FIVE KEYS TO IDENTIFY ISRAEL
by Pastor Jory Steven Brooks
We often read articles concerning the Jewish people which
proclaim that the Israeli state is the fulfillment of the
Abrahamic Covenant. Yet that covenant included many provisions
which are all important, and opponents of the British-Israel
belief have long ignored the "meat" of the Abrahamic Promises.
We read several of these in Genesis 17:3-7, "And Abram fell on
his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my
covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many
nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy
name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made
thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make
nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will
establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee
in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God
unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."
It is easy to understand why such important provisions are
ignored by those who insist that the Jewish people and nation
constitute all of Israel today. In just five verses we have been
given five keys to the identification of Israel, and not a single
one of them is found in the Israeli state. Since the Abrahamic
Covenant is unconditional, we should see all five of these
identifications today in the people who have inherited the
promises.
MANY NATIONS
Our opponents really struggle to come up with an answer as to how
this has been ful filled entirely in one nation, the Jewish
state. One Messianic Jewish scholar, Dr.David Rudolph, believes
that the Christian Church is the "many nations" that were to be
given to Abraham. He states, "the 'commonwealth of Israel' (the
Church) may be the unfolding of God's promise to Israel in
Genesis 35:11, 'A nation and a company of nations shall come from
you'." We thus have a picture of a physical political state,
Jewish Israeli, supposedly joined with a religious system, the
Christian Church, as a Divine fulfillment. But the joining of
Christians and unbelievers is not the covenant that God had in
mind! (see 2 Cor.6:14) Is the Israeli state in any way joined or
connected to belief in Christ? This kind of thinking shows the
drastic - and even ridiculous measures some will take to oppose
our Biblical teaching!
Another opponent is the well-known author of "cult" books, Dr.
Walter L. Martin. He in turn flatly contradicts Dr.Rudolph,
saying, "These 'nations' (goyim) in this prophecy about Ephraim,
are Israelite nations,' NOT Gentile nations (goyim)." He points
out that the Hebrew word, 'goyim,' can be used of either
Israelites or Gentiles - but that in the case of the
Abrahamic Covenant it is always limited to Israelites. This is a
lot more defensible so far. Dr.Martin, however, goes a step
further: "So, when Jacob prophesied that Ephraim would become a
'multitude of nations' (Genesis 48.19), he meant Ephraim would
become a leader of Israelite nations that would develop in
Palestine and in Galilee. Indeed, this very prophecy was
fulfilled in history." It may be news to you that supposedly a
dozen Israelite nations all existed at one time crowded within
the little land of Canaan - especially since neither the Bible
nor history support any such idea!
Dr.Martin explains, "Before the people of Israel became one
nation under King Saul (their first king), they are shown in the
Scriptures to be disunited tribes that could be called small
nations." His argument here is that the ten tribes were really
nations without kings and that this was a temporary situation for
a short period during the time of the judges. Yet the prophecy in
Genesis 49:1 says that the promises would be fulfilled in "the
latter days," a period we call the Church Age, which Christian
scholars point out extends from Christ's first coming until his
second coming. The time of the Judges was NOT the "latter days"
of prophecy. Secondly, the tribes of Israel were not each ruled
by separate kings as the prophecy mandates. Thirdly, the
Abrahamic Covenant was unconditional and eternal, not limited to
only a few years of Israel's earliest history. Did the Abrahamic
Covenant come to an end before the time of Saul, David, and
Solomon? If not, why is there no Jewish "company of nations"
today? Such nonsense is so unScriptural as to border on heresy!
If Dr.Martin was correct in his argument, think of the irony and
insult to the Patriarchs Abraham and Jacob, who were led to
believe by God several times (Gen.15:8; 17:6; 35:11) that their
descendants would be a company of great and powerful nations, but
instead the fulfillment was only limited to a group of early Old
Testament tribes harassed by all of their neighbors! Even more
unkind and heartless, these supposedly unconditional Abrahamic
promises, we're told, were very brief and came to an early end
with the tribes (nations?) uniting under King Saul. If so, what a
cruel and merciless trick played by God! Or is this doctrine
instead a cruel and hardhearted trick played by Dr.Martin and his
dispensationalist friends?
ABRAHAM'S NEW NAME
God blessed Abram whose name meant "father of a multitude" - with
a new significant name: Abraham, meaning "father of many
nations." Bible commentaries tell us that a bestowal of blessings
was marked by a change of name. We see this also in Sarai, whose
name was changed to Sarah, meaning "princess" (Gen.17:15). This
was a title of royalty, and indicates that she would be the
mother of nations. Another example was Jacob, whose name was
changed to "Israel" (Gen.35:10).
If the Abrahamic Covenant was a temporary, short-term
arrangement, as some seem to believe, then perhaps they think
Abraham's name should be changed back to Abram, denoting the loss
of nations that our opponents teaching proclaims?
EXCEEDING FRUITFUL
Not only were Abraham's descendants promised great and wonderful
material blessings, but Spiritual blessings are also indicated in
this covenant promise. The Abrahamic birthright blessing went to
Joseph, and continued with his sons Ephraim and Manasseh and
their descendants. The Hebrew name, Ephraim, means "fruitful" or
"doubly fruitful." What nations and peoples in our world today
have been blessed with great material blessings of fruitful lands
and crops, as well as Spiritual blessings of faith in the Messiah
of Israel, Jesus Christ?
Israel was to take the Gospel throughout the whole world: "I will
also give thee for a light to the nations, that thou mayest be my
salvation unto the end of the earth" (Isa.49:6). What people
have, and are, doing that?
For many centuries until 1948, the Jewish people did not have
even one nation, and still have no king. In years of reading
religious journals, I have not seen a single article address this
key provision of the Abrahamic Covenant. It cannot be millennial,
for that will only consist of one covenant kingdom nation, not
many. This too is a major key to the identification of the modern
House of Israel.
A GOD UNTO THEE
The unconditional covenant given to Abraham specified that a
believing arrangement would exist between Israel and their God.
Yet many Christians today imagine that Israel, the covenant
servant nation, was supposed to reject their Messiah in the
Divine plan and purpose. Such is not the case. We read for
example in Jeremiah 3:14-15, "I will take you one of a city, and
two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give
you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with
knowledge and understanding." See also Isaiah 42:6; 60:1-4;
61:6-7.
GOD'S KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING
The greatest weapon in our opponent's arsenal is Christendom's
lack of time spent in Bible reading and study. Years of seeing
articles and books critical of the British-Israel belief have
shown me time and again the utter baselessness, and even
absurdity, of their arguments. In this article we have "turned
the tables" on the critics. Feel free to share this information
with anyone you know who has been misled by the "anti-B.I."
crowd.
............
Steven Brooks writes for www.associationcovenantpeople.org
............
Note:
The main reason "minister" do not want you to accept the truth of
whom are the Israel nations of today, is one simple fact: if they
admit it they must admit that most, if not all, of their
"Christian customs" (like Easter and Christmas and Sunday) are
not Christian, and we as people should be observing the weekly
Sabbath and annual Festivals of Leviticus 23, as the Feasts of
the Lord given to Israel FOREVER. And this is where the majority
of "British-Israel" groups miss the mark, for they continue to
observe the pagan feast days adopted by the Roman Catholic church
and branded as "New Covenant feasts" - nothing could be further
from the truth.
Keith Hunt
|
