Playback speed:
Ongoing series, previously:
- Israel’s Covenants and the Kingdom
The Significance of Israel in God’s Kingdom
God’s Covenant with Israel
God’s first and only covenant nation is Israel, and He called them His “firstborn son.” Israel is the only nation He sovereignly chose to reveal Himself to, not a giant and mighty nation, but so insignificant they appeared to be nothing more than a small, powerless family. It says, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2); “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples” (Deuteronomy 7:7, NKJV).
Dispensational Theology and Israel
Most discourses on dispensational theology either ignore or marginalize the national significance of Israel as it relates to God’s Kingdom and focus on ecclesiology, the study of the church, which it views as entirely separate or different from Israel—Dispensationalism. Any reference to Israel is mainly for studying church history, prophecy concerning Jesus, and eschatology and the end times, including the return of Christ. There are several reasons for this, stemming from improperly understanding how God’s Kingdom will unfold—Amillennialism versus Premillennialism. And a general lack of causality between the natural and heavenly realms and, consequently, the physical and spiritual interconnectedness of Israel and the church.
The Spiritual and Physical Foundation of God’s Kingdom
Most Christians view God’s Kingdom as exclusively spiritual, and any inclusion of a natural Kingdom, if mentioned at all, is relegated to an unregenerate group that has not been born again or resurrected. However, to fully understand God’s Kingdom, we must embrace Israel as its physical and spiritual foundation and understand God’s progressive work through interwoven, overlapping, and continually interconnected yet distinguishably separate dispensations (periods) of personal and national redemption for the Jewish people, to which the church and the nations are eternally bound.
Israel’s Role in the Fulfillment of Prophecy
In other words, the church cannot fulfill, even in part, nor will it see God’s Kingdom purposes completed without the redemption of Abraham’s natural descendants and their return to the land God promised to Abraham. Every prophecy concerning Israel will and must come to pass, with no exceptions. And any theology that does not recognize the specific intentionality of God’s word toward the Jewish people denies the very fabric of His eternal Kingdom.
The Origin of the Term ‘Jew’
It was not until after Israel’s return from Babylonian captivity that we see the first mention of the Jews in the Bible (the second book of Kings), which describes the fall and captivity of Judah. These descendants were called Judeans (Yehudim, יְּהוּדִים֙), descendants from the Tribe of Judah that settled that land around Jerusalem known as Judea. Around B.C. 538, during the time of Ezra, a remnant of these Judeans returned after seventy years from Babylon to rebuild the Temple.
Terminology in the New Testament
Hence, the word Jew is derived from the Hebrew word Yehudah (Judah). In the New Testament, the terminology varies concerning the Jewish people. Jesus was called the King of the Jews and the King of Israel. And the Apostle Paul referred to the Jewish people as Hebrews, Israelites, Jews, and those of the circumcision. There are several plausible explanations for these variations, the most likely being that the ten northern tribes were never restored after the Assyrian captivity. Therefore, most of those living in Israel during the time of Jesus were Judeans and Levites, and a small number of Benjamites that had returned after the Babylonian captivity.
Israel and the Early Church
The Jewish Identity Today
Today the Jewish people are exclusively referred to as Jews or are said to be Jewish, whether they practice the religion of Judaism or not. The rabbis consider a Jew to be any person born of a Jewish mother or who has undergone conversion to become a proselyte, according to Halachah (Jewish law). Those who are citizens of Israel are officially called Israelis, and the majority, but not all, are Jewish. While Israel in the Hebrew scripture is called a “nation” (goyee, plural goyeem in Hebrew), the church in the New Testament is always referred to as the “ecclesia” (from the Greek ekklēsia). It means “a gathering of those summoned” or “the assembly of citizens in a city-state.”
The Doctrine of Israel
This teaching on the Doctrine of Israel will focus on the Bible’s theological and eschatological aspects of Israel and the Jewish people (the natural seed of Abraham) and their physical and spiritual connectedness to the church and the nations—Christ’s Kingdom. You will find references to ancient Biblical Israel, modern-day Israel, future redeemed Israel, and the descendants of Abraham that have received Christ as their Lord and Savior, a saved remnant of the Jewish people in this current dispensation called “the church age.” And you will find references to the Gentiles (other nations apart from Israel) and the church comprised of believing Jews and Gentile Christians. All these references are for one purpose, to understand Christ’s Kingdom and the church’s connection to Israel and the Jewish people.
A Focus on Theology, Not History
You will not find a discourse on Israel’s Biblical and modern history except where necessary to support the theological narrative. And you will not see references to Palestine as the term does not have national significance as it was merely a territorial identification. The name Syria-Palaestina was given to the Roman province of Judaea in the early second century A.D. during its occupation of Israel, and the Greeks used Palestina for the entire region during their occupation.
Dispensational Relevance and False Theologies
Historical elements, if included, are for dispensational relevance or to reveal how false theologies emerged that diminish or invalidate God’s promises for Israel. The objective is to present a complete picture of God’s Kingdom that explains how God’s workings with the Gentiles are part of His overall plan of one gradual and continuing dispensation to redeem Israel and all nations through the church, ultimately subjugating the entire creation to Jesus, which the church will receive as an inheritance in Christ. As the Lord declared, “Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Psalm 2:8).
The Early Christian Era
Early Christianity, or Paleo Christianity, is the historical era of Christianity from Pentecost through the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. Jesus was a Jew, as were all twelve of the Apostles, and His testimony as Christ confirmed that He came to fulfill all the promises made to the Hebrew patriarchs and the nation of Israel. Hence, early Christianity was an offshoot of Judaism. This early church comprised mainly Jewish leadership and was closely connected with Jewish centers throughout the diaspora.
The Expansion of the Gospel
After the stoning death of Stephen, believers in Jerusalem faced intense persecution, and many sought refuge in cities like Damascus and Antioch, joining Gentile converts and Jewish believers who were preaching the Gospel to predominantly Hellenist Jews and their neighboring Gentile communities. The church at Antioch later became the launching place for many missionary journeys that brought the Gospel to the Gentile nations. And within a few hundred years, thriving church communities were well-established in Asia Minor, Europe, Western and Northern Africa. Edessa became the center of Syriac Christianity which spread to Mesopotamia and, to a small degree, India.
The Jerusalem Council and Early Church Governance
The early church wrestled with many issues relating to the observance of the Law of Moses, including circumcision and the Lord’s Sabbath and feasts. Paul rebuked Peter, saying, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?” (Galatians 2:14). But the early church ultimately resolved these complex issues through a congregation of apostles and elders. At the Jerusalem Council in the Book of Acts (around A.D. 50), it says, “The apostles and elders came together to consider this matter” (Acts 15:6). And their conclusion is written and clear: “To lay upon you [Gentiles] no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality” (Acts 15:28-29). Jews and Gentiles were free to live amongst each other in a universal community of believers, neither obligated to lose or relinquish their cultural heritage. The universal (Catholic) church was born.
Ongoing series:
- Israel’s Covenants and the Kingdom
- Separation of the Church from Israel
- The Significance and the Early Church
- Reconnecting the Church to Israel
- God’s Kingdom and the Restoration of Israel
