What Does the Bible Really Say About Israel?

The Promise That Started It All

On May 14, 1948, after nearly two thousand years without a Jewish nation in their ancestral homeland, the modern State of Israel was established.

Ever since, Christians have wrestled with important questions. Is the modern State of Israel the same Israel we read about in the Bible? Do God’s promises to Abraham still matter today? Has the Church replaced Israel? How should Christians think about Israel, Palestinians, antisemitism, Zionism, and a Jewish people who largely reject Jesus Christ as Messiah?

Unfortunately, we often allow politicians, news networks, social-media personalities, and political parties to answer questions that God has already addressed in His Word. So where should we begin? Not in 1948.

Before there was Jerusalem, Moses, David, the twelve tribes, or even a man named Israel, there was Abraham. And in Genesis 12:1–3, God makes a promise that will shape the rest of the Bible and ultimately change the world.

One Man: God Sovereignly Chooses Abraham

Genesis 11 ends at Babel. Humanity had gathered in rebellion against God, declaring, “Let us make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4). God confused their languages and scattered them across the earth.

Yet the promise of Genesis 3:15 remained. Somewhere, somehow, through someone, the promised Seed of the woman must come.

Then, out of all the families scattered across the earth, God calls one man: Abram.

This is one of the great turning points of Scripture. Genesis 1–11 focuses primarily upon humanity as a whole. But suddenly the biblical camera zooms in—from the world, to the nations, to one family, to one man.

And the story does not begin with what Abram does for God. It begins with what God does for Abram.

Joshua tells us that Abraham’s family “served other gods” (Joshua 24:2). Abram wasn’t searching for Yahweh. Yahweh came for Abram.

That is foundational for understanding Israel. Israel’s story begins not with human superiority, but with divine grace. Not with Israel choosing God, but with God choosing Israel.

Yet God’s sovereign grace calls Abraham to obedient faith: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”

Abraham does not even know where he is going. Hebrews says, “By faith Abraham obeyed…And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).

Abraham knew who was leading him before he knew where God was taking him.

And then comes a beautiful contrast with Babel. At Babel, humanity said, “Let us make a name for ourselves.” God tells Abraham, “I will…make your name great.”

Babel says, “Let us make.” God says, “I will make.” Babel is achievement. Abraham is grace.

God had scattered the nations, but He had not abandoned them. Instead, He chose one man from the nations through whom He would eventually bring blessing back to them.

God chose Abraham not instead of the nations, but for the nations.

One Nation: God Promises to Create Israel

God tells Abraham: “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

Here the Abrahamic promise begins to take shape—a promise that becomes foundational for the rest of Scripture.

Notice who carries the weight: “I will make…” “I will bless…” “I will make…”

Abraham will stumble. His descendants will rebel. Israel will experience judgment and exile. Kings will fail. But God’s redemptive plan will not collapse because from the beginning God says, “I will.”

And His first promise appears humanly impossible. Sarai is barren. Abraham is already seventy-five. Yet God declares, “I will make of you a great nation.”

Not merely descendants. A nation.

God is promising a real historical people who will become a real historical nation and eventually inhabit a real geographical land.

From Abraham comes Isaac. From Isaac comes Jacob. Jacob becomes Israel. From Israel come twelve sons, then twelve tribes, then the nation of Israel. From Judah eventually comes David—and through David, the promised King.

So where does Israel begin? Not in 1948. Not at Mount Sinai. Not even when Jacob receives the name Israel.

Israel’s story begins with God’s sovereign promise to Abraham.

But election was never merely about privilege. It was also about purpose.

God tells Abraham, “You will be a blessing.” Abraham would not merely be the recipient of blessing. He would become its channel.

That becomes Israel’s great privilege and purpose. God entrusts Israel with His revelation, covenants, law, promises, and prophets. And above everything else, through Israel comes Jesus Christ.

As Paul says concerning Israel: “from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ” (Romans 9:5).

Israel was never the source of the blessing. God is. Israel was God’s chosen instrument for bringing that blessing to the world.

One World: God Purposes to Bless the Nations

God’s purpose does not terminate with one man—or even with one nation. He tells Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God uniquely identifies Himself with Abraham and His covenant purposes through him. Centuries later, that promise is explicitly applied to Israel when Balaam declares, “Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you” (Numbers 24:9).

That matters. But Genesis 12:3 should never be reduced to a simplistic political slogan.

God’s election never made Israel sinless. God’s covenant faithfulness never made Israel infallible. Scripture does not teach that everything every Jewish person—or the modern Israeli government—does is righteous. Nor does Jewish ancestry save anyone. Salvation comes only through Jesus Christ.

But Israel’s failures also do not make God unfaithful.

The climax of Genesis 12 is actually found in the final promise: “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 11 scattered the families of the earth. Genesis 12 announces God’s plan to bless the families of the earth.

And from here, the promise begins narrowing: Abraham. Isaac. Jacob. Judah. David. Jesus Christ.

That is why Matthew introduces Jesus as “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).

Paul goes even further. He says Scripture “preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Galatians 3:8).

Genesis 12:3 is the gospel beforehand. The salvation of the nations was never Plan B. It was part of God’s purpose from the beginning.

The promise comes through Abraham, through Israel, through Judah, through David, until every line converges upon Jesus Christ.

Then, in Christ, the direction reverses. The blessing explodes outward again.

From Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the end of the earth. Jews and Gentiles. Every ethnicity. Every language. Every nation.

Until Revelation shows us the final fulfillment: “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,” worshiping before the Lamb (Revelation 7:9).

The unity of Scripture is breathtaking: Genesis 11: The nations scattered. Genesis 12: The nations promised blessing. The Gospels: The Seed arrives. Acts: The Gospel goes to the nations. Revelation: The redeemed nations worship the Lamb.

And standing at the center of it all is Israel’s Messiah.

God chose one man, to create one nation, through whom would come one Savior, for one world.

What This Means for Me

1. Faith takes God at His Word.

Abraham reminds us that faith does not require knowing everything God is doing before we obey Him.

God told him to go to a land He had not yet identified and promised a seventy-five-year-old man with a barren wife that He would make him into a great nation. Humanly speaking, it made no sense. Yet Abraham went.

We often want God to give us the entire map before we trust Him. But God has not promised us the entire map. He has given us His Word.

Faith says, “If God has said it, I can trust it.”

Circumstances change. Our understanding is limited. But the God who promises is faithful.

2. Let God’s Word determine how you think about Israel.

Christians must reject two opposite errors: idolizing Israel and despising Israel.

God’s promises do not mean everything the modern Israeli government does is righteous. They do not permit us to ignore injustice or treat Palestinians—or anyone else—as though they possess less dignity as image-bearers of God.

But neither may we despise the Jewish people, erase Israel from God’s redemptive purposes, or casually dismiss promises God Himself made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Our theology cannot be dictated by the political right or the political left. It must be dictated by the Word of God.

That is why the questions ahead matter: Who is Israel today? Has the Church replaced Israel? Do God’s promises to Israel remain? What about the modern State of Israel? Does God still have a future for the Jewish people?

These are fundamentally biblical questions. So we must let the Bible answer them.

Final Word

Genesis 12:1–3 contains only three verses, but within them lies the storyline of the Bible.

God chose one man. From that man He created one nation. Through that nation came one King. And through that King, God is bringing salvation to one world.

The promise that began with Abraham ultimately leads us to Jesus Christ. And if you belong to Christ, the blessing God promised four thousand years ago has reached you.

The nations scattered at Babel are being gathered by the Lamb. The curse of sin is being overcome by the blessing of salvation.

And the God who said, “I will,” is still keeping every promise He has made.

Because what God promises, God accomplishes.