Did God Give Up Israel?
In 2000 B.C. God called Abraham and entered in a COVENANT relationship with him and his seed. He promised Abraham many things including the world, great material and spiritual blessings, to be the leader among the nations, to loan to many nations and borrow from none, and that ultimately all the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham and his seed. He also said that this covenant would last for a thousand generations (40,000 years) Psalms 105:8, 9.
However, things did not go well. First Jacob-Israel (Abraham’s grandson) went into Egypt and in a few generations his descendants were slaves of the Egyptians. God delivered them from Egypt through a series of outstanding miracles – the ten plagues which finally softened Pharaoh to the point that he let the Israelites go, the opening up of the Red Sea so that 3 million Israelites could pass over on dry ground, and the closing of the Red Sea so that all of Pharaoh’s army were destroyed (Pharaoh changed his mind almost as soon as Israel left and began to pursue them to force them back). Israel having witnessed all of these miracles and many more, began to complain and murmur almost immediately. Their rebellion against God almost drove Moses to distraction and caused him to sin by striking the rock, an action that prevented Moses to enter into the promised land. Throughout 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, God fed, clothed, housed, led, kept them healthy and blessed them abundantly in every conceivable way. That 40 years in the wilderness was a continuous series of miracles yet the people rebelled, grumbled, complained and murmured almost constantly. Nevertheless, God did not abandon them but led their offspring into the land of Canaan, caused them to triumph over their enemies in the land, and blessed them with the abundance of heaven above and the earth beneath. He gave them 80 years of greatness and national blessing under David and Solomon. After Solomon died the kingdom was split into 2 kingdoms – 10 tribed Israel in the north and 2 tribed Judah in the south. In 721 B.C. Israel was taken into Assyrian captivity along with all of Judah except the city of Jerusalem (Judah went into Assyria 8 years after Israel). God said at this point that 10 tribed Israel was divorced BUT 2 tribed Judah WAS NOT divorced, at this time there were only a few thousand of the remnant of Judah left in Jerusalem. They remained here for over 100 years until they were carried into Babylon in 604 B.C. They were in Babylon for 70 years then the return to Jerusalem began under Ezra and “Nehemiah”. This remnant remained here until the time of Christ. At this point, as a nation, they rejected Jesus Christ as their Savior and King. In 70 A.D. the “Jewish” nation was destroyed by Titus and in answer to Jeremiah’s prophecy in chapter 19, this bottle (the so-called Jewish nation) was destroyed “is broken and cannot be mended.”
To modern theologins, God has had it by this time and has said “scrap that plan about Israel, I am going to get me a church and they will be SPIRITUAL ISRAEL. I have had it with that bunch of regraded, people – those stiff-necked, stiff-hearted, stiff-headed Israelites. I give up on them, no one could blame me for that – it is obvious that they are not worth the least of the miracles and blessings that I have poured out upon them.” Let’s face it, no one could blame God for giving up on the Israelites but he didn’t, it is only the preachers, ministers, missionaries and most Christians who have given up on them! BUT GOD DOES NOT GIVE UP ON ANYTHING. HE DOES NOT VIOLATE HIS OWN WORD.
In spite of the fact that God called Abraham, made an everlasting covenant with him, promised all of the above-mentioned things plus many more – most of the preachers and evangelists of the present day loudly proclaim that God no longer is concerned with nations including Israel, that all of this belongs to the past, is a part of the OLD TESTAMENT and therefore no longer valid. What kind of brazen arrogance is responsible for such utterances is hard to comprehend. Nevertheless, such statements are made constantly by ministers of the gospel. If you don’t believe this, listen for a while to any Christian radio or TV station.
It would seem quite plain that either GOD IS A LIAR or GOD TELLS THE TRUTH meaning that he certainly is still in covenant relationship with the people of Israel. Let us look at the record – the Bible.
“The Lord did not set His love upon you and choose you, because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:7, 8)
Because he would keep the oath” God is interested in His own integrity even if many of his “ministers” are not.
“You have magnified Your word above all Your name! (Psalms 138:2)
We certainly live in a day when most people have little regard for their word or the word of others, however, God has never fallen into our relativism – let God be true and every man a liar.
“My covenant will I not break or profane, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips. Once have I sworn by My holiness that cannot be violated, I will not lie to David; His offspring shall endure forever, and his throne shall continue as the sun before Me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, the faithful witness in the heavens. Selah.” (Ps. 89:34-37)
No wonder God said, “I will not lie to David,” He knew that He would be accused of doing just that therefore he recorded this categorical statement – “I will not lie to David.” We had better be careful lest we find ourselves fighting against God.
“Behold, the days will come, says the Lord, when I will make and ratify a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their forefathers on the day when I grasped them by the hand to help and relieve them and to lead them out from the land of Egypt, for they did not abide in My agreement with them, and so I withdrew my favor and disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And it will nevermore be necessary for every one to teach his neighbor and his fellow citizen or everyone his brother, saying, Know thee O Lord; for all will know Me, from the smallest, to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more.” (Hebrews 8:8-12)
This is the NEW TESTAMENT so how do “New Testament” Christians get away from this. Sure God divorced 10 tribed Israel and broke the remnant of Judah. But he never divorced or broke 2 tribed Judah SO they haves always and continuously been the PEOPLE OF GOD. God has further promised to redeem (which he did at Calvary) and re-marry (which he has NEVER yet done but will do at the end of the 1,000 year inauguration of the Kingdom of God) 10 tribed Israel.
“For you are not My People, and I am not yours (the divorce). Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and instead of its being said to them, You are not My people, it shall be said to them, Sons of the Living God! (the re-marriage)” Hosea 1:9,10)
Again, Isaiah tells us of the divorce and re-marriage.
“Thus says the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I put her away, O Israel? (Isaiah 50:1)
“Sing, O barren, you who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of the married wife, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 54:1)
“For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken, grieved in spirit and heartsore, even a wife (wooed and won) in youth, when she is later refused and scorned, says your God. For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion and mercies I gather you to Me again.” (Isaiah 54:6, 7)
God does not change his mind. God does not change his Word. God does not change his oath. God does not change his Covenant. GOD IS GOD.”