What is a Jew?
By
Dene McGriff & Doug Krieger
I received an email today from a Messianic Jew who wrote, “You seem to indicate that the State of Israel born in 1948 is the Israel of old. I violently disagree… The people living over in a portion of Palestine called Israel are not remotely associated with spiritual Israel let alone physical, which is irrelevant according to Christ.” He pointed out that the religion practiced today called Judaism by those called Jews bears no resemblance to the Old Testament.
He calls our characterization of Israel a deception and a hoax.
The reason I bring this up is because there is a lot of confusion regarding this subject, not only among gentiles, but Messianic or “Christian” Jews. The idea is this: The only good Jew is a “saved” Jew; and many a Messianic Jew sees no room for anything else. Of course others believe in replacement theology which says that Jews have lost all of their promises and we Christians have inherited them. So let’s examine this subject.
A few years ago I was working in Bogotá, Colombia, on a managed competition health reform plan for the government with a Jewish physician named Peter. One evening we were eating out at a restaurant high up on the mountain with a beautiful view of the city below. We began talking about religion. Peter told me he wasn’t a practicing Jew but more of an agnostic at best. I asked him what he thought about being a Jew and he didn’t seem to care much.
I then asked him what happened to the Hittites, the Amorites, Amalekites and so forth – those ancient peoples of the Bible? He had no idea. I said, “Isn’t it interesting that Jacob goes into Egypt with a dozen sons and a few grandchildren and 400 years later, rather than being assimilated, a nation of millions emerges? Or isn’t it strange that the Jews are taken captive to Babylon and later go back to rebuild?
How
many empires have come and gone. Finally, you were scattered all over the
earth and somehow maintained your identity after another 1900 years; and, some
even found their way back to the Promised Land?” “Peter,” I said, “what are
you Jews if not a miracle?”
A wonderful concert
pianist came to play at a church I attended. He was a “Messianic Jew” from
Russia. He recounted his testimony as a boy growing up. He changed his
name. He didn’t believe in God or practice any religion. He just wanted to
blend in and be a
good Russian. Yet, the other kids teased him mercilessly because he was a
Jew. There was nothing he could do to fit in even though he desperately
wanted to. There was nothing he could do to shed his Jewish skin.
A few years later I was working in Buenos Aires on an HMO project with an Argentine physician named Mario. Mario was not only Jewish but he was the cantor of one of the largest synagogues in Buenos Aires. He had a voice like Pavarotti. One evening we were sitting in a crowded neighbor café/bar in the Recoleta, an upscale neighborhood near Evita’s crypt. It was about 6 p.m. and the bar was very crowded and noisy Friday evening—TGIF for all good Argentines.
We also talked about the miraculous fact that over thousands of years, they (the Jews) were still here. I asked him about the Passover and the need for sacrifice and what it was all about. I shared out of Isaiah 53 and the many verses referring to their Messiah:
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression [a]
and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken. [b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and
cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes [c]
his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life [d]
and be satisfied [e]
;
by his knowledge [f]
my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among
the great, [g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong, [h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
I then posed the question: “Couldn’t this man who bore the sins of many be the lamb of God, be Jesus your Messiah?” At this point he grabbed my two hands and with tears in his eyes, said, “I should be in the temple now but it doesn’t matter because we are in the presence of God. Yes, I believe Jesus is my Messiah.”
We prayed in that crowded bar. Over the next few weeks, I shared about the Two Witnesses being Israel and the Church (the two olive trees and the two lampstands) in the last days. He was so excited and took material to the head theologians at the large Jewish seminary in the capital. Buenos Aires has one of the largest Jewish communities outside of NYC and Israel—numbering into the hundreds of thousands. The rabbis were excited as well and gave me a standing invitation to come and speak.
So what is a Jew? Whether you define it in terms of a religion or a people, at the very least, they are a people that identify themselves as descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are the same people that God mentions in Genesis 6:18:
“But I will establish My covenant with you....”
This covenant was confirmed many times:
“Therefore
know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant
and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His
commandments” (Deuteronomy
7:9)
But early on God also saw—even though He would keep his part of the bargain—they would not; and there would be a price to pay.
1 “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God drives you, 2 and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.”
The fifth book of the Bible predicted the scattering of Jews throughout the earth as well as their gathering.
Were they chosen because they were such a good people? In no way! In Exodus, the second book of the Bible, the Jews are referred to as “stiff-necked people.” The Old Testament is full of criticism of the Jews. They are no more righteous than you or I. Colossians 1:21 says, “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.”
REJECTING THE JEW – REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY
Some
Christians (Philip
Mauro of
Preterist fame) think that since the Jews rejected Christ, they have lost
out; and we gentiles have inherited all of their promises (called “replacement
theology” or “supersessionism”)
since we Christians took the place of the Jews).
Christians somehow seem to forget that we were once sinners and enemies of God. What makes us better than a Jew or any man for that matter?
The apostle Paul anticipated this controversy in writing Romans 11 which we will quote here in its entirety because of its clarity and importance:
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. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do
you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against
Israel, saying, 3 “LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your
altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”?[a]
4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself
seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[b]
5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the
election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise
grace is no longer grace.[c]
But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer
work.
7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have
obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 Just as it is written:
“God has given them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear,
To this very day.”[d]
9 And David says:
“ Let their table become a snare and a trap,
A stumbling block and a recompense to them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see,
And bow down their back always.”[e]
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they
should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to
jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their fall is riches
for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their
fullness!
13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I
magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who
are my flesh and save some of them. 15 For if their being cast away is the
reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the
dead?
16 For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is
holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and
you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became
a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against
the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root,
but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”
20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by
faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural
branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and
severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness,[f]
if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And
they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is
able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree
which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated
olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted
into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has
happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so
all Israel will be saved,[g]
as it is written:
“ The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”[h]
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the
election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and
the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For as you were once disobedient to
God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these
also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may
obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might
have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
34 “ For who has known the mind of the LORD?
Or who has become His counselor?”[i]
35 “ Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”[j]
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory
forever. Amen.
This passage clearly shows the conflict—we Christians are warned not to be wise in our own opinion of ourselves… for as we were once disobedient and have obtained mercy, and so much more so for God’s own people. The blessing came through the Jews and we Christians had better be careful not to become too haughty, thinking a little too much of ourselves. God is not done with His people (the Jews) any more than He is done with us (the Christians) when we are arrogant and disobedient.
THE LAND OF ISRAEL – ESCHATOLOGY’S BATTLEFIELD
Yes, some Christians accept the notion that “all Israel” will some day be saved (Romans 11:26-27—begrudgingly giving the Jews “conversion rights”) but reject the literal regathering of the Jews in the latter days to their ancient homeland (i.e., Jews will be “converted” but National Israel and Israel proper is a bogus doctrine of eschatology). These Christians have a heyday in allegorizing the literal-grammatical interpretation of the Word of God to the extreme, giving it little or no credence and meaning.
People
like Philip Mauro and Steve Wohlberg, quoted here, wholly embrace Replacement
Theology, and claim:
“Does the modern Jewish nation now have an unconditional right to that land because God originally gave it to her ancient forefathers? Clearly in the Old Testament, when Israel disobeyed God, she lost her right to that land.” (Steve Wohlberg, The Promised Land, Part II)
Yet, Mauro and Wohlberg totally neglect verses like this in the Hebrew Scriptures:
“Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles, and the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, 'Go far from the Lord; this land has been given us as a possession.' Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord God, though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.'" Therefore say, "Thus says the Lord God, 'I shall gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I shall give you the land of Israel. When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it.’” (Ezekiel 11:14-18)
Frankly, the list of supportive Scriptures regarding Israel’s right to her land are endless—yet to these brethren, as exposed by Tom Ice in his article Modern Israel’s Right to the Land, who are relentless in their half-truths and allegorical and biased interpretations of the literal Word of God, there is no right for “Israel of the flesh” to their ancient homeland.
Thank God for people like Tom who know the prophetic truth and declare it with all boldness:
“All throughout the Old Testament God says that the land we know as Israel is for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or the Jews. Every Old Testament prophet, except Jonah, speaks of a permanent return to the Land of Israel by the Jews. Nowhere in the New Testament are these Old Testament promises ever changed or negated. In fact, they are reinforced by some New Testament passages. Walter Kaiser notes that "the writer of Hebrews (6:13, 17-18), . . . swore by Himself when He made the promise: to show how immutable His purpose was." Paul says of the promises to Israel: "for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom. 11:29). (Please view Tom’s footnotes in his article.)
“The only legitimate basis for the Jews to claim a right to the land of Israel comes from the Bible. In fact, if it were not for the biblical history of Israel who would even know to associate the Jewish people with the land of Israel? It is precisely because God associates the Jewish people with the land that He gave them-located in today's Middle East-that we could even have a movement today known as Zionism. (Zionism is the name most frequently used of anyone, Jew or Gentile, who desires the Jews to own the Land of Israel.) Detractors of Zionism must attempt to say that God's promise of the land of Israel to the Jews has somehow been invalidated. My how many have tried down though the years to prove just that! But God's Word speaks louder than their shrill voices combined.
“The case for Zionism rises or falls upon what the Bible teaches about Israel and the land of Israel. It is true that a just case for Israel can be presented upon many grounds, but ultimately it boils down to what does God think about this matter as communicated through His inerrant and authoritative Word—the Bible.” (Ibid. Modern Israel’s Right to the Land, Tom Ice).
Ice then goes on to scripturally substantiate his thesis:
Jer. 31:31-37; 32:37-40; Ezek. 11:17-21; 28:25-26; 34:11-16; 37:21-25; 39:25-29; Hosea 1:10-11; 3:4-5; Joel 3:17-21; Amos 9:11-15; Micah 4:4-7; Zeph. 3: 14-20; Zech. 8:4-8; 10:11-15; Zechariah 9-14; Isa. 10:20-30; Isaiah 11:11-12; Isaiah 11:11-12:6; Ezekiel 38-39 (presupposes Israel ingathering in the last days—see also Zephaniah 2:1-2 and Daniel 9:24-27) and many more – see Tom’s article of refutation on Replacement Theology (Modern Israel’s Right to the Land)
I draw attention to the “land issue” because this is the most annoying of the literal fulfillments that the Replacement Eschatologists have regarding Israel “of the flesh.” This rejection of her right to the land, even her regathering in unbelief, is the most troublesome element to both Gentile World Powers (currently) and to their theological allies who reject Israel’s claims to the land as unbiblical—which they are not!
What we are witnessing here is the ultimate Anti-Semitism in the modern form of Anti-Zionism—make no doubt about that. When the Lord declared that He would make Jerusalem a “cup of trembling to all the nations round about” (Zechariah 12:2) – He meant what He said and it is happening before our very eyes this day!
Israel’s salvation is ultimately guaranteed (Zechariah 12:10-14) and her restoration to her land is as well. The JEWS AND THEIR LAND ARE INSEPARABLE!
ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH
We have pointed out many times in our writings that the problem with our understanding of end time’s prophecy is that we tend to go to one extreme or another. We either write off Jews or take it all for ourselves or we rapture the Church and leave the last days to the Jews. The tribulation becomes a Jewish problem, not ours.
I think the Bible is clear that we are both His people and somehow we are called to witness, to testify in the last days. In Revelation 11, we are called the Two Witnesses: the two olive trees and the two lampstands. Clearly, in prophecy, the lampstand refers to the Church and the olive tree to Israel.
What does He call Israel above in Romans 11? An olive tree. What does he call the churches in Revelation 2 and 3? Lampstands. In the book of Revelation we see two groups of 144,000: Chapter 7 they are from the twelve tribes of Israel and in Chapter 14 they are those washed in the blood of the Lamb. In Revelation 12:17 we see that “those who keep the commandments of God (Israel) and have the testimony of Jesus” (the Church). In Revelation 15:3 you have those singing the song of Moses and the song of the lamb. And in Revelation 21, we see the blended city – the gates representing the twelve tribes of Israel and the foundations (the twelve Apostles of the Lamb) representing the Church. (Rev. 21:12, 14)
WE BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!
So what is a Jew? He is a miracle to have maintained his identity all these years. He is a miracle because in spite of his lack of faithfulness, God is faithful to keep His covenant. What is a Christian? He is also a miracle. He was rebellious, empty and evil – an enemy of God, but when he turned to God, his sins were forgiven, he was made clean and his spirit was made alive.
In
spite of our continued rebellion as Christians, He isn’t done with us. He
keeps working in us, talking to us, transforming us. God has two peoples and
He strongly desires to reveal Himself to the one (see
Romans 11:25-26 above). And those of us who have been grafted in are no
better than the original olive tree but we have been included in their
blessing.
God needs both groups to accomplish his purpose, especially in the last days as we see throughout the book of Revelation. In the end, the two groups are blended together in a city whose builder and maker is God—that’s why the wall of the Holy City is 144 cubits (12x12 – 12 Patriarchs x’s the 12 Apostles of the Lamb); and, that’s precisely why there are 24 Elders before the Throne (12+12=24 or the 12 Patriarchs of Israel and the 12 Apostles of the Lamb—see: Rev. 4:4, 10; 5:8; 11:16; 19:4—they are not the 24 courses of the Levitical priesthood)—they represent Israel and the Church).
Through these two peoples God accomplishes His purposes and puts to shame His enemy – Satan and those that have chosen to follow him. Somehow, these two witnesses stand and testify in the last days. I don’t know how we will be empowered but we will.
3 And I will give power to my two witnesses,
and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in
sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the
God[a]
of the earth.