Article #404
by Bill Nugent
Israel is in the news again . . . and again.. .and again. It’s nothing short of amazing that a small nation of barely 10 million people is at the top of the front pages of newspapers all over the world so frequently. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised when we look at the biblical history of Israel and consider that Israel is God’s chosen people. Israel is still chosen by God because the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:28-29).
The Jewish people are in controversy over their land they possess in the Middle East between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan river. In the Bible this was called the land of Canaan. In Psalm 105 it says
“O seed of Abraham, His servant,
O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!
He is the LORD our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
He has remembered His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,
The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And his oath to Isaac,
Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
Saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the portion of your inheritance'”
(Psalm 105:6-11 NASB*).
God commanded the gift of land to Israel to a “thousand generations”. The people of Israel are still entitled to the promised land because we read in the NewTestamentin Romans chapter 11:“From the standpoint of God’s choice they [Israel] arebeloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29 NASB).
The land the nation of Israel possesses in the Middle East is certainly an everlasting gift from God. Unfortunately, the Muslim Arabs don’t see it that way. There is much antisemitism and accusations of genocide. Israel and the Jewish people are in crisis like no other time in their history.
The Covenants of God
God created all people and He loves all people. In the early days of humanity, all the nations of the Earth were under the Covenant of Noah which is recorded in Genesis chapter 9:1-17. Noah and his descendants after him offered animal blood sacrifices (Genesis 8:20-21).
Several centuries after Noah. God called Abraham and made a covenant with him and with his descendants after him (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-21). This is the beginning of Judaism. It’s as if God took a test tube and dipped it into humanity and separated out one nation of people, the chosen people, later to be called the Jewish people.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob offered animal blood sacrifices (Genesis 13:18; 15:9-10; 26:25; 33:20; 35:7).
God treated this chosen nation in a special way. It’s as if God was a scientist doing experiments on this one nation. This is the one nation, the Jewish nation, through which God would bring the Messiah, His Son Jesus of Nazareth, into the earth to be the redeemer of all mankind.
Abraham and his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob and their spouses and children and ten generations of descendants observed the covenant of Abraham and the few laws that were attached to it and offered sacrifices. For over 400 years this was Judaism. It can be called Abrahamic Judaism.
Mosaic Judaism
After more than 400 years in which Abraham and his descendants offered animal blood sacrifices and kept laws, God sent a reformer by the name of Moses. God gave special Revelation to Moses and led the people of Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness where he established a much more complex and detailed covenant.
This is called the Covenant of Moses or the Mosaic Covenant. The rabbis count 613 laws under this covenant. It was a radical departure from Abrahamic Judaism. Mosaic Judaism was not a contradiction of Abrahamic Judaism. Mosaic Judaism was a reformation of Abrahamic Judaism.
Blood Sacrifices Brought Forgiveness of Sins
I cannot help but noticing that the covenant of Noah and the covenant of Abraham and the covenant of Moses all had in common that they had laws and the people offered animal blood sacrifices. The covenant of Moses had a very complex legal system of 613 laws and also a very complex and detailed animal blood sacrificial system spelled out in detail in the book of Leviticus.
The Jewish people, under the covenant of Moses, were required to keep the law. If they failed to keep the law and disobeyed the law and sinned, they had a blood sacrificial system in which they offered animals in sacrifice on an altar and the blood of the animals covered their sins. They received forgiveness of sins through their faith and reliance on God’s grace transmitted through the animal blood sacrificial system.
There are many passages in the Old testament that predict the coming of the Messiah who would bring reformation and would die for the sins of the people. The word ‘Christ’ is from the Greek word ‘Christos’ which corresponds to the Hebrew word ‘Mashiach’ which means ‘Messiah’. Jesus Christ is the Messiah of Israel.
Jesus is also the prophet like unto Moses who was predicted to come and bring reformation to Mosaic Judaism (Deuteronomy 18:18-19; Acts 3:22-23).
The animal sacrifices were just a prophetic picture of the coming ultimate sacrifice, the death and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who took the penalty of our sins upon Himself.
Jesus came in fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies and He brought teaching and He brought reformation to Judaism. Jesus did not do away with Judaism, He reformed it.
The blood of animal sacrifices covered the sins of the people and they were forgiven. Jesus Christ fulfilled the animal sacrificial system and his blood washes away the sins of the people and they receive forgiveness through the blood of Christ.
Ethnic-centered, Geography-centered, Time-centered, diet-centered
The covenant of Moses was ethnic-centered. It is centered around one ethnic group which is one nation, the nation of Israel who are the physical descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Gentile converts to Judaism.
The covenant of Moses was also geography-centered. The people were commanded to make pilgrimages three times per year to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts of Israel. Those feasts were Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.
The covenant of Moses was also time-centered. The people of Israel were commanded to do certain things, celebrate certain feasts and offer blood sacrifices at particular times of the week, month and year.
The covenant of Moses was also diet-centered. The people had dietary restrictions called Kosher laws listed in Leviticus, chapter eleven.
When Jesus, the Messiah, came and brought reformation to Judaism, he did away with its ethnic-centeredness, geography-centeredness, time-centeredness and diet-centeredness Mark 7:18-23; Acts 10:10-13). which were mere prophetic fore-shadowings and illustrations of the liberty granted to all humankind under the New Covenant.
There are no time-centered commandments in the New covenant. There are no commandments to make pilgrimages to a geographic location at certain times of year. The dietary restrictions, time restrictions, etc., were “carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation” (Hebrews 9:10).
Jesus established Messianic Judaism which is a God given reformation of Mosaic Judaism. Messianic Judaism is also called Christianity.
Keep God’s Law Perfectly or Rely on Substitutionary Atonement
In The sermon on the Mount Jesus commanded the people to be perfect. Jesus said: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). This statement should cause us great concern. We all know the expression “nobody’s perfect.”
If you are not perfect and you fail to obey God perfectly what is one to do? This is why we have a sacrificial system. You’re required to obey the law of God but if you disobey it there’s a way to receive forgiveness. The way to receive forgiveness is reliance on the blood sacrificial system. “Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22 NASB).
In Old Testament times under the law of Moses that was animal sacrifices. Under the New Testament, since Jesus came and died for our sins and rose from the dead, it is to rely on the blood of Christ which washes away our sins. We ask for forgiveness of sins based on the finished work of Jesus Christ who has suffered and died one once for all to redeem all of mankind, every nation. Jesus died in our place. This is called substitutionary atonement.
Forgiveness
If there is one word that sums up Judaism and Christianity, that one word is FORGIVENESS. God gave us laws, He gave us commandments, He gave us the Ten Commandments, He gave us the Sermon on the Mount. God demands perfection. When we are not perfect, and none of us are perfect, we rely on the sacrificial blood which today is the blood of Christ who died for our sins and His blood washes away our sins and we are forgiven forever.
Pagan religions don’t offer forgiveness. I once spoke about Christianity to a Hindu man and when I mentioned forgiveness of sins he stopped me in mid-sentence and said “You cannot get forgiveness of sins!”
In Hinduism you have to be your own savior. You have to work and do good deeds in order to balance out your bad karma. In Islam they believe that on judgment day God weigh out your good deeds versus your bad deeds and if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds you enter into heaven.
In essence in Hinduism and Islam and other pagan faiths, you are required to save yourself from your sins by doing good deeds. Christianity is the only religion that has a Savior who actually saves us by His good works and His suffering and His death and His resurrection on our behalf.
Christ gives us His Holy Spirit to live in us and give us the desire to obey God form the heart and willingly do good works.
How Should We Regard Israel Today?
The book of Romans, written by Paul the apostle, is a Bible book that very comprehensively lays out Christian doctrine regarding sinfulness of man, redemption by Christ, Christian relations with Israel, exhortations and commandments.
In Romans chapter 9 through 11, three whole chapters in this 16 chapter book, The book of Romans talks about how gentile Christians are to relate to Israel. How are you to regard the people of Israel, the Jewish people who have rejected Jesus as Messiah and have not acknowledged the reformation of Judaism that occurred in the first century under Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel?
Paul the apostle, by Revelation from God, exhorted the people not to be arrogant towards Israel. We are not to look down on the Jews. Paul says that the Jews are beloved for the sake of the fathers and the gifts and calling of God are never to be revoked (Romans 11:29). There are certain things under the Old Covenant that the Jewish people are promised by God and one of those promises is the land of Canaan, which is the land of Israel as we know it now in the Middle East.
Modern Jews, the people of the nation of Israel and the diaspora of Jews throughout the nations of the earth have laid claim to the physical land of Israel in the Middle East. The Arab Nations that surround the land of Israel in large part are Islamic and they regard the land as part of the inheritance of the Islamic peoples. Here is the conflict and it is a terrible conflict that is occurring in the earth.
Anti-Semitism has been spreading around the world and Israel has been accused of genocide for simply defending itself. Israel knows it’s under a microscope with media looking over its shoulders. Israel is not perfect but Israel goes to great lengths to protect civilian populations when invading Gaza and Lebanon.
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, is coming again, He is coming a second time. Jesus Christ ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem (Acts 1:1-12). The prophet Zechariah, in Zechariah 14:3-4, indicates that the Messiah will come again and He will come again at the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. When Jesus comes again He will touch the hearts of the Jewish people and “All Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26).
The New testament in Revelation chapter 20, makes reference to the coming 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ on this earth. I believe that during this millennial reign, God will divide up the earth for all the Nations and that every nation on earth will have its just allotment of land and secure borders. Israel will certainly have all its promised land in the Middle East.
Salvation
When a person dies, his or her spirit leaves the body and enters the spirit world. There is conscious existence in the afterlife. Every human being has a spirit and that spirit lives forever.
We are accountable to God in the afterlife. We will be judged by God. In the Bible we read that God, in His grace, has provided for our redemption so we do not have to go to be with demons in hell.
We must point people to Jesus Christ who came in fulfillment of over 300 Old Testament Bible prophecies written hundreds of years before His birth. No other person in all of history can match this claim!
The Old Testament prophets foretold that Christ, the Messiah of Israel, would suffer and die for the sins of the people. “All of us like sheep have gone astray; Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him [the Messiah]” (Isaiah 53:6 NASB, written over 700 years before Christ).
In the New Testament we read: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
Jesus worked miracles in front of eyewitnesses and this is recorded in the Gospels of the New Testament. Miracles continue to happen today, in answer to the prayers of Christians who rely on the power of Christ.
Jesus suffered and died to take upon Himself the penalty of our sins, thus making atonement. He rose from the dead in victory to offer forgiveness of sins to all who turn to Him in repentance. I invite you to call upon Jesus Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins!
*Bible quotes marked with ‘NASB’ are taken from the New American Standard Bible.
Steps to salvation:
Jesus said “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).
Prayer to receive salvation:
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:
“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.”
If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!