The Word in Focus with Dr Larry Taylor

Distorted by dispensationalism, nationalism, triumphalism, neo-Pentecostalism, fundamentalism, and prosperity teachings, the level of misunderstanding concerning God, Jesus, Israel, and the Church has reached epic levels in the United States.

Ancient Israel

The covenantal promises made by YHWH to Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob revealed to the world who and what the true creator God is. Through ancient Israel, God became known. God promised that through Abraham, all nations, all people-groups, would be blessed. 

Ancient Israel, however, did not keep God’s covenant, and as a result wound up suffering in exile. A remnant remained faithful and repatriated the land. That remnant, however, was not without sin, and therefore was unable to atone for all.

Jesus

Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. Jesus and all of his original followers were Jewish.  Antisemitism is an abomination to anyone claiming to follow Jesus. 

Jesus lived a sinless life, keeping the covenant perfectly, and thus became a remnant of one. He embodied faithful Israel, the righteous, suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

As the embodiment of the faithful remnant, Jesus absorbed all sin in himself on the cross, endured exile (three days forsaken by God in the grave), and experienced a restoration (resurrection).

Jesus was resurrected to life as the foundation of a new Israel, inheriting the promises of God afresh. Jesus fulfilled every promise God made to ancient Israel (For in him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” [2 Cor. 1:20a]). Jesus himself is the true Israel. 

The Church

Jesus’ mission was, and is, to establish a new kingdom, a new nation, a new order called the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. That new kingdom is here on earth. The focus of the New Testament is not on people flying off to heaven after they die. The focus of the New Testament is heaven coming to earth. Earth restored. Earth a new Eden. God coming to us. Emmanuel.

Everyone everywhere is invited to be a part of this kingdom. Entrance requires willing submission to King Jesus. Those who submit to Jesus and by the power of his Spirit seek to live in accordance with his teachings are the church.

In Greek, the ecclesia of God is not an institution, denomination, or organization of any kind. The ecclesia is people; specifically, people living in accordance with the principles and teachings of the Kingdom of God. Those principles and teachings are found in the four gospel narratives. They are the words of Jesus. Jesus’ foundational teaching is contained in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.

The collection of kingdom-minded people is the new Israel. It consists of Jews and Gentiles, people of all nationalities, genders, languages, ethnicities, ages, abilities, and customs. The Kingdom of God is multicultural, multilinguistic, multinational, and open to everyone. The purpose of the church, the ecclesia, the new Israel, is to bless everyone else by practicing nonjudgemental, other-oriented, self-sacrificial, cruciform love. Kingdom people serve others, care for the marginalized, promote peace and justice, and eschew violence. Kingdom people live by the Sermon on the Mount.

Modern Israel

The modern state of Israel was formed by UN mandate after World War II as a direct result of the holocaust. After six-million Jews were slaughtered, it was obvious to many that those remaining needed a safe place to live, a homeland. The Middle East had already been carved up by Great Britain and France after World War I out of what had been the Ottoman Empire. 

Problems that have so far gone unresolved emerged immediately. Basically, there are now two groups of people claiming the right to the same piece of real estate. Israeli Jews do so based on it being their ancestral homeland. Palestinians do so based on having lived there for many centuries. Radical elements in both groups are unwilling to compromise with a two-state solution. Radical Israelis want all the Palestinians to go somewhere else and for the entire area (“from the river to the sea”) to be the state of Israel. Radical Palestinians want all the Jews to go away and for the entire area to be the state of Palestine. This seems to be an insurmountable political standoff. It has serious real-world consequences for millions of people.

It has nothing to do with the Bible, God’s plan, the Kingdom of God, or prophecy. God deeply loves and cares for Israelis and Palestinians. God is on the side of the oppressed. God abhors the killing on both sides. As a follower of Jesus, I love my Jewish and Palestinian friends and neighbors, and I know that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians support a two-state solution and yearn for peace. Most do not support the radical hardline leaders on either side. 

God

God is not a tatted-up warlord, a misogynist patriarch, a political strongman, an aloof distant deity, a puppet master, an angry judge, a celestial Santa Claus, or a magician. 

God is never a means to our ends.

God is love. God is exactly like Jesus. There is nothing unchristlike in God. to know what God is like, pay attention to Jesus. Jesus is the perfect revelation of God. God invites everyone, Jew or Gentile, to join this new kingdom of cruciform love.