Should Evangelicals Support Israel Part 2

 

Should Evangelicals Support Israel Part 2

In my previous post I discussed why evangelicals should support Israel. The primary basis is of course Gen 12:1-3 and Zech 2:8. Also add to that history's record of deleting from existence anyone who opposed her. I don't think it will be different for future persecutors, including the person behind them all, Satan (read Revelation). 

Now the problem is there are evangelicals who think that because Israel rejected Jesus and crucified her, she is no longer God's people. This comes into various forms including some appropriating her Jewishness for themselves, and some simply ignoring the fact that God has two peoples in the Bible. Then add to that some are rewriting history so that Israel is basically made a fake nation with fake history and therefore fake future. It is a simple sleight of the hand by shifting everything that is Isaac'sbto Ishmael's. Or deleting her history as a product of biased Judeo-Christian West, including believe it or not, the Holocaust. How exactly do you delete an event seared in human consciousness I don't know, but I suspect it includes repeating a lie often enough that it came to be accepted as true. 

Let us start with revisionism. This isn't new. Let us look at Jephta's history exchanges with the Ammonites,

Judges 11:12-13

[12]Now Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, "What is between you and me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?"

[13]The king of the sons of Ammon said to the messengers of Jephthah, "Because Israel took away my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan; therefore, return them peaceably now."

Doesn't this sound very similar to the Palestinian refrain? The Jews are, in the words of a revisionist commenter in one of my post calling for prayers for the peace of Israel, "a fucking invader." I deleted and blocked that guy because 1. I am the only one allowed to fuck in my own page and 2. Anyone who actually believe the revisionist story line is not worth talking to. How do you discuss with someone who redefine terms, readjust reality to his own view? 

"Israel took the land."

"Israel are invaders."

"The Palestinians are driven out of their historical homeland, etc."

Guess what Israel is the legitimate owner of the land. And Jephtah gave a history class:

Judges 11:14-27

[14]But Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon,

[15]and they said to him, "Thus says Jephthah, 'Israel did not take away the land of Moab nor the land of the sons of Ammon.

[16]For when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh,

[17]then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, "Please let us pass through your land," but the king of Edom would not listen. And they also sent to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel remained at Kadesh.

[18]Then they went through the wilderness and around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; but they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.

[19]And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, "Please let us pass through your land to our place."

[20]But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; so Sihon gathered all his people and camped in Jahaz and fought with Israel.

[21]The Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them; so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.

[22]So they possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, and from the wilderness as far as the Jordan.

[23]Since now the Lord, the God of Israel, drove out the Amorites from before His people Israel, are you then to possess it?

[24]Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the Lord our God has driven out before us, we will possess it.

[25]Now are you any better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive with Israel, or did he ever fight against them?

[26]While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not recover them within that time?

[27]I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me; may the Lord, the Judge, judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.'"

Now that is the true story. God Himself gave the land and the record is given in Genesis.

Genesis 13:14-17

[14]The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;

[15]for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.

[16]I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.

[17]Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you."

And He repeated it again and again and again so that no one can change the story line, including its boundaries in Gen 15:18-21 and that isn't Heaven, but a real estate in Middle East. 

Note that archeologists can dig Jewish ruins, Roman ruins, Greek and Byzantine ruins but never Palestinian ruins simply because there were no Palestinians until lately. They are an artificially constructed people group to dramatize the fight against Israel. If they aren't why are they not absorbed by their racially related Arab neighbors? 

Note that for all the kindness Israel shown to Ammonites due to Yahweh's prohibition, Ammonites attacked and even reinvented history as justification. The same is true now. 

Now there are others who appropriate Jewishness for themselves in order to deny the Jewish people. I blocked someone who even called me just to make me believe that he is a Jew. Well, one verse should be enough,

Revelation 2:9

[9]'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Jesus said these people called themselves Jews but are not. He sarcastically called them the synagogue of Satan. I am sure that is not in their letterheads but in claiming to be Jews, they are advancing Satan's lies. This comes in many forms. One is actually claiming that the British and Americans and their cousins ARE the lost tribes of Israel. What nonsense. The 10 tribes were never lost. In Rev 7 they were listed and none of them are Americans. Then there are those who racially knew they are not Jews, but believe spiritually are. Replacement theology does this by appropriating Israel passages for themselves. Many cults believe they are the new Israel and follow the Torah. Filipinos are not exempted. 

The Bible distinguishes between Jews and Christians and Gentiles and to interchange them is to take the Bible lightly. 

Then there is a third group who knew they are not racially Jews and knew they are not spiritual Jews but still deny that evangelicals ought to support Israel. Their argument is because she rejected Jesus, God rejected her also and therefore no longer the people of God (for some, at least for now in this dispensation; for others forever). Others argue that only the Messiah will plant them back in the land and therefore any Jews in the land are rebels and should be rooted out. But if that is the case, to whom will the Antichrist made a covenant in Dan 9:24-27? Who will build the temple to which the abomination of desolation will be placed? The truth is that there will always be Jews in the land, because as the saying goes, The Jews are eternal. 

The Jews like any people have the right to self-existence and self-defense. If what is being done to the Jews is done to other people groups, all will cry genocide. Yet when it comes to Jews, the world is silent except to condemn her for shooting back, and step in when they are winning. In wonder why.

(Kung gusto ninyo ng karagdagang impormasyon, bisitahin ninyo kami. May pagtitipon kami sa Dahat, kada Linggo, alas 8:30-10:30 am. Sa Amoguis, 1:00-3:00 pm. Sana manampalataya kayo at kita-kita tayo.)