Christians must love the Jews, back Israel

Thursday, December 6, 2001

By GREGORY RUMMO

This weekend's deadly terror ist bombings in Israel have focused the world's attention on the Middle East once again. Over the years, many people at home and abroad have condemned America's support for Israel.

But for Christians, there should be no question as to where we should stand in this conflict. Despite our significant and undeniable differences in belief, Christians have a duty to love the Jews and to support Israel. The reasons we must do so are firmly rooted in holy Scripture.

The Bible teaches us that God made specific promises to the Jews in covenants made with Abraham (Genesis 12), Moses (Deuteronomy 30, Ezekiel 20), and David (2 Samuel 7, Jeremiah 31 and 33). These divine promises remain in effect.

From the beginning of their existence, God has declared his steadfast love for the Jewish people. "In a desert land he found them, in a barren and a howling waste. He shielded them and cared for them; he guarded them as the apple of his eye" (Deuteronomy 32:10).

God has pronounced a curse on nations who raise their hand against Israel. "Whoever curses you, I will curse" (Genesis 12:3). Despite this divine warning, many nations have tried to destroy the Jewish people. Beginning with their slavery in Egypt, when Pharaoh ordered Hebrew midwives to murder all newborn Jewish males (Exodus 1:16), throughout Israel's captivity under the Babylonians and the Assyrians, to the Holocaust and the ongoing bloodshed in the Middle East, Israel has been targeted for destruction.

In "Dispensationalism Today," (Moody Press, Chicago, 1981) Charles C. Ryrie writes: "All during their many periods of declension and backsliding, God dealt with them graciously from the very first apostasy with the golden calf when the law was being delivered to Moses to the gracious promises of final gathering and restoration in the millennial age to come. These promises of a glorious future are guaranteed secure by the Abrahamic promise."

J. Dwight Pentecost, writing in "Things to Come" (Zondervan, 1978) on the subject of the Abrahamic Covenant, states: "This covenant . . . promises of the preservation of a nation, and the possession of a land by that nation. . . . [It] was given to a specific covenant people. Since it was unconditional and eternal, and has never been fulfilled, it must await a future fulfillment. Israel must be preserved as a nation, must inherit her land, and be blessed with spiritual blessings to make this inheritance possible."

John F. Walvoord in his "Millennial Series" echoes these sentiments: "Israel's continuance as a nation, implied by these promises, has been sustained by the continued confirmation in both Testaments. Israel's restoration as the natural outcome of these promises has been presented as the express teaching of the entire Bible."

In addressing the Jews during the Babylonian exile, the prophet Jeremiah wrote: "This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar -- the Lord Almighty is his name: 'Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,' declares the Lord, 'will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.' This is what the Lord says: 'Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all of the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,' declares the Lord" (Jeremiah 31:35-37).

Craig Hartman, a Messianic Jew and director of Shalom Ministries, spoke at Madison Avenue Baptist Church in Paterson on the topic of the Holocaust. Explaining these verses in Jeremiah, he said: "What God is saying here is: 'I have created the sun and I have made it give a light in the daytime and I have created the moon and the stars and I have allowed them to light the night and affect the waves of the sea.' Those are ordinances that God is describing that he put in place. And he is saying 'if those ordinances stop, that's when Israel stops being a nation before me for all they have done.' "

Hartman continued: "There are people who will teach that because of what the Jews have done, God has turned his back on them. . . . Here you have the biblical formula for the elimination of the Jew. You don't have to try and kill them off -- that's not going to work. God tells us here what will work -- stop the sun from shining; stop the moon and stars from lighting the night and affecting the sea; figure out a way to measure the depths of the earth and the expanse of heaven. If you do that, then God will stop the nation of Israel from existing. But until then, don't waste your time. It can't be done. The Jews will not be removed from the Earth as a nation before God because he said so."

Hartman's words remind Christians of the depths of God's love for his people. The Bible commands believers to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Psalms 122:6) and promises in the same verse, "those who love you will be secure." As Christians, we must remember our duty to love and to pray for those whom God calls "the apple of his eye."

Gregory Rummo is a business executive who belongs to Madison Avenue Baptist Church in Paterson, where he also serves as choir director. You may e-mail him at GregoryJRummo@aol.com

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