Is Modern Israel the Biblical Israel?
Few topics stir more confusion (and more division) right now among Christians than the question of Israel. Some see the modern nation of Israel as a direct continuation of God’s covenant people in the Old Testament. Others see no theological significance at all because the modern nation of Israel as we know it today did not exist until 1948, after WWII.
So what’s the truth?
Let’s define our terms carefully, think biblically, and aim for clarity without losing charity.
Define Your Terms
When people say “Israel,” they often mean different things. Two categories need to be understood so we don’t talk past each other.
Biblical Israel: The covenant people chosen by God in the Old Testament who were descendants of Abraham, set apart under the Mosaic Covenant, with the law, the temple, and the promises.
Modern Israel: The modern state of Israel, established in 1948, is a political nation-state in the Middle East made up largely of Jewish people from diverse backgrounds (Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi), and it operates as a democratic state with a largely secular system of governance and is distinct from the covenant people of God described in Scripture.
Those two are not identical, and failing to distinguish them creates confusion.
What Made Biblical Israel Unique?
Biblical Israel was never merely an ethnic group or a geopolitical nation. They were comprised of at least 4 characteristics:
A covenant people (Deut. 7:6)
Governed by God’s law (Exod. 19–24)
Centered on temple worship and sacrifice
Recipients of specific promises and blessings
Their identity was fundamentally theological, not just national. But that covenant system pointed forward to something greater — or better said, Someone greater.
Christ Changes Everything
Jesus Christ fulfills the law and the prophets (Matt. 5:17). Through His life, death, and resurrection, the Old Covenant is fulfilled (Heb. 8:13), the people of God are now defined by faith and not ethnicity (Gal. 3:7–9), and Jew and Gentile are united in one body (Eph. 2:14–16). The recipients of God’s covenant with Abraham are no longer just Israel, but “all who are in Christ” (Gal. 3:29). This has implications as we discern who is truly Israel. Based on what Scripture teaches, we can embrace two truths across all denominational lines:
Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel (Rom. 9:6).
No one—Jew or Gentile—is saved apart from faith in Christ.
So Where Does That Leave Modern Israel?
The modern nation of Israel is obviously a real country with real people who are ethnically and religiously Jewish. Somewhere in the population of those who identify as Jews, there is a line that is connected to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who were not wiped out or washed out, but that does not mean all modern Jews are automatically viewed as “God’s chosen people,” or those who will be part of the remnant God fulfills promises to in the last days. Modern Israel is also totally distinct from Biblical Israel in that it is not a covenant people that became a nation under God’s law. Therefore, we can objectively say that modern Israel cannot be the automatically redeemed people of God. Being Jewish does not equal being saved. Citizenship in Israel does not equal citizenship in the kingdom of God. The gospel still goes “to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16), and every person must respond to Christ in repentance and faith.
Is God Finished with Israel?
Here’s where there may be some charitable (though spirited) disagreement among faithful Christians, but where Scripture (and not geopolitics) needs to be the foundation for arguments. I would argue that Scripture affirms 4 truths about biblical Israel vs. modern Israel.
Biblical Israel
God’s promises to ethnic Israel are not canceled (Rom. 11:28–29)
There will be a future turning of a remnant of Jews to Christ (Rom. 11:25–26)
Modern Israel
Modern Israel today is not spiritually restored as a nation or a people
It is not a covenant people walking in obedience to Christ. It is a nation like any other, comprised of people who need the gospel. They should be treated as lost ones in need of the gospel
Two Ditches to Avoid
This conversation often breaks down because people fall into one of two extremes and talk past each other or form positions based on emotion, fear, or ignorance rather than Scripture.
Ditch #1: Uncritical Alignment
People must avoid treating modern Israel as if everything it does is divinely sanctioned and as though it is already God’s redeemed people. We must avoid thinking that supporting it politically equals faithfulness spiritually or is somehow commanded of the Church in Scripture. This confuses national identity with spiritual reality, and risks our theology being shaped by politics, rather than our politics being shaped by our theology.
Ditch #2: Complete Dismissal
People must avoid treating Israel as if God is entirely finished with Jews and that the promises of Scripture have no future application to a believing remnant one day in the future and that Israel no longer has any place in God’s plan. This risks flattening the storyline of Scripture and overlooking passages like Romans 11.
The Bible calls us to take God at His word, to affirm that salvation is in Christ alone, to recognize that the Church is the people of God in this age (from every nation, tribe, and tongue), and to acknowledge that God is faithful to His promises. We believe all of this while refusing to equate any modern nation with the kingdom of God because of their ethnicity.
We ultimately fix our hope on a King, not the nation of Israel. Nor do we blindly align ourselves with any nation simply because God will fulfill promises to a remnant of people in that land. Christ, and only Christ, is the means by which all men can be saved, whether Jew or Gentile.
For now, people may differ about whether the United States should support Israel as an ally, but attaching theology to that geopolitical viewpoint is a dangerous game. Maturity and proper hermeneutics (the proper interpretation of Scripture) require us to understand the difference between sound theology and political agendas.
Regardless of your viewpoint (we may differ), all Christians must be unified in that our mission remains unchanged. Preach Christ. Call all people to repentance. And trust the promises of God.
