In my last post, I talked about how many of us that call ourselves New Testament Christians embrace some ideas that are very Old Testament in nature. There are two in particular I’ve encountered repeatedly in the course of my pastoral ministry. The first had to do with the idea of the church building as a sacred space. I made the point that, in the wake of Jesus, God is in the business of occupying people rather than buildings. No space is inherently sacred, but it becomes so by virtue of the presence of His people.
The second area of belief many professing Christians hold which I believe is Old Testament in nature is the sense of spiritual obligation to support the nation of Israel. While there are many compelling and worthy geopolitical reasons to do so, I believe the idea that we, as followers of Jesus, have a spiritual obligation to stand by and support Israel is an Old Testament construct that is rendered invalid by the New Testament.
The motivation for unqualified support for Israel stems from the idea that the land given to Abraham and his descendants in Genesis 13 is still theirs by divine right. This is reiterated by passages like Joshua 14:9 which says, “So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly …’ (NIV).” The thinking is that God gave them that land, so any attempt on our part to re-apportion it will incur His wrath. The implication is we should unconditionally stand by and support Israel—that if we bless them, we’ll be blessed by God in return.
But there are a couple of things I’m convinced those who hold this position are overlooking. First—when the Old Testament uses the word “forever,” it doesn’t use the word in an unconditional sense. The covenant God made with the nation of Israel had conditions attached to it—it was what scholars call a classic bilateral suzerainty treaty … a covenant between non-equals … a form of treaty that was very commonly practiced amongst the ancient peoples of that day, and with which the biblical writers would be familiar. Because the parties were not equals, the treaty had the sense of being conditional: “If you walk in my ways and honor these laws, then I’ll bless you, prosper you, protect you, and give you this land as your inheritance. But if you don’t, then my protection will be lifted, you won’t be blessed, and the land will be taken from you and you’ll go into exile.” A good example of this is Jeremiah 17:4 where God says to the Hebrew people through the prophet, “Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know …” (NIV). What God is saying to the children of Israel there is, “That inheritance I promised you ‘forever’? It’s not a ‘forever’ thing—you’re going to lose it.”
When God promised things forever, it was always on the condition of Israel upholding their covenant obligations and walking in obedience to Him. Much confusion, not to mention bad theology, results when we look at God’s Word through our eyes and foist meanings on words or concepts without considering how it would have been received and understood by the people of that day.
Second—according to the New Testament, all of the promises made to Israel were fulfilled in Jesus. Listen to what Paul says to the Corinthian Christians: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Cor. 1:20a - NIV). Jesus is the consummation of every promise made to Israel—the absolute embodiment of what Israel was supposed to be about … which means you can’t augment or enhance it in any way. If it’s been fulfilled, there are no unresolved matters or loose ends. For instance—if you’ve got a completely full glass of water, no additional water can be added … it’ll spill out. By the same token, if Jesus is the fulfillment of every promise made to Israel, there’s nothing associated with the old covenant that is outstanding or needs to be shored up. There’s no tenet or precept associated with it that needs to be embraced or taken into account—it is no longer operative and moot. To look for some detail or promise to still be fulfilled amounts to a repudiation of the fullness that is in Jesus.
Third—one of the persistently emphasized points of the New Testament is that the true Israelite is a person of faith. If Jesus is the fulfillment of what Israel was supposed to be, then those who abide in Him share in all that’s true of Him. If He’s the embodiment of Israel, not only do we become an “Israelite” by virtue of being in Him but the church becomes the new Israel. The old covenant was meant to lead us to Jesus.
In many ways, the Bible is like a detective novel where we get clues along the way but aren’t able to make sense of them until we get to the end and somebody solves the crime and we can look back and say, “Ah! Now I get it!” The Bible is a book that makes sense in reverse. When we read the Old Testament through the perspective of Jesus, we see something very different. When He shows up, there’s a new revelation and we realize everything that seemed to be permanent and enduring back then wasn’t permanent and enduring at all.
When Jesus stepped into the world, the Israelites had been on the losing side of their covenant with God. They were living in the land but didn’t control it. They weren’t sovereign. They weren’t enjoying it as an inheritance, for they were under the thumb of Rome. When Jesus arrived on the scene, his countrymen were all about their national identity and regaining control of their land—using violence to overthrow the Romans. But Jesus spoke, and spoke often, about a different and revolutionary Kingdom. He didn’t talk about land … or nationhood … or political overthrow. His kingdom involved entirely different categories; it was a kingdom of a totally different kind.
We are called to do what ancient Israel was called to do but never really could do because they only had the law to work with. We now have the power of the Holy Spirit and empowering grace at our disposal. We are called to display the splendor of God and attract the world to Jesus. For God is not into the nation building thing; He’s been out of that business for almost 2000 years now. His primary purpose these days is to build a kingdom of people from all nations who have placed their faith in Jesus. He wants to draw folks to Zion—not a geographical Zion, or a physical Zion, but a spiritual Zion … a diverse kingdom centered around and anchored in Jesus … the One who is the completion and fulfillment of every promise ever made to Israel.