Does National Israel have a special endtimes destiny?

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English: This is a map of first century Iudaea...
English: This is a map of first century Iudaea Province that I created using Illustrator CS2. I traced this image for the general geographic features. I then manually input data from maps found in a couple of sources. Robert W. Funk and the Jesus Seminar. The Acts of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco: 1998. p. xxiv. Michael Grant. Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels. Charles Scribner's Sons: 1977. p. 65-67. John P. Meier. A Marginal Jew. Doubleday: 1991. p. 1:434. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The New Testament does not speak of a special destiny of ethnic Israel. Jesus emphasized the fundamental importance of continuous fidelity to the covenant, warning Israel of loss of land if they refuse to live in righteousness—in full agreement with the Abrahamic covenant, with Moses’ exhortation, and with the prophets of the Old Testament. Jesus proclaimed that covenant fidelity and righteousness now depend on accepting and obeying his message about the arrival of the kingdom of God. Paul emphasized that membership in the covenant and righteousness depend on coming to faith in Jesus, whose death and resurrection effects salvation for all who believe, whether Jews or Gentiles. There is no interest in territorial questions, neither for the church nor for Israel. The Promised Land has not become irrelevant, and the Jewish people have not been totally rejected, as a people, by God. But Israel’s land cannot claim a lasting theological significance. It is no longer “holy land” in an exclusive sense. Since God revealed himself in Jesus, Israel’s crucified and risen Messiah, the locus of divine presence is where Jesus is: at the right hand of God and in the community of Jewish and Gentile believers, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit and the body of Christ.


Schnabel, E. J. (2011). 40 Questions about the End Times. (B. L. Merkle, Ed.) (p. 127). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic & Professional.

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