WHO ARE GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE?
Updated: 8 hours ago
Christian Zionism and the New Covenant
No disrespect to John Hagee, Jewish people, or anyone else is intended in this article. This is not an attack on a man, a race, or a nation. It is a challenge to a theological teaching that has become deeply rooted in much of modern Christianity.
For decades, many Christians have been taught that modern political Israel must occupy a unique place in God's prophetic plan because the Jewish people remain God's covenant people in a way distinct from everyone else. We are told that Christians must bless the modern nation of Israel to receive God's blessing, that prophecy revolves around Jerusalem, and that eventually a Third Temple must be constructed so end-time prophecy can be fulfilled.
But there is a question we desperately need to ask: Is that what the New Testament teaches? We should not interpret Scripture through modern politics, newspaper headlines, or events in the Middle East. We must allow Scripture to interpret Scripture.
And when we follow the promises of God into the New Testament, everything leads us to Jesus Christ.
THE PROMISE WAS ALWAYS LEADING TO CHRIST
One of the most common passages used to support Christian Zionism is God's promise to Abraham:
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Genesis 12:3
Many Christians have heard this verse applied directly to the modern State of Israel: Bless Israel and God will bless you. Oppose Israel and God will curse you. But before we make that application, shouldn't we ask how the apostles understood the promise?
Paul tells us exactly where the promise was going.
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Galatians 3:16
Notice Paul's words carefully. The Seed is Christ. The Abrahamic promise was moving toward Jesus Christ. Then Paul takes the argument even further.
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:29
This is tremendously important. Paul does not direct us toward ethnicity. He directs us toward Christ. The promise came through Abraham. The Seed is Christ.
And those who belong to Christ are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
When we bypass Christ and move the Abrahamic promise directly into a modern political nation, we risk missing the very interpretation the apostle Paul gave us.
WHO ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD?
This brings us to one of the most important questions in this entire discussion.
Who are God's children?
Paul answers that question plainly:
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:26
The children of God are identified by their relationship to Christ. Paul makes an even stronger distinction in Romans.
For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Romans 9:6
Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children:Romans 9:7
That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Romans 9:8
Read that last statement again. The children of the flesh are not automatically the children of God. Paul is not denying Jewish ancestry. He is distinguishing natural descent from covenant identity. Being physically descended from Abraham did not automatically make someone a child of God. That distinction existed even within Old Covenant Israel, and under the New Covenant the fulfillment becomes unmistakably centered in Christ.
NOT OF BLOOD
John teaches the same thing.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
John 1:12
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:13
Not of blood. Not of the flesh. But of God. That should settle something very important for us. Under the New Covenant, physical ancestry cannot be the defining characteristic of God's children. Faith in Christ is.
ABRAHAM IS OUR FATHER
Jesus confronted this very issue during His ministry. Some of His opponents appealed directly to their physical ancestry:
They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.
John 8:39
Jesus did not dispute their genealogy. They were physically descended from Abraham.
But He challenged their assumption that physical descent alone established their spiritual relationship with God.
If God were your Father, ye would love me:
John 8:42
Think about the force of those words. They could say, "Abraham is our father," and yet Jesus could tell them that God was not their Father. Physical descent was real. But physical descent was not enough. Christ was the dividing line.
WHAT MAKES SOMEONE A JEW?
Paul develops this covenantal distinction even further:
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Romans 2:28
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Romans 2:29
Paul moves the emphasis away from outward fleshly identification and places it upon the work of God in the heart. This does not mean Jewish ethnicity ceased to exist. Paul himself remained ethnically Jewish. The question is covenant identity. Under the New Covenant, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision establishes someone's standing before God.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Galatians 6:15
The issue is the new creation. The issue is Christ.
GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE
Now consider the language Peter uses concerning believers:
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.
1 Peter 2:9
Chosen generation. Royal priesthood. Holy nation. Those are covenant words.
Peter is drawing directly from Old Testament language and applying it to God's people in Christ.
This is not God abandoning His promises. This is God fulfilling them. The New Covenant did not create one program for Jewish people and another for Gentiles.
Christ brought the two together.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Ephesians 2:14
Paul continues:
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Ephesians 2:16
Notice the language. Both made one. One body. Not two covenant peoples. Not two plans of salvation. Not two separate prophetic destines one body in Christ.
THIS IS WHERE CHRISTIAN ZIONISM CAN MISLEAD THE CHURCH
The danger of Christian Zionism is not that Christians love Jewish people. We absolutely should love Jewish people. We should love Palestinians. We should love Arabs.
We should love every race and every nation because the Gospel knows no ethnic boundary.
The danger comes when modern political Israel is given a covenantal status that the New Testament locates in Christ. That can cause Christians to begin reading modern political events backward into biblical prophecy rather than allowing the apostles to interpret the prophets.
It can move our attention from Christ back toward ethnicity. From the heavenly Jerusalem back toward earthly Jerusalem. From the New Covenant back toward Old Covenant shadows. And from God's living temple back toward another temple made with hands.
WHY ARE CHRISTIANS LOOKING FOR A THIRD TEMPLE?
This is one of the strangest consequences of modern prophetic teaching.
Many Christians are eagerly waiting for a Third Temple to be built in Jerusalem.
But listen to the New Testament:
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ?
1 Corinthians 3:16
Peter says:
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood.
1 Peter 2:5
God's people are His temple. Living stones. A spiritual house.
Why would the New Covenant teach us to celebrate a return to an earthly temple system when Christ established something greater?
Stephen declared:
Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Acts 7:48
The movement of redemptive history. It is not backward. It is forward. From shadow to substance. From type to fulfillment. From a temple made with hands to a people indwelt by God's Spirit.
WHICH JERUSALEM?
Paul makes another distinction that should not be overlooked.
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Galatians 4:26
Hebrews says:
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem...
Hebrews 12:22
Notice that the writer does not say, "One day you will come." Ye are come. The New Covenant people had already come to Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem.
Jesus had also announced that worship was moving beyond geographical Jerusalem.
Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
John 4:21
And then:
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:
John 4:23
The Kingdom of God would not be confined to one mountain, one city, one temple, or one ethnicity. It would go into all the world.
CHRIST IS THE CENTER
This is why we must be careful. Our theology should never cause us to diminish Jewish people. But neither should our love for Jewish people cause us to create a covenantal distinction that the Gospel declares has been overcome in Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28
And then Paul immediately tells us:
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29
There is the answer. Who is the Seed? Christ. Who are Abraham's seed? Those who belong to Christ. Who are the children of God? Those who are children of God through faith in Christ.
Where is God's temple? His people are His temple. Where is our Jerusalem?
Jerusalem above. What happened to Jew and Gentile? Christ made both one.
The Gospel is not about returning to the shadows. It is about their fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
Love Jewish people. Love Palestinians. Love every nation and every people.
But do not allow modern politics to become the lens through which you interpret scripture. Search the Scriptures. Follow the promises through the prophets.
Follow them into the New Testament. Follow the apostles' interpretation. And when you reach the end of that journey, you will not find the promises centered upon a modern political nation. It will find them centered upon Jesus Christ. Christ is the Seed. Christ is the fulfillment. Christ is the Temple. Christ is the King.
And all who are in Christ are one covenant family in Him.
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