Friday, March 28, 2025
Since the mid-19th Century a lie was foisted upon mainstream and evangelical Christianity that says unbelieving Jews descended from Israel are God’s chosen people, no thanks to Dispensational Theology (DT) and all who teach its deceptive errors. But God’s word exposes Satan’s deception.
Yes, right before God gave Israel the Ten Commandments, He said “if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exo. 19:5–6). But if you know Scripture you know Israel did not obey God nor keep His covenant. Repeatedly.
But post-Calvary God said of believers: “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 once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9–10). Do we have a conflict of Scripture? Absolutely not. Something else occurred and we owe it to ourselves to discover it.
Something critical happened between Exo. 19:5–6 and 1 Peter 2:9–10. Here it is; because Israel repeatedly rebelled, God said “Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also” (Jer. 3:8). And of special note, when under the O.T Law a man gave his wife a certificate of divorce, “then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD” (Deut. 24:4). In like manner God has never retaken divorced Israel as “a special treasure to Me above all people” nor as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”.
Therefore God warned us post-Calvary believers: “You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.’ Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off” (Rom. 11:19–22). We must not overlook God’s continuing condition: “if you continue in His goodness”. This is why God further warned us regarding ancient Israel’s examples found at 1 Cor. 10: 1–13.
Also, there was another critical event that occurred between Exo. 19:5–6 and 2 Peter 9–10. God sent His Son Jesus Christ, the Messiah, into the world to establish His New Covenant, because “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first [the Old Testament Covenant] obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13). But the large majority of Jews of Jesus’ day, in fact, the nation of Israel as a whole, did not believe Jesus, nor do they believe Him to this very day. In fact, the religious Orthodox Jews abuse Christ’s name daily. They have the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, but in their unbelief of Christ cling to the Old. Yet, there are evangelical churches who pander to unbelieving Jews, even giving vast sums of tithe money to unbelieving Jews who daily mock the Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid!
Therefore, we see from Scripture that unbelieving Jews are not God’s chosen people, and it’s for this very reason that God said, “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you” (Rev. 3:9). God said unbelieving Jews are “of the synagogue of Satan”, and here’s why: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 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” (Rom. 2:28–29). It’s very evident that the true Jews of God are we who by grace through faith are born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. In these truths we see the massive deceptions of DT. Do not be deceived!
Knowing our identity in Christ is very important, in fact, so important that God gave us numerous prophets and voluminous Scriptures to certify our identity. It is true that Christian believers are the chosen people of God as revealed by 1 Peter 2:9–10 and not unbelieving Jews descended from ancient Israel. Furthermore, from God calling Abraham to this present day, God never rescinded His calling of true Jews, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29). Thus, we have God’s own word that “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” (Rom. 2:29). It’s for this reason that we true believers preach and teach the truths of God and His Christ to an unbelieving world, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16b). However, “he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36b). So then, “the wrath of God abides on” all unbelieving Jews and Gentiles.
At the national level, Jews of Israel have openly and with hostility rejected Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Messiah. And God said “This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11–12). But it’s important to realize that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). But without Christ as our Advocate, on that great Judgment Day, we are all sinners and guilty of eternal condemnation before God in Christ, the Righteous Judge. As for unbelieving Jews, God said “And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again” (Rom. 11:23). Mark this in your heart and mind: only true born again Christians are God’s chosen people.
Have you been grafted into the Vine of Christ, being born again, John 3:3, by grace through true faith in Christ and His shed blood? Have you been baptized by immersion? And in this context infant baptism does not count. As an infant one is unable to comprehend one’s personal need for salvation by faith in Christ. That’s important, because true faith in Christ is a public calling and as such we are ambassadors for Christ, 2 Cor. 5:20. Jesus said “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). Peter said by the Holy Spirit “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). God calls every Christian to make an outward and public confession of our sincere and continuing faith in Christ. When one’s heart is transformed by true new birth faith then public confession is not at all difficult.
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Marlin J. Yoder
