There is scarcely anyone who isn’t familiar with the devastating effects that the Prosperity Gospel and the New Apostolic Reformation have had on African evangelicalism. While the two would make for a tantalizing subject to address, I am quick to recognize that others have done a far better job at this than I ever could. One such is the Africa Center for Apologetics Research, which has done extensive research on these two strands of Christianity. Better still, a statement of faith regarding the prosperity gospel was recently framed by African pastors present at an annual Proclaim Conference. These, among many others, are resources I’m happy to recommend to you should you have interest in a broader treatment of the above-named caricatures of Christianity.
For the present, I intend to deal particularly with the habitual treating of the promises made to the nation of Israel as applicable to us today within these movements. While the fact that the litany of curses promised to Israel in the event of disobedience (Leviticus 26:1-46, Deuteronomy 28:1-68) is usually conveniently ignored should raise an immediate alarm to any sincere mind, there is more.
Where Israel Failed, Christ Succeeded
You may find it fascinating that my point of departure with the heretics is also a point of convergence with them to a measure. I do gladly grant that the promises—and the curses too!—apply to us. Only they do indirectly, not directly. They apply to us because they find their fulfillment not in us but in the true Israel of God. We know from Scripture that Israel is considered the firstborn son of God (Exodus 4:22). This suggests an obvious correlation between Israel and another figure regarded as God’s only begotten Son (John 3:16), Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, as I explain more clearly in the subsequent paragraphs, is the true Israel of God, and all those who are part of his body are part of the true Israel of God. God’s promises, which find fulfillment in him, apply to us by way of surrendering ourselves to God’s Christ. And the fullness of them is not to be expected now, but when he “transform[s] our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:21). Our hope and confidence is that where Israel failed as a son, Christ succeeded and surpassed all expectation.
How Jesus is God’s True Israel
How then is Jesus Christ the true Israel of God? Isaiah 49 and 50 contain two of what are called the Servant Songs. These are songs whose purpose is to celebrate the Servant of Yahweh and all that he came to do. Israel, as I have earlier mentioned, was God’s firstborn son. In Jeremiah 31:9, God calls himself “father to Israel” and refers to Ephraim as his firstborn. Hosea 11:1 also bears witness that God regarded and loved Israel as his son.
Besides John 3:16, the New Testament writers, in several places, draw the connection between the idea of the firstborn and Jesus. In Colossians 1:15, Paul calls Jesus “firstborn of all creation.” Obviously, Paul isn’t saying that Jesus was created—were creation the concern, Israel would much less be recognized as the firstborn of God. Paul’s aim is to show Christ’s preeminence over everything. Again, Paul regards Christ as the firstborn in Romans 8:29. So does the author of Hebrews (Hebrews 1:6; 12:23). The latter epistle, by virtue of its audience, who would have most readily recognized the significance of Jesus being regarded as firstborn, bears even more heavily.
However, lest we treat Jesus’s position as God’s true Israel as a mere New Testament interpretation, consider again Isaiah 49. In this Servant Song, this is what is said of the Servant, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified” (Isaiah 49:3). The Servant of God is there acknowledged as the true Israel of God. In him all the preserved of Israel would be gathered together (Isaiah 49:5-6). And not just the “preserved of Israel”, but of all the nations of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of these prophetic words (2 Peter 1:19).
God’s Promises are Applied to Jesus
The church is regarded as part of the Israel of God in Romans 9. That’s true because they have been gathered into the true Israel of God. He is the One who succeeded where Israel failed. And spectacularly did Israel fail. They became like the nations when they were supposed to glorify God’s name among the nations. Jesus doesn’t fail, and through him the Father is glorified throughout the world. He was tempted as Israel was, but, as the true Israel of God, he did not sin.
Therefore, God’s promises to Israel are fulfilled in him, not apart from him (2 Corinthians 1:20). That “God’s promises find their yes and amen in Christ” is taken by some to mean Jesus is a vending machine for all their material dreams and aspirations. Paul, however, simply means that Christ fulfills all of God’s promises to us, and we become partakers of them by trusting in him. The promises don’t apply to us but to him, for he also bore on himself all of God’s curses, which we were once justly under (Galatians 3:10-14). In Christ, we are sons—and heirs too (Romans 8:12-17).
Entrust Yourself to God’s True Israel
Yet our inheritance far surpasses what may be granted this side of eternity. The fullness of it awaits when we shall be glorified with Jesus and be joined with our God forever. That doesn’t mean we get utterly no blessing while we remain in this flesh. We do, but even those are imperfect, for the stain of sin still lingers.
Though the times be tough, the solution is not to be sought in the empty promises offered by the Prosperity Gospel. Rest will never come by misapplying promises rendered to another nation at a different time to ourselves. The so-called ‘men of God’ who claim to hold the key to your destiny can offer you no peace. Your ultimate rest, peace, and security is in the One who is the true Israel of God. Entrust yourself to him, and with many a joyful saint you will possess a hope that rings unto eternity. Though trials abound, he has overcome the world (John 16:33). Your afflictions are light and momentary, producing for you a weight of glory that will know no comparison (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Rest, for in Christ you belong to the true Israel, and that is of ultimate value.