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Israel & Christians Today

Biblical understanding about Israel

A New Covenant
By Rev. Willem J.J. Glashouwer
With whom have all covenants in the Bible been actually made? It might come us a shock to us Christians, but all covenants since Abraham have been made with Israel alone. There is not one covenant that has been made with the Church. Praise the Lord, however, one of the covenants made with Israel has also been opened to non-Jews who are allowed to become partakers with Israel. This is the new covenant.

Some theologians have told us that the old covenant has been made with Israel and that the new has been made with the Church. How remarkable, then, that Paul, speaking about Israel (his brothers after the flesh, the Jews) and summarizing all their blessings, says that “theirs are the covenants” (Rom. 9:4) – plural! Not just the (old) covenant, but the covenants, plural, indicating both the old and the new covenant, and some other covenants as well!

Where did he get this idea? From Jeremiah 31:31–34, where the prophet says:
“The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant [With whom? With the church? No!] with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt (the covenant of the Law), because they broke My covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
So the new covenant was to be made one day with Israel and Judah!
First the Jew, and then the Gentile
When was this new covenant made with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah made? Or does it still have to be made with the Jewish people, as some people think? Is this still “music of the future” for Israel?

Let us look at the Lord Jesus’ own words at the Last Supper: “He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after the supper, He took the cup, saying, “This cup is [what?] the New Covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:19-20). The Lord Jesus, a flesh and blood Jew, surrounded by his Jewish disciples, pointed to the signs of the new covenant. There was not a single Gentile in sight. At that moment, He was establishing the new covenant with Israel; His broken body and His poured-out blood were the signs of the new covenant, which spoke of redemption and forgiveness of the sins of the world, the sins of Jews and non-Jews alike.

It is important to note that everything up to this point had been a totally inner-Jewish affair. Later, at the Feast of Pentecost, only Jews and proselytes (non-Jews who had converted to Judaism and thus had become Jews) were present in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit was poured out (Acts 2:11). But what about us? When did we Gentiles come in? We had to wait until Acts 10. Then the Gentile Roman centurion, Cornelius, to the utter amazement of the circumcised believers and even to Peter himself, saw the Holy Spirit poured out upon the heathens (Acts 10:44-47). Upon Gentiles! Non-Jews! From that moment on, non-Jews were added to the new covenant, and the new covenant was opened up for them.

Later, Paul started to grasp what had happened there at the house of Cornelius, and since then, everywhere among the Gentiles, whenever the Gospel was preached, people received Jesus as their Lord and Savior. These people were like new branches being grafted onto the old root (Rom. 11:24), into the new covenant with Israel. They were cut off from their Gentile roots and grafted onto the new root. What a difference it would have made if Romans chapter 11 had been read carefully and preached in the Church.

We are engrafted. We are not at the core; rather, the Jews are. The Church had said, “The Jews must come to us. They have to convert to Jesus, and then they more or less lose their Jewishness. Then they become part of the Church and become Christians, just like all of us.” But the truth is just the opposite. They do not have to come to us, to the Church; instead, by the grace of God, we are added to them – into their new covenant – engrafted. Be careful, as Paul warns the Gentile Christian believers; you do not carry the root, but the root carries you (Rom. 11:18). By God’s grace, you Gentiles are permitted to share in their new covenant. Isn’t that wonderful?

So now, God is our Covenant God as well! We are engrafted into a new covenant. He will be faithful, despite our unfaithfulness! He is a God who elects. If He can be faithful toward a disobedient Israel and keep His promises to them, He can and will be faithful to His so-often disobedient Church and keep His promises to her as well. And He can be and will be faithful to an often disobedient “me”. There is hope for you and me! Despite our unfaithfulness and disobedience, He looks upon us in Jesus, whose broken body and spilled blood are the signs of the new covenant. The Lord even hardened and blinded 99 per cent of Israel, deciding to not yet give them revelation about Jesus, while letting us in first!

But someday in the future, God will do this for “all Israel” as well. He used the prophet Jeremiah to announce that the new covenant would be for the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Paul is clear that once God’s work of grace among the Gentiles has been completed. He will save “all Israel.” Then the Deliverer will come from Zion, and He Himself will turn ungodliness away from Jacob and take away their sins (Rom. 11:19-20). But He will continue to be with Israel, He will reattach the broken off, natural branches to the olive tree, because He is faithful to Himself and to His covenant(s).

Christian church, and Christian community, do not be arrogant, but fear! Be astounded at the grace of God toward you. Note that He will remember His grace and will never neglect His faithfulness with regard to Israel. For the Jewish people are coming home! Israel is reborn as a nation! And that means that the Savior is on his way! In his own way and in his own time, He will reveal Himself to His Jewish brothers.
Joseph
Let us look for a moment at the story of Joseph and his brothers. Before Joseph revealed himself to his brothers who had come to him in Egypt to ask for food because there was a famine in Israel, and who had not recognized Joseph as their brother, he did a remarkable thing. He sent the Egyptians, the non-Jews, the Gentiles, out of the room. This was none of their business (Gen. 45:1). And only after they had left did Joseph descend from his throne and say, “I am Joseph! It is really me!” (Gen. 45:3). To me this is a beautiful illustration of how Jesus will finally be recognized by His Jewish brothers and sisters.

Until that moment, Joseph’s brothers had not recognized him. He spoke in a foreign Egyptian tongue, not Hebrew, even as the New Testament is written in Greek and not in Hebrew. He did not look like a Jew; his clothes and hair were those of an Egyptian noble just as Jesus is often portrayed in many paintings as anything but Jewish. In fact, He sometimes looks more like a Greek Apollo than a Jew! The Egyptians may even have adored Joseph as a god in their temples. Why? Joseph was elevated to such a high position that he was probably considered one of Pharaoh’s sons (Gen. 41:39-45). The Pharaoh was considered to be the sun god and was worshipped as a god by the Egyptians. Accordingly, his sons were sometimes considered to be rays of that blazing sun god. The entire family had at least a touch of divinity about them. Similarly, Jesus is worshipped as God by many in the Christian churches and is adored and prayed to by many at statues in different churches (temples) all over the world, which is abhorrent to Jews!

How often through the centuries has the Church misrepresented Jesus to the Jews. Sometimes, Jews are convinced that we, like the Egyptians, have more than one god – the Father is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; and some of us also seem to have a goddess by the name of Mary, because some Christians pray to her too. But the time will come when Israel will see who Jesus really is, similar to the story of Joseph. His brothers did not recognize him as their brother when he was all-powerful among the Gentiles, and that situation lingered on until Joseph decided to make himself know to his brothers.

Then Joseph said a peculiar thing to the Egyptians. “Could you please leave the room for a minute.” This is between me and my brothers.” And after they had left the room, he came down from his throne and said, “I am Joseph, your brother. It is really me. And it has been me all the time.” At that point, they probably embraced each other and perhaps shed some tears.

One day, Jesus will reveal Himself to the Jews, and they will hug and shed some tears, just like the brothers of Joseph did (Gen. 45:2). In His time and in His own way, God will do it: “I will come to give rest to Israel” (Jer. 31:2b). What a great time of reconciliation that will be – between Him and His brothers! No Gentiles will be involved in that moment. This is clear from God’s repeated “I wills” in Jeremiah 31:31–35 (quoted by Paul in Romans 11:26–27): I will …, I will …, I will …,” says the sovereign Lord. He will come from Zion and take away their sins. He Himself will do so for the last generation of Israel, for the remnant who will have returned to the land of Israel.