US Foreign Policy in the Middle East - Is it Biblical? (Part 1) - A Wrong Understanding of Who the Real Israel Is

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US Foreign Policy in the Middle East - Is it Biblical? I. The stated and commonly believed pillars of US foreign policy in the Middle East. 1. We are fighting terrorists on their own soil so they don't come here. 2. We are a righteous nation and we need rid the world of evil. 3. We are spreading freedom and democracy to the oppressed peoples abroad. 4. We must stand for and defend Israel. II. Why US foreign policy in the Middle East is largely flawed and wrong from a biblical perspective. 1. Christians have a faulty understanding of who the real Israel is. 2. Therefore there is a false burden imposed on us to support the nation of Israel. 3. We have discarded and forgotten the biblical position of nonintervention and nonaggression. 4. We are not obeying our own laws concerning war. 5. We are not a righteous nation. What business do we then have to try to force our immorality on others? 6. We are likely modern day Assyria and Babylon and are the rod in God's hand to destroy wicked nations, but will most likely be destroyed by God after he is done with us. 7. We have adopted the unbiblical concept of debt and paper money which our wars cause. III. The biblical justification for this study. 1. War and any important decisions should be made with wise and much counsel. A. We are supposed to make war with good advice and by counsel (Pro 20:18). B. We should only make war with wise counsel, and safety is found in the multitude of counselors (Pro 24:6). C. Without good counsel purposes are disappointed, but they are established in the multitude of counselors (Pro 15:22). D. Where there is no counsel, the people fall (Pro 11:14). 2. So what business do I have in scrutinizing our war-making interventionist policies in the Middle East from a biblical perspective to see if they are right? A. The scriptures are our counselors (Psa 119:24). B. They should be our guide in every area of life (Psa 119:105). C. We should take heed to its instruction and reproofs (Psa 119:9; Pro 6:23). IV. Christians have a faulty understanding of who the real Israel is. 1. Many Christians, especially those who subscribe to dispensationalism, believe that the Jews living in modern day Israel are the chosen peculiar people of God. 2. This belief is based on Old Testament passages such as these: A. God is called the God of Israel 201 times in the O.T. ex: (Exo 5:1;Isa 45:15), but interestingly only twice in the N.T., and both times before the death of Christ (Mat 15:31; Luk 1:68). B. God called Israel His chosen and his servant (Isa 41:8-9). C. God said that he redeemed Israel and they were His (Isa 43:1). D. Israel were God's elect (Isa 45:4). E. God said He would not forget them and that he had blotted out their sins (Isa 44:21-22). F. God said that he would save Israel with an everlasting salvation (Isa 45:17). 3. A fundament rule of bible study is that the O.T. is to be understood in light of the N.T. and the N.T. is used to interpret the O.T. A. The New Testament, the word of the apostles, is a more sure word of prophecy (2Pe 1:19). i. It is as a light that shines in the dark places of the Old Testament. ii. We would do well if we take heed to this. B. The New Testament is a better testament (Heb 7:22). C. The New Testament is characterized by great plainness of speech in contradistinction to the Old Testament which was vailed (2Co 3:12-13). D. If we would read the N.T., and specifically the epistles of Paul, we would understand the mystery that was made know to him: that the Gentiles have been made fellow-heirs, of the same body, and partakers of God's promises with Israel (Eph 3:3-6). 4. When we apply these scriptural principles, we will find out who the real Israel is. A. The New Testament makes it very clear that there are two Israels (Rom 9:6). i. Not all of the natural posterity of Abraham are God's Israel (Rom 9:7-8; Gal 4:28-30). ii. Not all the natural posterity of Isaac are God's Israel (Rom 9:10-13). iii. Not even all of the natural posterity of Israel (Jacob) are God's Israel (Rom 9:27-29). B. It matters not if one is a natural child of Abraham, but rather if one is a child of the promise to Abraham (Rom 9:8). i. The promises to Abraham were made to two people: Abraham and his seed which is Christ (Gal 3:16). ii. Those who belong to Christ (Jew and Gentile) are therefore Abraham's and heir according to the promise (Gal 3:28-29). iii. It is they which are of faith which are the children of Abraham, not they which are of blood only (Gal 3:7). C. With the coming of Christ and the writing of the New Testament in His blood and the abolishing of the Old Testament, the Gentiles who used to be aliens from the commonwealth of Israel are now part of it (Eph 2:11-22). i. This is why Paul says we are the circumcision to a Gentile church (Phi 3:3) ii. This is why Paul could go as far as to say he is NOT a Jew, which is one outwardly...but he IS a Jew, which is one inwardly (Rom 2:28-29). D. Being a natural Jew means absolutely nothing in the eyes of God on this side of the cross (1Co 7:19; Gal 6:15; Col 3:11). E. The true Israel of God are those Jews and Gentiles which are in Christ (Gal 6:15-16).