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Israel & Christians Today
Biblical understanding about Israel
The Consequences <<
By David Pawson
Suppose that I am wrong! This thought has haunted me as I have written pages, as it does every time I put pen to paper. Indeed, at one stage, when people began to call me ‘the Israel man’, I pulled away from speaking about Israel for quite some time, wanting to be known as a teacher of ‘the whole counsel of God’ (Acts 20:27).
To have misled so many trusting Christians would be a fearful burden on my conscience, knowing that all teachers in the body of Christ ‘will be judged more strictly’ (James 3:1). I can only beg readers not to believe anything I have written until they have ‘searched the scriptures’ (not just looked up textual references) as the Bereans did to check out Paul himself (Acts 17:11). I have often concluded a talk by saying: ‘If you can’t find all this for yourself in your own Bible, forget it, for God’s sake.’ I mean it. It is my safety net.
I changed from a tourist in Israel to a convinced Zionist. A series of amazing adventures in the land and with the people undoubtedly had an influence and could be dismissed as subjective and even sentimental, but I think I am ready to face the appalling consequences if I am wrong.
But suppose that I am right! Then I have raised the prospect of serious consequences for others. Israel would cease to be an optional interest for some Christians, a kind of hobby that can become a hobbyhorse. Israel would be of vital concern to all Christians, intimately involved in their future destiny.
If the Abrahamic covenant is still in operation, as I have claimed, then the people of Israel still belong to the Lord and the land still belongs to them. Furthermore, one vital provision of that covenant still applies – ‘I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse’ (Genesis 12:3).
Coming immediately after ‘I will make you a great nation’, it seems clear that ‘you’ refers to the nation and not just those who bless or curse Abraham himself.
All too frequently, a sentimental rather than a scriptural view of God expects Him ever to bless but never to curse. But both Testaments witness to the latter (the last word of Elijah in the Old, Malachi 4:6, and the last word of Jesus to the ‘goats’ in the New, Matthew 25:41).
Is there any historical evidence for the operation of this covenantal principle? I believe there is, even in my own lifetime. I begin with examples of nations that betrayed God’s chosen people.
Germany immediately springs to mind. After their defeat in World War I, Hitler gave the nation a recovered hope and pride. He made the third attempt to build a ‘Reich’ (kingdom, empire), claiming it would last a ‘thousand years’ (his ersatz substitute for the biblical ‘millennium’!). Yet in less than twenty it was reduced to smouldering rubble, following his suicide. He is probably most widely remembered today for his barbaric extermination of six million innocent Jews. Was it merely a coincidence that Germany’s defeat and downfall began in the same year as the ‘Final Solution’ to the ‘Jewish problem’ was put into action?
What about Britain? In abandoning the Jews in Palestine to what many expected to be their extermination at the hands of the surrounding Arab nations, our nation was betrayed a trust given to her by the inter-war League of Nations and breaking her word to the Jewish people to secure a homeland in their ancestral territory. In just a few years, after 1947, the British empire had disintegrated. It had once included a third of the world’s population, circled the globe (‘the empire on which the sun never set’); but it was rapidly reduced to a handful of seaports and tiny islands. Another coincidence? Or was God saying: ‘If you can’t look after My people, you can’t look after any’?
If all this is evidence of the God of Israel’s activity in the political sphere, what about the ecclesiastical? Many factors could explain the Church’s steady decline in numbers and influence. Compromise in both belief and behaviour has clearly reduced respect and confidence in the general public, though local fellowships maintaining traditional/biblical doctrine and ethics still appeal. But they are the exception, not the rule. Mainline denominations are reporting losses or at best just maintaining their statistics. ‘Christian’ England is a thing of the past.
Now a rising tide of anti-Zionism is added to the mix. The Archbishop of Canterbury contents to speak at a conference in Jerusalem, sponsored by the Palestinian Liberation Theology Centre and specifically denouncing Christian Zionism, though it must be added that the mildness of Rowan Williams’ contribution surprised and disappointed the sponsors. The most belligerent speaker died shortly after returning home. Stephen Sizer was a delegate. Some preacher deliberately attacked Israel. More promote support for the Palestinian cause. Perhaps most simply ignore the Zionist challenge, considering it an irrelevant distraction from the real business of church.
How does the Holy One of Israel feel about all this? One telling indication is the biblical description of Israel as ‘the apple of His eye’ (Deuteronomy 32:10; Zechariah 2:8). Though this phrase has entered the English language, few appreciate its meaning. People think of a child’s eyes lighting up when given a rosy red apple to eat. But it refers to the eyeball itself and the iris in particular, which resembles an apple viewed from the stalk side, with its radiating stripes. It is the most sensitive spot in the whole human body, protected by the eyelid, which immediately slams down when the slightest alien particle threatens its welfare. When God is described as the ‘keeper’ of Israel, the Hebrew word for ‘eyelid’ is used, highlighting His extreme sensitivity when they are touched in a hurtful way. This also applies to His people called Christians (Matthew 25:31-46), who are also ‘God’s chosen people’ (Colossians 3:12; but it still includes the Jews.
As is usual the case, the real issue is theological rather than ethical or even political. Not whether we believe in God, but what kind of God we really believe in. There are aspects of His character which explain his attitudes and actions, but which are being ignored or neglected in so much contemporary preaching. One obvious example is His jealousy. When did you last hear a sermon on His jealousy for His name (his reputation) and His people? Then there is His righteousness, which explains why He blesses some and curses others, heals some and kills others, loves some and hates others. His feelings about us are far more important than our feelings about Him. What makes Him happy or sad, contented or angry? When was the last time you heard His wrath explained, its causes and its effects on individuals and society? (Read Romans 1 for evidence that He is angry with Britain now). A hedonistic generation does not want to hear about such things so we offer a ‘user-friendly’ Christianity, whose gospel is summed up in three words: ‘God loves you’, which neither Jesus nor the apostles ever preached (see my books: Is John 3:16 the Gospel? and The God and the Gospel of Righteousness).
Above all, God’s moral integrity is at stake, His reliability, His faithfulness. Does He stand by His word? Does He keep His promises? Does He mean what He says and say what He means? The New Testament itself points out that if God goes back on His promises to Abraham, our new covenant hope becomes insecure (Hebrew 6:13-19).
I conclude by asking you two simple but profound questions:
First, do you trust God? This reliable, trustworthy God who makes covenant promises and keeps them. This God who is not a man that He should change His mind.
Second, do you fear God? Because He is so consistent, so just, so absolutely fair, judging everyone impartially, with no favourites, above all bribery and corruption. One of the most frequently quoted texts in the Bible is, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom’ (Proverbs 1:7), but few who quote it realize that ‘LORD’ in capital letters is the English substitute for the Hebrew name for God (JHVH, pronounced ‘Yahweh’), given to them by God Himself. So our final question becomes: Do you fear the God of Israel? I do.
(David Pawson has an itinerant ministry, mainly to church leaders, in the UK and overseas. He is the author of several popular books including When Jesus Returns, The Challenge of Islam to Christians and Revelation. Two recent books concerning Israel are Israel in the New Testament and Defending Christian Zionism. Order from your local bookstore. See also www.inspirational.org.nz)
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