Christian Zionism

Why does it seem many who profess Jesus as Lord, especially among various Evangelical groups, prove extremely obsessed with the State of Israel? Why do so many believe it is a Christian imperative to support and promote the State of Israel? Such is the fruit of Christian Zionism.

Zionism represents a Jewish nationalist movement begun in the late nineteenth century by Theodor Herzl with a view of establishing a Jewish homeland, ideally in Palestine; with the satisfaction of that desire with the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, Zionism has shifted to represent an ideology designed to encourage the development and protection of the State of Israel.

In the most general sense, any Christian who affirms any form of Zionism would be a Christian Zionist. Yet Christian Zionism tends to demand a series of theological and eschatological positions regarding the people and State of Israel: Israel remaining a specifically chosen and elect nation by God, the continued relevance of the promise of the land of Canaan to the descendants of Abraham, belief in the need to bless Israel in order to receive blessings from God, and preparation for the return of Jesus to inaugurate the millennium.

In a profound irony, Christian Zionism came before Jewish Zionism, and in many respects Christian Zionists have advanced and strengthened Zionism quite strongly for and among the Jewish people. Christian Zionism developed out of what has been called “Christian restorationism,” a Protestant movement looking for the restoration of the Jewish people to Christ, and in the eyes of many, to the land of Palestine (“Christian restorationism” should not be confused with the Restorationist, or Stone-Campbell Movement, which sought to restore the ancient order of things in the life and faith of Christians and the church).

In a real sense Christians have always wanted to see Israel according the flesh to become sufficiently “jealous” and come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, and many throughout time have understood Paul in Romans 11:25-29 as hoping for an ultimate ingathering of the Jewish people to Christ. Those throughout time who have held to historical premillennialism (not to be confused with the dispensational premillennialism of rapture/”Left Behind” fame), and its insistence on a thousand-year reign of Jesus on earth have continually been tempted to associate that view with many of the statements of the Hebrew prophets and thus to expect Jesus to gather together Israelites in the land of Israel and to reign from Jerusalem in the millennium.

Yet such doctrinal perspectives did not demand any expectation for a Jewish state to be re-established in Palestine. In fact, both early Christians and rabbinic Jewish people maintained a similarly “anti-Zionist” position of sorts, albeit for different reasons. Both early Christians and rabbinic Jewish people believed the Jewish people were sharply judged and exiled as a result of the First and Second Jewish Wars of 68-70 and 132-136 CE, during which the Second Temple was destroyed, untold thousands of Jewish people died or were exiled, and Jewish presence in Jerusalem was banned, although some Jewish people continued to live in what had been the land of Israel. Early Christians understood this banishment as God’s judgment against the Jewish people because of their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah; that Julian “the Apostate” decreed an encouragement for Jewish people to return to the land of Judea and rebuild the Temple in order to annoy and frustrate Christians testifies to the general attitude from Christians about “Zionism” at that time. Medieval Christians were no more amenable to the establishment of a State of Israel; most felt the Holy Land should be in the possession of Christians, and the crusades were all fought to that end.

In the wake of the disasters of the Jewish Wars, the rabbis re-centered the Jewish faith around the community and the synagogue and worked diligently to clamp down on the apocalypticism, messianism, and “zionism” which had led to the disasters in the first place. The rabbis looked forward to the return to the land of Israel when the Messiah would come and bring them into that land. To this end the Zionism of Theodor Herzl was extremely unpopular among Jewish people throughout the end of the nineteenth century and in the first half of the twentieth century, because plenty of Jewish people in the diaspora wanted to assimilate into their local populations and not insist on Judaism as their nationality and because they felt it was presumptuous for themselves to create an Israelite state. To this day there remains a vocal minority of strongly religiously observant Jewish people who decry the State of Israel as illegitimate, just as their ancestors did the same with the Hasmonean Kingdom of the second and first centuries BCE, since they were not established by the Messiah sitting as the descendant of David on his throne.

Thus Jewish people as a whole until the second half of the twentieth century, and early and medieval Christians, could be well described in modern terms as “anti-Zionist.” Most of the earliest Protestant “restorationists” were more concerned about the spiritual condition of the Israelites and looked forward to their conversion to Jesus more than any restoration of Israel to Palestine.

The major doctrinal and theological shift which would lead to Christian Zionism developed in Britain and America, particularly among the Puritans. For all sorts of socio-political and theological reasons, the Puritans would consider Britain, and then in turn America, to be somehow specifically “chosen” or the “elect” of God; this tendency has become deeply woven into the fabric of American society in believing America to be the exceptional and/or chosen nation, a “Christian nation” distinct from many others. By necessity, any insistence on an early modern or modern nation as “chosen” or “elect” would require grappling with the Israelites as God’s chosen and elect people. Thus many Puritans, and later British and American Evangelical Christians, understood God as having chosen them so they could become blessings to and advance the cause of God’s “truly” or originally chosen people, the Israelites.

The last major piece in the development of Christian Zionism was the adaption of parts of dispensational premillennialism to not only justify but demand the creation and promotion of the State of Israel. John Nelson Darby, the nineteenth century original expositor of dispensational premillennialism, did envision the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, but as the “earthly” millennial kingdom which Jesus would inaugurate after the rapture. It would be later expositors who would adapt the message to insist on the existence of the State of Israel before the return of Jesus, and in fact requiring the State of Israel to exist and the building of the Third Temple so the “Antichrist” could enter and defile it in the midst of the “Tribulation” to facilitate the fulfillment of prophecy and the return of Jesus. Furthermore, the church has almost no presence in the theology of dispensational premillennialism, and the “literalist” understanding of both Old and New Testament prophecy in dispensational premillennialism has led to significant expectations regarding Israel according to the flesh in the fulfillment of the “end times.”

It was one thing to advance and promote the Zionist idea; Christian Zionism would adapt to the times once the State of Israel was established in 1948. Whereas mainline Protestants had been active in promoting Christian Zionism beforehand, Evangelical Christians, particularly Pentecostal/renewalist Christians, have become the most ardent Christian Zionists since 1948. They have worked diligently to advance the socio-political interests of the State of Israel, and the State of Israel is more than happy to work with them and to market and promote Israeli causes and emphasize interpretations of Scriptures which work to the benefit and encouragement of the State of Israel. To this end much is made of the promise of blessing those who bless the descendants of Abraham, and to curse those who curse them (cf. Genesis 12:3), as well as various statements encouraging the blessing of Israel and curses to those who curse Israel (e.g. Psalm 129:5). Such Christian Zionists often dogmatically insist Christians must seek the benefit and advancement of the State of Israel, and any understanding of the relationship between God, Christians, and Israel according to the flesh other than their own are condemned.

What, then, shall we make of Christian Zionism and its claims?

Let none be deceived: one can be a Christian and a Zionist. The horror of World War II and the Holocaust led to a sea change in opinion among the Jewish people regarding Zionism, since it became apparent Jewish people could not sufficiently trust they could assimilate into local populations and prosper, and the arguments of the Zionists about the importance of having a Jewish homeland in which Jewish people could find refuge and a base from which they could defend themselves proved compelling. On a socio-political level Christians can also be persuaded by these arguments and believe Jewish people should have a homeland in Palestine.

Furthermore, as Christians, we must bitterly lament the anti-Semitism which marked many Christians throughout the ages. Most of the pogroms and instances of slaughter of Jewish people throughout the second millennium CE were perpetrated by people professing Jesus as the Christ. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, scurrilous lies and slander against Jewish people which are still regarded highly by neo-Nazi and radical Islamist groups, was written and promulgated by people professing Jesus as the Christ. Those professing Jesus have all too easily bought into untrue and slanderous stereotypes about Jewish people and conspiracies about Jewish people in places of authority. If Jewish people had half the power and influence anti-Semitic propaganda would suggest they had, the fate of Jewish people over the past few hundred years would have turned out quite differently! To this day those professing Jesus as the Christ have no excuse or justification in promulgating anti-Semitic stereotypes, conspiracy theories, or acting or presuming Jewish people today should suffer and/or die because their ancestors had a hand in crucifying Jesus. We should be able to understand why Jewish people cannot truly feel safe in predominantly “Christian” nations based upon their experience of the past few hundred years, and in many respects, the creation of the State of Israel was facilitated by the failure of purportedly “Christian nations” in protecting and valuing their Jewish citizens.

As Christians we should even recognize the esteem God has for Israel according to the flesh. While descendants of the peoples of the ancient Near East certainly still exist, only Israel continues to exist as a distinct people. Israel according to the flesh has persevered despite unimaginable hostility and persecution. Furthermore, as Christians, we should honor the position of Israel according to the flesh. As Paul noted:

To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen (Romans 9:4-5).

Likewise, “the gifts and call of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29); we must avoid absolute supersessionism in our theology, for God has not entirely excluded Israel according to the flesh. The Gospel came first to the Jewish people, then to the nations (Romans 1:16); while one could interpret this as historical fact, Paul’s illustration of the olive tree would suggest we should still show concern to promote the Gospel among Jewish people, since they are the “native” branches who can be more easily grafted in than the “wild” branches of us Gentiles (cf. Romans 11:24). Paul at least in part justified the monetary gift from the Gentile Christians of Galatia and Greece to the Christians of Judea as a response to Gentile “indebtedness” to the Jewish Christians: since Gentile Christians can now share in the spiritual blessings which came first to Jewish Christians, it was right for the Gentile Christians to share with the Jewish Christians in material blessings (Romans 15:27).

Nevertheless, there is no warrant in the witness of God in Christ through the Spirit according to history or the Scriptures to justify the doctrinal and theological positions of Christian Zionism; in fact, the doctrinal and theological positions of Christian Zionism generally run against what God has been seeking to accomplish in Christ.

We can marshal evidence against the specific claims inherent in Christian Zionism.

For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel 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 out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”
In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers (Romans 11:25-28).

Romans 11:25-28 represents one of the most contentious and disputed passages in the New Testament; we must fully and honestly admit the difficulties in its interpretation. We have every reason to believe Paul earnestly hoped and desired for his fellow Israelites in the flesh to come to faith in Jesus and be saved (cf. Romans 9:1-4); he might well be attempting to “speak it into existence” in the future; perhaps he does have some future ingathering of the Jewish people into faith in Christ in mind.

Yet the idea that the “all Israel” who will be saved is Israel according to the flesh runs against the entire grain of the witness of Scripture. The generation which came out of Egypt into the Wilderness was condemned and died; the northern Kingdom of Israel was exiled and most of its members assimilated into the Assyrian population; untold thousands died in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile of 586 BCE; Jesus expected many of the “sons of the kingdom,” that is, Israelites, to be cast out from the divine banquet, and prophesied the devastation which would come to Israel in the First Jewish War (for the last, Matthew 8:11-12, 24:1-36). In Romans 11:5 Paul envisioned the current situation as a remnant chosen by grace: so it always had been in Israel, and so it would always be in terms of the people of God (cf. Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23).

Thus the interpretation most consistent with the rest of Scripture and what Paul sets forth is to understand “all Israel” as that “remnant chosen by grace,” those who have come to saving faith in Jesus from both Jewish and Gentile origins. Regardless, even if Paul did have all Israel according to the flesh in view, nothing in Romans 11:25-28 spoke of or expected in any way the return of Jewish people and sovereignty to Palestine by divine mandate. One must impose an expectation of the creation of the State of Israel onto Romans 11:25-28.

After Lot had departed, YHWH said to Abram, “Look from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever” (Genesis 13:14-15).

That day YHWH made a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River – the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites” (Genesis 15:18-21).

God gave the land of Israel to the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, and the covenant between God and Abraham was unconditional, and so the promise of the land is unconditional; such proves axiomatic to Christian Zionists, and the people-land connection has been strongly emphasized and reinforced in Zionism since 1948.

Indeed, God did promise to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob. This promise was considered fulfilled in the days of Joshua:

So YHWH gave Israel all the land he had solemnly promised to their ancestors, and they conquered it and lived in it. YHWH made them secure, in fulfillment of all he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could resist them. YHWH handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of the YHWH’s faithful promises to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; every one was realized (Joshua 21:43-45).

Some Christian Zionists dispute whether the land promise was ever truly fulfilled since the Conquest did not lead to the conquering of all the lands between the river of Egypt and the Euphrates River as in Genesis 15:18-21. This argument is refuted by the size of Solomon’s empire as recorded in 1 Kings 4:21:

Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms paid tribute as Solomon’s subjects throughout his lifetime.

Those who would make such arguments ought to be careful lest they cast aspersions on the entire theological enterprise in their desperate attempt to justify themselves: after all, if God had not yet proven faithful to the land promise to Abraham’s descendants after four thousand years, how can there be confidence in the promise at all? And why would the land promise stand unfulfilled while the greatest aspect of the promise, the blessing to all the nations in Jesus, has been satisfied for almost two thousand years?

Most Christian Zionists recognize the fulfillment of the land promise in the days of Joshua. The major doctrinal question involves how we understand YHWH’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 13:14-15: what did it mean for YHWH to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants “forever,” the Hebrew ‘olam?

According to Christian Zionists the statement should be accepted without reservation: Palestine belongs to the Israelites forever as part of the unconditional covenant between God and Abraham.

The major difficulty with this statement, however, is the historical record, which in general is not under dispute. Let us grant the maximal timeframe for Israelite rule of Palestine: let us date the Conquest to 1410 BCE. The Israelites ruled over at least part of the land of Israel from then until the Babylonian conquest and exile in 586 BCE. While Jewish people returned to Judea after 539 BCE, they did not rule over the land until after the Maccabean revolt and the Hasmonean Kingdom, again maximally datable from 167-63 BCE. Palestine would not be under Israelite control again until 1948 CE. Therefore, over the past four thousand years, the Israelites ruled over Palestine for no more than around one thousand of those years. In the past two thousand years their rule has existed for only the last seventy-five.

Sometimes Christian Zionists will try to rationalize the situation by declaring how God gave Israel ownership of the land, not necessarily possession. Thus, even though the land has been ruled over by non-Israelite powers for the vast majority of the past four thousand years, Israel has always “owned” the land. The situation on the ground, however, would provide evidence for the opposite. There have most likely been Israelites living in the land of Palestine since the Conquest. Some Jewish people have “possessed” at least some of the land the whole time, yet have more rarely been in control over it. Furthermore, such a viewpoint betrays a Western/Roman perspective of land ownership somewhat foreign to the Scriptures; it would be better to argue the owner of the land is God Himself.

God did promise to give the land to the descendants of Abraham, but the promise did not cover maintaining possession of the land. Possession of the land was always dependent on the faithfulness of the Israelites:

YHWH will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments and obey him (Deuteronomy 28:9).

If the Israelites proved unfaithful, YHWH would curse them; part of the curse would be expulsion from the land:

YHWH will force you and your king whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there. You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom YHWH will drive you (Deuteronomy 28:36-37).

In this way God was not unfaithful to His promise to Abraham or Israel when He exiled them from their lands after 722 and 586 BCE; in fact, God had proven faithful to His promises of cursing Israel for their disobedience. In the wake of the First and Second Jewish Wars of the first two centuries CE, the rabbis were not inaccurate in perceiving God had again similarly cursed them.

Yet did not God promise Abraham how his descendants would receive the land “forever” in Genesis 13:14-15? While Hebrew ‘olam can mean and is often well translated as “forever,” there are times ‘olam is used to describe a matter which continues in perpetuity until it no longer does because of some external factor. Thus, for instance, the grain of the grain offering was to be allotted perpetually (Hebrew ‘olam) to the sons of Aaron in Leviticus 6:18. Such an allotment did not continue “forever”, since the Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE and was not rebuilt until 515 BCE, and was then again destroyed in 70 CE. Even if a Third Temple were to be built, all of the genealogical records were destroyed in the wake of the First Jewish War; it would be impossible to identify the “sons of Aaron” to thus receive such offerings.

God did promise Abraham that His descendants would possess the land of Canaan perpetually as long as they remained faithful to Him. Yet Israel did not prove faithful to God as the Scriptures attest again and again.

This unfaithfulness leads us to the overarching theological and doctrinal problem with Christian Zionism in its complete misrepresentation of God’s purposes in Christ through the Spirit as revealed in Scripture.

Jesus and the Apostles did not leave us in doubt regarding what was accomplished in Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, ascension, lordship, and imminent return: Jesus was the fulfillment of not only all which God had promised to Israel, but of the story of Israel itself, so that God could now inaugurate a new covenant made under better promises which featured the integration of Jewish and Gentile believers into one body in Christ:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).

For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed (Ephesians 2:14-16).

And so he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant (Hebrews 9:15).

Thus the Apostles felt able to spiritualize the imagery of Israel and to appropriate it for Christians of Jewish and Gentile heritage, and recognized God did not show partiality:

There will be affliction and distress on everyone who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek. For there is no partiality with God (Romans 2:9-11).

For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit and not by the letter. This person’s praise is not from people but from God (Romans 2:28-29).

For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that matters is a new creation! And all who will behave in accordance with this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on the Israel of God (Galatians 6:15-16).

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10).

The Apostles noted points of continuity and discontinuity between what had come before Jesus and what was now accomplished by Jesus. Yet above all they saw God fulfilling His purposes for Israel according to the flesh in Jesus, and re-centered the people of God around Jesus, powerfully embodied in Matthew 27:51 and John 2:13-22, in which the Temple, and thus the Presence of God, moves away from the physical building in Jerusalem and to God in Christ. Jesus Himself anticipated this de-emphasis on the physical location and toward community in John 4:20-24, and it was ultimately fulfilled by means of the gift of the Spirit in the lives of believers (Acts 2:39, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19-20, Ephesians 2:20-22). God no longer dwells in a building or in one specific land. God now dwells in and among His people of every language, nation, tribe, and tongue.

Christian Zionists will deride this presentation as supersessionism or “replacement theology.” There are aspects to those viewpoints here, but also an attempt to avoid their excess. We again appeal to Paul’s illustration of the olive tree in Romans 11:11-24. The olive tree has not changed; it remains the same olive tree. Some of the original branches remain on that tree. But many branches have been broken off, and others grafted in. Such is why Paul sees Christians as the spiritual Israel, the people of God in Christ.

Paul, in fact, argued quite strongly against wrapping up the fulfillment of the promise in terms of the Law and its works, instead emphasizing how Abraham received the promise by faith, and how his children are no longer to be defined by physical descent as much as by sharing in the faith of Abraham and the fulfillment of the promise in Jesus the Christ (Romans 4:1-25, Galatians 3:1-29).

It had been God’s purpose, in fact, to bless the nations by means of Israel. Israel, however, would not; they rebelled against and resisted God’s purposes. Pre-exilic Israel served other gods and exploited and oppressed their people in the land; thus God cast them into exile (cf. Zechariah 6:1-6). Second Temple Judaism rejected the Messiah God sent them, Jesus of Nazareth, and chose Barabbas the insurrectionist instead (Matthew 27:21-23). The Jewish people then revolted twice against Roman rule in the First and Second Jewish Wars, and all which Jesus had prophesied regarding the Day of YHWH against Israel came to pass (cf. Matthew 24:1-36); the way of Barabbas had led them to death, despair, and another exile. After almost two thousand years, Jewish hopes for a Messiah have been frustrated. No Temple has been built; the Jewish people have not been able to observe the letter of Torah since 70 CE, and thus the Judaism which sprang forth from the rabbis in all of its various permutations today have as much resemblance to First and Second Temple Israelite practices as does Christianity, and in its ideology is no older.

It is understandable why Jewish people have become Zionists. We can understand why Christians would be persuaded regarding many Zionist arguments and believe, on a socio-political level, in the value of the existence of a Jewish homeland in the State of Israel.

Yet it remains entirely inconsistent with the testimony of Jesus, the Apostles, and the early Christians for Christians to become Christian Zionists and to make strong doctrinal and theological pronouncements regarding the need to support the State of Israel. If we truly believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and a true prophet, then we must confess how Jesus prophesied the doom and curse of all Israelites in the flesh who continued to deny Jesus as the Messiah, powerfully and vividly demonstrated in the Day of YHWH against Israel in the First and Second Jewish Wars. If John the Baptist is the Elijah, the one prophesying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord, then Israel has received its comfort, and genealogical descent from Abraham is no longer the most important thing, for God can make sons of Abraham out of stones (cf. Luke 3:1-9). The Apostles confessed Jesus as not only the Redeemer of Israel, but the Redeemer of the world, in faithfulness to the promises made by the Hebrew prophets; in Christ God has provided the ground of reconciliation for Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:1-3:12). The “olive tree” representing the people of God continues to exist with some native branches and some wild branches grafted in (Romans 11:11-24): thus the church represents the “Israel of God,” and Christians should understand all language regarding blessings and curses for Israel and Zion in terms of Christians and the church. If we believe Jesus is the Christ, we must believe Jesus reigns as Lord; the Kingdom is here and now and manifest in the people of God centered around Jesus, and we have no reason or excuse to look for some future manifestation of the Kingdom in some kind of earthly millennial reign (Acts 2:36, Colossians 1:13).

What of Israel according to the flesh? God loves Israelites and wants them to be saved in Jesus; they are always welcome to be restored as native branches grafted back into the olive tree (Romans 9:1-11:29). Gentile Christians owe a debt to Jewish Christians and should never prove guilty of anti-Semitism. There is never any justification or excuse for slander or violence against Jewish people.

Yet if we believe Jesus is the Christ, we must also believe God desires all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth and does not show partiality (Romans 2:11, 1 Timothy 2:4). As God loves Israelis and wants them to be saved, so God also loves Palestinian Muslims and wants them to be saved. And what of the Palestinian Christians? If any group of people provides a testimony to the incoherence and internal contradictions of Christian Zionism, it would be the Palestinian Christians, who have gained little but misery, oppression, and violence from the efforts of those who would profess Jesus but prove better friends of their Israeli oppressors.

The entire Christian Zionist enterprise is a misbegotten adventure deriving from the misbegotten Puritan adventure elevating any given earthly nation as a chosen or elect nation in light of the trans-national, trans-ethnic Kingdom of God in Christ, and the misbegotten dispensational premillennialist adventure distorting the hope of the return of Jesus and the resurrection into an elaborate scheme which looks much more like the way Second Temple Jewish people expected God to fulfill His promises than the way Christians should recognize Jesus of Nazareth actually fulfilled them.

As we said before, so we say again: Christians have the right to Zionist opinions; Christians can believe it is right and appropriate for the Jewish people to have their own homeland and for the State of Israel to exist. But Christians also have the right to anti-Zionist opinions, believing the lack of control of the land continued to represent the judgment of God against Israel for rejecting Jesus the Messiah, as did their ancestors in the faith. No Christian has the right to excuse or justify exploitation, oppression, and violence in the name of God; Christians with Zionist opinions should prove willing to call out the State of Israel regarding its often oppressive and violent treatment of Palestinians, and Christians with anti-Zionist opinions should prove willing to call out the Palestinians for their acts of terrorism. All Christians should abhor dehumanization and demonization and thus anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

Yet, in the end, we must recognize, mark, and call out Christian Zionism for its distortion of God’s purposes in Christ through the Spirit. We are all called to be children of Abraham by faith, not by genealogical descent; the blessings of God’s promises to Abraham come to any and all who maintain confidence in God in Christ through the Spirit. We are not called to physical Jerusalem, but spiritual Zion; God’s presence will not be found in a building or a land but in and among His people in Christ through the Spirit wherever, and whoever, they may be. Whoever controls Palestine is ultimately of no greater concern for Christians than who controls any other piece of physical property; Jesus is Lord and reigns over heaven and earth, and when Jesus returns in the resurrection, every eye everywhere will see Him, and we shall all be changed. Those who feel compelled to help God along to fulfill prophecy, and also feel compelled to continually adapt their understanding of said prophecies based upon changing earthly conditions, do well to re-consider whether their understanding of prophecy is accurate; God is able to accomplish His purposes through people without them needing to believe they are helping it along. Not one nation or people is of any greater or lesser value in the sight of God; God would have all come to faith in Christ Jesus and be saved. Let us not put our trust in America, or Israel, or any nation, but in God in Christ through the Spirit, and obtain His blessings and favor!

Ethan R. Longhenry

Works Consulted

Lewis, Donald M. A Short History of Christian Zionism: From the Reformation to the Twenty-First Century. Westmont, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2021.

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