About Zionism
Zionism is rooted in the belief that all those calling themselves Jews have an exclusive and eternal right to ownership of Palestine because of promises made to Abraham in the book of Genesis. The problem with this position is Jews who reject Jesus Christ can no longer claim to be children of Abraham:
…there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12, NASB throughout unless otherwise noted.)
Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. (Luke 3:8)
If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did… (John 8:39b, ESV); …If God were your Father, you would love me… (v. 42b, ESV); You are of your father the devil… (v. 44, ESV)
Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. (Matt. 21:43)
In the New Testament, the term Jew is clarified. God does not favor a physical people. The “chosen people” are a spiritual people. Those who have accepted Israel’s Messiah — whether Jew or Gentile — constitute “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16):
28For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter… (Rom. 2:28-29)
Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Col. 3:11-12, NIV)
9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Pet. 2:9-10)
Christians are the true children of Abraham and his only true heirs:
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. (Gal. 3:29)
The following is the teaching of William Barclay, author of the famous Daily Bible Study Series:
(i) Abraham is not the father of those who have been circumcised; he is the father of those who make the same act of faith in God as he made. He is the father of every man in every age who takes God at his word as he did. This means that the real Jew is the man who trusts God as Abraham did, no matter what his race is. All the great promises of God are made not to the Jewish nation, but to the man who is Abraham’s descendant because he trusts God as he did. Jew has ceased to be a word which describes a nationality and has come to describe a way of life and a reaction to God. The descendants of Abraham are not the members of any particular nation, but those in every nation who belong to the family of God.
(ii) The converse is also true. A man may be a Jew of pure lineage and may be circumcised; and yet in the real sense may be no descendant of Abraham. He has no right to call Abraham his father or to claim the promises of God, unless he makes that venture of faith that Abraham made (William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans Revised Edition, [Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975], 66).
In the first century, only a remnant of Jews was saved (Rom. 9:27). The rest were as branches “broken off for their unbelief” (Rom. 11:20). However, through Jesus Christ, Jews may be “grafted” back into the tree:
And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. (Rom. 11:23)
Under the New Covenant, there is no distinction between Jews, Gentiles or any other group:
11For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom. 10:11-13)
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:28)
The New Covenant is not bad news for Jews, it is good news for everyone.
Many Christians believe that the existence of modern-day Israel is a fulfillment of prophecy. However, since all Bible prophecy was fulfilled in the first century, modern Zionism is irrelevant. It means nothing in terms of God’s plan of salvation which was completed almost 2,000 years ago.
If being back in Palestine is such a blessing for Jews, why is it that Israel is about the most dangerous place on earth for a Jew to live? Willem Glashouwer of Christians for Israel (CFI) mentions “the constant fears Jews have to face, day after day” (Willem J. J. Glashouwer, “Joseph’s Tomb” in Christians for Israel Today, Summer 2000, 5). Grace Halsell agrees:
The ratio of soldiers to civilians in a country of fewer than four million is one to 22—by far the highest in the world. How sad a development that Israel, proclaimed as a haven for the world’s Jews, has become one of the least safe places for Jews to live. As they build more weapons, they grow more fearful, less secure (Grace Halsell, Prophecy And Politics, [Westport: Lawrence Hill & Company, 1986], 60).
We might casually assume that the name Israel makes everyone under that name religious. This is a fantasy. Most Israelis today have no more regard for God than the ancient Jews who were consigned to Babylonian captivity. Regarding his 1995 visit to Jerusalem, CFI’s Dean Bye admitted that “so many in Israel seemed preoccupied with themselves and other abominable things” (Dean Bye, “Have You Felt God’s Heart for Israel?” in Christians for Israel Canadian Update, Autumn 2000, 1). Tel Aviv is often referred to as the sin city of the Middle East.
The construction of a new temple in Jerusalem would be seen as a highly significant religious event by most modern prophecy teachers. However, many behind the effort are not religious at all:
Some of the most fanatic leaders in the plan to destroy the mosque are not religious Jews but militant Zionists. They may not believe in God, but they want a temple for nationalistic, political reasons. And it’s not that they want a temple so much as they want to negate the presence of the mosque (Halsell, 106).
For more information, see the other links under Zionism.
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