What is the Spiritual Condition of National Israel Today?
(This is an excerpt from my book, “The Red Heifer Ritual” where I go in to much more detail on this topic. You can find that book HERE.)
The title of this section is very carefully nuanced. I am talking about National Israel. Think of it as a corporate group like we find in the OT. Even when God sent National Israel into exile in the Babylonian captivity for their sin, there were faithful individuals like Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and others who simply got caught up in the judgment of the entire nation. The leadership was wicked, and God most often judged the nation according to its leadership. We often don’t understand this theological principle because today we are so individualized, but this was the way it was in the OT. Remember when David sinned by having a census in 2 Samuel 24? David was the one who sinned, but as a result of his sin, judgment came and 70,000 people died through a plague (1 Chronicles 21:14). David himself was not killed, but many of the people were. This is similar to when in the first century the Jewish leadership rejected Jesus and judgment came upon that entire generation (Matthew 11:16; 12:39, 41, 42, 45). Jerusalem and the Second Temple were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands were killed by the Romans.
Even during the destruction of Jerusalem, we know there were individuals who were saved, including some of the apostles, disciples, and others. It is the same today with National Israel. The Jewish leadership of Israel (including the religious Jews) does not embrace Jesus as Messiah, but there are individual Jews who are saved. So, as we discuss the following state of National Israel, let’s remember that even though the people may be judged according to their nation, there are individuals who have become followers of Jesus the Messiah and are saved. It’s also important to remember that even in the first century, Paul loved his Jewish brethren (Romans 9:1-5), but was still bold enough to call them lost and in need of salvation (Romans 10:1-5). This is still true today.
To further illustrate this thought, I receive questions from people all over the country every single day. Recently, I received the following question from a woman named Linda. She wrote, “I have some friends who go to a national denominational church. When I talk to them about prophecy and the nation of Israel, they say that the remaining promises to Israel were given to the church because of Israel’s disobedience and murder of Jesus. They also point out that the modern nation of Israel is far from perfect. It is socialistic, secular, promotes LGBTQ, and is unfriendly to messianic Christians. They ask me how I can support such a godless nation that rejects Jesus and hinders Christian evangelism. What can I say?”
Here was my response:
There are two ways to respond to this question. One is theological and the other is prophetic. First, it is wise to simply acknowledge the truth of the assertions of your friends about the modern state of National Israel. It is well known that it was founded by secularist socialists who flirted with communism. If you study the history, many of the religious Jews were against the founding of the state of Israel because the founding fathers of modern Israel were so secular and atheistic. This was blasphemous to the religious Jews of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Second, we might ask the question, “In some ways how is this any different than the original founding of the nation in the book of Exodus?” Notice what God says to Israel through Moses as they were about to enter the promised land, “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that He may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD. Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you” (Deuteronomy 9:4-8).
Theologically, we learn that God did not give the land to Israel in ancient times because they were righteous, but to keep His promises to the patriarchs. Prophetically speaking, Israel today does not deserve the land any more than they did in ancient times. God did not bring back the people of Israel to the land in 1948 because they earned it (Ezekiel 36:24; 38:8). He brought them back into the land so He can fulfill His prophetic promises of the 70th week spoken of by Daniel (9:24-27), among other prophecies. He is going to judge them for their rebellion against His Son Jesus, purge and discipline them, but save the remnant as they call out on the name of Jesus at the end of the tribulation (Jeremiah 30:7; Hosea 5:15; Matthew 23:37-39; Zechariah 12:10; 13:8-9).
Why do we support the state of Israel today? We do not endorse everything they do. They are far from perfect as a government and a people. We support and love the state of Israel indirectly in a sense. Indirectly because we do not approve of them implicitly. More accurately, we support and endorse the Word of God, which contains promises to the nation of Israel that are still unfulfilled. Not a single time in Scripture are the promises to Israel ever transferred to the church. These promises will be fulfilled literally. Ultimately, we support and affirm the prophetic promises of God to and about Israel. God does not fully approve of Israel’s actions today and neither should we, but God has not forsaken nor abandoned Israel (Jeremiah 31;35-37; Amos 9:8; Romans 11:25-29) and again, neither should we.
It is absolutely true what Jesus said that no one can be saved apart from faith in Him (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). It is pretty obvious that secular Jews anywhere in the world today are not saved. What about religious Jews who pray, read the Bible, and are waiting for the Messiah? Paul writes with great sorrow that any Jew who does not embrace Jesus is lost and unsaved (Romans 10:1-3). Today, many religious Jews (especially in Israel) hate Jesus and Christians, sometimes aggressively.
That is how I answered Linda’s question, but it fits perfectly into how we Christians who follow Jesus as the Messiah and final sacrifice should address the prophetic developments of the red heifer and building of the Third Temple.
I get asked often about those religious Jews who read and believe the Old Testament. They claim to pray to God the Father and also believe that His promises are true, but they reject Jesus as Messiah. We should always be friendly and loving and kind, and never are we ever to persecute or speak evil of anyone that does not embrace Jesus as Messiah. This is especially true of Jewish people because of church history which had much “Christian” persecution of Jews. This was wrong then and is wrong today.
At the same time, we need to interact with a few questions:
- When Jewish people who reject Jesus as Messiah pray today, does God the Father hear their prayers?
- Can a Jewish person have a relationship with God the Father if they reject Jesus?
- Are the Jewish people who seem sincere in their desire to build a Third Temple pleasing God if they still try to please God apart from a faith in Jesus?
- Is Judaism a genuine religion that God accepts?
These are all very good questions, and the New Testament speaks quite boldly on these issues. In fact, as we have seen, Jesus speaks clearly on this issue. He said to the apostles and to Israel in the first century, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through Me” (John 14:6). Peter said, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). These are powerful and crystal-clear verses which answer the above questions. As difficult as it may be for some to accept, all of the answers to the 4 questions above are an unequivocal “NO.”
A true and genuine religion is one that provides salvation, and any religion that does not embrace Jesus is false and cannot provide or secure salvation. I don’t intend this to sound harsh, but it is true. Judaism, as a religion, does not nor cannot provide salvation because it rejects Jesus. Therefore, all the efforts by the religious Jews to fully reestablish Judaism and the Third Temple sacrifices are all fruitless efforts and do not honor the Son. Therefore, God cannot lie and accept their efforts when they reject His one and only Son whom He gave to die.
So, when a religious Jew prays, his prayers are not accepted by the Father unless they are prayed in the context of having a relationship with Jesus which they clearly do not. Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13; see also 15:16; 16:23, 24, 26). Notice the consistent theme of the following verses:
John 5:23 “That all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”
John 15:23 “Whoever hates Me hates My Father also.”
Luke 10:16 “Whoever listens to you listens to Me, and whoever rejects you rejects Me, and whoever rejects Me rejects the one who sent Me.”
1 John 2:23 “No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also.”
John 5:45-46 “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me.”
1 John 2:21-23 “I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Messiah? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”
John 15:18-21 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know Him who sent Me.”
As you can observe from the above verses, these present a very stark and clear picture of the situation in the first century as well as today. It is impossible to honor the Father through prayer, Torah study, sacrifices, or building a Third Temple if it does not include honoring Jesus the Son. In addition, if anyone rejects Jesus, they reject the Father who sent Jesus. If someone hates Jesus, they hate the Father. Even more bold, the above Scripture is saying that anyone who denies Jesus as the Messiah is a liar and is associated with the spirit of the antichrist. When the antichrist comes on the scene to deceive the Jews in making a covenant (Daniel 9:27), I believe that part of his covenant message will be to encourage the Jewish leadership to reaffirm a denial of Jesus as the Messiah.
When Paul was outlining the plan of God in seeking to reach the Gentiles, he writes, “As far as the gospel is concerned, [the Jews] are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28).
This concept is important. Paul says that any Jewish person who rejects the gospel is an enemy in one sense, but God still loves them and has a plan for them in the future. We should love them also and pray for their eyes to be opened to God’s only plan of salvation. This plan includes coming to faith in Jesus, but just because God loves them doesn’t mean that God is going to allow a separate way to come to Him. Jesus is the only WAY. If we have these truths in the back of our mind, we can begin to formulate some solid Biblical answers to the questions that were asked in the previous chapter.