Who Is The Israel Of God (eBook)

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The Hope of Israel

The title of this chapter, The Hope of Israel, is a subject many in the body of Christ discuss and even debate. The reasons are many. I will intentionally focus on what I believe to be the two most prominent ones.

First, Jesus seemed to leave the door open for a restored kingdom of natural Israel. Did Jesus affirm a future hope of or for Israel when He answered a question that His disciples asked Him prior to His ascension into the realm of heaven outside of earth’s limitations?

Here is the interaction between Jesus and the disciples, “6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ 7 He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’”7

Do you see what Jesus did and did not do? Jesus, it can be argued, neither slammed the door shut and locked it, nor did He throw it wide open.

Some have interpreted Jesus’ answer as confirming that one day God will indeed restore a kingdom to Israel. Israel, in this context, is the unsaved Jewish people living in the ancient land of Israel.

They take hope, some being absolutely convinced, that Jesus alluded to a day coming when the glory of what had been under Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, and others would be brought back into existence.

In fact, there are those believing for and even financing a future temple, a third temple, on the historic site of the first and second temples.

But is that what Jesus did?

Others, like me, believe Jesus answered that it was never going to be restored, at least not in a physical sense. To us, Jesus employed a technique of teaching whereby the teacher forces the hearers to use critical thinking skills. These teachers give the answer in such a way that on the surface seems vague, but through a thoughtful process of critical thinking realize and conclude they answered directly, not indirectly.

What do you believe based on what Luke recorded Jesus said?

Second, the exact phrase “hope of Israel”, is found three times in the Bible. It is found twice in the Old Testament, both times in the Book of Jeremiah, and the lone time in the New Testament is found in the Book of Acts. There is a fourth reference also in Jeremiah that I will include but it does not have the exact phrase, “hope of Israel.”

All the texts are referring to a person, not a place. Join me in reading what Scripture says about the hope of Israel.

“O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, Why should You be like a stranger in the land, And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?”8

Jeremiah was concerned about the drought in Judah and Jerusalem. He even confessed the sin of the people. The Lord spoke to him concerning the drought and Jeremiah responded to Him with the above verse. In this text and its context, the clear understanding is the Hope of Israel is the Lord Himself.

Let’s take a look at the next verse in the Book of Jeremiah. “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. ‘Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.’”9

This is such an interesting interaction between Jeremiah and the Lord. Jeremiah communicates to the Lord how those who forsake Him will experience shame. Shame, in the Bible, is at times associated with nakedness. For instance, Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed.10

When a person forsakes God, they are, in a sense, naked. They are no longer clothed in His presence and His glory. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they noticed they were naked and hid themselves from His presence. Prior to their sin they were clothed in it.

God responded to Jeremiah with His evaluation of the ones who depart from Him. God says they will be “written in the earth.” That is a very strange way to describe the condition of everyone who forsakes God. Some commentators claim what is being communicated is that their lives become like dry and barren dust, and that the wind blows away.

What do you think God is revealing to Jeremiah?

The New American Standard Bible says it this way, “Those who turn away on earth will be written down.” That makes way more sense to me. How about you?

God makes and keeps a record of all who forsake Him. God says the reason is because He is the [their] fountain of living water. This reminds me of the interaction between Jesus and the woman at the well in Samaria. Jesus told the woman if she drinks of the water that He wanted to give her she will never thirst again.11

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, taught His disciples that remaining in the condition of hungering and thirsting for righteousness is the only way to be and remain satisfied.12

There are several things we must understand about this verse. One, once again we are informed that the Lord is the hope of Israel. Second, we also learn that God keeps records.

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says that love, speaking of God, does not keep a record of the wrongs committed against it.13 If that is true, and we know that it is, then what is Jeremiah revealing? And if God does not keep a record of wrongs committed against Him what did Jesus mean when He said this in Matthew 23, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who stones the prophets and kills those I send to her. How I longed to gather you together as a mother hen her chicks, but you were unwilling. Therefore, I am leaving your house to you, desolate.”14

What if God only forgets the wrongs committed against Him that are repented of and confessed to Him?

The last reference in the Book of Jeremiah I want us to look into is this, “All who found them have devoured them; And their adversaries said, ‘We have not offended, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’”15

The exact phrase is not written in this verse, but it is abundantly clear the Lord’s reputation was that He was the hope of their [Israel’s] fathers, speaking of the patriarchs.

What do all of the verses found in Jeremiah that directly or indirectly use the phrase “the hope of Israel” have in common? As I wrote earlier in this chapter, it is that Israel’s hope is a Person, not a place, and that Person is none other than the Lord Himself.

Now, let’s fast forward into the New Testament where Paul the apostle uses the phrase “the hope of Israel.” Luke writes this in the Book of Acts, “For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”16

Paul is speaking to the leading men of the Jews in Rome. Here is the context of his conversation with them.

“17 And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them: ‘Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, 18 who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death. 19 But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation. 20 For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.’ 21 Then they said to him, ‘We neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you. 22 But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere.’

23 So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening. 24 And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. 25 So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: ‘The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, 26 saying, “Go to this people and say: ‘Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive; 27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and...