Does the modern State of Israel fulfil biblical prophecy?
Every fourth dimension the situation in Israel-Palestine hits the news, for Christians one of the bug that emerges is whether or not the modern Land of Israel is a fulfilment of biblical prophecy. To address this, I offering hither two resources. The first is some extracts from Colin Chapman's Grove booklet on whether texts in Ezekiel are fulfilled in the modern State of Israel (previously published when the booklet first came out); the second is a selection of extracts from a recent article by Gary Burge assessing the claims of Christian Zionism.
The main prophetic text appealed to is the afterward chapters of Ezekiel, particularly Ezekiel 39. But in order to empathize whether there is connectedness between these texts and events in the mod world, we demand to look carefully at what Ezekiel says, how it was understood, and virtually importantly of all, how the writers of the NT understood these passages in relation to the ministry of Jesus.
Colin Chapman, who has written widely on the subject area of the Middle East, engages with simply these questions in the latest Grove Biblical booklet B 87 Prophecy Fulfilled Today? Does Ezekiel Have Anything to Say About the Modern State of Israel?He starts by noting that this question has been a business organization of Christians for nearly 400 years.
It is in discussion most the fulfilment of prophecy in recent history that there is most division among Christians. Since the time of the Puritans in the seventeenth century many have believed that prophecies in Ezekiel and the other prophets concerning the render to the land and the restoration of Israelwould ane day be ful lled literally. This view is by and large known as 'restorationism.' And since the beginning of the Zionist move in the 1880s many Christians have been convinced that these prophecies—together with biblical promises nigh the land—were being fulfilled.
To appoint with this question, the first thing Chapman does is to put Ezekiel and his prophecy in its context—when Ezekiel was writing, what was the situation, and what questions he is seeking to accost.
Ezekiel's commencement task was to explain to his people that the autumn of Jerusalem and the exile were God's judgment for the ways in which they had broken the covenant. God had taken away four of the nearly key and significant gifts included in the covenant—the country, the metropolis of Jerusalem, the temple and the monarchy. Having explained the reason for the exile, in the 2nd part of the book Ezekiel gives his people hope for the future (capacity 33–48). Not simply will they be able to return to their country, but they will encounter that God is going to do something radically new in and through the restoration of the land, the city, the temple and the monarchy.
Just when we look at the history of the people in the state after the return and in the next 4 centuries, it is hard to see much evidence of the national and spiritual renewal and revival that Ezekiel had envisaged. Information technology was not surprising, therefore, that in the intertestamental menstruation people began to dream of a fourth dimension when God would intervene in miraculousways to ful l the visions of the prophets. Some of these hopes centred round the gure of a messiah, who would be either a supernatural effigy coming on the clouds or a military effigy overcoming oppressive strange rulers and restoring Israel's independence.
These were the kind of hopes of a better future that were held by many Jews in the first century, and summed up by Luke in expressions like 'the consolation of Israel' (Luke 2.25), 'the redemption of Jerusalem' (Luke two.38), 'the one who was to come' (Luke 7.18) and 'the one who was going to redeem Israel' (Luke 24.xx). People must have thought, 'If the visions of Ezekiel and the other prophets have inappreciably been fulfilled in the history of the nation until now, surely God has to intervene in a dramatic way to demonstrate his faithfulness to his promises!'
Chapman'south central chapter so looks at seven major themes that are associated with the restoration from exile, item in Ezekiel 34 to 37, and to see how these themes are taken up in the NT. These themes include God acting through a shepherd-king, the hallowing of the proper name of God, enjoying prosperity in the land, cleansing from sin, the gift of a new heart leading to obedience, a covenant of peace, and God's temple presence among his people. The most pertinent of these relates to the land.
The hope to bring exiles dorsum to the land looks at first sight as if it has no echoes in the NT. Only scholars like N T Wright take argued that Jesus' use of OT texts concerning the render from the Babylonian exile—taken by and large from Isaiah—suggests that Jesus saw his people as still in a country of exile, and announced that he was going to pb them out of exile. The clearest examples come in his address in the synagogue in Nazareth ('The Spirit of the Lord is on me…' Luke iv.18–19, quoting Isa 61.1–two), and his response to the disciples of John the Baptist, in which he describes his healing miracles in the poetic language used by Isaiah to describes the exiles returning to the country ('The blind receive sight, the lame walk…' Luke 7.22, quoting Isa 35.5–half-dozen).x It may seem strange to include the words of Jesus about the Son of Homo sending his angels to 'gather his elect' (Marking thirteen.27) in this context. Only since the word angelos can be translated every bit either 'angel' or 'messenger,' it is perfectly possible that Jesus could be speaking about the annunciation of the gospel equally a way of gathering the elect into the kingdom of God…
NT writers use OT terminology about the state (in item the word 'inheritance,' kleronomia) to speak nearly what all believers possess in Christ. Thus Paul in his adieu address to the Ephesian elders, echoing Joshua'due south farewell address (Josh 23.ane–sixteen), speaks nearly 'the give-and-take of his [God'south] grace, which…can give you an inheritance amongst all those who are sanctified' (Acts 20.32). Peter speaks of how all believers experience 'new nascence into a living promise…and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you…' (ane Pet 1.3–four). The Letter to the Hebrews was addressed primarily to Jewish followers of Jesus, who might have been expected to hold onto the hope that promises and prophecies about the land would one day be fulfilled in a very literal manner. Simply the author gives no hint of whatever expectation of a literal fulfilment, and instead develops the theme of the country in a completely new direction. He speaks of the state as 'that rest,' saying that 'We who take believed enter that rest' (Heb 4.3). And traditional Jewish hopes about Jerusalem for the author are no longer centred on the bodily city of Jerusalem: 'But you lot have come up to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the metropolis of the living God…to the church of the beginning born…to God…to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant…' (Heb 12.22–24)…
Christians generally accept no difficulty in seeing most of these themes of Ezekiel'south prophecy—about the Davidic shepherd-king, the sanctification of the name of God, the nations knowing that he is God, cleansing from sin, the gift of a new eye and of God's Spirit, the covenant of peace and God's sanctuary existence amongst his people for ever—as beingness fulfilled in the coming of Christ. If the themes apropos the nation and the land tin also be related to Jesus and to everything that is offered to every human through him,it becomes much harder to believe that prophecies about the people and the land are in a special category, separate from all the other themes of Ezekiel'sprophecy, and therefore demand a literal fulfilment.
In the final section of the booklet, Chapman turns the lens the other way around, and asks whether the modern creation of the State of Israel actually matches what Ezekiel predicted—and he expected the return to be marked by peace, by repentance (in fulfilment of the conditions set out in Deut thirty), and with all the other features noted above—which are notably absent from the current state of affairs. And in dissimilarity to Ezekiel, when Jesus talked of the destruction of Jerusalem in Mark thirteen, Matt 24 and Luke 21, he brand no mention of the possibility of return and restoration. And Luke'due south gospel is the one that sets out well-nigh clearly thatall the promises of restoration are met in Jesus.
Ezekiel'south visions of the restoration of Israel led to a glorious climax in the temple in which God was going to 'live among the Israelites for ever' (43.7) and in the city whose name would e'er be 'The Lord is there' (48.35). If we believe, therefore, that it was uniquely in Jesus that God has come to live amid united states of america, nosotros should not be looking to see the fulfilment of Ezekiel'south visions either in the twentieth-century return of Jews to the state, or the establishment of the state of israel, or the present city of Jerusalem or in a futurity millennial reign of Jesus in Jerusalem. Perhaps Ezekiel, the priest turned prophet, was using the but language and imagery that were bachelor to him at the time (related to the land, the nation, the city and the temple) to hint at something much more glorious than a render to the land, the revival of the nation and the restoration of a building. Perhaps God was using him to gear up his people and to open their minds for what it would mean when, ve centuries later, 'the Discussion was made flesh and dwelt amidst us' (John 1.14) and 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself' (two Cor. 5.19). And the Book of Revelation tells us that the best is yet to come up—not in the land or in Jerusalem, only in 'the new Jerusalem, coming down out of sky from God' and in 'a new heaven and a new earth' (Rev 21.1–4).
This booklet will be of interest to anyone trying to make sense of the current situation, and wanting to relate information technology to Scripture in any way. The claim that Ezekiel prophesied the existence of the modern Land of State of israel is fabricated by many, and this booklet is an essential tool in assessing whether than claim is valid.
You can order the booklet for £3.95 post-free on the Grove website, or purchase an e-book PDF delivered by email.
For a second resource, I turn to Gary M Burge, who is a theologian in the Christian Reformed Church in the Usa, and in 2022 wrote this helpful assessment of Christian Zionism.
Christian Zionism is a political theology with 19th-century roots. It took on its full class post-obit the birth of mod Israel in 1948. It is a political theology considering modern Israel, in this view, is non like other countries: information technology is the outworking of God'southward plan foretold in the Scriptures, and therefore mod Israel's political fortunes take profound theological and spiritual consequences…
The spiritual root of Christian Zionism is dispensationalism, whose themes take fully permeated many American churches. Dispensationalism was built-in in the 1800s equally an attempt to divide man history into a series of 7 biblical categories (or dispensations) of time: the eras of Adam, of Noah, and others. We alive in the era of the church, followed past the finish of time. Dispensationalism embraced a pessimistic view of history, thinking the world was coming to its terminate and judgment day was near. As a event, it became sectarian, separating itself from mainstream society, calling sinners to repent and be saved from the impending catastrophe…
Christian Zionism takes the land promises of God in Genesis 12, 15, and 17 and applies them to the modern state of Israel. To Christian Zionists, this hope of state inheritance is permanent and unconditional. Therefore, despite State of israel's own declared intention of being a secular state (and despite Israelis' low religious participation), mod Israel withal benefits from a 4,000-twelvemonth-old promise. For Zionists, the Abrahamic covenant is notwithstanding agile regardless of whether Israelis believe in God or not. In the Christian Zionist view—and this is key—the covenant of Christ does not supervene upon or supplant the Jewish covenants.
Reformed theologians believe something decisive happened in Christ. His covenant affected not simply the covenant of Moses, making a new and timeless form of salvation, but also every other Jewish covenant, including Abraham's covenant. Christ fulfills the expectations of Jewish covenant life and renews the people of God rooted in the Old Testament and Judaism. Thus, Jesus is the new temple, the new Israel.
In Galatians 3:16, the apostle Paul writes, "Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; information technology does not say 'And to offsprings,' as of many; but it says, 'And to your offspring,' that is, to one person, who is Christ" (NRSV). Paul argues from the atypical noun in Genesis to show that the promises to Abraham point to Christ. Christ is the locus of the promise of country! The promises to Abraham have been realized in Christ. He holds everything Judaism desired, and knowing him gains access to such promises.
Jesus' homily in John 15 says the aforementioned. The Old Testament image of State of israel is that of a vineyard filled with vines rooted in the soil of the Holy Country. You tin can see this outlined beautifully in Isaiah five. But Jesus upends this. We come across a vineyard once more, merely now we larn that there is one vine—Christ—and the just concern is not on gaining admission to the land but existence fastened to him.
To think Christianly nigh land and hope is to think differently than Judaism. The New Testament changes the spiritual geography of God'south people. The kingdom of God is tied to neither an ethnicity nor a place. Because the early Christians understood this, they carried their missionary efforts to the unabridged globe. God loves Ephesus merely as much as he loves Jerusalem. Indeed, God loves the entire globe and all its people equally.
Reformed theologians are not convinced the promises to Abraham can be used politically today. The piece of work of Christ is definitive. There is one covenant, and it is with Christ. In the zeal to promote and protect mod Israel, has Jesus been demoted?
Still, some might ask if emphasizing the axis of Christ's covenant leads to the dismissal of Judaism and its covenants. Would this pb to anti-Judaism in the church building?
No. Christ and his church are deeply rooted in Judaism. As Gentiles, we are grafted into the Jewish tree of Abraham (Rom. 11:13-24). Jesus was Jewish, and it is through the Hebrew covenants that nosotros understand our own covenant.
Christ does non replace these covenants; rather, he fulfills them and enables the birth of God's kingdom, which includes both Jews and Gentiles. Reformed theology does non split Israel and the church building; it finds rich continuity between them. Paul did not "go" a Christian; he realized the deepest meaning of his Jewishness when he chose to follow Jesus. This new, category-irresolute event at the eye of Christ'south work cannot exist diminished. It is fundamental to New Testament faith. Some accept misused this teaching and promoted a dreadful anti-Semitism. But this misuse does non mean nosotros dismiss what the Scriptures teach. Judaism deserves our respect, and anti-Semitism should be rejected outright as an utter corruption of the gospel.
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