“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”  (Gen. 12:2)

As friends of the Jewish people we raise our voices against lies upon lies that have been piled up against Israel and its cause, -  these turbulent days not the least.  Does that mean that Israel is the embodiment of truth?  Unfortunately not.  Israel will not be the powerful communicator (channel) of the truth in all its wealth till Israel has through a miraculous work of repentance embraced Him, who is the Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ.

That will happen however according to God´s sovereign plan and eternal blueprint foretold in His word.  So when we speak of the future of Israel, we speak of the glorious future when The Great King (Matt. 5:35), God´s Son, the Messiah, has overtaken the rule and has been glorified in that people, against whom the hostility of world will accelerate day by day.  We see the contours of that hatred right now, but it hasn´t culminated yet.  It will, however, one day lead to a repentant people turning to Him “whom they have pierced” (Zech. 12:10).  Tears will be shed, and the grace of God will abound.  By the way, isn´t that the nature of every true conversion of anybody whom God saves by His free grace?

So we are not idealizing the secular state of Israel who still houses much sin, idols and ungodliness (Rom. 11:26) with its enmity against the gospel (Rom. 11:28). Yet God has not rejected His people (Rom. 11:1-2), they are still “beloved for the sake of their forefathers” (Rom. 11:28), and so we love them too.   With Messiah on “the Throne of His father David”  (Luke 1:32), a glorious time will come when “out of Zion shall go the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”  (Isa. 2:3),  and “of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end.”  (Isa. 9:7).  Praise God!

“Israel” means God´s rule or “He will rule as God”.  The world will one day see the fulfillment of that divine significance when connected to Christ.  Personally I believe that the very word “Israel” and “the Jews” provokes the hatred of the world, the root of which is the natural enmity against God.  As I once said to a neighbor:  “Your anger is not directed against me, for I haven´t done you any harm, but it is because I talk to you about God!”

That´s the truth, isn´t it?  But that should provoke us to testify truthfully and faithfully of Christ, God´s last offer of salvation to a lost world.

-jn-

June, 6, 2010