PJ HanleyIsrael has been making news since history began. From the Exodus around 1500 BC to the present, no nation or empire has captured world attention, in one way or another, like Israel. Every attempt imaginable has been made to destroy her, from the plot by the wicked Haman of Persia, to the diabolical Third Reich. Yet, she not only survived but also became stronger. The Romans thought they had written her obituary when they destroyed Jerusalem and scattered her children throughout the world. However, she maintained her identity as a nation through the long hard exile, and her people continued to be the most significant influence in all walks of life. Then, the unbelievable happened! When it seemed all hope was gone, and her children huddled together to avoid extinction, the state of Israel was reborn in 1948 in her ancient, God given homeland. Since then she has been capturing the news and has become the central focus in world attention and politics. This tiny nation was the biggest story of the 20th Century and will be again in the 21st. Indeed, what is about to happen with Israel will be the headline of the millennium and beyond.
What is it about the Jews that is so special? How have they survived millennia of persecution and oppression? Why are they so blessed and yet so hated? The answer is obvious! The headlines scream at us! Wake up! Wake up! Something big is happening here! But the world continues to ignore. Had they paid attention to the keeper of Israel they would have known. Had they believed the ancient headlines they would have been aware.
“He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever.” Ps 121:3-8 NASU
But these words have not been remembered. These headlines have been ignored. The nations grope about as though their eyes were poked out and their ears were plugged up.
They refuse to listen. They refuse to understand. They cannot bear the thought that God has done this. They behave like drunkards and drug addicts in perpetual denial and shame that such a thing could have come upon them. And they scurry about from one continent to another plotting and scheming to resolve the Middle-East problem, and make “Israeli Aggression” go away. But they are digging a pit for themselves and weaving a net that will soon become their grave. Had they been reading, had they been listening, they would surely have known the origins of Zionism and the futility of opposing it. For it is clearly printed in the pages of the world’s oldest and best loved books:
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains, they say, ‘and throw off their fetters.’ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” Ps 2:1-6 NIV
Welcome To Our World
By the middle of the 2nd Century, the attitude in the Christian church concerning the Jews had begun to sour. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and the scattering of Israel worldwide, the church became increasingly more Gentile in its appearance and function. After the revolt led by the false messiah Shimon Bar-Kokhba was crushed by the Romans in 135 AD, the church and the synagogue parted permanently. Christians began to view the Jews as a nation rejected by God with the kingdom taken away and given to the church. Consequently, all of the passages in the Hebrew Scriptures were reinterpreted in an allegorical or figurative sense as referring to the church, which was deemed Israel’s replacement. Thus the emergence of what we call today, “Replacement Theology.” This opened the door to Anti-Semitic attitudes, which in time gave way to barbaric persecution and brutality. This situation continued for many centuries.
Dismissing God’s special call on the Jewish people, and reapplying all their promises to the church, “Christian Theologians” were enabled to make many assumptions about the kingdom. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, these positions became dogma, particularly the notion that the Millennial reign of Christ had come and was operating through the church. This teaching continued throughout the reformation, but began to be challenged in subsequent revivals in the 16th and 17h Centuries. With the revivals of the 18th and 19th Centuries, the church began to see a future role for the nation of Israel related to the end of the age and the kingdom of Christ. However, until Israel received statehood in 1948, it was in the realm of belief or doctrine. It could be comfortably tucked away on a neat theological shelf and ignored. Thus the church carried on thinking of itself as the focus and vehicle of all God’s activity on earth. But when Israel was restored to its ancient homeland, and listed among the nations of the world, the body of Christ experienced a theological earthquake. In the so-called “Mainline Churches” there was a rejection of this event as illegitimate, but the church in revival greeted it with a sense of euphoria coupled with consternation. The words of the prophets had been literally fulfilled meaning the end was near, yet the practice of interpreting their words as belonging to the church, was now suspect.
In the modern church there are many who have little interest in the State of Israel. Thankfully they are in the minority since most love and support her. However, among this group confusion continues! On the one hand there is a genuine love and concern, even Christian Zionism, but on the other, there is the continual teaching of Replacement Theology and an obsession with the church as the beginning and end of all God’s work on earth. It’s a sort of doctrinal schizophrenia— a yes and no theology that is rooted in denial. Sadly, it mirrors the position of the nations who say they accept Israel’s right to exist while they actively plot her demise. It proclaims the divine intervention and creation of the Jewish State, while at the same time minimizing its importance. It’s a sort of, “Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?” message. “Yes, you are really important so long as you recognize we are the primary focus.” “Yes, your existence fulfills the prophet’s words, but their real meaning is for us!” It’s sort of like saying, “Welcome home, but your house has been sold,” or “Welcome to our world!”
My intent in writing is to open the eyes of Christians, particularly leaders, to the central role of Israel in the plan of God. It’s a spiritual journey from the past to the present and beyond. It examines the doctrines and attitudes of the modern church, which defraud Israel and contribute to the curse of Scriptural blindness, deadness and lack of the Spirit’s power.
An Excerpt from “Israel Awakening: Why the Church Must Wake Up to The Centrality of Israel in the Plan of God” by PJ Hanley
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