My Relationship to Israel

Romans 11:17-24

My relationship to Israel is tightly intertwined, as is anyone who accepts Israel’s God through Jesus Christ. He will always be referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is saying He is the God of all those who come to Him through Jesus. I always look at the Jewish people according to their Biblical history and how they came to be a nation in 1948. They are by no means a dominant culture, but the Bible says that only a remnant would remain of what they used to be.

Branches of Israel were broken off from the family tree so that I could be grafted in. The branches of Israel that were broken off are those who chose the law of the Old Testament over faith in Jesus Christ. I am grafted into the believing branches of Israel. Anyone who accepts Jesus Christ becomes a branch of God’s family tree. Which means we receive nourishment from Israel’s heritage, which includes the Old Testament, the coming of their Messiah, and righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.

I am never to consider myself superior to the Jewish branches. Afterall, it’s not my background that supports Israel, rather it is Israel’s background that supports me. In my Ohio heritage, there is not anything written concerning God, future events, Jesus Christ, nor the mark of the beast. In contrast, everything that I am as a Christian comes through the Jewish heritage.

The branches of Israel that were broken off is because of their unbelief, but I am in good standing with God only because of my faith. Arrogance over others is not the way to remain in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Instead of arrogance, I should consider that if God didn’t have special favor for the unbelieving branches of Israel, then He will not spare me either. That shows God’s sternness and kindness; sternness towards those who fall from faith in Jesus, and kindness towards those who abide in His kindness.

Unless I abide in God through Jesus Christ, I will be cut off from God exactly the same way as the unbelieving Jews. That means eternal torment for whoever rejects Jesus Christ, whether of Israel or not of Israel. Salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, and by believing in our heart that He is raised from the dead. If the Jews come to Jesus Christ, they will be grafted into the family tree of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Christians are part of that family tree. So, if I as a non-Jew can be grafted into a tree that is contrary to who I am, then the natural Jews can certainly be grafted into their own family tree. We are all branches of the family of God through belief in Jesus Christ.

“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot,
have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 
do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches.
If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 
You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 
Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. 
Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 
For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God:
sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 
And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in,
for God is able to graft them in again. 
After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature,
and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, 
how much more readily will these,
the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!”
Romans 11:17-24

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11