Christian Zionism: Christians and the Jews

In 1986 I had the privilege, honor, and blessing of visiting Israel. I have traveled quite a bit in my life but never did I have a spiritual experience like the one I had in Israel. After having read the Bible my heart's desire was to see the Holy Land and I was not disappointed! I hope to be able to take my wife there one day.

As a Christian I fully support the Jew's right to the land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael as they call it). I do not base this support on political or social causes nor on any biblical end-time prophecies. I base this belief on the fact that God, who created the world, specifically gave this land to the Jews. The Bible, which was written ten centuries before Islam ever came into existence, states in several places God's promise to give the land of Israel to the Jews. The following section of scripture passages will illustrate this truth.

It started with God's promise to Abraham in Genesis:

• Genesis 12:1-7 - 1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." 4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. 6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 And the LORD appeared unto Abraham and said, "Unto your descendants will I give this land."

• Genesis 13:14-15 - And the LORD said unto Abraham, "Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are standing, north, south, east, and west. For the land which you see, to you will I give it and to your descendants forever."

• Genesis 17:1-8 - And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly." And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, "As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

God's promise to give Abraham and his descendants the land of Israel is continued through Abraham's son, Isaac. Abraham also had another son, Ishmael, who is the father of the Arab nations. But you will see that God's promise concerning the land of Israel is to be fulfilled through Isaac. Abraham confirms this just before he dies when he gives all of his possessions to Isaac and not Ishmael:

• Genesis 17:19-21 - And God said to Abraham "Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac."

• Genesis 25:5, 7-9 - "And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac...And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre."

• Genesis 26:1-5 - And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, "Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."

There was no question in Abraham's mind that Isaac was to be the heir through whom God would fulfill His covenants. God further delineates the family line of succession from Abraham to Isaac to Isaac’s son, Jacob:

• Genesis 25:21-22a, 24-26 - "And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her...And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bore them."

• Genesis 28:10-16 - And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he came upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, "I am the LORD God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed; And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in you and in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with you, and will keep you in all places where you go, and will bring you again into this land; for I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken to you of." And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not."

God tells Jacob that He will fulfill the covenants He made with his fathers through his descendants. Therefore, the promise of the land of Israel will go through Isaac’s son Jacob instead of his other son Esau. God also reaffirms the Messianic promise that He will bless the nations of the earth through Jacob’s descendants. A little while after this experience, God again visits Jacob and changes his name:

• Genesis 32:27-28 - "And he said unto him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince have you power with God and with men, and have prevailed."

This is the first time in the Bible that the word "Israel" is used. Later, it becomes synonymous with the name of the land where Jacob’s descendants dwell. Jacob ends up having thirteen children, twelve sons and one daughter. He names one of his sons "Judah". It is from this word that the appellation "Jew" derives and eventually is applied to all the descendants of Jacob's children.

The parts of these covenants that pertain to the Jews' right to the land of Israel were never abrogated in the New Testament. There were times when God removed the Jews from the land as a punishment for their rebellion but He never stated that He would take the land away from them permanently. His word makes it clear that He alone determines who lives in the land. He tells Moses to warn the Israelites that if they obey Him they will be blessed in the land of Israel. However, if they disobey Him, He will remove them from the land:

• Deuteronomy 28:1-3,63-65 - "1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field...63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. 65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind."

Notice in this passage that it is the LORD who scatters the Jews from the land. Later in Israel's history, God removed the Jews from the land for their disobedience. He used the Babylonian Empire to perform His judgment. However, He tells them that He will return them to the land after seventy years:

• Jeremiah 29:4,10-11 - "4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon...10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

Here again God states that He is the one who caused the Jews to be carried away to Babylon and He will be the one to cause them to return to Israel. Jesus told the Jews that their Temple would be destroyed and their house left desolate. In 70 A.D. the Romans did destroy the Temple and in 135 A.D. they put down a Jewish uprising and dispersed the Jews throughout the Roman Empire. However, in the book of the prophet Amos God promised that one day He would bring the Jews back to the land forever:

• Amos 9:13-15 - "13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God."

God states that He is always watching Israel:

• Deuteronomy 11:11-12 - "11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 12 A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year."

Since God emphasizes throughout His word that He is always interested in what is going on in the land of Israel and that He determines when the Jews live in the land, I have to believe that on May 14, 1948 God fulfilled His promise to bring the Jews back to the land forever. They were dispersed throughout the world for 1800 years yet they maintained their Jewish identity. One would have to be blind not to see the hand of God in the rebirth of the modern state of Israel.

I have a book titled "Palestine" that was printed in the 1920's. It is a photo album of various places around Israel. The images show "Palestine" to be a desolate wasteland of barren, rock-strewn fields and a treeless countryside. When I visited Israel, 38 years after the Jews created their state, I saw some of the most beautiful land I've ever seen. The Jews had reclaimed the land and turned it into a green, lush, fruitful country.

That the Jews have had a presence in Israel for over 30 centuries is a fact of archaeology. The archaeological excavations in Israel have confirmed Jewish habitation in the land dating back to at least 1000 B.C. To deny this, as many Arab and non-Arab people do, is to ignore the science of archaeology.

It is interesting that the Jewish/Christian Bible mentions Jerusalem hundreds of times yet the Islamic Quran does not mention it even once.

There are multitudes of Christians who support the right of the Jews to dwell in the land of Israel. I believe that the day America turns its back on the Jewish state of Israel will be the day that God turns His back on America.

Finally, let me say that my support for the Jews' Biblical right to the land of Israel does not include the endorsement of the heretical doctrine of the Two or Dual Covenant teaching to which some Christian organizations subscribe.

Western Wall Jerusalem WebCam

Photo album of my 1986 trip to Israel