Emile, Anyone who would deny the truth of your post about the land of Israel belonging to Christ is sadly trying to fulfill a prophesy of error about escatology of the Second Coming. Secondly, they are also looking for an event that has already transpired.
"Who is a true Jew? Is it ethnic background that makes you a Jew? NO! Many people today still consider the Jewish people as a race but there is no Jewish race today. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the nation of Israel, after the flesh, was scattered throughout the earth, and lost all tribal relations. This scattering was made immutable due to the fact that all tribal genealogical records were destroyed with the Temple in A.D. 70. The simple fact is that there is no existing Jewish race. Consider the following quotation from
The Encyclopedia Britannica (1973)
The Jews As A Race: The findings of physical anthropology show that, contrary to the popular view, there is no Jewish race. Anthropornetric measurements of Jewish groups in many parts of the world indicate that they differ greatly from one another with respect to all the important physical characteristics." (vol. 12, page 1054)
If you are in Christ, then you are a true spiritual Jew. In 1 Peter 1:1 and James 1:1, the designation "the dispersion" is used for the Church. It is a technical term for Israel.
1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV) But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Who is Peter writing to? The Church, believers. All of these terms are taken right out of the Old Testament, they were technical designations for the covenant people, Israel. Peter is saying, "You believers are the covenant people of God."
Revelation 1:6 (NKJV) and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Who is the "us"? It is believers, all believers. That phrase comes from Exodus 19:6 and it is used when God, on Mount Sinai, constituted Israel as His theocratic community. The terms which God gave to Israel are now applied to us, that's why Paul says that we are the true circumcision.
Are we redefining what constitutes a Jew? No, Paul did!
Romans 2:28-29 (NKJV) For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Being a Jew has nothing to do with ethnic background, it has to do with being in a covenant relationship with God by faith.
Zionism -- is a political movement built on the belief that the Jewish people deserve, by right, to possess the land of Palestine as their own. Do they? No! Modern unbelieving Jews have absolutely no theological, and therefore, no historical and legal right to the land of Palestine. There are no racial Jews today, and those who hold to the Jewish religion are anti Christ.
Christian Zionism is blasphemy. Christians have no theological stake whatsoever in the modern State of Israel. Religious Israelites are anti-God because they are anti-Christ. Judaism is a cult, and unless they turn to Christ, they will spend eternity in the Lake of fire. Look at what John wrote about the Christ rejecting Jews of his day.
Revelation 2:9 (NKJV) "I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Jesus said that an unbelieving Jew was of the synagogue of Satan. A true Jew, a true Israelite is one who has trusted in Jesus Christ and has been circumcised in heart.
Those who are the Israelites of God's prophetic purpose are not those who are Jews ethnically or outwardly. But those who are the Israelites of God's prophetic purpose are those who are Jews spiritually and inwardly.
Galatians 6:14-16 (NKJV) But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
We, believers, are the Israel of God by faith in Jesus Christ.
The church is not a temporary interruption in God's prophetic program for Israel. The church is the prophetic fulfillment of that program, because the church is Israel. Covenant, not race, has always been the defining mark of the true Israel of God.
Philippians 3:3, in context, is teaching that fleshly accomplishments don't matter to God, race doesn't matter to God. The true circumcision, the true Jew, the true Israel of God are those who trust completely and only in Jesus Christ. The true believer worships by the Spirit of God, rejoices in Christ Jesus, and has no confidence in the flesh."
This message preached by David B. Curtis on March 28, 1999.
Santiago
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