When you look at the world around you, everyone has an opinion about Israel and about the Jews. Some Christians stand squarely behind the state of Israel, and will never, ever criticize Netanyahu and his policies. Others are very critical of Netanyahu and see the “Zionists” as invaders in the Holy Land.
It is a complex conflict that is not only political and military. There is a whole spiritual world behind it. A fancy word is the word “eschatology”, or the doctrine of the last things. Some Christians have not made a very clear choice about what they believe in terms of eschatology. Very often the eschatology in the churches in our country is not consistent. But we have to realize that our eschatology determines how we look at Israel and the conflict in the Middle East. Our eschatology also determines how we see Jesus and our place in God’s plan for this world.
The story we now see unfolding on the world stage is not just about the future. It is deeply rooted in biblical history. To understand the conflict, you have to go all the way back to the first book of the Bible, Genesis. I would like to address one important storyline.
The Rebellion in Babel and God’s Promise to Abraham
In Genesis 11 you see that there is a rebellion going on of man against God. God then makes the decision to separate the nations by confusing their languages. He chooses to continue with just Abraham and his family (Genesis 12). At the same time, God disinherits the other nations. These other nations are placed outside God’s family and outside God’s inheritance (see Deuteronomy 32:8-9). God is ignoring them for the time being.
God then makes a number of special promises to Abraham and cuts a covenant with him. I want to quote a few verses from Genesis 12 and 22:
“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
— Genesis 12:3 (ESV)
… and [he] said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
— Genesis 22:16-18 (ESV)
All nations, through the descendants of Abraham, could eventually rejoin the inheritance of God and God’s family. How? That is very clear now by reading the New Testament: through the death and resurrection of Jesus. God did not withhold his own unique Son from us. Isaac, the son of the covenant whom Abraham received from his real wife Sarah, would be a type of God’s own Son, because Abraham was willing to sacrifice this son. Fortunately for them, this was not necessary in the end.
How do you belong according to the Tanakh?
The Tanakh (the Old Testament) further shows that the normal way in which non-Jews could become part of the family and inheritance of the God of Israel was by renouncing their own gods and people, and becoming proselytes (Jewish converts). This way they became completely Jewish. Ruth is a striking example of this: “Your God will be my God, and your people will be my people” (Ruth 1:16).
Yet there were also exceptions, such as Naaman the Syrian who took soil from the promised land to pray on that soil to the God of Israel in his own land: “Your God will be my God, but my people remain my people.”
🔍 The Mystery Revealed: One New Man in Christ
The problem with the way you could become part of the people of God in the Tanakh was the following: by becoming a proselyte you gave up your own ethnicity. I as a Dutchman would have stopped being Dutch. I would have become a Jew. And by becoming a Jew, you would take on the yoke of Torah.
This seems at odds with the promise that God made to Abraham: that in his descendants all those Gentile nations, whom God had made unique in their ethnic identity, would be blessed.
So how could a non-Jew become a member of the family of the God of Israel and become a co-inheritor of the inheritance?
Paul calls this a mystery (Greek: musterion). He writes about this in the letter to the church in Ephesus:
… the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power.
— Ephesians 3:3-7 (ESV)
🙏 Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer
This plan that God originally had would lead to enormous tensions in the Church. And that is exactly why Jesus, in a time when he only had Jewish followers, prayed for unity between Jew and Gentiles, foreseeing what would happen. This prayer is part of the High Priestly Prayer in John 17, which he prayed the night before his crucifixion. This prayer still echoes across the centuries:
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
— John 17:20–21 (ESV)
Jesus prayed for unity between “these“, or the group of Jewish disciples he had gathered around himself, and “those who will believe in me through their word“. Initially, “those” were also Jewish disciples, but at some point non-Jewish people would become disciples of Jesus as well. A few more years later, the majority of the Church would be non-Jewish, which would lead to gigantic problems.
The First Council of Jerusalem
In Acts 15 we see how the church, which at that time was mostly Jewish, made an effort to embrace non-Jews. The question in the first council of Jerusalem was in essence not about how non-Jews would be saved, which was by grace (v.11), but about how they could become part of the Israel of God as non-Jews. That is not an Israel that replaces physical Israel. It is the godly remnant of Israel which non-Jews are grafted into (Romans 11). That is the Old Testament qahal, or ekklesia in the New Testament, which Jesus builds!
In that council of Jerusalem, Peter makes an important point: the fact that non-Jews are filled with the Holy Spirit shows that God makes no distinction between Jews and non-Jews (Acts 15:8-9). Therefore, the Gentiles do not have to become proselytes. They don’t have to become Jewish to fully belong.
But what do we do with the fact that they have different habits?
James brings the discussion to a conclusion: don’t put too heavy a burden on them (v.19)! After all, God is restoring the house of David. The remnant of Israel will find their way back to God, but also the rest of the nations (v.17–18). The only things that are required of the nations is that they abstain from idolatry and sexual immorality (v.20).
The letter that was the product of this meeting in Jerusalem, and which was sent out to the congregations worldwide, showed very clearly that non-Jews did not have to renounce their ethnicity, but could still belong. Conversely, this also applies to the Jews, who do not suddenly have to become non-Jews and eat pork, and renounce other Jewish characteristics.
Unfortunately, throughout church history, this has been the rule rather than the exception: Jews needed to renounce their Jewishness. That is one of the reasons why a worldwide movement has started called Towards Jerusalem Council II. Hopefully, this will reverse the mistakes made in church history, so that we can return to the church of Acts 15 where Jew and Gentile could be part of the same Body in peace, love and mutual respect.
The One New Man
That discussion at the first Jerusalem council in Acts 15 is the context for what Paul says about the “one new man” in Ephesians 2: Jew and Gentile one in Jesus, one in Yeshua. That is the common thread throughout Ephesians. Even what Paul writes about the fivefold ministry (a hobbyhorse of mine and many in the evangelical-charismatic movement) has a clear goal in mind: the unity and maturity of the church. This is a church of which Jew and non-Jew are an integral part, where they can remain themselves, but at the same time be one in him. Together we form one body, but we don’t have to lay aside our ethnic uniqueness. Oneness doesn’t mean uniformity.
Conditions for Jesus’ Second Coming
I believe that this “one new man” unity in addition to the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14, that the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed to all nations, is a condition for the return of Jesus. Why would Jesus want to come back for an immature, divided Church, for a Church that does not even want to achieve the most fundamental unity, the one between Jew and Gentile, which he himself prays for in John 17?
That is why we need to look at our theological foundations. This is what the Lord has grabbed my heart for in the context of KNGDM Alliance. We have been forming covenant relationships for a number of years now with Messianic Jewish movements in Israel, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the U.S., and hopefully other countries in the future.
Time for a Theological Clean-up
It is time for a theological clean-up. If we believe that Israel is done away with in God’s plan, it becomes difficult to develop covenant relationships with the Messianic Jewish remnant in Israel and the nations. So let’s put that replacement theology in the garbage! And let’s take a closer look at fulfillment theology, because it is not much better than replacement theology.
It is precisely this replacement theology from the 3rd to 4th centuries that paved the way for deep-rooted antisemitism in the Church. And even Islam has developed on this breeding ground of replacement theology and antisemitism into the dark force that is spreading like wildfire and is designed to eradicate both Judaism and Christianity in its quest for world domination.
It is so beautiful to see how more and more Christians, and the movements they are part of worldwide, want to go back to what the Church looked like in Acts 15. The message of that early Church must be the foundation for our contemporary theologies. With the knowledge we now have of the early Church and Second Temple Judaism, from which the Christian faith originated, this has now become a lot easier.
🕊️ A Prophetic Demonstration of the One New Man Unity
This much-needed unity is also the driving force behind my mission within KNGDM Alliance. We build covenant relationships worldwide between the Messianic Jewish movement and believers from the Gentiles. Jew and non-Jew, one in Jesus. And not just on paper, but visibly and tangibly. As my good friend and mentor Paul Wilbur says: “No more declarations without demonstrations.”
This is why we are organizing the KNGDM Conference from 15 to 17 May in Almere, the Netherlands, with Paul and other speakers! This conference will be a living expression of the One New Man: a gathering of Jewish and non-Jewish believers from the nations, united in Messiah, worshiping together as one redeemed family.
We believe this is not just symbolic—it is prophetic!
Conclusion
I want to conclude with the words of Paul from Ephesians 2, in which he so beautifully describes how we as non-Jews now fully belong. No longer do the ceremonial Jewish laws stand in the way of mutual unity. If we as Gentiles follow Jesus and have distanced ourselves from our false gods and sexual immorality, that is enough to sit down at the table with Jews who follow Jesus. Jesus’ death on the cross has broken down the wall of enmity between the two groups. Together we are one in Jesus, one in Messiah!
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
— Ephesians 2:11-22 (ESV)
Shall we all aim for this unity and expect God to work miracles in our midst as a result? God is calling you and me to do our part in establishing this unity as we await the soon return of Jesus!
🔔 KNGDM Conference: The King is Coming – Get Ready!
May 15–17 | De Wegwijzer, Almere (NL)
An international gathering for all who long to see the wall of division torn down in practice—not just in theology.
Speakers include:
- Asher Intrater & Ariel Blumenthal (Tikkun Global – Israel)
- Paul & Nate Wilbur (USA)
- Dixon Changara (Zimbabwe)
- Gregory Goudeseune (Belgium)
- Simon Hemsley (South Africa)
- Sebastiaan van Wessem (Netherlands)
🎵 Worship by Celebration Church Worship & Greg Cox (USA)
👧👦 Children’s & youth ministry on Saturday
👉 Register now at www.kngdmconference.org
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