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The meat of the word, part 17

The current crisis in the Zionist state was not caused by the events of October 7, 2023, nor even what happened May 14, 1948. It goes much deeper. Other than Adam’s sin, which is the root cause of all sin thereafter, we can trace the problem to the church lacking an understanding of the difference between the two covenants.

Under the Old Covenant, Israel was given the land of Canaan as their inheritance. Abraham was the recipient of a New Covenant promise, even though, broadly speaking, he was living in Old Covenant times. So there is a strange mixture or convergence of the two covenants in Abraham, and these are, perhaps, best expressed in the difference between Abram and Abraham. Abram means “exalted father,” but Abraham has the Hebrew letter hey added to it in the middle. The hey is the breath of God and speaks of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

It was only after Abram’s name was changed to Abraham that the promised seed, Isaac, could be conceived. Isaac was born a year later on the day later known as Passover. Hence, Ishmael was the son of Abram, while Isaac was the son of Abraham. This points to the New Covenant teaching that one must be begotten of the Spirit in order to become a son of God. If you compare Galatians 3:7 with Galatians 3:26, it is clear that the true “sons of Abraham” are also the “sons of God.”

In other words, God does not recognize fleshly or biologically begotten men per se as being either the sons of Abraham or the sons of God. One must be begotten by the Spirit in order to be either. This is made clear in John 1:12, 13,

¹² But as many as received Him [Christ], to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, ¹³ who were born [begotten], not of blood(line), nor of the will of the flesh [human passion or desire], nor of the will of man, but of God [God’s will].

The Jewish claim to be the children of Abraham was rejected by Jesus Himself in John 8:37-44,

³⁷ “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. ³⁸ I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.” ³⁹ They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham… ⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me…” ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil…

Note how Jesus equated the fatherhood of Abraham to the fatherhood of God and how being a son of either Abraham or God is proven by one’s love of Jesus Christ and His word/gospel. Jesus acknowledged their physical descent from Abraham, and yet denied that their father was Abraham. We could say, in fact, that they were the children of Abram, comparable to spiritual Ishmaelites. Their mother was Hagar, not Sarah.

This was Paul’s teaching in Galatians 4:22-26, where Paul tells us that the earthly Jerusalem is Hagar the bondwoman who represents the Old Covenant. Those who adhere to the Old Covenant are Hagar’s children, spiritually called Ishmael and “those born according to the flesh” (Galatians 4:29).

Therefore, to say that Jews who do not believe in Jesus Christ are chosen because of their fleshly genealogy is a direct contradiction of Scripture. If we love the truth, we will believe what Jesus, John, and Paul all assert.

Failure to believe the plain word of truth has spawned Christian Zionism today, and it has caused Christians to support the Zionist state, even though that government is actively committing mass murder, genocide, and ethnic cleansing that Jesus abhors. Christian Zionism is rooted in an Old Covenant mindset.

Further, this Old Covenant mindset supports the notion that God supports the Jewish claim to the land of Palestine. Some Christian Zionists even join the Israeli army to support the genocide, thinking that the command to Joshua under the Old Covenant is still today the will of God. By not understanding the two covenants, these Christian soldiers are led to commit mass murder.

Abram was promised the land of Canaan, but Abraham sought a better country and a better city (heavenly Jerusalem). This is why Abraham lived as an alien in the land that he was promised under the Old Covenant. The fact is that Abraham was not a citizen of the land of Canaan, nor did he own any land other than a burial cave for Sarah. This is clearly taught in Hebrews 11:9, 10,

⁹ By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; ¹⁰ for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

So the author of Hebrews does not attribute his alien status to Canaanite resistance, but rather to show that Abraham saw beyond the promise of physical land to a greater purpose of God that would emerge through the New Covenant. Continuing, Hebrews 11:13, 14 says,

¹³ All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

Now note that this “country of their own” is not the land of Canaan. Why? Because the Israelites who were exiled to Assyria could never return to the old land. God’s promise to Israel meant that they would ultimately receive the New Covenant, which came with a better promise—that of the better country, which was something other than the old land. Hebrews 11:15 continues,

¹⁵ And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

Theoretically, if the promised land were the old land, these “lost tribes” might have had opportunity to return to it. After all, it was not so great a distance from “Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes” (2 Kings 17:6), where the Assyrians had settled them. But they did not return to the old land, because God intended for them to receive a better covenant with better promises, including a better land and a better city. Hebrews 11:16 says,

¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

“Therefore,” he says, on account of their desire for a better country through the New Covenant, “God is not ashamed to be called their God.” This infers that if the Israelites were to return to the old land in some form of Zionism, God would be ashamed to be called their God.

This is an absolute refutation of Zionism, which is the desire to return to the old land. The Zionist state itself is a repudiation of the New Covenant, for it is still rooted in the Old Covenant, which in turn is now obsolete, having been broken long ago by both Israel and Judah. Hebrews 8:17 says,

¹⁷ When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

Christian Zionists, then, show that their desire is NOT to attain the New Covenant promises of God to Abraham. Their adherence to the earthly Jerusalem, that is, the Old Covenant, makes them spiritual Ishmaelites.

The Old Covenant promises a physical land inheritance; the New Covenant promises “the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). We are made of the dust of the ground, and we are God’s land inheritance. The sons of God are given the promise of a glorified body, which is their heavenly country. This is the desire of overcomers who will receive this inheritance in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:6).

It is ultimately up to God to decide who will be part of that overcomer company, but I must question how a Christian Zionist can be an overcomer. He may perform miracles and may prophesy many things, but Jesus told us in Matthew 7:20-23,

²⁰ So then, you will know them by their fruits.

What fruits?

²¹ Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” ²³ And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

There are many ways to “practice lawlessness,” the most common being the repudiation of the law itself as the divine standard of righteousness. Will God write the law in the hearts of those who reject it? But more specifically here, the law prophesies of the New Covenant in its statements about circumcision of the ears and heart and in the law of Jubilee. Those who fail to take heed to the law when it points to the New Covenant are among those who are lawless.

Jesus made it clear that the ability to prophesy, cast out demons, and perform miracles are not the final criteria of an overcomer. I suggest that the “fruit” that Christ is looking for is the fruit of the Spirit that is derived from the New Covenant. The New Covenant is the foundation of our relationship with God. Apart from it, we have no lawful standing before God, regardless of our ability to perform miracles in the name of Jesus.

This is a hard word, of course, but it must be said as a warning to Christian Zionists. This is strong meat that is confirmed by the book of Hebrews, and we would do well to repent of any and all influence by Christian Zionism.