Introduction
Sometimes the cry goes up, why doth Moscow not condemn the Jews like Muslims and Hindus and Mormons and atheists? What mean ye by this soft-Zionism?
I’m not sure why I hear these questions in the King James Version, but I’m just reporting.
Of course, around these questions are accusations of checks for 7K and collaborating with Mossad to exterminate Palestinians and perpetuate wars with Iran and lack of courage to stand against Zionism, and other such bits of nonsense. Apparently, people are not aware of the paid trips I have taken to Ireland, Canada, and just recently, Iowa. And let me just tell you, Iowa is full of cornfields. I don’t think people are paying close enough attention to those cornfields. Totally sus.
But there are answers, people. There are answers for anyone who would like to, you know, actually know the answers.
Five Answers
First, I’m still waiting for my first $7K check that many people have told me is most certainly coming. And let me just tell you if this is how Israeli corruption works, there is no way they’re getting anything done. I think we’re going to be OK, people.
Second, we do affirm with all orthodox believers that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life – no one comes to the Father except through Jesus the Messiah. Jews must accept Jesus, just like Hindus, Muslims, and atheists, and Mormons have to accept that Jesus is the one and only God come in the flesh and not a normal dude who became a god and got his own planet.
When I visited the Wailing Wall, it was one of the saddest things I ever saw — perhaps the closest I’ve come to feeling Paul’s intense provocation at all the religious zeal (in Athens) directed in utter and complete ignorance and idolatry. The One they seek has come, and He is not bound by temples made with human hands. They search the Scriptures thinking they will find eternal life, but they speak of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. There were no warm, fuzzy feelings for me there: just a deep sorrow for a lost and blind people, some of whom became my friends. If that’s Zionism, well, we could use lot more of it.
Third, we are not dispensationalists who believe that the Jews have some kind of parallel track going on. The promises of God to the Jewish people are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and all of those who trust in Jesus Christ are the true Israel of God. Jesus is not waiting in Heaven for the Jews to reestablish bloody sacrifices in some new temple in Jerusalem before He can return. No, Jesus will return after He has put all of His enemies beneath His feet (1 Cor. 15:25). He is reigning in Heaven now, and the last enemy He will put down is death itself when He returns and raises the dead (1 Cor. 15:26). Of course, among those He is putting under His feet are unbelievers of every tribe and nation, including modern Israel and the Jews.
Fourth, the modern nation state of Israel is not synonymous with the ancient nation of Israel. They are no longer “God’s people,” in the same sense that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were. They have rejected their Messiah, which puts them at odds with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – Jesus said that Abraham rejoiced to see Him. It may be that God intends to give that estranged people that same land forever, but that promise cannot be fully fulfilled in any kind of good way while they continue to reject the center of that blessing, which is their Messiah.
Fifth, and this is where, as they say, the foot really touches the banana peel. The New Testament insists that Jews be considered “enemies for your sakes” concerning the gospel but as touching the election, “beloved for the fathers’ sakes” (Rom. 11:28). This is why thoughtful, Bible-believing Christians cannot simply lump all unbelievers into the same basket of lamentables. God’s Word makes a distinction. It is true that every son of Adam and daughter of Eve is lost apart from faith in Jesus the Messiah. But the Jews have a history that matters, that God Himself insists matters. All the other nations of the earth are under the wrath of God until or unless they repent, as are the Jews, but the Jews have the added notoriety of having previously been elected as God’s special, chosen people. And the Bible says that matters. God remembers that history, and He loves that history, and we are required to as well.
Our Apostate Older Brother
The Jews are branches that have been cut out of the covenantal vine because of their unbelief. There is some debate among Christians about how/when they may be grafted back into the vine (Rom. 11:24). But regardless of those details, the Jews are to be regarded as estranged family members of the covenant, our apostate older brother.
Imagine if Jesus had told a parable about this. He might have described a man who had two sons. And let’s say the younger son was a real hellion, and he demanded his inheritance and ran off and wasted everything on prostitutes and booze until he came to his senses and came home to his father begging for forgiveness. And let’s just say for the sake of argument that in the story the father took the younger son back, and threw a huge, extravagant party for him. But let’s say that the older son in the story who had remained with the father the whole time became extremely angry and bitter and refused to enter the party. It would be just like that – and here we are: mostly Gentiles, younger brothers all, descended from blue-faced pagans, received by the Father with full forgiveness, and the party’s been going for about 2,000 years, but our older brother is still largely kicking stones out in the driveway.
He really does need to come in to the party and quit his fussing, but he really isn’t just like all the other unbelieving nations of the earth. To the extent that he continues to study Torah and identify with that broken and severed covenant, he is beloved for the sake of the fathers, and to the extent that he continues in his hard-hearted rebellion, an enemy of the gospel.
Sons of Belial & A Book Recommendation
Now add to this one more phenomenon, and that is the tendency of the nations to hate that older brother. And I don’t mean telling the truth that the older brother needs to repent and accept Jesus and come into the party. And I don’t mean calling out particular evils or sins committed by our older brother. By “hate,” I mean ethnic and cultural malice. I mean spiteful prejudice. I mean unjust treatment. I mean vile invective. I mean blaming that ethnic people collectively for the evils of the world.
This means that faithful, Bible believing Christians have at least two duties in this situation. Christians must continue to tell the truth about the lost position the Jews are in, and we must do it in a way that does not hand rocks to the sons of Belial with dog eyes who are talking and seething like that one mob in Gibeah.
Our loyalties must be aligned with God’s, and that means whatever corruption is laced through the Israeli government ought to be completely exposed and condemned, and unbelief in Jesus the Messiah ought to be confronted. But wherever there is common grace sanity, especially of the sort based on Old Testament morals, we are cobelligerents against progressive-woke paganism, Islamic jihadism, and every form of civilizational nihilism.
While I do not doubt that atrocities have sometimes occurred, the brain-virus that claims that Israel is committing “genocide” is simply ridiculous. There are Palestinians in Israel that are respected citizens. I rode a bus into the West Bank several times and walked through Palestinian-run cities and settlements. If that’s a “genocide,” they are doing a really bad job of it.
And yes, I’ve read that a school got bombed as well, and assuming that’s true, that is awful, horrific and every civilian, non-combatant life that was taken is an absolute tragedy. Every instance of non-combatants being harmed is awful. I am pro-life in every nation, and no nation gets a pass. But there’s a massive difference between aiming to kill unborn babies (like Planned Parenthood) and aiming to stop the terrorism and attacks. That’s not some “special status.” That’s simply the right to defend yourself. And even if you think Israel “occupied” the land unjustly back in the day, that does not justify random vigilante attacks on Israeli civilians, any more than the Nez Perce Indians have the right to start randomly blowing up civilians in Idaho for stealing their land (which we did).
But if anyone really wants to know what I really think, I would recommend the book Son of Hamas, written by a Palestinian man who grew up in a devout Muslim family in the West Bank, and slowly came to change his mind about the Israelis (without sugar-coating real failures and abuses), and eventually converted to Christianity.
Post Script
And since some of you are hanging around hoping I will actually address the issue of “paid trips to Israel,” let me just say that it all depends — same with taking donations from various sources and donors, having certain vendors at your conferences, or being friends with the rich and the powerful. It all depends on whether there are actually any strings attached, whether you are carrying any water for them or not, and whether you have any integrity or not. But if you are primarily obsessed with the potential hooks coming from a particular nation and ethnic group, the chances are really good that you actually have hooks in you from some other direction that you’re studiously ignoring.
Leave a Reply