Israel’s Past
To understand Israel’s importance in the prophetic future, we must first
understand the unconditional covenants God made with Israel. These covenants
govern our understanding of the Jewish people and govern our understanding of
Bible prophecy.
The
Abrahamic Covenant
Prior to the rebellion of the nations at
Babel, God had dealt with mankind in general. After Babel, God’s attention was
turned to Abraham (Genesis 11). God went from dealing with all the nations to
the nation that would come from the seed of Abraham, a nation He would call His
own. It started with God calling Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans, a
pagan nation (Genesis 11:28) and instructed him to go to Canaan (Genesis
12:1-4) where God would make His covenant with him.
Genesis 12:1-3 records God’s call of Abraham out of Ur and the specific
promises He made to him,
The Lord said to Abram: Go
from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will
show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make
your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.
These promises were later confirmed and clarified (Genesis 13:14-17;
15:1-7; 17:1-21). They were reconfirmed to Isaac (Genesis 26:3-4) and to Jacob
(Genesis 28:13-15).
The promises fall into three categories: personal, national, and universal.
It included a great name, vast wealth, and abundant spiritual blessing
for him. His recorded life demonstrates the fulfillment of these promises.
This promise stated that Abraham’s descendants would multiply and be “as
numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore” (Genesis
22:17).
He also promised that He would give Israel the land of Canaan as their permanent
possession (Gen. 17:8). The land would extend from the river of Egypt in
the west to the Euphrates river in the east and to the land of the Hittites in
the north (15:18-21). Regardless of any current political disputes, the Jewish
people hold the title deed to that land; it is their land. Up to now, they have
never possessed all the land, but God has promised that they will one day.
The national promises also gave Israel a unique position as God’s
barometer of blessing—those nations that would bless Israel would be blessed
and those that cursed Israel would be cursed (12:3; 27:29). This principle has
applied throughout the history of the Jewish people (Deuteronomy 30:7; Isaiah
14:1-2). This is the principle that will guide God’s judgment of the Gentile
nations when Christ returns (Matthew 25:31-46).
This promise stated that God would bless the whole world through Abraham
(Genesis 12:3) and specifically through his offspring, that is, through
his future descendants (22:18). The ultimate fulfillment was found when Jesus
provided atonement for the whole world through His death and resurrection
(Galatians 3:16).
Was this Covenant Conditional or
Unconditional?
Let us consider some of the reasons why the Abrahamic Covenant should be
understood as an unconditional covenant. First, it is called a permanent
covenant in Scripture.
I will confirm my covenant that is
between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It
is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after
you (Genesis 17:7).
Whether born in your household or
purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as
a permanent covenant
(Genesis 17:13).
But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will
bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant
with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring” (Genesis 17:19).
The covenant he made with Abraham,
swore to Isaac, and confirmed to Jacob as a decree, and to Israel as a
permanent covenant (1
Chronicles 16:16-17; Psalm 105:9-10).
“This is what the Lord says:
The one who gives the sun for light by day, the fixed order of moon and stars
for light by night, who stirs up the sea and makes its waves
roar—the Lord of Armies is his name: If this fixed order departs from
before me—this is the Lord’s declaration—only then will Israel’s
descendants cease to be a nation before me forever” (Jeremiah 31:35-36).
Second, when God gave the original promises to Abraham, they were given
unconditionally. In no way is the original agreement altered by the fact that
God later added circumcision as a sign of the covenant (Genesis 17:9-14), a
truth Paul reiterates in Galatians 3:15 (NASB) when he said,
Brethren, I speak in terms of
human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant,
yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to
it.
He points out that once a covenant has been ratified it cannot be
changed in any way. That includes the provisions as well as the parties of the
covenant. The covenant was made with Abraham and his descendants, and it
remains that way.
The covenant is all about what God will
do.
Third, God reiterated the covenant with Isaac and Jacob and in both
instances, there were no human conditions attached.
The Lord appeared to him and
said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you
about; stay in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and bless
you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I
will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make
your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring
all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your
offspring (Gen.
26:2-4).
And the Lord appeared to him
that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be
afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring
because of my servant Abraham”
(Genesis 28:13-15).
Fourth, the New Testament is explicit in affirming the unchangeable
nature of the covenant.
I ask, then, has God rejected his
people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of
Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God has
not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the
Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he pleads with God against
Israel?... I
ask, then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary,
by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel
jealous… Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your
advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the
patriarchs, since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable
(Romans 11:1-2, 11, 28-29).
For when God made a promise to Abraham,
since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself: I will
indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you. And so, after waiting
patiently, Abraham obtained the promise. For people swear by something
greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every
dispute. Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly
to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that
through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we
who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set
before us (Hebrews
6:13-18).
Fifth, the covenant remained
effective despite Israel’s disobedience.
You are not going to take possession of
their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead,
the Lord your God will drive out these nations before you because of
their wickedness, in order to fulfill the promise he swore to your ancestors
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand that the Lord your God is not
giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for
you are a stiff-necked people (Deuteronomy
9:5-6).
but the Lord was gracious to
them, had compassion on them, and turned toward them because of his
covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy
them. Even now he has not banished them from his presence (2 Kings 13:23).
This is what the Lord says:
The one who gives the sun for light by day, the fixed order of moon and stars
for light by night, who stirs up the sea and makes its waves
roar—the Lord of Armies is his name: If this fixed order departs from
before me—this is the Lord’s declaration—only then will Israel’s
descendants cease to be a nation before me forever. This is what
the Lord says: Only if the heavens above can be measured and the
foundations of the earth below explored, will I reject all of Israel’s descendants
because of all they have done—this is the Lord’s declaration (Jer. 31:35-37).
Who is a God like you, forgiving
iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does
not hold on to his anger forever because he delights in faithful love…You will
show loyalty to Jacob and faithful love to Abraham, as you swore to our
ancestors from days long ago (Micah
7:18, 20).
Because I, the Lord, have not
changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed (Mal. 3:6).
Then his father Zechariah was filled
with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: Blessed is the Lord, the God of
Israel, because he has visited and provided redemption for his people. He has
raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, just
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets in ancient times; salvation from
our enemies and from the hand of those who hate us. He has dealt mercifully
with our ancestors and remembered his holy covenant—the oath that he swore to
our father Abraham, to grant that we, having been rescued from the hand of our
enemies, would serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness in his
presence all our days (Luke
1:67–75).
The Jeremiah 31:35-37 passage clearly points to the fact that even
during the apostasy in the days of Jeremiah, God reaffirmed His unwavering
commitment to His covenant people. God is on record as stating that He is
determined to fulfill His covenant with Israel.
Sixth, it was a blood covenant that bound God to unconditionally fulfill
His pledge.
He said to him, “Bring me a
three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a
turtledove, and a young pigeon.” So he brought all these to him, cut them in
half, and laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut the
birds in half…As the sun was setting, a deep sleep came over Abram,
and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him…When the sun had set
and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed
between the divided animals
(Genesis 15:9-10, 12, 17).
Abraham sacrificed the animals, cut the three large animals in half, and
laid them all on the ground. Then, a most significant thing took place: a
deep sleep came over Abraham (Gen. 15:12). Only God walked between the
animals; Abraham was asleep. Abraham did not participate in the covenant. He never
walked between the pieces of the sacrificed animals. He made no promises;
rather, he was a recipient of a
covenant since only God walked between the pieces and made promises. Thus, the
blood covenant that bound God to unconditionally fulfill His pledge.
This was a unilateral agreement. What God did here was unique. By
walking by Himself between the sacrificed animals, signified that the
fulfillment of the covenant is completely dependent upon Him. There was no end
of the agreement that Abraham had to keep for it to be fulfilled. That is
precisely what differentiates this covenant from the Mosaic Covenant, the Law
of Sinai, which was clearly conditioned upon the obedience of the people and
their faithfulness to God.
The fact that Israel stands today is a testimony to the covenant God
made with Abraham. When the nation of Israel was established in 1948, Arab
nations around them promised that they would drive them into the sea. A tiny
nation with just a few million Jews living there is surrounded by nations with
millions upon millions of people, some very wealthy who hate them and desire
their extermination, yet there they stand. If the covenant God made with
Abraham is not what explains Israel’s survival now and throughout her history,
what can possibly explain it? God is faithful and He will bring Himself glory
by keeping His covenant with Abraham and his descendants.
Seventh, the covenant must have a future
fulfillment since it has never been fulfilled. Yes, some portions of this
covenant have already been fulfilled. Those promises to Abraham of personal
blessing have been literally fulfilled, as the Genesis record testifies.
Abraham was prospered by God, his name became great, he did have an heir by his
wife Sarah, and he was a channel of blessing to others. But it is also true
that key portions have not been fulfilled and, in light of the unconditional
nature of this covenant, await their fulfillment.
It should be noted that those parts of the
Abrahamic Covenant which have been fulfilled thus far have been fulfilled literally, which would seem to indicate
that God intends every promise of that covenant
to be fulfilled the same way.
Though some of the parts of the covenant
have been fulfilled, His promise to give the land of Canaan for a “permanent possession” (Genesis 17:8), and the Abrahamic Covenant for an “everlasting” covenant to Abraham’s physical descendants (Genesis
17:7, 19), it cannot rightly be said that all the promises of the covenant have
been fulfilled entirely until at least the end of world history.
All
Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from The Christian Standard
Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.
Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of
Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Scripture
quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
by The Lockman Foundation.
Copyright
© 2020 by Miguel J Gonzalez Th.D.
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