Israel- Established Forever?

Jason Summers

The complex, polarizing, and revitalizing issue of Israel.

With all of the talking points, strong opinions, and misinformation, many Christians have been led to rethink their support of the Holy Land, some even abandoning it.

Israel is not perfect and certainly has issues of its own. We do not have to support everything the political Israel does with undying loyalty. Understanding that only through the Messiah can they be perfected in a way that true justice and mercy thrive.

First off, we can say with absolute certainty that Israel was and is established by God.

BUT...

Is there a Scriptural significance of supporting Israel? This is something we cannot shy away from as believers. We have to be able to answer the question when it arises. And it does arise.

“I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you”- Genesis 17:7

In this verse, God promises to be the God of Abraham and his descendants forever. 

The covenant is a binding agreement between God and man. It is confirmed by the sign of circumcision. Through Abraham’s descendants, we go through the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob’s name was changed by God to Israel (Gen 32:28). Israel produces the 12 tribes. Each son of Israel represents a tribe.

Through a series of infighting, jealousy, and rebellion, Israel was split into two Kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. In the Book of Kings, the United Kingdom of Israel under Solomon fell apart after Solomon's death. Ten tribes of Israel in the northern part of Israel followed a man named Jeroboam. In comparison, two tribes in southern Israel, Judah and Benjamin, remained loyal to the house of David by following Solomon's son, Rehoboam.

In short, more than 2700 years ago, the 10 tribes were plundered by the Assyrians (1 Kings 17:20-23) and went into exile. This was a judgment of God. For the sake of David, God preserved Judah with Benjamin assimilated into it (1 Kings 11:31-32).

This is where we arrive at the name Jews (from the tribe of Judah).

As believers, we must always revert back to what God says. In this passage, God says what would happen to them if they disobeyed.

Deuteronomy 28:64 “Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other.”

For context, read the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 28.

If God said it, then he will do it. No Christian today would argue with this. 70 A.D. is when the Jewish people were scattered and the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. Many Christians argue that the Jewish people were scattered because of the rejection of the Messiah. The Jewish Amoraim attributed the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem as punishment from God for the baseless hatred that pervaded Jewish society at the time. Either way, the overall conclusion is that they were scattered in Judgement.

This Diaspora lasted 2000 years. Flash forward: Israel, as a nation, is here.

They were regathered and re-established in the year 1948. How could a people group scattered in judgment regather themselves? How could a people group stick their finger in the face of God and say, “You scattered us in judgment, but we are going to regather ourselves and be successful”? This did not happen and could not.

If God establishes a judgment, it's final, period. The only one who could allow this regathering would be him.

And that is exactly what we find in the scriptures. There are more than 60 scriptures stating this would happen.

Ezekiel 11:17 says, "Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel."

Amos 9:15 says, "I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the LORD your God. Never again to be uprooted sets the stage for Israel’s future. No, they will not be uprooted again, no matter how many Nations try to destroy them.

Micah 4:11-13 even states that many nations will try to destroy Israel, but Israel will win.

Jeremiah 32:37 “I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.”

Why would God regather such a people? What did they do to earn this? After all, they still don’t believe in the Messiah, right?

God tells us that He regathered them in His Mercy.

This means it is not because of something they’ve earned. Just like all the mercy we receive from Him, yet we do not deserve.

Isaiah 54:7-8 “For a brief moment I deserted you, but I will regather you with great

compassion.   In a surge of anger, I hid My face from you a moment,

but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says Adonai your Redeemer.

God told us his plan clearly and even states that He would not banish them from His sight forever.

Jeremiah 31:35-37 “This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord Almighty is his name:   “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the Lord, “will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.”   This is what the Lord says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord.”

As it is linguistically impossible to apply these verses to the Church, we must take them in their most literal sense. Israel is Israel. I must also point out that not once in the New Testament are Gentiles ever referred to as Spiritual Israel or spiritual Jews.

Paul specifically addresses Gentiles as Gentiles, as in Romans 11.

“I am speaking to you Gentiles..”

Let us not mix up the covenants. When Christians of the Supersessionist viewpoint hear that “The Jews are chosen”, they likely want to call foul as they are misinterpreting what is meant. When we say the Jews are Chosen, we do not mean Chosen like in the Calvinist sense “Chosen for Eternal Salvation”. We mean Chosen to be a light to the Nations, as the scripture says in Isaiah 49:6

“I will make you a light for the nations, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

 This is also ratified by Yeshua himself when talking to a Samaritan, John 4:22: “You

worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.”

The Chosen Jewish apostles accomplished this. Because of their push to the Great

Commission and being driven by the Holy Spirit, salvation has come to the Gentile world as prophesied. Gentiles today can share in the Commonwealth of Israel. The New Covenant is with the house of Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 31:31). The nations are grafted into this Covenant (Romans 11).

Gentiles are to provoke the Jewish people to jealousy (Romans 11:11), not by becoming more like the Jews, but by their relationship with God through the Holy Spirit.

As a whole, the Jewish people still largely reject the messiah, but things are changing in Israel, and the Messianic (Jews who accept Jesus/Yeshua as their Messiah) numbers are rising. There are currently 10,000-20,000 Messianic Jewish believers, and there will be more. After they are regathered, God states He will remove the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:24-28   “For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.   

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God”.

He has called us to bless them and not curse them through these modern-day challenges. (Genesis 12:3).

Let us all pray for Israel, continue to support Israel, so that all Israel will be saved. (Romans 11:26).. Do not shy away from loving them toward their Messiah.

Jason Summers is the Director of Shalom Nashville, is married to his wife of 25 years, has 3 children, and a patience that his family wonders at.