God promised the Jewish people a home, peace, and prosperity (2 Samuel 7:10-11) but then Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. Jews were killed and tortured by Hitler, but Israel was re-established in 1948. Today, Jews are still oppressed. Did God change his mind?
The unchangeableness of God is clearly taught in James 1:17, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” God’s relationship Israel has profound implications for that nation and also for the entire human race.God has always exhorted Israel to obey His righteous commands. If they did, He promised blessings and protection: “I will send you rain… the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit….you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. I will grant peace in the land…I will look on you with favor … and I will keep my covenant with you.” Leviticus 26:4-6, 9 (NIV). If disobedient, God told Israel, “Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel… ‘You only have I chosen (covenanted with) among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Amos 3:2
God’s long-range arrangement with Israel is recorded in Malachi 3:5-7 (NIV), “‘I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘I the LORD do not change…since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty.”
Far from showing that God changes his mind concerning Israel, these national calamities vindicate God’s character. The Apostle Paul clearly explains, “Then what advantage has the Jew?…the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar,…But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world?” Romans 3:1-6 (ESV).
The hard experiences and seeming rejection of Israel by God actually show the method God is using to reconcile all mankind back to life through Israel. Romans 11:15, For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world (through the death of Jesus and the call of the church class), what will their acceptance be but life from the dead (during Christ’s reign during the resurrection)?
God’s magnificent love and power are demonstrated through Israel’s experiences. Their experiences are not meaningless or vain. Romans 11:32-36, “For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!… To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
