Dr. Michael Brown: FRONTL|NE | Issue 5

Why should the Church stand with Israel? As the tide of antisemitism – the hatred of Jewish people – continues to rise worldwide, it is essential that the church stands with Israel.   This does not mean that believers must agree with everything that the State of Israel does or always support the Israeli government without criticism.  And it does not mean being anti-Palestinian.   But it does mean recognizing that God has chosen the Jewish people for a specific mission on the earth, that He has promised to preserve the Jewish people, that it is He who brought His people back to the Land, and that a Jewish Jerusalem must welcome back Jesus the Messiah.   First, going all the way back to Genesis, we read that God promised to bless the whole world through the seed of Abram (Genesis 12:1-3), then saying to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai after the exodus from Egypt,  "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites." (Exodus 19:5–6) He reiterated this in Deuteronomy 7, saying,  "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 7:6–8) Couldn't be any more clear Israel was chosen by God for a mission, not because of its own goodness or faithfulness but because of His goodness and faithfulness.   And this calling, this divine election, not for individual salvation but for divine service, remains to this day.  As Paul wrote to the Romans,  "As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable." (Romans 11:28–29) He could not have made himself any clearer.   So, for the Church to stand with Israel means that we recognize that the Jewish people are still chosen by God, even while they reject Jesus as Messiah. And so, while we pray for the salvation of our Jewish friends and coworkers and family members, knowing that salvation is found only in Yeshua, we recognize that "God's gifts and His call are irrevocable."   This is also why Satan hates the Jewish people: he understands that they have been chosen by God for a mission, and he opposes God's mission with all his might. So, when we stand with Israel, we also stand against the devil.   Promised preservation and protection Second, we recognize that God has promised to preserve the people of Israel no matter what.   As He said through Jeremiah,  "This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is his name: 'Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,' declares the LORD, 'will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.' This is what the LORD says: 'Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,' declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 31:35–37) Once again, the Bible could not be any clearer. No matter what Israel does, even coming under divine discipline while scattered among the nations, He will still preserve us.   To quote His words through Jeremiah again,  "'I am with you and will save you,' declares the LORD. 'Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.'" (Jeremiah 30:11) That's why we are still here today as a people – I say "we" as a Jewish person myself – and that's why Satan wants to wipe us out. To stand with God is to stand for the preservation and protection of Jewish people worldwide while standing against the devil and his evil ways.   Only the hand of God Third, we recognize that it is the Lord Himself who brought Israel back to the Land.   There really is no other way to explain it.   From a natural viewpoint, the preservation of a people without a homeland for a period of 1900 years is totally unprecedented. Only the Jewish people have been preserved in this way, just as promised in the Word. Just as unlikely was the rebirth of the nation of Israel against all odds, straight out of the ashes of the Holocaust. Only God!   There's also no other way to explain this from a scriptural point of view. That's because when God blesses, no one can curse and when He curses, no one can bless. In the same way, when He opens a door no one can shut it and when He closes a door no one can open it. Using biblical logic, if God scattered Israel in judgment, which He did, then no one – no earthly power, no angelic or demonic power, not the will of the Jewish people or the will of the United Stations – could regather them to the Land. This is the hand of God.   Once again, the Word is totally clear:

"He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: 'To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.'" (Psalm 105:7–11) These verses are almost redundant: This is God's covenant; His promise; the oath He swore; the decree He confirmed; it is forever, for a thousand generations; everlasting. It is the promise of the Land. And remember: this promise came before the Law was given at Mt. Sinai, and Paul explained that, "The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise." (Galatians 3:17–18) This is why Satan wants to drive Israel out of the Land, and this is why, as believers, we stand with Israel's right to its own state.   We can debate issues of boundaries and security and the place of the Palestinians. But we cannot debate Israel's divine right to its homeland.