Has the God of Israel rejected His people because of their disobedience? Some believe that because Israel as a nation did not accept Yeshua as the Messiah, God has forsaken His promises to them and transferred His election to the church. Are the blessings that God promised to Abraham in Genesis 12 intended for Abraham alone, or also for the people who would come from his seed? Is the return of the people of Israel to the Land of Promise, as we have witnessed since the beginning of the last century and especially from 1948, truly the result of the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel? Or is the entire matter of the return to Zion merely the outcome of a secular Zionist movement that sought a solution to the Jewish problem after the Holocaust?
Personally, I would never have imagined that these questions would become so controversial. The very existence of the Jewish people in their land has become a point of contention. This is especially shocking after the horrors of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a satanic attempt to annihilate the Jewish people in Europe because someone in Germany believed that all the world’s problems stemmed from the Jewish people.
Tragically, just over 70 years later, questions linger about the people of Israel, their right to the land of Israel and whether the people of Israel today are truly the people of God. More than ever, we see these doubts gaining traction, even in conservative circles, where I believe that people misunderstand the Word of God and present a picture that contradicts the spirit of the Scriptures and the promises God made to His people whom He chose some 3,000 years ago.
There is no doubt that Hamas’ demonic attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, opened a new era of antisemitism unlike anything we have witnessed since the 1930s.
Israel is being called the aggressor, the one who is committing genocide. In the last two years, we saw protesters all over the world loudly supporting the annihilation of the State of Israel. We saw the media dismiss Israel’s right to defend itself.
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and yet the media portrays her as the villain of the world. I believe this is a supernatural hatred that comes from the pit of hell—spiritual warfare against the plan of God and the Jewish people.
Questions from some in the church, about the position of Israel as the elected people of God and the return of the Jewish people to their homeland as acts of God, are rooted in Biblical illiteracy. They wrongly claim that the promise given to Israel in Genesis 12:3—when God said to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you”—applies to Abraham alone and not to the people of Israel.
To remain faithful to the truth, we must return to the story itself and not remove the verse from its context. God called Abraham and said to him in Genesis 12:1: “‘Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.’”
In verse 2, He tells Abraham: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.” Only after Abraham is promised to become a great nation does God declare in verse 3: “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” The point here is that Israel, which was established through Abraham’s seed, has been the instrument which God used, and continues to use, to fulfill His promises to the world. From the Torah and the Prophets, and through the tribe of Judah, arose the Messiah, opening the door for all humanity to enter into a relationship with the God of Israel. This is not to mention all the physical blessings of medical and scientific innovations which the Jewish people have gifted the world.
Those who promote the idea that God replaced Israel with the church due to Israel’s unfaithfulness often cite Romans 9:6: “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.”
Regrettably, this verse is often taken out of context. Paul was describing the fact that a remnant within Israel accepted faith in Yeshua of Nazareth and became what may be called spiritual Israel. Yet there is no claim that God abandoned, rejected, or cast away Israel as a nation. As Paul clearly states in Romans 11:1–2: “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.”
It is true that blindness has fallen upon much of Israel, as Paul tells us in Romans 11:8: “Just as it is written: ‘God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day’” (see also Isaiah 29:10; Deuteronomy 29:4).
Paul is quoting Isaiah, reminding us that the veil over much of Israel is temporary. As he continues in Romans 11:11: “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.”
Or, as he explains in Romans 11:25: “That blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”
If the church had replaced Israel, as some claim, then the concept of waiting until the fullness of the Gentiles would make no sense. Yet Paul unequivocally states that God has not abandoned Israel. He continues in Romans 11:28: “Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.”
Regarding election, Israel remains beloved because of the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Paul declares in Romans 11:29: “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
The election of Israel is profound and mysterious. As God declares at Mount Sinai, He chose Israel to be a light to the nations. Though Israel has not always fully fulfilled this calling, the light of the Jewish Messiah has reached all nations through the Scriptures and the Prophets, as well as Jesus’ atoning death on the cross and resurrection.
Regarding the modern state of Israel, the preservation of Jewish identity over two millennia of exile testifies to the faithfulness of God’s promises. The Jewish people’s refusal to assimilate, their survival through persecution, the Holocaust, and centuries of antisemitism—all demonstrate the truth of God’s covenant.
Finally, Paul calls the Gentiles to join Him in prayer for Israel, as he says in Romans 10:1: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.”
We must understand the responsibility given to us: to pray for Jerusalem’s peace, for reconciliation between Israel and God, and for peace with the surrounding nations.
