I typically lean towards the views that have been held the longest, but more so want to go after total truth. I am not particularly tied into any system within the world or theology. I’m not into denominations or camps. I simply want to follow what the Bible says. My goal is and always has been to determine the best Biblical view according to the whole lens of the Bible. I am seeking to lead people to the truth. I care little for anything other than what the Bible says, although a well-built firearm also puts a smile on my face!
GOALS OF THIS ARTICLE:
- To consider a better “Jesus” perspective considering the war-torn conflicts of the world.
- To be more educated about Biblical Israel vs Modern Israel.
- To understand and Identify Zionism and Dispensational Theology.
- To begin to construct a better theology concerning the Kingdom of Jesus and how you pray about and interact with others in regard to these issues.
OUTLINE OF THIS ARTICLE:
- INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS
- DISPENSATIONALISM AND HOW IT RELATES TO ISRAEL
- BIBLICAL ISRAEL
- TIMELINE OF ISRAEL
- MODERN ISRAEL
- CONCLUSIVE THOUGHTS
This article is a 30-minute read.
INTRODUCTION
Before I dive into this article, I want to give a basic context to the direction and why I have decided to devote a good deal of my time here. In my opinion, Steve Gregg of the Narrow Path is one of the leading Christian voices on Israel and dispensationalism. Most of what he says is very difficult to give credit to because it is in audio format primarily. That is one of the reasons why I have decided to keep this article on the less scholarly side. But that being said, I want to give credit where credit is due and consider him to personally be the best Christian voice on this subject matter.
I am in no way anti-Israel or anti-Palestine (for that matter) as I am not anti-American in any way. (For the record, I have both American and Israeli flags in my workshop, but don’t read too much into that.) There is good and bad in every nation, Christian and non-Christian, everywhere you look. Just because something started off wrong doesn’t mean it can’t be reconciled. Isn’t that what we are doing as Christians? You can’t judge everyone by the acts of a few good or bad people or even likely by the history of that nation or entity. To be clear, I have no tolerance for evil on any side and it seems like there are a lot of atrocities happening in our world right now that are pure evil, but most of the people involved are victims and that breaks my heart. I am for the kingdom of Jesus in every way with an unwavering sole conviction to that state of living. My faithful pledge isn’t to any of the worldly systems or nations, just Jesus. I am thankful that the political landscape of America allows me to worship Jesus.
Many talk about Israel and the end times as if we have been given a map in the Bible. As if in this road map we should be looking for directional signs that point to rapture, tribulation, and an earthly return to Israel. These point us to the culmination, where God reunites with the nation of Israel to rule the world. Most of us grew up indoctrinated into this kind of thinking. With the recent war in the Ukraine and now Israel, many have asked me for my thoughts. There are several conservative scholars who think similarly to what follows and if you are part of the Expedition 44 community you likely already know this. The good majority of evangelical theologians would hold to or support the sum of what I will present here. These thoughts and the theology represented aren’t specific to me and are not original to me.
I don’t know if we are living in the last days, or the end times; no one really does except the Lord. My theology doesn’t fear any kind of great tribulation. I live each day simply seeking to honor the King and live in joy and peace here and now contributing to the Kingdom through the gifts endowed to me, with some expectation for the return of the King and the ensuing kingdom to come whether it be in my lifetime or not.
No one knows the time or the hour of Jesus’ return. If I look at history, I would have thought everything was lined up in 70 AD for the return of Jesus and it didn’t happen. The biblical signs lined up much closer to that time than I would say they do now or any other time in history and that is why full preterism (which I do not subscribe to) wonders if Christ might have actually returned at that time and the rest of the world missed it (perhaps at Massada). This may surprise some of the readers here, but I don’t think any of the current events of our day biblically point to the end times in any way, and certainly not any more than we have witnessed in past history at multiple times already. Nearly every generation since Jesus walked this earth have thought that they were living in the last days. Christ may come back tomorrow or in another 2000 years or more. We simply don’t know the time or the hour and to try to continually figure this out is most accurately described in the Bible as divination, which we are regularly warned against. Expedition 44 has a 13-part series on eschatology if you want to dive in deeper on this subject.
In 586 BC Yahweh (the best name for the God of Israel) handed over Israel to their own desires which resulted in judgment and brought exile and the diaspora (spreading of the people of Israel) which continued through 70 AD when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and continued to spread Jews all over the world into modern history. Since 136 AD the land around what we refer to as modern-day Israel was simply called Palestine. It was a melting pot for those that originally came from the nations we read about in the Bible, not just Israel but many of the peoples that became intermixed. It was ruled or “owned” by several different entities for hundreds of years at a time. Today the people we refer to as Israeli are intermixed. There likely isn’t such a person as a pure covenant keeping Israelite since the generation of King Salomon. That was a result of the Israelites continually intermarrying against God’s command to not do that. Today you would be hard pressed, or I might even say, “it is impossible” to find a “Jew” that has not intermarried in their family heritage somewhere during the past 2000 years. In this “biological” sense there actually aren’t any pure Yahweh Covenant Israelites left. This gets even more complicated when you consider Jews under Yahweh were tied to Him by keeping the covenant and if they no longer kept the covenant than technically, they weren’t considered one of God’s chosen people anymore, although that notion is quite controversial. Historical-Biblical Israel represents the original nation that God called under His law that was supposed to be His primary “pure and undefiled” agents of regathering the world but is now extinct as a nation of God because of their sin. God handed them over to their desires and of their own choices they are no longer recognizable as the people of God. By this description they weren’t divorced or annihilated or anything else like that, they essentially just made decisions that eventually removed themselves from the idea of the original covenant of Yahweh with Israel. That however was not God’s intended plan for them. I will touch more on this later.
Modern Israel is a secular nation far from the nation of Israel that was established roughly 1500 years before Christ. The modern nation isn’t religious, and it certainly isn’t built on the law of Moses, nor does it take on any intrinsic commissioning from the Lord. Israel is a pluralistic society far from the nation of Biblical Israel of 3000 years ago. In fact, in the 1980’s there was a law in Israel that said anyone can join Israel unless you’re a Christian. In this sense Israel actually seems like a political anti-Jesus nation. The roughly 15,000 Christians in Jerusalem today, the majority of them Palestinians, were once 27,000 – before hardships that followed the 1967 war spurred many in the traditionally prosperous group to emigrate. Perhaps there is a Jesus fearing Jew in the land of modern Israel but as I will go on to show, they are theologically considered as “all of Israel” grafted into a family of new covenant Jesus followers and part of a redefined kingdom, the old Israel in a Biblical sense of land and calling is no longer what it once was by Biblical definition, A nation, they left that covenant generations ago. Much of God’s covenant was Israel was established in a communal (tribal) sense rather than a personal sense. Under the New Covenant there is still a sense of community with other believers but not necessarily in the same way that God’s chosen people Israel were charged under the law.
The Biblical mandate to Israel in Deuteronomy 7 that was a major part of the overall covenant said don’t intermarry (with people that worship other gods) or you will no longer be my people and the covenant will be broken; in the first few generations of Israel nearly all of them intermarried. Of course there were other parts of the covenant that were also broken. Today we are 50 generations later and there aren’t any, likely not one Jew, whose generational family hasn’t violated this very basic Hebraic law given by God to Moses in covenant to His chosen people, not to mention the other laws. In this sense there is no longer a covenant keeping Old Testament Israel by Biblical definition.
Israelites were always saved by covenant keeping devotion, not simply by their ethnic roots.
Even if there was a 3500+ generational covenant keeping family, their salvation is through the fact that they have kept the covenant, not that they are ethnic Israel. In this same sense, there is a new covenant or New Testament calling to “all Israel” as those that have chosen to walk in covenant with Jesus as the King of a sole kingdom. No one is automatically grafted in; you have to make an allegiant decision to be part of the Jesus kingdom and the new covenant. This has actually been the case in both the Old Testament and the New Testament alike. Some say that God’s blessings are perpetual for the Jews, and I might agree, but if you are going to hold to that reasoning, you also have to hold to generational curses. You can’t select one without the other.
The problem of Dispensationalism
I grew up hearing that everything is about Israel. The last days will come, and God’s people will be Israel so we better be aligned with them. There are two views that have influenced this way of thinking. One is called Zionism and the other is called Dispensationalism. Both are “theologies” of man. Unfortunately, nearly all of us grew up thinking that Zionist or dispensationalist ideologies were biblical without thinking much about it.
The term “Zionism” is derived from the word Zion a hill in Jerusalem, widely symbolizing the Land of Israel. Throughout eastern Europe in the late 19th century, numerous grassroots groups promoted the national resettlement of the Jews in their ancient homeland, as well as the revitalization and cultivation of the Hebrew language. These groups were collectively called the “Lovers of Zion” and were seen as countering a growing Jewish movement toward assimilation. The first use of the term is attributed to the Austrian Nathan Birnbaum, founder of the Kadimah nationalist Jewish students’ movement; he used the term in 1890 in his journal Selbst-Emancipation (Self-Emancipation), itself named almost identically to Leon Pinsker’s 1882 book Auto-Emancipation.
Dispensationalism is a theological framework of interpreting the Bible which maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or “dispensations” in which God acts with his people in different ways. The term “dispensationalism” is attributed to Philip Mauro, a critic of the system’s teachings in his 1928 book The Gospel of the Kingdom. Dispensationalists believe that there is a distinction between Israel and the rest of the Church. They maintain beliefs in premillennialism, a future restoration of national Israel, and a rapture of the Church that will happen before the Second Coming of Christ, generally seen as happening before a period of tribulation. Dispensationalism was systematized and promoted by John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren in the mid-19th century. Dispensationalism began its spread in the United States during the late 19th century through the efforts of evangelists like James Inglis, James Hall Brookes, Dwight L. Moody, the efforts of the Niagara Bible Conference, and the establishment of Bible Institutes. With the dawn of the 20th century, C. I. Scofield introduced the Scofield Reference Bible, which solidified dispensationalism in the United States. Dispensationalism is commonly found in nondenominational Bible churches, Baptists, Pentecostal, and charismatic groups.
You are likely not familiar with these definitions or names and have also just assumed much of what you hear about Israel and the end times to be true or Biblical. You probably don’t realize that if you believe some of these things (or tenets of their theology) that you are falling into a newer (1830’s Darby) view of theology. William Blackwell who was the father of Zionism was a dispensational preacher. They would tell you that God is always on the side of Israel as a nation but gave very little exegetical evidence to think this way.
You are probably familiar with the terms pre tribulation, mid tribulation, and post tribulation. Whether you realize it or not, these are tenets of dispensationalism. They aren’t really in the Bible; they are definitions that men made up in the last 200 years to describe the end times and a bunch of other presuppositions based on a “loose” interpretation of Scripture. All of this is a biblical presupposition, no one thought these ways of thinking were theologically sound or a valid theological option of good exegesis before the last 200 years. Out of the various differing and confusing options within dispensationalism, pre tribulation has been the most common view, and I grew up hearing that the great disappearing act (otherwise known as the rapture) would happen and there is then seven years after that of great tribulation and Israel will work exclusively with God as a nation again and that will give way to a 1000-year millennium period where God works again through a reinstated nation of Israel. The temple will be rebuilt, animal sacrifices in the temple will begin again, and the Levitical priesthood will be re-established. But just stop for a moment and consider that. Aren’t those messages actually anti Jesus?* We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, to wish another temple to be built would be working against what God has already established. We don’t need any more sacrifices. Hebrews makes it very clear Jesus was the final and complete sacrifice. Anyone who believes is part of the new covenant priesthood. All those things are anti, or against what the Bible says the new covenant is, and that is just naming a few of the tenets of dispensationalism.
*NOTE: 1 Cor 3:16-17, 1 Cor 6:15-20, 2 Cor 6:14-18, Eph 2:19-22, 1 Pet 2:5, Jesus Himself in John 2:19 (quoted by the Jews, His enemies, in Mark 14:58 when they were trying to legally prosecute Him). It is further verified that in Rev 21:22 John specifically said there was NO TEMPLE)
But you can see why a dispensationalist would be pushing for Israel to be a nation again as they believe all these things are a checklist to happen before Jesus returns. Where did they get these ideas from? To be honest I don’t know. When you try to find them anywhere in the Bible, especially in Revelation it requires a pretty vivid imagination and a complete departure from sound exegesis and hermeneutics.
Dispensationalists believe that Daniel talked about 490 years to deal with Israel (which I agree with). 483 years gets you to the triumphal entry. If you are a dispensational, you believe that the clock stopped for some reason right then, and the last seven years will restart at the rapture. Now I will say, that doesn’t seem to fit any hermeneutic I am familiar with. Thinking this way seems very much like trying to bend Scripture to say what you want it to say. I don’t see any merit exegetically for just deciding that the clock is going to miraculously stop and restart when the church is raptured. I also might add here that I graduated from Moody Bible Institute which (as mentioned above) is the leading dispensational school in the world. I spent four years studying under the best dispensational teachers and left scratching my head in confusion upon graduation.
I don’t believe the 490-year clock stopped. That doesn’t really make any sense. If you want to see what the Bible says in regard to the 490 years here is a video explaining everything from a more Biblical perspective.
I won’t deny that there has been a fascination in the church with all things Israel. Most Christians I know think that we should support Israel as if they are currently still a nation ruled directly by God.
Every verse that is quoted that describes the nation of Israel as God’s people is an Old Testament verse. Romans 9-11 uses a term “all Israel” which is talking about the new covenant of all believers, the Olive Tree of Jeremiah 11 and Romans 11. The context of all of Romans for salvation is to those that believe in Jesus. Those under the new covenant and the kingdom of Jesus will be saved. That’s it, and the Bible makes this very clear. No one is going to be saved that doesn’t profess a complete trust and/or display allegiance to Jesus. Salvation comes to those that place their obedient faith and live a life dedicated to the following of Jesus.
What about prophecy? There are a lot of predictions in the Old Testament that say things like God will re-establish Israel as a nation. That is true, but this happened after the Babylonian Exile. In 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar destroyed their temple and dispersed the Jews and years later in 439 BC the Jews returned to their land fulfilling all of these prophetic scriptures and this continued through Ezra and Nehemiah with the returning of exiles. That is when all of these scriptures were fulfilled CLEARLY. That is all the prediction we get in the Bible. There isn’t anything anywhere about a later return of Israel to their physical land.
Now I can see why you might be confused, because Israel does return to the land promised to them as you know. In 1948 Israel returns to their ancient land to re-establish itself as a nation. Is that a foreshadow or double fulfillment? Well, the Bible doesn’t ever say this. You would have to generate or make this up to get there. It is only a foreshadow if the New Testament identifies this. There isn’t anywhere in the New Testament that does this with a nation re-forming of Israel. The Bible never gives us that. This may surprise you, but I challenge you to find any verses that say that. You think it says this because dispensationalism in our generation has been so grafted into most church theology (or lack of), but the Bible doesn’t say this. It is all based on man’s elaborate imagination of what they want the Bible to say, it’s a man-made narrative with a Zionist national agenda. I usually refer to this kind of theology as a sign of man engineering what we want the Bible to communicate.
This article really isn’t on the problems of Dispensationalism but many of them tie into the conversation of how we view Israel today. There are lots of Expedition 44 articles that deal with the problems of dispensationalism but not necessarily a dedicated article, yet. In the meantime, this is one of the best recent videos on the subject by Steve Gregg.
HISTORICAL – BIBLICAL ISRAEL:
The first hint of a nation dedicated to God is in the Abrahamic promise to bless all nations which eventually comes to fruition by the seed of his family in several turns of events in and through Christ (Galatians 3:16). But when you think of Israel you usually think about the story several generations later of Moses rescuing this melting pot of people who were slaves in Egypt and establishing a nation in them as a Theocratic kingdom under God.
When I say melting pot, I mean that it started as a mixed group of people. This is also likely different than what you have always thought of Israel. We often think of the Israelites as pure descendants of Abraham, but we get the hint that this is less ethnic than covenant related. For example, Exodus 12:38 states that when Israel left Egypt that, “a mixed multitude went up with them.” Yahweh selected the Hebrews to be His representatives on earth, but He was never to be the God of only the descendants of Abraham. The plan was to reclaim the mixed peoples of the earth through Abraham’s descendants and those that joined the covenant. He wanted all peoples to know Him through Israel. This mixed multitude crossed the Red Sea, heard the voice of God at Sinai and sojourned in the wilderness for 40 years with Israel. In God’s covenant with Abraham He told Him that through Abraham that “all the nations of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 18:18). The Exodus is the beginning of that fulfillment. God teaches that when gentiles believe in Him and obey Him that they “shall be like a native of the land” (Exodus 12:48). This principle repeated in Leviticus 19:34 and Ezekiel 47:22 and throughout the Old Testament we see a few pictures of gentiles entering into Covenant through the nation of Israel to Yahweh. What made you part of the Israelite family was your allegiant agreement to follow the precepts of Yahweh in covenant faithfulness. A sign of covenant faithfulness in the Old Testament was circumcision. Likewise, when Jesus instituted the New Covenant there was a similar sign of faithfulness indicated by baptism. Neither physical action necessarily saved you.
As you may be figuring out, in the end, as so much of the New Testament would say, there is no difference between Jew and gentile. What makes us part of the body is the same as it was in the Old Testament, which is covenant faithfulness. The law was needed as a stop gap until the Messiah could offer what was needed once and for all in the atonement offering a complete covenant with eternal promise.
In Exodus 19 God says to these people:
5 “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. ‘Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
I often hear people talk about covenants. I have spent a lot of time and written books on covenant promises and although some theologians divide these promises into what they describe as conditional or unconditional covenants (and I agree with the basic reasoning), I am going to say that all covenants have some element of mutual understanding and agreement. In the verse above you see the first phrase being “IF YOU OBEY ME FULLY.” Does this sound reciprocal to you? Does this sound like it describes a relationship of circular expectation? Why would you read this any other way? God says to Israel if you keep my law, you will be my people – and how long did it take for them to fail at this? About 2 weeks. Within 2 weeks they didn’t do their part and what was God’s reaction with Moses? He says the people are unfaithful and he wants to destroy them and start over with Moses in Exodus 32. Yet what follows is one of the most amazing passages in the Bible of God listening to and acting on a prayerful plea. Yahweh is actually swayed by the heart of Moses as Moses pleas with Yahweh and changes God’s mind. Yahweh doesn’t destroy them, but eventually (hundreds of years later) will hand them over to their own desires. They choose to replace God with human rulers called kings. They continually break covenant with God by intermarrying, worshipping other gods, and not living according to the law given to them. They are described as an adulterous nation before the Lord. Eventually the Jews (Israel) are the ones that put His son Jesus on the cross as a final picture of completely rejecting God,
When Jesus is raised from the dead, ascended and sits at the right hand of the father sending His spirit back to the church, the New Covenant is established for all who believe, both Jews and gentiles. Which, as your probably realizing, was the plan from the beginning. The plan from the start with Abraham was to reclaim all who would believe to be saved and join a kingdom of God separate from the kingdoms of the world. The plan to reclaim the world would start with God working through Israel as His reclaiming ambassadors but when they so visibly failed God, the plan turned from Israel as part of the reclaiming plan to simply anyone who believed in Jesus as the Messiah to be the primary representatives of this reclaiming nation. This is described as ALL OF ISRAEL in Romans 9-11 and is simply all who allegiantly live by the name Jesus. This is described as the faithful remnant of those who follow Jesus. There is nothing in my Bible in the New Testament about any worldly nation that God is going to use. The only nation is the spiritual sense of the Jesus Kingdom. America will never be God’s kingdom and modern Israel will not be that nation, or at least the Bible doesn’t give us that (it could happen, anything could happen – but we aren’t told that it will in scripture.). Perhaps you may share a notion of dual citizenship, but as a Christ follower your primary allegiance should be to the Kingdom of Jesus and not the systems of the world.
I should also mention that there is merit to the consideration of unconditional covenants. As you have already sensed, I am hesitant here because I believe all covenants are circular in some way. But it is worth noting that in the case of land the promise was fulfilled to Israel. The land was given to them regardless of whether they were obedient in driving out the Canaanites or obeying the rest of God’s commands in regard to it. God still gave them the land; they simply went on to lose it. There is no other prophecy for the land to be given back to them after it was lost.
There is no promise that says God will continue to win back the physical land for the nation of Israel in generations to come as so many people seem to think God will do. The land was given once and then lost. God doesn’t promise to win and back and keep giving it to Israel over and over again for thousands of years. The promise was that if they were covenant keepers, they would remain His nation. The main verse that someone might cite to argue this statement would be Genesis 17:8, “I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” The intent was that God’s people would keep the covenant and become the greatest physical nation on earth. But due to their unfaithfulness that never happened. But I admit, there are a couple of options for interpretation here. At first the plainly read consideration is to think that physical land of Canaan will be promised to Abraham’s descendants in a literal sense of the term forever. Well, you can do that, and I am fine with this interpretation in a human literal sense, but you have to keep it literal. I can give you ownership of something that is intended to be forever, but you might still lose it. We see this with generational inheritance all the time. Wills are written that the family farm might be passed on to the family “forever”, but we all know eventually someone sells it. But perhaps the intention of the text is more eternal. In Hebrew the word eternal (olam) natively describes God or what He enables in an eschatological sense. In this way nothing is truly eternal except God. This statement is an “eternal land promise” which ties in with the New Testament Kingdom in verses such as Heb 11:10, 13, 16, 38-40 and not a physical territory next to the Mediterranean Sea.
The eternal aspect of God’s promised land designates a place where He and His people would meet forever. Perhaps, God birthed this promise from the ashes of His original hopes for the Garden of Eden. When the Psalmist retold the statement, “Oh let Israel say, “His lovingkindness is everlasting,” (Psalm 118:2), was he thinking of a place where God would forever dwell with His people? It seems rather clear that we are to relate the everlasting possession with the New Testament promises of eternal life; the two forged into one thought and future. Jesus spoke clearly of the eternal state. The Jewish believers no doubt attached this promise of eternal life with God’s promise to Abraham’s descendants. Jesus often used Abrahamic language to speak of eternal things: “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out” (Luke 13:28).
While I am on the subject of the land it is also worth noting that people were invited to the promised land after they declared their allegiance to Yahweh. It was connected to that covenant. Currently, in the land we refer to as national Israel, less than 2% (some statistics indicate far less than this) of the population confesses an allegiant belief in Jesus as the Messiah. In both percentage and overall numbers, there are more confessing Christians residing in Palestine than in Israel. By the end of this article, you may find that these truths will expand, or change, your prayers about who you think God is supporting in this war.
This is going to start to sound like a broken record, but it is a crucial point, there is never a time when Israel was an ethnic designation. They started as a mixed multitude out of Egypt. The ability to be part of God’s plan was always given to those that were willing to live by covenant. The nation was defined then and today by those who keep the covenant. The Jew who rejects the covenant is cut off from the kingdom.
Hebrews 8:13 clearly establishes the new covenant to be those that hold to a new covenant. If you don’t keep the covenant you aren’t part of the Kingdom of God. If you aren’t faithful to Jesus, you aren’t faithful to God. It has nothing to do with a physical race or even the physical land anymore. The new covenant didn’t re-establish land. Quite the opposite. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The new Kingdom of Jesus is promised land only in an eschatological sense of the recreated heavens and earth. We may reclaim “land” (such as something we own rededicated to the Lord) to some extent declaring it is holy, but we don’t get any idea of this in the Bible directed towards any kind of political entity or kingdom of land. It may happen, and I pray that perhaps it will, but the Bible doesn’t say this will happen. This is because Israel defiled the land that was given to them and because God is holy, He no longer desired the land that was defiled. The plan needed to be adapted and it was adapted by God and called the New Covenant. The old land became an atrocity to the Lord and a new Earth is being created.
TIMELINE CONCERNING ISRAEL:
In order to truly understand modern Israel, it is important to first consider their history. Here is a brief timeline of the nation and lands of Israel and Palestine.
1600 BCE Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob –settle in the Land that God had given them but eventually the tribes of Israel go down to Egypt because of a severe famine in the Land of Israel and become enslaved by Egypt.
1200 BCE The Exodus of a mixed peoples from Egypt that return to the land of their father Abraham under a theocracy of Yahweh. Unfortunately, they immediately turn from Yahweh and worship other gods which begins their covenant unfaithfulness.
1020 BCE The Kingdom of Israel is established under Yahweh; but then Israel chooses an earthly King instead of Theocracy. They choose to be ruled by an earthly king in place of direct rule by God.
1000 BCE Jerusalem becomes the capital of the Kingdom of Israel under King David in effort to return the nation to Yahweh.
960 BCE The First Temple is built, a spiritual center of the people in an attempt to return rule to God, but the people continue to deny Yahweh and follow other God’s and nations.
722-720 BCE God begins to hand over the people of Israel to their own desires which results in judgment and the Kingdom of Israel that is located in the northern Land of Israel is conquered by Assyria; ten tribes go into exile.
586 BCE God hands over the rest of Israel as the Kingdom of Judah is conquered by Babylonia; Jerusalem and the Temple are laid waste; the Jews are exiled to Babylonia starting the Diaspora.
538-515 BCE Yahweh gives Israel another chance by sending the remnant and initializing the return to Zion after the proclamation of Cyrus – some Jews return from Babylon; the Temple is rebuilt but only a remnant seems to desire to return to Yahweh and live in covenant faithfulness. This fulfills nearly every scriptural prophecy of restoration to Israel.
332 BCE The Land of Israel is conquered by Alexander the Great turning towards Hellenistic rule.
166-160 BCE The Hasmonean Revolt against the Greek Empire in reaction to the constraints imposed on Jewish religious practice.
129-63 BCE Jewish political independence under the Hasmonean Kingdom.
63 BCE to 4 CE King Herod rules in the Land of Israel; the temple is expanded but becomes very political and some would say the Spirit of Yahweh never returns to the temple.
33 Jesus is crucified and risen establishing the New Covenant and kingdom under the risen Saviour.
66 The Jews rebel against the Romans.
70 The destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple.
73 The Romans’ battle to conquer Masada,
136 The Romans change the name of Judea to Syria Palaestina and the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina. “Palestine” is adapted as a melting pot of people that are deemed lesser than Romans occupying land that once was claimed by Israel.
638 -1517 The liberation of Jerusalem by a combined force of different peoples, Persians and Jews. The Dome of the Rock is built on the Temple Mount on the presumed location of the first and second temples. The land switches hands from Crusader, Mamluk, and Ottoman rule.
1897 The First Zionist Congress in Basel under the aegis of Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl.
May 16, 1916 The Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and Britain over the Palestine area gives way to the November 2, 1917 The Balfour Declaration – a document signed by British foreign minister Lord Arthur James Balfour (dispensational Christian), which espouses a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.
January 3, 1919 The Faisal-Weizmann agreement between Chaim Weizmann and Emir Faisal – an agreement that establishes both Arabs and the Jews in the Land of Israel. In reaction, the April 25, 1920 San Remo Agreement gave Britain rule over the land of Israel and controversially ratified former agreement.
May 1-7, 1921-1929 Arab riots in Jaffa, Petah Tikva, Rehovot, Hadera, and elsewhere, in which 43 people were killed. The riots were spurred by the Arab national awakening and the demand to annul the Balfour Declaration. August 23, 1929 Riots in Hebron, Jerusalem, and Safed. Arabs murder 133 Jews.
July 7, 1937 The Peel Commission – the partition resolution is accepted by the British administration, en-Gurion, and the Zionist institutions, and is rejected by the Arabs.
March 22, 1945 The establishment of the Arab League with Cairo as its hub.
November 29, 1947 Approval of the partition plan by the General Assembly of the United Nations – Resolution 181.
November 29, 1947 to July 20, 1949 The War of Independence; from May 15 to June 11 – the regular Arab armies’ invasion of the Land of Israel. 6000 Jews were killed during the war.
February 24, 1949 to July 20, 1949 Armistice agreements (Rhodes agreements).
March 23 – Lebanon, April 3 – Jordan, July 20 – Syria 1948 (until 1967) Jerusalem is divided between Israel and Jordan along the armistice lines: Jordan holds the eastern part of the city, Israel the western and southern parts. Jews are denied access to the Old City and the holy places in contravention of the armistice agreement.
1949 Massive aliyah to Israel from Arab states and North Africa, and of displaced Jews from Europe. The Jewish population doubles from 650,000 to 1,300,000.
May 11, 1949 Israel is accepted as the 59th member of the United Nations.
December 5, 1949 Jerusalem is declared the capital of Israel by David Ben-Gurion.
June 5, 1967 to June 10, 1967 The Six-Day War between Israel and Arab states: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
September 1, 1967 Meeting of the Arab League in Khartoum, which laid down the “three no’s”: no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel.
November 22, 1967 UN Security Council Resolution 242 calls for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, Israeli withdrawal from lands it conquered in the Six-Day War, a solution to the refugee problem, and the guaranteeing of free passage for ships through international lanes.
November 10, 1975 UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, which equates Zionism with racism.
1988 Yasser Arafat declares Palestinian independence.
December 16, 1991 The UN General Assembly revokes Resolution 3379 (that equates Zionism with racism).
October 26, 1994 The signing of the Israeli-Jordanian Peace Treaty.
September 28, 1995 The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
May 2, 2002 Establishment of the Middle East Quartet (the Quartet) – the European Union (EU), United States, United Nations, and Russia
April 14, 2004 Letter from President George W. Bush to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stating that it is unrealistic to expect “a full and complete withdrawal to the armistice lines of 1949” – the letter reiterates U.S. commitment to “defensible borders” for Israel.
August 20, 2010 The invitation of Israel and the Palestinians to face-to-face negotiations by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
May 4, 2011 A reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo.
May 24, 2011 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears before both houses of the U.S. Congress, explaining that “Israel will not return to the indefensible lines of 1967.”
September 23, 2011 The submission to the UN secretary-general of a request by the Palestinian Authority that Palestine be recognized as a UN member state.
The International recognition of the State of Palestine has been the objective of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence on 15 November. By the end of the year, the proclaimed Palestinian state was recognized by over 78 countries. As of 31 July 2019, 138 of the 193 United Nations (UN) member states and two non-member states have recognized it (Israel is recognized by 165). Palestine also has been a non-member observer state of the UN General Assembly since the passing of United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 in November 2012.
Adapted from: (jcpa.org)
THE MODERN PROBLEM OF MODERN ISRAEL & LAND
As a Christian how do you view the control of land through war? For instance, the majority of those reading this article are Americans. The United States has acquired new territories through war, cession, purchase, and occupation. Most of land throughout history has been acquired by nations through war. How do you view land dominion and ownership from a worldly sense of justice based on what the Bible says? Let’s specifically consider the geography that God once gave to Israel as the promised land.
The region of Palestine has been controlled by a mixed group of Arabs (for lack of better word) for at least 1300 years and perhaps even the last 2000 years since 70AD. The Jews actually haven’t had singular rule of the land referred to as Palestine and/or Israel for thousands of years. They lost the land. Lands are inhabited or conquered and even though a country may have roots from hundreds or even thousands of years before, the land wouldn’t any longer be considered “theirs” by any modern measure.
For Instance, Great Britain once clearly owned the land the US inhabits now. A war was waged and what resulted was the claim that a new country would be born, the United States. But even now, England technically has owned it longer than the US has, would that mean they still have some kind of rightful claim to it? After the war for Independence and establishing of a new nation in 1776 the US wanted more land and in the name of westward expansion, (amongst other purchases and deals) they fought Mexico and the Indians and took the land they wanted through war. In the French and Indian War (1754–63), America fought between France and Great Britain primarily to gain land. It determined control of the vast colonial territory of North America. American imperialism is the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, media and military influencing the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest; gunboat diplomacy; unequal treaties; subsidization of preferred factions; regime change; or economic penetration through private companies, potentially followed by diplomatic or forceful intervention when those interests are threatened. As a Christian looking back on American History, this notion can be surprising or even upsetting, but these decisions weren’t specifically ours, rather they have been handed down to us. Today the US clearly says that it has claim to or owns this land, yet many will say that it wasn’t really ours to take. Much of the rest of the world doesn’t view American Imperialism much different than the rest of the empirical pursuits of the world history that were usually fueled by war and bloodshed. What if the Mexicans and the Indians want their land back, they owned it longer than we have and may have a legitimate claim to it. Can they establish a rightful claim to it? You have to think this way to justify Israel’s claim on the land in Palestine.
In this case Britain told the Jews they could have the land that was occupied by the Arab Palestinians and Jews. How would you feel if someone else said you no longer owned your home or land and told you that it has been given to someone else? You and I as Americans thinks this sounds preposterous yet that is what happened to those that occupied the land of Israel and Palestine and to an extent what we have done in America. There are peoples whose land was simply taken or given away.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, an organized religious and political movement known as Zionism (that I described at the beginning of this article) emerged among Jews. Zionists wanted to reestablish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Massive numbers of Jews immigrated to the ancient holy land and built settlements. Between 1882 and 1903, about 35,000 Jews relocated to Palestine. Another 40,000 settled in the area between 1904 and 1914. The problem was they were moving into a land that they wanted to claim, yet it hadn’t been theirs for at least 1300 years.
Many Jews living in Europe and elsewhere, fearing persecution during the Nazi reign, found refuge in Palestine and embraced Zionism. After the Holocaust and World War II ended, members of the Zionist movement primarily focused on creating an independent Jewish state. As you can imagine after the WWI and WWII there were a lot of Jewish sympathizers and perhaps there should have been! The problem became that Arabs in Palestine who had lived there for hundreds of years naturally resisted the Zionism movement, and tensions between the two groups continued. An Arab nationalist movement developed as a result.
In 1917 Balfour who was a British Christian Dispensationalist sought to begin establishing Israel as a nation which was part the Zionist movement. The Balfour Declaration and the British mandate over Palestine were approved by the League of Nations in 1922. Arabs vehemently opposed the Balfour Declaration, concerned that a Jewish homeland would mean the subjugation of Arab Palestinians. It didn’t seem “fair.” As I mentioned earlier; it doesn’t seem “just” that some would simply be told that their land and homes are no longer theirs.
The question a Christian needs to address is what does justice look like from the eyes of God? America went to war to win land, why would you view the Israel or the Palestinians trying to win land any differently? What about when women and children are killed? Is Israel any better in the eyes of God than their rivals?
According to USA TODAY, “The Hamas are the Islamic Resistance Movement political and military organization governing the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian territories. Headquartered in Gaza City, it also has a presence in the West Bank (the larger of the two Palestinian territories), in which its secular rival Fatah exercises control. Hamas is widely considered to be the “dominant political force” within the Palestinian territories. Hamas’ political wing has controlled the Gaza Strip for over a decade, but the group is most known for its many suicide bombings and other attacks on Israel amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has lasted decades. It’s considered a terrorist group by the United States and other nations. Hamas – an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, or Islamic resistance movement – was founded in 1987 during the first Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank by a Palestinian activist connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.” You might also consider how, as a Christian, you might view this group.
The British controlled Palestine until Israel became an independent state in 1947 after World War II. The United Nations approved a plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state in 1947, but the Arabs rejected it (right or wrong.)
In May 1948, Israel was officially declared an independent state with David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, as the prime minister. While this historic event seemed to be a victory for Jews, it also marked the beginning of more violence with the Arabs.
Following the announcement of an independent Israel, five Arab nations—Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon—immediately invaded the region in what became known as the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. This resulted in 7 months of war where Israel gained 77% of the land, not the 52% of the land they were supposed to have according to previous agreement. This resulted in 750,000 Palestinians becoming homeless refugees. As you can imagine, the Palestinians felt that Israel was acting against the armistice agreement and had stolen their land. Israel invited Jews from all over the world to move back to the newly acquired land and doubled their population (and army size) over the next three years. From an Israeli perspective, they were unlawfully invaded by Arab aggressors and rightfully gained land by military conquest, so their claims were justified based on modern definitions of land acquisition. But, as you can imagine, the Palestinians would see this differently.
Civil war broke out throughout all of Israel, but a cease-fire agreement was reached in 1949. As part of the temporary armistice agreement, the West Bank became part of Jordan, and the Gaza Strip became Egyptian territory. Numerous wars and acts of violence between Arabs and Jews have ensued since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War such as the Suez Canal, Six Day War, Yom Kippur War, the Lebanon War, First Palestinian Intifada, the Second Lebanon War, and Hamas Wars. Israel has been involved in repeated violence with Hamas, a Sunni Islamist militant group that assumed Palestinian power in 2006. Some of the more significant conflicts took place beginning in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2021 and 2023. Israel has basically been in and out of wars since they were recognized as a nation.
Clashes between Israelis and Arabs and/or Palestinians are commonplace. (As you can imagine it is difficult to identify all of the middle east groups and I am reluctant to group them or identify them together.) Key territories of land are divided, but some are claimed by several groups. For instance, both Palestine and Israel cite Jerusalem as their capital. Both groups blame each other for terror attacks that kill civilians. While Israel doesn’t officially recognize Palestine as a state, more than 135 UN member nations do. In October 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally declared war on Hamas following a surprise deadly assault launched from Gaza by Hamas militants.
You also might consider a morality/moral equivalency conversation here. After Hamas’s attack, is Israel obligated to agree to a cease-fire. Are they obligated to be certain that no civilians are killed and if civilians are killed, are they no better than Hamas? Is Israel’s occupation of the land the ultimate cause of all the killing? This article doesn’t necessarily warrant a conversation on biblical kingdom morality concerning defense but if you are considering all things in this war it needs to be considered.
When considering how a Jesus follower might view all of this conflict you may consider the religious affiliation of the Israeli population as of 2022 was 73.6% Jewish, 18.1% Muslim, 1.9% Christian, and 1.6% Druze. The remaining 4.8% included faiths such as Samaritanism and Baháʼí, as well as “religiously unclassified.”
OVERALL THOUGHTS & CONCLUSION:
As I started this article, I feel the need to re-emphasize my position. I am in no way anti-Israel or anti-Palestine (for that matter) as I am not anti-American in any way. I am anti-Hamas. There is good and bad in every nation, Christian and non, everywhere you look. Just because something started wrong, or off or grey, doesn’t mean it can’t be reconciled. Isn’t that what we are doing as Christians? You can’t judge everyone represented by the acts of a few people. To be clear I have no tolerance for evil on any side and it seems like there are a lot of atrocities going on that are pure evil, but most of the people involved are victims and that breaks my heart.
I certainly don’t agree with everything America (or any other nation) has done in their past (or make any concession to justify their current actions) but as a citizen of the nation of the United States I seek to do what I can to influence a broken system of peoples as I take on my kingdom role of representing or being an ambassador of the Kingdom of God (my primary consideration) and offer the healing power of Jesus. I will continue to model the beauty of this kingdom and offer consideration to anyone to join me in this obedient pursuit of Jesus and His beautiful plan that is captivated by loving God and others giving way to joy and healing even in the midst of tribulation both here and now which will eventually result in a recreated heaven and earth where all things are reconciled to Jesus.
As you probably know, I am for the kingdom of Jesus in every way with unwavering sole conviction to that state of living. My faithful pledge isn’t to any of the worldly systems or nations, just Jesus. I am glad that my political state of America allows me to worship Jesus but recognize that it isn’t promoting the kingdom of Jesus, but rather allows it. I have freedom to be a Jesus follower as well as be loyal to any other religion. As Christ followers we need to make sure that we are on Jesus’ side, not on the side of the rival nations of the world. We need to represent Biblical values, love, grace, peace, mercy, and justice, but understand it is God who ultimately rules and controls those powers throughout our world and the next. We represent the image of Jesus and invite others to join in a different kind of kingdom. We are the hands and feet of Jesus but ultimately all things will be reconciled by and to Him, perhaps much of this is out of our hands and we are simply asked to live within the New Covenant precepts the best we can wherever and however we can.
In terms of world politics and national strife, neither side, Israeli or Palestinian (Ukrainian or Russian) are nationally Christian. We tend to think of the Hamas as the worst entity involved and maybe they are or aren’t. Some of the acts of all of these groups have been detestable. There are likely Christians on every side as well as terrorists on all sides (they often call themselves freedom fighters because they are fighting for what was taken from them). As a Christian I can’t side with much of any of the violence. Even from a sense of justice it is the Lord’s not mine. I pray that being the hands and feet of Jesus doesn’t call my family into a war situation, but I am well aware that at some points of history this has been a decision by Christians that has had to be made. Perhaps we could decide to side with Israel as an American because America is in political alliance with them as long as the decisions don’t result in fruit that is against the Jesus kingdom. However, that statement seems impossible. This brings some other theological problematic concerns. Are we partnering with others out of the Jesus Kingdom? Many Christians would say that this is being unequally yoked. Should a Christian partner with the world?
Is God on Israels side? Throughout history Israel has denied God and specifically Jesus, far more than they have sided with Him. Statistically, America claims to be 70% Christian and Israel is less than 2% Christian, although I don’t feel as if America is very Christian living here. Perhaps these statistics aren’t comparing apples to apples though. I don’t see God aligning with the governments of America or modern national Israel. Israel seems to continue to be a rival to the kingdom of Jesus and for the most part I think America is heading in that direction as well. As Christians we pray to love our enemies and see them redeemed, so in this sense I urge you to pray for all of them.
Should we give any extra merit to a nation that once was Theocratic (thousands of years ago) but no longer is and clearly isn’t appealing to any sort of Christian following? I don’t think so. As Christians we need to align with those of the Jesus kingdom but at the same time pray to love our enemies and win them over to Jesus. Israel does claim as traditional Jews to worship the same God as Christians but as I have said earlier if you take Jesus out of the equation you’re out of the New Covenant and might even be against God if you can’t accept His Son as the Messiah.
There is no Biblical or “world” mandate for Israel laying claim to modern or ancient land. Nor does the Bible say that it is just for them to wage war to take it back. But the choices of these nations and others within the last century have perhaps made this complicated, just as there is no real rightful claim for land to be “claimed” by a Palestinian state or nation based on modern or ancient history either.
I do know one thing for sure, we can pray for the kingdom of Jesus and the world to be reconciled unto Him.
- WIll Ryan Th.D.
SOURCES & NOTATION:
Special thanks to those that contributed to this article in a thought tank and red team review: Steve Gregg of the Narrow Path, Dr. Matt Mouzakis of X44, Nick Tenhagen, Dr. Steve Cassell, Pastor Steve Thorngate, Steve Bahr, Krista & Will Bensheimer, Jason Lee, and Josh Ruud. Please note that they do not necessarily share the views of the author and represent a very diverse mix of theological backgrounds.
History of Ancient Israel: Oxford Research Encyclopedias.
Creation of Israel, 1948: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State.
The Arab-Israeli War of 1948: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State.
History of Israel: Key events: BBC.
Israel: The World Factbook: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Immigration to Israel: The Second Aliyah (1904 – 1914): Jewish Virtual Library.
Palestine: Growing Recognition: Al Jazeera.
Mandatory Palestine: What It Was and Why It Matters: TIME.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/10/10/what-is-hamas-militant-group/71128206007/
EXPEDITION 44 