Biblical Audio Commentary – Israel A Light to The World, Or Not

Biblical Audio Commentary – Israel A Light to The World, Or Not

Transcript:

Where does Israel stand in regard to God?  Is she a has-been as much of the church believes, or is Israel destined to be a key player in the world in the years ahead?  When the church embraces Replacement Theology and declares itself is the new Israel, subject to all of God’s Old Testament promises, is that true?  Is it even reasonable to think this?

There is one specific promise that God has made that I’d like to discuss in the Commentary today.  He stated many times in His Word that Israel is to be a light to the nations, to shine her light into all the world and be a blessing to it.  Does this mean whenever this declaration appears in Scripture that God intends this to actually be solely for the church in this belief of the church being the new Israel, or does God mean what He said and promised to those whom He has called His Chosen People?

I’ve stated many times that this idea of Replacement Theology that so many in the church have embraced is absolutely false doctrine through and through.  If someone thinks God has reneged on His promises to Israel, and Israel has just the status of every other nation in the world, then the Biblical ignorance of such a person is on full display.  Worse is the fact stated in Scripture that God loves Israel – the land and the people.  Here is a simple verse in Zechariah 2:8 which makes this very clear:

For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye

Gotquestions.org tells us:

The apple of one’s eye is a very sensitive place and therefore very protected . . . God held the Israelites as the apple of His eye, rebellious and stiff-necked though they were in the wilderness. Being the apple of His eye, they were most cherished. 

That was true when declared it in the Old Testament Scriptures; it continues to be true today.  How dare such a large portion of the church contest with God on this matter!  For all those who think God has abandoned Israel, they are calling God a liar.  Worse, in dismissing His holy Word in this respect, they are also declaring – whether they know it or not – that they hate God.  If they hate what He loves, they certainly don’t love Him.

So, what of our question for today as to whether or not Israel is a light to the nations?  There are numerous verses that state this:

Isaiah 42:6

“I the LORD have called unto you in righteousness, and have taken hold of your hand, and submitted you as the people’s covenant, as a light unto the nations” 

Isaiah 49:6.

“Yea, He saith, ‘It is too light a thing for you to be My servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the scions of Israel, and I shall submit you as a light unto the nations, to be My salvation until the end of the earth’ 

Isaiah 60:3.

“And unto your light, nations shall walk, and kings unto the brightness of your rising” 

Not to leave out the New Testament, here is one more verse:

Acts 13:47

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,

that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

When the Lord conveyed this prophecy to Isaiah, to whom was He referring?  Was it to the non-existent church, or was it to Israel?  When God said in Isaiah 49:6:

‘It is too light a thing for you to be My servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the scions of Israel

. . . were the tribes of Jacob representative of the future church of Jesus Christ, or was this statement about Israel referring to Israel?  Logically, rationally, is it even conceivable that this promise specifically to Israel could actually be to and about the church?  The answer is obvious.  Of course not.  Yet the Replacement Theology folks want to make it so.

One of the points I’ve made in the past in my many Commentaries discussing Replacement Theology is that if these people who think this way want to appropriate all of God’s promises for Israel and make them apply to the church, then by all rights the many curses God declares over Israel should also apply to the church.  How do you get one and not the other?  Isn’t that cherry-picking Scripture to make it read what you want it to read?  This is also called eisegesis, i.e. making Scripture adhere to your worldview and biases.  That has led a lot of people down the road to perdition over the years.

The context for the verse noted above from the book of Acts has to do when Paul and Barnabas were speaking to a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles.  By quoting this they condemned the Jews for not being obedient to what God wanted them to do and be, and they encouraged the Gentiles by letting them know that salvation was for them as well as for the Jews.  This was all supposed to come through Israel, but Israel blew it.

But God – despite their rebellion and disobedience – didn’t leave them without hope.  Jesus Himself said that He would return to Israel and a remnant of Jews would declare at that time that indeed He was and is Messiah.  Luke 13:35 recounts this:

Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

This promise is not to the church; it is to Israel.  Those in the land and elsewhere remaining in the world at the end of the Tribulation when Jesus returns will finally acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior.  But that end is just the beginning.

For the next 1,000 years, Jesus will sit on His throne in Jerusalem – in Israel – so as to rule and reign over the entire earth.  David will be His right-hand-man as prince who leads the nation of Israel itself under the jurisdiction of Jesus.  Israel has a glorious future after the horrible years of the Tribulation.  Israel’s future is separate from that of the church which will have spent those seven years in the presence of Jesus as His Bride.  We the church then have duties throughout the rest of the world under the auspices of Jesus.

Given the volume of promises in the Bible concerning Israel and all that is to come, it is a foolish thing to conflate Israel with the church.  We will all be united under Christ, but we are quite separate in our identities and responsibilities.

Don’t be deceived.  Jesus warned about deception being the number one concern in these end times.  The final hours are upon us.  Satan is working overtime to take out the church, and many have fallen under his spell.  A major aspect of this is the lie about Israel and how the church has supposedly replaced God’s Chosen People, His Promised Land, the apple of His eye.

Don’t fall for it.  In fact, educate yourself so that when you run into people who believe this falsehood, you can at least make the attempt to turn them to the truth.  They may not accept God’s truth because of the deception they’re under, but at least you will have been obedient to God.

And that is extremely pleasing to Him.