Redeeming God

Liberating you from bad ideas about God

Learn the MOST ESSENTIAL truths for following Jesus.

Get FREE articles and audio teachings in my discipleship emails!


  • Join Us!
  • Scripture
  • Theology
  • My Books
  • About
  • Discipleship
  • Courses
    • What is Hell?
    • Skeleton Church
    • The Gospel According to Scripture
    • The Gospel Dictionary
    • The Re-Justification of God
    • What is Prayer?
    • Adventures in Fishing for Men
    • What are the Spiritual Gifts?
    • How to Study the Bible
    • Courses FAQ
  • Forum
    • Introduce Yourself
    • Old Testament
    • New Testament
    • Theology Questions
    • Life & Ministry
You are here: Home / Jesus Reveals Israel

Jesus Reveals Israel

By Jeremy Myers
1 Comment

Jesus Reveals Israel

IsraelWhen it comes to the violence of God in the Old Testament, one of the primary areas of concern is not only with God’s apparent violent actions in Scripture, but what God commands Israel to violently do in His name. In other words, the violence of God is often carried out through commands to Israel to do violence.

Israel as God’s “Hit Man”

Though in the minds of some, there is no difference between God commanding the ground to swallow people up and God commanding the Israelites to kill everyone in a particular city, others see a huge difference between the two. After all, though storms are lifeless and soulless, when God commands people to carry out His judgment He is commanding humans to take the life of other humans thereby involving them in His questionable actions.

Many critics of Christianity think that if God wants to be violent toward humanity, He should do the dirty work Himself. The fact that He asks Israel to be His “Hit Man” only makes the situation worse in the eyes of some.

Gods Hit man
Was Israel God’s Hit Man?

Some theologians and Bible teachers try to soften the commands of God to Israel to commit violence in His name. Several of these attempts were summarized in the previous posts when we looked at several of the views of how people seek to explain the violence of God in Scripture, but the tragic fact is that violence of Israel cannot easily be explained away, and often the same reasoning that is used to get Israel if the hook in her violence toward neighboring nations is then used to justify (and even encourage) violence today from our own country toward those we view as enemies of God.

We will return to this issue later after we have seen a new way of viewing the violence of Israel.

Understand God by Looking at Jesus

Part of the framework for viewing this violence is to build upon everything we have seen so far in this chapter. If the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and if Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels reveals the Father to us, then we should read about God in the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus, and not the other way around. We should try to understand the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob within the light of Jesus. We do not necessarily ask, “What does God teach us about Jesus?” but rather, “What does Jesus teach us about God?”

Understand Israel by Looking at Jesus

The exact same approach can be used when thinking about Israel.

Over and over in the Gospels, we see hints, allusions, and clear statements to the truth that Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel. Jesus is true Israel. In Jesus, all the hopes, expectations, desires, dreams, and goals of all the people of Israel come into focus and come to fruition. Jesus lives as Israel was always supposed to live.

Though most scholars and Bible teachers agree that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Messianic hopes and promises, and some may even agree that fulfilled and completed Israel herself, few seem to recognize that just as Jesus shows us how to understand what God is like, so also, Jesus shows us how to understand what Israel was supposed to be.

Jesus on the crossThere was, of course, never any real chance of Israel looking, acting, or becoming fully like Jesus Christ, because Israel consisted entirely of sinful human beings, whereas Jesus Christ was sinless, but the point is that just as Jesus reveals God the Father to us, so also, Jesus reveals Israel.

If we want to understand what God wanted Israel to be and do, we would do best to begin by looking at the life of Jesus, and then reading all Old Testament history in light of Him. To understand Israel’s place in the world, we must read Jesus back onto Israel; not the other way around.

Jesus frames Israel, not vice versa. Jesus reveals Israel to us by showing us what God wanted, what God intended, and how Israel was supposed to function within this world.

God of the Old Testament and JesusHow can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?

These are the sorts of questions we discuss and (try to) answer in my online discipleship group. Members of the group can also take ALL of my online courses (Valued at over $1000) at no charge. Learn more here: Join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship Group I can't wait to hear what you have to say, and how we can help you better understand God and learn to live like Him in this world!


God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: When God Pled Guilty

Advertisement

Learn the most essential truths for following Jesus!

Get FREE articles and audio teachings every week in my discipleship emails!


Comments

    Leave a Comment or Question Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Shanan Johnson says

    April 16, 2019 at 1:26 am

    Love what you are saying here. Amazing insight! Glad I found this.

    Reply

Leave a Comment or Question Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join the discipleship group
Learn about the gospel and how to share it

Take my new course:

The Gospel According to Scripture
Best Books Every Christian Should Read
Study Scripture with me
Subscribe to my Podcast on iTunes
Subscribe to my Podcast on Amazon

Do you like my blog?
Try one of my books:

Click the image below to see what books are available.

Books by Jeremy Myers

Take Online Courses
with N. T. Wright

Choose from Six Courses:
*N. T. Wright on Jesus
*N. T. Wright on Romans
*N. T. Wright on Galatians
*N. T. Wright on Philippians
*N. T. Wright on the Gospel
*N. T. Wright on Worldviews

Theological Study Archives

  • Theology – General
  • Theology Introduction
  • Theology of the Bible
  • Theology of God
  • Theology of Man
  • Theology of Sin
  • Theology of Jesus
  • Theology of Salvation
  • Theology of the Holy Spirit
  • Theology of the Church
  • Theology of Angels
  • Theology of the End Times
  • Theology Q&A

Bible Study Archives

  • Bible Studies on Genesis
  • Bible Studies on Esther
  • Bible Studies on Psalms
  • Bible Studies on Jonah
  • Bible Studies on Matthew
  • Bible Studies on Luke
  • Bible Studies on Romans
  • Bible Studies on Ephesians
  • Miscellaneous Bible Studies

Advertise or Donate

  • Advertise on RedeemingGod.com
  • Donate to Jeremy Myers

Search (and you Shall Find)

Get Books by Jeremy Myers

Books by Jeremy Myers

Schedule Jeremy for an interview

Click here to Contact Me!

© 2023 Redeeming God · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Knownhost and the Genesis Framework