I am aware of that. But I also believe that a great many who identify as Christians will be lost as well. Jesus' stinging rejection of the "many" on judgment day is.....
"I never knew you, get away from me you workers of lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:21-23) These are the ones who acknowledge him as their "Lord" and pleadingly relate all the things that they did 'in his name'. They are obviously fooling themselves.
I don't believe that his promise to Abraham had its total fulfillment with fleshly Israel. Here's why.....
When the Pharisees came to witness John's baptism, they received a stinging rebuke from him.
Matthew 3:7-10 says.....
."When he caught sight of many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to the baptism, he said to them: “You offspring of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore, produce fruit that befits repentance. 9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. 10 The ax is already lying at the root of the trees. Every tree, then, that does not produce fine fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire."
It doesn't sound as if being born as a son of Abraham is the prime thing from God's perspective. If God can raise up children for Abraham from the stones, then why would he put up with a wayward nation who continually broke their covenant with him? He said that the axe was poised to cut them down. No good fruit was forthcoming.
Jesus too spoke of Israel being 'abandoned' by God because of their refusal to be corrected by his prophets.
Christmas. Yet it didn't stop Hitler for killing
Rich, poor, we die. Struggling, successful, we die. Apart, assimilated, we die.
It seems like all the options
When you look at it that way, there is only one sensible option. Only one. Well, I should say there is only one unless you WANT the Jews gone.
And that's why anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. Because the other two options literally hurt the Jewish people, eventhreaten our very survival.
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent to her—how often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings! But you did not want it. 38 Look! Your house is abandoned to you. 39 For I say to you, you will by no means see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in Jehovah’s name!’” (Matthew 23:37-39)
In the 2,000 years since Jesus spoke those words, the Jewish nation has never "blessed the one who came in Jehovah's name". They have never repented of their part in Jesus' death.
Then we have James's statement in Acts 15:14...
."Symʹe·on has related thoroughly how God for the first time turned his attention to the nations to take out of them a people for his name."
Paul identified these ones as
"the Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16)....not speaking about Jews but of Gentile Christians too. These are 'spiritual' Israel. (Romans 2:28-29) God abandoned fleshly Israel when they murdered the last one sent to correct them, as Jesus said they had done too many times before.
Yes, and a remnant responded to Jesus. The foundation members of Christianity were all Jews. They were given first opportunity to take up positions as rulers in God's Kingdom, but when the nation failed to produce the numbers, Gentiles were chosen to complete the arrangement.
After God abandoned Judaism in the first century, (the reason why a third temple has never been built) despite being repatriated to their homeland in the middle of last century, they have never enjoyed a peaceful existence there. Jerusalem is a hotbed of religious disputes. They have not experienced God's blessing or his protection. They are spillers of blood just like all the rest. They have allied themselves with secular nations just as their forefathers did because they cannot count on their God to support them.
Christianity is no longer about a geographical location...it is a global family united by their faith in the God of Jesus.
The tribes of Israel spoken about in Revelation are 'spiritual' Israel...those who accepted Jesus as the Christ and abandoned that corrupt religious system to drown in their own prideful errors.
Individuals of all nations can come to Christ, including Jews (Acts of the Apostles 10:34-35) ....but as a nation, the Jews lost their place because they could never remain faithful to their God.
I believe that John the Baptist's words apply today as they did back in the first century....
"
Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. 10 The ax is already lying at the root of the trees. Every tree, then, that does not produce fine fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire."
They never produced the fruits.... Many in Christendom don't either. [/QUOTE]
I agree with much of what you say.
However, lets look at Paul´s famous illustration of the olive tree.
He tells us of the olive tree,the branches representing the Jewish faith and people, he tells us of its roots, representing the very beginning of Gods relationship with man after the fall, and its trunk representing the patriarchs.
Paul explains that we Christians are grafted in to this tree , replacing some branches that were removed.
A graft always remains what it was, it does not genetically become that which it was grafted into. Lemon branches of type A grafted into a lemon tree of type B will always remain type A branches, and produce type A fruit.
By the same token, the type B tree will not become a type A tree because type A branches were grafted on to it, so we have a dichotomy, Christians never become Jews, and Jews never become Christians, so how is this resolved ?
I mentioned eschatology, and there we find the resolution.
There is extremely strong evidence to believe that the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation are not JWś as you believe, or SDA´s as they believe, but rather are Messianic Jews, Christians, who come out of Israel after having preached with fire not seen since the original Pentacost. After converting masses in Israel, they will spread out across the world preaching of the Messiah.
So, in the end, Gods promise to the Jews will be kept, the Messiah will save those who choose to follow him, just as we Gentiles will be saved.
There will be one kingdom on earth, one King, and one faith, forever.