The Letters

People have many questions. 

“As Christians, should we support Israel?” 

“Does ‘supporting’ Israel mean that we condone everything that they do?” 

“Has the church replaced Israel as God’s ‘chosen people?’”

The answers are found in understanding covenants. 

What is a covenant? 

A covenant is a sworn agreement that can never be broken.

For example, indigenous Native American tribes, and many ancient people, made treaties and covenants in blood in order to signify the permanency and irrevocable nature of the agreements. Curses were pronounced in the event that the covenant was ever broken. This is one thing that baffled the American Indian in regard to early white settlers. The fact that many of the settlers were covenant breakers. This was unthinkable in their culture, for in their thinking, the only way out of a covenant made in blood was either death or the fulfillment of the terms of the covenant. There were no other alternatives. But our modern, Western culture has very little understanding in regard to the immutability of covenants. Men and women break covenants with impunity. 

How did it all begin with Israel? 

We have to go all the way back to the book of Genesis, where God chose Abraham, who at the time knew nothing about God. The One true God. God told Abraham to leave his father’s house, and everything that was familiar, and go into a land that “I will show you.” 

So Abraham obeyed and left. 

After Abraham had come into the land of Canaan, the Lord appeared to him again and said, “Unto your seed will I give this land.” See Genesis 12:7

But Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was barren, and Abraham had no seed, and so he inquired of the Lord how this would be possible. God said to him that he indeed would have a son, and that his seed would, in fact, number as the stars of the sky, which could not be numbered. See Genesis 15:5

God had given Abraham a monumental promise. He would not only have a son of his own genealogy, but he would also inherit a vast quantity of land with specific and predefined borders. This was a lot to take in, no doubt, and so Abraham asked the Lord, “Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” Or, in other words, “How do I know that I can trust in what you are telling me?” Genesis 15:8

So God answered him by making a covenant, something that Abraham was familiar with, as were most people of that time. God told him to gather a heifer, and some other animals, and divide them in half. It would be a covenant made in blood, and therefore Abraham could be sure that God would never renege on His promise. It was irrevocable, immutable, and Abraham understood this. 

But God‘s promise went even deeper to Abraham, and to his seed.

“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3

God had promised to bless those who blessed Abraham and to curse those who curse him. This was sworn to Abraham through covenant.

The blessing of Abraham was passed to his seed; Isaac, Jacob, and then the twelve tribes of Israel. The blessing, however, was conditional upon Israel keeping God’s commandments. If they departed from His commandments there would come a curse. (see Deuteronomy chapter 28). 

Christ is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. The believer is now the possessor of the Abrahamic promise. 

But does that mean God has abandoned natural Israel, the Jewish people?

Paul said, “God forbid.” 

“I say this then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid.” Romans 11:1

Jesus came through the lineage of the tribe of Judah, but He was rejected, in large part, by His own people, the Jews. Because of this, the Jews were expelled from their land, and scattered throughout all the nations of the earth. The land that God had promised to Abraham and his descendants would then be occupied by Gentile (heathen) people until the “times of the Gentiles were fulfilled.”

“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Luke 21:24

However, God has not abandoned Israel. He promised that there would come a time when Israel would once again become a sovereign nation, and the Jewish people that had been scattered throughout the entire world would come back to their homeland. Many times scripture carries “double-reference.” This means there can be a natural, physical application, but also spiritual. Ezekiel 37:1-13 speaks about dead bones coming back to life, which demonstrate Israel coming into their land in a natural sense, but also coming into their land in a spiritual sense. This spiritual transformation takes place at the end of the age, as the Jews’ eyes are opened to the true Messiah, and they are filled with the Spirit, receiving entrance into God‘s eternal Kingdom. This is the nature of prophecy. 

For now, we will address the natural fulfillment of the promise. 

“For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.” Jeremiah 30:3

And there are other scriptures. 

Israel was recognized as a sovereign nation again in 1948, nearly 2,000 years after their dispersion to the nations. Israel declared their independence and sovereignty, and immediately, President Truman concurred. Then the Soviet Union did so also, and other nations followed. 

God has a plan for natural Israel. God has a plan for the church, and it is all going to come together. The scripture tells us that all of Israel will be saved and recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Furthermore, when Jesus returns, He will return to the Mount of Olives, which is in Israel (see Zechariah 14:4). So Israel has a part to play in God’s end time plan. 

What did the Apostle Paul say about the Jewish people? He was clear that the natural Jews were not discarded by God, and that there will be a great end-time awakening. Paul further acknowledges that in regard to the gospel, they are enemies, but regarding the election, they are (still) beloved of the Father. 

“As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Romans 11:28-29

How do we support natural Israel? Do we support everything that they do? Is this what God intended? There are some things that are going to happen that we may not understand, and so the first thing we should do is pray and allow God to speak to us. No one, including God, is asking us to support something that is evil and contrary to His will. However, just because we have an opinion on something, does not mean that we correctly understand it. Just because we don’t like something, does not mean that it is not part of His plan. If we don’t understand something, then we should leave it alone and pray for those in positions of power that they make the right decisions. This principle not only applies to Israel, but every area of life. Too often we form opinions without all the pieces. 

We should first understand that natural Israel is part of God’s plan, even though they are antagonistic toward the gospel, and we should pray for Israel. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. When it comes to their land, those who would try to take or divide it will be cursed, and so we should not be doing that, nor encouraging our leaders or politicians to do so. The land belongs to natural Israel by divine covenant. 

It is not a coincidence that the hottest and most volatile place on earth is due to continual, unrelenting, vicious hatred of an ethnic group, and over a piece of land the size of Delaware. This defies natural reason and logic, but there is a reason for it, as the issue is spiritual, not natural. It is driven by satanic powers that hate God and His people. The devil hates Israel because Israel has been chosen by God, and is part of His overall plan. Of course, as believers we should align ourselves with God’s will and plan, not oppose and align ourselves against it. 

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then you are an heir to the covenant promise that God gave to Abraham. How can we, as God’s people, hate what is of God, and what God loves? Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, was born of the seed of David, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah. We should love and honor the root, and what is still important to God.

But some of us are doing exactly what Paul told us not to do.  

“And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? 

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, And shall turn ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” Romans 11:17-27

To love Israel and the Jewish people is to love what is important to God.