Recently I saw a photo of a church lawn that highlighted the “Star of David” and their sign made the declaration that the church stood with Israel. Such a stand overlooks the genocide perpetrated by Israel against the residents of Gaza, many of whom were Christians. It also indicates that the litmus test for anyone interested in being a part of that church is unqualified loyalty to the modern state of Israel. This is the “official” position among many evangelicals today who have been brainwashed by the false teachings of Dispensationalism as set forth by John Darby and Cyrus Scofield. As a result, many Christians now support a nation which categorically denies that Jesus is the Christ. According to John, this makes them an antichrist nation.
Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 1 John 2:22–23 (NKJV)
Israel’s quest to conquer Palestine without acknowledging and surrendering to Christ’s lordship is misguided at best. At worst, it is unmitigated hubris and presumption resembling Satan’s attempt to seize God’s throne, something that did not belong to him. The land of Palestine, the area promised to Abraham and his “seed,” singular, and the rest of the entire earth (Romans 4:14), belong to Christ alone (Galatians 3:16). He is the “seed” of promise. God’s kingdom is spiritual, meaning that the nation of Israel cannot inherit it. That privilege belongs to those born again through faith in Christ.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:21–24 (NKJV)
Stephen, the church’s first martyr, castigated the Jewish leaders of his day for their resistance to the Holy Spirit and their devotion to the star of Remphan or Saturn, which seems to have morphed into the modern symbol of Israel.
Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’ Acts 7:42–43 (NKJV)
No star of any kind was ever associated with King David, but it is found in the occult Kabbalah.
It is also a symbol in Freemasonry, as pictured below on the right.
Of all the possible symbols to choose, including the easily identifiable menorah, why would Israel pick one connected with the occult and the worship of false gods? I suggest that when they rejected Christ, they lost their connection to the Father and turned to get help from the evil one, just as King Saul did at the end of his life.
The Babylonian Talmud, which is probably modern rabbinic Judaism’s most revered text, teaches that Jesus is boiling in excrement for his sins. (Gittin 57a) No other religion, including Islam, shows such disrespect for our Lord. Why then do Christians fiercely support those who malign our Lord? Stephen’s indictment still stands, except for the remnant of elect Jews who have confessed Christ. (Romans 9:29)
You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Acts 7:51 (NKJV)
That statement bought Stephen martyrdom from an angry mob. Saying such things today most likely will provoke some to anger and others to make false claims against me for “antisemitism.” I can assure you that I do not hate Jewish people or the nation, but I will not whitewash their rebellion against God.
A careful reading of key passages in Genesis reveals that the land was promised to Abraham and his “seed,” which is singular. Even though many modern translations incorrectly translate the word as plural “descendants,” Paul made it clear that the “seed” refers to Christ alone.
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. Galatians 3:16 (NKJV)
This is pure idolatry. Sadly, many Christians have been deceived into taking that which belongs to Christ alone and assigning it to the antichrist nation of Israel.
The new covenant has fulfilled all the other covenants. God’s chosen people are those Jews and Gentiles who are in Christ through faith and the new birth. These new creation people are called the church or body of Christ. They form “one new man” in Christ.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Ephesians 2:13–18 (NKJV)
To claim that Israel has a separate covenant and destiny than the church contradicts Paul’s clear teaching!
Only those who are “in Christ” participate in the fullness of blessings.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)
Those who are outside of Christ do not share at all. The church is the new covenant “Israel of God,” the fulfillment of the Old Covenant shadow that national Israel depicted. First comes the natural and then the spiritual. (1 Corinthians 15:46)
But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. Romans 9:6–8 (NKJV)
The new covenant “promised land” is the new heaven and earth that God will recreate. From the beginning God’s plan included the nations and the entire earth!
Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” Isaiah 49:6 (NKJV) For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Romans 4:13 (NKJV)
It is time for Christians to stop believing the lie that there are still two tiers of people – Jew and Gentile. Now humanity is divided into those who confess Christ and those who do not.
In Christ, there is only one new man, a new creation in Christ via the new birth.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. Galatians 6:15 (NKJV)
Only those who believe the gospel and acknowledge Christ’s lordship have any part of God’s kingdom.
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:5 (NKJV)
Let us continue to pray for the Jewish people and all others who do not know Christ, but let us cease to proclaim the false hope that Jewish people have a separate covenant. Without Christ, they and everyone else are hopelessly lost and heading for an eternity separated from God.
