Israel Q & A

You have questions. Well so do I.

Oct 17, 2023

Hi. Today’s post will feel a bit different. It doesn’t have a typical format and flow. It’s just a series of questions and my responses. I hope that’s OK. Please let me know if you like the Q & A format for the future.
Thanks.
-Eric

Do you stand with Israel?

You mean me personally? Yes, I want it to remain and be blessed. But what does that mean in the current crisis? What about the attacks from Hamas and Israel’s response? What about America’s response? What should we say about the Palestinians? Well, I do indeed have thoughts about all these questions. And I’m not going to share them here. There is good information out there to be found. Please be discerning in what media you consume—some of it is trying too hard to sound intellectual, and some of it is trying too hard to sound anti-intellectual. I mean, don’t get me wrong. The Hamas attacks were and are unqualified evil and Israel must do something in response to protect its citizens. But my role today is not to try to sway opinions on specific political and policy matters, but to approach some general Q & A about Israel.

Are Christians commanded to support Israel?

No, not in a political sense. See what you made me do?! I had to start with the negative just to get your attention. Because many Christians conflate spiritual responsibility, personal feelings, and foreign policy expectations, it is important to make the distinction so that we don’t fall into the trap of supporting its policies no matter what, right or wrong. So let me restate the question. How should Bible-believers support Israel? Remember, while Israel does not play the same role now as it once did in the outworking of God’s plan (and may yet again), He has not turned His back on the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Romans 9-11). If God has a plan for national/political Israel, and I believe He does, He will bring it to pass. In the meantime, we would want to bless Israel (Genesis 12:3) in whatever ways encourage its existence, its well-being, and its understanding and embrace of Jesus the Messiah (Romans 10:1-4). In other words, of all our thoughts and opinions, the declaration of the gospel to all nations, especially Israel, should come first.

But wouldn’t you want that for all nations, not just Israel?

Yes.

So, is Israel just another country, same as other nations since the church has come?

No, not from the church’s perspective. The church was born in Israel, from the Jewish people, and for the world. The church stands on the foundation of the Hebrew Scriptures and the experience of Israel from Abraham to the Apostles. We are connected. And God has made promises to both Israel and the church that He will keep. In that sense, I would not want to stand opposed to God’s plans and promises. If Israel is still special to God, it should still be special to all Bible believers.

Do you think current events indicate the end times?

No.

Well then, what does indicate the end times?

This here is where some believers bitterly disagree. I don’t want that and I’m not going to call you names if you take a different view than mine. But of course, I don’t mind telling mine. I am openly dispensational premillennialist; I just don’t need to fight about it. And I believe the next stop on the revealed timeline is the rapture of the church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), which could happen at any time, without any other signs, indicators, or warnings. This is why, by the way, I don’t believe that any other events, in 1948, 1991, 2001, 2023, or whenever, mean that the end is especially near. They serve as reminders that God is at work in history to bring about His will—and they may very well be paving the way for end times events—but these things could go on for another thousand years before the rapture, tribulation, and return of Christ. Stay out of the predictions business. It creates fear and a bad testimony, rather than a hopeful mission. Now, after the rapture, assuming the missing church doesn’t clear things up for those who remain, the next indication of the end times countdown is a covenant between the Antichrist and Israel (Daniel 9:24-27), which will kick off the tribulation prior to the return of Jesus (Revelation 19). I really have no idea how widely known or promoted such a covenant will be, but the years that follow will be…rough.*

Is there a future for Israel in God's plan?

Yes, I believe so (although many smart and serious Christians disagree). I believe God’s covenant promises to Abraham in Genesis, to David in 2 Samuel 7, and to Israel in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36-37 have not been fulfilled yet. Perhaps the church has been added as a recipient of some of those spiritual promises, and I believe it has, but I cannot believe that all the spiritual, material, and national blessings promised to ethnic, national Israel have been nullified. Further, Jesus’ words about the future in Matthew 24-25 were clearly referencing Israel’s future, and most of the Book of Revelation is about Israel’s future as well. Could those words have been fulfilled in the years following their writing and before now? Some say yes but I don’t see it.*

Can Israel be forced out of the land again, or will God guarantee a final victory now?

Again, while I do believe in a future for national Israel, I cannot see any biblical guarantee that it will remain today. I want it to remain, and I think it will. But if it does not, its people will endure and a remnant will survive and rise again.

*I was asked about developments in the views of Israel’s role in eschatology from pre-WW2 until now. I don’t study it enough to speak with authority. But I’ll try to state some of my observations.

In the earlier 20th century, the idea that national Israel had any future in God’s plan was theoretical. First, the church was doing just fine without it, and second, it was gone and had been since A.D. 70. Amillennialism and postmillennialism had been dominant, and their principles of Bible study are similar. Dispensational premillennialism was in the background, but rising. Following two world wars, however, Christians were more open to the possibility of great tribulation that could reach the entire globe. Then, with the reestablishment of the State of Israel in 1948, suddenly the idea of it as a player in future events was not just theoretical but practical. So, dispensationalism took the west by storm, with detailed timelines of eschatology, including Israel’s centrality in the seven-year tribulation and millennial reign of Christ from Jerusalem. I am a dispensational premillennialist, not because it’s my preferred theological outcome but because it is the result of my own principles of Bible study. Methodology should come before theology.

Personally, I believe that dispensationalists’ overzealous promotion of their own merits and their association with militant fundamentalism and legalism led to their loss of preferred status. There have been attempts to merge the “already” and “not yet” common ground of covenant theology and dispensationalism, but for some decades now, the cool kids are reformed, or covenant theologians (most prominent speakers are reformed or won’t admit otherwise). That is, the default setting has gone back to amillennialism, with Israel and its covenant promises from God either rebranded into the church or replaced by it. But from the corner of my eye, I can see some postmillennial resurgence as well. I’m really not sure if that is a serious theological development among scholars and churches or if it is the result of theological freelancing and arguments in media.