Zionism, AntiSemitism, and the Church

There is a current growing trend that should send shudders down your spine and that is the idea of antiSemitism. This word simply means to be anti- Semitic or to have a political idea that Israel (Semitic peoples) have no place to exist or a country that is theirs.

It is often said that it is due to Judaism and the religion is the problem not the people, or others will argue that it is not the people but that Israel, as a nation, is an apartheid state. However, Israel is a country that like America offers religious freedom. This is evident by the 20% population of Muslims (With some even serving on the Supreme Court and Knesset.)

Thus, the problem is not with the government but the people that is the issue. Just like Nazi Germany, antiSemitism is on the rise around the World. It is also gaining much traction within our governments and even some churches.

Israel is roughly the size of New Jersey with a similar population. Yet, it is the center of world news and interest. The conflict is that their are a group of people that view the Jewish people as occupiers of the Palestinian people.

However, what does the Bible and history say?

Acts 1:6–7 NKJV

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

Isaiah 11:11 NKJV

It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

I. Zionism

Palestinian covenant

Deuteronomy 30:1–10 NKJV

“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. “Also the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. And you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments which I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31–34 NKJV

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Eternal Covenant

Psalm 105:7–12 NKJV

He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac, And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of your inheritance,” When they were few in number, Indeed very few, and strangers in it.

Romans 11:26–27 NKJV

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

Luke 21:24 NKJV

And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

II. AntiSemitism

Why is Israel hated?

Here is a short video that gives a little perspective.

A. By the Muslims

Because Jacob stole the birthright from Esau, and there remains an eternal bitterness.

Because, God has had an obvious hand of blessing on the Jews.

B. By the West

It is my personal belief that many in the west hate Israel for three primary reasons.

First, like the Muslim world they are jealous of God’s blessings upon the Israelites.

Secondly, they are a people who are a wild card. They are blessed and not easily manipulated. There resolve to maintain an Israeli state is unmatched.

Thirdly, racism is alive and on full display. They are the smallest of minorities and thus different from almost everyone else. Some claim they are white, others claim blacks are the true Israelites, but everyone agrees they hate the Jews.

C. By some Christians

Some Christians hatred is supposedly born out of their rejection and crucifixion of Jesus.

Romans 11:1–2 NKJV

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,

Furthermore, verse 11 says that they were not meant to fall.

Romans 11:11 NKJV

I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

They were broken so that Gentiles may have a part of their blessing (Jesus.)

Romans 11:18–19 NKJV

do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”

Finally, God is able to graft them again.

III. The church

Luke 22:20 NKJV

Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

Views of the New Covenant

1. Replacement theology

The church replaced Israel

Darby

2. One covenant, two applications

Both Israel and believers have part of the same covenant.

Scofield

3. Two New covenants.

There is no Biblical reason to believe that the church has replaced the Jews. Instead, we see that God has made the church His bride, while still keeping His eternal promise to Abraham and David.

Genesis 12:1–3 NKJV

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Yes, the promise that all nations would be blessed through their seed was fulfilled in Jesus. However, that aspect is not the only part of the promise.

The truth is, John 3.16 tells us that God loves the whole world. That includes the Israelites and the Gentiles.

He died for you.

Will you pray for the peace of Jerusalem?

Will you pray for the salvation of the Jews?

Will you surrender your life to Him?