o Love Or Not Love Physical Israel? That is the Question–Part 1
A Biblical, Historical and Personal Perspective on Physical Israel and Hebrew Roots

Why this Topic?

Recent surge in antisemitic type posts on social media involving folks within and without our Faith Community. Also lots of talk in government about physical Israel—the nation state of Israel—which, among so many other things, is polarizing our nation. The other thing has to do with the spiritual awakening we see going on in Israel of late:

• Messianic fervor in the Land
• Revival in the Land
• Talk of reviving sacrifices and building the 3rd Temple
• Recent conflicts involving the Palestinians
• The recent wild fires engulfing parts of Israel
• The extreme levels of support by many in our Faith Community for the nation state of Israel—sending moneys for support; Messianics in the U.S. elevating the nation state of Israel in their teachings, social media postings and the like
• The looming Jared Kushner/President Donald Trump Middle East Peace Plan
• U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Defining Physical Israel

Those who are Jews by birth. Paul confirms this in his writings (eg., Rom. 11:13-14; Phi. 3:4,5). For this discussion specifically, I include the citizens of the modern state of Israel who claim Jewish ancestry.

The diaspora of the House of Israel (3,000-years ago) and House of Judah (2,000-years ago) has resulted in a multi-cultural mix:

• The Story of Ruth
• Not every Ethiopian is Jewish
• Should not be a racial issue, but it has become one because the hearts of people remain corrupted—on both sides—both Jew and Non-Jew alike
• Skin, hair and eye color truly don’t matter when identifying physical Israelites
• Competing entities claiming to be physical Israelites such as the “Black Israelists”
• During their diaspora, Jews have undergone tremendous persecution (eg., the German Holocaust)

Some have latched onto teachings that portray physical Israel (specifically the modern nation of Israel)as impostors. Most notable is the assertion that the Jews today, both in and outside the land of Israel, are not descendants of Judah. These assert that Jews today (especially those living in the modern state of Israel) are really Khazarians (ie., descendants of the Khazars). Others assert that the modern nation of Israelites are Zionists. And Zionists are of the Illuminati and the Rothschilds.

Has She Been Lost And Forever Forgotten By YHVH?

The Tanakh suggests that Physical Israel has NOT been lost and forever forgotten by YHVH:

14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.
15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

KJV Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. (Hos 5:14-6:4 KJV)

Contextually speaking, Hosea is prophesying of the return of the House of Israel to the Land of Promise here. To date however, House of Israel has not returned to the Land. (Could be some of us.)

5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.
9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.
10 I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people. (Hos 6:5-11 KJV)

Could be speaking to Judah’s return to the Land after Babylonian Captivity, but since it’s grouped here with a return of House of Israel, Judah’s prophetic return to the land could be a dual prophecy.

Many contend that Judah forfeited her place as a chosen people of Yah when they crucified our Master, Yeshua Messiah (ie., the leaders of Judaism) and the nation’s rejection of Yeshua as their Messiah. Yet that which the Jewish leaders meant for evil (ie., in the crucifixion of our Master), Yah used for good to fulfill His eternal purpose:

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Rom 8:28 KJV)

Indeed, Yah is not finished with Judah. As we see in Zechariah, Father will bring Judah back to Himself both physically and spiritually:

7 The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.
8 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. (Zec 12:7-14 KJV)

As maddening as this may sound, the Jew’s selling out of Y’shua to the Romans was ultimately good for the Jew. This concept of intended evils being used by Yah to achieve His purpose was clearly seen in Joseph revealing to his brothers that what happened to him by his brothers’ selling him into slavery ultimately served to save their entire family from the famine (Jasher 54:69):

“And Joseph observed all their acts (his brothers’) and said unto them, ‘Why do you look here and there? I am Joseph whom you sold to Egypt. Now, therefore, let it not grieve you that you sold me. For as a support during the famine did God send me before you’” (cf. Gen. 37:23).

Despite what many contend, physical Israel will play a pivotal role in the End of Days as this dual purpose prophecy seems to suggest:

• YHVH receives the glory due Him when the world sees Judah back in the land.
• When Ephraim returns to the land then will YHVH really be glorified.

The Title or Descriptor “Spiritual Israel” Is Not Biblical

Search as one may, the title or descriptor “Spiritual Israel” is not found in Scripture. I believe it was born out of the antisemitic-based doctrine of “Replacement Theology.”

Our Faith Community Seems To Fall Into 3-Groups As It Relates To This Issue

1. Those who love physical Israel—specifically the modern state of Israel–even to the point of worship.
2. Others who despise physical Israel for various and sundry reasons.
3. Still others who are indifferent to physical Israel.

Why The Disparity in Viewpoints ?

Failure to adopt a universal understanding of who and what is physical Israel (to include the modern nation of Israel).

In failing to adopt a universal understanding of the significance (or insignificance) physical Israel currently plays and will play in our lives relative to biblical prophecy.

People of Faith have a nasty habit of boxing YHVH (and His Word and Work) to fit into preconceived boxes that they’ve constructed for themselves.

Those boxes are often built upon personal biases; fear; hatred; misplaced adoration; personal preferences; ignorance; bigotry; blind obedience. 

Reasons Given For Rejecting Physical Israel.

1. The inhabitants of the Land are not real Jews.

• They are Khazarians
• The Jews are Zionists
• Rothschilds are behind the Jewish occupation of the Land
• The Illuminati is behind the nation state of Israel
• Jews are Christ-Killers
• Christians or Messianics are now God’s “chosen people”
• True Jews are those that possess a circumcised heart
• The renewed covenant nullifies the existence of physical Israel and the old covenant.

2. The citizens of the Land are doomed and are not worth paying them any mind.

3. Believers of Y’shua under the New Covenant have replaced physical Israel.

Personal Analysis For The Rejection

1. The hatred towards the citizens and inhabitants of the nation state of Israel, as well as towards Jews worldwide, suggests that we may need a healing of our hearts. A softening of our hearts and souls. To love and care about others as our heavenly Father loves and cares for us. (Antisemitism)

2. Supersessionism, or as more popularly known to scholars as “Replacement Theology,” among so many other things, focus on Paul’s concerns about physical Israel and where they fit in Yah’s plan of salvation, and created a false doctrine that replaces physical Israel with Christians. These call themselves “spiritual Israel.”

According to the supersessionists:

 

 

 

• The new covenant through Jesus Christ supersedes the old covenant which belongs exclusively to the Jews. Most, if not all, supersessionists are anti-Torah in their worldview
• The Christian Church has succeeded the physical Israelites as the definitive people of YHVH
• The new covenant has replaced, superseded Torah, or the Mosaic Law
• They reject dual-covenant theology, although some Christian sects teach that the moral law continues to stand
• Catholicism contends that “the Church is the new people of God” (1965 Vatican Council II).

KJV Romans 9:1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 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. (Rom 9:1-8 KJV)

 

28 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.
29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
(Gal 3:28-29 KJV)

When looking at the Supersessionists’ replacement theology from a biblical perspective, and for the moment resist spiritualizing the topic of physical Israel, I believe we must keep two things in mind:

Regarding the seed of Abraham: Abraham became the father of/to many nations—not just the Father of the Jews (I.e., House of Judah or the Jews) (Gen. 17:5). So why do we feel we have to replace physical Israel as a so-called “spiritual Israel?” The Bible nowhere suggests such a thing.

Case in point: Abraham had 8 sons according to Scripture (although churchianity teaches that he had just Isaac and the illegitimate Ismael):

I. Isaac
II. Ishmael
III. Zimran
IV. Jokshan
V. Medan
VI. Midian
VII. Isbak
VIII. Shuah

In using agricultural terminology, Paul put the issue of the “physical” Jew and Gentiles coming into Faith. He likened the Gentile coming into Faith as that of a “wild olive branch” that is grafted into a cultured olive tree. That cultured olive tree is true physical Israel—the commonwealth of Israel—those who keep the commandments of YHVH and have the testimony of Y’shua Messiah. (Rev. 12:17).

But Paul warned that we are NOT at all the tree nor have we become a replacement for the tree. We are branches (Rom. 11:17).

As branches being grafted to the tree, we become partakers of the tree, receiving the fatness (ie., the necessary nutrients) of the tree’s root system.

Paul further taught that it was unbelief (ie., blindness of the Jew) that led to our plum spot in YHVH’s Plan of Salvation. (If Judah would have recognized the visitation of her Messiah, those branches would have remained in place. Some physical Israelites, however, recognized and accepted the visitation of their Messiah, as have so many today who have come to a saving knowledge of Y’shua Messiah. These have been grafted back into the tree or the commonwealth of Israel.

And as we closer to the End, more and more of those purged branches (rebellious physical Israelites) will have the scales dropped form their eyes; the veil over the minds removed; and the callouses over their hearts broken off, and they will be grafted back into the tree along with us (Rom. 11:23,24).

9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. (Zec 12:9-10 ESV)

As grafted branches, we must be very careful in adopting such attitudes as the “Supersessionists” have done: casting dispersions and hate toward those who are physical Israelites or Jews in general.

In fact, Paul warned about this very thing, which we see happening today, even in our own Faith Community. Paul warned that we must come at this question of being grafted in to the commonwealth of physical Israel, not from a place of arrogance, but from a place of fear (respect). In other words, be fearful (actually terrified) of losing your place. Paul wrote:

18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. (Rom 11:18-22 KJV)

It should go without saying that supersessionists, in making such claims that they have replaced physical Israel, and are now THE chosen people of YHVH, that they best walk carefully as Paul so warned above. For the mantle of being Israel carries with it great responsibility. And they best be ready to fulfill that mantle or else.

We will pick this up in our next installment.

Faithfully