If you call yourself a Christian, yet you hate the Jewish people, you may believe in a different Bible. Even Paul, towards the end of his life, having been persecuted and ridiculed by the religious Jews, had the following things to say:
Acts 28:17-20 KJV – “And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me. But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of. For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”
Jesus is not only the hope of the world, He’s the only hope of Israel. When the hope of Israel will return to Israel, then the people of Israel will be in Israel to fulfill their destiny to once again be a light unto the nation. And, thus, Isaiah 2:3, “Many people shall come and say, “Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways and we shall walk in His path. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
So let us remember, don’t ever separate the promise from the land, from the seed, from the blessing. And if you want to understand it all, keep them together. The minute you start picking and choosing which one you like and which one you don’t, you disobey God. You don’t understand His word, and you’re blaspheming His name.
In John 14, Jesus informed His disciples of two things. One, He was going away. And, two, that He would send them “another” Helper. The Greek word translated “another” means “one of the same kind”. In other words, the disciples would not be left without a Divine Presence in their lives. Only this time it would be God the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.
John 14:16-18 KJV – “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
After this Jesus gave specific details regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit as He indwells God’s chosen people, the church:
John 14:26 KJV – “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
It is always important for us to remember that the Holy Spirit is the author of scripture, and that He will never teach anyone anything that is contradictory to His written word. With this in mind, consider what was written through Isaiah by the Holy Spirit concerning the future of Judah and Jerusalem and the promise Jesus made to His disciples about the ministry and teaching of the Spirit after His departure:
Isaiah 2:1-4 KJV – “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
The reason the Israelites are referred to as the Jews is because most of the Babylonian captives were from the tribe of Judah, and Jew is the abbreviated form of Judah. So what Isaiah wrote could rightfully be read as “concerning the Jews and Jerusalem”, which we could interpret as the chosen people of God by birth and the land that He gave them.
The Holy Spirit will never teach anyone that the Jews have no right to the land of Israel. The Holy Spirit will never teach anyone that the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people. Both of those things are in contradiction to God’s written word, the author of which is the Holy Spirit.
Someday, Jew and Gentile will go up to the house of the God of Jacob in Jerusalem, and He will teach them His ways and they will walk in His paths. As Isaiah said, through the illustration of beating their spears into pruning hooks and their swords into plowshares, it will be a time without war on the earth because the King of the Jews who is the Head of the Church will be ruling and reigning on the earth from Jerusalem.
Before that time however, the Bible says antisemitism will be on the rise, as will the persecution of Christians (Zechariah 12:3, Matthew 24:9). The reason that these two things happen simultaneously is because the Holy One of Israel is the same person as the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ the Son of the living God.
Hatred of the Jews or denying Israel’s right to their national homeland are not of the Lord, because they contradict the word of the Lord and the Spirit will never teach anyone He indwells to do so.
What we should do is rejoice in the fact that the Jews being back in the land and in possession of Jerusalem lets us know that we are in the latter days and the return of the Lord for His church is near! To that we should all say…
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus
