Kennystix's podcast
Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East
The sermon text this morning is coming from Romans chapter 11 verses 25 through 32. Romans chapter 11 verses 25 through 32. "Blessed you be wise in your own conceit, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion. He will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable, just as you were at one time disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience. So they too have now been disobedient, and in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all." Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thank you for meeting us at the table. Indeed, thank you for the promise purchased by the table, and what it represents, that you never leave us, never forsake us, you grasp us, you hold us, you keep us. And so now, in these next 30 minutes or so, fulfill that glorious promise, stride, risen Christ, through this room, touching one here, one there, quickening from the dead spiritually, healing, relationally, physically, emotionally, humbling the pride. Crowd, encouraging the downcast, offering sweet fellowship to the lonely, giving guidance and light to the confused and perplexed. Unboldening the weak and faint-hearted for a life of service and witness, clarifying truth for those slipping into error, and a hundred more good things that you have in mind for your people this morning that I can't even think to ask for. And now, Lord, as we tackle this very controversial and very urgent issue of Israel and the land, guide my mind, my mouth and us together into truth and into obedience and may there be peace, even early this morning, there was death in Israel. Lord, we would love to see a resolution and a solution. Jesus is the ultimate solution, but short of that, since we in America live in great peace and security, we are eager, according to your own mandate to do unto others, as we would have done unto us and make peace there as well. Jesus, name I pray, Amen. So I want to talk today about Israel's relationship to the promised land in Middle East. It's not primarily today an expository message from Romans 11, but an effort to draw out of this chapter, Romans 11, and from the rest of Scripture implications for a very, very, very special language. It's a very vexing problem in the world today. The existence of Israel in the Middle East and the extent of her borders and the degree of her sovereignty is probably the most explosive factor in world terrorism and the most volatile factor in Arab Western relations. The Arab roots and the Jewish roots in this land go back for thousands of years, both lay claim to the land historically, as well as by divine right. I won't try to give a detailed peace plan, but I will try to lay out some biblical truths that could guide all of us, including, I think, our politicians in thinking about peace and justice in that part of the world. When we think about this, what we think about this now here in this room and afterwards really matters. It matters for several reasons. One is that your representatives in Washington care what you think about this because they are absolutely perplexed and don't know what to do. I've talked to a couple of them, and they would like to know it if you hold a certain view. They think evangelicals are all of one piece on this, and we're not. You need to think about this and get it clear in your mind because how you pray about it matters. What do you ask God to do there? It matters because how you talk about it at your office or in your neighborhood matters, how you come across in dealing with Palestinians, many of whom are Christians, and Jewish people, some of whom are Christians. It matters how we talk about it, and it matters because God is very much involved in this, and he's sovereign. So let's take our starting point from Romans 11, even though we will branch out beyond Romans 11 across the Scriptures. Let's start at verse 16, second half of the verse. If the root is holy, so are the branches. And you recall perhaps that I interpreted that in the light of verse 28, which was just read for you. As regards the gospel, they Israel are enemies of God for your Gentile sake, but as regards election, they are loved for the sake of their forefathers. Now I interpreted the forefathers as the root. The root of verse 16 that's holy is Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, God takes them from earth, the childees. He says, "Your mind, I choose you, I set you apart as holy for myself, and I will make you and your descendants of people from my own treasured possession." And Paul says, "If the root is holy, the branches are holy. The tree is holy. For the sake of the fathers, they are loved." And I've argued that in the end will mean all Israel, not every individual along the way, but in the end the corporate nation turning to the Messiah and being saved in the whole tree as a corporate entity being holy to the Lord. Some day, some day, not today, which is why the first half of verse 28 is so crucial. The painful, crucial, controversial, maddening, frustrating, true. As regards the gospel, they Israel are enemies of God for your sake. They've rejected it and rejecting it, reject God. Jesus said this very plainly. This is not Pauline theology over against Jesus theology. Listen to Jesus speaking to the Jewish leaders of his day. If God were your father, you would love me. The Jewish people do not love Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah. Therefore they do not have God as their father. He who receives me receives the father. He who denies me denies the father. Almost all Jewish people today deny Jesus and do not have God as their father and are lost and perishing. Or as verse 28 says, "For the sake of your own coming to Christ, the Jews are enemies of God." So if the root is holy, some day, all the branches will be holy. He can graft them back in when he brings them to faith and the deliverer comes and banishes unbelief and ungodliness from Jacob. There will be one tree, Jew, Gentile, in Jesus Christ the Messiah, inheriting the promises. But in the meantime, enemies of God. So my question then is, what's the implication of all of that for the promised land and a secular Israel laying claim to it as enemies of God? I have six, seven, I believe, truths I would like to maintain this morning and give biblical foundation for to develop a big total picture of how I think we should think about Israel and the land. Truth number one, God chose Israel from all the peoples of the world to be his own possession. Deuteronomy seven, six. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Truth number two. The land was part of the inheritance that he promised to Abraham and his descendants forever. Genesis 15, 18, Genesis 15, 18. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying to you and to your offspring, I will give this land from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates as Iraq and Saudi Arabia and Israel and Egypt. Genesis 17, 7. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God. And then he confirmed the promise to Jacob, the great grandson, I mean the grandson of Abraham in Genesis 28, 13. And behold, the Lord said, I am the Lord the God of Abraham, your father and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your offspring. And when Jacob was an old man, remember down in Egypt, he called Joseph to him and he said to Joseph, Genesis 48, 3. God Almighty appeared to me at loose in the land of Canaan and blessed me and said to me, behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you and I will give this land to you and to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession. Now that, of course, creates a massive cleavage between the Islamic understanding of God's covenant promises and the Jewish and Christian understanding of God's covenant promises. But we believe that the Bible, Old and New Testament, is the Word of God and is confirmed by the Lord Jesus and therefore we believe the land is destined to be Israel's forever. Is that clear? Number three, the promises made to Abraham, including the promise of the land, will be inherited as an everlasting gift only by true spiritual Israel, not disobedient, unbelieving, covenant breaking, Christ rejecting Israel. I'll say it again. The promises made to Abraham, including the promise of the land, will be inherited as an everlasting gift only by true spiritual Israel, not disobedient, unbelieving Israel. That's the whole point of Romans 9. You remember Romans 9. Paul looks out over the kinsmen according to the flesh, his own people, Jewish people who were rejecting their Messiah, to them belongs the covenant, the promises, the glory, the worship, the Messiah, according to the flesh, and they are perishing and all that I might take their place in hell if it were possible. In other words, they are perishing, which calls into question the glorious promise to you and to all of your offspring, I will give this land as an everlasting possession. Well, what becomes of those who are perishing? Has the Word of God fallen? And he spends all of these three chapters answering that question. And the first answer is this, verse 6 of chapter 9. It is not as though the Word of God has failed for not all those who are descended from Israel belong to Israel and not all who are children of Abraham are children because they are his offspring. I have argued for months from this chapter 11 that ethnicity matters in God's head and he will one day work it so that all ethnic Israel repents, believes is grafted into the Messiah and inherits the promises. But now many are perishing. Paul wept over this and we should weep over it and groan and pray and witness. I pray that my kinsmen, according to the flesh, would be saved. Romans 10 1. Verse 8 makes it even clearer of chapter 9. It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of promise are counted as offspring. In other words, being born Jewish does not enable you by virtue of that alone to lay claim to anything from God. Jewishness alone guarantees you nothing. Neither does gentilishness guarantee us anything. Ethnicity is no currency with God. This was really plain in the Old Testament. Do you remember that awful chapter 28 in Deuteronomy when first he laid out all the blessings that would come to the people if they obeyed and all these horrific curses that would come? I mean, they are unspeakably horrible curses that God predicts for a covenant-breaking people, including this one, Deuteronomy 28, 63. And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you on the land, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you, and you will be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. And the principle is established. A covenant-keeping people have a right to the land, and a covenant-breaking people have no right to the land. Now be very, very, very careful here. This is not to say that any Gentile nation has a right to molest covenant-breaking Israel. God's judgments on Israel does not sanction human sin against Israel. I'll say it again. God's divine judgments on His people do not sanction any human sin against Israel. Israel still has human rights when they have forfeited their divine right to the land. Remember from the Old Testament that the nations which gloated over Israel doing God's execution, he roared against them with revenge. Isaiah chapter 10 verse 5 following Joel chapter 3 verse 2, those who are proud and arrogant and gloating over the people Israel, God will rage against them. The promise to Abraham and to his descendants that they will inherit the land does not mean that all Jewish people inherit the land. It will come finally to true Israel someday when they embrace their Messiah. Truth number four, Jesus Christ has come into the world as the Jewish Messiah and his own people rejected him and broke covenant with their God. Jesus made this so plain. Remember, give you several instances. He's talking to his disciples and he says, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter says, "You are the Christ. You know that Christ Christos is simply the Greek translation of Messiah. You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." And you remember how Jesus responded to that? "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." Now two things happen when he said that. One is he said, "You've just spoken truth. I am the Messiah." And the other is he said, "You and nobody in this room who believes it came to that faith on your own." "Flesh and blood didn't get you there, Peter, and it didn't get any of you there either. My Father who is in heaven opened your eyes and caused you to behold the compelling beauty and truth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Give him the glory." Peter wasn't smarter than the others. Or remember from the movie, the scene of the High Priest. "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" "I am. And henceforth you will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great glory." They are enemies of God for our sake. He is the Messiah. He did many mighty works. Remember John the Baptist in prison sends word, "Are you the one? Are you the one who is to come? Or shall we wait for another?" Go tell John the Baptist, the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and blessed is the one who does not stumble over me. Why do you say that? Because he knew he didn't look like a Messiah on the cross, and many stumbled to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, not by flesh and blood, but by the divine, effectual work of God, the power of God, and the wisdom of God hanging on a tree. He is the Messiah. To our great sadness, the entire Israel nation has rejected him, and in rejecting him have rejected God. Jesus is the litmus paper of the universe. You touch him and believe. You know God. You touch him and don't believe. You don't know God. I don't care how many times you worship or what religion you belong to anywhere on planet earth. Jesus is the fulcrum of the ages. One more illustration. Remember the parable of the tenants? The owner has a vineyard. He has given it out to the Jewish people. He sends his representatives. Go get some harvest, get some fruit of worship. And they beat them and they kill them. And then he says, "All right, I'll send my son." And they kill him. The stone which the builders rejected now has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. And Jesus speaks a word in Matthew 21, 43, that is absolutely epic making historically, and it's all a summary of Romans 11. Jesus says to those Jewish leaders who perceive that they have told that he has told this parable against them. He says, "The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people bearing the fruits of it." And from that time on, there's been a hardening upon the people of Israel until the full number of the Gentiles comes in. And then the deliverer will come from Zion and he will banish ungodliness from Jacob. But in the meantime, truth number four is simply Jesus has come and they rejected him. Give you one other illustration. Remember the centurion is a Gentile. Send's word. My servant is sick. Please. Jesus starts coming. Centurion says, "You don't need to come in. Just say the word. I don't deserve to have you in my house. I know the likes of you and my house is I'm a Gentile and you're the Jewish Messiah. Just speak, just speak." Remember what Jesus said to that? He looked at the Jewish people and he said, "Not in all Israel have I seen such faith." And then he said these words, "Truly, truly I say to you, people will come from east and west and sit at table in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob while the sons of the kingdom are thrown out into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth." Again and again and again, Romans 11 was spoken by Jesus Christ, enemies of God because of rejecting Jesus Christ. Truth number five, "Therefore the secular state of Israel today may not claim a present divine right to the land, but they and we should seek a peaceful settlement not based on present divine rights, but on international principles of justice, mercy and practical feasibility." Say it again. "Therefore everything I've said up till this time leads to this. The secular state of Israel today may not claim a present divine right to the land, but they and we should seek a peaceful settlement not based on present divine rights, but on international principles of justice, mercy and practical feasibility." If you believe the Bible, then you should say, "I will not give blanket approval to everything Jews do in the Middle East and everything Palestinians do in the Middle East will not necessarily be disapproved of." Rather, you will say, "I approve or I denounce actions on the standards of biblical justice and mercy among peoples." We should encourage our representatives in Washington to seek a just settlement that takes historical and social claims of both peoples into account and neither should be allowed to sway the judgments of judgment of justice by present divine claims to the land. And if you believe this, you should let your congressmen know that's what you believe because they don't know that's what you believe. Now mark this, we are not whitewashing terrorism and we are not whitewashing Jewish force. There's no attempt on this part here today to assess the measures of blame in any given instance or to make any assessment of moral equivalency. That's not my aim. My aim is to put the debate on a balanced footing in this sense. Neither side should preempt the claims of international justice by claiming present divine rights. Working out that justice, working out that mercy, working out that practical feasibility is a huge and daunting task for which I do not have an easy answer. But I do believe we will make progress if we will not yield to the claim of either side because of ethnicity or nationality that they are sanctioned by God in this instance. If we could put that aside and deal as though it were Mexico and America or Paraguay and Uruguay, we might make progress because that is in fact the status that these two peoples have under God in this season of history. Truth number six, by faith in Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah, Gentiles become heirs of the promise of Abraham, including the promise of the land. This is perhaps the most surprising for us Gentiles. Let me say it again. By faith in Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah, Gentiles, that's us mostly, Gentiles become heirs of the promise of Abraham, including the promise of the land. Romans 11, 17, you Gentiles, although a wild olive chute were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root the Abrahamic covenant of the olive tree. If you've been around a few years, you may remember Romans 4 and the magnificent promise made to Abraham and how it was made to his descendants who have the faith of Abraham. It goes like this, Romans 4, 13, the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. And you may remember the context in which was that promise of the righteousness of faith given before or after he was circumcised. It was before not after, therefore those who are not circumcised but have the faith of Abraham and those who are circumcised but have the faith of Abraham together inherit the promise to Abraham, the world is yours. Some day, you know, the easiest way to grasp this is to hear this magnificent promise from Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12. Remember, Gentiles, that you were at that time separated from Christ, the Messiah, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel once, once alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, and therefore Jewish believers and Gentile believers in one great covenant people will inherit all the promises of God, including the promise of the land. Do you remember that absolutely stunning, mind-boggling, incomprehensible, audacious, mind-blowing promise of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3, 21? He's speaking to a church, a ragtag, Gentile church and card that can't get anything together. And he says, "All things are yours." I mean, sometimes you should stop reading the Bible and faint. All things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's. Therefore, all the followers of Christ and only the followers of Christ will inherit the entire world, including the little patch called Israel. Final truth, number seven. This inheritance of Christ's people will happen at the second coming of Christ to establish his kingdom not before. Until then, we Christians must not take up arms to claim our inheritance, but rather lay down our lives to share our inheritance with as many as we can. Say that again, because I know what some of this language sounds like in the world. We're heirs of the world. Everything belongs to us. If you don't make the right qualifications, that's a politically explosive statement. So let me read it again. This inheritance of Christ's people that we will inherit the world someday and Israel included will happen at the second coming of Christ to establish his kingdom. He has the authority to pull it off not we. Until then, we Christians must not take up arms to claim our inheritance, but rather lay down our lives in world missions. We're crossing the street or visiting or writing an email to Jewish people, lay down our lives to share our inheritance with as many as we can. You know where I get this? Do not take up arms. I get it from John 1836, a very powerful moment in the movie. Right? My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my disciples would be fighting. To keep me from being handed over. But my kingdom is not of this world. Kiva! Remember that? He's fighting off three soldiers with a knife in his hand. Kiva! Those who live by the sword die by the sword. And the knife falls out of his hand. Christians, it's all coming our way through Jesus. You may not use sword, bullet, take, bomber to extend the kingdom of Christ. Rather, we get on our knees before our enemies and pray on their behalf. God forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. If you would be my disciple, take up your cross and follow me. This is the way we triumph in the world. The same way he did, and no other way will the kingdom of Christ be extended. And so I bid you come to him. Come to him. He is the Lamb of God. He is the prince of peace. And we are to be peacemakers and become the sons of God in that way. There's going to be a great reversal someday, brothers and sisters. The last will be first, and the first will be last, and the meek, and the meek alone in Christ will inherit the earth with the Israel thrown in. Let's pray. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, we come to Jesus, sinners that we are, trembling at the public and massive nature of these truths. These are explosive statements I have given. These truths will make people rage and grind their teeth in America. And in other countries, they would mean death to speak them. So Lord, Christianity has grown very domestic in our day. We don't have a clue what it was like in the early days for Jesus to look his accusers in the face and say, "If God were your father, you would love me." God's not your father. And know that they were going to kill him for that. And today we will not be popular either. So Father, I pray for courage and humility and grace and love and meekness to speak the truth. And Lord, we come, we come in Jesus' name. Amen.
What does Scripture say about the Promised Land and Israel's rights to it today?