Can promises of judgment on Israel be applied to our nation?

While we should not make direct application of passages to our nation, we can see in them spiritual principles that may apply in a more general sense. For instance, Deuteromony 28ff promises blessing for obedience and cursing for disobedience. This was written to Israel, not the church nor to our nation. As a general principle, however, this illustrates that when nations ignore God's truth, eventually they are not only going to experience moral degeneration but also God's judgment for their wicked ways. Writing of Israel as God's chosen nation, the psalmist wrote, "blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance" (Ps. 33:12). But this is true of any nation that turns to the Lord, as with Nineveh which repented at the preaching of Jonah and was spared God's judgment for several years to come.

These Old Testament passages, while not written directly to us, nevertheless have a world of general applications that can be made. However, if we are not careful, we can preach practical heresy in the name of application.

We have a new study on our web site in the "Theology / Dispensational" section that might want to check out called, "The Role of the Church to Israel." A number of articles are written on this issue in Bibliotheca Sacra, the theological journal published by Dallas Seminary. The Theological Journal Library CD contains the journals of a number of conservative seminaries which I have found to be tremendously helpful.

• An Introduction to Matthew
• An Argument of Matthew
• A Bibliography of Matthew
• Overview of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
• Matthew: Introduction, Argument, and Outline
• Other articles..