Is it a Christian Obligation?
By Dr. Derek Carlsen
Many times, Christians are told that certain ideas and actions are ethical requirements, but how are these claims to be evaluated? Just because a teacher or theologian says that Christians ought to do something or hold some position, does that make it mandatory?
The Starting Point
When we survey the history of God’s dealings with people, we cannot but be struck by their constant misunderstanding of His unfolding plan, which should serve as warnings for us.
Unexamined Assumptions
Usually, misunderstandings come from embracing unexamined assumptions, which prevent us from taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and so, we fall into error.
Support Modern Israel, or Else!
For example, many believe that Christians have a moral obligation to support the modern nation of Israel and anything less than this is bordering on apostasy. It is claimed that the Jews remain God’s chosen people and that the land of Israel remains His chosen nation, because if not, then God has broken His promises about them.
God’s Promise to Abraham
When God told Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust and the stars (Genesis 13:16; 15:5), He was referring to spiritual descendants, who shared the faith of Abraham (Romans 4:16).
The Singular Seed
“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16). Paul’s grammatical use of the word ‘Seed’ is correct, for he uses it collectively and thus incorporates into Jesus all who have the faith of Abraham. That means every child of faith is included in the one Seed (Genesis 22:18; 1 Corinthians 12:12; Galatians 3:27-29; Ephesians 1:23). All of Scripture focuses our attention upon a single figure and person in whom all of God’s promises are fulfilled. This person is the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), who is also the Seed of Abraham (Genesis 12:3; 22:18) and Abraham knew that the promised Seed was Jesus Christ (John 8:56; Hebrews 11:13). Our blessings are not found in Abraham or in being one of his physical descendants, but in a single descendant from Abraham, namely, the promised Messiah. Scripture clearly shows that not all of Abraham’s blood relatives had special value, but only those whom God would choose from among them (Genesis 17:19-21; 21:12; Romans 9:7). Moreover, even from those whom God chose, it is obvious that their significance was only due to the Eternal One who would ultimately be revealed. The Jewish leaders clearly understood such prophecies as referring to a person (Micah 5:2, c.f., Matthew 2:4-6).
The Suffering Servant
Isaiah saw the Suffering Servant as a Person (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). It is obvious that God’s promise to David did not find its fulfillment in either David or Solomon (2 Samuel 7:12,13; Jeremiah 23:5,6; Ezekiel 21:27; Luke 1:31-33), as Peter also explained elsewhere (Acts 2:29-35). Only those who stand by faith in Jesus partake of the promises given to Abraham and David, for Jesus is the fulfillment of these promises (Genesis 49:10; Psalm 2:6-9; 72:8-11; Isaiah 9:6). God has only one family and that family is in Christ. It is only those who are one with Jesus through faith that abide in the Seed (Romans 9:7-8). The way we partake of the many blessings or promises that God has given, is to be found in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). Those who don’t have faith in His righteousness alone, have no claim whatsoever upon any of God’s promises.
Righteousness is by Faith not Race
“Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7). The promises given to Abraham belong to all those who have his faith, and so the only people or nations that God acknowledges as special are those who are pure in heart (Isaiah 26:2; Jeremiah 18:5-10; Psalm 73:1), which is only possible through faith in Jesus. All those who reject Jesus have God as their enemy, no matter their race (John 1:12; 3:36; 5:23; 8:19; 10:30; 14:6,9; 15:23; 1 John 2:23,24; 4:15; 5:12; 2 John 9; Revelation 2:9; 3:9). There are now only two types of people in this world—those who have faith in Jesus and those who don’t. God’s special people and nation are the household of faith (1 Peter 2:9), and it is with them that all of God’s promises are fulfilled. It is this faith family that is called the “Jerusalem above,” the “temple of God,” the “house of God,” the “bride of Christ,” the “priests of God,” as well as the “elect, holy and beloved of God” (Galatians 4:24-29; Ephesians 2:21; 1 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 3:6; 2 Corinthians 11:2; 1 Peter 2:5; Colossians 3:12).
God’s Special People
The religious leaders in Jesus’ days claimed that Abraham was their father, but Jesus denied this, saying that their father was the devil because they rejected Him (John 8:38-44). God’s true children are spiritual not physical descendants of Abraham, thus from the beginning, God intended Abraham to be a blessing to all the nations (Genesis 12:3), out of which God now gathers His people into His kingdom and calls them a holy nation. Those who believe in Jesus are also called sons and children of God (Galatians 4:5-7; Philippians 2:15), the true circumcision (Romans 2:29; Philippians 3:3; Colossians 2:11), the true Israel (Galatians 6:15-16), the household of God (Ephesians 2:19), God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:17), and the true Jews (Romans 2:28-29; 9:6-8).
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9).
Covenant Maturity
The older and newer Testaments reveal the same covenant in increasing detail, which is illustrated by the growth of a human from conception to full maturity, where there are many differing stages of development in the same person. Thus the core of a person’s being, when they are fully mature, was in existence at conception. This is how we are to understand God’s revelation about His plan of redemption, where conception takes place at Genesis 3:15 when the Seed was introduced. This was a covenantal promise and this same covenant, over time, grew to maturity: from Seed to Jesus’ appearance, whose blood is the “eternal covenant” (Hebrews 13:20). This means that Jesus’ world-wide kingdom was the goal from “conception” (Psalm 2:8; Isaiah 9:6-7; Matthew 28:18-20).
A Transition Period
The writer to the Hebrews talks about a transition period between the older and newer covenants, stating, “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Heb.8:13). The first or older covenant was about to vanish away; it was becoming obsolete (a transition was underway). In the book of Revelation, Jerusalem, previously regarded as the holy city, is called Sodom, Egypt, Babylon and a harlot (Revelation 11:8; 17:5). God gave a definitive, objective, historical event to mark the end of the transition period between the older and newer covenants, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans in AD 70. After that event only two groups of people are identifiable—those who are in relationship with God through the newer covenant and those who are not. This means that now, the only “Jews” recognized by Scripture, are people who have the faith of Abraham. The markers that identified Jews in the older covenant times no longer mean anything in God’s economy.
Obsolete Markers
God replaced the earthly Jerusalem with the Heavenly Jerusalem and now the only temple, priesthood and sacrifice are Jesus. All the older covenant feasts are realized in Him and only His circumcision has relevance (Colossians 2:11), which believers receive by faith—physical circumcision now has zero religious meaning in God’s workings. Other distinguishing nuances of the older covenant times, like dietary requirements, etc., are all gone (Acts 10:9-15). The Lord alone ordained the older covenantal markers and since He made them obsolete, it’s rebellion to say that they still identify His people.
Not all Israel are Israel
Paul explained why so many of his brethren, after the flesh, despite having received so much from God, rejected Jesus. He said that “they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” (Romans 9:6-8).
Romans 11
Paul used his own salvation as proof that God had not cast off the whole of Israel (Romans 11:1) and explained that there was a remnant who would be saved, by being provoked to jealousy when they saw all the other nations coming into the Kingdom, i.e., the fullness of the Gentiles coming in (Romans 11:25). Paul said, “And so,” (Romans 11:26), meaning “in this way” or “by this means” (i.e., jealousy), all God’s elect (within the nation of Israel) would be saved. This continued up to AD 70, because after that event, Paul’s brethren “according to the flesh” (Israelites), were no longer identifiable, because God definitively abolished all the markers used to identify older covenant Israelites when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.
Conclusion
There is no Biblical basis to say that Christians have a moral obligation to support the modern state of Israel or to regard her people as having a standing before God that is different from anyone else’s standing before Him. All of God’s promises about the land and people of Israel are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. God never has and never will break any of His promises; we merely need understand what was promised.