Should Christians support the nation of Israel?
The question of Israel presses on Christians because the Bible speaks of a nation God chose, set aside for a time, and promised to restore. Commentators in this collection answer it in layers: what God still intends for Israel, what the present return to the land actually is, and where a Christian's own citizenship lies.
God has not finished with Israel
The starting point is that Israel's setting aside is temporary, not final. One writer reads Paul's question about whether God has rejected His people as settled by Paul's own conversion:
F. B. HoleThough Israel, as a nation, has been set aside for a time, they have not been cast away for ever. Some Gentiles in the conceit of their hearts thought so when Paul was writing, and not a few think so today. But God forbid that it should be so, for they are His people foreknown for a special object, and in that event His object would be defeated.
The reason lies further back than Israel's behaviour. It rests on promises God made without conditions attached:
J. N. DarbyIsrael, as a nation, will be saved, and planted in the land… The promises have never been accomplished. God gave certain promises to Abraham, unconditionally. Israel got into the land conditionally under Joshua, failed, and were turned out of the land… And Messiah was not there. When He came the first time, they rejected Him. But even this, while it filled up the measure of their guilt, did not touch the promises given without condition.
The restoration is tied to Christ's return, not to today's politics
Writers here place Israel's national blessing in a coming age, when their King returns — not in the present.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWith this chapter the great prophetic utterances of Ezekiel begin concerning the future restoration and blessing of Israel. From here on to the end of the book, all is still unfulfilled, nor can it be fulfilled until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again and is enthroned as King… The characteristic words in verses 23-28 are the words "I will do." It is the word of sovereign grace. Eighteen times Jehovah says what He will do.
The present return is described as a return in unbelief
Several writers watched Jewish resettlement in the land and read it against prophecy rather than as fulfilment of blessing.
A. J. PollockA few years ago a very distinct stirring of Jewish national hopes was publicly seen in the formation of the Zionist movement with the object of arranging the return of the Jews to their own land. The association was, and is, political and infidel.
Commentators differ on how much of God's hand to read into it. Pollock cautions that "it must, however, not be necessarily supposed that the return of the Jews to the land of their fathers in large numbers is the direct hand of God." Another writer sees quiet divine care behind the scenes:
The Bible TreasuryThe land is being reserved for them, and they are preserved for the land… God, in His own due time, after many preliminary dealings with His earthly people, will dispose the hearts of even the most unlikely nations to assist them; but that is when He takes up their cause.
Hatred of the Jew is treated as a serious sin
Whatever caution these writers show about political movements, they are severe about hostility toward the Jewish people.
J. N. DarbyFrom the moment God is in Israel He identifies Himself with His people. In consequence of this the nations are treated according as they treated Israel… The moment they touch Israel, they touch the apple of His eye.
A Christian's own standing is heavenly, and warned against pride
Paul's picture of Gentiles grafted into an olive tree comes with a caution, and one writer applies it to Christendom itself: "Boast not against the branches. But if you boast, you do not support the root, but the root supports you… Do not become proud, but fear" (Romans 11:18-20). Alongside that runs a second theme — where the believer's political loyalty actually sits:
Leslie M. GrantHow manifestly then are all the true interests of the believer bound up in his Heavenly inheritance, not on earth at all. Here we are "strangers and pilgrims" passing through a foreign country; or as "ambassadors for Christ," representing Him to the world through which we pass. Engaging in their politics then would be not only inconsistent… What right has a representative of one country to engage in the political affairs of another?
The support these writers do urge: the gospel
The one active duty toward Jewish people named in this material is evangelism.
Samuel RidoutGod still loves His ancient people, and while their full blessing waits for the Millennium, yet those who are now living are perishing without Christ. Shall not the gospel be carried to them, and special attention be given to those of whom Christ according to the flesh came?
Summary
- Not cast off. Israel is set aside for a time, never abandoned; God's object for them would fail if it were otherwise.
- Unconditional. Their guilt in rejecting Christ did not touch promises God made to Abraham without conditions.
- Future. The restoration in the prophets is still unfulfilled and waits for Christ to return and reign — it is not accomplished by politics.
- Unbelief now. Commentators read the present national return as a return in unbelief, a movement they describe as political rather than a work of faith.
- Your part. Do not boast against the branches, do not hate the Jew — God counts that as touching the apple of His eye — and carry them the gospel, since those living now are perishing without Christ.