Should all Christians support Israel?

If you are Christian, you are for Israel.

If you have been in or around evangelical Christian circles long enough, you have likely heard this rhetoric. But is it true?

The answer of course is nuanced. It brings with it so many different conversations and definitions that to entangle them would take a lifetime.

The biggest two questions that arise for me are these:

1. How do you define Israel (a state, a people group, or the modern day “Church”)

2. What does it mean to be “for” something

You can make a pretty compelling case that when you say Israel you mean the state, the people and the church. 

After all, God chose the Jewish people (the people), God gave them the promise land (the state), and God now turned us all into “descendants of Abraham” though faith, and have grafted us (non-Jews or Gentiles) into the Jewish nation (The Church).

But I will argue that from a Jesus centered perspective – Israel from a non-symbolic point of view (ie. from a physical world point of view) represents the Jewish people, not a state or the church.

Israel means the Jewish People

Jesus was clearly “for” Israel. He was God, and they were his chosen people. He was sent to them to save them.

And yet if God saw Israel as a state, and was “for” Israel, the obvious move would have been to rid the Jewish people of the Roman overlords and establish his people’s Kingdom here on earth.

Yet he did not do that. 

Despite all expectations from the Jewish people at the time that we would be a physical King on earth, he did not do it.

What he meant by being “for” Israel was clearly something different than political or state gain.

Being “for” Israel is desiring their salvation

Jesus definition of being “for” Israel was that he was “for” the salvation of the Jews, the reconciliation of them with his Father and their eternal life.

That was Jesus definition of being “for” Israel portrayed through his actions and words.

I also think that while Israel can be used to describe the worldwide “Church,” this is not the usual way in which people think of it when they say “I am for Israel” and is thus beside the point. 

Thus – as Christians, I agree with the statement that we should be “for” Israel. The Bible makes very clear that they are his chosen people.

But I also believe that from the life of Jesus, what it means to be “for” Israel is to pray and work towards the salvation of the Jewish people.

But does being for the Jewish people, mean we are “against” others like Palestine? 

We will tackle that topic tomorrow.

For now, be blessed.

Aaron,

Theophilus Newsletter