Jerusalem Blade
Puritan Board Professor
ISRAEL, who art thou, and where art thou?
This topic of Israel’s identity must be seen in the light of God’s word, or it is but the fancies and fictions of men.
That of Jewry – the people of Israel in the time of Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth – who did not bow the knee to Him, and persisted in rejecting Him after His resurrection and ascension to the throne of God, from where He and His heavenly Father poured forth and filled the young church with the promised Holy Spirit, I repeat, those who persisted in rejecting Him were cut off from the people of Israel by judicial decree, first spoken of by God to Moses,
This was repeated by the apostle Peter when preaching to the Jews of his day in the Jerusalem temple,
In other words, they were to be cut off from the people of God – from the Israel of God – as inedible gristle is cut from meat by a cleaver. They were no longer Israel, but renegade outcasts, unrepentant in their complicity in Messiah’s murder.
The State of Israel today is comprised of their descendants, physically and spiritually. The State of Israel uses the name Jacob was given by God, but it is the theft of the identity God gave to His patriarch and that patriarch’s believing seed.
The state of Israel today is an imposter Israel, stripped of the name by the original Giver of it.
But there is worse. I refer to the curses of Deuteronomy 28, where the LORD pronounces the blessings on those who keep His commandments and covenant, and the curses on those who disobey and disdain them. In a summary of the curses, Moses gives the LORD’s word,
The question then arises: Are the curses spoken in Deuteronomy chapter 28 – written around 1400 BC – that would fall upon the Jews of ancient Israel and their children if they disobeyed the voice of their God as written in the Law Moses gave them, are these curses active today in 2023 AD, some 3400 years later?
Can it be thought that the wrath executed by the curses was rescinded by Messiah for those who continue to reject His substitutionary offering for their covenant violations? The continuing power of those curses levied against transgressing Jews who refuse the redemption of Messiah, this was not and is not rescinded. The Levitical system of law, sacrifice, and worship – all that ceremonial typology – was abrogated by the “better covenant” and its infinitely more precious blood, but those of us (I write as a Jew) who spurned both the words of the Prophet who brought redemption (Deut 18:18-19 KJV; Acts 3:22-23 KJV) and the precious blood which covered the sins under that old covenant, we have no relief from the penalties pronounced against us.
We Jews, to whom pertained the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, had received greater light than the nations prior to Messiah’s coming, and that law and that covenant mediated by Moses, although annulled by Messiah’s covenant, the already executed penalties declared by Moses are still upon us. Hence the unspeakable value of the death of Messiah for us, whose blood covers those covenant-breakers who come to Him for mercy and cleansing; but those who spurn Him are still liable for that broken law and covenant. It makes no difference whether to say we are under the Deuteronomic curses or the continuing wrath that sent them forth. The curses once executed upon the expiry of the covenant nation and the covenant are still upon us, whether one refers to the curses themselves or the power of them. Like a stone thrown it is out of the hand and in the air headed where it was aimed.
All of which to say, there is a great wrath yet upon us Jews – and upon our so-called State of Israel – if we have not gone to that fountain of cleansing Zechariah spoke of,
That fountain, of course, speaks of the blood of the Lamb of God, the atoning sacrifice made by the eternal High Priest (Psalm 110:4) shed outside the gates of Jerusalem.
And this great wrath was partly seen in the Holocaust, in the current war, and there is worse yet to come upon this people. All other considerations and aspects of this conflict are peripheral to this one thing: the need to turn to Messiah for forgiveness, cleansing, eternal life, and inclusion in the true Israel of God, the entrance to which is Jesus the Christ, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach.
For the great wrath yet to come upon our renegade nation will shock the world and surviving Jewry!
Not only did we not listen to Him in Moses’ day, but when, centuries later, He manifested in the flesh according to promise (Isaiah 9:6-7 KJV; Micah 5:2 KJV), our Messiah – we conspired to have Him put to death at the hands of Rome, and as He was a-dying – Himself the atoning sacrifice to God for our sins – we walked by and mocked this Lamb God provided, not seeing the infinite heart of love burning immeasurably brighter than the bush Moses walked up to and took his shoes off to behold.
It is not too late for us to draw near the burning we once passed by. Not a bush, but a greater and more profound sight: the presence of our infinite God, and the divine love aflame within Him. A great saving love and redeeming power. For we yet stagger under the wrath lying heavy upon us. We must not revolt at the monstrosity of evil which befell us under Hitler, cursing our God, for that monstrosity was a reflection of our own hearts’ murderous hatred of Him, the God of Jacob! And this judgment our hatred provoked is LESS than the offense that occasioned it. It is a warning for those with ears to hear: a time of threshing is to come upon us again, greater by far than what has already come. We should be ware. Not only what shall befall us of Jewry in the days to come – as terrible as that shall be, both to us and to onlookers of the world – but in eternity, which is around the corner. Can this be the drawing near of the end?
Yes, I know all eyes are fixed upon what shall happen in Gaza, and the response of the Islamic world and those powers sympathetic to them – but of far greater import to Jewry and to the world – is Heaven’s response to the renegade nation which betrayed its King.
I cannot see beyond what I have said, though I do know that nuclear weapons in the hands of those with itchy trigger fingers abound – aimed both at the abhorred Jewish state and despised Babylon headquarters.
This underlying, unresolved controversy between the Almighty and renegade Jewry is a reality both deeper and more profound and pertinent than Gaza and “Israel”.
As regards Hamas and Islam – and their passion to destroy those on the land they claim – they also will answer to the God of Abraham, Father of the King of the Jews, for teachings they hold to, and things they have done. It will be a reckoning for us all on the earth, like it or not.
This topic of Israel’s identity must be seen in the light of God’s word, or it is but the fancies and fictions of men.
That of Jewry – the people of Israel in the time of Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth – who did not bow the knee to Him, and persisted in rejecting Him after His resurrection and ascension to the throne of God, from where He and His heavenly Father poured forth and filled the young church with the promised Holy Spirit, I repeat, those who persisted in rejecting Him were cut off from the people of Israel by judicial decree, first spoken of by God to Moses,
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him (Deut 18:18-19 KJV).
This was repeated by the apostle Peter when preaching to the Jews of his day in the Jerusalem temple,
Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people (Acts 3:22-23 KJV).
In other words, they were to be cut off from the people of God – from the Israel of God – as inedible gristle is cut from meat by a cleaver. They were no longer Israel, but renegade outcasts, unrepentant in their complicity in Messiah’s murder.
The State of Israel today is comprised of their descendants, physically and spiritually. The State of Israel uses the name Jacob was given by God, but it is the theft of the identity God gave to His patriarch and that patriarch’s believing seed.
The state of Israel today is an imposter Israel, stripped of the name by the original Giver of it.
But there is worse. I refer to the curses of Deuteronomy 28, where the LORD pronounces the blessings on those who keep His commandments and covenant, and the curses on those who disobey and disdain them. In a summary of the curses, Moses gives the LORD’s word,
Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever (Deut 28:45-46 KJV).
The question then arises: Are the curses spoken in Deuteronomy chapter 28 – written around 1400 BC – that would fall upon the Jews of ancient Israel and their children if they disobeyed the voice of their God as written in the Law Moses gave them, are these curses active today in 2023 AD, some 3400 years later?
Can it be thought that the wrath executed by the curses was rescinded by Messiah for those who continue to reject His substitutionary offering for their covenant violations? The continuing power of those curses levied against transgressing Jews who refuse the redemption of Messiah, this was not and is not rescinded. The Levitical system of law, sacrifice, and worship – all that ceremonial typology – was abrogated by the “better covenant” and its infinitely more precious blood, but those of us (I write as a Jew) who spurned both the words of the Prophet who brought redemption (Deut 18:18-19 KJV; Acts 3:22-23 KJV) and the precious blood which covered the sins under that old covenant, we have no relief from the penalties pronounced against us.
We Jews, to whom pertained the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, had received greater light than the nations prior to Messiah’s coming, and that law and that covenant mediated by Moses, although annulled by Messiah’s covenant, the already executed penalties declared by Moses are still upon us. Hence the unspeakable value of the death of Messiah for us, whose blood covers those covenant-breakers who come to Him for mercy and cleansing; but those who spurn Him are still liable for that broken law and covenant. It makes no difference whether to say we are under the Deuteronomic curses or the continuing wrath that sent them forth. The curses once executed upon the expiry of the covenant nation and the covenant are still upon us, whether one refers to the curses themselves or the power of them. Like a stone thrown it is out of the hand and in the air headed where it was aimed.
All of which to say, there is a great wrath yet upon us Jews – and upon our so-called State of Israel – if we have not gone to that fountain of cleansing Zechariah spoke of,
In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness (Zec 13:1 KJV).
That fountain, of course, speaks of the blood of the Lamb of God, the atoning sacrifice made by the eternal High Priest (Psalm 110:4) shed outside the gates of Jerusalem.
And this great wrath was partly seen in the Holocaust, in the current war, and there is worse yet to come upon this people. All other considerations and aspects of this conflict are peripheral to this one thing: the need to turn to Messiah for forgiveness, cleansing, eternal life, and inclusion in the true Israel of God, the entrance to which is Jesus the Christ, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach.
For the great wrath yet to come upon our renegade nation will shock the world and surviving Jewry!
Not only did we not listen to Him in Moses’ day, but when, centuries later, He manifested in the flesh according to promise (Isaiah 9:6-7 KJV; Micah 5:2 KJV), our Messiah – we conspired to have Him put to death at the hands of Rome, and as He was a-dying – Himself the atoning sacrifice to God for our sins – we walked by and mocked this Lamb God provided, not seeing the infinite heart of love burning immeasurably brighter than the bush Moses walked up to and took his shoes off to behold.
It is not too late for us to draw near the burning we once passed by. Not a bush, but a greater and more profound sight: the presence of our infinite God, and the divine love aflame within Him. A great saving love and redeeming power. For we yet stagger under the wrath lying heavy upon us. We must not revolt at the monstrosity of evil which befell us under Hitler, cursing our God, for that monstrosity was a reflection of our own hearts’ murderous hatred of Him, the God of Jacob! And this judgment our hatred provoked is LESS than the offense that occasioned it. It is a warning for those with ears to hear: a time of threshing is to come upon us again, greater by far than what has already come. We should be ware. Not only what shall befall us of Jewry in the days to come – as terrible as that shall be, both to us and to onlookers of the world – but in eternity, which is around the corner. Can this be the drawing near of the end?
Yes, I know all eyes are fixed upon what shall happen in Gaza, and the response of the Islamic world and those powers sympathetic to them – but of far greater import to Jewry and to the world – is Heaven’s response to the renegade nation which betrayed its King.
I cannot see beyond what I have said, though I do know that nuclear weapons in the hands of those with itchy trigger fingers abound – aimed both at the abhorred Jewish state and despised Babylon headquarters.
This underlying, unresolved controversy between the Almighty and renegade Jewry is a reality both deeper and more profound and pertinent than Gaza and “Israel”.
As regards Hamas and Islam – and their passion to destroy those on the land they claim – they also will answer to the God of Abraham, Father of the King of the Jews, for teachings they hold to, and things they have done. It will be a reckoning for us all on the earth, like it or not.
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