The Land of Israel - God's Land; The people of Israel - God's people?

Spiritual blindness and wilful ignorance is always sad to see. When this blindness leads to anti-semitisim it is even sadder. Thus I was most saddened and a little upset, to see this comment by an acquaintance on a Biblical Unitarian FB page:


"To say that the present nation of Israel are the people of God is like saying the USA is God's country. :P" (Carlos)


My brief response:

The Land of Israel is God’s Land, which He gave to the Jewish people; and together they are the ‘apple of His eye’ (Zec 2:8). The City of Jerusalem, having Mt Moriah at its midst is the centre of Israel and of the world and therefore, naturally, the centre of man’s efforts to deny the Lordship of the Creator of the Universe.

There are a great many scriptures that declare that The Land of Israel is God’s Land and remains so. For example, even in a yet to be fulfilled end times prophecy, it is still described as God’s Land: “For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land. (Joel 3:1-2)

It was an absolute miracle that the State of Israel was reformed in  1948. This miracle was a unique event in the history of the world – see  http://www.aish.com/jl/h/cc/48960356.html and the fulfilment of prophecy – see Deut 30:35 “The Lord will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it.” and Ezekiel 34:13- 16 “And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord GOD.  “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.” and Ezek 36:23 “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land."

It was also a miracle that Jerusalem was once again in Jewish hands in 1967, most likely marking the ‘end of the time of the gentiles’.  Both these events of 1948 and 1967 were clearly acts of God. 

So in returning His chosen people to His Land and to His City, I think God has every right to call the present people who make up the nation of Israel, the ‘people of God’, regardless of anyone's limited understanding of their present faithfulness both individually, and corporately.

For more on this see 'Israel's Return - In Belief or Unbelief' - at http://www.charismacomputers.com.au/Christian%20site/Israels%20Return%20in%20belief%20or%20unbelief.pdf