The Apostle Paul was vexed by so-called Christians who could not tell the difference between Christianity and Judaism. Although Paul himself had been raised as one of the strictest of the strict Jews, and although he had rabidly fought against Christianity, when he finally had a powerful personal encounter with Jesus, he saw clearly that his old religious life was, in his own words, a heap of dung by comparison to what he had in Jesus and in what Jesus taught. Read it for yourself in Philippians 3:3-8.
The topic of the Jews is a recurring one in the writings of Paul. Paul taught that all of the promises of God are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. (II Corinthians 1:20) In other words, the New Promise (or “Testament”) is the fulfillment of the Old Promise (or “Testament”). God’s promise to Abraham that he was going to be the father of many nations was not to be fulfilled through the sum total of Abraham’s physical descendants, but rather through one of his descendants (or through one ‘seed’). (Galatians 3:16) That one descendant of Abraham was Jesus, the Christ, or the Anointed One of God. And the nations (or tribes) that he started are those who respond to God and to his Anointed One in faith. (Romans 4:16-17, Galatians 3:7-9, and James 1:1) The followers of Jesus have become the “elect” or “chosen” people. (Titus 1:1, I Peter 1:2)
Without Jesus, the rest of Abraham’s descendants were no more chosen, or elect, than was Ishmael, who was also a descendant of Abraham. (Galatians 4:22-28) Paul compared Ishmael to the Old Testament (i.e. Jewish) “law”, which contrasted with the New Testament message of salvation by faith alone (rather than religious affiliation). Obviously, if a person has genuine, childlike faith in God, then that person will be able to recognise and accept someone sent by God, and in particular, they will recognise and accept the only begotten Son of God.
Those Jews who have not accepted Jesus the Christ are just as lost as any heathen on the face of the earth. In fact, they are probably more lost, for they have had more light and more opportunity than anyone else. Jesus said it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than it would be for the Jews who rejected him, and who rejected his disciples. (Matthew 10:15) Jesus called those Jews who rejected him “children of the devil”. (John 8:39-44) Jesus prophesied that people would come from the East and from the West to enter the kingdom of heaven, but that the physical descendants of Abraham would be thrust out. (Luke 13:28-29)
God is finished with the Old Testament. We are living in the New Testament now. And the New Testament teaches that the true children of Israel, the true Chosen People are those who have accepted Christ, and not those who continue to crucify him. (Acts 7:51-52) Paul was deeply offended by professing Christians who sucked up to the flesh Jews and flesh Judaism. (Galatians 3:1) The whole Jewish thing is over with... finished... gone!
If, by some miraculous act of mercy, God should ever choose to do something through the Jews who are still present on the earth, he would only be willing and able to do it if/when they became overcome with the truth of their sinfulness in having rejected their Messiah. Such a conversion will not come about through the misguided ravings of Christians who try to teach that unchristian Jews are still “God’s people”. Yet, when one reads the Left Behind series, one gets the distinct impression that there are two ways to heaven — one through Christ, and the other through being born a Jew. The book suggests that it would be nice if the Jews eventually accepted Jesus, but with or without Jesus, they are still following the one true God. We hate to burst the bubble, but this is a lie. Being related to someone who was chosen by God does not make someone chosen by God. God chooses those who choose him. Muslims are as close to being God’s chosen people as are Jews who have not accepted Jesus. After all, both religions claim to follow the God of Abraham, with or without the faith of Abraham.
On page 379 of volume 3 (Nicolae) the leader of the false church, which has united all of the religions of the world, says that only two groups are holding out — the tribulation saints and the Jews. The false church leader says of the Jews, “They still believe in the one true God and a Messiah who’s supposed to come in the sky by and by.” The implication is that the Jews actually believe in God and believe in “Christ” (the Greek word for Messiah) except that their Messiah is the Christ who will soon return... whether or not they accept the Jesus who came the first time. What rubbish! If they are so sincere about believing in their Messiah, then whose fault is it that they have not accepted him? Did God fail? Did Jesus blow it? Or did the Jews reject God and Jesus both? Sadly, their stubborn rebellion against God and Jesus continues to this day. And because of this, they are as much if not more “anti-Christ” as/than any other religion on earth. Orthodox Jewish teaching is that Jesus is the ultimate deception of the devil. So how do people like Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins think that the Jews are something special in God’s eyes? The Left Behind series again confuses the good guys with the bad guys by suggesting that the agreement between the Antichrist and the Jews to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem is a sacred agreement, involving God’s people. Again, one of the most basic lessons of the New Testament is totally overlooked. That lesson is that God does not live in temples made with hands. (Acts 7:20) Our bodies have become the temple of the Holy Spirit now. (I Corinthians 3:16) Part of the message of Jesus is that true worshippers no longer see anything special about worshipping in the temple in Jerusalem (John 4:21-23).
The New Jerusalem is a spiritual and heavenly city (Revelation 21:10), while the Jerusalem where the Temple will be located is spiritually referred to as Sodom. (Revelation 11:8) The Temple in Jerusalem and the covenant with the Antichrist are demonic counterfeits of the covenant that has been established between the true Christ and his spirit-filled followers. So lumping the Jews and the tribulation saints together in one camp is a monstrous lie.
“But what about the twelve tribes mentioned in The Revelation, with total membership of 144,000?” people ask. Let us ask them, “How many tribes of Jews are there?” You see, even the name “Jews” comes from the name of the one (or maybe two) tribes that they represent... the tribe of Judah. All of the other tribes died out thousands of years ago. The Left Behind series suggests that the twelve tribes are a literal race of people, at the same time that it gets considerably less literal by assuming that all twelve tribes are “Jews”, or members of the one tribe... Judah.
There is no way that you could bring those other extinct tribes back into existence. But that is not necessary, because we have already stated that the “twelve tribes scattered abroad” (James 1:1) are the followers and believers in Jesus Christ. The entire New Testament testifies to the fact that the twelve tribes are a spiritual representation of a spiritual kingdom, called the kingdom of heaven. And their headquarters is a spiritual Jerusalem “come down from heaven”. It is convenient for Christians who do not want to face the horrors of the Great Tribulation, to pretend that they will be whisked out of the way before all of the trouble starts, and that The Revelation has primarily been written for the tribe of Judah (Jews). But this is a contradiction, both literally and spiritually. Until and unless the Jews accept Jesus Christ, they are the Enemy. Kissing up to them has been a source of great confusion throughout the history of the Christian church. It’s time we left the Old Testament behind and moved into the New Testament with a new Saviour. The law came through Moses, but grace and truth comes through Jesus Christ!