Are You Concerned for the Jewish People?

All believers in Jesus must ask one simple question: Am I concerned for the well-being of the Jewish people?

We have to be honest about this question because many of us, sadly, are not concerned. Much of the church’s beliefs regarding Israel have been influenced by replacement or supersessionist theology for centuries. Supersessionist theology is the fundamental belief that after the resurrection of Jesus and the unveiling of the new covenant, God’s focus switched from the Jewish people to the nations or from Israel to the church, and the covenant God made with Israel has been superseded by another covenant. Now, some Christians say straight out that Israel is not important at all, but many Christians would simply say that Israel has no particular significance to God any more than any other nation.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, God calls Israel his special inheritance in the very apple of his eye. And in the New Testament, he calls them his beloved. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 1:5 that we Gentiles have been adopted into the family of God. That would make the Jewish people really the natural children. If you see God as your loving father that adopted you into his family, wouldn’t it be like the character and nature of Father God to be attentive to his natural children too? Of course it would. And if God is interested in the Jewish people, shouldn’t we be as well? Our hope is that you will become attentive and concerned for the well-being of the Jewish people, and that concern would lead to prayer, and prayer would lead to a genuine love for God’s chosen people.