The Enduring Jewish People
Why Antisemitism Persists and What It Reveals About God’s Faithfulness
For thousands of years, the Jewish people — one of the smallest nations on earth — have faced unrelenting persecution, exile, pogroms, and repeated attempts at total annihilation. Yet they remain. This is not coincidence, cultural strength, or luck. It is powerful, living proof of God’s unbreakable faithfulness.
At the center of this story is a sobering spiritual reality: If the devil could ever completely wipe out the Jews, he would make God a liar and shatter the very foundation of the Christian faith. God’s redemptive plan has always revolved around Israel. To destroy them would nullify His covenants, His prophecies, and His promises — including the coming of the Messiah and the future restoration of His people. Satan has therefore made them a primary target of his hatred.
Biblical Foundation: God’s Irrevocable Promises
God promised Abraham,
“I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”
Through Isaac and Jacob, He established everlasting covenants with Israel — promises of land, descendants, and blessing that remain in force even in times of unbelief (Romans 11:29). The Apostle Paul explains God’s ongoing plan for Israel in Romans 11. He asks the question, “Has God rejected His people?” and answers with a resounding “By no means!” (Romans 11:1).
Paul uses the powerful metaphor of an olive tree:
Israel is the natural olive tree, rooted in the covenants with Abraham.
Because of unbelief, many natural branches were broken off.
Gentiles, like wild olive shoots, have been graciously grafted in by faith and now share in the rich root — the blessings, Scriptures, and Messiah that belong to Israel.
Paul strongly warns Gentile believers: “Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you” (Romans 11:18). If God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare the grafted ones if they become arrogant.
Yet God’s plan is full of hope. The inclusion of Gentiles was designed “to make Israel jealous” (Romans 11:11), so that many Jews might be saved. Paul says his ministry to Gentiles was “in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them” (v. 14).
The chapter reaches its climax with this promise:
“A partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved”
God’s gifts and calling to Israel are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). A future remnant of Israel will turn to their Messiah.
The Jewish people safeguarded the Scriptures, spoke through the prophets, and brought forth the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Satan’s rage is calculated. From Pharaoh’s genocide in Egypt to Haman’s plot in Persia, he has tried to erase the Jewish line to discredit God’s Word. Yet God has protected them as “the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8). Their continued existence declares to the world: God keeps His promises.
A History of Hatred
This demonic opposition has manifested repeatedly from Pharaoh’s genocide in Egypt (Exodus 1) — where Hebrew baby boys were ordered drowned in the Nile — to Haman’s plot in Persia to kill every Jew in the empire in a single day (Book of Esther).
The pattern continued through:
The Assyrian and Babylonian exiles of the northern and southern kingdoms.
The Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, triggering nearly 2,000 years of diaspora.
Crusader massacres, medieval expulsions from England (1290), France, and Spain (1492), blood libels, and forced conversions.
Russian and Eastern European pogroms.
The Holocaust — Nazi Germany’s murder of six million Jews, evolving from centuries of religious prejudice into racial antisemitism.
The Tribes of Israel: God’s Preserving Hand
The twelve tribes came from Jacob’s sons. After the kingdom split:
The ten northern tribes (Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, and Manasseh) were conquered by Assyria around 722 BC. They were deported, scattered, and largely assimilated, losing their distinct identity. They are known as the “Ten Lost Tribes.”
The southern kingdom of Judah (mainly Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, plus some from Simeon) survived Babylonian exile, returned to the land, and preserved their identity. Modern Jewish people descend primarily from these tribes — especially Judah (hence the name “Jew”), with ongoing Levitical and priestly Kohanim lines.
God has always kept a faithful remnant. No tribe’s assimilation voids His promises. Ezekiel 37 clearly foretells a future reunion and full restoration of all Israel.
Love, Not Hatred—and the Divine Purpose of Jealousy
True Christianity rejects antisemitism outright. We must remember that Jesus was Jewish, the apostles were Jewish, and the early church was Jewish. Collective blame for the crucifixion is both historically false and spiritually wrong.
We have have a biblical responsibility to bless and stand with the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3). God has not abandoned His covenants.
This love has a specific redemptive purpose. In Romans 11, Paul reveals that the inclusion of Gentiles was designed “to make Israel jealous” (v. 11), so that “I might save some of them” (v. 14). MacArthur explains that the spiritual riches given to Gentile believers — forgiveness, peace with God, and the Holy Spirit — are meant to awaken holy longing in Jewish hearts and draw them back to their Messiah.
Believers are therefore called to:
Bless and not curse (Genesis 12:3)
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6)
Reject arrogance toward the Jewish root that supports us (Romans 11:18-21)
Proclaim the Gospel “to the Jew first” (Romans 1:16) with humility and respect
Stand against antisemitism as direct opposition to God’s plan
This is the responsibility of the whole Church — Jewish and Gentile believers together.
“So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.”
“in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.”
Why This Matters Today
Antisemitism is rising again in our generation through conspiracy theories and global conflict. Yet against all odds, the Jewish people have returned to their ancestral land. This regathering (Deuteronomy 30:1-5; Ezekiel 36–37; Isaiah 11:11-12) is a striking sign of the times. The rebirth of Israel in 1948 stands as powerful preparation for what Scripture says is coming.
Even greater is the promised spiritual awakening: “All Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26) — a significant remnant turning to their Messiah. Zechariah 12:10 describes them looking upon the One they pierced and mourning in repentance. This moment is tied to the return of Christ and will bring “life from the dead” to the world (Romans 11:15).
The Jewish people’s endurance — small in number, relentlessly opposed, yet preserved — proves God does not lie (Jeremiah 31:35-36). Every act of biblical love toward them participates in God’s redemptive strategy and aligns us with His blessing.
Let us therefore resolve: Stand unashamedly against antisemitism wherever it appears. Pray fervently for Israel’s peace and salvation. Live out the Gospel so beautifully that it provokes holy jealousy. Bless the people through whom God has blessed the world.
Satan has failed for millennia. God’s covenants remain unshakable. The story of the Jewish people is not finished — it powerfully points us to the soon-coming King and the absolute faithfulness of our God. May we be found faithful as we wait for that glorious day.