By Tyler McKenzie
This column is an adaptation of a two-part online series. Read the interview in its entirety at https://christianstandard.com.
If you’re like me, you’re struggling to know how to think biblically about modern Israel and their military conflicts. Does the Bible say we must always support them? What are the relevant Bible verses that people cite here? Is this war a sign of the end times?
Recently I conducted an online interview with New Testament scholar, and my dear friend, Dr. Jon Weatherly to get his unique perspective on this subject.
Q: For those struggling to understand, what is the reason American Christians insist that our government support modern Israel?
First let me say I’m not an expert on the current religious situation or its modern history. As a New Testament scholar, my expertise is elsewhere. Here I’m an interested observer.
Broadly I think American Christians insist on pro-Israel policy because they’re heirs of a history of enthusiasm for Zionism. This is the movement to reestablish a Jewish state in the territory where Israel settled in the Bible. That enthusiasm was probably grounded partly in the desire to make amends for the terrible history of antisemitism in Europe, often supported and sometimes instigated by the church, and culminating horribly in the Holocaust.
Tied to this Zionism was a hope that the resettlement of the Israelite homeland by modern Jews would somehow trigger a wave of evangelism across the Middle East. Christians for centuries have been troubled by the way Islam has dominated the lands of the Bible, where Christianity had once flourished. Many believed a revival of Christian faith in the region would precede the return of Christ. Some saw the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948 as the specific precondition of Christ’s return.
It is also a misappropriation of the first half of God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” For many, this means God expects them to be unconditionally supportive of the descendants of Abraham, whom they equate with the modern state of Israel. Some will even say God gives eternal salvation to individuals on the basis of their faith in Christ, but he grants a blessing to whole nations according to their treatment of Israel. Some cite Matthew 25:31–46 in this regard, seeing the judging of “nations” (v. 32) not as all the world’s peoples being judged individually but as each nation in aggregate standing before the divine judge, and “the least of these my brothers and sisters” (vv. 40, 45) as Jews or more specifically Israeli Jews whom the faithful serve.
For now, I’ll simply say this view is hard to square with the context of these passages and with a God who doesn’t treat people differently according to their ethnic identity (Acts 10:34–35). Jesus’ family is all humanity in one sense (Luke 3:23–38), all who believe in Jesus in another (Luke 8:19–21).
Q: To be clear, is Israel still a chosen people who have rights to a special place? Is the covenant permanently binding? Or is this replacement theology?
I think the Bible is clear on this, but it’s tricky to express clearly because history has left us with so much baggage. So I’ll try to set the history and frame my response to the question.
As I noted, the history of Christianity carries a legacy of antisemitism. One of the ways this was expressed is the idea that when the crowd in Jerusalem called for Jesus’ death, Israel as a nation forfeited its status as God’s people, and so God turned to the Gentiles, who by faith in Jesus “replaced” Israel and were granted the status as God’s chosen. This is a pernicious, unbiblical idea with just enough truth and plausibility mixed in to sound convincing.
In reaction to that bad notion, many substitute the idea of an unconditional covenant between God and Israel, unconditional meaning nothing any human does can alter it. A few extend this even to eternal salvation, but for most it means Israel is still “chosen” for a special place on the map and in world affairs. Their claim to the land is taken as permanently binding, and their status as God’s chosen is taken as requiring others to give them deference.
The problem here, I think, is failing to see how God made an “eternal” covenant with Israel. The Bible’s emphasis is always on God fulfilling his promise to bless humanity with life even though humanity has chosen rebellion and death. God repeatedly points out human failure, including especially biblical Israel’s failure, but always goes on to affirm he will bring his unmerited blessing in fulfillment of his covenant with Israel. And the New Testament is unequivocal: Jesus fulfills that promise entirely. There are no other bits to be fulfilled, side deals for land or regional hegemony for a particular tribe. All God’s promises to Israel have reached fulfillment in Christ, especially in his death and resurrection but also in his present rule from heaven and his future rule when he returns to restore all things.
So, is the covenant permanently binding? Yes, in that God did not abandon the promise because of anyone’s unfaithfulness. Does this mean Israel has a permanent right to the land it was given? No, that mistakes what the covenant was about. It’s about blessing all through the one true Israelite.
Note well: it may have been a reasonable idea to create a new Jewish state of Israel after the Holocaust. It may be a decent idea to support that modern nation diplomatically and militarily. We just shouldn’t confuse those with fulfillment of God’s plan in the Bible.
Q: How should we treat modern Israel and devout Jews today?
At one level this is easy. Whether we perceive someone as neighbor or enemy, Jesus calls us to love that person. We love everybody, no exceptions, because God loves everybody.
Love is not the same as endorsement, however. If someone is doing something destructive to self or others, love seeks to intervene, protect, and correct. That takes innumerable forms, depending on the situation and our resources. We may have very different opinions on what it looks like to love the modern nation of Israel today. We should examine those opinions closely, exercise humility about our own grasp of the situation, do what we can and learn to live within the limits of our power and knowledge.
For Jews today, devout and otherwise, with whom we have contact, we need again to act with love. This means respect, compassion, understanding, listening: just what we would want from someone who views God differently from us. Paul said the heritage of Israel was of great and permanent value (Romans 3:1–2). If we are Gentile Christians, we need to realize nearly all our biblical heroes are Israelites, including Jesus, and we need to remember the early church had an enormous number of Jewish believers in Jesus (Acts 21:20). Many of our Jewish neighbors and many Israeli Jews are descendants of Holocaust survivors, and all are descendants of those who suffered under antisemitic abuse over many centuries. And many experience antisemitism too frequently even now. We can surely summon an extra measure of compassion for members of a people who have suffered so long and horribly.
Loving people includes introducing them to Jesus. But let’s not jump immediately to the Romans Road in our conversations. The privilege to introduce a Jewish friend to the true seed of Abraham needs to be earned with a lot of sincere love in the foundation of the relationship.
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