GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 293

Why We Should Support Israel

I’ve Said This Before

If you’ve listened to me for any time you know that my support for Israel is unswerving and unshakable and has been so all of my Christian life. At the start I really didn’t know why other than it was all I heard from my spiritual mentors and, most importantly, what I read in the Bible. I didn’t need then or now to know the original languages because the Scriptures were clear on their own. No endless commentaries were needed to figure out what I knew then and know now and that is that God’s loves Israel and that the Jews are the apple of His eye. So yes, I believe we as believers should support Israel even as wayward as they are now. We should pray for them just as the Father prayed for the prodigal son to come home and in Bible prophecy, they will come back again. In the meantime, I along with a whole host of others will support Israel against all of the lies of genocide and hatred being hurled at it. But if you need some reasons for supporting Israel and Jews, allow me to give you five simple reasons.

God Blesses Those Who Bless Israel

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you. (Gen 12:3, NLT)

I probably should have brought this up last but telling you this first isn’t a bad way to start since my defense of Israel. In this short verse we hear what I believe is God’s foreign policy statement. I like how an article from firmisrael.org speaks about this point:

This miraculous era that has seen the Jewish people regain political control of their own land. Which they were without for more than 2,300 years, but once again they became an official nation. Meanwhile, we could be people of the last hour, as they once again face global hostility.

The modern-day struggle is over Jerusalem, over Israel and over the presence of Jews and their right to have a land. Almost every nation refuses to make an abiding commitment to stand by the Jews and Israel. Only a few remain, but the Bible says God will honor those who do.

Every believer is charged to make the Jews a priority in his or her value system. Why? Because God has. As a result, we are to render thanksgiving for God’s work via them as a people.

And by blessing Israel and the Jews Christians will be blessed even on a personal level. But also lost in this verse is the Jews blessing all the earth and I could pass along so many examples of Jewish people who have contributed to improving the world in the arts, science and so many other areas. Lest we forget, through the Jews we received the greatest gift of all to humanity, past, present and future and that is Jesus. This is the first reason to support Israel.

Israel Is A Strategic Ally

In the Middle East there is only one democracy that shares the same view of government as most free nations do including the United States. They share our values and our respect of life and as such we need to stand along side of Israel as a beacon of hope in that area. I turn to an article found in theologymatters.com by Alan F. H. Wisdom to elaborate on this point:

Israel is a unique entity in the Middle East. Small in area and population, it preserves a minority people that has a continuous history reaching back almost 4,000 years. The Jews have survived repeated waves of imperial conquest, campaigns of forced assimilation, and bouts of genocidal persecution—in the Middle East and elsewhere—and the state of Israel has become their haven. To the Jewish population long resident in Palestine have been added refugees from Jewish communities around the region, in Europe, the former Soviet Union, and even Africa.

Wisdom then brings us the religious example Israel exemplifies:

Israel stands as an example of multiculturalism. In a region where so many regimes attempt to enforce uniformity—only one ethnicity acknowledged, one language spoken, one form of religion practiced—Israel hosts a vibrant variety. Walking through the Old City of Jerusalem, one witnesses religious observances representing different schools of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Jews hold the upper hand politically and economically; however, Arabs and Muslims are freer to express themselves inside Israel than in all the surrounding nations.

He then talks about a point I made earlier:

Israeli society leads the region in educational attainment, cultural creativity, technological innovation, and balanced economic development. The Middle East would be poorer without the diversity and dynamism of Israel. But it would benefit far more if Israel’s neighbors would all accept its existence and open normal relations.

Wisdom brings up this salient point

Israel’s strategic objective is precisely that: to live securely, at peace with its neighbors. It does not seek to destroy any of the surrounding states. Israeli governments of both the left and the right have affirmed Palestinian self-determination.

Israel’s Enemies Are Our Enemies

We are literally fighting the same people who want America and any free people to bow to them or be killed. They call us the Big Satan and Israel the little Satan. Going back to Wisdom’s article we read this:

Israel and the United States share common enemies. The nations and groups vowing to crush the Jewish state—Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas—are also virulently anti-American. For militant Islamists, Israel is the “near enemy” and America the “far enemy.” The terrorist tactics targeted against Israel have likewise been employed against the United States. It makes sense that the two democracies should cooperate in facing these common threats.

We need to support Israel because they are in the crosshairs of a lot of people that want her to disappear from the world stage as we read in an article from The Jerusalem Post:

The nation of Israel reemerged 70 years ago from the ashes of the largest, most appalling genocide ever endured by any people group in history: the Holocaust.

One would hope that the memory of this darkest moment in history would forever serve as a reminder to stand side by side with the descendants of David as they resist the forces of death and destruction assembled against them. Yet hardly a day goes by without a rogue leader or violent insurgent group proclaiming “death to Israel” — all without the United Nations so much as batting an eye. We mustn’t be short-sighted and ignorant of the perennial hatred and bigotry that the Jewish people have endured. We can’t let our guard down for a moment — for the forces arrayed against Israel are the same forces arrayed against us.

Loving Who God Loves

Another reason we need to support Israel is that God supports Israel because He loves her. We read more on this from an article from icejusa.org:

The prophet Jeremiah states very clearly: “‘The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness . . .’ The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel!’” (Jeremiah 31:2–4a). After a season of judgment (“the sword”), God is motivated by His “everlasting love” to restore Israel. Note that it is an everlasting love . . . unceasing, never-ending! It was this love that birthed God’s plan with Israel (Deuteronomy 7:7), and this love will also bring it to a glorious end (Romans 11:25–28).

The article addresses a common question:

Someone once asked me: “How can God love a sinful nation like Israel?” The answer is simple: with the same unconditional love the Lord has toward the church. Indeed, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). So here is a simple rule for all believers: we should love what Jesus loves. How is your love for Israel? Just ask God to give you His love for the Jewish people!

In another quote from the same article we also read this telling us not only should we love Israel, the Bible commands us to do it:

Finally, and most importantly, we need to bless Israel because it is God’s command. Isaiah delivers this divine imperative, saying: “‘Comfort, yes comfort My people’ says your God” (Isaiah 40:1). This is not a call to the Jewish people; otherwise, they would be comforting themselves. Rather, it is a call to a gentile people to stand alongside Israel and bless and comfort her. It is a command for a time when Israel’s warfare has ended (40:2), a set time when God is restoring Zion. And Isaiah 40 is also clearly not a suggestion or discussion point where He invites our opinion. Instead, God Himself, the Creator of heaven and earth who calls out the stars by name (Isaiah 40:26), tells us to arise and stand with His people in comfort and love.

We’re Part Of The Same Family

Lastly we should support Israel because we’re family. In an article from patheos.com we read this:

In the West, we have been blessed with abundance. For generations, we have had more freedom and prosperity than the world has ever known. Because we have grown up with this, it is our natural tendency to fall into an Amero-centric view of the world and the Bible. We consider ourselves God’s new chosen people because we have experienced His blessings more than any other people, ever. But make no mistake, every person not ethnically Jewish, who considers themselves a follower of Christ, has been grafted onto the vine of Israel.

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles…17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 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.(Romans 11:13-18)

The author, Michael Warren further makes this case:

It doesn’t matter where in the world a Christian lives or is from; there is an inexorable tie to the nation and the people of Israel, for we have been grafted onto it. An attack on Israel is an attack on our vine. If people are calling for the destruction of Israel, then they are calling for our destruction.

Warren addresses the argument of supporting the spiritual Israel and political Israel:

Now, there can be a distinction made between the current Israel state as a political organization in the region and the Jewish people. In Jesus’ time, there was no nation of Israel. It had been enveloped inside of the Roman Empire. Before the modern state of Israel, the Jewish people had been dispersed throughout the world. But trying to separate the nation of Israel from the Jewish people is making a distinction without a difference.

He then tackles a world without the nation of Israel:

Jewish people have been oppressed and mistreated to different degrees in every nation where they have resided. The country of Israel is the only Jewish nation on earth. It is the only place where the Jewish people can have a guarantee that the government will not turn on them and start oppressing them. It is also meant to be a place where any Jew around the world can escape persecution and become a citizen.

Nearly half of the world’s Jewish population lives in Israel. It is still a nation of God’s chosen people.

He then tells us that when Israel hurts Christians should hurt:

If Israel were to be destroyed, that would mean death to millions of Jews and the exile of those who survived. Remember, that means the death and suffering of millions of other branches on the vine to which we have been grafted.

Impeccable logic I think. So if you needed a few reasons to support Israel, I’ve just given you five, but there are many more. In short, we’re in this together with the Jews. And that includes the blessings.