“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion…They go from strength to strength each one appears before God in Zion.”

-Psalm 84:5,7

All roads lead to Rome. This is a famous idiom that has morphed over the years. Its origin goes back to 20 BCE, when Augustus Caesar erected a milestone in the Roman Forum that all major roads in the empire were measured from. Rome was designed as a hub with all major roads acting like spokes moving out into the empire. As we can learn from Augustine’s City of God, Rome was actually the city of the world, and Zion was God’s chosen city from the very beginning. We see that Mt. Zion or Mt. Moriah was critical in Abraham and Isaac’s journey and David claimed it as Jerusalem. God calls it the “apple of his eye.” The Psalmists rejoice to see the day of its fulfillment and all who seek the Lord Jesus and His return build highways in their heart to Zion. The writer of Hebrews reveals this in father Abraham’s heart, “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)

We are living in chaotic, but exciting times. Israel again is in the center of the news stream. It has held this position throughout history like no other nation. There is a lot of discussion about Israel today in the political realm as well in the theological realm. Anti-semitism in America is skyrocketing to levels we never thought where possible. It is critical for the Church and the believer to be biblically sound and convicted about God’s view of Israel and the nations. Some of these issues are essential, but all of them deserve healthy study and debate within the Church to properly equip the Church for what is coming.

In the rest of this paper I will briefly answer some of the more pressing questions concerning Israel and will come back in following papers to go into more detail in each of these questions. I hope that you will take the time to read and think through each of these and study the passages that go along with the questions.

• Why Did God Choose Israel Among All Nations?
• What did God Promise Unconditionally to Israel?
• Why Did God Chose Jerusalem – Mt. Zion?
• Who is Israel and How Are We to View Modern Day Israel?
• Why is Having an Israel-centric View of Scripture Important?
• Does God Still Have a Plan for Israel?
• How Are We to See Israel and the Church?

Why Did God Choose Israel Among All Nations?

God’s redemptive history starts before the foundation of the earth. Jesus is known as the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the earth. (Eph 1:4, Rev 13:8) In God’s sovereignty, He chose one man and one nation to bring forth His Son as Savior of the world. In Genesis 12, 15 and 17, God established His unconditional covenant with Abraham, which included the land of Canaan, the promised land. In Exodus 6:2-4, God reiterates to Moses that He had established a covenant that included the land with Abraham. And in Deuteronomy 32:8-10, we can see that when God divided the nations at Babel (Genesis 11) He chose the people of Jacob (Israel) as His allotted heritage and the apple of His eye.”

What Did God Promise Unconditionally to Israel?

According to the verses in the previous section, Israel has a right to their “land” unlike any other nation on earth because it was based on an unconditional promise made to the father of our faith, Abraham. The “land” is included as part of the new covenant promise made to Israel and never removed. And the new covenant describes Israel’s return to the land from dispersion as the land God gave their forefathers. (Jer 31:27-40, Ezek 11:14-21, 36:22-37:23) In this Jeremiah passage, God says that His unconditional promise to Israel is tied to the fixed order of the moon and stars. All the apostles expected Jesus to restore the kingdom to Israel. The kingdom itself is tied to the land. Right before Jesus’ ascension, they asked Him, “will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus’ response is very insightful, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” (Acts 1:6-7)

Why Did God Chose Jerusalem?

“And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it…For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.” (Jer 33:9, 11) Jerusalem is the epicenter of God’s plan for the earth. It has a significance throughout history that is out of proportion to its geographic location, economic importance, political significance and military power. There is only one city that Jesus wept over. When God first gave Abraham the location of the Promised Land, it included Jerusalem (Genesis 13:14-17, 15:18-21). Jerusalem is the only city on earth that has a promised eternal future.

Who is Israel and How Are We to View Modern Day Israel?

There is a lot of misinformation out there today. Much is being peddled by media folks who are not and have not been engaged in theological study of the Old and New Testaments. One of these misleading ideas is that modern Israel is not the Israel of the Bible and the promises and therefore God is no longer concerned with them. First, the majority of Israel in Old Testament history was possibly more disobedient and corrupt than modern day Israel, but God still discipled them and kept His promises. Modern Israel is far from God, and again will receive in God’s timing discipline until God fulfills His new covenant with them. Support for Israel and even being a Zionist does not mean we support every action of theirs, but does mean we honor them as God’s chosen people and nation. (Rom 11) God’s unconditional promise to Abraham and the nation Israel stands and we should take it very seriously, “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3) This has been true throughout history.

Why is Having an Israel-centric View of Scripture Important?

The majority of the early church were Jewish Christians. Jesus and His 12 Apostles were Jewish. Some 30 years after Jesus’ resurrection we can still see the majority of the church in Jerusalem were primarily Jewish believers led by James, Jesus’ half brother. And James says in Acts 21:20-26, that they are all still obedient as Christ followers to Torah, including sacrificing in the Temple. The main question at the time was “Do Gentiles have to become Jewish to be part of the Church?” It was decided at the Jerusalem council that they do not. (Acts 15) However, after 70 CE when the Temple was destroyed the Gentile church has throughout history elevated Church tradition above the Jewish roots of Christianity. We are still suffering from this. To properly understand the Bible, we have to make it a priority to come to it with Jewish eyes. For example, Jesus teaches in Matthew 25:31-46 about the end times sheep and goat judgment where He separates the nations. This is not talking about just social justice issues in general. The OT background for this is Joel 3:1-3, that clearly says this judgment is against those nations and individuals who did not honor Israel, His people and nation that He chose among all nations. This is a very sobering reality and reveals what we believe has radical consequences.

Does God Still Have a Plan for Israel?

This is the plain reading of much of OT Prophecy, but is more clearly communicated by Paul in his discussion in Romans 9-11. Some key verses to study would be Ezekiel 36:22-37:28, 39, the message of Hosea, Zechariah 14, and Romans 9-11. And of course the books of Daniel and Revelation. And again in Acts 1:6-7, it was the expectation of every Apostle and Jesus Himself!

How Are We to See Israel and the Church?

This is the main question that determines a person’s theological view of the end times. Some of the main positions are a-millennialism, post-millennialism, and pre-millennialism. Both the amill and post-mill positions for the most part see the Church replacing-fulfilling Israel. The pre-mill position sees one redeemed Body of Christ, but within that a distinction between Jews and Israel and Gentiles and the other nations. In the NT “Israel” is used 73 times. “Israelite(s)” is used 4 times in the NT. In both the OT and NT these terms are never equated with Gentiles of the Church, but refer to specific Jews or the nation Israel itself. Barry Horner breaks this down well,

“In this volume I have tried to emphasize that Paul was not the founder of Christianity, that he never ceased to be a Jew, and that Christianity is not a Gentile religion. There has never been a greater advocate of the universal composition of the Christian faith that Paul, who emphatically asserted that in Christ ‘there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is nether slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Gal 3:28). This means that when people place their trust in Jesus, neither Jews nor Gentiles have to abandon their ancestry, neither males nor females have to abandon their gender, and neither slaves nor free people have to abandon their sociological status. Paul’s central focus in his preaching was that Gentiles do not have to become Jews any more than Jews have to become Gentiles for as he went on to say, ‘If you are Christ’s then you are Abrahams offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:29) (Future Israel, Barry Horner, xii)

In Luke 21 Jesus teaches about the destruction of the Temple and says in verse 24, “They (Israel) will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” We are currently still in the times of the Gentiles, but moving quickly into the time of “Jacob’s trouble.” (Jer 30:7) This is also known as the great tribulation. We can see in these that God has a plan in history where He is specifically working through Israel and the nations, and then specifically working through the nations and the Church and then back finally to work through Israel before He returns to deal with the evil nations.

I hope this brief introduction will spark you, and make your hearts burn to engage the scriptures and move you toward greater intimacy with the Lord Jesus. Maranatha!