Evangelization of the Jews?

Recently, we published some prayer points on this website. You will have noticed that we have removed them. We did this deliberately and willingly, because we understand that some of these prayer points created an impression that the goal of Christians for Israel is to evangelize Jewish people.

We wish to state clearly that this was not our intention in publishing the prayer points. Those prayer points, to the extent they could have given that impression, do not represent the policy of Christians for Israel.

Christians for Israel does not, as an organization, evangelize or actively support the evangelization of the Jewish people.

This is in no way part of our mission or activities. Our calling towards Israel is simple: “Comfort, comfort ye my people”. We want to encourage the Jewish people: turn to your God (the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), obey Him, trust in Him, seek Him, and be strong in your faith.

On the contrary - Christians for Israel, as an organization, has a message for the CHURCH. (This is the main reason we do not have an office in Israel, and why we seek to support the Jewish people through Jewish organizations.)

Our message for the Church is a radical one. Basically, we argue that the Christian Church must urgently - and fundamentally – repent and turn from its traditional attitude towards Israel and the Jews.

The fact that the Jews - as a nation - have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, has been a major stumbling block for Christians throughout the ages. The Apostle Paul struggled with this (Romans 9-11). Many of the church fathers, St. Augustine, and later Luther, struggled with this. Broadly speaking, since about 300 AD the church has tended to take the view that unless Jews openly and explicitly accept Jesus as Savior now (ie. become Christians), they will be lost forever.

Many Christians today argue that we should not support modern Israel and the Jewish people if they still refuse to accept the Gospel of salvation. They say that our goal should be to `evangelize` the Jews. Some even argue that not to do so, is anti-Semitic because it denies the Jews true salvation.

The apostle Paul himself explains in his Letter to the Romans that the covenants and promises belong to Israel and the Jewish people, and these remain eternally valid and effective. He explains that the Gentiles have been grafted into these covenants, into an olive tree of which the Jews are the natural branches. There is, he says, a deep mystery in the 'hardening and blinding' of the majority of the Jewish people for the Gospel by the Almighty for a purpose: for the sake of the ingathering of a people for His Name from the Gentile world first. But he explains that, although many Jews still have a blind spot for Who Jesus is, they are not without God and that they are and remain the beloved and chosen people of God for the sake of the Patriarchs.

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins” (Romans 11:25-27).

The saving of all Israel, then, has to do with the coming of Messiah, the Deliverer, who will "take away their sins".

"All Israel" – what does this mean? The last generation before the Lord’s return? What about the rest of Israel - Israel throughout the ages? Israel that was not without God but had a blind spot for who Jesus is? If God has hardened and blinded them so that they could not hear and could not see, did He by that act of His will condemn them also to everlasting and eternal rejection? We should that leave to Him and not jump too quickly to “logical” conclusions of our own. He, the God of Israel, is a God full of mercy.

We are deeply convinced that the failure of the (primarily Gentile) Church to remember this mystery has led to an attitude of arrogance that has been at the root of so much persecution of the Jews in the world. It is the root of Christian anti-Semitism for almost 2000 years and in parts of Christianity even today. It is an attitude, a spiritual perspective, that deeply offends the Almighty, and even stands in the way of the Church herself being prepared for the Coming of Jesus as Messiah.

We are not arguing that we should agree with everything that Israel or the Jews do or think. We are not saying that the Jews are perfect. (Far from it. But then neither are we). We are also not saying that non-Jews (Arabs, Palestinians) have no rights to live in the land, or even that they are less valuable in God´s eyes.

What we do argue is that God has a unique relationship with the Jewish people. There is a mystery in God´s dealing with the Jews. He will be faithful to His promises to them. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”. He promised to restore them – physically, geographically, nationally, and spiritually. And we are witnessing that restoration in our own days.

Our understanding is that this means that Jews who are faithful to their own calling, but have not been given the revelation by the Almighty God about Jesus as Lord and Savior, will of course not be members of the Christian Church - Jews and Gentiles as “one new man” through Christ (Ephesians 2:14 - but may still through God’s grace and mercy attain eternal life in the kingdom of God when Messiah comes. But that is up to Him to decide! Eternal judgment is God's and His alone.

Only if we understand the mystery of Israel can we understand our own calling as Christians. Only then can we truly understand Israel and the Jewish people, and the times in which we are living. Only then can we be truly prepared for the coming of the Messiah.

It is our hope and prayer that we may stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish people in our joint efforts and together merit greeting Messiah on His great and awesome day, speedily, in our days. Amen.

In the attached article, Rev. Willem J.J. Glashouwer explains this further.

Will all Israel be saved? http://www.whyisrael.org/2010/09/17/will-all-israel-be-saved/