By J. Barneveld
Christian Zionists are Christians who, just like the apostles, ask Jesus the Messiah: ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ (Acts 1:6). Together with the Jewish people, and full of hope and deep expectation, they are looking forward to the deliverance and the Redeemer of Israel.
It was Paul who taught them that God had not finished with Israel; as the Redeemer did not only come from Zion, but because it is also written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob’. They are Zionists, because it is written in Psalm 2:6: ‘I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill’. Jesus openly declared to the world (Pilate) that He is the ‘King of the Jews’. He died as the ‘King of the Jews’ and He will return as Redeemer and King of Israel. With Christ and the First Church, they are expecting ‘times of refreshing’ (Acts 3:19) for the Jewish people upon the return of the Messiah.
As predicted by the prophet Zechariah: ‘This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain” (8:3). Christian Zionism therefore has old, Biblical roots. It is the prophetic expectation of the restoration of Israel and the coming of the Messiah and his Kingdom of Peace that drives Christian Zionists in their daily lives, prayer and work. They wholeheartedly cooperate with this ‘restoration of Israel’, preceding the end times and the return of the Messiah. That is what Christian Zionists pray for and they watch with joy as they see the Lord busy ‘rebuilding David’s hut that had fallen into decay’. Although Christian Zionism has always been a small side branch of the Reformation, it did exert a major and important spiritual influence.
Fifteen centuries of wandering
The ‘conversion of the gentiles’ was high on the priorities of Paul and Barnabas. This was also in line with the prophetic Word and thus God’s plan. It did not take long for the believers-from-the-nations to become the majority within the young churches.
Following two great disasters for the Jewish people (the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans led by general Titus in the year 70 and the final exile in the year 135 when Jerusalem was once again destroyed following the Bar Kochba revolt) the relationship between Church and synagogue was basically completely broken. Promises meant for Israel were usurped by the Church and the replacement theology was horribly practiced. The Church started to discriminate, repress and persecute the Jewish people. The ‘hell of the Middle Ages’ and the gruesome massacres during the Crusades were the result.
Abraham’s offspring was horribly cursed in word and deed by an unfaithful Christianity. We now know that this curse has returned to haunt the Church and that this is one of the main reasons for the decay of the Church in the West. Did the Reformation not return the Church to the Biblical Jewish roots of the First Church? The different reformists, like Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli had at least one thing in common: they really wanted to return to the Bible. Would they also return to what the Bible teaches about the place of Israel in God’s salvation plan for the world and about the future of Israel?
The Reformation
Many biblical truths and principles were rediscovered during the Reformation. But as far as Israel is concerned, Luther and Calvin never got much further than the Roman Catholic Church. Judaism was a finished cause for Calvin. According to Calvin, the church is the ‘new Israel’ that replaced the ‘natural Israel’. Because the Jews rejected the Messiah, they forfeited their place in God’s plan. This was Calvin’s line of thinking and this is also how many evangelical churches perceive it today.
Isaiah’s promises concerning the restoration and the future glory of Israel were transferred to the Church and the expansion of the Reformation. Today we see a similar phenomenon in many charismatic and evangelical believers, who wholeheartedly sing: ‘We will fill the world with God’s praise’, with the emphasis on ‘we’! There usually is absolutely no understanding of the role and place of Israel. Luther’s initial sympathy for the Jews was short-lived and soon turned to anger, which he made public in his book ‘About the Jews and their lies’. Both Calvin and Luther should have known better. Martin Bucer (1491 – 1551), the reformer of Strasbourg, was Calvin’s mentor. On the basis of Romans 11:11-32 he saw a future for Israel. He taught that once the Church would be ‘reformed’, the Jews would convert en masse and become members of the Church, followed by the second coming of Christ. This was the first time in 15 centuries that there was a positive sound about the Jewish people. By the way, Beza, Calvin’s successor in Geneva, preached the same message as Martin Bucer.
It is interesting to see that Richard Lovelace, the modern evangelical church historian, does not get much beyond Martin Bucer’s teachings almost five centuries before him. He expects that the ‘restoration of the Jewish people’ will come through a major awakening of the faithful-from-the-nations in the churches, that will cause a massive influx of the Jews into the Church. Shem, who comes to live in Japheth’s tent, instead of what Noah prophesied: ‘May God extend the territory of Japheth, may Japheth live in the tents of Shem’ (Gen 9:27). Martin Bucer’s voice was hardly heard when it came to the Jewish people. The Reformation brought the Jews little relief. For centuries they were despised, robbed and murdered. Unfortunately, hardly a word of comfort, let alone repentance was heard from the churches in the Reformation. The opening of the Bible however did cause some light to shine over Israel. The seed of Christian Zionism was once again sown in the hearts of the believers. It is after all quite a jump for a ‘normal’ reader of the Bible to always read ‘Church’ when it really says ‘Israel’ or ‘Jerusalem’. And an honest and open heart cannot accept that whilst all the blessings are usurped by the Church, the curses still remain with the Jews. The church has paid a high price for this theft of the heritage of Israel. For the Lord hates unrighteous robbery!
Read the study Christian zionism
Tags: Christian Zionism, Jerusalem, Promise, Prophecy, Zion
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