In part 2, we discussed the Christian Zionists’ claim that the Old Testament must be interpreted as though Christ had never come, and Christianity had never been established. We showed that Jesus and His disciples interpreted the Old Testament Scriptures through the lens of Christianity. Our brief survey of the book of Acts showed that the apostles generally went first to the synagogues and preached Christ out of the Hebrew Scriptures. There is no other biblically faithful way for a Christian to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures except in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In this episode, we will explore the Christian Zionist claim that carnal Israel persists, and is not superseded by spiritual Israel, the Christian Church.
We will begin with John the Baptist. When some of the Jewish religious leaders came to see what John was doing, he made it clear to them they had better repent and demonstrate the fruits of repentance, and that they could not fall back on their ancestry:
“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Mat. 3:7-10.
John anticipated that the Jewish religious leaders would bring up their Abrahamic ancestry, but how much was that worth? Nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. God could turn the rocks into descendants of Abraham—if He wanted more carnal descendants of Abraham, which He doesn’t. God wants more spiritual descendants of Abraham, those who demonstrate Abraham’s faith. (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:1-22; Gal. 3:6-9; Heb. 11:8-10, 17-19). For John the Baptist, carnal Israel, the Israel of DNA and ancestry.com, was worthless, worth no more than the pebbles and rocks you can pick up along a path.
What would have value in the coming days was an individual decision for Jesus Christ. If these Pharisees and Sadducees did not make that decision for Christ, they would be cut down and thrown into the fire, just like a tree that does not produce fruit. “The ax is already at the root of the trees”; the utter destruction of Jerusalem and the temple—and the death or enslavement of a million Jews—were but 44 years away. What was going to matter for the Jewish religious leaders, as for all the other Jews in the coming years, was conversion to Jesus Christ. Those who discipled themselves to Christ escaped the destruction of 70 AD, as well as the coming lake of fire.
There is a parallel passage in Luke 3 that also records John’s statement that God could make descendants of Abraham out of the rocks on the ground. Importantly, both Matthew and Luke are careful to point out that John’s ministry was preparing the way for Jesus, and thus fulfilling what Isaiah prophesied in chapter 40, verses 3-5:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
Yet another nail in the coffin for so-called “Christians” who would try to interpret the Old Testament without reference to Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself tried to make the Jews see that what mattered was faith and obedience, not ancestry. John chapter 8 records a jarring confrontation between Jesus and some Jews “who believed him.” Or at least they said they believed in him. But the subsequent conversation indicates otherwise. Jesus tells them that the truth they will find in Him will set them free. But they object that, as children of Abraham, they are already free:
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” John 8:31-33
Jesus responds by clarifying that he is speaking about slavery to sin, and that only He can bring freedom from that:
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34-36
And then this happened:
I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”
“Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.” John 8:37-41.
Huh, oh. That escalated quickly. But Jesus could read people’s thoughts, so He knew that this group of Jews were only pretending to be His followers, while looking for a way to trip Him up and bring about His judicial murder.
Jesus has a warning for them: Being a descendant of Abraham causes you to lean on something you think has value or is important, instead of making the spiritual decisions and commitments that really do have value and are important. You think you are protected or privileged because you are a descendant of Abraham, but your spiritual father is Satan, and you are doing Satan’s will in trying to kill me. Being a physical descendant of Abraham, because of the false sense of security it entails, does far more harm than good. It is a trap. You think you are safe as a physical son of Abraham when you are in fact a spiritual child of the Devil!
John the Baptist taught that being a physical descendant of Abraham was as worthless as a pile of rocks; Jesus taught that being a physical descendant of Abraham was worse than worthless, because faith in the flesh precludes saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Anyone who puts his faith in carnal Israel, in being a physical descendant of Abraham, is lost eternally. Salvation by faith in Christ—and that is the only salvation there is (John 3:16; 14:6; Acts 4:12; Rom. 10:9) —means putting away faith in the flesh or in the rituals of the flesh:
“Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.” Phil. 3:2-3
“If you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no use to you at all!” Gal. 5:2.
The early Christians Paul was addressing about circumcision, who were called “Judaizers,” were hedging their bets; they were building a syncretistic Christianity in which faith in Christ is supplemented by faith in Judaism and its rites. Paul nipped that in the bud with his stark warning against circumcision, and other things (Col. 2:16).
Yet today we find the “Christian Zionists” constructing their own syncretistic religion, blending elements of Christianity and Judaism, searching for a perfect red heifer to sacrifice and inaugurate the resumption of the temple sacrifices. But, to paraphrase Paul, if you let yourselves search for a red heifer, Christ will be of no use to you at all.
In one of the most poignant passages in all Scripture, Paul says this about confidence in carnal Israel:
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God through faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Phil. 3:4-11
Those fleshly qualifications that seemed so important to Paul before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus—of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the eighth day, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee—he now views as what? Garbage! Trash! None of it matters at all! None of it has any importance next to being found in Jesus Christ.
And as Paul was at pains to make clear in many passages, carnal Israel never mattered. It was not Abraham’s genes that mattered:
“Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.” (Rom. 9:7-8)
The promised one, the Messiah, is Jesus Christ (John 1:41; 4:25-26; 11:27; Luke 2:11; Mark 14:61-62; Mat. 16:16). Christ’s children are children of the promise. They, and they alone, are Israel.