How Should We View Israel?
Part 1.
Since the horrific attack by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, and Israel’s devastating response, questions have been raised about Israel that have only been exacerbated by the war in Iran. Should Christians always side with Israel? What are the differences between Israel under the old covenant and the modern state of Israel? Who are God’s chosen people? Are there promises to ancient Israel yet to be fulfilled?
Much of the debate has been fueled by opposing viewpoints among prominent conservative voices and podcasters popular among Evangelicals. A rising number of Christians are taking sides lacking nuance. The growing dichotomy seems to fall between unconditional support for Israel as a presumed Scriptural obligation and an increasing animosity toward the Jewish state bolstered by conspiracy theories taken as fact. Neither is healthy nor biblical in my mind.
If we are to have constructive discussion and debate, we must first lower the temperature. People feel strongly about these issues and my hope is that cooler heads prevail. Let’s assume the best, not the worst, of each other. There are reasons for people’s closely held beliefs shaped by a variety of sources and influences. Much of what we believe has not been critically examined, so we cannot jump to conclusions about a believer’s views or their commitment to Scripture. May we heed the words of James: “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (1:19). Any dialogue that is “Christian” ought to be conducted in this manner.
Recently at a Bible study, someone asked me why God chose the Israelites? That’s a good place to start off this series. Though not established as a nation until the Mosaic covenant, their origins are rooted in God’s covenant with one man named Abram and his promised progeny. In order to fulfill his promise in Genesis 3:15, the Lord had to choose a family and a line through which the Messiah would come.
God sovereignly chose and called Abram out of an idolatrous pagan life into a relationship with himself to bring about this redemptive purpose. The Lord said to him “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 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” (Genesis 12:1-3).
Before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, the Lord reiterated his free sovereign choice: “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).
God chose them and set them apart not because of anything he saw in them. The Lord offers two reasons. First, he loves them. Why does he love them? Because he chose to love them. It pleased him to do so; there’s nothing beyond that. Second, to fulfill the oath he made to the forefathers beginning with Abraham. Once God makes a promise he must keep it. His Word cannot fail for God must be true to himself. He can be trusted fully because he is fully trustworthy. God chose them not because they were lovable but because he loved them. He did not choose a nation great in number but “the fewest of all peoples” so he would receive the glory and praise for accomplishing his purposes through them.
Abram was the first of the Hebrew patriarchs through whom the nation of Israel would come, but it was never God’s intention to select one people for himself and stop there. His grand design from the beginning was the salvation of his elect among all nations of the world. It was never “Plan B.” As Paul notes, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Galatians 3:8).
By Jesus’ time this had clearly been forgotten or rejected by the religious establishment and the majority of the Jewish people. Throughout much of Israel’s troubled history, the people regrettably trusted in their covenant status to protect them and save them instead of the God of the covenant and his promised Messiah.
Jesus summed up the heart of the Old Testament Scriptures this way: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” Luke 24:26,47.
“To all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” This is why God chose Israel and Abraham as their father. Gentiles, like most of you reading this, have been grafted in by grace through faith. “So then,” says Paul, “those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” This begs the question, “Who are God’s chosen people today?” We’ll look at that next week.