Who Is God’s Nation?

The following is a transcript, originally presented as God’s Nation, Episode 66, of The AnarchoChristian Podcast

The phrases “God’s Nation” and “God’s People” are often heard in church political discussions.  Exactly who and what these terms refer to is debatable depending on a lot of factors—political influence, denomination, and media consumption to name a few.  One’s view on these topics can influence their opinions on foreign policy and as we will discover, can even land many Christians in a sort of cognitive dissonance.  Is God’s Nation Israel?  The United States?  Both?  

The rhetoric is very similar between Israel and the United States, but generally the official title of God’s Nation is given to Israel. Have you ever presented this to a friend or family member when they are in the middle of repeating political rhetoric of the United States being “God’s chosen Nation?” It’s generally a quick dismissal, but there is a very real issue with these biblical terms and our political rhetoric. We generally ignore the contradictions through our nationalism and tribalist tendencies. 

Addressing the confusion between Israel and the “Christian Nation” of the United States is one thing, but there is an even deeper meaning at the heart of all this. Much like a few other topics we have addressed at AnarchoChristian, we are going to also look at the greater issue here. While your religious family is being stumped by (or maybe arguing about) Israel or America being God’s People and Nation, I’d like to propose that they are both wrong, and I’d like to ask a more pressing question. It’s something I always ask when this is brought up that tends to cut straight to point. We need to answer this question: “Who is Israel?”  

This seems simple right? Israel is a nation in the Middle East that’s most recent incarnation began in 1948. It is primarily populated by Jewish people, and has land rights dating back to biblical events. The simple answer…. “No. This is not correct.” At least it’s not correct in the context that we are asking this – the context of God’s Nation or God’s People biblically. “Who is Israel?” is asking who is God’s Nation, and/or Who are God’s People from a biblical perspective, because the Bible is where we originally find these terms, and answers. 

If I haven’t lost you yet, but you’re wavering, let me preemptively put a few concerns to rest – this is not in any way going to be an anti-Semitic article. I despise racism of any type, and hold no ethnicity above or below another. This also is not going to be a silly conspiracy theory video that explains lost tribes or bloodlines. The truth of the matter is much simpler however, it may be shocking because it will change many assumptions that you may have grown up with. 

If you’re not familiar with who Israel really is, buckle up. We are about to explore the Bible in a way that may seem new to you, but the clarifications are as old as the Apostle’s writings.  All the questions about who is God’s Nation or God’s People are answered by asking “who is Israel?” Once we are able to understand that, questions about blessings, foreign policy, land rights, Jews and Gentiles, etc. all become very easy to answer. 

First and foremost, Israel is a faith. It is not an ethnicity, nor a geopolitical state. It is a faith.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” In short, faith is not just the belief that God exists, it is the belief in God’s promises. His promises to save and redeem His people. As Christians, our faith is specifically in Christ as the fulfillment and culmination of God’s promises. 

`But how is Israel a faith, and not an ethnicity, or a geopolitical state? If you haven’t heard the phrase “Israel is a faith,” you may have heard the synonymous terms True Israel, or Spiritual Israel. Either way, we will keep our definition of faith in mind as we encounter the following bible verses that layout exactly who Israel is, and how we arrived at the definition of it being a faith. 

Verses showing a spiritual Israel 

The Book of Galatians was written by Paul, and in the 3rd chapter he really drives home Justification through faith. In doing that, we start to see these distinctions stand out. 

“Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” Galatians 3:7-9 

“But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” Galatians [3:25]-26,29

Romans was also written by Paul, and throughout the letter he makes the case for Jew and Gentile alike of “Who is Israel?” and what that means. We will just take them in order as they appear in the book: 

“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” Romans 2:2 -29 

In Chapter 4, Paul is again making this distinction between faith and adherence to the Law.  

“For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.” Romans [4:13]-16 

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,” 

He goes on further to explain in more detail this idea of Abraham’s faith and offspring. But let’s jump to chapter 9 because he really sums it up there. 

“But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”  Romans 9:6-8 

You might be thinking this seems plausible, but there are a ton of things we need to work through. Evangelicalism over the last hundred plus years has been teaching that Israel is not a faith, and that it is specifically a people group and a portion of land. And along with that teaching comes some pretty convincing bible misinterpretations. 

So, what about the United States? 

With an open Bible the reference to the United States as God’s Nation is simply weak.  It is easily seen as typical nationalism that has successfully disguised itself in Christianity. The American Civil War is a good example, with its imagery of God’s army fighting for God’s purposes. Of course, this is prior to the turn of the 20th century. At this point in history, Dispensationalism starts to become the dominant theological teaching in the United States. Generally, Dispensationalism dates back to Jon Nelson Darby, but it really becomes legitimized and popularized through Cyrus Scofield. It continues to pick up steam as the years go by. It becomes solidified in the national or collective Christian understanding after WW2 when we see a massive persecution of Jewish people, the destruction of their persecutors, and their reoccupation of Palestine in 1948. The Scofield Reference Bible was first published in 1909, and is still available and popular today.  

There are many different views and positions to consider in Dispensationalism, but the primary teaching is that the Jewish people are the people of God. From there, with the assistance of other Bible verses and historical events, we can start to form particular eschatological views. 

The dispensational theological answer to “Who is Israel?” is that modern Israel is the physical flesh and blood offspring of Abraham, through the line of Isaac and Jacob. But what did we read from Galatians and Romans?  It was that “those of faith are the sons of Abraham” and that the promise that depends on faith and rests on grace, is guaranteed to all offspring of the faith, not of the flesh. 

It’s actually somewhat amusing to see such a biblically correct Sunday school song that really holds a key distinction to these understandings. But we tend to not notice that when we are learning through our dispensational theology which is so common. 

Interestingly, most churches and most Christians don’t even need to teach this academically, in Sunday school, or in some sort of classroom setting. It is the assumed and lay teaching throughout the church. Which is why these next verses tend to be associated with this dispensational teaching, and then inform our political positions. 

A common paraphrase is, “I will bless those that bless you, and curse those that curse you.” Or you may have heard it phrased this way when someone is using it to specifically back up military or monetary assistance to Israel, “He said he would bless those that bless Israel, and Curse those that don’t support Israel.” I don’t necessarily like making these paraphrases, because it may seem like a strawman, but I have had more of these conversations than I can remember. I even used to have this same understanding before I understood Paul’s distinctions in Galatians and Romans. 

The “blessings over those that bless Israel” verse is commonly the Evangelical way of not just defending the billions of dollars in foreign aid that is given through taxation and currency inflation, but completely excusing any criticism for the Nation State of Israel. This includes war crimes, but also many things that evangelicals are dead set against in domestic policy, things like socialism, large gay pride parades, nationally subsidized abortions, and women in combat roles. These things that will supposedly incur God’s wrath and judgement on the United States are excused or ignored, because you know, “they’re God’s people.”  Let’s take a closer look at that verse. What does it mean in light of our new understanding to “Who is Israel?” 

We find this verse way back in Genesis 12. It’s the third verse, but let’s start at the first verse to get a good idea of the context. 

“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  Genesis 12:1-3 

This promise to Abram (whose name is later changed to Abraham) seems specifically just for him and his offspring, right? We even see repetitions of this blessing in places like Genesis chapter 22, but there are actually some very cool messianic prophecies that are wrapped up in all this too. The blessing that will come from Abraham for all the families of the earth is Jesus. This is one reason why Matthew and Luke both include genealogies for Jesus. There is significance in showing Jesus in relation to King David, but here it is important to note that he is also related to Abraham. If you’d like, review the typically overlooked genealogy of Jesus in the first chapter of Matthew. 

That’s right. That is the Genealogy sung by Andrew Peterson. It’s called Matthew’s Begats, and spoiler alert, it ends with Joseph, Mary and Jesus. 

But this is not the focus from Dispensationalism. Scofield’s footnotes from his Reference Bible show his explanation of Genesis 12:3, while further explaining the Abrahamic covenant mentioned in Genesis [15:18]: 

“It has invariably fared ill with the people who have persecuted the Jew–well with those who have protected him. The future will still more remarkably prove this principle” 

People like John Hagee use it to push their megachurch and mega bucks ministries with fearful rhetoric against Islamic nations and any ideas that Americans might have against unconditional military and monetary support to the Nation State of Israel. In Hagee’s book, Final Dawn over Jerusalem, He makes this statement: 

 “The man or nation that lifts a voice or hand against Israel invites the wrath of God.” 

On one hand, this all seems to line up with Bible verses that use similar language. But remember, all of this changes when we have a proper understanding of the question, “Who is Israel?”  When we do not understand who Israel is, we start rationalizing how Israel blesses the world through technology, or medical and weapons development, or that they are the lone protectors of the middle east from becoming an Islamic Empire. When we misunderstand who Israel is, we in turn misunderstand the blessing to all the families of the earth and that really robs the listener of the Gospel. 

But we have some other buzzwords here that further distract us when our faith and culture are more politically minded. “I will make you a great nation.” In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel reached great proportions. The depictions of Israel and Jerusalem under Solomon and David are fantastic examples of their strength and wealth. But is the promise fulfilled in Israel’s ancient greatness or does it apply to modern Israel? 

In the Bible, we often encounter types and shadows (the way that archetypes and foreshadowing in the Old Testament point us to Jesus). Peter understood it perfectly and understood what the “Nation of Israel” means for us in the New Covenant. He knew it wasn’t a blood relation thing, just like Paul taught us in his letters. In 1 Peter we see Peter teaching to Christians. 

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”  1 Peter 2:9 

This verse is very important because we see all of those ideas that we apply to the current Nation State of Israel, applied to believers in Christ: “a chosen race,” a nation, a people. Again, this helps us understand that Israel is a faith. 

What about the land itself?  

Sometimes these promises mentioned are not just a family lineage, but reference rivers and landmarks. 

Fundamental misunderstandings of who Israel is, are also found in the land and heritage verses. Looking back on our verses of Israel as a faith, we can easily understand that Christ and salvation are what these promises are about. They are not about a disputed piece of land. Here in the New Covenant, that land is extremely important to our faith’s history, but it is of no importance to our faith’s future. And for our faith presently, it is critical to put aside these poor understandings of Israel’s land, and for God’s people to acknowledge the atrocities that happen out there. The Dispensational teachings of the land belonging to an ethno-state has absolutely become a stumbling block in the Christian church. 

We could debate if the land promises are still relevant today, and if we did, we might spend days and days going back and forth. What are the biblical borders? Did Abraham’s decedents continue to live up to the requirements to keep the land? Does it still apply in the New Covenant? We will not get into those details in this publication. My friend Adam Graham with No King But Christ put together a great article and video concerning some of these, and it’s a great study.  

Ultimately, we are pondering the legitimate use of an Old Covenant land in a New Covenant context. Why are we looking to a physical land when Abraham was commended for knowing that it wasn’t about a physical land? Hebrews 11, the great hall of faith passage that also gives us our definition of faith, tells us this about Abraham and the land: 

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”  Hebrews 11:8-10 

Today we are looking for New Jerusalem just as Abraham was. Be it literal and ordained to a spot on this earth or something spiritual, it will be entirely created by God without our help in prepping the land for Him. 

Any objects from Old Testament events, people, and places if found today, would be priceless and very significant, but I wouldn’t elevate them to a status any higher than that. The Ark of the Covenant, stones from the first or second temple, the veil that was hung in the temple, Noah’s Arc, any of the altars that were built throughout the Old Testament—none of these things have any Kingdom purpose. Neither does the land they reside on. Just as what Abraham showed us, we are looking for the Jerusalem whose designer and builder is God. 

And we know this. We practice this throughout the Bible, but there is a disconnect when it comes to Israel today. Israel’s redemption from Egypt was type and shadow to our spiritual redemption. David’s conquering of Goliath was type and shadow for Jesus’s victory over Sin, Death, and the Devil. The Temple was type and shadow for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Why is everything from prior covenants a type and shadow to the spiritual work of God except for Israel? 

From what we’ve already shown, we can see that Israel is one of these foreshadows too. We can see that there is a Spiritual Israel. We can see that Spiritual Israel is God’s people, and they are neither Jew nor Greek. That is to say Israel, true, Spiritual Israel, is made up of Jews and Greeks, but their ethnicity did not qualify nor disqualify them from being part of God’s people. 

So here we are again, back to the United States getting mixed up in all of this. There is another term that comes up in these discussions and research. Zionism. Zion is a synonymous term in the Bible for Jerusalem. Zionism is a term that has cropped up since the late 1800’s and that is specifically about reestablishing the Nation State of Israel, which did eventually happen in 1948 as we noted earlier. Because of events like the Holocaust and all of the conflicts that are still ongoing with the occupation of Israel, especially the arguing over the rightful owners of Jerusalem, the term is still relevant today. 

We see how the US simultaneously positions itself as Israel’s protector, allegedly in line with Genesis 12:3. But we also see this co-opting of the figurative language of God’s land and people to really drive home this narrative that builds national pride and self-esteem. But none of it remains a consistent interpretation of the biblical verses dealing with God’s Nation or People.  

“The US is blessed because it protects Israel.”  

“The US is blessed because it protects the church.”  

“The United States’ national identity’ is Christian, like the church.” 

 These sorts of things let the dispensational Christian randomly apply these types and blessings (or curses for that matter) to anyone and any place they choose. Middle Eastern politics today, war propaganda from the civil war to the world wars, American Exceptionalism, westward expansion and Manifest Destiny… the list goes on and on, but the point is, it’s not consistent, and it’s in these inconsistencies where our excuses and our apathy can remain. 

In a fortunate way, this topic falls right in line with our Sermon on the Mount series. Directly after the Beatitudes, Jesus makes this statement about his followers that states an allusion to Zion that all of his listeners would catch. Today we can see it too, and it will further strengthen our case for a spiritual Israel. 

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”  Matthew [5:14] – 16  

Zion also literally meant a mountain in Jerusalem. This “city on a hill” is a reference to it, and Jesus is stating that they would be the city on the hill, not that their relatives would literally live there, and not that the light from the city could be imported to another hill across the Atlantic Ocean. But that is the confusion American politicians have been doing for quite a while. 

In his farewell addres, Ronald Reagan said: 

 “I’ve thought a bit of the ‘shining city upon a hill.’ … I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life. … In my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed. … After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true.” 

This may be the most recognized, but it isn’t the first time this “City on the hill” reference was used politically. John Winthrop was the first governor of Massachusetts, and he used it this way back in the 1600’s. John F Kennedy used it before Reagan and even referenced Winthrop when he told the Massachusetts legislature in 1961 that all branches of government were the city on the hill, “and all eyes will be upon us.”  

This sort of confusion of the narrative is not isolated to just this concept, or even just politicians. It’s actually a pretty bad habit in the church. In most cases it’s likely not an intentional abuse, but it does lead to excusing some terrible atrocities, because whether we realize it or not, once we have solidified in our minds ourselves as saviors, our motivations as godly, and our strength benevolent, we couldn’t even question ourselves lest we be heretics and blasphemers to God’s city on the hill. And more than that, this confusion does not proclaim the good news and promises of Christ to His people. Words that are supposed to bolster our hope and faith in Christ, become a foundation of hope and faith in the State and its politicians. 

Again, none of this is to disparage any ethnicity or people group. The thing is, it’s just not about a race other than the human race. We are all equally fallen, and all equally in need of a savior – Jew, Greek, Gentile, whatever your ancestry.  

A common, but lazy counter argument to all this from the dispensationalists, is to claim that this is “Replacement Theology.” Replacement Theology is a real teaching, but you don’t have to follow Replacement Theology if you’re simply not a dispensationalist, as their counter argument suggests. Replacement Theology teaches that the church has replaced Israel as God’s people. The implication being that the church means non-Jew. The fundamental issue is that Replacement Theology still holds onto this issue of Israel as a race, just like the dispensationalists do. Israel being a faith means that there wasn’t a replacement. People of Jewish ethnicity are just as much eligible to be a part of the church as any other ethnicity. It can’t be a replacement if Israel was always a faith. It’s just that the faith prior to the new covenant in Christ, was primarily found in the Jewish people. 

The analogy Paul uses of the “grafting in” is very important here. It’s most of Romans Chapter 11. Paul goes through a lot of detail to explain that there is an olive tree and the gentiles have been grafted into it. Grafting, if you’re not familiar is where you cut off a branch and then connect branch from another tree to that portion. Once the new branch is tied to the stump for the old branch, the new branch will then begin to grow with the tree. This is a great analogy for the way that the faith was with the Jewish people and now gentiles are brought into it. Which again backs up our message of a spiritual Israel. Gentiles are grafted into a faith, not an ethnicity. 

The branches that are cut off to allow the grafting in of new branches are something else Paul deals with in this passage. It is part of a good message to Gentiles to not become self-absorbed and anti-Semitic.  It also serves to further illustrate the verse we went over in Romans 9, that said, “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,” And in case anyone is not liking so many references to Paul, as if maybe this concept is only found with him, we have a couple of moments in the Gospels to throw in. 

In Matthew 3, when John the Baptist is confronted by the Pharisees and Sadducees: 

 “And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”  Matthew 3:9 

John knew this wasn’t about being a son of Abraham in the flesh. John 8 records a pretty heated exchange between Jesus and His listeners. He tells them: 

 “I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.  I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father. They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,”  John [8:37]-39 

They are then further confused and Jesus tells them they are children of the devil. So even here we have Jesus confirming that not all Israel is of Israel. Israel, true Israel hears and believes Christ’s words. 

What else does that remind us of? The Remnant.

The Remnant shows this concept of God preserving a small number of Israelites throughout the Old Testament. Paul in Romans 11 asks if God has rejected His people. “By no means!” he answers. He then reminds the reader that he is a physical descendant of Abraham, and asks if we remember Elijah’s appeal to God against Israel because they have killed God’s prophets, demolished the altars, and feels that he is the only one left that has followed God. God tells Elijah that He has preserved a remnant of faithful to Himself and who have not become followers of Baal. Then Paul lets us know this incredible truth, “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.” 

The fact that this Remnant is chosen by grace, and not a physical lineage should give us all encouragement. It adds to this understanding of Israel as a faith, rather than an ethnicity or political boundary.  

Don’t take my word for it. Look into these Remnant bible verses for yourself. It’s easy to see the confusion because of the sharing of the word Israel, but it is only our biblical illiteracy that continues that confusion. Dispensationalism, that has been popularized by Scofield and John Hagee and is present in just about every church in America, is simply a misunderstanding of terms and covenants. 

It may seem strange to dive so deep into theology, but even without realizing it this theology dictates so much of how we view Middle East Politics. And while some people honestly believe it, others can use it to manipulate Christians for power and money. 

 Above all the issues we’ve addressed, I want everyone to be encouraged. I don’t want anyone to go away hating a politician, nor a people group. We are where we find ourselves today—in need of a savior. All of us, no matter your ancestry and no matter on which piece of dirt you were born.