Questions
I have a question please.
All the time get confused about Israel and Palestine war till. I know a little bit about the promised land suppose to Israel nation, but we see there is still war, why is that? The other thing can Palestinian nations shouldn’t be survive in there land? Where should they go, Palestinians must disappear from this planet? So denominations support this idea and they are behind to Israel. Israel only must stay in the land where they dwell today? Christ died for all nations. Generally this is dispensation what should we analysis to be accurate to teach church, because denominations preach many about these two nations.
Answers
Keith Sharp
Your questions are good, but I shall avoid becoming involved in political questions and confine my answers to scriptural principles. In my role as a preacher, I am concerned, not with civil politics but with the salvation of souls (2 Timothy 4:1-5; 1 Corinthians 1:21; John 18:36; Romans 14:17).
Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestant denominations believe that physical Israel must be restored to the land God promised Abraham. Dr. John Walvoord, Chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote:
From the time of the promise to Abraham to the present hour, the prophecies about Israel’s total possession and blessing in the land have not been fulfilled. The pulse of history, with three successive departures and three returns, has been a dramatic one. The most dramatic events, however, are still ahead. Is the present return of Israel the beginning of the last and ultimate regathering of Israel Is this one more in a series of current events preparing the way for the end of the Time of the Gentiles? As non-Jewish nations jockey into position for their last moments of glory and judgment, it is important to realize that after the Time of the Gentiles ends Israel will finally experience all that has been promised and hoped for since the time of Abraham (Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis, [Zondervan, 1990]. 79).
The truth is that the land promise to Abraham was fulfilled entirely and completely (Joshua 21:43-45; 1 Kings 4:21; Nehemiah 9:7-8). But Israel’s retention of the land depended on their faithfulness (Deuteronomy 5:33; 28:15, 64). Israel was disobedient (2 Kings 17:7-22; 21:1-16), so, they were destroyed from off the land (2 Kings 17:5-6, 23; 25:1-21).
It is true that the Lord promised to restore national Israel to their land (Jeremiah 25:11; 27:22). Restoration was conditioned upon their repentance (Deuteronomy 30:1-3), and the restoration promises were also fulfilled (Ezra 1:1-4; 2:70; Nehemiah 7:73).
God finally cast off fleshly Israel for their disobedience. When Israel rejected the Son of God, God rejected Israel (Matthew 21:33-43).
Old Testament national Israel cannot be restored (Jeremiah 19:11). Such a restoration would mean a revival of the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 30:1-3, 10), which cannot be with the Lord’s approval (Galatians 5:1-4), a restoration of the Levitical priesthood (Nehemiah 12:44), which cannot be (Hebrews 7:11-17), an earthly reign of Christ in Jerusalem, which cannot be (Jeremiah 22:24, 29-30; Matthew 1:12), the renewal of the Jewish genealogies (Nehemiah 7:5), which would be contrary to the will of God (Titus 3:9), and the restoration of Old Testament Temple worship (2 Chronicles 36:22-23), which would also violate the divine will and purpose (Hebrews 10:1-4).
The only hope for fleshly Israel from God is salvation in Christ by the gospel (Acts 26:6-7, 22-23), and all, both Jew and Gentile, who come to Christ in obedient faith, are now the Israel of God (Galatians 3:26-29; Romans 2:28-29; 1 Peter 2;4-5, 9). God has no further place for national Israel in His plan (Matthew 21:43). The hope of both Jew and Gentile is salvation through the gospel (Acts 26:22-23).
