Book III/Chapter 03: The Christian Nation (Part 2)
Last Updated on Sunday, 13 July 2008 07:40
The existence and validity of the Nation of Israel as a people is a fact no one (except certain extremists) in all good conscience can deny.
They have an identity that goes back millennia and a homeland that is visible on any current map of the middle east. They have a flag, a state, a government, and a documented political process that seems to function.
What many people don't realize, however, is that the existence of the Nation of Israel is, in fact, a miracle. Israel as a nation is not supposed to exist, especially in a homeland that for millennia has been a major thoroughfare for international commerce and military conflict. One reason Israel is not supposed to exist is because Israel has never had the resources to sustain itself. Even as recently as the latest establishment of its statehood in the 1940's, it has faced extinction at the hands of overwhelming forces...and yet it continues to exist and function as a nation.
All nations are created by God; yet Israel enjoys the distinction of being a nation created by God FOR HIMSELF! Please don't misunderstand me; I DO NOT BELIEVE that Israelite DNA is in any way more superior to that of any other ethnic group. On the contrary...God Himself says through the prophet Moses that the Hebrews were the LEAST OF ALL PEOPLE (Deuteronomy 7:6,7). Why would God take the smallest ethnic group on the planet and make them the nest in which He would take upon Himself the garb of human flesh? So that what has happened would not happen: so that the Earthly, physical Nation of Israel (and their royal tribe of Judah–the Jews–from which the Messiah was born) would not use their "Divinely-favored nation status" as a weapon against their fellow nations in the world but that they would declare the Truth about the One True God; and that God would get the glory for providing the means (Israel) by which He would rescue the human race from extinction.
(NOTE: The Bible makes a crucial distinction between the Earthly, physical Nation of Israel, which is temporary and the SPIRITUAL Nation of Israel, which is Eternal; nothing about the Gospel or Biblical prophecy makes sense without this truth.)
Unfortunately God has not gotten the glory. Earthly Israel suffers from rampant ethnic discrimination and unrest within its borders, enjoys unprecedented wealth and favor from the most powerful country on Earth (America) because we think that Israel is some kind of Divine talisman that protects us from accountability for our own sins, and the Jews have for centuries thrown their weight around in the Earth's artistic, communication, political and financial communities.
(NOTE; I AM NOT ANTI-JEW NOR AM I ANTI-SEMITIC!!! I worship a God Who became a Jew...so DON'T EVEN TRY TO GO THERE!!! However...though (or rather because) I am a Christian, I'm not going to gloss over or ignore the truth.)
Does this mean that God has failed? (Chuckle) hardly! The Earthly Nation of Israel IS NOT THE REAL ISRAEL!!!
I say again: the Earthly Nation of Israel is NOT the real Israel...it never was. The REAL Israel is SPIRITUAL Israel, of which I myself am a citizen. SPIRITUAL Israel is a Nation like Earthly Israel–but much more than a nation. SPIRITUAL Israel is an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HOMO SAPIEN ALTOGETHER!!! SPIRITUAL Israel is a Nation that is deathless, sinless, incorruptible, and infinite; a nation whose citizenship is available to every nation, tribe, tongue and people that walk the Earth today.
SPIRITUAL Israel is the world's oldest nation, whose first citizens were Adam and Eve who, after they had sinned against God, looked forward in faith to the Messiah (which in Hebrew is "The Anointed One") Who would rescue them from alienation from God, sin and death. From Adam and Eve came every nation, tribe tongue and people–we are all cousins! Yet not everyone who descended from Adam believed in the Coming of the Messiah; these non-believers were stuck with their earthly citizenship and died in the Global Flood without hope.
Some time after the Global Flood, when from Noah mankind had once again multiplied on the face of the Earth into many nations, tribes, tongues and peoples (a few of which were believers in the Messiah), God chose from among the believers a Hebrew named Abraham to be the ancestor of the Messiah.
(NOTE: This is VERY important: (1) Abraham did not choose God; God chose Abraham; (2) Abraham was neither a Israelite nor a Jew...he was a Hebrew.)
From that time God began the process of creating and nurturing a nation through which He would eventually become human. Abraham had MANY sons; but God chose to give Abraham a son through a woman who was UNABLE TO HAVE CHILDREN: Sarah, Abraham's half-sister. That child (Isaac) was a MIRACLE CHILD, the product of a MIRACULOUS BIRTH!
(Chuckling) But it doesn't stop there!
For TWENTY YEARS Isaac's wife (Rebekah), despite his prayers, COULD NOT BECOME PREGNANT! Finally, in His Own Good Time, God gave Rebekah twins. Before either child was born God told her that the elder (Esau) to whom the birthright to be ancestor of the Messiah belonged, would be the servant of the younger (Jacob). God deliberately chose the younger twin to be His Earthly ancestor, and changed Jacob's name (which means "con-man" and "thief") to "Israel" (which in Hebrew means "Prince of God"). Israel's twelve sons then became the twelve tribes of the Earthly Nation of Israel.
So you see: the existence of Earthly Israel is itself a marvelous miracle! The whole reason Earthly Israel was created was to be the garden from which the Seed (Jesus) would come Who would guarantee the survival of SPIRITUAL Israel.
Citizenship in SPIRITUAL Israel is granted upon one criteria and one criteria only: Faith in the Messiah. When the Messiah (Yeshuah Ha Messiach, Jesus Christ of Nazareth) finally came, Earthly Israel (for the most part) rejected Him. They were expecting the Messiah to grant them Earthly power over their enemies, wealth beyond their wildest dreams and preeminence in the global political community, and were sorely disappointed when He would not give it to them (though it was obviously in His Power to do so). They were so disappointed that they handed Him over to the world (which had no idea Who they were dealing with) for execution.
What blows my mind is that Jesus allowed Himself to be executed as a common criminal by a world that had no idea Who He was, so that the sin issue that for thousands of years had separated mankind from God would be ONCE AND FOR ALL RESOLVED. Beloved Friend, the ONLY thing standing between you and God is your unbelief in the GREATEST HISTORICAL EVENT in human history: God becoming human and taking upon Himself our nightmare so that we could share His Divine Glory!!!
No less miraculous is the Resurrection of Jesus' physical Body from the dead and His Ascension into Heaven to sit on God's Throne...far above all authority, dominion, principality and power. Jesus is the most powerful human in the universe! And having in His Body exalted humanity beyond the reach of sin and affliction, He became the Last Adam of a new race of humanity, and has poured out His Divine Holy Spirit upon all who in faith call upon Him.
"Neither is there Salvation in any other; for there is NO OTHER NAME under Heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."–The Apostle Peter (Acts 4:12)
It is this Nation, begun in Earthly Israel yet enduring to the ages of the ages, world without end, that Biblical Christianity declares and provides a doorway of citizenship to. You don't believe me? Then call upon the Name of Jesus for yourself, and see what happens!
In Part 3 I will discuss the statehood of SPIRITUAL Israel.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|