Israel: A Prophetic Sign?

Part I: The Story of Israel and the Church from Abraham to Today

INTRODUCTION

Since the fall of mankind at the beginning of human history, God has been at work in the great task of restoring humanity to Himself, accomplishing this in the fullness of time through the incarnation, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. Before the pinnacle of divine revelation was made manifest to the world in the first century of our era, however, came a long period of preparation during which God chose a people for Himself, a people who would be His witness to the world and would prepare it for the coming of the Messiah. This people is the people of Israel.

The people of Israel are not only at the heart of the Old and New Testaments. Far from being a mere relic of the past, their survival to our own day as a people without a land for most of their history, and their uneasy coexistence alongside of the Church has continually intrigued, fascinated, and at times irritated Christians. The controversial rebirth of the State of Israel in the middle of the twentieth century, along with the recent rise of Messianic Judaism, has only intensified the urgency of many questions concerning them and their place in God's purpose.

This paper is the first of three parts that will examine Israel's place in the plan of salvation, with special attention given to her typological and eschatological role. We will take a close look at the relationship between Israel and Christ as type and archetype, examining the parallels between Christ and biblical Israel, and also investigating the role of post-Christic Jewry and its relationship with the Church. We will see how the life of Christ is reflected not only in the Israel of the Old Testament but also in the history of the Jewish people from the birth of Jesus to our own day. In order to do this, we will first need to lay out fairly extensive historical and biblical foundations by looking at Israel's origins and founding, her identity, her mission, and the way she prepared the coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament. We will then look at how Christ fulfilled Israel's mission and attempt to discern the role of Israel and of Judaism after His first coming. Of particular importance will be the painful subject of the relationship of Israel with the Church. We will need to examine the theology of Israel that was developed by the Church Fathers and the way this theology influenced the course of Jewish-Christian relations up to our present day. This will provide the necessary background to help us answer questions (in the second part) that are most pressing today: Why have the Jews not accepted Christ and why have the Church's mission efforts to the Jews produced but little fruit? What does the Bible say about the restoration of Israel and how is this typologically related to the life of Jesus? Is there a divine purpose for the re-birth of the nation of Israel in the twentieth century and could this be connected with the salvation of the Jewish people? What is the eschatological role of Israel? How has the position of the Church towards Israel changed since Vatican II and how may this affect the eschatological scheme of things? 

The third part will then examine the birth of the modern State of Israel, the rise of Messianic Judaism and the parallel phenomenon of Christian Zionism in light of the biblical and theological principles exposed in the first and second parts. We will also examine the Hebrew-Catholic movement and attempt to explain why this latter group remains small and rather marginal whereas the Messianic movement is growing rapidly worldwide. We will seek answers as to why the Catholic Church is presently failing to respond to the recent openness of the Jewish people for Jesus, while Messianic groups supported by Evangelical Christians are reaping the largest harvest of Jewish conversions to Christ since the first century. Finally, we will propose suggestions as to how Catholics could learn from Messianic Judaism so that they may be able to better present the Catholic faith to Jews as the fulfillment of their faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the accomplishment of all promises made to Israel.