How Should Christians View the Modern Israel? (Part 2)

Lets look at some of the Christian Zionist theological arguments for support of Israel’s right to the land.

Zionist Arguments

(1) The very existence of the modern state of Israel is evidence of God’s supernatural intervention and blessing.

From a historical and geopolitical perspective, it is difficult to see the miraculous nature of the Jews’ return to Palestine and the formation of a state. It began in the early 1900s with Jewish Zionists in Europe who wanted a place of asylum from growing anti-semitism. Great Britain, still a colonial power at the time, promised them they would form and rule a state in Palestine, aiming to weaken the Ottoman Empire’s hold on the region. It culminated in the Sykes-Picot agreement reached with France, also a colonial power, to carve up the Levant into new countries, some of which would be under Britain’s sphere of influence, others under France. Israel went to Britain. But gradually, Britain’s colonial powers receded, and in 1948, they left Israel on their own. Israel promptly declared independence and forged a state, seizing new land through a civil war with the Arab Palestinians living in the region.

Today, as they have for much of their history, Israel relies on foreign allies and military strength to maintain their existence. Compare this with the story of Gideon, in which God proves to His people that He is their true strength by dwindling a sizable army down to 300 soldiers to defeat their enemy. The modern state of Israel, as a secular democracy, does not rely on faith for its survival, it relies on its own military strength as well as its foreign alliances.

(2) God prophesied that He would bring them back to the Holy Land. These prophesies were given to Ezekiel (37:12, 38:8), Jeremiah (30:3-4), and Isaiah (11:11-12) between 700 BC and 570 BC.

Indeed, God did make these prophesies, and they were fulfilled. In 538 BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon and granted the Jews the freedom to return home. Most of them did. In 516, the temple was rebuilt, and in 444 BC, Nehemiah enlisted local help to rebuild the city walls. Israel became independent until being conquered again by the Seleucid Empire in 198 BC.

There is no biblical reason to think these prophecies referred to Israel’s reformation as a state in 1948.

(3) In the New Testament, Paul says explicitly that God has NOT rejected His people, Israel (Rom. 11:1), and that the calling of God is irrevocable (Rom. 11:29).

Paul goes on in Romans 11 to show what he means by his statement that God has not rejected His people. There remains a faithful remnant of God’s people who He has not rejected and who have not rejected Him (Rom. 11:5-6). If not for this remnant, Israel would have been destroyed already (Rom. 9:27-29). Thus, God has preserved them, but Israel as a whole “failed to obtain what it was seeking” (v. 7). Who is this remnant, and who are the “natural branches” broken off (Rom. 11:17)?

Peter explains in Acts 3:22-26: Moses spoke of a prophet God would send—Jesus—and commanded the Jews to listen to him. “Everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly rooted out from the people.”

Did the Jews listen this prophet Jesus? No. Peter says to the Jews: “But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of Life, whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 3:14-15).

Therefore, the Jews who rejected Christ are the natural branches who were broken off from the tree that represents the chosen people of God (Rom. 11:17-24). Those who accept Christ, regardless of race or nationality, are the faithful remnant. The only way for the Jews to be grafted back into God’s covenant people is through belief in Christ (v. 23).

In Part 3, we’ll examine the most commonly cited (and probably the strongest) argument from the Christian Zionist camp. (Click here to read Part 3.)