The Israel of God: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow [Paperback]

O. Palmer Robertson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dr. Robertson addresses this topic in a fashion that is not only both incisive and engaging but also thoroughly convincing. -- Richard B. Gaffin

His masterful exegesis of Hebrews 7 and Romans 11 alone are worth the price of this book. -- Tremper Longman III

Robertson provides a fresh and brilliant insight into the content of God’s promises of redemption to Old Testament Israel. -- R.C. Sproul, Ligonier Ministries

From the Publisher

Robertson offers a fascinating look at the questions: Who is the Israel of God today? and What is their relationship to the Promised Land, and to Israel’s worship, lifestyle, and future?

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Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: P & R Publishing (May 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875523986
• ISBN-13: 978-0875523989
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #443,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for people who think, October 12, 2000

By 

Cecil Murphey (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Israel of God: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (Paperback)

If you're already convinced about modern Israel's future and aren't willing to rethink your position, don't read this book. Robertson presents cogent arguments that will challenge commonly accepted "truths" about Israel. After thoroughly looking at Israel as the land, the people, their worship, their lifestyle, and as part of the kingdom of God, his final chapter consists of 12 propositions based on his meticulously presented research. For example, Proposition #2 reads: "The modern Jewish state is not part of the messianic kingdom of Jesus Christ" (p.194). Proposition #3 says, "It cannot be established from Scripture that the birth of the modern state of Israel is a prophetic precursor to the mass conversion of Jewish people" (p.194). This is a hotly argued topic among evangelicals, and Robertson makes a strong case for his views. The book is worth reading if only for his examination of Romans 11.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pro-Israel Way That Most Glorifies God, January 24, 2009

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Jacques Schoeman (SA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Israel of God: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (Paperback)

A process that takes as many forms as this is difficult to define or summarize, yet an attempt must be made. Some believers condemn and then dismiss these attempts as 'spiritualizing Israel', without giving its credence any further thought. O Palmer Robertson accepts the challenge of a complicated component of Christian theology, imposing and formidable in offering enduring problem-solving to recurring questions that have plagued so many (they don't make it easy, do they?).

'As many as walk according to this rule, peace on them and mercy, even on the Israel of God.' Gal 6:16
'The word 'rule' denotes the regular and habitual course which all godly ministers of the gospel ought to pursue.' John Calvin Commentary on Galatians 6:16
'Contrary to so much modern thought, it is not those who distinguish between Jews and Gentiles who are blessed by God. Instead, those who maintain this distinction are the very ones who have been denied God's blessing.' p 46

Robertson produces exegesis that is thoroughly christocentric, signifying a remarkable passion for what drives Reformed christology. It is also significantly soteriological if one considers that the Jews are considered to be God's chosen people in the world. But the calling cards of Land, Seed and Blessing are not restricted to ethnic Israel alone, as Professor Robertson will show. 'So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles.' Gal 3:14

He initiates the essential theological elements, beginning with 'Its Land'. The change in land perspective develops along the historical-redemptive narrative: first, under the Abrahamic covenant, then its mythical deployment in the Psalms and prophets, and finally the new covenant reality. Robertson concludes a first chapter full with theological implication with a fact often overlooked or ignored: 'By claiming the old covenant forms of the promise of the land, the Jews of today may be forfeiting its greater new covenant fulfillment.' p 20 There are many guilty of deliberate obfuscation.

The blend of christology-soteriology delivers faithful exegesis not only of the highest saving order, but also is intended as a corrective for assumptions of the lowest racial order. Robertson identifies the special object that God has set His affection upon: the elect, 'Its People'. Claims of anti-semitism are promoted as arising from within covenant theology especially, but these charges are loaded, Robertson assures us. 'There is no second-rate citizenship in the kingdom of God. Whatever the promises of God's redemptive grace may include, they are shared equally by Jewish and gentile believers.' p 38 In the present church age, the apostle Paul emphatically writes, redeemed Jew and gentile are grafted into one body. 'This new body of people constitutes the Israel of God.' p 44 An attractive feature is Robertson's use of historical commentaries representative of earlier debates.

In chapter 3, 'Its Worship', Robertson builds on the concept that 'in the new covenant context, the place of worship is irrelevant', based on Jesus' own injunction in John 4:21. By following the writer of Hebrews through chapters 4-6, Robertson develops 'this precious doctrine' to its climax in chapter 7, culminating in the eternal appointment of the messianic high priest, Jesus Christ. Robertson's appeal to evangelism succeeds altogether by showing a relationship between the writer of the epistle's straightforward plea to the uncertain Christian Hebrews of the 1st century, and his own for modern Jews, to center their worship on the Savior.

The 4th element characteristic of the Israel of God, 'Its Lifestyle', casts the new covenant church in the wilderness experience of Israel in its formation en route to the promised land. Amplified in the NT, the covenant community is established in the wilderness to embark on the dominant motif of testing. P 89, 'The Christian life must be understood as an interim existence between exodus and conquest', injects the writer of Hebrews and Palmer Robertson. The Christian's 'sabbath-rest' is conceived of as exclusively in the future, begetting eschatological implications.

Robertson additionally employs two most helpful chapters on Israel, the first 'The Israel Of God and The Coming Of The Kingdom' as a corrective to the weak exegesis that heads up dispensationalism. A theological idea whose time has come is dealt with: 'He is not, as some suppose, replacing Israel with the church.' p 119 'So the kingdom of God comes through the person of the Messiah.' p 114 Robertson is an authority on kingdom dimensions and dynamic, and compelling exegesis instills belief in this Christ-centred kingdom.

The second helpful chapter, 'The Israel Of God In Romans 11', examines the debate surrounding the meaning of Paul's intent. Robertson favors the view that God's providential dealings prove that He has not cast off Israel, but does not draw hasty conclusions without having weighed up the internal evidence of Scripture. 'So also, even at the present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.' Rom 11:5 But is there a future national salvation awaiting the Jews? Based on his exegesis of this passage, Robertson concludes that 'According to vs 30, for both gentiles and Jews, the full cycle of movement from a state of disobedience to a state of mercy occurs in the present (gospel) age.' p 173 In so doing, Robertson fends off the wrong perception 'that Israel's period of rejection coincides with the present gospel age, while their acceptance is reserved for a subsequent era.' p 174 Instead, Robertson contends that the remnant-principle was, is and always will be true throughout redemptive history, paralleling their experience of ingrafting to that of the gentiles. On the order of national repentance it is exegetically unsustainable, and does not cohere with the pattern of election set throughout redemptive history.

'hardening in part has happened to Israel...until the full number...and so all Israel shall be saved.' Rom 11:25-26

'Paul does not say 'And then all Israel will be saved', but 'And so all Israel will be saved.' The sentence is thus simply a summary of the preceding argument.' Stuart Olyott, Romans p 105

Especially here Professor Robertson displays an even-handed portrayal of the eminent scholars. He finds, however, that nowhere is it meant or intended that a hardening be seen as temporal, and no scriptural support for this idea can be given by those who teach that. The word 'until' he correctly proceeds to explain as 'without stressing the reversal of prevailing circumstances afterwards.' Scripture being allowed to be its own interpreter, Robertson discovers that 'Paul uses the terminology of hardening earlier in the chapter. He asserts that the elect in Israel obtained salvation, but that the rest were hardened (vs 7). The apostle underscores divine sovereignty in this hardening. Those who are not chosen are hardened by God.' p 177 As a hardening has happened to a part of Israel, so God's blessing of salvation continues to a part of Israel. Robertson amasses an exegetical point when he uncovers the progression in Paul's thought in that he, under divine inspiration, says that hardness has happened to part of Israel until the fullness of gentiles has come in (Rom 11:25), and in this manner all Israel will be saved (Rom 11:26) - now understood to be the church. Whatever analogies exist between OT Israel and the NT church is authorized by the terminology the NT establishes.

The discussion of Israel's future must not be allowed to eclipse Robertson's altogether adequate thesis that the elect are chosen by grace in the new covenant, that Jew and gentile alike are the Israel of God and body of Christ, and that they both shall experience the horn of salvation through one gospel. Robertson's full field investigation leaves others standing in the shade.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Covenant theology at its best, March 17, 2001

By 

Kathy F. Cannata "Rev. Dr. R. Cannata" (New Orleans, LA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Israel of God: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (Paperback)

Very, very precise, careful exegesis. His discussion of the theme of the "Land" is the best and clearest I've ever read, and by itself is worth the price of the book.

Robertson is among the best and clearest on covenant theology. I've appreciated this book most of all his recent works.