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“Israel is God’s Chosen People”
An article By David Heesen
©2011 David Heesen
Used By Permission
“Israel is God’s chosen people.” This was brought to my attention when I was listening to Max Mac-Lean’s recording of Jonathan Edward’s famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” In the first paragraph of the sermon is the phrase “who were God’s visible people.” MacLean reads it “who were God’s chosen people.”
Immediately it was brought to my mind that this is a phrase I’ve heard all my life, from people of both Calvinistic and Arminian persuasion. The word “visible” is so much more instructive than “chosen” here, that I wonder why someone decided to change the wording. People, including those who are adamantly opposed to the doctrine
of God’s divine election, rattle off that phrase all the time, with seemingly no qualms about it. I ask, “if God having Israel as His chosen people” is okay, then why can’t He have Christians as His chosen people? It just bugs me that people are so selective in what parts of the Bible they want to believe, and so hypocritical in freely referring to Israel
as “God’s chosen people,” but choking on the notion that Christians may be His chosen people as well.
If Dispensationalism has done damage to Biblical theology anywhere, it is in the fragmenting of God’s plan. “The church is not spiritual Israel,” they say, ignoring the multitude of Old Testament prophecies that refer to Israel, and yet in the New Testament are fulfilled by the church! Oh, the blessed unity of God’s plan! A study of these
prophecies would be a great way to cure us of our Dispensational ways. Here’s a website (www.
dawntoduskpublications.com that seems to explain things pretty well:
"In spite of Peter’s assertion that the events taking place in the days
following Jesus’ death and resurrection were prophesied by “all the
prophets,” early expositors could not find any Old Testament prophecies
that could be said to point plainly to the entity we know as “the
church.” The Old Testament is replete with prophecies about Israel
and the nations, with the future ideal age under the prophesied “seed of
blessing,” the Messianic Son of David, serving as the focal point.
But no hint is given of a switch of God’s focus from Israel to a new
institution under Gentile control. Making life more difficult for such
early interpreters, Paul and other New Testament writers often
quoted such Old Testament prophecies about the future of Israel and of
the nations in their discussions about the phenomenon and purpose
of the church that began on the day of Pentecost in 31 AD.
Then the light went on. Augustine found the solution—from the very
beginning, God’s real object of affection was to be the congregation
of saints who would make up the church through their adoration of
Jesus Christ. The calling and election of Abraham and his descendants,
the people of Israel, had as its real purpose the role of acting as a
shadow, a pantomime, of the true people of God—the spiritual seed of
Abraham, the body of Jesus’ disciples. When Jesus died on Calvary
hill, the raison d’etre of Abraham’s physical descendants ceased forever.
They had served their purpose of foreshadowing God’s true people
and were to be forever relegated to the back room in the museum of
salvation. Old Testament prophecies about Israel’s future role as
God’s heralds and ministers of salvation had to be totally reinterpreted
as foretelling divine activity through the church as intermediary.
The Old Testament Messiah was not to be viewed as a future king ruling on
earth but as the resurrected and glorified Jesus Christ ruling over the
nations comprising the church. The church replaced Israel as the
object of God’s affection and became the new, true Israel. Israel
(Judaism) today can be defined as those who give credence to the God of the O.T. and yet do
not believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. And yet Jesus said, “My
sheep know my voice, and follow me.”
I remember asking a close acquaintance of mine about prophecy. She told me that the Jews would inherit the (new) earth, and that Christians would inherit heaven. I offer this info to demonstrate how much confusion there is and has been over the years concerning prophecy. One has only to read the book of Hebrews to discover the shadow/
substance relationship between O.T. Israel and N.T. church. God has, and has always had, one plan or purpose of the ages, not two. God has, and has always had, one plan or purpose of the ages, not two.
An article By David Heesen
©2011 David Heesen
Used By Permission
“Israel is God’s chosen people.” This was brought to my attention when I was listening to Max Mac-Lean’s recording of Jonathan Edward’s famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” In the first paragraph of the sermon is the phrase “who were God’s visible people.” MacLean reads it “who were God’s chosen people.”
Immediately it was brought to my mind that this is a phrase I’ve heard all my life, from people of both Calvinistic and Arminian persuasion. The word “visible” is so much more instructive than “chosen” here, that I wonder why someone decided to change the wording. People, including those who are adamantly opposed to the doctrine
of God’s divine election, rattle off that phrase all the time, with seemingly no qualms about it. I ask, “if God having Israel as His chosen people” is okay, then why can’t He have Christians as His chosen people? It just bugs me that people are so selective in what parts of the Bible they want to believe, and so hypocritical in freely referring to Israel
as “God’s chosen people,” but choking on the notion that Christians may be His chosen people as well.
If Dispensationalism has done damage to Biblical theology anywhere, it is in the fragmenting of God’s plan. “The church is not spiritual Israel,” they say, ignoring the multitude of Old Testament prophecies that refer to Israel, and yet in the New Testament are fulfilled by the church! Oh, the blessed unity of God’s plan! A study of these
prophecies would be a great way to cure us of our Dispensational ways. Here’s a website (www.
dawntoduskpublications.com that seems to explain things pretty well:
"In spite of Peter’s assertion that the events taking place in the days
following Jesus’ death and resurrection were prophesied by “all the
prophets,” early expositors could not find any Old Testament prophecies
that could be said to point plainly to the entity we know as “the
church.” The Old Testament is replete with prophecies about Israel
and the nations, with the future ideal age under the prophesied “seed of
blessing,” the Messianic Son of David, serving as the focal point.
But no hint is given of a switch of God’s focus from Israel to a new
institution under Gentile control. Making life more difficult for such
early interpreters, Paul and other New Testament writers often
quoted such Old Testament prophecies about the future of Israel and of
the nations in their discussions about the phenomenon and purpose
of the church that began on the day of Pentecost in 31 AD.
Then the light went on. Augustine found the solution—from the very
beginning, God’s real object of affection was to be the congregation
of saints who would make up the church through their adoration of
Jesus Christ. The calling and election of Abraham and his descendants,
the people of Israel, had as its real purpose the role of acting as a
shadow, a pantomime, of the true people of God—the spiritual seed of
Abraham, the body of Jesus’ disciples. When Jesus died on Calvary
hill, the raison d’etre of Abraham’s physical descendants ceased forever.
They had served their purpose of foreshadowing God’s true people
and were to be forever relegated to the back room in the museum of
salvation. Old Testament prophecies about Israel’s future role as
God’s heralds and ministers of salvation had to be totally reinterpreted
as foretelling divine activity through the church as intermediary.
The Old Testament Messiah was not to be viewed as a future king ruling on
earth but as the resurrected and glorified Jesus Christ ruling over the
nations comprising the church. The church replaced Israel as the
object of God’s affection and became the new, true Israel. Israel
(Judaism) today can be defined as those who give credence to the God of the O.T. and yet do
not believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. And yet Jesus said, “My
sheep know my voice, and follow me.”
I remember asking a close acquaintance of mine about prophecy. She told me that the Jews would inherit the (new) earth, and that Christians would inherit heaven. I offer this info to demonstrate how much confusion there is and has been over the years concerning prophecy. One has only to read the book of Hebrews to discover the shadow/
substance relationship between O.T. Israel and N.T. church. God has, and has always had, one plan or purpose of the ages, not two. God has, and has always had, one plan or purpose of the ages, not two.
