In my teaching on eschatology over the last fifteen years, I have consistently reminded people that in Christ and his church all the prophetic promises of the Old Testament are fulfilled, including the promises to Israel. This is very clear in Paul’s letters and in Revelation. The New Testament, from beginning to end, teaches that there is one covenant of grace made possible through the cross.
This means that there is no Biblical foundation for the idea that there is a special place in God’s purposes for the modern political state of Israel, or that there are two covenants, one for Christians and one for Jews. Under the new covenant in Christ, God has no favorites when it comes to peoples or nations.
The mistaken teachings of dispensationalism have led many people into error and confusion on this topic, and into an uncritical support of the state of Israel. I have always argued that Christians must evaluate the conduct of any nation or its leadership, including Israel, on the basis of respect for fundamental human rights. I have always cautioned against supporting Israel based on a wrong understanding of Biblical teaching. As you can imagine, this has not been a popular or easy position to take over the years.
What then are we to say about human rights? The historical background to the current crisis in the Middle East is very poorly understood. While no one would begrudge the idea of a homeland for Jews, the fact is that many thousands of Palestinians Arabs were displaced at the founding of the state of Israel, their homes and possessions taken from them and never restored. These people fled to Gaza and the West Bank and the rest is history. The subsequent failure of the state of Israel to resolve this issue and provide some measure of justice or restitution has provided a basis for the rise, in response, of various radical and violent movements, including Hamas.
The Hamas attack in October 2023 was unprovoked and evil. Sadly, Israel’s response has been to fight fire with more fire. The disproportionate nature of this response and the terrible human toll should be unacceptable to Christian believers.
Finally, we need to make a clear separation between the state of Israel and Jewish people. That God intends to bring about a restoration of Jewish people to Christ, the Messiah, is clear from Romans chapter 11. There is no place for racial anti-semitism among God’s people any more than there is justification for racial hatred of any other group of people. The Holocaust should have taught us that.
If there ever was a time to pray for the peace in the middle east, and for those almost completely forgotten in all this, those we are above all commanded to pray and care for, our Christian brothers and sisters in both Israel and Palestine, it is now.