Israel has been in the news a lot over the past year, and there are varying opinions over whether other nations should support Israel. Some Christians also wonder if they should support Israel, given the criticisms they’re seeing on the news and on social media. However, we must recognize God still has big plans for Israel in the last days.
Some Christians’ negative attitudes about Israel have to do with replacement theology. Replacement theology teaches that the Jewish people were only placeholders until Christ came. It says the Christian church has fully replaced all the promises God gave to Israel and the Jewish people. Replacement theology overlooks the fact that the Jewish people gave us Christ, all 66 books of the Bible, and the first 12 apostles.
It is a belief system that allegorizes all the promises away. It says there's no literal fulfillment to the promises God gave to the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—about the people and the land. But the truth of the matter is, God has a plan for the Jewish people. In the end times, there's going to be a great Jewish revival.
That great revival is the reason you're starting to see people revealing and showcasing what they really felt all along. There are demons and principalities being released in this hour to embolden people with anti-Semitism. We're seeing that on the news and on full display in many places, such as college campuses.
On college campuses, many students are taking sides with Hamas in the Israel-Hamas conflict, even though Hamas’s values conflict with many of the students’ values. For example, it puzzles me how individuals protesting for the rights of homosexuals will defend Hamas. Many things liberal Democrats support are not allowed in the Gaza Strip under the governance of Hamas.
Their mindsets have likely been influenced by Marxism. Those who have been taught with a Marxist mindset don't see the world through the lens of right versus wrong. They see the world through the lens of oppressed versus oppressor. Whoever they become convinced is the oppressor they're against. But the truth is, the Jewish people have been fighting to stay in existence for thousands of years.
With this Marxist mindset causing division around the future of Israel, it is more important than ever for the Christian church to be on the right side of this issue. Again, we need to recognize God still has promises to fulfill. The church has not replaced the promises of God to the nation of Israel.
Now, you might ask, if we’re not Jewish, why should we in the church care? If you look over the past 2,000 years, history might lead you to assume that God turned His back on His people. When calling for Jesus to be crucified, there was a point when Jews said, “His blood be on us and on our children” (see Matthew 27:24-26). They have suffered for saying that, and it's been terrible. But there are Bible passages that show God has not rejected the Jewish people and has a plan for their national salvation.
God’s covenant with Israel is mentioned in the New Testament, after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Paul writes this in Romans 11:1-2: “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. …” Paul's not talking about the church; he's talking about those of his own genealogy, the Jewish people. The phrase “certainly not” in the original Greek describes an unthinkable concept. When you understand the covenants God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their physical descendants, it’s unthinkable that He would suddenly cast them away.
In Genesis, we read about how the Abrahamic covenant guaranteed a seed, a land, and a blessing to Abraham. This was later reiterated to his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. Then, Jacob conferred the details of the Abrahamic covenant on his twelve sons, who became the twelve tribes of Israel. God never reversed His covenant with Abraham and his descendants.
Did this covenant become irrelevant after Jesus came? No. The Abrahamic covenant preexisted and was separate from the law of Moses—the Mosaic covenant, or the law. So, what God promised Abraham and his physical descendants regarding their land was not undone at the cross. It is separate from the Mosaic covenant, the law which dictated how people should live before it was possible to receive salvation through Jesus Christ.
The Abrahamic covenant will come to full fruition in the millennial kingdom, when Jesus will return to earth and reign for 1,000 years (see Revelation 20). Despite the Jewish people's failings, there will be a final restoration to the land. At that time, the Jewish people will come into full repentance and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah—all of them. Ultimately, in the millennial reign, Christ will rule and reign over the earth from Jerusalem, and the Jew and Gentile will be in one body united under their belief and faith in Christ.
That leads us to the conclusion God has not rejected Israel. As Paul writes in Romans 11:5, “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” It may seem like only a small number of Jews are believers today, but in God's time frame, the whole nation will turn to Him. We've seen the continued fulfillment of the Great Commission, when Jesus told His Jewish disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to non-Jews (see Matthew 28:19-20). But there is a plan for the Jews to embrace Jesus as their Messiah. The Jewish people are not temporary; they're a permanent fixture in God’s kingdom.
