Nathan Jones: Did you know that for almost 2,000 years the Church, both Catholic and Protestant, has taught that God washed His hands of the Jewish people in the first century because “They crucified Jesus”? And, did you know that another aspect of this teaching is that God replaced Israel with the Church so that the Church has inherited all the blessings promised to Israel? And, did you know that at the opposite extreme there are Christian leaders today who teach that the Jews do not need Jesus because they have their own unique path to salvation?
I asked these questions and many others on the television program Christ in Prophecy of Dr. David Reagan, author of one of his newer books titled The Jewish People: Rejected or Beloved? Join us as Dr. Reagan dispels many of the myths surrounding God’s ongoing plan for the Jewish people.
A Jewish Apologetic
Nathan Jones: Dr. Reagan, it’s clear you love the Jewish people. In truth, never in my life have I ever met a man who has loved the Jewish people as much as you do. In point, you’ve led over 45 trips to Israel which include Israel tours and video shoots for teaching about Israel on television. You’ve often spoken at conferences about Israel in Bible prophecy. All our viewers know how much you love Israel. Why then write a book about the Jewish people? Obviously, it’s because of your love for God’s covenant people, but was there a personal reason why you wrote it?
Dr. Reagan: Yes, true, I wrote the book because of my love of Israel and of the Jewish people, but also because of the world we live in today. The Church in particular is filled with all kinds of misunderstandings and myths concerning the Jewish people, and so I want to set the record straight using the biblical truth.
Misunderstandings concerning God’s ongoing plan for the Jewish people really concern me. This confusion within the Church is growing in leaps and bounds, to the point that even evangelical churches are being invaded by these myths, misunderstandings and misrepresentations. And so, I wanted to address those falsehoods in detail.
The book deals primarily with the relationship of the Jews with God. That relationship stands as a fundamental component in the Christian’s understanding of God’s prophetic plan. I also address the Jewish people’s relationship with the Church, as well as their relationship to the land of Israel itself. All three of these areas are tremendously complicated by modern-day myths.
For example, let’s take the last misunderstanding concerning the land of Israel. The myth that is going around today, and which people are buying hook, line and sinker, is that the Jews migrated into Palestinian lands back in the early 20th Century and stole them from the Palestinian people. That myth is just as far from the truth as can possibly be.
I’ve dedicated a whole chapter in my book about the Jewish people’s relationship with the land God promised them. I point out that God promised this land to them through Abraham, so that it actually became known as the Promised Land. That covenant was reaffirmed through Isaac, then it was reaffirmed through Jacob. A thousand years later, King David wrote about the Abrahamic Covenant in Psalm 105. This promise by God exists as an eternal covenant that God Himself has made with the descendants of Jacob. That land belongs to the Jewish people eternally. When the Exodus Jews got ready to enter into the Promised Land under Moses, he again pointed out the land was given to them by God based on an eternal covenant. The Jewish people would always possess the title deed to this land.
But, there was another covenant that God made with the Jewish people — the Land Use Covenant. In this second covenant, God warned the Jews that if they were not faithful to Him, God would place judgments upon their people, and the greatest judgment would be ejection from the land. Regardless of exile, the Jews according to the Land Covenant still did not lose their title deed. The title deed remains eternal, even if they were ejected out of the land for a time because of unfaithfulness.
The Jews were never meant to remain separate from the promised land God gave them. God then said in the end times He would bring the Jewish people back to the Promised Land, and He did just that.
The #Jews were never meant to remain separate from the promised land #God gave them. God then said in the end times He would bring the Jewish people back to the #PromisedLand, and He did just that. Click To TweetWhile the Jews were in exile, God prophesied that their land would become desolate. God allowed the land to succumb to that sorry state on purpose in order to keep people from wanting to occupy the land. As a result, when the Jewish refugees migrated back in the early 1900’s, the land was almost empty. The wastelands had been claimed by foreign land holders living away in Syria. The people who lived there after Israel fell to the Romans were poverty stricken and always considered themselves Syrians. They never claimed a Palestinian identity until the 1960s. The Jews certainly didn’t steal the land. They bought the wastelands back, and the Arabs laughed all the way to the bank at those crazy Jews coming in and buying up land that was filled with malaria infested swamps. The trees had pretty much all been cut down. Nobody wanted this land, that is except the Jewish people. Today the Arabs claim the Jews stole their land from them, but that’s not true at all. Regardless, the Jews hold an eternal, God-given title to the land of Israel.
Nathan Jones: So, you see your book then as an apologetic against all the slander against the Jewish people?
Dr. Reagan: Yes, that’s basically what my book is, an apologetic. It deals with a lot of different aspects of how people have been maligning the Jewish people, but it primarily reiterates the biblical teachings concerning the Jewish people’s relationship with God, their relationship with the Church, and their relationship with the land.
Nathan Jones: I like how you began your book by stating your thesis right at the beginning by quoting Deuteronomy 7:6, which says, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” God sees the Jewish people as beloved, and so you “belove” the Jewish people as well.
Dr. Reagan: Yes, God warned if anyone touches the Jewish people, talking about in an improper way, then they touch His eye. The Jewish people continue to be the apple of His eye, so you had better be careful how you treat them. In fact, Joel 3 warns that if any nation messes with His people, especially in the end times, by trying to divide up their land, He will deal with them ever so severely. That is a dire warning the United States of America must heed, as well as all the nations of the world.
Nathan Jones: So, your book was also written to protect people from making the mistake of slandering the Jewish people and thereby bringing God’s wrath upon them.
Dr. Reagan: I sure hope so.
In the second part of my interview of Dr. David Reagan concerning dispelling various myths and blatant falsehoods concerning the Jewish people, we will look at the evils caused by Replacement Theology.
Resource
Order your copy of The Jewish People: Rejected or Beloved? from our Bible Prophecy Resources website!
Great, I plan to get this book. One question. You quoted Deut. How are they a holy people, when as a nation they have rejected their Messiah in unbelief?
Rick, for a detailed answer, check out https://christinprophecyblog.org/2018/07/the-miracle-of-israel-the-mustard-seed/.
Good question Rick. From what gather from Nathan’s link is that
the Jews and nation of Israel will BECOME a holy people when Christ returns. When the nations of the world come against Israel (ARMAGEDDON) The Jews will cry out for their Messiah to come
and save them. The messiah (Jesus) will hear their cry and will
return then and as the Bible states, “.. all Israel will be saved”
When Christ returns the sin curse will be lifted and then the righteous (holy) will rule with Jesus from Jerusalem. That is my take on it. Looking for others to weigh in on the subject.
what about the fact that most israelis are ashkenazi jews, ashkenaz descended from Japheth (Genesis 10:3), and that to be a Semite one must descend from Isaac or Ishmael? So, most israelis are NOT SEMITES (though the love to scream anti-Semitism. they’re as Semitic as if a Chinese person converted to Judaism)
Furthermore, Magog also descended from Japheth and the bible calls them “allies” of Satan.
That the Jews in Israel today are not genetically Jews is a myth (there are so many) In the Bible times a Jew would be considered a Jew because of their father’s line. After the Jews were dispersed to the nations after 70 AD, because it was easier to prove who a child’s mother is, the proof now comes from the mother’s side of the family. Since Israel became a nation in 1948, Jews emigrating to Israel had to prove they were Jewish due to their mother. With today’s advances in genetic testing, though, a person can now be determined if they are truly Jewish or not without any proof of parentage.
Great work explaining this concept so clearly!!