Where is the promised land?

"For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles." Galatians 2:8

Peter was a messenger of Christ to Israel, the chosen people of God. His ministry was focused on reaching the Jewish people with the gospel. He so identified with his people that Paul even had to correct him for returning to Jewish customs whilst in Antioch (see Gal. 2:11-14). Reading Peter's letters, therefore, gives us a glimpse of his heart for the Jewish people and God's purposes for Israel and the Church.

God's message to His people 

The Good News that "Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18) was Peter's message to the Jewish people. He was greatly concerned about the outcome for "those who do not obey the Gospel" (1 Peter 4:17). In Peter's mind, "the end of all things" was near (1 Peter 4:7) and so his letters carry a sense of urgency about Christ's return and the Church's readiness to meet her Master.

Strangers in the world

It is interesting to note how James and Peter address their letters to "the twelve tribes scattered among the nations" and "God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia" (James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1). It seems that both writers primarily have their Jewish brothers in mind who have come to faith in Christ through the Gospel. Rather than calling their Jewish brothers to return to Jerusalem or "the promised land," the believers are encouraged "as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul" and to "live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us" (1 Peter 2:11,12). God's purpose for His people is that they live as members and citizens of His Kingdom in this world wherever they are. He is not gathering His people to one place but has scattered His people among the nations to be salt and light for His glory (see Matthew 5:13-16)!

Where is the "promised land"?

God's people are not to live for the seen but for the unseen real. Abraham lived by faith in the unseen reality of God's land, promised to him and his ancestors. 

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them" (Hebrews 11:13-16).

Even Moses "regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible" (Heb.11:26,27).

The message of the writer to the Hebrews, the Jewish people, is that Christ is the fulfillment of all that was forshadowed in the old covenant. "The copies of the heavenly things" (Heb. 9:23) all pointed to the reality of the invisible Kingdom that is found in Christ. God's people are not supposed to be returning to a physical land but are to be waiting in great expectation for the new heavens and the new earth, "to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God" (Heb. 12:22). Jew and Gentile believers eagerly await a "better country" and the city God has prepared for them!

Let us live godly lives as aliens and strangers in this world as we eagerly await the glorious appearing of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ and the revelation of our heavenly home!

Israel and the Church

"His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit." Ephesians 2:17,18

The Glory of the Church

God's desire is for both Jew and Gentile to be reconciled to Him. His eternal purpose, which He accomplished in Christ, was to enable Jew and Gentile through faith in Christ, to be gathered to Him when Jesus comes again  (Eph. 3:11; 2 Thess. 2:1). The Church, made up of Jewish and Gentile believers is the revelation of God's wisdom and the demonstration of the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:7; 3:10). The Bible is clear that when Christ returns, "He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of the our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed" (2 Thess. 1:8-10). Christ is the hope of glory and it is He who indwells the community of believers, His Body the Church. Apart from Christ there is no hope of glory. This applies to both Jew and Gentile. 

Has God rejected Israel?

Christ came first for Israel and then for the Gentiles (Rom. 1:16). God says of Israel, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people" (Rom. 10:21). However, God has not rejected His people but has made provision for them through Christ to come back to Him. The apostle Paul testifies to God's patience with Israel when he declares that even though he was an Israelite himself, God rescued him through faith in His Son (Romans 11:1)!

Is God gathering Israel?

Many people believe that God is gathering the Jewish people to the land promised to Abraham so that at some point in the future God will pour out His Spirit upon Israel and all Israel will be saved. However, this is a view that completely disregards the purpose for which Christ came. It assumes that God will rescue His chosen people apart from faith in Christ. God apparently has a special plan for Israel that is different to His plan for the Church. So while the Church is to go out from Jerusalem and be dispersed among the nations to make disciples of all people (Matt.28:18-20; Acts 1:8), God is gathering the Jews to Israel for His special plan for them. 

The truth is that God poured out His Spirit at Pentecost and Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, explained that this outpouring was the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy (Acts 2:16-21). The Jewish people in Jerusalem were urged to believe in Jesus, to repent and be baptised. This was God's way to restore His chosen people to Himself and to create in Christ one new man, the Church. Instead of building a temple of stone, God chose to build a dwelling of living stones, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Church of Christ. The Church is looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth when Christ comes forth from Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:18-29). 

The Church's responsibility toward Israel

It is because of Israel that salvation has come to the Gentiles (John 4:22; Rom. 11:11-24). Although there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, we owe our "spiritual blessings" to the Jewish people and therefore we should be praying for their salvation as we would for a family member. The Church's responsibility toward Israel is to share with them the Good News of reconciliation to God through Christ. That is what we are called to do as ambassadors of Christ (Rom. 15:27; 2 Cor. 5:18-20). We should not comfort them in their disobedience and obstinacy but urge them to believe, repent and be baptised into Christ. Let us pray fervently for the veil to be removed from their hearts, "because only in Christ is it taken away" (2 Cor. 3:14,15).

Prayer for Israel

Pray for opportunities to witness to Jewish people

Pray for the veil to be removed in the hearts of the Jewish people

Pray for the Church to have a burden for Jew and Gentile alike to be saved

Pray for workers to be sent to share the Good News in Israel and the nations

Pray for the truth to be revealed in the Church concerning God's heart for Israel

Pray for the Prince of Peace to be revealed in Jerusalem and in Israel   

For more reading on this subject I recommend the following article by Adrian Birks: http://thinktheology.co.uk/papers/article/israel-the-church

"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." Romans 10:1-4

Will All Israel Be Saved?

"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved." Rom. 10:1

The apostle Paul had a passion for his people, the people of Israel. He was so concerned for the Jewish people that just like Moses was prepared to die for his people (see Exodus 32:32), so Paul writes,

"I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel." Rom. 9:2-4

Paul carried the Father's passion to see man reconciled to God. It was the love of Christ that compelled Paul to reach those separated from God and mobilise a people who would do the same (see 2 Cor. 5:11-21).

All through the history of mankind, God has revealed His passion for His creation and His desire to walk in fellowship with what He makes. God chose the people of Israel to be His people. A people devoted to God who demonstrate their love for the Lord by being a seperate people, (not worshipping idols, not intermarrying other nations, not following the customs of other nations etc). This exclusive group of people called Israel was chosen for a purpose. Their purpose was to walk in fellowship with God, to obey Him and to reveal His holiness and glory. However, because of their sin nature, they consistently disobeyed God and went their own way. Nevertheless, the history of Israel reveals a God who consistently  loves His people and holds out His hands to them despite their being a "disobedient and obstinate people" (Rom. 10:21).Over and over again, the Father sent His messengers, the prophets of Israel, to call His people back to fellowship and obedience to Him. Tragically, Israel consistently rejected God's messengers and so the Father sent His Son (see Heb.1:1 and Matthew 21:33-46). 

Jesus was sent from heaven to redeem the people of Israel. He is the deliverer from Zion, sent te reconcile Israel to God (Rom. 11:26; Acts 3:26). However, even God's very own Son was rejected by Israel! Consequently, God chose to bring near those who are far away (Eph. 2:13, the Gentiles) so that through faith in Christ, anyone can be reconciled to the Father. The mystery that Paul talks about in Eph. 3 is that "through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 3:6). God's plan of salvation to reconcile Israel to Himself has made salvation available to every creature under heaven. God is so passionate about Israel that He has chosen to make His chosen people envious of those who are living in fellowship with, and obedience to the Father because of their faith in His Son. Paul writes,

"Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them" (Rom. 11:13,14).

Paul's insight into the mystery of God's redemptive plan shows us that God wants to save all Israel. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit said to the rulers, elders and teachers of the law in Jerusalem that "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Clearly not all Israel will be saved but only those who trust in the Capstone. So why does Paul say in Romans 11:26 that "all Israel will be saved"? Is Paul saying that when Jesus comes again that all Jewish people will be saved? Clearly not. The context of Paul's statement in Rom. 11 is important. The sentence reads,

"Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved as it is written: 'The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.'" (Rom. 11:25-27)

Paul is saying that all Israel will be saved through faith in the Deliverer from Zion and not through the Law (see Rom. 10:3,4). There is no exception. Every Jew and every Gentile can only be saved through God's Son. "All Israel will be saved as it is written" and as God has planned it in Christ.

"His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." Eph. 3:10,11

May the Church carry the same burden as the apostle Paul to see both Jew and Gentile saved according to God's salvation purposes in Christ.