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Is Israel Still God's Chosen Nation?

by Henry Bechthold  
1/25/2011 / Bible Studies

Israel is the center of attention for both the religious and secular worlds. From a secular perspective, Israel's importance is related to political and diplomatic concerns and foreign affairs. Israel's presence in the midst of the Arab world creates a scenario that influences the entire world.

From a religious perspective, Israel's importance is related to spiritual concerns and biblical truth. The subject of Israel from a religious perspective influences the entire Christian Church. And, just as Israel divides the world politically, it also divides the Church spiritually and biblically.

It is important to remember to distinguish between the Jewish people collectively as a nation, and individual Jewish persons. God deals with nations in certain ways, while dealing with individuals differently. God can punish a nation, while still blessing and loving various individuals within that nation. The Bible clearly states that God is not a "respecter of persons"; He does not practice favoritism. Therefore, we can be sure that He loves and accepts all who come to Him in repentance through faith in Jesus Christ, whether they are Jew or gentile.

Even when God rejects or punishes a nation, individuals within that nation can still receive salvation. God loves both Jew and gentile the same, and desires them to repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ. Please remember this important distinction between the nation of Israel, and individual Jews.

There is a large segment of the Christian Church that still views Israel as being God's "chosen nation" or "chosen people". They believe that the nation of Israel's significance, importance and chosen nation status, is the same in the New Testament as it was in the Old Testament. Therefore, they tend to be "pro-Israel" in most political issues as well as religious concerns. They view the Jewish people as being much "closer" to Christianity than the Islamic Arab world. They believe that Christians and Jews worship the same God, whereas Arabs worship a different god. This results in a natural alliance between pro-Israel Christians and the nation of Israel, which favors the Jewish people over the Arab world in just about everything.

There are other Christians, however, who have a different view of Israel today. They believe that the New Testament presents a change regarding the subject of Israel, which accords with Old Testament scriptures that proclaim God's promises and covenants with Israel to be conditional, based upon their obedience and fidelity. These Christians believe that the nation of Israel no longer enjoys a "favored nation" status, and that the Jewish religion should not be exalted any more than the Islamic faith, because the Jewish religion also worships a different god than Christianity.

So, what is the "truth" concerning Israel? Where can we go to find the truth? In John 17:17, Jesus said that "God's word" is truth. Therefore, we shall base our decision concerning Israel, upon God's word alone as revealed in the Bible.

We know that there are numerous blessings, covenants and promises that God gave to Israel in the Old Testament. And, we also know that there are scriptures which state that these promises and blessings are everlasting, or will continue forever. For the sake of brevity, we will simply acknowledge that these scriptures exist.

Having acknowledged the existence of these scriptures, how can some Christians still assert that Israel has changed in the New Testament, and no longer enjoys their "chosen nation" status, and has forfeited their promises and blessings from God? Do these Christians simply ignore the Bible, or do they have a biblical explanation for their position?

To begin with, an important consideration regarding Israel and its covenants, promises and blessings, is that the continuation of these promises, covenants and blessings was conditional based upon Israel's obedience and fidelity. In Jeremiah 18:5-10, God says that if a nation which He had promised to build and to do good things for, turns to disobedience, then God will not do the good things that He had promised them.

In fact, God told Israel "up front", that if they persisted in disobedience, they would forfeit the blessings He offered them, and would receive curses instead (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). These curses included disease, drought, crop failure, hunger, thirst, nakedness, persecution, plundering and enemy invasion; even to the point of their resorting to cannibalism of their own children because of their hunger. And, within these curses, God clearly and specifically states that Israel will not receive their promised blessings, but will receive the exact opposite, which is the curses. Instead of becoming as the stars in multitude, as God had promised in Genesis 15:4-5, they would be reduced to being "few in number" (Deuteronomy 28:62). Instead of Israel being the head and others being the tail, as God had promised in Deuteronomy 28:13, Israel would become the tail, while their enemies would be the head (Deuteronomy 28:44). Instead of the Lord's multiplying and doing good for Israel, giving them their land forever, and having other nations and kings serve them, as He had promised (Genesis 13:14-15; Genesis 17:6-8), the Lord would rejoice in destroying Israel and bringing them to nothing, and would pluck them from their land; moreover Israel would serve its enemies and be destroyed by them, and no one would save Israel (Deuteronomy 28:29,48,63). In fact, God says that all of these curses would continue to be upon Israel and overtake Israel and its descendants "forever" (Deuteronomy 28:45-46).

As you can see, God's "everlasting" promises, covenants and blessings upon Israel, were conditional based upon Israel's obedience. And, the Bible also clearly states that Israel's disobedience would negate these promises and blessings, and would replace them with the curses previously mentioned. What does biblical history tell us about Israel? Was Israel a faithful and obedient nation, who could expect to receive God's promised covenants and blessings? Or, was Israel an unfaithful and disobedient nation, who forfeited its covenants and blessings, and who could expect God's curses? Any Bible student knows that the history of Israel is filled with rebellion, disobedience and infidelity. And, any student of history also knows that Israel has indeed had a cursed history of persecution, oppression and enemy invasion resulting in hunger, thirst, starvation and even cannibalism when surrounded by Babylonian and Roman armies. This persecution has continued throughout modern history via Nazi Germany, Islamic terrorism, etc. This is a precise fulfillment of the curses pronounced upon Israel for their rebellion. Israel rejected their God throughout the Old Testament. Israel rejected, persecuted and martyred the faithful prophets God sent to her. Finally, Israel even rejected its Messiah, Jesus Christ, declaring that His blood was upon its own hands and its children's, and that they recognized no king but Caesar (Matthew 27:25; John 19:15). The New Testament records the continued obstinacy and rebellion of the Jewish nation, as they continued to persecute and martyr the disciples of Jesus. Paul even states in 1st Thessalonians 2:14-16, that the Jews were always filling up the measure of their sins, and that God's wrath had come upon them to the uttermost because they did not please God, and were contrary to all men.

The nation of Israel continued to reject God, until God ultimately respected and honored their persistent choices to reject Him, and accordingly also rejected the nation of Israel. This is not just a statement of my opinion, but rather is exactly what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 21:33-43. Jesus told the parable of the vineyard to illustrate the history of Israel's stubborn and persistent rebellion. God had sent His servants repeatedly throughout centuries of time to try to bring Israel to repentance, and to bring forth the appropriate fruit of repentance, but Israel had responded by persecuting and murdering the prophets God sent them. Finally, God sent His Son Jesus Christ, but they also rejected and murdered Him. The parable concludes with the declaration that the vineyard would be taken from them and given to others, and that they would be destroyed. Here, in Matthew 21:43, Jesus plainly states that the kingdom of God would be taken from Israel, and would be given to a different nation. Who is that nation? 1st Peter 2:9 calls the Christian Church a "holy nation", a "royal priesthood" and God's own special people. These are titles that had been applied to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, but now are transferred to the Christian Church in the New Testament. The Bible clearly teaches that the Christian Church has replaced Israel, and is a type of a spiritual Israel. This is not "replacement theology". This is what the Bible says! Jesus also told Israel that their house (the temple) was now "desolate" (Matthew 23:38). Desolate, of course, means unoccupied. Israel had rejected God, and was about to publicly reject their Messiah, Jesus Christ; they would publicly proclaim His blood as being upon them and their children, and that they recognized no king but Caesar (Matthew 27:25; John 19:15). Now, according to Jesus Himself, God was going to honor their request, and would no longer be dwelling in their temple. Their house was desolate and unoccupied by God. It's also interesting that Jesus had previously referred to the temple as His "Father's House" (John 2:16), but now He calls it "your" house. Israel had persistently rejected and abandoned God, and now God was rejecting the nation of Israel. Of course, Jews on an individual basis could still receive personal salvation by accepting Jesus Christ, but their "chosen nation" status had been forfeited. They had exchanged the blessings for the curses in Deuteronomy 28. As Jesus also said in Luke 19:42, the things that could have been theirs, had they accepted Jesus, were now hidden from their eyes.

This article only scratches the surface of this topic. For a detailed discussion concerning Israel in the New Testament, and a list of many more scriptures which prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Israel is no longer Gods chosen nation in the New Testament, read my article titled,Israel, at my website address below.

I am an evangelical, non-denominational, Christian pastor. You can research other interesting and provocative topics at my website: http://www.godormen.com.

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