“Israel is On the Side of God,” so said the United States Ambassador to Israel, David M. Friedman, last week in Jerusalem at the Annual Night of Heroes sponsored by the “Friends of Zion Museum”. (see the NYT article here).
This is a podcast with Craig Hanson discussing this article:
Ambassador David M. Friedman, standing next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, spoke at an event commemorating the anniversary of the United States Embassy move to Jerusalem.CreditCreditGil Cohen-Magen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
I want to say, right up front, that I totally agree with the the U.S. Ambassador.
Israel IS on the side of God!
But the question that I ask is: Which side?
As Christians, we firmly believe that the true representation of God on earth was through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, and He had quite a bit to say about “sides”.
We find in the Gospel of Matthew [25:31-46], written primarily to a Jewish audience, this by Jesus:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.”
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
The difference between those on the left and right was how they expressed mercy, compassion, justice, and generosity.
So, as Christians we need to look at the actions of the nation of Israel and see if those actions are Christ-like or un-Christ-like. If anyone reading this has any doubt as to the answer to that question, please avail yourself of the volumes of information that we have available at We Hold These Truths about Zionism and how corrosive and deadly it is.
Another place in the New Testament where “sides” are mentioned is when the Jewish rulers and a mob of that day were stoning Stephen to death because of his witness to the veracity of the claim that Jesus truly was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies and, indeed, was Israel’s Messiah whom they had put to death, just like so many prophets before Him.
Acts 7:55-58 But [Stephen], full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
So yes, Israel IS on the side of God – but on the LEFT side.
It’s time for the Church to realize that if it truly loves Israel, the only means of Israel’s salvation is for her to repent of her sins, and turn and embrace the saving work of Jesus Christ. The Church does Israel no favors by blindly supporting the ungodly polices of that secular State, but the Church should rather be exposing those polices, and calling Israel to follow the one and only Messiah of Israel – Jesus!
Craig Hanson
5/22/19
I don’t expect to see Israelis (Satan’s spawn) to recognize Christ as Saviour until they stand before Him on the day of judgement. But then it will be too late.
Excellent article, Craig. Jesus wants the whole world to be on the right side, but sadly, millions choose to reject His saving grace.
The church today is a mirror image of the church in the time Christ’s ministry, that has set aside the truth of God. Today, a continuous repetition of false doctrine is preached, so that worshipers will follow false ministers and support religious institutions instead of the inspired gospel of the risen Savior.
Craig, I had this thought as I listened to your podcast: a Christian CANNOT become a Zionist by reading just the NT. He can only become a hard core Zionist when he reads the OT and lets it stand alone. A Christian Zionist HAS to believe in 2 covenants: that the OT and NT are both still in force (dual covenant theology). And who taught this dual covenant theology? Schofield, of course.
Scripture teaches us that God has no favorites. If Christian says that Israel is God chosen people then we Gentiles are 2nd class citizens. Zionist Christians need to study Paul’s epistles esp .Romans to understand that we are a spiritual Israel.
Phillip – South Africa