WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF ISRAEL TODAY?
By Ernest O'Neill
What is the Function of Israel Today?
By Rev. Ernest O'Neill
You feel that surely these heroes, who have done so much for the cause of chosen people -- surely, they will be accepted into God's presence at the end of this life. It has to be! It could not be otherwise -- men and women like these who have done so much to forward the whole prophetic progress of Israel -- must surely be received into God's presence and live with him forever at the Last Day.
And yet, loved ones, the only information we have on that kind of thing is very clear, and it implies a negative answer. Look at Romans 10:12: "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For, ‘everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.’ But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed?"
With our old emotional and illogical minds, you and I may feel that surely Moshe Dayan and Golda Meier will live with our Creator forever. But God's word says clearly that those who call upon God's name will be saved; but how can people call upon him if they have not believed in him?
In actual fact, both Moshe Dayan and Golda Meier probably express very clearly the particular function that Israel has in the world today. That function may surprise you, loved ones. Look down that chapter to the last verse, Romans 10:21: "But of Israel he says, 'All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’"
Israel is a testimony to the truth of those words. That is still Israel's primary function in these days. And, however liberal you may want to be, and however enlightened and intellectual and liberated we may all appear to be -- we have to fact that fact that at this stage in history, and probably until Jesus comes, Israel is a testimony not so much to God’s favor as it is to the ingratitude of humanity and its rejection of God's favor.
In actual fact, Israel is not anything else but a "contrary and disobedient people" in regard to the greatest gift that God has given us. That greatest gift is the one man who lived in our world, and was able to destroy death and was able to live again despite being buried. By his sinless life, his supernatural wisdom, and his power, he proved that he was the Son of the Creator of the world -- the Messiah.
And yet, we have to face the fact honestly. Israel still rejects that man. In regard to God’s greatest, most beautiful, and clearest gift, Israel is still a contrary and disobedient people. This is not something that is said by anti-Semites. This is something said by one who himself was a Jew.