Admittedly it's a bit of a read (a 33 page pamphlet) but it's a worthwhile use of time to make the effort to read in my opinion. It's more than a little insightful from my view. Thank you.
Biblically Supporting Israel at the End of the Age
Introduction
We live in the first generation in history where the issue of Israel has provoked a global controversy. While Israel is prominent in the Bible, during the time the Bible was written most of the earth had little or no knowledge of Israel much less any engagement with it.
However, in the last century, Israel has become a global issue for the first time in history. The city of Jerusalem is the most disputed city in the earth.
The declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by the United States and the subsequent move of the American embassy to Jerusalem have intensified the global conversation about Israel. The Bible predicts that the controversy over Jerusalem will increase, and this means Christians must have a robust, biblical view of Israel and what it means to support God’s purposes for Israel.
Some Christians dismiss the question of Jerusalem as a peripheral issue, but more and more Christians recognize God is not finished with His purposes for Israel and the
Jewish people. In the past, many Christians supported Israel primarily for political reasons, but more and more Christians are asking what it looks like to biblically support Israel?
As the controversy around Israel intensifies, we need clarity from the Scriptures on how to relate to Israel not simply politically but biblically. Because the Bibl predicts the controversy around Jerusalem will continue to intensify before the return of Jesus, we need clarity on what it means to support Israel biblically.
God is sovereign over history, and the 70th anniversary of the modern state of Israel is a profound event. The fact that this event was marked by Israel’s relationship to a modern superpower provokes the question: how do we understand modern Israel through a biblical lens?
The question is not whether we should support Israel. The Bible is clear we are to support God’s purposes for Israel. The question facing this generation is how to understand and support Israel from a biblical perspective? That question can be broken down into three specific questions:
1) What does it mean to support Israel biblically?
2) What does it mean to bless Israel?
3) What does it mean to be for the church to be an intercessor for Israel?
Israel’s story is ultimately about Israel’s God. God formed Israel to reveal Himself to Israel and the nations. In Israel’s story, we learn who God is and who man is.
Grasping Israel properly is not a peripheral issue. To the degree that we misinterpret Israel, we miss something of the knowledge of God. Therefore, our view of Israel cannot be driven by either arrogance or sentimentality. It must be based on the Scriptures and the God who wrote them.
Going Beyond Politics
The political situation surrounding the state of Israel is incredibly complex. Israel faces a number of challenges, and none of them have simple answers. While modern Israel is not always righteous, Israel’s sins are frequently exaggerated. Israel constantly faces prejudice in thnations that is very different from what any other nation faces.
One example of the prejudice against Israel is nations’ refusal to place their embassies in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the seat of Israeli government and the natural location for foreign embassies. To refuse to put an embassy in western Jerusalem is a prejudice against the Israeli government. Politically, the move of the American embassy was a positive recognition of Israel’s right to govern from the city of Jerusalem.
It was a bold move, but also a move that simply validated Israel’s legitimacy as a sovereign nation. The American proclamation was a reasonable proclamation that recognized the status quo of Israel’s sovereignty while acknowledging that there are still outstanding questions that must be solved.
At the same time, the United States has been pushing the UN to be more fair in its treatment of Israel. Given the long history of bias against Israel in the United Nations, this is also a political good. From a political perspective, the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is simply fair, though to some it is politically controversial. From a biblical perspective, it is also the right thing to do, because the antagonism of the nations against Israel is ultimately part of the nations’ conflict with Israel’s God.
God Deals with Israel on the Basis of Covenant
The move of the American embassy is positive from a political perspective, but God does not primarily deal with Israel on the basis of politics. He deals with Israel on the basis of covenant. Both supporters and detractors of Israel tend to examine Israel through the lens of politics, but we must relate to Israel on the basis of covenants, as revealed in the Scripture. The covenants drive Israel’s environment far more than Israel grasps. Furthermore, the nations are also being used by God to accomplish His sovereign purposes for Israel, though they are unaware of it. God is simultaneously working in Israel and in the nations according to the covenant He made with Israel.
To learn how God directs the nations according to the covenants, we must study the Scripture carefully. One section of Scripture in particular helps us grasp how God leads the nations for His purposes: the prophets.
Learning from Israel’s Prophets
When we try to grasp God’s activity in the nations, we sometimes say we need a "prophetic” perspective of the nations. By that we mean we need God to speak spontaneously to us to help us make sense of His work in the nations. Though God does at times speak specifically to the church, what we primarily need is not necessarily a "prophetic” perspective, but rather a biblical perspective. We need to view the nations through the whole counsel of Scripture.
When we think of the prophetic gift, we tend to think of the gift that the New Testament calls the "Word of Knowledge.” This is a precious gift where a speaker is
spontaneously given something they have not considered or could not have known about a person or a situation. This is incredibly valuable, but it is not the entirety of what it means to be prophetic.
When we look at the prophets in the Scripture, we find they did not give their oracles in a vacuum. When the prophets prophesied, they did not bring a new message. They spoke according to the covenants ”” the Scripture that had already been given.
When Jeremiah spoke his oracles against Judah he was not shocked by the core message. It was simply an application of Scripture. The prophets first and foremost were men soaked in the Scripture. This foundation is vital, because the most difficult part of prophecy is the interpretation. To interpret prophecy correctly, the interpretation must be according to Scripture.
We tend to assume that being prophetic is primarily about revelation beyond the Scripture, but the foundation of the prophetic is bringing a message that comes out of the Scripture. This is why Daniel did not attribute the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to Jeremiah or Ezekiel’s oracles, but rather to what had been written in the Scripture centuries before:
As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. (Daniel 9:13)
The prophets were given unique information by God, but the vast majority of what they wrote and what they were given was the application of Bible verses in their generation.
What God spoke to them instructs us on how to apply the Scripture in a specific generation. They instruct us in what it means to interpret history biblically.
We must soak ourselves in the prophets in order to learn how to apply the Scriptures in our generation. When the prophets spoke of judgment they spoke according to the covenants. When they spoke of deliverance, they spoke according to the covenants. They did not introduce radical new concepts that had not been previously revealed in Scripture. By studying the way they applied the Scripture, we learn how to properly apply Scripture in our generation.
Two Foundational Issues
There are two theological foundations we need to understand to properly perceive God’s relationship with Israel:
1) God’s mysterious but sovereign leadership of history.
2) God’s covenantal relationship with Israel.
Without a biblical perspective of both of these, it is difficult to perceive the way God is leading Israel and the nations.
God’s Sovereign Leadership of History
The first theological foundation we want to examine is God’s sovereign leadership of history. Though men take political actions some good and many evil God determines
the ultimate outcomes of these activities.
God’s agenda is the driving factor in the earth, not man’s. Throughout the Scripture, God declares His full sovereignty over the nations. Though men believe they are in control, God directs the nations for His redemptive purposes:
5 "It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. (Jeremiah 27:5 ESV)
21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;
(Daniel 2:21 ESV)
35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35 ESV)
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, (Acts 17:26-27 ESV)
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (Romans 13:1 ESV)
God’s leadership of history is profoundly mysterious to us, and yet He is completely sovereign. God both allows men to make their own choices and uses those choices even the evil ones to ultimately accomplish His purposes.
”‹His ways are higher than our ways because his leadership is impossible for humans to grasp:
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55 :9 ESV)
How he both allows human beings to make wrong decisions and yet accomplishes His own will is mysterious but profound. His creation ultimately serves His purposes, even when it is not in agreement with Him. The Bible does not explain how God does this, because it is impossible for human beings to fully grasp God’s leadership of history. The Bible simply tells us what is true.
It is an unfathomable mystery how billions of human beings can be mostly in disagreement with God and make choices according to their own desires, yet end up accomplishing God’s divine purposes. The fact that God’s enemies end up accomplishing His purposes is the ultimate statement of His ownership of creation. It cannot be grasped by the human mind, and therefore worship is the only proper response to God’s leadership of the nations.
Both God’s human and non-human enemies end up accomplishing His will even when they most resist it. The crucifixion perhaps more than any other event reveals how the rage of God’s enemies ends up accomplishing God’s purposes:
For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:27)
God’s Challenge to Habakkuk
God’s sovereignty over the nations is a dominant theme in the Bible, and He frequently confronted His people with it.
The book of Habakkuk provides one of the most concise conversations between God and one of His prophets on the issue of God’s leadership over the nations.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
Habakkuk lived at a time when Israel faced internal compromise and external threats. Judah was filled with injustice and sin within its society. At the same time, the
Babylonian empire was growing in military strength and Habakkuk was worried about the military threat Babylon might pose to Judah.
From Habakkuk’s perspective, things were getting worse and God wasn’t doing anything to help the situation. Finally, his frustration caused him to make his complaint to the Lord:
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!” and you will not save? (Habakkuk 1:2 ESV)
Habakkuk was gripped by the fear that God was not responding to his intercession. He was burdened by the sin of his people and scared of a foreign invasion. He had prayed, but God did not seem to be answering. You can hear the despair in his voice. Habakkuk could be described as a "frustrated intercessor .” He had prayed, but God was not doing anything. Habakkuk released his complaint and then waited for the Lord to respond. The conversation that followed is one of the most challenging interactions in Scripture between the Lord and one of the prophets. God’s answer to Habakkuk was strong. Each sentence was a shock to Habakkuk.
The Lord’s Response
The Lord confronted Habakkuk’s complaint and his despair by challenging Habakkuk’s understanding of God’s sovereignty and His work in the earth:
5 "Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. (Habakkuk 1:5-6 ESV)
God began by addressing Habakkuk’s concern that He was not listening nor active. God instructed Habakkuk to look and see. Part of Habakkuk’s problem was that he could not perceive God’s work in the earth. Habakkuk needed to look at the nations with fresh eyes to perceive what God was doing.
God told Habakkuk to "wonder” and "be astounded” because His work in the nations was profoundly different from what Habakkuk expected it to be. Habakkuk could not perceive God’s activity because he had a preconceived notion of what it should look like. This preconceived notion had produced Habakkuk’s despair.
God’s next statement was a direct challenge to Habakkuk’s ability to understand God’s work in the earth:
For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. Habakkuk’s complaint was that he had prayed, but God was inactive and not doing anything. God’s response was strong and swift. God was at work just not in the way that Habakkuk expected. Habakkuk’s complaint was rooted in the failure of God to respond to his intercession, and this is why God’s response to Habakkuk is so profound.
Though Habakkuk did not perceive it, his intercession had set God into motion. God was not inactive - he was doing a work moved in part by Habakkuk’s intercession. This is the dignity of intercession even when our intercession is not precise, it still plays a part in God’s activity.
God’s message to Habakkuk was so shocking, Habakkuk would only receive it because he was under the weight of the divine encounter. If the message had come through another messenger, Habakkuk would have refused it.
God’s Leadership over the Nations
All of this prepared Habakkuk for the next statement the most shocking one yet. God was behind the military threat Habakkuk was most concerned about. God was the one raising up Babylon and pressuring Judah. The pressure Judah was facing was ultimately due to the Lord’s leadership of the nations, not due to the Lord’s absence and inactivity:
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. (Habakkuk 1:6 -7 ESV)
God pressed Habakkuk with the full weight of the statement by describing Babylon’s wickedness. God’s statement to Habakkuk was not a sentimental one. God did not overlook Babylon’s true condition, but He was sovereign over Babylon. Even though Babylon was God’s overt enemy, Babylon still served God’s purposes.
The point to Habakkuk was simple. God was leading the nations including the ones Habakkuk considered to be wicked. God’s message to Habakkuk was intended to shatter all his preconceived notions. The world was not out of control. God was fully sovereign. Though Babylon was wicked and would ultimately face God’s judgment for its wickedness it was serving God’s purposes. Habakkuk was right to be grieved by Israel’s internal sin and by what Israel would suffer at the hands of Babylon, but he was not to despair.
The nations, even the wicked ones, ultimately serve God’s purposes.
Habakkuk’s Crisis
God’s message was so shocking to Habakkuk he answered the Lord with a rebuke:
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
1 I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. (Habakkuk 1:13; 2:1 ESV)
Habakkuk was so disoriented by God’s message, he rebuked the Lord. This reveals how disorienting God’s message was to Habakkuk. Habakkuk simply could not imagine that the pure and perfect God could use a wicked nation like Babylon to advance His purposes.
God’s response to Habakkuk’s rebuke was swift and strong:
2 And the Lord answered me: "Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.
3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”
(Habakkuk 2:2 -3 ESV)
God instructed Habakkuk to record this message in a clear and straightforward way so that messengers could read it, understand it, and run with it. God wanted His conversation with Habakkuk spread among the nations to instruct them so they could grasp God’s leadership of history.
Habakkuk’s crisis was not just a personal crisis.Habakkuk’s crisis and the looming conflict between Babylon and Judah were meant to illustrate something greater ”” the surprising way God leads history. He often acts in ways that are not natural to human thinking to accomplish His own purposes. God did not ignore Habakkuk’s assertion that Babylon was a wicked people. He agreed with Habakkuk about Babylon’s condition, and this forced Habakkuk into an uncomfortable realization:
Babylon was wicked and a tool in the hand of the Lord. From Habakkuk’s perspective, the idea that God would use Babylon for His purposes was inconceivable. He had assumed Babylon could only threaten Israel if God was silent and refused to act. He complained that the "the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he” because of God’s silence.
God confronted Habakkuk’s grasp of God’s leadership of history. Every time Habakkuk raised an objection, God reasserted His leadership of history. Habakkuk desperately tried to understand God’s movements according to his own expectations to comfort his soul, but his comfort would come from a different place.
God’s Solution
God gave Habakkuk a simple instruction for how to settle his soul:
4 ...but the righteous shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4 ESV)
The only way Habakkuk could climb out of his despair was through confidence in God’s nature and His leadership. If Habakkuk continued to assess the situation on the basis of his own understanding, God’s activity would overwhelm and offend him, and he would ultimately succumb to despair. God’s instruction to Habakkuk in Habakkuk 2:4 was a warning that Habakkuk was facing a crisis of faith, something his opening complaint revealed:
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!” and you will not save? (Habakkuk 1:2 ESV)
If Habakkuk continued to relate to God primarily on the basis of his understanding and his perception of what God should or shouldn’t do, he was going to fall prey to offense and bitterness. He had to find comfort in God’s character. God was not absent, and He was not silent. He had not abandoned His promises.
God is sovereign over all nations, both the one Habakkuk thought was righteous and the ones Habakkuk thought were wicked. God agreed with Habakkuk that Babylon was a wicked people. Furthermore, God reminded Habakkuk that He would judge Babylon in the future. God did not ask Habakkuk to overlook wickedness either in Babylon or in Israel, but to recognize that God uses the nations for His purposes just as Paul told the leaders of Athens:
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, (Acts 17:26 ”“ 27)
God’s sovereign leadership over the nations is mysterious. It challenges human understanding and is at times offensive to the human heart. The only way to not be offended is to live by faith, which is confidence in God’s nature and His commitment to His promises.
Though God’s leadership of the nations and our own lives is perplexing, we can be confident in His goodness.
The Ultimate Statement of God’s Goodness
Habakkuk was perplexed and shocked by God’s leadership of the nations. God was actively using wicked nations to accomplish His purposes. Habakkuk could not grasp God’s methodology, but he found his answer in the character of God. Habakkuk’s message is a message to us. We cannot always grasp God’s leadership of the nations, but we can be confident in His character.
We take comfort in God’s character by looking to the cross. The cross is the ultimate statement of God’s nature and His goodness:
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 ESV)
”‹8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV)
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:10 ESV)
Any God who would endure such suffering and permanent disfigurement for the sake of redeeming His enemies can be completely trusted in all that He does.
Habakkuk’ s book does not end with the resolution of the Babylonian threat against Israel. It ends with Habakkuk’s confidence in God’s leadership of history. Habakkuk closed his book with a song of praise expressing confidence that God will fulfill His promises and bring about His salvation.
When we are tempted to think He is absent and our prayers have gone unanswered, Habakkuk’s message confronts us with a different reality: God is active. He is involved. He answers intercession even when His answers are different from our expectations. He is leading the nations all the nations and He will fulfill His promises.
God’s Covenantal Relationship with Israel
The second theological foundation we must have is a proper grasp of God’s covenantal relationship with Israel. When God delivered Israel from Egypt He entered into covenant with Israel. He compared this covenant to a marriage covenant:
2 "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. (Jeremiah 2:2 ESV)
”‹8 "When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. (Ezekiel 16:8 ESV)
19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord. (Hosea 2:19-20 ESV)
When God entered into covenant, He warned Israel His love for them was so deep, He would respond passionately any time Israel abandoned Him:
"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth..."But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
(Deuteronomy 28:1, 15)
15 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.
16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,
18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. (Deuteronomy 30:15-18 ESV)
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminded the Israelites of the detail of the covenant, both the blessings of the covenant and the severe consequences of breaking
covenant with their God. Before he died, Moses taught Israel to sing a song summarizing the covenant (Song of Moses).
The Jealous God
God encapsulated His desire for Israel by declaring His name was jealous:
14 You shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.(Exodus 34:14 ESV)
15 The Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 6:15 ESV)
In the Old Testament, names were very significant. A person’s name revealed their character. A name often served as a prediction of what a person would do or who they
would become. For example, the meaning of Jacob’s name can be expressed as supplanter, deceiver, or trickster, and this is precisely what he did in an attempt to secure his blessing.
When God declared to Israel He was a jealous God, He described His nature and predicted what He would do in the future. God’s jealousy towards Israel is a statement of His ownership of Israel, just as Ezekiel said:
I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. (Ezekiel 16:8 ESV)
Israel belongs to God just as a wife belongs to a husband and this is why God is jealous over Israel. We tend to confuse the emotions of envy and jealousy, but they are very different. Envy is the desire for something that does not belong to us. Jealousy is the desire for something that does belong to us but is at risk of being taken away.
Using the marriage analogy, envy would be the desire for another man’s wife, but jealousy would be a man’s desire for his own wife when he perceives someone else is trying to lure his wife away from him. Envy is obviously wrong, but jealousy is natural and normal. In fact, if someone is trying to seduce a man’s wife or his wife is unfaithful and he is not jealous, then something is profoundly wrong.
It is impossible to fully grasp God’s relationship to Israel without understanding God relates to Israel as a jealous husband. When we neglect the subject of God’s jealousy as He relates to Israel it becomes difficult to properly discern God’s relationship with Israel.
God formed Israel for Himself and then entered into covenant with her. He does not want to be worshiped as some sort of distant deity. He does not want to be appeased
in exchange for some sort of benefit or blessing. He wants deep relationship with Israel.
Furthermore, He wants an exclusive relationship with Israel. He will not share her. Jealousy is the result of desire, and God’s jealousy over Israel is a statement of His desire for her.
A husband does not usually mind when his wife relates to another man, but if another man offers to provide something that the husband should provide, it produces jealousy in the husband’s heart. A jealous husband usually begins with small steps, but if the situation does not improve, he takes increasingly desperate actions to secure the
affections of his wife.
Jealousy does not appear to be rational or reasonable. It goes beyond what is normal to obtain the object of its desire. It destroys everything in the pursuit of what it
desires:
6 Love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. (Song of Solomon 8:6 ESV)
The Wayward Wife
Throughout Israel’s history, God has described Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness as adultery and His response to her unfaithfulness as the response of a jealous husband.
God was particularly graphic in His description of His relationship to Israel in Ezekiel 16:
8 "When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.
9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil.
10 I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk...
13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.
14 And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.
15 "But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his...
26 You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger..
28 You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied.
29 You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied. (Ezekiel 16:8,10,13,15,26,28-29 ESV)
32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!...
43 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations? (Ezekiel 16:32,43 ESV)
In Ezekiel 23, God again described Israel’s sin in terms of unfaithfulness:
12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men...
14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men portrayed on the wall...
16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
17 And the Babylonians came to her...and they defiled her...
18 When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her. (Ezekiel 23:12, 14,16-18 ESV)
In Hosea’s book, God described Himself as a jealous husband in pursuit of a wayward wife:
6 Therefore I will hedge up her [Israel] way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal...
14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 "And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. (Hosea 2:6 8, 14,17 ESV)
The covenant God made with Israel is the only time God has ever spoken audibly to an entire nation and entered into covenant with them. God set His affection on Israel in a
unique way among the nations and therefore He relates to Israel as a jealous husband.
If we do not see God through the Scripture as a "jealous husband” in His relationship with Israel we will not properly discern God’s dealings with Israel.
God used graphic language in the prophets to communicate the intensity of His emotions towards Israel. Whenever Israel is unfaithful, God describes Israel the way a
jealous husband describes a wayward wife, and God enters into a focused pursuit of Israel just as a jealous husband pursues a wayward wife.
Politics and Covenant
The prophets describe Israel’s unfaithfulness in terms of her political and economic alliances, but those alliances only become adultery in a specific situation. The problem is not political alliances in and of themselves. The problem is when Israel uses political alliances to secure both the blessings and the protection God has promised her. Any time Israel is apostate and tries to secure her own destiny and obtain the blessings God promised to her through political alliances rather than repentance, God calls it adultery.
It is adultery because God, in a covenantal sense, is a "husband” to Israel, and therefore Israel is to turn to God f or her protection and provision. When she turns to the nations for this, she is looking to other "husbands” to provide what her "husband”
promised her.
Israel is an object lesson to the nations that man cannot secure his own destiny apart from God, and therefore, Israel can never secure her destiny apart from God. When
Israel is not right with God and seeks to secure her destiny through political alliances, it is a serious thing that provokes the jealousy of God.
When Israel begins to look to the nations to secure her future, God will respond by using the nations to bring pressure against her in order to provoke Israel to repentance. Even though the nations that bring pressure against Israel are themselves unrighteous nations, God still uses them to speak to Israel.
”‹This usually creates a situation where God supernaturally preserves Israel to display His kindness while simultaneously putting the nation under pressure in order to bring her to repentance. This has happened throughout Israel’s history and continues to happen to this day.
When Israel responds to pressure in the nations primarily through political alliances rather than through repentance, it is a rejection of God’s discipline. Israel can and
should have political relationships in the nations, but when Israel is unrighteous and tries to secure her destiny and future through political alliances, it is a serious issue.
God is the one who will preserve and bless Israel, and He will not allow anyone else to take His place. The same God that gave us the passionate words of Ezekiel 16 and 23 still relates to Israel as a jealous husband and therefore the primary factor determining Israel’s future is her relationship with her God.
Israel and the Nations
When Israel turns to the nations rather than God for security, prosperity, and deliverance, God describes those nations as "boyfriends” because they enter into
relationship with Israel promising to provide what God has promised as part of His covenant with Israel. Because of His covenantal love for Israel, this provokes God to a
deep jealousy.
In the time of the prophets, Israel was worried about a military threat in the east named Babylon. Rather than turning to God, Israel sought political alliances in order to survive the Babylonian threat. God’s message through Habakkuk and the other prophets was simple: Babylon was a wicked nation, but God was using Babylon to put pressure on Israel to cause Israel to come back to Him.
Tragically, the pressure of Babylon did not provoke Israel to repent. Israel continued in unrighteousness, confident in her blessings, her strength, her covenant, and her
ability to deliver herself from Babylon. God responded to Israel’s confidence by warning Israel of the need for repentance and allowing the pressure to intensify.
”‹Out of His tender love and kindness, God preserved Israel for a generation. However, Israel responded to God’s supernatural protection with presumption. God’s kindness produced an arrogance and a refusal to address the issues in the nation. As a result, Israel did not repent, and ultimately Babylon prevailed over Jerusalem.
God’s message to Israel was clear: He loved Israel dearly, but He was a jealous husband. He had formed Israel for Himself. He alone would bring her into her calling. He alone would make Israel a praise in the earth. Ancient Israel sought her destiny, security, and prosperity through her "boyfriends.” God responded by gently provoking
Israel to return to Him.
When Israel did not respond to His initial discipline, He brought Israel into judgment like a jealous husband. He broke Israel’s relationship with her "boyfriends” through His judgments on Israel and then destroyed those nations.
Ancient Prophets and Modern Boyfriends
The God of Israel has not changed. He is the same God in the 21st century that He was in the 6th century BC. He is still a jealous husband fully committed to making Israel a righteous nation and a praise in all the earth. He wants the nations to respect His covenant with Israel and encourage His purposes for her, but He will also use the
nations to provoke Israel to return to Him.
God still has strong emotions when the nations offer to become Israel’s deliverers and the means of securing her future. He still cares about Israel’s "boyfriends” when she is not walking in right relationship with Him.
We live in a unique moment in Israel’s history. Israel’s future is now for the first time in history a global issue, not a regional one. In the time of the Bible, the controversy around Israel was regional, but the prophets prophesied a day when Israel would ”‹become a global issue. We are now living in that day. This forces us to ask some very serious questions in light of the Scriptures.
The 70th anniversary of the modern State of Israel is one of the most momentous events in history. Because Israel has been regathered for 70 years now, for most people it is normal that Israel exists and we have lost sight of the miraculous nature of the regathering of Israel. There’s nothing like it in history. God sovereignly preserved Israel as a people, and then suddenly replanted them in their land, where they have prospered in spite of incredible opposition and against immense odds for 70 years.
Israel’s 70th anniversary presented an incredible opportunity to reflect on the modern miracle of Israel and what it says about Israel and the faithfulness of God. The modern State of Israel is a statement about the God of Israel because the modern state does not make any sense apart from Israel’s God.
The immense significance of Israel’s 70th anniversary requires we ask a question:
What does it mean that on exact day of Israel’s 70th anniversary (according to the western calendar) the story in the nations was not about the God of Israel and His
faithfulness?
Rather, the day was dominated by the story of the biggest superpower in world history moving its embassy and its strength to Jerusalem on Israel’s behalf. What does it mean that on the 70th anniversary of Israel’s rebirth, the city of Jerusalem was filled with signs saying, "Trump make Israel great?”
All of this cannot be an accident. God claims complete sovereignty over the nations. He is involved in political details and particularly in the case of Israel. God is speaking to the nations and we must ask the right questions from Scripture to perceive what He is saying.
While the news in the nations on Israel’s anniversary was primarily about the United States, the story is much bigger. Israel is entering into formal cooperation with Saudi Arabia and developing an intimate relationship with China, who will supersede the United States as the next great superpower.
”‹The question of Israel and the nations is much larger than the issue of the American embassy, but the Lord is revealing something. He is shouting to the nations about
Israel’s real crisis, and we must perceive it because the crisis is just beginning.
The Bible predicts the issue of Israel will become a global controversy far beyond anything we can anticipate. Therefore, we must learn to relate to Israel biblically now so that we can serve God’s purposes for Israel’s salvation in the days ahead.
This is the first time in history that a global superpower has come to deliver Israel. America is offering to deliver Israel from her threats and secure her prosperity. However, this is what God promises to do for Israel when she returns to Him. Though God is using the actions of the United States as an expression of His kindness to Israel, His jealousy over Israel remains.
Ezekiel’s prophecies carry an eerie similarity to the time we are living in. In Ezekiel 16, God describes Israel as one rejected by the nations in a desperate condition.
Because of His love for Israel, God comes to her in that condition and provides all that she needs until she becomes beautiful and prosperous. The Lord enjoyed blessing
Israel, but it all went horribly wrong because Israel ended up using her prosperity to turn to the nations and enter into covenant with them while being unfaithful to her covenant with the Lord. The Lord considered this adultery, and Ezekiel prophesied God would bring his judgments to cause Israel to return to Him.
Ezekiel 16 has a number of parallels to our modern time. After the horror of the Holocaust, Israel appeared to be rejected and cast out by the nations a people with little hope and few friends. In this condition, God again regathered them and within a generation enabled them to become a powerful and prosperous nation.
However, the same tragedy that unfolded for ancient Israel is unfolding for modern Israel. Though there is a strong remnant within the nation who is faithful to God, the nation has not turned to God. Instead, it is turning to the nations and using its strength to secure its future.
In Ezekiel’s time, the threat of Babylon in the east caused Israel to form political alliances in order to avoid becoming vulnerable t o Babylon’s aggression. Israel did not grasp that the threat of Babylon was designed by the Lord to cause the nation to return to our God. In our time, Israel is again threatened by a military power to the east.
Based on the Scripture, we must ask if the Lord has designed this threat to cause Israel to return to Him. However, at this point Israel is following the same course she followed in Ezekiel’s time. Rather than turning to God as a nation, she is forming and building political alliances.
Just as He did in the past, the Lord will judge the hostility of the nations towards Israel, but is it possible He is using that hostility to cause Israel to turn to Him as their deliverer? If God is putting pressure on Israel again as a jealous husband to cause Israel to turn to Him, what does it mean when nations come and promise to deliver Israel from that trouble?
The nations should not antagonize Israel but neither should the nations take on the role God has declared for Himself.
Israel is now pursuing the biggest "boyfriends” in her history. For those who live in the nations that are offering to deliver Israel, we must ask what it means to be a biblical people while our nations provoke God’s jealousy?
How should we as the church provoke Israel to turn to her God for her security and her future? Do we believe God
still moves the nations for His purposes? Do we still see Him as the jealous husband of Israel?
Is it possible the nations are entering into God’s jealous pursuit of Israel without understanding the extent of His jealousy over Israel? A robust study of the Scripture
requires us to consider this soberly and seriously. These are critical questions that we must ask from the Scripture if we want to correctly perceive and fully engage in God’s activity in our generation.
”‹God uses the wickedness of the nations for His purposes. He does not excuse their wickedness, so it is not a question of whether we are to be silent about the wicked
actions of the nations. Habakkuk was never asked to overlook Babylon’s sin or to be silent about it. On the contrary, Habakkuk was given a prediction God would judge
Babylon for its wickedness.
Habakkuk was not required to overlook Babylon’s sin, but he was required to recognize God’s absolute sovereignty over the nations. In the same way, we are not to be silent about the sins of the nations. We are not called to agree with wickedness in the nations, even when God uses it for His purposes.
We must be both bold in speaking about the sins of the nations while also biblically considering how God is using the nations in our generation.
In our time, what may seem to be only a political decision could be much more than that. It could be the nations entering into God ’s jealous pursuit of Israel. If this is the case, then things are not as simple as they seem.
God could simultaneously be showing mercy to Israel and exposing Israel’s true condition. Though the nations may not grasp God’s covenants nor His purposes, God has always held the nations accountable for understanding His Word.
Whether we heed His word or not, His actions in the nations have been recorded for us to instruct us in His ways:
4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might
have hope. (Romans 15:4 ESV)
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. (1 Corinthians
10:11 ESV)
We do not want our nations to antagonize Israel nor join the global chorus of unfair criticism and prejudice that is so often directed against Israel. At the same time, we have to soberly grasp how God uses the nations for His purposes with Israel. We must interpret modern events according to the covenants and through the lens of the jealous
God.
Israel’s Ongoing Election
When we say God is the jealous husband of Israel, it means He is still committed to Israel. We must not confuse Israel’s shortcomings and failures with Israel’s rejection.
Paul addressed this issue in his letter to the Romans. The church in Rome was predominantly gentile, and because of Israel’s disobedience had adopted what the apostle Paul called both "arrogance” and "ignorance” relating to Israel’s calling:
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means!...
12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!...
18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you...26 All Israel will be saved... (Romans 11:11-12, 18, 26 ESV)
Paul warned the Gentiles that they must recognize God’s redemptive purpose with Israel. Israel’s failures are ultimately human failures. Israel is not unique in her
disobedience. Furthermore, Israel was called in the basis of God’s desire and not her ”‹performance.
Therefore, Israel remains called by God based on His desire not her present condition:
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29 ESV)
God’s glory is at stake in Israel’s story, and therefore God continues to relate to Israel as a jealous husband, even in her failure. A jealous husband wants his wife to return and he will not stop until she belongs to him again. Husbands who do not care about their partner are not jealous.
Though Israel’s sin angers God and though He uses the nations to discipline Israel, His ultimate goal is to bring Israel back to Himself. God remains committed to Israel
because He desires her.
When the prophets spoke of God’s judgment on Israel, they also spoke of God’s commitment to Israel:
44 I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God.
45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 26:44-45 ESV)
37 Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:37 ESV)
25 Thus says the LORD: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth,
26 then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.” (Jeremiah 33:25-26 ESV)
Even when Israel is unfaithful to God, He remains faithful to Israel. He remains committed. Even when Israel turns to the nations rather than to her God, He does not cast her off.
When God allows enemies of Israel to put pressure on Israel, that pressure is designed for Israel’s ultimate salvation. Though we must recognize Israel’s shortcomings and instruct her to return to her God, we must also avoid a spirit of arrogance that assumes God is finished with Israel due to her present or past condition.
Israel’s crisis comes from her humanity, not from any unusual disposition towards sin. Israel’s crisis is humanity’s crisis. It is our crisis.
We are to be "friends of the bridegroom” who are bold witnesses to Israel for the sake of her future and her restoration, not simply accusers who speak only of apostasy
and destruction.
Three Critical Questions
As the crisis over Israel intensifies, we must have biblical answers for the three key questions we began with:
1) What does it mean to support Israel biblically?
2) What does it mean to bless Israel?
3) What does it mean to be for the church to be an intercessor for Israel?
What Does It Mean to Biblically Support Israel?
Biblically supporting Israel requires we support Israel in a way that is in full agreement with the entire counsel of Scripture.
Biblically supporting Israel requires we understand and support God’s purposes for Israel.
Standing against prejudice against Israel is one important component of biblically supporting Israel. Israel is often treated with a double standard, and the ugly sin of anti-Semitism continues emerge in the nations.
Christians must be a bold witness against any and all prejudice against Israel. Historically, the church has not done a good job of that and we must change that.
We must heed Paul’s warning and not become arrogant towards Israel’s past, present, or future. When Israel faces prejudice, Christians need to be bold voices willing to stand when necessary, even at the cost of suffering. Paul’s warning is especially jarring in light of the events of World War II.
Our support for Israel must take into account the jealousy of God over Israel. We are called to be "friends of the bridegroom” who call Israel to return to her God.
It is impossible to support Israel biblically without recognizing God’s jealousy over Israel. He revealed His name to Israel as "jealous” and that summarizes how He relates to Israel.
Supporting God’s purposes for Israel is difficult and costly and will become more so in the future.
What Does It Mean to Bless Israel?
We have a responsibility to "bless Israel” but what does it mean to bless Israel?
Israel has blessed the nations by revealing the knowledge of God and giving them Messiah. We bless Israel the same way. Therefore, it is irresponsible to affirm Israel’s covenant but not deliver the gospel to her and not speak to her about God’s controversy with her.
This does not mean every conversation has to be evangelistic or that we only stand with the Jewish people if they "convert.” However, it does mean that the gospel must have a prominent place in how we support Israel.
What Does It Mean to Be an Intercessor for Israel?
Paul’s heart desire and prayer to God was that Israel would be saved:
1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. (Romans 10:1 ESV)
Paul was an intercessor for Israel. An intercessor is ultimately someone who aims to creating a meeting between two parties. A lawyer, for example, is a legal intercessor
who stands before the judge to secure a good outcome for another party. The church is called to be an intercessor for Israel, which means we our primary goal related to Israel is to create a meeting between Israel and her God. Therefore, when we consider Israel’s condition we must ask the question, how do we relate to Israel in such a way to create a meeting between her and her God?
Conclusion
The Bible predicts that Jerusalem will become the most controversial city in the earth. Recent events, including the move of the American embassy to Jerusalem, have created a global conversation about Israel and the city of Jerusalem. This conversation is going to grow in intensity in the days ahead. The storm presently around Jerusalem is a small storm compared to what the prophets predict is coming. We must turn to the Scriptures for understanding of how to relate to Israel and the nations in the days ahead.
God’s sovereignty over the nations can be perplexing, because events in the nations frequently serve multiple purposes in His agenda. Isaiah 45 describes this conundrum:
7 I form light and create darkness; I make well being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things...
9 Does the clay say to him who forms it, "What are you making?” or "Your work has no handles”?...
11 Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?
12 I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. (Isaiah 45:7, 9, 11-12 ESV)
”‹International political events can accomplish both good and evil, but they ultimately play a part in God’s pursuit of Israel. The mere fact that the 70th anniversary of Israel’s independence a profound demonstration of God’s sovereignty and faithfulness was overshadowed by a superpower’s decision to move their embassy is not accidental.
If we believe God governs the nations, He must have something to say. Like the prophets, we must turn to the Scriptures to grasp God’s dealings with Israel and the nations.
(Written recently by Samuel Whitfield)
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