Copyright 2019 by H.D. Shively
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The Chosen People and their Right to the Holy Land
Some people question why the Jews are referred to as the “chosen people” and why they are entitled to the Holy Land of Israel.
The Jews are called chosen, because God chose their lineage to be the womb through which He would birth deliverance for the entire human race through the Messiah Jesus.
God says that He chose them because they were the least, or fewest of all people (Deuteronomy 7:6,7). He chose a small seed that He would nurture and multiply for His purposes. But most importantly of all, He chose them because out of all the peoples in the ancient world, they were the only race that knew there was only one God. All other nations at that time were polytheists, worshippers of multiple gods.
It was vitally important for the Jews to maintain their monotheism, to remain separate from the practices of the heathen nations around them, and be representatives of the One True God. The purpose again for their holy separation to God would be so that they could be a blessing to the pagan Gentile nations by birthing their redemption through the Messiah who was designated by God to be a “light of the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:1, 6). This is why God told Abraham that he would be a father of many nations (Genesis 17:4).
God promised the land that is now known as Israel to Abraham and his seed, (Genesis 12:7, 13:14, 15, 15:18, 17:8, 28:4), but it was contingent upon their obedience. The holy land was originally not holy. The land was inhabited in ancient days by tribes that were indulging in horrific atrocities including child sacrifice. These peoples were controlled by the demon gods they worshipped.
God commanded His people to eliminate these tribes for that reason and take their land. In a way, the land was compensation for eliminating God’s enemies. Archeologists have since discovered and confirmed the depravity of the brutal tribes God wanted to eradicate.
The Israelites took the land, but they did not completely eliminate the pagan tribes as they were commanded, and they eventually began to emulate some of those practices that God saw as abominations. This caused the Lord’s judgments to fall upon them after many repeated warnings through His prophets, which went unheeded. The Jews were removed from the land by Nebuchadnezzar and went into the Babylonian captivity for 70 years as prophesied by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:11).
This captivity cured their idolatry, and God promised to return them to their land (Jeremiah 29:14, 30:3) and give them an “everlasting covenant” (Ezekiel 16:60, Jeremiah 32:40) to replace the one that they had broken, the one He had given them in the days of their youth. This new covenant that was also prophesied by Jeremiah (31:33), would put the “law in their hearts.” Their sins would be forgiven, they would receive the Holy Spirit giving them a new relationship with God through faith in the death and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus. This is the New Covenant instigated by the Messiah through His sacrifice and resurrection.
In order for His miraculous birth to come about, there would have to be a return to the “nest” so to speak, and the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem would be fulfilled by Jesus (Micah 5:2).
The Jews, however, rejected Jesus as their Messiah and Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD, just as Jesus prophesied, because they did not know the “time of their visitation” (Luke 19:44).
The Jews were driven out of the land, but a remnant remained until this preset time.
God’s promises to Israel still stand, but again, their claim to the land is contingent upon obedience. They rejected the New Covenant and experienced a second dispersal.
However, in order for the end time prophecies to be fulfilled, God would permit Israel to be established again to bring about His final judgments on a world that has rejected Him and His plan for their redemption through Jesus. This time Israel would be a “burdensome stone for all people” (Zechariah 12:3), and will experience another captivity before Jesus’ second coming as prophesied in Zechariah 14.
Prior to Israel’s captivity and Jesus’ return, Israel would be given the chance to have the gospel preached on her own soil once again. For forty years before Jerusalem’s fall in 70AD, the gospel was preached there amid much persecution. This pattern is being repeated today. Israel is being given a second chance to receive her Messiah before the prophecies are fulfilled of her coming “great tribulation,” (Matthew 24:21, Daniel 12:1) referred to as the time of “Jacob’s trouble.”
When the dust settles and Jesus returns, those who have received Him will be given the land as prophesied in Ezekiel 47 and 48.
The current move to establish Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, rebuild the temple and reclaim her original boundaries is being instigated by the forces that are seeking to establish the prophesied totalitarian one world government foreseen by the prophet Daniel and the Apostle John (Daniel 7:7, 19,22, John 13:1-8).
The Jews are being used as pawns in the game of world domination.
The development of this system is inevitable. The Bible tells us that there is only one way to stop it. The solution is found in the ninth chapter of the book of Revelation. Unfortunately we are told that this remedy is something that the inhabitants of this world will refuse to do – repent - (Rev. 9:20, 21).
God will bring the required judgment upon all those who have violated the rights of others. The Jews have flagrantly violated God’s commandments regarding how they are to treat the Gentiles in their land (Exodus 22:21, Leviticus 19:34). When the Jews are finally restored, these commands are repeated: they are to share equally what they have been given with the Gentiles and treat them as equals (Ezekiel 47:22,23).
We also need to understand that the term “Abraham’s Seed” means in light of the New Covenant. In Jesus there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles, both are one in the Lord. The Gentiles who receive Jesus are now considered to be Abraham’s seed through Him. Therefore those to whom the land is promised, under the New Covenant, would also include believing Gentiles as well as believing Jews.
God tells us that we will reap what we have sown in this life. The brutality that has been inflicted by the Jews on others in their land and on others in the world will come back upon them as prophesied. Israel will be brought into another captivity before Jesus returns. God will use Israel’s enemies as His rod of correction, which has been His pattern in their past history. And when their chastening is complete, He will destroy their enemies and all those who “fought against Jerusalem” (Zechariah 14:12). Jerusalem is used in the scriptures to symbolize the Christians, who are also His people through their faith in Jesus. Those who have persecuted the Christian church will also not escape God’s wrath.
As Christians we need to recognize that Israel is out of God’s will at the moment, seeing her as “Sodom” and Egypt” (Rev. 11:8), and we need to do whatever we can to warn her and bring her back into God’s embrace by presenting her once again with the true Messiah she has rejected. Those who obey, are promised restoration in this life when Jesus returns, but more importantly, they are to receive a new Promised Land of eternal life that can only be seen like Abraham, with eyes of faith.