It must be true, because this is what God says, isn’t it? Well, actually God says this, “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).
When God makes a promise we can know that it is certain, and that He will not change. The problem is, however, when we hear Him saying what He did not say. This text says not that God will bless those who bless Israel, but those who bless Abraham. Later, however, in Numbers 24, the promise becomes a little more clear. Balaam, speaking about the nation Israel says, “Blessed is he who blesses you. And cursed is he who curses you.”
That should settle the matter, should it not? The difficulty is still, however, answering to whom this promise is made. Does not Paul himself say, “But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel” (Romans 9:6). What could it mean that not all Israel is of Israel?
If some called Israel are Israel, and some called Israel are not Israel, which of these fit the promise? My dispensational friends suggest that the Israel to whom this promise is made matches up with the nation of Israel founded in 1948 in the Middle East.
They hear in this promise that those who bless that nation of Israel will be blessed and those who curse that same nation will be cursed. This, in part, informs the politics of American foreign policy. As long as America sees this Israel as a friend, the reasoning seems to go, God will bless America. When America turns its back on that nation, God will curse this nation.
The Reformed perspective affirms that that Israel which is actually Israel, just as with the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, is those who are in Christ, who trust in His finished work. Though we vehemently deny the moniker, this is what our dispensational friends call “replacement theology.” The Reformed, however, see this is as the outworking of the truth of Galatians 3:7- “Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” We who are Reformed do not believe God replaced Israel with the church. We believe instead that ultimately there has always been only one people of God, those who believe.
Israel is the sons of Abraham. Those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. Those who are of faith are therefore Israel. And in turn, those who bless those who are of faith will be blessed, and those who curse those who are of faith will be cursed. It is how we treat the church that matters.
What of ethnic Israel, that country in the Middle East? Many in the Reformed camp hold out hope that God will bring in a great mass of those who are not today the sons of Abraham, that virtually all of Israel will once again become Israel.
What of the nation Israel? There may be any number of geo-political reasons why it would be wise for these United States to be allied with Israel, the nation in the Middle East. There may be multiple connections between that nation and God’s future plans. But this promise, “God blesses those who bless and curses those who curse Israel speaks of the children of Abraham, all, Jew and Gentile, who rest in Christ alone.