PT158
Calvinism Today – 4, Vol. III, No. 2 (April
1993), Covenant Media Foundation, 800/553-3938
Gospel Prosperity and the Future of Israel
By Greg L. Bahnsen
Talk of eschatology in evangelical circles today will inevitably come around to the issue of God’s plans for ethnic Israel (the Jews). Special reference is often made to the nation of Israel in prophecy. One of the most popular preachers in southern California proclaimed in 1980 that anybody who was not aware that Jesus must – given the recent history of the nation of Israel – be returning soon very likely did not truly know Him in a saving fashion. For this preacher the Jews had such an obvious place in the Bible’s end-time plans that only those with sin-blinded eyes could fail to see the signs of the times. He was a Christian Zionist who had made a sizable financial contribution to the nation of Israel and predicted that Jesus would return prior to the end of 1982. His millennial position was conspicuously dispensational premillennial.
People of Reformed convictions in
theology have often reacted to such extreme displays and declarations about
Israel’s future by utterly repudiating any place in God’s revealed plans for
the Jews. One well known and prolific
writer in the Reformed world has addressed the subject of Israel in prophecy,
only to conclude that (in effect) Israel is no longer in prophecy at all. There is no distinctive future for ethnic
Israel (the Jews) according to him. And
he cannot resist reminding his readers that the Jews were the ones who killed
Jesus. All prophecies, he contends,
which once pertained to Israel now apply exclusively to the church. His millennial position is outspokenly
amillennial.
Where would a postmillennialist
stand on the question of Israel’s future?
Well, in a sense, there is no “official” (or standard) postmillennial
answer to that question because one’s response will be determined by his
interpretation of various Biblical passages (notably, Romans 9-11) = and not
all postmillennialists understand those particular passages in exactly the same
way. Nevertheless, a large number of
people who believe that the Bible teaches the prosperity of the gospel and
visible success of Christ’s advancing kingdom on earth – that is, a large
number of Biblical postmillennialists – have found Scriptural support for their
eschatological hopes in what God has said about the future of Israel. They have not understood that future,
however, to be anything like the Zionist or nationalistic prospects favored by
dispensationalism.
Attempting to adhere strictly to
the full teaching of God’s word, then, what precisely should we think about
Israel’s future? Do we owe loyalty and
support to national Israel as a political force in the Middle East? Do we repudiate any special place in God’s
designs for those who are ethnic Jews?
Are there alternatives to these polar antitheses?
God called the Jews through their
father, Abraham. God promised Abraham
to make him a great nation and through him to bless all the families of the
earth (Gen. 12:2-3). Abraham’s seed
would become too great to number, and forever they would possess the land of
promise (Gen. 13:15-16). Thus God
established a covenant with Abraham and with his seed after him, a covenant
which included these provisions and – above all – to be a God to Abraham and
his descendants (Gen. 17:1-8). Thus
began the long history of God’s covenantal dealings with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and their people after them (called “Israel,” following the new name given to
converted Jacob). This history leads to
Egypt and the exodus under Moses, to the conquering of the promised land under
Joshua, to the political ups and downs of the judges and kings (notably the
division of the kingdom into north and south), to the exile out of the land and
subsequent restoration. Throughout this
time God spoke many promises to His chosen people, especially about the coming
Messiah and the wondrous age of salvation He would inaugurate and the dreadful
day of judgment He would impose.
Israel enjoyed God’s special attention during this time – so much so
that He could declare to Israel, (You alone of all the families of the earth
have I known (=loved)” (Amos 3:2). This
special privilege brought greater, not lesser, responsibility and accountability
to Israel – as the word of Amos continues:
“therefore I will visit upon
you all of your iniquities.”
Of all the iniquities of Israel
which could be mentioned, though, the most obvious of all was the rejection of
the promised Messiah. As John puts it,
“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:11). The Jews in the days of Jesus’ earthly
ministry were, like their fathers before them, unwilling to hear the prophets
sent to them from God. Thus Jesus
declared that the blood of all the righteous “shall be required of this
generation” (Luke 11;51). The capital
city and God’s own house would be left desolated (Luke 13:35) as Jerusalem is
trodden down by the Gentiles (Luke 21:24).
At the beginning of the week in which He would be crucified at the
instigation of the Jewish Sanhedrin, Jesus taught a parable in Jerusalem about
husbandmen, who had been left in charge of a master’s vineyard. Whenever the master sent servants to collect
his portion from the vineyard, the husbandmen beat them, and so he decided to
send his son. Thinking to seize the
inheritance, the husbandmen killed the master’s son. At this point in the story
Jesus stopped and asked the crowd what the lord of the vineyard would do to those
who killed his son. Without waiting for
an answer Jesus declared: “He will come and destroy these husbandmen and will
give the vineyard unto others” (Luke
20:9-16). Luke adds that the chief
priests (the Jewish leaders) “perceived that He spoke this parable against
them” (v. 19).
In the Matthew parallel to this
parable Jesus leaves nothing to one’s imagination. He draws the dire conclusion out explicitly: Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God
shall be taken away from you (Israel) and shall be given to a nation bringing
forth the fruits thereof” (Matthew 21:43).
Ethnic Israel was rejected by God as a culpable covenant violator. “By their unbelief they were broken off,”
says Paul in Romans 11:20. They may
claim to be Jews (people of God), but they are not such at all, but rather a
synagogue of Satan (Rev. 2:9). Clearly
then, national and ethnic Israel no longer stands in a special position of
privilege. It is no longer the kingdom
of God, and Jews are no longer God’s special people. He has visited their iniquities, desolated their nation, wrenched
away from them the kingdom, and found them to be Satanic.
What, then, has become of God’s
promises to the people of Abraham? Has
the Abrahamic covenant been invalidated?
Not by any means. God’s promise
was to bless all families of the earth through Abraham, as we have seen. Thus the spreading of His kingdom and mercy
over the Gentiles was intended all along from the very beginning of His
relationship with the Jews. Now in
Christ the uncircumcised, ethnic Gentiles have been “brought near,” into “the
commonwealth of Israel,” by the blood of Christ, so that they are now “fellow
citizens” of God’s kingdom (Eph. 2:11-19).
Abraham was promised a seed which would inherit the promises. All those who follow in the steps of
Abraham’s faith – whether Jews or Gentiles – are reckoned as his seed: “They
that are of faith, the same are the sons of Abraham . . . If you are Christ’s,
then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:7, 29).
But how can the promises be
inherited now? The New Testament
emphatically teaches that the Abrahamic promises are inherited in Christ. Jesus taught that “Abraham rejoiced to see my day” (John
8:56). The father of the faithful knew
that the divine promises made to him anticipated the work and blessing of the
Messiah. Paul tells us that “how many
soever be the promises of God, they are in Him yes and amen” (2 Cor. 1:2). Christ is the object of all of God’s promises
in the Old Testament; it is only through Him that their provisions are granted. Accordingly Paul explains that God’s
promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed (Gal. 3:16a), but we must
notice that they were intended not for many seeds but only for one seed (v.
16b) – the seed “which is Christ”!
Those who have been made sons of God by adoption are the joint-heirs with Christ (Rom.
8:15-17). This privilege extends even
to the promise of the land which God spoke to Abraham. Abraham knew that the promised land was but
a token, a type, a foreshadow and pledge of the far greater inheritance of the
kingdom of God. “By faith Abraham, when
he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an
inheritance . . . (and) became a sojourner in the land of promise as in a land
not his own . . . for he looked for the city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:8-10).
The Christian inheritance now is immeasurably greater than the land of
Palestine, says peter in his first epistle (1:4-5). This inheritance is the living hope of salvation and resurrection
from the dead, an inheritance which has a down-payment given to us now in the
gift of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1;13-140.
Therefore, we can see from the
Bible that the nation of Israel was but a step in God’s overall plan to create
an international body as His chosen people.
The true seed of Abraham, which receives the ultimate inheritance of
God’s kingdom of salvation, are those who are in Christ by faith. Indeed, then, all families of the earth are
blessed in Abraham! Ethnic Jews have no
special distinction: “He is not a Jew
who is one outwardly” (Rom. 2:28-29).
“There can be neither Jew nor Greek . . . for you are all one in Christ
Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). Jews can be saved
and enjoy the blessings of God’s kingdom, but only on the same basis and
footing as with the Gentiles. “In every
nation he that hears Him and works righteousness is acceptable to Him,” and “He
made no distinction between them (the Gentiles) and us (the Jews)” we learn
from Peter in Acts (10:35, 15:9).
The church of Christ now stands
in the position of gracious privilege which once belonged to ethnic, national
Israel. The church is now “the Israel
of God” (Gal. 6:16) – whether conceived as in the commonwealth of Israel (Eph.
2:12, 19) or as the twelve tribes in dispersion (James 1:1, I Peter 1:1). Even as God described Israel in Exodus 19
and Hosea 1-2, the church is described by Peter as “an elect race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession” (I Peter
2:9). In God’s sight and dealings, the
church is now Israel, His chosen people.
This fact has tremendous
theological implications. In the first
place, the dispensational hopes for the nation of Israel in the land of
Palestine are all quite mistaken in their reading of the full scope of God’s
inspired revelation. In the second
place, the promise to Abraham of a seed which cannot be numbered, a seed which
inherit a land of promise and provide blessing to all families of the earth, is
now to be fulfilled in the church. A
solid confidence in the prosperity of the gospel is thus afforded us. Christ’s dominion “from the River to the
ends of the earth” (Ps. 72:8) will not be the extension of Israel’s boundaries
by military might, but the success of the Great Commission to make all nations
His disciples (Matt. 28:18-20). It
should be noted, in this regard, that although the Old Testament promises to
Abraham speak of the promised land as Palestine, in the New Testament Paul sees
the full scope of those promises (where the land of Palestine is merely a token
of the final reward) as applying to all of creation. He says in Romans 4:13 that the promise was to Abraham and his
seed “that we would be heir of the world”!
When we follow through the teaching of Scripture about Israel, then, we
see that God has promised His people – the church – that “The kingdom of this
world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ” (Rev. 11:15). The true seed of Abraham, believers in Jesus
Christ, will be more numerous than the sands of the sea or the stars of the
sky.
Will this great prosperity for
the gospel exclude those who are ethnic Jews?
Will the world dominion of Jesus Christ and the international spread of
His saving message ignore those who have been rejected as the national people
of God? Paul wondered about these very
matters in Romans 9-11, and we need to hear his answer. Paul was greatly disturbed over the
rejection of Christ by Paul’s brothers according to the flesh, the Israelites
(9:1-5). Had God’s word come to
nothing? (v. 6). Paul answers this question through the words
of Romans 9. Not everyone in the nation
of Israel was truly God’s people. This
differentiation was according to God’s sovereign purpose in election. God’s covenant promise never guaranteed
salvation for all of ethnic Israel, says Paul, but it did provide for the
inclusion of the Gentiles in salvation.
In Romans 10 Paul explains the grave theological error of the Jews,
being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own (v.
3). While a gracious gospel was
published to the Jews throughout the Old Testament, and while Israel was
stubborn against it, the good news was found out by the Gentiles instead (vv.
16-21). Paul saw that the nation of Israel
had rejected Christ, and that the church was now growing through the conversion
of Gentiles.
Thus in Romans 11:1 Paul asks the
pained question whether God has cast off His people. Have the ethnic Jews been utterly rejected from God’s
kingdom? Do they have any future whatsoever? Paul insists that God has not totally
rejected the Jews (vv. 2-4). His love
and election necessitates a remnant among Israel (vv. 5-6), even though many
were hardened by their self-righteousness (vv. 7-10). We could say, then that Israel has stumbled. Was it God’s purpose to have Israel stumble
so that she might utterly fall? Paul
denies it (v. 11). Rather, Israel has
rejected the Messiah as her savior, with the result that salvation would come
to the Gentiles (cf. Acts 13:46, 18:6, 28:28).
The saving of the Gentiles, moreover, is intended by God “to provoke
them (Israel) to jealousy.
Paradoxically, the present unbelief of Israel (which sends the gospel to
the Gentiles) will serve the purpose of restoring Israel to belief! Thus the more that Paul’s ministry to the
Gentiles meets success, the more the cause of Israel’s salvation is furthered
(vv. 13-14) by this provoking to jealousy.
In Romans 11:16-24 Paul appeals
to the Old Testament imagery of Israel as an olive tree (cf. Jer. 11, Hos. 14)
in an attempt to warn the new Gentile possessors of God’s kingdom not to become
arrogant and not to expect that God would spare apostasy on their parts. If even the natural branches (Israel) are
broken off, the ingrafted branches (Gentiles) will not be spared if they refuse
to continue in the goodness of God.
Remember! “God is able to graft them in again (v. 23). That very ability will eventually be
displayed to all the world. In
explanation of this confidence, Paul serves an important notice to the Gentiles
in Romans 11:25, warning them against conceit.
Something has been hidden in the
mind and counsel of God, but no longer is it a “mystery” (Rom. 11;25). The partial
hardening of Israel has taken place until
“the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.”
Here Paul is not referring to a remnant of believers among the Gentiles,
for the word “fullness” stands over against the concept of a remnant (cf. v.
12). Besides, a remnant elect among the
Gentiles was at that very time (in Paul’s day) coming into the kingdom, and thus
Paul’s statement that Israel is partially hardened “until” such a remnant
(=”fullness”) comes would be senseless.
He must mean by “fullness” the mass of the Gentiles. Until this large portion of the Gentiles
comes into the kingdom of God, a part of Israel will remain hardened against
the gospel. With the mass conversion of
the Gentile populace, Israel’s hardening will cease then. Provoked to jealousy (cf. vv. 11, 14). Israel will turn to the Messiah for
salvation. And “thus” – in this manner
– “all Israel shall be saved” (v. 26).
By this declaration Paul must have meant by “Israel” what he has meant
by the term throughout the chapter: namely, ethnic Jews (his brothers
“according to the flesh”). To maintain,
as some do, that Paul was simply stating that “all the elect among the Jews and
Gentiles” (that is, “all true Israel”) will be saved is to overlook how
irrelevant, obvious, unmysterious and anticlimatic Paul’s declaration would be
made. Paul is showing the mysterious
wisdom of God, how He marvelously uses the hardening of the Jews to save the
mass of the Gentiles, which in turn provokes the Jews to save the mass of the
Gentiles, which in turn provokes the Jews to seek in mass the salvation enjoyed
by the Gentiles. This mutual
interaction cannot be suppressed in interpreting Paul here. John Murray wrote about this passage:
. . .the
salvation of Israel must be conceived of on a scale that is commensurate with
their trespass, their loss, their casting away, their breaking off, and their
hardening, commensurate, of course, in the opposite direction . . . In a word,
it is the salvation of the mass of Israel that the apostle affirms.[1]
Paul has taught, therefore, that
at some time in the future the large portion of ethnic Jews will be saved in
response to the mass of Gentiles who have already enjoyed that benefit. In Romans 11:12, 15 he indicates that the
mass conversion of the Jews will signal even further blessings on the Gentile
world: “for if the casting away of them be the reconciliation of the world,
what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” The rejection of the Jews has brought a
wonderful blessing to the Gentiles!
Iain Murray summarizes the sense of these verses as pointing “to a vast
addition to the Church by Israel’s conversion with resulting wider blessing for
the world. There is a great revival
predicted here!”[2]
As we survey the Biblical
material which we have covered in this discussion, what summary concerning the
place of Israel in Biblical prophecy would be appropriate? The following truths stand out:
1.
The promises to Abraham and to the nation of Israel in the
Old Testament were all pledged in and through Christ for God’s true people.
2.
The greater attention and care which God gave to the nation
of Israel throughout the Old Testament increased Israel’s culpability for
breaking the covenant and rejecting the Messiah.
3.
Israel as a nation and the ethnic Jews as a race have been
rejected by God, so that they no longer constitute His kingdom or chosen
people.
4.
The church of Jesus Christ (Gentile and Jew) is now the
kingdom of God, the people of God’s own possession, and as such inherits the
promised blessings to Abraham and to Israel.
5.
This fact indicates glorious days for the gospel throughout future
history, for the seed of Abraham (true believers) must grow to an overwhelming
numerical size and bless all nations.
6.
The mass conversion of Gentiles in the world will provoke
the Jews to jealousy and bring them to a mass conversion of their own to Jesus
Christ. This has nothing per se to do with Palestine or a
national body, and it does not indicate that the Jews will have any blessing
from God apart from the church of Jesus Christ and submission to the gospel (in
the same way as the Gentiles).
7.
When the world sees “all Israel” become saved in this way,
there will be further and greater blessings from God upon the whole Gentile
population since Christ will be internationally exalted among men.
What
response should we give these truths?
Not only should we correct our thinking theologically, avoiding the
excesses of dispensationalism and amillennialism, but we should be moved to at
least three practical reactions. First,
we should be greatly encouraged and motivated to pursue Christian
missions. This was the effect of these
truths upon the Puritans (cf. Iain Murray’s The
Puritan Hope). Second, we should be
confident of the cultural benefits which the kingdom of God will bring to the
world through the work of Christ’s people.
This will call for the consecration of all our efforts in the world as
work for the Lord’s kingdom (cf. Gary North’s Unconditional Surrender[3]). Third and above all, we should be moved, as
was Paul when he looked at the glorious plan of God for the prosperity of the
gracious gospel of Jesus Christ, to exclaim: “O the depth of the riches both of
the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past tracing out! . . .
For of Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen”
(Rom. 11:11, 36).