Still God’s Chosen People

Matthew 24:15-35

Some have said God is finished with the Jewish people, due to their rejection of Him and because, (so they say,) “they crucified His Son.”

They are wrong.

People who were Jewish may have been physically involved in the crucifixion of Christ, but it was our sin that killed Him. We are ALL guilty of His death. The Bible teaches us Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth was to bear the sins of mankind, and to make Himself an offering for sin.

The same ones who say God is finished with the Jewish people also say The Church has replaced Israel in Bible prophecy – and that all of God’s Word which speaks of Israel yet future actually speaks of Israel only as a type of The Church, which The Church now fulfills by its existence. These people were literally upset when Israel came back into the land in 1948, claiming Israel no longer had any right to exist.

They are wrong about that too.

Of the most prominent observable facts of Matthew 24 are Jesus’ declarations pertaining to Israel, (the Jews,) yet future. God is not finished with the Jewish people – and God is certainly not finished with Israel, and The Church has certainly NOT replaced Israel as God’s chosen people. He still has His eye of love upon them. (Paul amplifies God’s love for the Jews yet future in Romans 9 – 11.)

Many are confused by Jesus employing the term “elect” as He speaks of the Jewish people in this passage – incorrectly thinking the use of ‘elect’ always refers to The Church, since The Church is referred to by that term so often in the New Testament. But God’s Word also refers to the Jews as ‘the elect of God,’ as well as those tribulation saints yet future.

Jesus warns us early on in Matthew 24 not to be deceived about end-times events. One of the most prominent deceptions historically has been about God being finished with the Jewish people. Jesus dispels that notion completely in Matthew 24:15-35.

-Pastor Bill