, to be sure, but they are not uniformly in agreement over its legitimacy or reality. There are atheist Jewish Israelis and orthodox Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis and Christian Israelis. They are diverse in their worldviews, religious perspectives and political positions. They are no longer the theocracy of the Old Testament or the Israelite kingdom of David or Solomon.

It is perfectly permissible and correct to criticize the government and nation of Israel when it acts in violation of the commandments of God just as it is for any other government or people. Standing in solidarity or support of the people when they suffer at their hands of their enemies is by no means a blind endorsement of every policy or action of the Israeli government. Insisting that the Jewish people have a right to exist and to protect themselves from their enemies does not equate to uncritical support of the leadership.

It does not mean that every significant or newsworthy event that takes place in Israel or the Middle East is somehow directly connected to the prophetic events of the Bible.

In Matthew 24, Christ promised that there would be “wars and rumors of wars.” He did not stop there, however, but continued:

“See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. - Matthew 24:6-8

We are all guaranteed trouble and tribulation and suffering in this life, the Jews included. But not all of the conflicts and strife and atrocities that take place in and around Israel mean that the events of Revelation are right around the corner (to our limited perspective, at least). Christ indicated that these kinds of things would take place but that they were simply the beginning of the birth pains. That analogy is important: labor is a process that gets more intense the closer it comes to its culmination, and one could certainly argue that history has demonstrated exactly that. But there is a long list of people who have gone on the record as being sure that the return of Christ was imminent enough to be witnessed in their own lifetimes who turned out to be absolutely wrong. We must not allow ourselves to conclude that every single thing is a direct fulfillment of prophecy or a sign of the end.

It does mean that God’s election stands forever.
Consider these excerpts from Romans 11:

“I ask, then, has God rejected His people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” - Romans 11:1-2

“What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, ‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.’” - Romans 11:7-8

“Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’

“As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. - Romans 11:25-29

It is important to read Paul’s entire argument from Romans 9 through Romans 11. Take the time to do so and do so seriously, without the lens of tradition over your eyes. I contend that these verses stand for themselves.

It means that God will keep His promises.

Consider Jeremiah 31:35-37:

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.”

Thus says the Lord:
“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.”

These verses either mean what they say or they don’t. God either keeps His word (Psalm 119:89; John 10:35; Titus 1:2) or He doesn’t. “Forever” either means “forever,” or it doesn’t.

And until someone can rise to the occasion and show me somewhere in the New Testament where promises like this are explicitly revoked and handed over to Gentiles, then I will insist that we Christians continue to take them seriously.

Every Gentile Christian should pray and hope for the salvation of Israel. Their existence is nothing short of miraculous and their promised restoration and redemption will mean nothing less than the absolute fulfillment of each and every one of the words of holy Scripture.

Israel means much to God. It should mean much to us, as well. It is not, as we have so often been told, a secondary issue. And it is important that we think clearly, biblically and precisely about the nation, the people and the promises.

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For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
- Isaiah 54:10

Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
declares the Lord,
for I am with you.
I will make a full end of all the nations
to which I have driven you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
I will discipline you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”
- Jeremiah 46:28

(bolded verses in this post represent my emphasis)