There I was in Israel, having a picnic lunch next to the ancient ruins of Megiddo. We had just finished hiking around the sites and listening to explanations of the different levels of destruction. Suddenly, a massive armada of tour buses pulled up, and scores of tour guides poured out of the buses with their extremely American looking passengers. The main leader of the tour was a famous Christian television personality who shall remain nameless (you’ll see why in a minute). After a gospel quartet performed (bizarre place to do that), the TV guy preceded to give a teaching on how Megiddo figured into his end times views. Then he dropped the bomb, “The antichrist is most likely here on Earth already, and I believe he is probably Jewish.”
Seriously??? Right there at the Israeli National Park of Megiddo, with Jews all around, this American Christian says that the antichrist is a Jew. My point here is that people’s views on Israel and the Jews is all over the board. From replacement theology to Christian Zionism, the church today has all kinds of “interesting” views on what God is doing with Israel. For most of church history up until 1948 A.D., this discussion was moot since Israel didn’t exist as a nation. Something then happened that seemed impossible and against all odds, the Jews reclaimed the promised land and Christians around the world scrambled to explain what was happening.
Replacement theologians explained that all we are witnessing is a modern historical event without Biblical significance. They believe that in the New Covenant, the church has “replaced” Israel (physical) as God’s people. All the Old Testament and New Testament predictions that were yet to be fulfilled will all be fulfilled in the church, not the physical nation of Israel. Of course, saved Jews are part of the church, so God has not rejected the Jews at all. Merely, the kingdom of Jesus was a spiritual one, not a physical one, where there is no more, “Jew or Greek (Galatians 3:28)”. The view is not anti-Semitic, but sees no necessity for Israel to be a nation now for end times events to occur.
Christian Zionism falls at the exact opposite side of the spectrum. They believe that the events happening now in modern Israel are a direct fulfillment of Old Testament predictions that God will “gather His people” and “restore them to the land (Isaiah 11:11-12)”. Israel will be the site of the final battle in Revelation, and it is the church’s role to support Israel however it can. This can include giving funds for Jews to return to Israel, lobbying their own governments to support Israel, and praying daily for the “peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6)”. Most still believe Jews are saved by faith just like Gentiles, but still hold a special calling or status still in God’s eyes (the chosen people).
I have an interesting personal twist to my journey to explore the Bible on this topic. I am Jewish. Ok, ok, I am ethnically Jewish, but was raised as a Christian, and never even realized I was Jewish until I was in my 20’s. I never thought through the care packages we got from my Mom’s family that included those flat, tasteless crackers (Matzah bread- unleavened bread for Passover). Since it comes from my mother’s side, I could have applied to become an Israeli citizen, as they consider you 100% Jewish if it comes from your mother’s side. I have gotten some interesting responses from people when I have shared this with them. The most unusual was that in some Asian countries, they had this starry kind of look in their eye, like I was suddenly seen as being more “special”.
Starting in the next post, I will attempt to do what we have always done on this blog, digging into the Bible and trying to see what it says about this issue. Don’t try to skip ahead to the end of this series and just look for “what Sean really thinks about all this”. I will be presenting views and passages, not making absolute conclusions. Honestly, there are godly, brilliant people on all sides of this issue, and the goal is to challenge us to ponder and pray. Remember that the church has done everything from killing Jews in the Crusades to giving millions of dollars to support modern Israel. That is an extreme difference.
The Bible Nerd 