I've been meaning to post a paper I wrote during this past internship I was on, and I've finally decided to post it. It's on the Israel Mandate and some foundational reasons why the Christian church should be concerned for Israel. I hope it blesses you all. =)
The Israel Mandate
For so long, the church has either avoided God’s end-time plans or over emphasized it in the wrong context, leaving out His plan for Israel. Some people choose not to understand the urgency of the end-times and His heart for Israel because they see it as irrelevant to today’s church. They reason in their hearts that end-time subjects are impractical and only theory, and while past generations have thought that it was in their generation Jesus was going to come, some have done away with expecting His return altogether, so a sleep has come over them. With that, and all other nonsensical reasons to avoid the end-time subject, we can see a release of a spirit of confusion over the church. We read and watch movies like “The Left Behind” Series and all we think about is The Great Tribulation and judgment, and then we say, “Jesus is coming,” without ever fully understanding what that means or what that requires of us. Does it require that we, as the Body, solely respond by walking in unprecedented holiness? Yes, but it can’t be just that. The purpose of understanding God’s end-time plans, especially in regards to Israel, is not so we can drive ourselves to fear and therefore live holy lives, but so we can hasten His coming. Jesus is the Bridegroom who wants to take His Bride, and understanding God’s end-time plan for Israel is essential if we want Him to come.
Many choose not to be concerned for the future of Israel because they assume that God has rejected Israel and therefore does not play any role in the end-times. This is called Replacement Theology, the belief that the church has replaced Israel and that Israel is no longer God’s chosen people. Paul even exhorts in Romans 11:1, “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” Some look at the church as solely the continuation of Israel or they view the church and Israel as being completely different entities. People who see the church as the continuation of Israel then begin to see prophecies towards Israel as allegories and just spiritualized prophecies over the church than actual promises for the country of Israel. According to the Bible, the church is not exclusive to any one nation as He promised, but that the church is referring to those who have come alive through Christ Jesus.
Why care about Israel and the end-times? Because it is God’s heart that we know the season, that we know the hour in which He will come. Matthew 24:43-44 says, “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Matthew 25: 13 says, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” Revelations 3:3 says, “Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.” Scripture tells us that He is coming and to be watchful. He calls us to be concerned about His prophetic time table! It is for us to discern the time that we are in, it’s a mandate. Ephesians 3:9-10 says that we are to, “see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church…” This mystery is the plan of God which He has hid in Himself but has revealed it to the apostles that we might know His plans for the purpose of cooperating and partnering with Him.
Before we understand what we must do with this mandate, it’s important to know who God calls Israel to be. It starts first with Abraham. God told Abraham to move to Canaan which later became Israel. God found favor on him and promised him to be the father of a great nation, and that is Israel. This comes to fruition when the birth of his son, Jacob, happens and Jacob, whose name changed to Israel, gives birth to 12 sons, whom the twelve tribes of Israel are named. Then a period, known as Exodus happens and the Israelites are enslaved for 4o0 years until Moses leads them out of Egypt and into the border of the Promised land, Canaan/Israel. After Moses dies, Joshua leads the Israelites into the Promised Land and establishes the sovereignty of Israel as a country. In the beginning of Israel’s sovereignty, they were not ruled by kings but judges because they believed God to be the only One true King. However, the Israelite’s unfaithfulness to God manifested when they demanded to have a king. God gave them to their own desires and made Saul King. This was the beginning of Israel’s deliberate act in turning away from God. Deuteronomy 7:6 declares, “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.” Israel was close to God’s heart. They were to be a people who, to God, was a special treasure valued above all other peoples and nations on the face of the entire earth. Out of Israel would come the Messiah. He called Jews to bring salvation to all the nations of the earth as their primary role other than to love the Lord their God. It is our mandate to intercede for Israel. Isaiah 59:15 says, “…Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him.” God is looking for intercessors who would cry out on behalf of his chosen people.
While explaining God’s heart for Israel, some might question if Israel is God’s chosen people does that mean that we, the Gentiles, are not saved or will not be shown salvation? No, Hosea 2:23 says, “I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.' I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.' " But as Gentiles, who have been grafted in the vine and have been given salvation, it is our ministry to, “through their [Israel’s] fall, to provoke them to jealousy,” as Paul said in Romans 11:11. It is the faith of the Gentiles that stirs jealousy in the hearts of the Jewish people, and it is this jealousy that would be the very thing that brings them back to the heart of God.
Now that we have established the fact that Israel is God’s chosen but fallen people, and that it is our mandate to intercede for the Jewish people as well as to provoke Israel to jealousy, we can now understand God’s plan to release worldwide salvation in the end-times. In Romans 11:11-12 and 15 Paul says, “Have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” From this scripture we can see that His plan includes both the fullness of the Gentiles and the Israelites. It is in the fullness of the Gentiles that Israel would be saved. And it is in the fullness of Israel that God would bring forth His glory into the millennial earth. His plan is to make Israel blind for a season as it says in Romans 11:25-26, “I do not desire…that you should be ignorant of this mystery…that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 So all Israel will be saved…” God will make Israel blind until the Gentiles come into fullness. And it is in this fullness that they would provoke the Israel to return to the Lord. This fullness is the salvation and full maturity in Christ, that the Jews would see what they ‘have not,’ and drive them to pursue the God who established them so that they would ‘have.’ Like the story of Jacob and Esau, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. And when Esau saw what was robbed from him, jealousy was stirred in his heart to retrieve what was stolen. This will be the same with Israel. The Jewish people will see the faith of the Gentiles and want their spiritual inheritance back. It is our calling as Gentiles to labor for Israel’s salvation through prayer and intercession for Israel. Isaiah 60, verses 3 and 5 says, “The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising…Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.” Israel shall then see when the fullness of the Gentiles is fulfilled and their fullness then becomes in part their inheritance.
It is His will that the Israel people be saved. Does this mean that the entire nation of Israel will be saved? Matthew 24:21-22 speaks about the end times having there be a, “great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” It is a time known as Jacob’s trouble by Jeremiah (chapter 30:7) that is described as the most difficult time to live in ever. So much so Matthew 24:22 says for His chosen ones’ sake, this time will be shortened because if it were to be any longer than prescribed, all would probably fall away. It is in this time that God uses His wrath to drive Israel back to Him out of His deep love for His people, but not all will respond to His wrath through repentance, some will be lost. Zechariah 13: 8-9 says that the time of tribulation will be so great two-thirds of Israel will be “cut-off” and one-third shall remain as His remnant. Verse nine of Zechariah 13 specifically says, “I will being the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, “This is My people’; and each one will say , “The LORD is my God.” This is the enemy’s scheme to stop God’s chosen people from receiving salvation. Jeremiah 16:16-17 says, “I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” Just as we have seen in the time of Hitler’s rule, some may point out the spirit of the antichrist within that his rule, but that only being a glimpse of what the Great Tribulation will actually look like. Satan will do whatever it takes to prevent Israel from welcoming Jesus as Messiah because He knows that Matthew 23:39 says, “you [the Jewish people] shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’” Jesus is bound by His and it’s Satan’s tactic to attack His Word and stop Israel from welcoming Jesus in. And if that means to kill, steal, and destroy than so be it.
Understanding the Israel Mandate becomes so urgent in consideration that our end goal as Gentiles, as Christians, as believers, as the Bride, is to hasten His second coming. For example, when we pray for revival, we don’t pray just so rain can come down and people can get saved, but we pray and intercede so that the Bride, who is the church, would be ready for the Bridegroom, who is Jesus in His second coming. When the character of Christ is reflected in the united Body of Christ, He will come and claim us as His own. This is the same intention that we ought to bear in praying for Israel to come into fullness, which is that we pray so that we could hasten His coming. We pray His Kingdom Come! In His desire to express His ultimate act of love, which is to establish the New Jerusalem, new heavens, and new earth in order that we could have intimate fellowship with Him for eternity, we must respond to His longing with longing, expressed through prayer and supplication.
We must carry the same burden God has for His people, Israel, to not forget that they are His people just as we have been called His people. Paul felt His heart; he was full of “great sorrow and unceasing anguish in [his] heart (Romans 1:1)” for his Jewish people. So we should ask that He impart His sorrow and jealous jealousy as Paul speaks of in Romans 1. If we do not confront our ignorance about Israel, the Bible says we are headed towards spiritual apostasy. In Romans 11:18-22, and 25, it says, “do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off…I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.” We must understand that the faith of the Gentiles is nothing without the faith and history of the Jews, and the faith of the Jews in this time will be nothing without the Gentiles. Israel is His planting, and we have been grafted in only by His mercy and grace by faith. If we are not concerned for Israel, in the hour of judgment, we will be judged as it says in Matthew 25:31-42,
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory (in the Millennial Kingdom). All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers (Jewish) of mine, you did for me (Jesus).'
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Those who chose to ignore God’s appeal and refuse to stand and contend for Israel during her darkest hour will do so at their own expense. They will be judged and will share in the same fate as unbelievers.
If we are to partner with God’s end-time plans we must pray for the Israel people in three basic ways: ask for the fullness of the Gentiles to come that the fullness of Israel be released, ask that the in the fullness of the Gentiles, the church would walk in unprecedented holiness to stir up jealousy in the hearts of the Jews, and that God would lift the scales off from the Israelite’s eyes. Take heart, there has never been a time before now that there has been an unprecedented amount of Jewish people saved. The end is near and Jesus is coming for His Bride!
