Yep, I hereby dissent. We should stay out of the war in the Middle East. (In general, we should stay out of anybody else’s wars including Ukraine. In fairness, I am trying to be consistent.)
For the purposes of this blog post, my complaint is not so much against Israel or its government but against fellow Christians here in the United States. The country calling itself Israel is not the Israel of either the Old or New Testament. In fact, the current nation of Israel is largely irrelevant to biblical prophecy.
Any claim that the current nation of Israel has anything to do with the return of Christ is just nonsense. The only possible claim to prophecy is a passage in Romans 11 that some day most of Israel will believe in Jesus as Lord. This does not require that a geographical place called Israel exist, only that Jews at some point in the future will finally believe. Meanwhile, us Gentiles are being grafted to the true vine—Christ Jesus.
Thanks to some very strange interpretations of passages taken out of context or otherwise twisted, many Christians believe that the existence of Israel is required for the fulfillment of much of the Revelation of Saint John and passages such as Matthew chapter 24. Sorry gang but you missed the Day of the Lord by the better part of 2,000 years. The Day of the Lord is not the same as the return of Christ at the end of the age. The Day of the Lord was His coming in judgement of the generation that put him to death.
“Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened,” Matt 24:34
“His blood is on us and on our children,” Matt 27:25.
This was fulfilled in 70 A.D.
God often comes to earth in judgement and there are many days of the Lord mentioned in the Bible, not just one.
Furthermore, the promises that God made to Israel in the Old Testament have been transferred to the Church.
Americans frequently support Israel because they think they are supporting a nation established by God in ancient times. Thanks to the Scofield Reference Bible and its twin pillars of Dispensational theology and Premillennial eschatology and how it has been implemented by many religious groups, folks think that to be opposed to modern Israel is to oppose God and His plans and conversely to support modern Israel is to be on God’s side. Sorry, but this is an example of really bad biblical interpretation.
Furthermore, modern Israel’s laws and government don’t follow the Law as given to Moses. Nope, they might rip-off the Talmud or some other traditions of men in some places, but they are just another nation that is—at least in part—the offspring of British Colonialism. They are a secular/humanistic country just like so many others.
Folks God divorced Israel long ago because of her adultery and took on a new bride, the Christian Church. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was the end of the Old Covenant—forevermore.
Many Christians have taken the saying, “My country right or wrong” and placed Israel in the same bucket. This again is nonsense and bad theology.
The whole point of the Ascension of Jesus is that he is now at the right hand of God and now ruling the nations. Scripture says he will rule until all his enemies are under his footstool. Psalm 110:1.
Usually, the first thing people do when they see a war in Israel is start talking of Armageddon and the Antichrist and the secret rapture.
First there is technically no geographical place called Armageddon (look up David Chilton on this point. Hint: it’s an audio tape). Second, the Bible knows of no person called Antichrist that is coming at the end of time. The term is found in the letters of Saint John but not his Revelation. John calls anyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ a liar and an antichrist.
I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
I John 2:21 – 23
At the very least, these verses seem an apt description of Jewish theology both now and then.
Also, in order for Jews to be saved they must have faith in Jesus in the same way as Gentiles. Sorry but Hal Lindsey and others that teach that Jews have a different path to God now or in the future are heretics on that point. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
Supporting modern Israel because they “live in The Land” is unbiblical.
Supporting modern Israel because they are God’s people is unbiblical.
Supporting modern Israel because they will be instrumental in the Battle of Armageddon or trigger the Return of Christ is unbiblical.
I’m not saying that there is no scenario in which you can support Israel, but it can’t be on the basis of romantic fantasies of books like “The Late, Great Planet Earth” or “Left Behind” or some other fictional work.
Jewish folks get to come to God just like the rest of us, through faith in Christ.
Their nation, just like ours will be judged for how well or poorly we obey God’s Law.
We should keep our tax dollars and military out of this conflict and many others.