The Alleged Distinctiveness of Israel
In his review of John Gerstner’s book, Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth, John A. Witmer of Dallas Theological Seminary wrote, “In Scripture Israel’s distinctiveness rests in God’s choosing the nation as a special people for Himself (Deut. 7:6).... This choice was based on God’s oath to the forefathers (Deut. 7:8), which oath is the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 17:1-8), the token of which is circumcision of every male Israelite (vv. 9-14).”(1)
It should be noted that the Abrahamic Covenant was actually made in Chapter 15, when Abraham cut the sacrifices and God Himself passed through the pieces. Chapter 17 is just a reaffirmation of the same promises made in Chapter 15. Were these promises for national Israel alone, or were they ultimately for someone else? The Apostle Paul gave the answer in the third chapter of Galatians:
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.... That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or added thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.... (Galatians 3: 7-9, 14-18, 28-29).
Thus, while the immediate promise in the Abrahamic Covenant was the possession of the land of Palestine, the ultimate spiritual reality behind that promise was really entrance into the “heavenly country” (Hebrews 11:16) — regeneration through faith in Christ Jesus, the Seed to whom the covenant pointed and with whom it was actually made. The writer of Hebrews used the promised land of Palestine as a figure of the Gospel itself and cautioned his Jewish readers not to provoke God to anger by unbelief just as their forefathers had done. He wrote:
While it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest.... Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying to David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God (Hebrews 3:15-4:1-3, 7-9).
If the Abrahamic Covenant was a promise that God would “justify the heathen through faith,” and if the promised land was a type and shadow of the spiritual rest of regeneration, then there is no longer any reason for a distinction between natural Israelites from Gentiles under the New Testament: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28-29).
Witmer wrote, "Since this covenant, confirmed through Isaac (vv. 19, 21) instead of Ishmael (vv. 9-14), was an “everlasting covenant” (vv. 7, 13, 19), God’s choice of Israel ethnically as a special people also is everlasting. This truth is confirmed by God’s promise through Jeremiah that Israel will continue as a nation as long as the sun, moon, and stars endure (Jer. 31:35-37; 33:19-26)...."(2) We have already quoted Paul’s allegorical reference to Isaac and Ishmael in Galatians 4:22-31. Here, he equates the Christian Church — made up of believing Jews and Gentiles — with Isaac, the “son of promise” and he equates the natural and unbelieving Jews with Ishmael, stating that they are “cast out.” This is exactly the opposite of what Witmer was attempting to prove by referring to the two sons of Abraham. Witmer’s error is further demonstrated in Romans 9:6-8: “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Again, both Jews and Gentiles are equally the “children of the promise” and are “counted for the seed” if they “be Christ’s.” Nothing could be clearer than that God is through with ethnic distinctions and that His chosen people are now “of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (Revelation 7:9).
Witmer did not fare any better in referring to God’s promise in Jeremiah 31:35-37. This is seen when the preceding verses are considered:
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
The parallel passage to the above is found in Ezekiel 36:24-28:
For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Turning again to the New Testament, we find this “new covenant” the main topic of discussion at the Last Supper. Holding forth the Passover elements to His Jewish disciples, Jesus said, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28; cf. Mark 14:24). That this was the same covenant prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel is clear from Christ’s discourse with Nicodemus:
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.... Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? (John 3:1-10)
Nicodemus should have understood what Christ was referring to, for in speaking of the new birth “of water and of the Spirit,” He obviously had in mind the promise of God to the Jews that He would “sprinkle clean water” upon them and put “a new spirit” within them. Christ was telling a Jewish leader that it was not enough to be a physical descendent of Abraham (“that which is born of the flesh is flesh”); it was necessary to be regenerated (baptized by the Holy Spirit) in order to “enter into the kingdom of God.” A few verses later comes the well-known proclamation of the universal Gospel (verses 16-18). This all corresponds to the Apostle Paul’s aforementioned distinction between Israel “after the flesh” and the spiritual Israel which is made up of both Jews and Gentiles. According to both Christ and Paul, it is the latter, and not the former, who have inherited the Kingdom of God. The Church, therefore, is the “nation” which continues as long as the sun, moon, and stars endure: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9; cf. Exodus 19:5-6).
Witmer wrote:
This separate identity of Israel in distinction from the Gentiles and from “the church of God” (1 Cor. 10:32) continued in the New Testament. It was recognized by Paul (Rom. 3:1-2; 9:3-5; 10:1-3), who insisted that “God has not rejected His people” (11:1-2a). Paul supported this conclusion of God’s continuing choice of Israel with two arguments: (a) “At the present time [there is] a remnant according to God’s gracious choice” (v. 5), including Paul himself, that becomes part of the body of Christ, the church (Eph. 2:13-18). (b) Later after “the fulness of the Gentiles has come in... all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:25-26) because “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (v. 29). This final salvation of Israel is seen at least in part in the “one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel” (Rev. 7:4-8) and in the repentance of Israel at the Lord Jesus’s return to earth (Zech. 12:9-13:1, 9).(3)
Witmer completely misunderstood Paul’s point in Romans 9:6-8: “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Paul then responded to the hypothetical objection, “Hath God cast away his people?” (Romans 11:1) by noting that God’s covenant was always with the remnant of Israel — the true seed “according to the promise” — not with the unbelieving Jews. To this remnant have now been added believing Gentiles (verses 15-19). To be reckoned once again as God’s people and to be grafted back into Israel, the unbelieving Jews must become Christians: “And so [thus] all Israel shall be saved” (verse 26). This same doctrine is taught in John 1:12-13: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Inclusion in Israel under the New Testament is strictly by regeneration, not by physical descent from Abraham.
Witmer also erred in speaking of a “final salvation of [national] Israel” at the “Lord Jesus’ return to earth.” No such post-second advent salvation is taught anywhere in the Bible, but quite the opposite. According to Paul’s doctrine in 1 Corinthians 15:24, when Christ returns, “then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.” Those, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, who have not believed by that time will have no more opportunity: “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe... in that day” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
That having been said, let us look at Witmer’s selected prooftext in Zechariah: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn" (verses 9-10). A parallel passage is found in Joel 2:28-30: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” Both prophecies referred to a future time when the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon the Jews resulting in a mourning for their part in the crucifixion of Christ and their salvation according to the New Covenant promise of Ezekiel 36. However, we need not look for this momentous event in the future when Christ alleged returns to set up an earthly kingdom, for, according to no less an authority than the Apostle Peter himself, the fulfillment of the prophecy is found in Acts 2:14-18:
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
Peter was speaking to the very crowd referred to in Zechariah 12:9: “the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” What followed was the first sermon of the Christian Church in which he expounded upon the Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ, proving that it was “the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” that the Jews would take and kill their own Messiah. In concluding his sermon, Peter said, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (verse 36). The reaction of his audience was exactly as Zechariah prophesied it would be: “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (verse 37) Peter responded by instructing them to be “baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (verse 38) — another clear reference to the New Covenant in Ezekiel 36. Peter continued: “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (verse 39). What promise was he referring to? The promise given to Abraham: entrance into the “land” of regeneration. Was this promise for ethnic Israel only? No, it was also “to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” — to the Gentiles who were once “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise” (Ephesians 2:12) and who were once “afar off” but now “are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (verse 13).
Witmer quoted Romans 11:29 in an attempt to prove that unbelieving Jews still have a covenant relationship with God based, not on faith, but upon blood — which, as we have already seen, is directly contrary to Paul’s point in Romans 9:8 that “the children of the flesh... are not the children of God.” This corresponds to Christ’s discourse of the scribes and Pharisees in the gospel of John:
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. They [those Jews who did not believe on Him] answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever commiteth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father.
Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,a and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if is say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God (John 8:31-47).
Here we see the unbelieving Jews clinging to the very same error now held by Dispensationalists such as Witmer: that God is the unconditional covenantal Father of the physical descendants of Abraham. Jesus responded by calling them instead children of their father, the Devil, who is the father of lies. Again, we see that faith in Christ is what makes one “the seed of Abraham,” not blood.
Jesus again addressed these same unbelieving Jews in Matthew 21:33-43:
Hear another parable: there was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the wineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Jesus continued speaking to the same Jews in Matthew 23:32-36:
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
This all seems to be very strange language for the Son of God to use in addressing His Father’s chosen people. Witmer insisted that God’s covenant with the physical house of Israel has never been revoked, but what did Jesus say? “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (verse 38). This was not just a reference to the Temple, but to the very covenantal status of the nation of Israel itself. As Jesus said to the fig tree (a type of Israel): “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever” (Mark 11:14).
Before we leave this subject of the cutting off of unbelieving Israel, let us return again to Witmer’s prooftext from the prophecy of Zechariah:
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God (Zechariah 13:7-9).
The context of the above prophecy shows that it refers to the time of Christ’s crucifixion, not His second advent. The two parts that “shall be cut off and die” are the unbelieving Jews to whom Jesus was speaking and to whom Paul referred in Romans 11. The “third part” is the remnant, also referred to by Paul in Romans 11, and also addressed by Peter in 1 Peter 1:1-7:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Witmer wrote, "In addition to Israel’s continuation as God’s chosen people and her continuing title to the promise land is her continuation as a political entity, a nation. This involves God’s covenant with David concerning the everlasting establishment of David’s house (lineage), kingdom, and throne (2 Sam. 716; cf. vv. 24-25; Ps. 89:19-37). God stated that sin by David’s descendants would bring divine chastisement (2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 89:30-32), but that His mercy would not depart from them as He had removed it from Saul (2 Sam. 7:15; Ps. 89:28-29, 33-37)."(4) First of all, his claim that God promised that Israel would continue as a nation is contradicted by Genesis 49:10: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” That this is a prophecy of Christ is beyond dispute. Also indisputable is the declaration that the sceptre (a symbol of national existence) would indeed “depart from Judah” when the Messiah began to gather the people — the “third part” remnant of Israel along with the believing Gentiles.
Furthermore, God’s promise that David would never lack a descendant to sit upon his throne was and continues to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the “son of David.” He is not waiting for His second advent to sit upon this throne, but sat upon it when He was resurrected and ascended to the “right hand of the Father” (Psalm 2; cf. Matthew 28:18; Acts 13:22-23; Ephesians 2:4-7).
Witmer concluded his section on the distinctiveness of Israel by citing a string of prooftexts which he believes prophesy “the future kingdom for Israel and its character (e.g., Isa. 2:1-5; 4:2-6; 9:6-7; 11:1-12:6; 14:1-3; Zech. 8:1-8; 14:1-21; Acts 1:6-7; 3:20-32; 1 Cor. 15:20-26).” Upon examination, however, none of these passages support his claim, but rather find their fulfillment in the preaching of the Gospel in Jerusalem by the Apostles and its acceptance, first by the Jewish remnant, and then by the believing Gentiles. The “future kingdom for Israel” is actually the present kingdom of the Church.
To Be Continued...
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