I wish all people were as firm in exalting the deity of Jesus as Joseph Shulam, a Jewish Christian (P. O. B. 8043, 16 Narkis St., Jerusalem 91080 Israel). He works night and day to bring both Jews and Arabs to a saving knowledge of the Messiah. I rejoice that what he teaches about the future of "Israel has nothing to do with premillennialism in any way."

But he writes:

(The ancient Hebrew error that the name of God is too sacred for humans to speak or write causes our brother to omit the "o" from the word "God". Also, he prefers to use the Hebrew name for Jesus: Yeshua). In truth, God did cut off the Jewish people from their physical inheritance in Palestine, because they "rejected" their Messiah (Matthew 21:42). "He came to his own things, but his own people did not receive him" (John 1:11, FHV). Jesus’ grief was heavy:

From Mt. Olive he looked down on the city. Tears came into his eyes, as he said:

In the besieged city, forty years after Jesus’ prediction, hunger caused even children to be eaten. The last sacrifice was offered on July 16, 70 A.D. On August 9 the walls were broken through, and the city was captured. Unbelievably, one million and one hundred thousand Jews were killed, and one hundred thousand were sold as slaves. Complete desolation followed, and soon an eyewitness reported that the place looked as if it had never been inhabited.

But, thank God, he never forgets any individual whose eyes are set on him! "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" (James 4:8). Though the Jews lost their physical inheritance, the Jews who accept the Savior have "an imperishable and unstained and never-fading inheritance, reserved in heaven (1 Peter 1:4, FHV).

It is regrettable that not only some Hews but also many non-Jews thinks that God has future earthly plans for the Jewish people, now held in abeyance. One of the reasons for that wide-spread belief is because translations use the work "everlasting" or "forever" in relation to the land of promise to Abraham and to his seed in Genesis 13:15. They reason that, though for a "temporary period of time" the Jews are dispossessed, since God is not slack concerning his promises, he will eventually restore Palestine to them.

But the word translated "forever" or "everlasting," olam, some times does not mean "forever" or "everlasting," as when it describes Jonah’s time in the fish’s stomach (1:17; 2:6), or the duration of circumcision (Genesis 17:13; Galations 5:6; 6:15), or of the Aaronic priesthood (Exodus 40:15; Hebrews 7:12), or of the earth (Ecclesiastes 1:4); Revelation 21:1), of the sabbath (Exodus 31:16; Colossians 2:16). Sometimes olam requires human obedience, as in regard to the land promise: Deuteronomy 28:1, 2, 9, 13, 15, etc.; "if you … do all his commandments." But the Jews "broke" his covenant and rejected his Son and were driven out of the promised land in 70 A.D. (Jeremiah 31:21; Matthew 21:42). The translation "everlasting" or "forever" has made God look bad for nearly 2000 years. Other lexical definitions of olam, such as "hidden time" or "long duration" or "unending but not endless," would relieve the difficulty.

Apparently the present pontiff, in establishing diplomatic relations with the government of Israel, had succumbed to the idea that God still has a land plan for the Jews. He used the word "inexorable" (unchangeable, inflexible, immovable) in quoting Romans 11:29, "For the gifts and the calling of God are inexorable." He does not realize that "they are not all Israel that are of Israel" (Romans 9:6). Only those of Israel who are Christians, spiritual "Israel," are the ones whom belong the inexorable "gifts and calling of God" (Galations 6:16).

And those gifts and calling do not include a renewed land grant and title to Palestine, but to "a better country, that is, a heavenly", not to "the Jerusalem which now is," but to the "Jerusalem which is above," the "new Jerusalem," a "city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God" in "heaven" (Galations 4:25, 26; Hebrews 11:9, 16; Revelations 21:2).

When the Jews proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, many Protestant believers in Jesus in several denominations said that God is now beginning to fulfill his alleged delayed "promise". But what is in Palestine today is a secular state, and many of the Jews are atheists. The modern State of Israel was not founded by God; he had been forced to give up on the Jews when they turned against Jesus: "the kingdom of God" was "taken away from" them (Matthew 21:43).

But the erroneous idea lives on. Russ Burcham writes:

President Bill Clinton, speaking to Israel’s Parliament on October 27, mentioned that his American pastor had urged him, "Do no forget Israel!" Mr. Clinton promised he would not forget Israel, and he received a standing applause. Clearly neither the President not the Parliament was thinking of God’s spiritual "Israel" spoken of by Paul (Galations 6:16).

Similarly, our beloved Jewish brother Shulam says that "the Jewish people" are still "G-d’s chosen people," but he is clear that they will not be "saved without Christ." He writes:

He believes that the prediction about "the fullness of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24; Romans 11:25) "has already begun its time of fulfillment in our days." Truly, as our brother says, "God has not rejected his people." This Paul proves by citing himself as an example: "I am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast off his people whom he foreknew" (Romans 11:1-2). Israel, says our brother, is "the elect people of God, keeping in mind that election does not mean salvation." The Jews were elected, chosen by God, to bring Jesus into the world, and that has been done. Now all Christians, Jews and Gentiles, have become "the elect" of God to go to heaven (1 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 peter 1:10).

Brother Shulam is a clear thinker:

What a great man of God and a beloved brother is Joseph Shulam! After I received his three page letter, I wrote to him two paragraphs of appreciation: