What Role Do Jewish People Play In God's Plan Today?

A question came up in prayer meeting last night about the people and nation of Israel. The subject more-or-less was, what is Israel's role in God's plan right now? The answer in the New Testament is that God has temporarily set the Jewish people aside because of unbelief, but one day He will restore them to their rightful role in the world.

In the exile days of Ezekiel, the manifest presence of the Spirit of God left Jerusalem, because of the continued impenitence of the people (Ezekiel 10). He returned to Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, when the Lord poured Him out on the followers of Christ (Acts 2).

Pentecost was the start of what we call the Church Age. Previously was the Age of Law, as the apostle Paul called it. The Spirit of God manifested in Jerusalem and the temple. Then the new Church Age launched many changes. Instead of the world invited to come in to Jerusalem to learn God's word (Isaiah 2), the followers of Christ go out to the world. Instead of the Spirit abiding on a temple of stone, He now abides in the living temple which is Christ's body (1 Cor. 3:16).

God has not totally rejected all His ancestral people, the Jews. God as an act of His free grace continues to save the Jewish remnant who believe (Romans 11:1-6). In contrast, Jews who knowingly reject Christ are hardened and blinded by God as a punishment (11:7-11). But even they are not beyond hope. God can still draw them back to Himself, by working through the positive witness and godly lifestyle of Christian Gentiles (Romans 11:11-16).

The Jews are lost and need Christ, just like anyone else. But God will welcome them gladly and graft them back into His true people, if they repent and believe (Romans 11:23). God has not cancelled their ancient covenant, but they need to individually exercise faith in Christ in order to receive any of its benefits.

Christians have not replaced the Jews in God's plan. God has joined believing Gentiles to believing Jews, equal in Christ, into one great new entity, which Christ called His Church (Ephesians 2:15).

Until Christ returns, the Spirit of God is located in and around the Body of Christ. Where is the geographical center of God's work in the world? In the Law age, it was Jerusalem. That was the old dispensation. Now, the living Body of Christ is the geographical center, so to speak, of God's work in the world. 

Will it ever be Jerusalem again? The Bible says yes. The prophetic "time of the Gentiles" began when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, Christ said in Luke 21:24. God set national Israel aside. This phase in God's plan eventually will end, and God will restore His visible kingdom back to Jerusalem. This will happen when Christ returns. In this meantime, God continues to reach out to His people of old, the Jewish people, and save all who call upon Christ. We should join Paul in his prayer from Romans 10:1, and pray for the salvation of all the Jewish people.