DO NOT PRESUME

"Brood of Vipers!"

“And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”

— Matthew 3:9

John the Baptist stood in the Jordan River, confronting a religious crowd swollen with national pride. The Pharisees and Sadducees had come out, not to repent, but to spectate—under the haughty pride of national status and the idol of birthright. John met them with fire: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (v. 7). But it's verse 9 that cuts most deeply into today’s false narratives: “Do not say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'”

Many today continue to say it. Not Jews alone, but also evangelicals who buy into a dispensational framework that treats national Israel as having a special, still-unfolding redemptive plan apart from Christ. But John’s words echo like thunder down the corridors of time—heritage will not save you. Ethnicity is no covenant. Geography holds no glory.

God’s Promise to Abram: A Call to Faith, Not a Claim to Blood

“I will bless those who bless you… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

— Genesis 12:3

God’s promise to Abram—before he was renamed Abraham—was never a blank check to biological descendants. It was a call and blessing tied directly to faith-filled obedience. The LORD said, “Go,” and Genesis 12:4 tells us simply: “Abram went.” Abram’s legacy is not biological DNA; it’s faith expressed in action. That’s what made him the “father of many nations” (Rom. 4:17). It wasn't his bloodline, but his belief.

“Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.”

– Galatians 3:7

“If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

– Galatians 3:29

The covenant blessing was never about the nation of Israel as an ethnic group, but about those—Jew or Gentile—who walk in the footsteps of Abram’s faith (Rom. 4:12). That’s why clinging to national Israel as the lens through which we interpret prophecy is not only bad theology—it’s spiritual blindness.

Consider the consistent testimony of Scripture: God’s redemptive plan was never limited to biological Israel. It often advanced despite them, rather than because of them. Over and over, it was the outsider—the one the religious insiders overlooked or excluded—who walked by faith and moved God's mission forward.

• Tamar was a Canaanite who acted righteously when Judah would not (Gen. 38).

• Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho. She believed and was saved, becoming part of the Messianic line (Josh. 2; Matt. 1:5).

• Ruth was a Moabite widow who clung to Naomi and to Yahweh, becoming the great-grandmother of David (Ruth 4:13–17).

• Hannah, a barren and "useless" woman scorned by her own people, cried out to God in faith and birthed a prophet (1 Sam. 1–2).

• David, the least of Jesse’s sons and overlooked by his own father, was chosen by God to lead Israel and shepherd the covenant line (1 Sam. 16:11–13).

• The Magi were the ones who trekked for two years for a brief moment of worship. Meanwhile, the Jewish leaders were busy worshipping their national identity and religious traditions.

These "outsiders" were not the ones the world—or even Israel—would have chosen. In fact, they were the rejects. But they are precisely the kind of people God delights to use: humble, repentant, faith-filled outsiders who trust Him over tradition, status, or bloodline.

"God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise... what is weak to shame the strong... what is low and despised... so that no human being might boast in the presence of God." – 1 Corinthians 1:27–29

The “insiders”—those with Abrahamic lineage and covenantal privilege—were often busy chasing the pattern of the world... busy worshipping their idols... too busy doing whatever they saw fit to do in their own eyes. Meanwhile, the outsiders clung desperately to YAHWEH by faith. This foreshadowed the very heart of the Gospel: salvation by grace through faith, not by works or ethnic heritage.

Jesus Is the True Israel

Let’s be clear: the church did not replace Israel. Jesus fulfilled the ministry they rejected (Ex 19:6).

• Where Israel was unfaithful, Jesus was faithful.

• Where Israel grumbled in the wilderness, Jesus resisted the devil in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1–11).

• Where Israel broke the Law, Jesus fulfilled it perfectly (Matt. 5:17).

• Where Israel failed to be a light to the nations, Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).

• Where Israel stumbled, Jesus triumphed.

Jesus is the true vine (John 15:1), the true temple (John 2:19), the true servant (Isa. 49:3). He is not merely a better Israel—He is the perfect Israel to which all of Israel’s story pointed.

No Partiality. No Dividing Wall. No Ethnic Favoritism

The Gospel leaves no room for favoritism.

“There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all.”

– Romans 10:12

“God shows no partiality.”

– Romans 2:11

“There is neither Jew nor Greek... for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

– Galatians 3:28

“He has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility.”

– Ephesians 2:14

Our identity, hope, and inheritance is not in race, nationality, or historical connection to a patriarch. It is in Christ alone. On the Day of the LORD, judgment will fall not based on bloodline, but belief—whether our hearts cling to Christ, or idols dressed up as “heritage” and “prophetic destiny.” Since that’s the criteria for that day, why would we spend TODAY obsessing over a nation still in open rebellion against Jesus, rejecting Him as Messiah, rather than ministering to them as sinners in need of salvation?

National Israel: A Shadow, Not the Substance

To keep looking to national Israel for fulfillment of God’s covenant promises is to cling to a shadow when the substance is Christ (Col. 2:17). It's no different from those putting their hope in a prayer or a ceremony rather than the God of Scripture. The dispensational hope that God will fulfill future promises through a modern secular state—while still in overt rebellion and rejection of the Son of God—is not only misguided, it is deadly.

It suggests that God’s covenant faithfulness depends on lineage, not the Lamb. It implies that prophecy finds its “Yes and Amen” in a nation, not in the Name above all names (2 Cor. 1:20).

It distracts from the Gospel call to proclaim salvation to all through faith in Jesus alone (Rom. 10:12–13). To keep our eyes on Israel rather than Christ and focus on things below rather than things above is to reject King Jesus' explicit warnings: “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority...” (Acts 1:7). The LORD's point was on fulfilling the ministry of the GOSPEL, discipling all nations, through the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

A False Gospel Leads to a False Hope

To promote or proclaim that God still has a redemptive plan outside of Christ for Israel is to declare a false gospel. It is to fill an idolatrous and rebellious people with false hope, convincing them, “You’re still God’s chosen,” when the Chosen One is Jesus, and the only ones who are truly found in Him are those who obey His commands. It leads to false hope, false security, and ultimately, false worship.

Should we weep for Israel? Not any more than for all those who are separated from God in the depravity of their sin. Our ministry is not one of partiality. Our ministry is not to watch or celebrate Israel's geopolitical achievements while they continue in unbelief. We must long for everyone to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, the true Temple and the once-for-all Sacrifice (Heb. 10:12).

Dispensationalism is built on a rigidly literal interpretation of Scripture, especially prophecy. They read the promises to Abraham, David, and the prophets as ethnic, geographical, and unconditional, even when the context suggests conditions (e.g., Gen. 17:1, Ex. 19:5–6). Terms like “Israel” and “church” must remain distinct indeed. Christ died for His Bride, not for Israel (Eph 5:25-27). Failure to recognize Christ as the interpretive lens fails to account for the Christocentric fulfillment of the Old Testament in the New. Jesus didn’t come to affirm Israel's rebellion or confirm their political future; He came to fulfill what they failed to be (Matt. 5:17; Rom. 10:4). While it’s true that God made covenant promises to Abraham and his descendants, it’s a misreading to assume those bilateral covenant promises are irrevocable regardless of Israel's actions.

Exodus 19:5 – “If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession…”

Deuteronomy 28 – “If you obey... then I will bless you... But if you do not obey… curses will come upon you…”

Jeremiah 11:10 – “They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers... the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant.”

God’s promises were never carte blanche. They were always conditioned on faith-fueled obedience, which is why the New Covenant is not with a nation, but with Abraham's offspring, i.e., those whose hearts are circumcised (Jer. 31:31–34; Rom. 2:28–29). Dispensationalism takes a tragic detour from the Christological focus and climax of redemptive history. Instead of seeing Jesus as the culmination and fulfillment of Israel’s identity, they place Jesus alongside a perpetually rebellious nation in the redemptive plan of God. Scripture reveals:

• Jesus is the true seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:16)

• Jesus is the true Son called out of Egypt (Matt. 2:15; Hosea 11:1)

• Jesus is the obedient Son Israel failed to be (Isa. 49:3–6)

Jesus gathers and separates people based on regeneration by the Holy Spirit, not along ethnic lines. To expect or herald an "alternative" redemptive plan for Israel apart from Jesus is to preach another (false) gospel (Gal. 1:6–9). Many dispensationalists lean heavily on Romans 11:26 – “And in this way, all Israel will be saved…” They interpret that as a future, ethnic-national salvation event for Israel, divorced from Romans 11 and the flow of Romans 9 and 10, where the Apostle Paul already redefines true Israel as:

• Children of promise (9:8)

• A remnant chosen by grace (11:5)

• Those who are grafted into the olive tree through faith, not ancestry (11:17–24)

Paul’s hope for Israel is not about ethnicity, land, the temple, genealogy, genetics, or politics. It’s about Jews turning to Jesus—the ONLY name under heaven by which we can be saved.

Many modern evangelicals tie their eschatology and ecclesiology to Israel out of:

• National pride or America’s political alliance with Israel

• A fear of being labeled “antisemitic”

• End-times sensationalism (Left Behind, Blood Moons, etc.)

ORTHODOXY (right doctrine) must not be shaped by emotion, tradition, or nationalism, but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4). God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34). Jesus alone is our peace, who broke down the dividing wall (Eph. 2:14). Dispensationalism holds onto a hope for Israel apart from the GOSPEL, based on an unbalanced reading of the covenants, a refusal to let the New Testament interpret the Old, and an overcommitment to literalism divorced from redemptive context. Many of God’s promises to Israel were conditional. Israel failed. Jesus fulfilled. Only those found in Christ—Jew or Gentile—are heirs of the promise and the true children of Abraham.

“For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him.”

– 2 Corinthians 1:20

Let us not be found among or partnering with the rebellious offspring of Satan, those "brood of vipers," whose hope is in presuming, “We have Abraham as our father.” Instead, let us be found as those who say, “Jesus is LORD!” with our lips and lives.

Blessings & love,

Kevin M. Kelley

Pastor

BigIslandChristian.Church