“and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” Exodus 19:6

Kingdom – A very curious thing has happened to Christianity in the last 2000 years; something that may now be finally coming to an end.  I don’t mean the return of Yeshua.  In spite of the current crop of “signs,” no one has ever yet been right about that return and there is no reason to believe that human beings will ever be right about predicting it.  No, the situation that seems to be coming to an end is the nearly universal assumption about the irrelevance of the God of Israel.  For 2000 years, Christianity has basically operated as if Israel had nothing more than passing interest in God’s plan.

In his book The God of Israel and Christian Theology, R. Kendall Soulen makes a compelling argument for the disregard of the core of biblical teaching.  He points out that nearly all Christian theology is based on universal ethical principles, not on the particulars of a God exclusively associated with the tiny nation of Israel.  In other words, Christian theology picks its universal themes from Genesis 1-3, uses the remaining bulk of the “old” testament as proof texts for the Messiah, jumps over centuries of God’s interactions with one people and claims the universal application of justification, redemption and return in the “new” testament.  Christianity basically ignores most of Scripture.  It treats the vast majority of the Hebrew Scriptures as nothing more than historical interest with prophetic slant.

Just reflect on this for a moment.  Eighty percent of the Bible is the story of God’s interaction with the Jews.  In fact, since we now recognize that every New Testament (Ketuvim Netzarim) author was either Jewish or a proselyte to Judaism, the Bible really is en toto a Jewish document.  But Christians don’t treat it that way.  Christians cull out the Jewish portions and redefine the rest as God’s plan for all Mankind.  How did this happen?  More importantly, what happens when we finally begin to treat all Scripture within the framework of Judaism?

Soulen demonstrates that the early church fathers, in particular Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, provided a powerful interpretative scheme (a paradigm) for the Bible.  This scheme had four pillars:  God’s universal orientation in creation (the cosmos and Man), the Fall (Man’s moral dilemma), redemption (the role of Jesus) and final restoration (the return of the Christ).  For 2000 years, theologians have basically worked inside this paradigm to articulate the nature and scope of Christian belief.  In general, all Christian systematic theology is build upon these four universal pillars.  But notice that these pillars completely ignore God’s particular interaction with the specific people called His people, Israel.  In fact, with these four pillars in place, there is no real need for Israel at all.  It isn’t surprising that the history of Christianity demonstrates a singular lack of concern or respect for Jews.  In the history of Christian thought, Jews were replaced by the true and permanent spiritual entity, the Church.  Therefore, whatever God did with them was temporary and is now no longer of consequence.

The problem with this paradigm is the lack of biblical evidence to support it.  Verse after verse, book after book, recounts God’s specific interaction with one particular people, not with the universal stage of all Mankind.  This passage in Exodus is a perfect example.  God chose Israel as a kingdom, a mamlakah.  Everything God does in the world is filtered through this Kingdom and these people.  Without them, there is no connection to the God of Israel.  We know this is true because we read it over and over in Scripture, but when it comes to actually embracing the specific, national, personal involvement of God with this unique group, we suddenly become Enlightenment thinkers and start talking in universal terms.  We are paradigm-bound.  Forget the evidence!   Just follow the creed!

What would happen to your theology if you suddenly understood that God is the God of Israel, He shows Himself through His people Israel, He continues to work out His plans with Israel and redemption, justification and restoration are accomplished through Israel?  What if your communion with the Holy One of Israel means that you are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, not the universal religion of Christianity?  What if the whole Bible is really for you?

Topical Index:  Israel, paradigm, kingdom, mamlakah, Exodus 19:6