Who are the Real Jews?

Gottlieb.Jews_Praying_in_the_Synagogue_on_Yom_Kippur1-1The question is: Who are the real Jews? After all the internet is replete with articles and information that Jews are the ones causing the entire world’s problems including creating this New World communist order, printing money, causing depressions etc. The historical involvement of many Jews in the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and the reality of many Jews in the political landscape in America and Western Europe, has led many to conclude that Jews want to take over the world.

Some hold the view that the modern-day “Jews” did not physically descend from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but they instead descended from the Khazars, which are a Turkish, non-Semitic race that ruled the Khazar Empire located between the Caspian and Black Seas (now southern Russia). They believe they converted to Judaism during the early centuries.

Others believe that occupants of modern-day Israel are Jews who are mainly the descendants of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, as these were the main tribes living in Israel at the time of Christ and were then dispersed after the revolt against the Roman Empire in AD 70.

Another common view is what some have termed “British Israelism,” which is the belief that many of the world’s English-speaking peoples, like the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, are direct descendants of the ten lost tribes of Israel. Furthermore, since God looks kindly upon the descendants of Israel, those who claim this relationship often believe God favours them.

Those who hold this view believe that this is the main reason why they’ve come to possess the richest portions of earthly wealth. Most of these maintain that when the Assyrians conquered Samaria, Israel’s capital in 721 BC, the northern tribes of Israel were captured and enslaved by the Assyrians.

So these northern tribes never returned from their captivity and they contend that these “ten lost tribes” of Israel made their way to Northern Europe, the British Islands, and some migrated as far as North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and around the world.

These theological doctrines have been attributed to Mr. Herbert M. Armstrong (1892–1986), who is the founder of the Worldwide Church of God. Though his interpretation is very complicated and tedious, he concludes that England descended from Ephraim and the United States from Manasseh. Some prophecy teachers reject his interpretation and have claimed that he takes passage after passage out of context. In his book The Late United States, author and Bible prophecy teacher, Mark Hitchcock rightly notes:

The northern tribes have been not been lost. Many of them have been dispersed, but not lost. God knows where every man, woman, and child of them is located.Those who doubt that God will literally appoint 144,000 Jewish males during the end times are lacking a biblical view of God (see Revelation 7:4–7). Even though tribal identities may be forgotten by mankind, God has never lost track of them—who or where they are. And in our time we are witnessing the initial stages of the final re-gathering of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland…. These ten tribes are not, nor have they ever been lost. And they are not in any way related to the United States. The United States is not the ten lost tribes of Israel, nor the tribe of Manasseh. Israel is still Israel and will fulfill its central role in the events of the end times, just as the Bible predicts.

The Sin of Anti-Semitism

We can understand that Jewish hatred and anti-Semitism have more to do with God and His purposes rather than the Jewish people themselves. This does not mean that the Jews are better or worse than anyone else. It is because God chose the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to bring redemption to the world, the Messiah Himself being a Jew. So in that light, it will be a bad day for all the anti-Semites when they realize that the all-powerful King coming in a flaming fire is a glorified Jew.

As Christians, we should be careful not to be anti-Semitic when it comes to dealing with the Jews. We have to remember that some Jews and their leaders are just as secular as American humanists. Those who think that it’s the Jewish or Zionist conspiracy that is creating the New World Order and causing all the world’s financial problems should understand this conspiracy involves participants of all races, tribes, and tongues.

The Bible describes a time when Israel will be isolated from the rest of the world and attacked by kings of the north, east, south, and west. Does this sound like a nation that will secretly take over the world? Just like some of the framers who wanted to replace Christianity with a religion of human reason, even today there many other humanist Jews and Gentiles who hate anything that has to do with Yeshua and Christians.

This is essentially a struggle between good and evil. It is not a Jewish problem as people are portraying it—it is anti-Semitism, and on a deeper level occultic, as it was in Nazi Germany. There is overwhelming evidence in the Word of God to indicate that anyone who curses the true descendants of Abraham, whether individually or as a nation, will be cursed (see Genesis 12:3). The laboratory is Europe. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn believed:

The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century. The first of these was World War I and II and much of our present predicament can be traced back to it. It was a war (the memory of which seems to be fading) when Europe, bursting with health and abundance, fell into a rage of self-mutilation which could not but sap its strength for a century or more, and perhaps forever. The only possible explanation for this war is a mental eclipse among the leaders of Europe due to their lost awareness of a Supreme Power above them.

There is no doubt that one of the main reasons for the present lukewarm and powerless condition of the Church in Europe is due to anti-Semitism even in the pulpits. The record on religious freedom in Europe is much worse than across the Atlantic.

It’s been noted that secular humanists exercise more control in positions of leadership in Europe than they do in the United States. Four per cent of the British people attend church services. Why is this? Some believe it is because Bible-believing Christians in America understand the spiritual implications of blessing Israel; therefore, they’ve been blessed in many spiritual ways.

Despite its many mistakes, America has experienced more religious freedom and prosperity than any other nation partly because of the churches and individual Christians’s desire to support the Jewish nation. They recognize that the Jews are God’s chosen people, not because they deserve it, but because He chose them like He chose the church. As believers in Yeshua, we are to bless Israel because of the following reasons:

  • God says He will bless those who bless them (12:3; Isaiah 60:12).
  • We owe them a debt for the blessings we have received through them (Romans 9:4-5; 15:27)
  • God’s gift and call on Israel has not been revoked (Romans 11:28).
  • God has promised to bring them back to their land. The re-gathering of Israel is prophesized in Deuteronomy, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah and even by Jesus Himself in Luke 21:24.
  • The times of the Gentiles are almost fulfilled (Luke 21:28).
  • We are to comfort God’s chosen people (Isaiah 40:1-2; 49:22-23).
  • Teaching against anti-Semitism where is most deeply entrenched.

Are believers supposed to support everything the Jewish nation does? Absolutely not! We should understand that the notion of protecting Israel from her adversaries has been exploited by the military-industrial complex and made life even more dangerous for Israel.

We are also advised not to participate or get involved in the rebuilding of the temple Why? We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and some believe the anti-Christ will defile this temple.

Israel still has a geographical promise which they will have to claim in due time. Whereas, the Church has been given no such promise. The Church is a chosen nation and we hold no political identity.

Our task is to be a light to the world and to proclaim that Jesus alone saves us from eternal death…. there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved, (Acts 4:12) and that He is coming again. Maranatha… Come, Lord Jesus…