Published by: ICEJ
Why Should We Support Israel and What Does It REALLY Mean?
Supporting Israel does not mean supporting everything the government of Israel does. What does it mean? It is simply to support the nation of Israel’s right to exist.
Support for Israel Brings Spiritual Blessings
As Christians, we owe everything to the Jews. We would not have a Bible if it were not for them.
Abram was a Gentile when he was called by God to leave Ur of Chaldeans and go to “a place that I will show you”. Abram’s faith in the God that he could not see, but yet implicitly obeyed, opened the way for God to communicate personally with him. His name was changed by God to Abraham to signify he would be the father of many nations.
In Genesis 12:3, God tells Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” It doesn’t say: only the Israelites will be blessed – but all nations. As heirs of the promises of God through Abraham, we have been grafted into the covenants and promises of God.
Jews Produced and Protected Our Bible
Every book of the Bible, with the possible exception of Luke, is written by Jews. It is the Jews who have meticulously preserved and protected the Biblical records. The Dead Sea Scrolls attest to the veracity of the Biblical records as does archaeology and independent historical records.
There is also significantly more evidence for the physical man Jesus than for most other historical figures but the most convincing evidence is the transformed lives of millions of Christians impacted by Him.
We Don’t Just Have A Spiritual Jesus
Jesus, our incarnate Saviour, came to earth as a fully human being, into a physical place, Israel. Jesus was born a Jew, he lived as an observant Jew, keeping the Feasts and obeying the Torah. The Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God and John 1 tells us that Jesus is the Word made flesh.
It would be hard to relate to Jesus if He had not come as part of a family, to a physical place, and lived a normal life until his public ministry began. At that time, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit confirmed that Jesus was both fully man and fully God. At his public baptism, A voice from Heaven said: “This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)
Jesus physical death on the cross and subsequent resurrection were real historical events. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14,
“And if Messiah has not been raised from the dead, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith.”
Israel in the Bible
Israel is mentioned more than 2,300 times in the Bible. Such an exposure surely must get our attention. We cannot read the Bible and pretend Israel is irrelevant to God. For God to communicate his plans and purposes to man He chose a specific people group as his vehicle of redemption. We cannot argue with it – it is His sovereign choice, whether we like it or not.
God referred to Israel as “His people” (Deuteronomy 7:6), His “treasured possession” (Psalm 135:4), and even the “apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8).
From Deuteronomy 7:6-10, we know that God did not choose Israel because they were strong or mighty. In fact, God chose Israel when they were small and weak, a people without a land.
Israel’s Calling
Israel was commissioned by God to be a ‘light to the nations’. They were to reflect God’s character, for nations to see what happened when they followed the Living God, and what happened when they did not.
The Jews were given the responsibility as the stewards, protectors and propagators of God’s truth. For this sacred duty, they were called a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.
Highlighting God’s blessing for Israel, Paul wrote, “Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, Who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” (Romans 9:4-5)
The Genealogy of the Messiah
From Abraham through the tribe of Judah to David and ultimately to both Mary and Joseph, the genealogy is clearly set out in the Gospel of Matthew.
The birth of Jesus, his family line and what He was born to do are all identified explicitly in the prophets, writing some 700 years before Jesus’ birth. (See especially Isaiah 53.)
Our Christian Duty
Over centuries, Christians imposed ever-increasing anti-Jewish measures, including acts of ostracism, humiliation, expropriation, violence, and murder, which flowed from a perception of Jews as Christ-killers. These measures were horrifically enacted in the Holocaust.
Isaiah 40:1 says: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” Clearly, this is not speaking about the Jews comforting themselves. It is an invitation for us to bring comfort to them.
If our nation is to be blessed by God, then we must bless Israel (Genesis 12:3). We are commanded to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6).
Sadly, particularly since October 7, anti-semitism is again rearing its ugly head. As Christians, we must speak up for Jews in grateful thanks for the legacy they have given us.
Replacement Theology
One of the errors widely accepted in Christianity today is that the church has replaced Israel in God’s redemptive plan. If God has broken His covenant with Israel, which is repeatedly identified as an “everlasting” covenant, then how can we be sure He would not break His covenant with us? No, God is faithful. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His covenants and promises remain. We have the privilege, by God’s grace, of being grafted into the family of God and thus inheriting all the promises of God.
