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The need for proclaiming an
Israel-positive Gospel Messiah to the Nations |
A few years ago, my wife and I went through
an excruciating experience. We attended a small anti-Israel rally being held in
our city. The event was planned as part of the so-called “Israel Apartheid
Week,” a global week-long campaign against the State of Israel. Israel Apartheid
Week (aka IAW) has taken off around the world and is especially popular on
university campuses, where students and other protesters advocate boycotting
Israeli goods and otherwise denigrating the State of Israel. The movement takes
its name from the supposed comparison of Apartheid South Africa with Israel’s
treatment of Palestinian peoples. Needless to say, IAW is based on some flawed
logic and misinformation. Yet in spite of its failings, IAW has become terrifyingly
popular.
My
wife and I had the privilege of participating in a pro-Israel campaign in our
Canadian city concurrent with IAW, which we entitled “Israel Appreciation
Week.” We helped host a booth at our local university campus at which we
provided information in support of Israel (to help counter the nearby Apartheid
booth) and promoted a few pro-Israel events. We found it ironic that IAW was
taking place precisely over the festival of Purim, which commemorates a
historic victory over anti-Semitism as recorded in the book of Esther. As a
result, our local Messianic Purim celebration took on the theme of confronting anti-Semitism
in the world around us. We also decided it would be best for a few of us to
attend one or two of the Apartheid events in order to have a pro-Israel
presence at these anti-Israel gatherings. This is how my wife and I, along with
three Israel-loving friends, found ourselves at an anti-Israel rally.
The
crowd was a strange mixture of left-wing extremists, eccentric neo-hippies, and
religious Muslims. “Canada and Israel, Allies in Apartheid” was the title of
this event. The main speaker, a man of First-Nations lineage, attempted to
explain our country’s pro-Israel stance by comparing Israel’s “cruel mistreatment
of the Palestinians” with Canada’s oppression against First-Nations peoples.
Canada and Israel, he contended, both share a history of injustice against
indigenous peoples. The entire tone of the evening was not only anti-Israel, it
was also anti-Canada, anti-Western culture, anti-capitalism, and
anti-government. The speaker would only use the name “Canada” in a negative
context, and instead referred to his land of residence as “Turtle Island,” a
First-Nations term for North America. There were no practical steps offered for
how to remedy the situation or pro-ceed in a positive
direction (aside from his call to boycott Israel, of course). Instead the message
was essentially, “I hate Israel, I hate Canada, and there’s nothing you can do
about it.” The session wasn’t even “pro-Palestinian” so much as it was
anti-Israel. During the question and answer time, a few pointed questions
brought out the position clearly: Israel is a country that is built on oppression,
and as such it has no right to continue in existence.
Never
mind peace talks. Never mind “Two-State Solution.” Never mind caring about the
Israeli Jewish people and their right to a homeland. Israel is a cruel,
oppressive state with no right to exist, and what becomes of the Israelis is of
no concern to us.
Being
involved in these events was an eye-opening experience. It demonstrated how
much anti-Israel sentiments are increasing in popularity, especially among
university students. It is important to point out that being anti-Israel, at
its core, is essentially anti-Semitic. Granted, there are those who would
dispute that statement. Many anti-Israel activists contend that they are not
anti-Semitic. But my question is this: How can you vehemently oppose the very
existence of the only Jewish nation on earth and consistently vilify it,
even to the point of ignoring a plethora of gross social injustices taking
place in the rest of the world, and say that you have nothing against the
Jewish people? Anti-Israelism is the new,
“politically correct” form of Jew-hating, and this anti-Semitism has
reached a level unprecedented since World War II.1
The
Holocaust didn’t start with concentration camps. It didn’t start with gas
chambers or railway cars. It didn’t start with Nazi soldiers confining Jews
into ghettos. It started with simple, anti-Semitic propaganda and boycotts of
Jewish-owned businesses. It took a fearfully short amount of time for the
public opinion of the Jewish people to be swayed to the point of being able to
justify the Nazis’ agenda. Today we see the same things happening, only towards
Israel as a nation. Israeli boycotts are becoming more and more common, and
fewer and fewer nations are willing to support Israel. Another Holocaust is
being called for by Israel’s enemies who want to see her annihilated, and the
western world is choosing to side with them. Anti-Israelism
is the new anti-Semitism.
This
should be disturbing to us as believers in Messiah Yeshua. The issues
surrounding the State of Israel today are important and worthy of discussion.
But, to return to the title of this paper, what does all this have to do with
the Gospel? What does evangelism and one’s stance concerning Israel have to do
with each other? Why bring up “politics” in a newsletter on Messianic Torah
missions?
There
are those who would argue that one’s opinion of the modern State of Israel is a
political issue that has nothing to do with one’s faith in the God of the
Bible. Preaching the Gospel is far more important than preaching about Israel.
Being pro-Israel is a secondary issue to proclaiming the Good News, and our
efforts as believers are better spent in “real” evangelism. I have encountered
numerous, well-intentioned believers who adhere to such a viewpoint. But this
position, in my opinion, is flawed for three reasons: (1) The Gospel can only
be properly understood within the context of the Story of Israel; (2) As
tensions escalate in our world, it is becoming less and less possible to sit on
the fence regarding Israel’s right to the Land; (3) There is a war coming in
which the battle lines will be drawn over this very issue. We will examine each
of these in more detail.
The
Gospel in Context
In conventional evangelical circles today,
when people talk about “preaching the Gospel”, they are usually referring to
the message that Jesus died for your sins. The Gospel can be reduced to the
story of Yeshua’s death and resurrection, and the salvation that is offered to
us through that. This message, in reality, has no need for the Tanakh (Old
Testament); it may contain interesting background material for those who are
curious, but it is not really necessary. This definition of the Gospel has no
need for the history of Israel, the covenants God made with Abraham and his
descendants, or the stories of Biblical heroes like Joshua, David, and Daniel.
If you think about it, even the narratives of Yeshua’s life are mostly superfluous
(aside from His crucifixion and resurrection). We are used to thinking of the
Gospel as being somehow separate from the Biblical stories into which it is
imbedded, divorcing the message from its context. When we tear the Gospel out
of its context, we reduce it to a philosophical proposition; we neutralize and
universalize it to make it more palatable to the pluralistic society in which
we live.
Please
don’t misunderstand: the message of personal salvation is certainly a core element
of the Gospel. However, the Gospel is much more than just that. The Gospel is
part of a much bigger story. To quote Scot McKnight, “We can frame the ‘Gospel’
with other stories or categories, but there is only one holy and apostolic
story, and it is the Story of Israel. That is the apostolic framing story for the
Gospel.”2
We
will look at one passage of Scripture which is illustrative of this point. Luke
relates to us the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary announcing the birth of
Yeshua:
“And behold, you will conceive
in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Yeshua. He will be
great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give
to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of
Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31-33)
Notice that the thrust of Gabriel’s message
is the national restoration of Israel, with Yeshua reigning on the throne of
David as prophesied. The Gospels repeatedly convey the clear conviction of the
apostles that Yeshua is the promised King of Israel. His role is to regather and restore the nation of Israel, which is a task
that will ultimately be fulfilled at His future return to earth. This is what
the Kingdom is all about.
The Kingdom of Heaven therefore
cannot be separated from the chosen people of Israel and her inevitable future
blessing by the sovereign hand of God. Any message of the gospel that fails to
incorporate God’s clear intention to save Israel at the end of days is
therefore vastly deficient.3
To reiterate, the proclamation of Yeshua as
the King of Israel is central to the Gospel. It includes the promise of His
return to establish His Kingdom on this earth. Yeshua is not coming as the king
of England. He is not the king of the United Stated. He will not be ruling and
reigning from Washington D.C. Rather, He will be sitting on David’s throne in Jerusalem
as the King of an empire known as Israel, to which all nations across the globe
will be subject.
We
Must Choose Sides
Tensions are escalating. We see more and
more political leaders aligning themselves against Israel. Anti-Semitism is at
an unprecedented high. As propaganda spreads and emotions peak, it is becoming
increasingly impossible to sit on the fence. Israel is no longer a grey issue.
We as individuals are being forced to take sides. Even those who decide not to
choose are making a choice. As it was in Nazi Germany, so it is today:
passivity is complicity.
As
believers, we have to ask ourselves a fundamental question: Do we believe
the Bible? Do we believe that the covenant that God made with Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob still stands? Do we believe that God is faithful to His
word? God promised the Land to Abraham as an eternal covenant,4 which was passed on to Isaac and then to
Jacob.5 The Land was not promised to Ishmael; it was not promised to
Esau. It was promised only to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: the
people of Israel.
There
are people that argue that Israel today is different: Modern Israel is a
secular nation that is not walking in faithfulness to Adonai. That is true. But
God will always be true to His promises, despite our unfaithfulness. “Let God
be proven true, and every man a liar.” (Rom 3:4) God promises that in the end
of days He will turn the hearts of the Jewish people back to Himself, and He
will reveal His Son Yeshua to them. This end-time revival of Israel is
prophesied throughout the Scriptures.6 We
eagerly wait for that day.
But
in the meantime, it is essential that we as followers of Yeshua be those who
bless Israel and not curse her. Note that God did not say to Abraham: “I will
bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you only if you walk
faithfully in my ways.” The covenant God made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob is
an unconditional covenant. God will be faithful even when His people are
unfaithful. The axiom is true whether Israel is faithful or not: if you bless
Israel, you will be blessed; if you curse her you will be cursed. Take Babylon
as an example. Even though God sent Babylon to punish His people for their sin,
God eventually punished Babylon because of how they mistreated Israel. Today,
Babylon is a ruin. The same could be said of the empires of Rome, Greece, or
Egypt. Look at the track record: every kingdom that has come against Israel has
fallen. Those who curse Israel even in her disobedience will be cursed.
The
Coming Battle
The lines are being drawn in preparation
for a war. Scripture prophesies an end-time battle that will take place with
Israel as the focus. All the nations will be gathered to fight against
Jerusalem.7 In our day and age, such an
event is not hard to imagine. Politically speaking we are very close to that
happening. More and more the international popular opinion is turning against
Israel. More and more every nation around the world is condemning Israel and
speaking against Israel. More and more we see the nations’ hatred towards
Israel growing in exponential proportions. The day is coming very soon when
that hatred will reach its limit, and all the nations will be mustered to fight
against Israel.
As
believers, however, we have the advantage of being able to read the back of the
book. We know who wins in this story. According to the Bible, it won’t be
pretty for those nations that fight against Israel. Those nations will find
themselves fighting against God Himself. It will be a battle between the armies
of mankind and the armies of Messiah.
But
all this begs an important question: What good is it for someone to claim to
follow Yeshua if they continue to align themselves against Israel and end up
being part of that army that goes up to fight against her, and find themselves
fighting against Yeshua Himself? What good is it for us to lead someone to say
the sinner’s prayer if they end up fighting on the side of the Antichrist in
the battle of Armageddon? Are there anti-Israel Christians today who, in their
misguided hatred towards Israel, will end up aligning themselves against the
very God they claim to worship? I am not trying to make a soteriological
statement here, but it is important for us to realize the ramifications of our
so-called “political” stance towards the conflict in the Middle East. This is
not a gray issue anymore.
There
are people out there who claim to follow Yeshua, but who are anti-Israel. In
all honesty, I fear for them. When we encounter believers who are against the
State of Israel, our first question should be what their view of the Jewish
people is. Are the Jewish people merely another ethnic group out there on the
same level as the Turks, the Swedes, or the Sudanese? Or are they God’s chosen
people with a covenantal right to the land that God promised them? In other
words, do we actually believe the Bible? The answer to this question should
have a huge impact on one’s view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Conclusion
Obviously there is far more to evangelism
and missions than just this topic. But my argument is that this topic cannot be
left out of the equation. The centrality of Israel is an important part of
sharing the good news and discipleship that cannot be overlooked.
Some
may argue that a pro-Israel Gospel may pose as a stumbling block for certain
groups to accept Yeshua. Won’t that hinder our efforts in trying to reach the
Islamic world, for example? Is it possible for someone from a Muslim background
to accept the Gospel message if it requires supporting Israel? That is a valid
question. Obviously we need to be sensitive in the way we present the message.
But part of the transforming nature of the Gospel is the way it turns hatred
into love. There are stories of men and women from Muslim backgrounds who
had their lives transformed by Yeshua, and their attitude towards Israel was likewise transformed.
It
is impossible to separate one’s “political” views about the State of Israel
from one’s theology. This doesn’t mean we agree with every decision that the
secular Israeli government makes. But it means that categorically we stand with
the Jewish people and their right to that land. Our connection to Israel
comes via our connection to Messiah. As followers of the true King of
Israel, we must be those who stand with Israel.
We
have a responsibility to share with people the other side of the debate. Many
people have never heard the pro-Israel side, and we need to let them hear that
message. We may not be able to change the attitude of the entire world, but we
can make a difference in the individuals with whom we are connected.
_____________________________
ENDNOTES:
1.
See for example the following articles: "Antisemitism
on rise across Europe 'in worst times since the Nazis'"
(www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/07/antisemitism-rise-europe-worst-since-nazis);
"Abe Foxman: Anti-Semitism at its worst since
World War II"
(www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4488171,00.html);
"Defining anti-Semitism in order to fight it"
2.
Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel (Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 61.
3.
Tim Hegg, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew
(Tacoma, WA: TorahResource, 2007), 1:91.
4.
Genesis 12:7; 13:14-17; 15:18-21; 17:8; etc.
5.
Genesis 17:19-21; 26:2-5; 28:4, 13; 35:12; etc.
6.
E.g. Deuteronomy 30:1-10; Isaiah 44:1-5; Jeremiah 31:33-34; Ezekiel 36:24-28;
Joel 2:28-32; Zechariah 12:10; Romans 11:26-27
7. E.g. Ezekiel 38-39; Joel 3:1-2, 9-16; Zechariah 14:1-15; cf. Daniel 7:21-22, 25; Rev 16:16; 19:19