Modern-Day Israel: Prophecy Fulfilled??

You may have heard about or seen the 2024 epic film, as it is billed, called “I Am Israel.” The marketing material emphasizes fulfillment of a prophecy from Ezekiel 36:8 that says, “My children are coming home.” The idea is that ancient promises have finally seen fulfillment in the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. 

 So, is modern-day Israel God’s chosen nation?

The question is important. If modern-day Israel is God’s chosen nation, then there must be two paths of fellowship with God: one through Moses (The Law of Moses) and one through Jesus Christ.

What does the Bible say?

First, the prophecy from Ezekiel was written when the Israelites, more specifically, the Israelites from the tribe of Judah, were taken captive by the nation of Babylon. The prophecy contained a threefold message:

• The reason for their capture: unfaithfulness to God through idolatry;
• God will judge the nations who mocked His people; and
• God will restore His people to the Promised Land.

Those prophesies were fulfilled a few years after they were spoken. God’s people were released from captivity and returned to Jerusalem in Judea in 536 B.C. The restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem is recorded in the Old Testament book of Ezra. So, Ezekiel’s prophecy has not been left unfulfilled until our day.

Another significant prophecy is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34 in which God promised to make a new covenant. It would be different from the covenant He had made with Israel at the time of Moses. Under the first (old) covenant, children were born into the covenant but did not know anything about God until taught. In contrast, under the new covenant, a person would first learn about God and then, if he/she chose, would enter into a covenant relationship with God. Entrance into the new covenant would be on the basis of God’s forgiveness of sins, not physical birth.

Jesus looked forward to the new covenant at His last Passover meal with His disciples. He presented a cup of ‘the fruit of the vine’ as representation of “My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:24) Jesus was referring to His sacrificial death in which His blood was to be shed to inaugurate the new covenant as prophesied by Jeremiah.

Later, the writer of the book of Hebrews stated that the first covenant was made obsolete by the new covenant. So, by the time of the writing of Hebrews, the new covenant had been established and was in effect.

The Apostle Peter wrote to Christians, those who believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God and promised Messiah:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession….

—1 Peter 2:9

Earlier, he referred to the same people as a “spiritual house.” So, the new covenant was of a spiritual nature. The “holy nation” of God was not, and is not, a physical nation, but rather, a spiritual nation.

The covenant relationship God once had with the physical nation of Israel ended because the people broke their covenant with Him and in doing so released Him from His obligation to the covenant. Even if today’s Israel were to return to all the practices taught in the Law of Moses, they would not enjoy a covenant relationship with God. The old covenant is obsolete. 

However, today’s Israel and the Jews of today can once again come into a covenant relationship with God, but only through a faith response to Jesus Christ. Anyone who wishes to be a part of the kingdom of God must be born again, born of the Spirit , born into a spiritual kingdom. (John 3:3-8)

Mark Stinnett

July 6, 2025

Why Were You Baptized? (Reason #3)

There seems to be considerable confusion in our day regarding baptism. Many things have been taught about baptism that are simply not in the Bible. For that reason, it is safe to say that the confusion is the fault of man, not God. Here is another reason that some people have been baptized.

Reason #3:

My parents had me baptized when I was a baby.

On one occasion a young man told me that he had been baptized as a baby. Curious, I ask why. He told me that it was the way the parents’ in his church devoted their children to Christ.

I truly admire parents who wish to devote their children to Christ, and I appreciate that they wish to make their desire known. But why choose baptism to express their desire?

I have read other reasons for baptizing infants. Some of the reasoning sounds noble and some of the reasoning is confusing. I have found no parallel in the Bible. In fact, I have found something in Scripture quite contrary to this practice.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote about a ‘new covenant’ that would replace the existing covenant God had with the nation of Israel. In his words…

“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”     —Jeremiah 31:34

(You can read the entire text beginning in verse 31.)

The first covenant God made was with the physical nation of Israel. When an Israelite couple had a child, that child was automatically part of a covenant relationship with God. Of course, that child knew nothing of God and had to be taught. So, birth occurred before instruction.

However, Jeremiah’s prophecy was about a new covenant. Under the new covenant a person would already have knowledge of God, at least the basic knowledge of His forgiving character.

Jesus fulfilled Jeremiah's prophecy ushering in the a covenant which assured forgiveness of sins through the blood (sacrifice) of Christ. The entire book of Hebrews examines the new covenant which resulted in Christianity. It is better than the old covenant and it made the old covenant obsolete. (Hebrews 8).

One stark difference between the two covenants is relevant to the question of infant baptism:

• Old Covenant: A child was physically born into a covenant relationship with God, then had to be taught about God. So, teaching about God followed physical birth.
• New Covenant: A person was taught about God and then entered into a covenant relationship through a spiritual birth. So, teaching about God preceded spiritual birth.

Which which covenant practice does infant baptism more closely resemble?
If you wish to be a part of the new covenant, it does not start as an infant, or even as a toddler.

Whatever reasons people offer for baptizing infants, Jeremiah said that in the new covenant, “they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.” All examples of baptism in the New Testament involved adults who were first taught the gospel, then baptized.

If you were baptized only as an infant, it may have been for noble reasons, but it must not be confused with the ‘one baptism’ that the Apostle Paul wrote about in Ephesians 4. The new covenant is better; the old is obsolete. You must be born again!

(Look for a followup to Reason #3 later in the week.)

(Click here for Reason #2.)