Reflections on Israel from Jerusalem
Being in Israel for the first time has reinforced some key truths about this land and God’s plan for it. As Christians, we need a theology about Israel, Jerusalem, and the people— it is foundational to our faith. Removing Israel removes the foundation of God’s promises.
The God of Israel and the Israel of God
“For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.” (Romans 11:16 NKJV)
I do not believe the church replaced Israel, superseded it, fulfilled it, and now God is finished with it. All of God’s promises are yes and amen in Christ, but all of God’s promises to Abraham and his children are still true as well. God has a special plan for everybody, but all of God’s special plans for everybody come through his special plan for Israel. God has a plan for the Arab nations, for every nation, every tribe, every tongue, but those plans for every nation come through his plan for Israel. Pull out the foundation stones of his plan for Israel and you remove the foundation for every other nation.
The Spectrum of Beliefs About Israel
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you.’” (Psalm 122:6 NKJV)
There is a massive spectrum of beliefs around Israel, from anti-Semitism and hatred on one end to Christians viewing Israel like some Christian Disneyland on the other, with every shade in between. I have been around messianic Jewish congregations enough to see more spectrums of belief about Israel, God’s plan, what it means to be Jewish believers, than in the church. All those beliefs tend to think they are the center, that they have it right, that people who do not see it as strongly are lukewarm and people more serious are extreme.
Mixing Politics and Eschatology
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” (Romans 11:25 NKJV)
It is very hard not to take two other things and add them to the cocktail of what we believe about Israel. People tend to take politics, particularly US politics or Israeli politics, and mix in political thoughts about Israel. People then take in eschatology, end time viewpoints, and add those to their viewpoint on Israel. How you see the last times tends to get thrown in with the viewpoint on Israel.
Pressing Into the Word
“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.” (Romans 9:6 NKJV)
We have to press into the word of God. We have to keep reading God’s word, God’s Bible, and we all will have viewpoints and perspectives, but we have to keep asking if that is what the Bible actually says. To anybody who thinks God is finished with Israel, I want to challenge you to just read the Bible. Read it and do not try to over-interpret it, just read it like it means what it says and it says what it means. To people on the other spectrum, the starting point is not the Bible. The starting point is they are so in love with Israel that at times they want to bypass Jesus. Read the gospels. Jesus does not pull punches. He says many will come from the east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and the children of the kingdom of Israel will be cast into outer darkness. Jesus knows no salvation outside of faith in himself. There is no salvation, Jew or Gentile, outside of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. We do not want to come with a romantic sentimental viewpoint that glosses over unbelief. When Jesus was looking at Pharisees who thought they would come into contact with God through obedience to the law, he had no truck with that. Paul had the same attitude. I see at times Christians who get romantic if people are wearing certain clothes or doing certain things. The whaling wall is great to be there, great to know we are touching the stones that held the temple. It is great to see the thoughts and prayers of millions of people over the years, but there is nothing sacred about those stones, those walls. Jesus said there is not one stone left here which will be here. He literally said to the disciples around 33 AD that they would see these pulled down in their generation, and it happened in 70 AD. People say, is God going to build another temple? Are the Jewish people going to build another temple? I do not know. Maybe yes, maybe no. One thing I know is God is never going to put his glory in another man-made temple. Know you not that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Truth is in the Spirit
“And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.’” (Romans 11:26 NKJV)
The truth of Israel is in the spirit, not in the flesh. The truth of Israel and what God has done here, will do here, and is doing here right now, you tap into it in the Holy Spirit. Once we step out of the spirit, we look in the flesh for the key, for a pressure, for physical things, for a wall, for things to attach our hearts to. God wants many people to come here. He wants us to come and pray. He wants us to come in love and honor and cherish all peoples, but especially the Jew, the Jew first and then the Gentile. We have a debt to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. But catch that in the spirit. Discerning in the spirit what God is doing here, and do not simply buy into some tourism, cheap tawdry thing. God wants us to be a people who walk in the spirit, the sons of Isaac, who discern what he is doing in the times and the seasons. Has God finished with Israel? No, he is only just getting started. He is the God of Israel. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah forever and ever. His throne is going to be set up in the new Jerusalem, and there will be no temple because the light of God will fill that place. The glory of God will fill that place. The nations will stream to Jerusalem. It is a privilege to be here with a thousand pastors, to meet the Israeli government, to pray, to say we love you, we do not hate you, we pray for you. There is something illuminating about the power of anti-Semitism. There is hatred and racism in every nation and everybody has been through it, but anti-Semitism is different. Anti-Semitism itself is a testimony to the reality of God choosing Israel. Satan hates Israel in a way he does not hate any other nation. Satan knows that if he can wipe out the people of Israel, he would wipe off the promises and the prophetic destiny of heaven, and he will never do that because the one who keeps Israel will not slumber or sleep. We have a God who is real, a God who will honor his promises to Abraham, a God who asked Abraham to sacrifice his son. Because Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son for God, the Bible says in Hebrews that Abraham was willing to believe that God would raise up Isaac, the son of promise, from the dead. Hundreds of yards from where I am sitting right now, there is a mosque, and around that mosque it says there is no God but Allah, and he has no son. I tell you, there is a God. There is no God but Abba, and he does have a son. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Let us stand up against anti-Semitism, let us never give into that. There are subtle forms of anti-Semitism creeping into conservatism in the United States right now, and let us stand against that. Let us pray for the people of Israel. Do not fall in love with a surface, religious, Christianese, Disneyland version of Israel, discern what God is doing.
Let that truth settle in your spirit.
Selah.
Scriptures for Further Study: Romans 11:16, Psalm 122:6, Romans 11:25, Romans 9:6, Romans 11:26, Genesis 12:3, Genesis 17:7-8, Romans 11:1, Romans 11:17-18, Galatians 3:29, Romans 9:4-5, Hebrews 11:17-19, Romans 9:27, Isaiah 66:8, Zechariah 12:10, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Romans 11:29, Psalm 105:8-11, Amos 9:14-15, Isaiah 43:5-6, Zechariah 14:16, Revelation 21:2, Revelation 21:22-23, Romans 11:8
10 Questions for Reflection:
- What does the God of Israel mean to my faith?
- How do I view the church’s relationship to Israel?
- Where have I mixed politics with my theology of Israel?
- How does my end-time view affect what I believe about Israel?
- Have I pressed into the Word to form my views on Israel?
- What does Jesus’ words in the Gospels teach me about Israel?
- How can I discern God’s plan for Israel in the Spirit?
- Where have I seen anti-Semitism in my circles?
- What does it mean to pray for the peace of Jerusalem?
- How can I honor God’s promises to Abraham today?
