Is Modern Israel "God's Chosen People"? | Apologia Radio Highlight

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So it's just a really strange thing to say that evangelicals are like, I stand with Israel. Unequivocally, it's like, guys, they're sinful people.

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Well, what comes on the end of that typically is this next statement, which is, because they're God's people.

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Yes. And you hear things like that, and it just goes to show precisely what you landed on.

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Unequivocal support because they are God's chosen people. It's a theological commitment.

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That's right. Exactly right. And so we need to ask the question, is somebody who is physically descended today from Israel by blood, physically descended from Israel, who rejects the

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Christian message, rejects Jesus Christ as Messiah and Savior, hates the message of Jesus, spits on Christians in the streets of Israel, is that person

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God's chosen people? Are they truly Jewish?

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And look, it's an important question to ask because I, look, put it all on a table. You're not hearing from people who just always opposed this idea.

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Luke was raised in this. Zach was raised in this. My whole Christian education and Bible college education was right in line with that.

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Those are God's chosen people. God's chosen people, God's chosen people over there. And we're sort of like the stepchildren, you know, like, so that's

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God's chosen. And we're like this stepchild, like, you know, yeah, we get all these blessings and stuff, but they're really the apple of God's eye.

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I'd say a 65 has something to say about that. It sure does. It sure does. And so let's go to the

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Bible itself to ask the question, does the Bible give to us this idea that the modern evangelical has today in the

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West about the state of Israel today, the people in the land of Israel today? Does it give us the idea that we have been raised with in evangelicalism?

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And I want to say, no, no.

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And so I'll give you an example from an inspired apostle teaching exactly this.

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And we could do this over and over and over again. Verse 27 of Romans chapter 2, Paul's having a discussion about the uncircumcised and circumcised, who keeps the law, who doesn't keep the law.

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He says, then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision, but break the law.

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For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a

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Jew is one inwardly. And circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter.

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His praise is not for man, but from God. Can you get more explicit than that?

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Then the apostle Paul, a Jew himself, saying this isn't the real thing.

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This isn't where it's at outwardly, it's inwardly. And so the apostle Paul makes it explicit there is that you're not even truly

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Jewish because you are outwardly or physically Jewish. You have to be inwardly Jewish.

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It's a matter of the heart. And you could be Gentile, physical, physical

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Gentile, and you could have the spirit of God indwelling you and circumcision to the heart. And that's

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Paul saying, that's a true Jew, but he's not actually physically Jewish. No, but he's truly a child of Abraham.

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He's a descendant. That's true Israel right there. That's a true Jew. And so again, the challenge that I'm making is the typical evangelical in the

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West today that says, those are God's chosen people. I'm going to say they're

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God's chosen people who are spitting on Christians in the street. Guys, we can pull videos like this ad infinitum ad nauseam.

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I was just watching a video two weeks ago of a Christian missionary on the streets in Israel. And these

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Israeli boys were throwing rocks at her face at a woman for telling them about Jesus. So here's an example of what happens oftentimes in Israel today with Christians.

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They're spitting. It's a common theme with the Orthodox. They'll spit towards Christians. So it's not unusual.

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Here's another example of some ultra Orthodox Jews caught on camera spitting towards Christian pilgrims.

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See them spit here. Even the children. The children. Another one here.

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Here's some Israelis telling evangelical Christians at the Western Wall to go home. So another one.

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Inside the King of Kings congregation, an audience listened to a concert of Hebrew worship songs.

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But outside, something else was going on. 30 to 40 religious men had gathered, and they started harassing our people as they were trying to enter into worship, blowing whistles, trying to drown out the sound of worship.

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And that alerted the first wave of the SWAT team from the police that came out. The Messianic Jewish Alliance of Israel hosted the concert at the

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King of Kings community facility, one of the largest congregations in Jerusalem for Christians and Messianic Jews.

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Senior Pastor Chad Holland told CBN News a mob of protesters outside the facility's lobby attacked men, women, and children trying to attend the concert.

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They started by screaming, pushing. Several people were hit. Some were cut in the face. They broke glass.

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They damaged property. They were kicking. They were hitting. They were cornering people. They pushed several up against the wall.

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They pushed down several women as well. They threw water bottles. They spit on a lot of people. And in the end, they started spraying pepper spray.

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Nothing is being said here in any way whatsoever to have you thinking derogatory thoughts towards people in Israel today.

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This is to suggest that actually we should see those who are physically Israel today as not true

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Jews and needing to be true Jews, needing to come to the Jewish Messiah. What I'm saying is that we should see the state of Israel today as a mission field.

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We shouldn't be saying to you, you're the chosen people of God. You're good to go. We should be saying, no, nobody is a chosen person of God who rejects

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Jesus Christ as Savior. Because that's what they were relying on in the passage that you quoted, right? We have

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Abraham as our father. We have Abraham as our father. God can raise up from these stones heirs of Abraham.

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Oh, so rocks can be Jews. Rocks can be Jews. You see the point?

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I mean, how much of Scripture needs to be brought to bear on this before we're finally corrected as evangelical

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Christians in the West? Stop calling somebody who rejects with rabid hostility the message of Jesus.

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Stop calling them the chosen person of God. Stop doing it. Scripture doesn't do that.

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Paul explicitly says, outwardly, no, that's not what makes you a Jew. It's an inward thing.

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It's of the heart. And God can do that to Gentiles. God can do that to rocks. That is the message of the

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New Testament from Jewish people. Don't forget that. These are people who are physically Jewish who are saying, that's not what makes you

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Jewish. If you want to be a child of Abraham, he'll do it to rocks. Okay? He'll do it to rocks. He'll do it to Gentiles.

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There is a true Israel today, an Israel of God. It's comprised of both Jews and Gentiles.

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And so we have to ask the question, should we be calling somebody who's spitting on the gospel that is physically

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Jewish, should we be calling them the chosen person of God because they are physically descended from David?

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The New Testament doesn't do that. The New Testament opposes that perspective. And so I think there needs to be a correction in terms of like, well, we need to be thinking about the state of Israel today as a mission field, and Jesus is going to win them, of course,

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I believe in a complete conversion of the Jewish people to Christ, but in the state that they're at today, like Luke brings up in terms of the state of Israel and the homosexuality and the immorality and transgenderism and the evil and the spitting on Christians in the street and all that stuff, we need to think about it rightly and biblically and start saying, no, no, we just need to see them as the mission field and the

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Muslims and the Mormons and every other nation. That's what we need to be doing. And so more on this.

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Yes, please. Romans chapter two was where we just were. I encourage you all to please just go read that.

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Just read it in its context and Paul's whole discussion there about having the Torah, having the word of God, but not doing what it says.

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And there are people who actually aren't physically Jewish, but they do the things of the law. Sounds like Gentile Christians to me.

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And he's saying you're a Jew inwardly, not outwardly. But then you get into the further discussions of like Romans chapter nine, and that's verse six, a powerful section there, actually.

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And I'll read from verse one. He says, I'm speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the

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Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. I'm arguing for that for the state of Israel today.

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That, that's what I'm arguing for. That love, that sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart.

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I'm saying Christians should have that for the Jews because they don't know Jesus. That's, that's the point.

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And so he says, for I could wish that I myself were a curse and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, they are

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Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving the law, the worship and the promises to them belong the patriarchs.

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And from there, their race, according to the flesh is the Messiah who is God overall blessed forever.

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Amen. There's a deity of Christ right there. Romans nine, just a bonus. But it is not as though the word of God has failed for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.

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And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

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This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

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What, what are we doing? Striking clarity. What are we doing? Christians, what are we doing? When we say things like,

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I stand unequivocally because they're the chosen people of God. It's like Paul's arguing explicitly against that idea.

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He's arguing, yes, yes, physically descended to them. They were entrusted with the oracles of God.

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He says in Romans chapter three, they got, they were entrusted with God's own word. They're descended. And Jesus came from the

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Jewish people. He's the Jewish Messiah. But his whole point there is not all are

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Israel who are descended from Israel. So there's a true Israel, a spiritual

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Israel, the true Israel. And then there are those who are Israel physically, but not truly

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Israel. And that's Paul's whole argument. So when we start going, no, no, no, Paul, we'll throw that away and just say that those over there who reject

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Jesus as Messiah, they will not have him rule over them. They hate the message of Jesus.

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They are truly Israel. Paul explicitly argues against that idea. That's not true.

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You Gentile out there who is not descended from Israel physically, you are the true

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Jew. You are the descendant of Abraham. You are like for real, fully, completely, totally, truly

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Israel. You are the true Jew. That's the argument of the scriptures. You're like, well, wait a minute.

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I'm Gentile. I've got pagan parents and ancestors. Yeah. Isn't that amazing how God who you were once far off, Ephesians two, has brought you near, right?

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And you were once a stranger to the Commonwealth of Israel, right? And all these promises where you were outside of all of them, now

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God has brought you near and those covenants plural of the promise singular are now yours, but you're

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Gentile and not physically Jewish. That's the argument of the scriptures. That's where my mind is going to that passage.