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WHY ISRAEL
Pastor John Hagee speaks at CUFI’s annual DC Summit.
Remember, “without Judaism, there would be no Christianity.” Paul under- stood this truth, which is why he tells his Gentile audience who had converted to Christianity that their faith was based on the legacy of the Jewish people. God’s relationship with the Jewish people is the foundation and bedrock of His relationship with the church.
God, who established His covenant with the Jewish people, also sent His Messiah, Jesus, who was an observant Jew.
Paul goes on to address the question of God’s relationship with the Jewish people in his day. It seemed as if only Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ, and Jews were remaining firm in their tradition of Judaism. People wondered, what did that mean for God’s future relationship with the Jews?
“I say then,” Paul continues, “God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin” (ROMANS 11:1).
How could God have rejected the Jews? Paul himself was a Jew! He was certain that God was not done with the Jewish people, and he used himself as an example. It was not the case that God had moved on from the Jewish people to the Gentiles, replacing Israel as His special people. Instead, God was sover- eignly and graciously providing Gentiles with the opportunity to be included in God’s covenants with Israel.
Paul uses the analogy of an olive tree to drive his point home. The Jewish people are like a tree, grand and magnificent, cared for by God with roots deeply embedded in the ground. Gentiles are like branches which did not originally belong to
(Photo credit: CUFI)