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The conflict between two factions of Old Covenant religion

The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is usually viewed in terms of two ethnicities fighting each other. The Israelis view it in terms of eradicating the Amalekites, citing the command to King Saul to eradicate Amalek (1 Samuel 15:3). Christians often view it in terms of Jacob fighting Esau, as if the Jews were Jacob and the Palestinians were Esau (or Edom).

These views are manifestly incorrect, but there is a deeper cause of the conflict that I want to address here. It is based on religion rather than ethnicity.

Both Judaism and Islam are Old Covenant religions, having “works” as the foundation of their concept of salvation or justification. If you study Galatians 4:22-31, you see how Paul interprets the “allegory” of Abraham’s two wives. Sarah, he says, represents the New Covenant; Hagar, he says, represents the Old Covenant.

He goes further to tell us that Hagar is represented by the earthly Jerusalem, while Sarah is represented by the heavenly Jerusalem. Each city has its children, and Paul makes it clear that believers in Jesus Christ are the children of Sarah, the heavenly city. Strangely enough, Christian Zionists try to have it both ways, claiming to be of Sarah and yet praying that the earthly Jerusalem might prevail and be the chosen “mother” of Kingdom people.

Christian Zionists “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6) without knowing which Jerusalem they ought to pray for. This is because the Old Testament does not clearly distinguish between the two, except when we analyze the description of the city or its ultimate fate. In Revelation 21, John cites certain references to Jerusalem in the Old Testament but interprets them to mean the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city. Hence, we have the precedent to show us that Old Testament references to Jerusalem do not always refer to the earthly city.

Just as there was conflict between Hagar and Sarah—and also between their sons—so also has there been conflict between the two cities that they represent, along with their children. This conflict came to the forefront when Christ came to minister the first time. The religious authorities in Jerusalem, being the children of Hagar-Jerusalem, persecuted the Christians who adhered to the Mediator of the New Covenant—Jesus Christ.

Paul’s ultimate verdict is seen in Galatians 4:29-31,

²⁹ But as at that time [in Abraham’s time] he who was born according to the flesh [by natural childbirth] persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so is it is now also. ³⁰ But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.” ³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.

In other words, Paul instructs us to reject Old Covenant religion and the earthly Jerusalem. Our prayers for Jerusalem are misguided when we pray that the earthly Jerusalem will be the “mother” of the Kingdom or that her children will be heirs of Abraham. This teaching is not obscure, even if relatively few people have eyes to see it.

Of course, Paul was writing six centuries before there was such a thing as Islam. He was pointing specifically at Judaism as it existed in his day. He saw the conflict between Hagar and Sarah in allegorical terms (Galatians 4:24). It was a matter of religion, not ethnicity. Those Christians whom Paul himself persecuted were Jewish believers. It was an internal conflict between two sects from the same ethnicity, each under a different covenant and a different Jerusalem.

This brings us to today’s conflict. Broadly speaking, it is mainly a conflict between two Old Covenant religions: Judaism and Islam. One should also know that Judaism is split further into Zionist and anti-Zionists. In today’s world, the earthly Jerusalem is represented increasingly by the Zionist faction. Many secular non-Zionists are choosing to move back to where they came from, not wanting to be part of the new radical government that is leading them to destruction.

On the sidelines are Christians who identify mainly with the Zionists, and they tend to encourage the Zionists into supporting policies that are even more radical. They fail to recognize that they are supporting Old Covenant policies that will eventually lead to the casting out of the bondwoman and her son, as Paul tells us.

My point is that the present conflict is between two Old Covenant religions and their mindsets. If we look at the prophecy in Isaiah 29:1-8, where the prophet speaks of God’s siege of Jerusalem, he describes a nuclear blast that will bring the city down to the dust. In this prophecy, God Himself claims to lead the foreign armies against the city.

But because the city is destroyed, those armies fighting against Jerusalem are unable, in the end, to lay claim to the city and the land as a whole. Isaiah 29:7, 8 says,

⁷ And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel [i.e., Jerusalem], even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.

Recall from verse 2 that God said, “I will bring distress to Ariel,” by commanding this foreign army to implement this “distress.” The result will be “like a dream.”

⁸ It will be as when a hungry man dreams—and behold, he is eating; but when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams—and behold, he is drinking, but when he awakens, his thirst is not quenched. Thus the multitude of all the nations will be who wage war against Mount Zion.

In other words, God’s ultimate purpose in leading these nations against “Ariel” and “Mount Zion” is not to secure victory for them, nor is it to give them the city and the land. God’s purpose is to “cast out the bondwoman and her son,” using the nations to accomplish this. While Paul does not attempt to tell us the manner in which this will be achieved, we know from Isaiah 29 how this will end.

No one will inherit the land, because nuclear fallout will prevent this for generations. Jerusalem is connected to Mount Sinai in Arabia, Paul says in Galatians 4:25. That is, Jerusalem is under the jurisdiction of the Old Covenant. Hence, if Old Covenant nations attack the Old Covenant city, neither side will benefit from the war. The invading nations will be victorious in a way, but they will not achieve their goals, because the city will be brought down to the dust.

At that point, everyone’s view of prophecy and of the mind of God will have to change to conform to reality. Christian Zionists will be impacted more than anyone for all their hopes and dreams and prayers for the peace of the wrong Jerusalem will go up in smoke.

How much better would it be to understand these things ahead of time!