Why Christians can't look away from Israel

[Michie]

The story of Israel is not just the story of a modern nation in the Middle East. It is the story of a people chosen, scattered, and returned. It is the story of a promise that runs like a thread through the Bible, binding Christians and Jews to the same history and the same hope. For Christians, standing with Israel is not an optional gesture of goodwill. It is a response to Scripture, to conscience, and to covenant.

We live in a time when the Jewish people once again find themselves under assault. Antisemitism is rising in ways unseen since the 1930s. From college campuses to city streets, from the rhetoric of political leaders to the talking points of late-night television, Jews are being singled out, and Israel is being delegitimized. The claim is often that this is about politics, but in reality, it is about people. It is about the right of the Jewish people to live in safety and dignity, in their land and across the globe.

Christians cannot look away. We cannot claim to love the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and remain silent when the children of Abraham are maligned. To do so would be a betrayal not only of our Jewish brothers and sisters but of our own deepest beliefs.

Standing with Israel is not about agreeing with every political decision of its government. Israel is a democracy, and like all democracies, it wrestles with division, debate, and imperfection. But its core identity — as a Jewish state, as a home for a people who have endured exile and persecution, and as a force for life in a region scarred by death — is not negotiable. For Christians, affirming that identity is part of affirming our own.

The contribution of Israel to the world is a story that deserves far more attention than the headlines of war. Israeli doctors have pioneered cancer treatments that save lives across the globe. Israeli scientists have developed water technologies that feed the hungry and bring clean drinking water to the thirsty. Israeli innovators have led in cybersecurity, agriculture, and renewable energy. And Israeli culture — from food to music to film — speaks a universal language that connects peoples far beyond its borders.

Continued below.

Why Christians can't look away from Israel

Jews are being singled out, and Israel is being delegitimized

www.christianpost.com

 

[Clare73]

The story of Israel is not just the story of a modern nation in the Middle East. It is the story of a people chosen, scattered, and returned. It is the story of a promise that runs like a thread through the Bible, binding Christians and Jews to the same history and the same hope. For Christians, standing with Israel is not an optional gesture of goodwill. It is a response to Scripture, to conscience, and to covenant.

The NT presents unbelieiving Israel as cut off the tree of God's people, and returning only IF (not "when") they do not persist in unbelief, which they have for two millennia now (Ro 11:16-23).

God has no people who are not in Christ through faith in him and his atoning work.
Unbelieving Israel is not God's people, their destiny is the same as that of all unbelievers (Jn 3:18).
God's promises to Israel are being fulfilled in a believing remnant, just as God's promises to the Gentiles are being fulfilled in a believing remnant, both remnants being the one Church of God's people.

 

[jas3]

It's kind of surprising that the Christian Post allows non-Christians to submit opinion pieces telling Christians what they have to believe.

 

[Michie]

Rosenberg has written several op-ed pieces concerning the relationship between evangelicals as allies of the Jewish people. It does not seem odd to me.

 

[concretecamper]

We do not need to stand with Israel for the sake of it being Israel. IMO, Israel is a political construct, not a nation. The nation ceased close to 2,000 years ago.

Mat 27:25 And the whole people answering, said: His blood be upon us and upon our children.

 

[Michie]

We do not need to stand with Israel for the sake of it being Israel. IMO, Israel is a political construct, not a nation. The nation ceased close to 2,000 years ago.

Mat 27:25 And the whole people answering, said: His blood be upon us and upon our children.

Well that why it’s an op-ed piece. He believes it along with many evangelicals. Does not mean anyone else needs to believe it.

 

[Clare73]

We do not need to stand with Israel for the sake of it being Israel. IMO, Israel is a political construct, not a nation. The nation ceased close to 2,000 years ago.

Mat 27:25 And the whole people answering, said: His blood be upon us and upon our children.

What is the basis for Christian fellowship with those who deny Christ?

Political expediency is not fellowship.

 

[calicocat]

I'm trying to recover from a psychological breakdown of years of John Hagee telling me I had to support child sex traffickers to be Christian. I'm not entirely sure I'm sane and hope I'm saved. I survived horrible events by thinking God cared about children. Israel / Jesus Christ are so conflated in evangelicalism.

 

[ChubbyCherub]

We do not need to stand with Israel for the sake of it being Israel. IMO, Israel is a political construct, not a nation. The nation ceased close to 2,000 years ago.

Mat 27:25 And the whole people answering, said: His blood be upon us and upon our children.

My understanding is that the nation of Isreal is Jews and Gentiles who follow Christ.

Israel, the nation, is a political construct, as you have stated.

I have no allegiance to any nation, or any leader, apart from Jesus Christ. This is why I hate politics. It distracts from Jesus Christ.

 

[Brother Del]

I think it would be very helpful if we defined our terms before beginning these threads and entering into debate.

By Israel, is one speaking of the tiny nation in the middle east?
The blood descendants of Jacob?
The Israel of God?

By Jew, do we mean those who are from the tribe of Judah?
Those who practice the Jewish faith?
And which one, Talmudic, Orthodox?
Can someone be a Jew who is also an atheist, how so?
If someone is an ethnic Jew, are they Sephardic, Ethiopian, Khazharian?
Are Khazarians even ethnically Jews?
Were the ten northern tribes Jewish? In what way.
Are they really lost?
Are all Israel Jews.

 

[Clare73]

I think it would be very helpful if we defined our terms before beginning these threads and entering into debate.
By Israel, is one speaking of the tiny nation in the middle east?
The blood descendants of Jacob?
The Israel of God?
By Jew, do we mean those who are from the tribe of Judah?
Those who practice the Jewish faith?
And which one, Talmudic, Orthodox?
Can someone be a Jew who is also an atheist, how so?
If someone is an ethnic Jew, are they Sephardic, Ethiopian, Khazharian?
Are Khazarians even ethnically Jews?

Were the ten northern tribes Jewish? In what way.
Are they really lost?
Are all Israel Jews.

The ten northern tribes were not lost in the exile, for they are found in the rest of the Bible:

1) prophecies relating to the return from exile:
Jer 3:18, 31:27, 31 (where "Israel" is the northern kingdom of the ten tribes)
Eze 37:15-22 (where Ephraim is the northern kingdom of ten tribes, Isa 7:17);

2) return from exile (Exra 6:17);

3) NT (Ac 2:5, 26:7, Jas 1:1).

 

[jonojim1337]

Show me that modern day Jews are descendants of Abraham and we’ll take it from there.

 

[Delvianna]

The current nation of Israel as of the last report in May 2025, source:
42.7% Secular
33.5% Traditional Jew (Includes non-religious)
18% Muslim
12% Religious
11.4% Ultra-Orthodox
1.9% Christian
1.6% Druze
4.6% Other (Jehovah's Witnesses, Messianic Jew, etc)

So it's safe to say that the current nation of Israel is 95% not saved and that's being generous.

So do I have to support a country that is clearly not following God? No, I do not.

However, That is still God's land, His inheritance and one day all of Israel WILL be saved.

"And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.'"

— Romans 11:26 (NIV)

So when I root for Israel or back Israel in certain situations, it is the hope that they repent and turn to Christ. We can hope for the people, but rebuke their current behavior. Israel will never cease to exist regardless of people or nation (for forever, they may be dispersed but God will gather them back), so it's kind of like watching a sibling make really bad decisions and you're just hoping they'll come around in the end.

 

[Michie]

Abraham Was Not a Jew, neither Was Jacob… So Who is a Jew? – Unscrolling the Scriptures

unscrollingthescriptures.com

 

[jonojim1337]

However, That is still God's land, His inheritance and one day all of Israel WILL be saved.

While the southern to northern border is outlined as Nile to the Euphrates, can you tell me where the east to west border is?

 

[jonojim1337]

Abraham Was Not a Jew, neither Was Jacob… So Who is a Jew? – Unscrolling the Scriptures

unscrollingthescriptures.com

That’s interesting. So the Hebrews originally came from the north?

 

[Delvianna]

While the southern to northern border is outlined as Nile to the Euphrates, can you tell me where the east to west border is?

For the boarder's that Israel will eventually be again?

Numbers 34:6 (NIV): "Your western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea; this will be your boundary on the west."
Exodus 23:31 (NIV): "I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines..."
Genesis 15:18 (NIV): "On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, 'To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.'"
Numbers 34:10-12 (NIV): The eastern border is described as running from Hazar-enan south to Shepham, continuing along the slopes east of the Sea of Galilee (Chinnereth), and then running along the Jordan River to the Salt Sea (the Dead Sea).