The Nazis established Auschwitz in 1940 in the Polish suburbs, building a complex of camps that became central to Hitler’s pursuit of a “Final Solution to the Jewish question.” Nazis would end up murdering over 6 million Jews throughout the holocaust.
As prisoners arrived, young children, elderly, and adults were separated and immediately executed. Daily mass executions, starvation, disease, and torture transformed Auschwitz into one of the most lethal and terrifying concentration camps and extermination centers of World War II.
All Jews were tortured, regardless of their age or gender.
In January 1945, Soviet soldiers liberated the camp to find unspeakable horrors as the result of the Nazis.
Estimates suggest that Nazis murdered 85 percent of the people sent to Auschwitz.
The Holocaust will forever be burned into history as one of the most disgusting displays of antisemitism this world has ever seen. At the time, historians and perhaps even the elderly still today, remember and recall the prophetic promises that God gave in the Bible that he would forever watch over his people, Israel.
Passages like Zechariah 2:8, Deuteronomy 32:11-12, Deuteronomy 33:29, or Psalm 121:4-7.
On October 7th, 2023, the Palestinian terror group, Hamas, opened a gruesome and brutal attack upon Israel.
We are over a month into this attack and innocent people, from both nations, are still dying.
This has led to many asking the question, will God still preserve His people, Israel?
Here’s what I hope to cover today….
When was the nation of Israel established?
Was Israel still God’s chosen people through disobedience?
Is modern-day Israel and modern-day Jews still God’s chosen people?
What are some lies people believe about Israel today?
What is the Christian’s responsibility towards the conflict in Israel?
So, when was the nation of Israel established?
Before we can learn about when Israel was established, I think it’s important to learn a little bit of an overview on why Israel was such a critical part of the Messiah.
In the garden of Eden, when mankind chose to disobey God and bring sin into the world, the relationship between God and man was changed. No longer will man walk with God in the cool of the garden. No longer will man stand before God as a perfect being. That changed. In Genesis 3:15, we read what scholars call the protoevangelium.
A fancy word that means “the first gospel proclamation.” “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” This proclamation was that, yes, Satan would deal a devastating blow to mankind. But ultimately, through the fulfillment of the Messiah, God would be victorious. Meaning, mankind will be victorious if they choose to obey God.
Obedience to God for us today began with Abraham.
Abraham was the first of the Hebrew patriarchs. He’s a figure revered by all three monotheistic religions – Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Abram was called upon by God to leave his homeland of Ur, which was in Mesopotamia, for the purpose of being the father of many nations.
Genesis 12:1-4 says this…
“Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you
And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” Abraham obeyed, unquestioningly, the commands of God. By doing so, he received a promise and a covenant that his seed, the seed of Abraham, would inherit the land of Canaan.
Hebrews 11:8-10 says this… “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
Skipping down to Hebrews 11:13 says… “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
Abraham would not ever possess this land of Canaan that God promised to him. But it was counted to him as faith because he knew that God would deliver on His promise to his seed. And He certainly did. Israel would possess this land of Canaan by Joshua’s leadership.
Abraham would ultimately have eight sons. But only one of those sons was with Sarah, whom God promised -- Isaac. Isaac had Jacob. This is where we see the beginning of Israel in the Bible.
Let’s read Genesis 32:22-32…
“And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.”
I’m happy to talk further about this afterwards, but a couple of points to remember. This mysterious man Jacob was wrestling with was God himself.
After Jacob’s confession to God in Gen. 32:27, the Lord did something rather unexpected… He changed Jacob’s name to Israel, meaning “he who struggles or strives with God.” The name Israel is given to Jacob because, in a sense, Jacob had striven with God and with people (v. 28). After God touched and dislocated Jacob’s hip, Jacob was no longer able to continue wrestling. The only thing he could do was cling to God (v. 26). In his weakness, Jacob asked for and received blessing from the Lord (v. 26, 29). This is a vital lesson that God’s people must learn in every generation: Jacob’s victory was not the result of his own strength and effort but came through desperate weakness. He clung to God until blessing was acquired.
This would be the epitome of Israel. As Israel grew and accomplished God’s will, it was only the result of God’s blessing. Not their own. When Israel would go off and follow their own will, they found out how weak they were.
So, we see that through God’s promise to Abraham, Israel was established by Abraham’s son Jacob. Jacob would later have a son named Joseph. Joseph, through the sin of his brothers, was relocated to Egypt. Joseph was blessed by God and became a mighty nation within Egypt. The nation of Israel. Blessed by God. God’s chosen people.
Israeli tour guides sometimes say: “Israel may be three hundred miles long, thirty miles wide, but it’s three thousand years deep.”
Charles Krauthammer said in The Weekly Standard on May 11th, 1998… “Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago.”
Was Israel still God’s chosen people through disobedience?
Many times God compared Himself to Israel like a husband to a wife. We also see that comparison with Christ and the church. I do not think that is simply a coincidence. In fact, be thinking about that in context of Israel being God’s chosen people today.
Isaiah 54:5 says, “For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.”
Jeremiah 3:14 says, “Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord; “for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.”
God refers to Israel as His bride to assure His people of His love for them.
Israel often proved to be an unfaithful spouse, committing spiritual adultery by worshiping false gods and forsaking the Lord. In fact, it was due to idolatry that God spoke this word in Jeremiah 3:8-10.
“Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord.”
In this passage, God warns Judah against making the same mistakes that Israel, their neighbors to the north, had made. In their idolatry, Israel had polluted the land and broken their covenant with God.
Due to the enormity of their sin, God punished Israel, and He illustrates that punishment like this: He says He “divorced” Israel and sent them away—a reference to the Assyrian invasion, which resulted in Israel’s removal from their homeland. You can read about that in 2 Kings 17:5-7. Even given the example of Israel’s “divorce,” Judah remained unfaithful. It almost seemed as if they were daring God to dish out a similar punishment on them.
Having just cause, God, the faithful Husband, “divorced” Israel, His unfaithful wife. To make matters worse, God had asked a question in Jeremiah 3:1… “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, may he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted?”
The answer, according to the Mosaic Law, was “no”; a man who had divorced his wife could not later remarry her according to Deuteronomy 24:1-4. According to God’s metaphor, Israel seems to be in a hopeless situation…
Israel has been divorced by God, and, according to the law, she can never be accepted back.
But God’s mercy intervenes according to Jeremiah 3:12… “‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever.”
God promises to do what the Mosaic Law could never do: restore the broken “marriage.” I’m reminded of Jesus in Mark 2:27 – Sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. It was unthinkable that a human husband would take back his unfaithful wife, but God is greater than that; He can and will forgive His wayward people when they repent of their sin and seek Him again.
God used the shocking illustration of a “divorce” of Israel to stress their guilt before Him. But God never cut Israel off unilaterally for all time. He only asked that they return to Him and experience His goodness.
In fact, after God says that He “divorced” Israel, He commands them three times to “return” (Jeremiah 3:11, 14, 23).
Paul talks about this in Romans 11:1-6… Let’s read it…
Romans 9-11 talk about Israel’s rejection of God and God’s relationship with Israel. The overarching point of these two chapters is that God is faithful – will always be faithful. God keeps His promises, and His word can be trusted.
Paul is showing us that, today, in this covenant, Israel stands rejected. Mainly because Israel misunderstands the doctrine of the election of Israel. God’s choice of Israel as His special people was for service not salvation.
Israel, as a nation, was chosen by God to serve Him in the accomplishment of His foreordained plan to bring the Savior into the world. This choice was national and unconditional. Salvation, on the other hand, is not a national matter – it’s an individual matter. Salvation has always been and will always be a conditional matter.
In the closing verses of chapter nine and all of chapter ten, Paul shows us that most Israelites stand rejected because they have refused to submit to God’s plan for redeeming man. They make the choice to rest in their position of privilege and merit.They fail to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.
They have ultimately elected to attempt to establish their own righteousness on the basis of the Law of Moses.
As a result, the picture painted from Paul through Romans is pretty bleak for Israel. Most of the Jews stand before God accursed (9:3). They have, in fact, prepared themselves for destruction (9:22). Though they have "followed after the law of righteousness," they have not attained it (9:31). Consequently, they remain willfully ignorant of God’s righteousness (10:3). They are, by and large, a disobedient and stubborn people (10:21).
To Israel’s frustration, the Gentiles are being welcomed into God’s kingdom with open arms. In fact, they are the object of God’s mercy (9:23-24). While astounding to the blind in Israel, God’s acceptance of the Gentiles was fully predicted by the prophets (9:25-26). The Gentiles, who were not even seeking righteousness, have found it (9:29).
And this situation, as incredible as it seems, is exactly according to God’s plan.
Naturally the question arises in the mind of Jewish objectors: Has God cast away His people? Is Israel irredeemably lost? Has God given up entirely on the Jews and turned to the Gentiles?
The answer is: No, God wants as many Jews to be saved as possible—even all of them (11:26).
To that end, therefore, Paul addresses here God’s desire to save Israel and how He plans to do so.
Paul demonstrates that salvation is not a matter of choosing between Jews and Gentiles, salvation is designed for the blessing and salvation of both.
So the question about Israel, in my mind, really compares to us today. If you obey the Gospel and put on Christ in baptism, what are you? A Christian. If you choose to give in to temptation and go back into sin, what are you? A Christian. You may be an erring Christian, but we serve a loving God who is waiting for us to return to Him.
Israel was in that same way.
Christianity today is not a national matter. We do not need to be of any certain lineage to be God’s chosen people today. We simply must obey Him. By doing so, we become His people.
Israel and the foreshadowing of a Messiah was a national matter. You had to be a citizen of Israel to receive the benefits. But just like God waited on Israel to restore their relationship with Him, so He does for us as well.
So yes, I believe Israel was still God’s chosen people through their disobedience. However – (and a big however…)
God’s blessings upon His people would cease when they fell away from Him. Those blessings would resume upon their repentance and restoration.
Hosea 3:1
“Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.”
So that brings us to the question, is modern-day Israel and are modern-day Jews still God’s chosen people?
You'll have to come back next week to find out...
