Question: In your last newsletter, you stated that “...‘my people’ refers to Israel, not to ...

Question: In your last newsletter, you stated that “...‘my people’ refers to Israel, not to the church; and ‘I will heal their land’ refers to the promised land of Israel, not to the United States.” If Christians are not God’s people, then who are they? What about Nineveh? Do you not believe that God might heal our nation just as He did Nineveh? I understand that God will not answer prayers addressed to other gods, but is it in vain to pray to Him for a national revival? You also said the “Christians are ‘not of this world’ but have been called ‘out of this world’ to be in it but not of it.” If Christians and Israelites are two distinctive people in God’s eyes, and if Christians have been called out of this world, then to where are the Israelites called? Are they destined to stay on earth during the Millennium, while Christians are not? I am confused. Would you please clarify these issues for me?

Response: That Christians are distinct not only from Jews (“Israelites,” as you call them) but also from Gentiles (i.e., from all non-Christians) is clear: “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Cor:10:32Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
See All...). The gospel is both to Jews and to Gentiles; and when either believes, he or she becomes a new creation in Christ (2 Cor:5:17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
See All...; Eph:2:8-10 [8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: [9] Not of works, lest any man should boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
See All...) and member of His body, the church (Eph:2:19-22 [19] Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; [20] And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; [21] In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: [22] In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
See All...; 5:30, etc.). Nor am I the one who said Christians are “not of this world” but have been called “out of this world.” Christ said that: “ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (Jn:15:19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
See All...). Of His followers, Christ said in prayer to His Father: “...these are in the world....I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (Jn:17:11And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
See All...,15-16).

I don’t say it is vain to pray to God for national revival or to heal our nation. I have often prayed for that myself and it should be the heart’s desire of every Christian in this country. I only say that there is no biblical promise that such a prayer will be answered, as there is for Israel in 2 Chronicles:7:14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
See All.... Prayers for America legitimately express our longing for God’s blessing and salvation to come upon all mankind. We are, however, to pray with understanding..

Thus, when we pray, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we realize that will never happen until Christ returns and reigns. Yes, Christians are “God’s people”—not His earthly but His heavenly people. The church has no land; it is the Jews to whom God gave a specific land. God never gave America to the American Christians or Germany to the German Christians. Therefore I cannot properly apply God’s promise (that when His people cry to Him He will “heal their land”) to anyone but the Jews, His people, and to the land of Israel, which He promised to them.

To inherit the kingdom eternally on earth, Jews must have the same faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that those patriarchs had. In my opinion—and many Bible scholars disagree—everyone, whether Jew or Gentile, who believes in Christ both before and after the Rapture, but before the Second Coming, will be in the church. Jews who have rejected Him but who at His Second Coming “look upon” Him and believe in Him when He descends from heaven to rescue them at the Battle of Armageddon (Zec:12:10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
See All...)—like Gentiles who believe at that time as well—will continue into the Millennial Kingdom to experience Christ’s earthly reign on David’s throne. Jews, of course, will be gathered by angels “from the four winds” on earth to Israel (Mt 24:30-31). They are destined to dwell upon earth in the Millennium and in the new heavens and new earth. The prophets promised this blessing to Israel (Is 62; 65:17- 25; Jer:30:8-11 [8] For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: [9] But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. [10] Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. [11] For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
See All...; 31:1-12,27-40; Ezk 34:11-31; 36:8- 15, 22-38; 37:21-28; 39:21-29; Zec:12:10-14 [10] And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. [11] In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. [12] And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; [13] The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; [14] All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
See All...:21, etc., etc.). All of Israel will believe in Christ when He appears to rescue her in the midst of Armageddon. There will not be an unbelieving Jew left upon the earth, as the verses just referred to declare and so do many others, such as Matthew:24:13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
See All..., Romans:11:26And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
See All..., etc.

The church, Christ’s bride, united to Him eternally always to be at His side, from every nation, including Jews, made one in Him, will rule and reign with Him both during the Millennium and throughout eternity (Mt 19:28; Lk 19:12-19; 22:30; Rv 20:4, etc.).