Where is the Place of Israel in God's Plans?

Before the time of Christ there were roughly 2,000 years where the Jews were given a revelation of God and entrusted with the Law, the Prophets and the Promises. After Christ’s earthly existence there has been roughly 2,000 years of God entrusting the Gentiles with a revelation of Jesus and releasing that message to the world. Fascinatingly the 2nd and 3rd Chapters of Ephesians indicates that God was planning all along to build His body out of two groups: the Jews and the Gentiles… i.e. all cultures of mankind united together in Christ.

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the Cross, by which He put to death their hostility.” Ephesians 2:14

The ‘two’ mentioned here is defined in Eph 2:11 as the group of people called the Jews and the other group called the Gentiles (i.e. everyone else).

“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth… remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise…” Eph 2:11

Paul is talking to the Ephesian Gentiles telling them that they, in Christ, have now joined the Jewish followers of Christ and are now Citizens in Israel and Heirs of the Jewish Covenants! We sometimes forget that Jesus is a JEWISH Messiah. The promises in the Old Testament were given to JEWISH people. Now that Jesus has appeared in a human body the Mystery of God is being revealed – namely that the Gentiles are heirs TOGETHER with Israel and members of one body!

“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus.” Eph 3:6

Now, in our day and time, it is somewhat reversed. It is not the Jews who are introducing the Gentiles to Jesus, but the Gentiles who are pointing to the Jews saying, “Here is your Messiah.” There has been 2,000 years of the Jews and now 2,000 years of the Gentile Christian Church. Perhaps this is the time Ephesians was talking about where the next season of time will be about the Jews and Gentiles joined together in His body!

Let’s consider Romans for a moment. Look at a very interesting verse:

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved…” Rom 11:25

Paul is declaring that Israel is not partaking of Jesus for a season… but in the end the Jews will come to know who Jesus is. Zechariah 12:10 probably describes the season that the Jews will realize who Jesus is and was:

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great…”

Now Paul clearly talked about how the Gentiles could be likened to a “wild olive branch” that was grafted into the olive tree, meaning Israel. However he also talked about how easy it would be for God to graft back in the ‘natural branches:’

“And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you (Gentiles) were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree (Israel), how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!” Rom 11:23

Here we see a clear confirmation that the Jews will come back if they choose to believe. And that they will easily be ‘grafted’ back into the life of God. But this does mean that they have respond to Jesus and follow Him. They are not grafted in just because they are Jewish… but because they realize that God was faithful and did send the long awaited Messiah.

Paul is also clear that God did not reject the Jews… they were hardened because they rejected Jesus in unbelief – but they can return!

“I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means!” Romans 11:1 and

“And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in…”Rom 11:23

But let’s not miss the whole point of Paul’s writing… We the Gentiles were grafted into a Jewish Religion. We didn’t make up our own religion or have our own gods… but we were adopted into the Jewish Covenants and the Jewish Messiah saved us!

And Paul is saying that the Jews are resistant UNTIL the full number of the Gentiles comes in. That UNTIL is a huge word. It means that sometime the Jews will come to faith in Jesus. However let’s be clear. This doesn’t mean they will take on Gentile culture. They will have their full Jewish culture AND put their faith in Jesus to save and redeem them!

And here is the point: Jesus is not coming back for a Gentile Bride… Jesus is coming back for a Jewish AND Gentile Bride.

We must realize that we cannot claim any promise from the Old Testament without acknowledging that they are Jewish promises and we have access to them because we have entered into the promises through the Jesus… the Jewish Messiah promised to arrive for 2 millennia through the Prophets.

Another interesting verse is in Luke where Jesus is talking about signs of the end of the Age:

“Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles UNTIL the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Luke 21:24

That verse is saying that there is a time that Jerusalem will not be owned or occupied by the Gentiles but by the Jews. And isn’t this what we have witnessed in the last 50 years? After the Jews ceased to be a people for 2,000 years (~ AD 70 - 1948). Then they reappeared and returned to their land! This is without precedent in all of human history. What other people group has been completely dispersed throughout the world and returned after 2000 years to inhabit it’s original land again. THIS IS NOTHING LESS THAN BIBLICAL PROPHESY BEING FULFILL IN THE EYESIGHT OF ALL THE NATIONS! God is surely saying something here that is huge! Are we pondering it? Are we seriously considering what is occuring in our lifetime?

And all this is so necessary… why? Because God made an everlasting promise to the Jews:

“He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.” I Chronicles 16:17

There are many other verses about the ‘everlasting’ nature of God’s covenant with the Jews to give them this particular land. So why is it so important that God fulfills this? Because if God is trustworthy to fulfill His promises to Israel, even though they have been rebellious and unbelieving, then He will be faith to fulfill His promises to us also! If God had not kept His promise to Israel how could we have confidence that He would keep His promises to us? Because if it depends solely on our ‘faithfulness’ in the end we will all fail. Now, to be clear, God did tell David and Solomon and all the others that if their children would be faithful things would go better rather than worse. There were conditions on obedience. But there were some promises that were dependent on none other than God Himself! And giving Israel the land seems to be one of them.

One last point. To help us think clearly let us recognize that there we 2 dispersals and 2 regatherings. After many 100s of years of Israel rejecting God they were allowed to be conquered by the Babylonian empire in 586 BC. The Jews were deported from their land into the land of Babylon (mostly). They were regathered 70 years later as Jeremiah prophesied. Daniel saw this written in the scriptures and began to earnestly intercede for the Jews to be allowed to return to the land. Ultimately this is what happened under the leadership of Nehemiah & Ezra with Haggai and Zechariah serving as prophets. That was the first dispersion and regathering.

Then we have the second dispersal and regathering. In AD 70 Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and the Jews were again scattered. This time it was to all nations not just to 1 nation (i.e. Babylon). Lately we have the historic recognition of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948 by Harry S. Truman. The Jews had begun to return to the land. But this time from many lands. I mention this because the Old Testament prophets talk about returning from 1 land and others talk about returning from many lands. (see Is 43:5, Eze 36:24, Eze 39:28, Jer 16:14, Jer 31:8)

This is not a call to adopt Jewish customs, dress, words or traditions. It is a call to help us understand how the Jewish dimension of the Church and the Gentile dimension of the Church need to grow together in the near future.

Remember the Bible is a Jewish book written by Jewish authors v.s. the books of Luke and Acts that were written by a Gentile. We have been grafted into the Jewish olive tree by placing our faith and trust in Jesus.

As I have been pondering all this so much of the Old Testament and the New Testament makes more sense. Lots of references to Israel and the Jews I was looking at as a metaphor of the Church. Now I am beginning to think that it is not as metaphorical as I thought.

Conclusion

In God's plans and purposes He decided that all who would respond to His invitation would be saved through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. There are is a Jewish dimension to the Church and a Gentile dimension to the Church... which is none other than the 'body' of Jesus on the earth. While our words, culture and traditions may be different we are called to be one people through the Messiah, Jesus. God is speaking to the world through the radical and historically unprecedented event of Israel's land being returned to the Jewish people in 1948 after being dispersed throughout the earth for almost 2,000 years. Israel does have a place in God's plans for planet earth. The Gentile dimension of the Church has not 'replaced' Israel but only been added to Israel as those who respond to the One and Only God who created the universe, earth and mankind.