A Response to "Israel and Palestine in Biblical Perspective" Published by the Vineyard Movement, South Africa   09.2006

I heard a well known Bible teacher many years ago tell a story about the little boy who took apart his grandmother's alarm clock and managed put it back together again. When he proudly presented his achievement to his grandmother there was just one small problem. A few screws were still left on the table. He said that is the way it is with most Christian theology. There are usually always a few Bible verses left that do not fit into the nice theory.

There are some serious factual errors in this article "Israel and Palestine in Biblical Perspective", like for instance that Jerusalem is mentioned in the Koran. That is not true. In this response, however, I want to mainly concentrate on the author's all out attack on what he calls "territorial religion." I appreciate his honesty in admitting that Luke 21:24 does not fit into his theology, but I need to say right away that there are a "whole lot more screws left on the table" than this single verse from Luke. A whole lot more.

The view held by the author might very well be shared by many people with a theological education. It is however a huge mistake to thereby assume that this view is Biblical. Throughout history most theologians have read the Bible with an enormous anti Jewish bias, which is a fundamental mistake. The author also makes a big mistake in assuming that anyone opposed to his views believes in dispensational theology. I completely agree with his thorough refutation of dispensational theology and share his view of the unhealthy results of this doctrine so I will not dwell on this topic in this response.

Greek vs. Hebrew Thinking

The author's lofty talk about the transcendental, universal message of the prophets supposedly carried on by Yeshua in contrast to Old Testament territorial, nationalistic religion is not Biblical. It is a classic anti-messianic, reinterpretation of the message of the Bible based on Greek, dualistic thinking. The author states that the message of the New Covenant "has transformed and transcended the Old Testament world-view" and continues, "We cannot have it both ways. If we want to read such promises and shrink them back into literal, territorial dimensions we undermine the basis upon which we can believe in them ourselves. Some of the more popular views make two errors.
"They fail to see the emerging tendency of the Old Testament way of viewing the city and the temple.
"They read the Old Testament as though the New Testament, with its unique way of viewing such promises, was never written." (End quote)

The New Covenant incorporates Gentiles into the promises given to Israel (Rom 15:8-10, Eph 2:11-13,19-21;3:1-6). The results of a spiritualization and allegorical interpretation of the Scriptures, which has its basis in a Greek mindset, are catastrophic and it is necessary to clearly expose this error. The author might not be able to "have it both ways," but in the Hebrew, Biblical worldview there is no problem to combine spiritual and physical realities. The message of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is never contradictory and it definitely is territorial. Without this territorial aspect there is no Biblical hope for the world!

The end of redemption story is that "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." (Isa 11:9) The kingdom of God will not be some sort of "Nirvana" out in space where everything is transformed into a spiritual and mental world void of physical matter. When Paul spoke in Athens the philosophers listened to him until he mentioned the resurrection from the dead. At that point they were not interested anymore and began to mock him because the idea of a physical resurrection is not part of a Greek philosophical worldview.

Surprisingly for most Christians, the Bible does not end up in heaven. The Book of Revelation ends up with heaven coming to earth and with the two realities joined together. "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.'" (Rev 21:2-3) Notice how earthly this picture of "heaven" is, "The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it." (v. 24) In the kingdom of God everything will be spiritual, but it will yet also be earthly, geographical and territorial.

God has an order for everything that He has created and He has a detailed plan to bring it about. Israel and Jerusalem are still in the center of that plan. It has not changed. The Bible makes it very clear, from beginning to end, that Jerusalem will be the eternal center of the kingdom of God that will finally fill the earth and it is exactly this Biblical reality that is at the foundation of the conflict in the Middle East today. It is not primarily a political, national or military conflict. Heaven is about to break through upon the earth with the return of the Messiah to Jerusalem just as the all the prophets have promised and hell is furious and doing everything in its power to prevent this. The Bible holds out the exact same vision in both the Old and the New Testament. It is the gospel of this coming kingdom through the Messiah that must be preached in all the earth as a testimony in every nation and then the end shall come

The Entire Bible Is a Jewish Book Written by Jews Who Thought and Lived Like Jews

It must be remembered that the entire Bible, both the Old and the New Testament, has been written by Jews with a Hebraic, Torah-educated mindset that is vastly different from Greek philosophical and western thinking. All the authors in the Bible, including the New Testament, spoke Hebrew or Aramaic. The Bible is in other words a Jewish book and can only be properly understood from a Jewish perspective. Paul says in Romans 3:1-2, "What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God." When you abort the Jewish connection, you cannot interpret the Bible correctly. Yeshua makes this very clear in John 5:46-47, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" According to Yeshua you must first believe what Moses wrote, then you can begin to understand what he said. This basically turns most of traditional Christian theology completely upside down.

One foundational question is this: who is Yeshua? Who is the Messiah? The first disciples said, "'We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Yeshua of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.' .Nathanael declared, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.'" (Jn 1:45,49) The Messiah is not a Christian, Greek concept. It is Moses and the prophets who have defined who he is. He is the king of Israel, the promised son of David. If we leave this Hebraic foundation that all the apostles had, the entire message of the new covenant writings gets warped.

Once again, the idea that the message in the new covenant is anti territorial is built on a Greek, dualistic, anti material worldview that is foreign to the Scriptures. From Justin Martyr's book "Dialogue with Trypho the Jew" we know that at least up to the middle of the second century, what Justin calls "Orthodox Christians" still held on to a Biblical, eschatological hope centered on a restored and rebuilt, physical Jerusalem as the prophets predicted. To prove his point to Trypho he refers to the Book of Revelation. It was not until a century later that this Biblical concept was completely rejected by Origen, Euesbius and others as "unspiritual, earthly, carnal and Jewish." This anti Jewish attitude has dominated Christian theology ever since. Dispensational theology represents the first break from this attitude in 1500 years as it applies a more literal interpretation to the Scriptures. Despite all its flaws, it nevertheless ought to be commended for this major achievement.

Jerusalem Is the Center of the End Time Conflict

The author seems to agree with the fact that Jerusalem will be the center of worldwide conflict at the end of this age. He even seems to agree that the Jewish people will play a major role in the release of the kingdom before Yeshua returns. I would like to encourage him to think this through in order to fully realize why this is so. There is no reason to interpret Romans 9-11 based on a Greek anti territorial thinking! Paul was a Jew, a trained Pharisee, not a Greek philosopher. Why attempt to explain away the obvious? Jeremiah 3:17 says, "At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts." Do we have any reason to think that the devil is going to take the end of his power due to the restoration of Jerusalem without putting up a fight? One of his major weapons is anti Jewish, replacement theology.

With the glorious future for the whole world that is clearly linked to the restoration of the Jewish people back to Jerusalem outlined in places like Isaiah 2:1-5 and Isaiah 62 and others, is there any wonder that the final battle will take place in Armageddon just north of Jerusalem as also the Book of Revelation explains? In this last book in the Bible it explains how demonic forces will go out to deceive all the kings of the earth to assembly them in Israel for "the battle on the great day of God Almighty." Anyone who seriously prays for the peace of Jerusalem quickly becomes very aware of the demonic forces that deceive the nations today to turn against the Jewish people and their God given right to their land.

The Jews are forever His chosen people with a chosen divine destiny for the world and any attack against them, be they military or theological, is always an attack against God Himself. Yeshua will surprise all the nations that come against Jerusalem like a thief (Rev 16:15; 19:11-21) and defeat their assembled armies. If the Messiah will come to defend the Jewish people as the devil will make one last attempt to destroy them and thereby abort God's promises, may we not find ourselves on the wrong side of the conflict that is now building up in the Middle East!

The angel Gabriel told Miriam, "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Yeshua. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." (Lk 1:31-33) David never had a throne in heaven! His throne was in Jerusalem. When Yeshua finally takes his seat on the throne of his father David, the entire world will be reborn into the kingdom of God (Mt 19:28).

When Yeshua approached Jerusalem for the last time we read in Luke 19:11-12, "While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: 'A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.'" The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 and 135 CE was not the end of the story. That is the error of most Christian theology. Yeshua will return to Jerusalem just as he promised and the kingdom of God will appear out from that city for the entire world exactly as the prophets have foretold.

The passage in Acts 1:1-11 is very clear. After his resurrection, Yeshua appeared to his disciples for forty days and "spoke about the kingdom of God." When he told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of he Father, they asked him, "Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" Yeshua never rebuked them for their question, but answered that it was not up to them to know the time and season for this. They must first spread the good news to the ends of the earth. But that he will return again to Jerusalem and restore the kingdom to Israel was never even questioned. It was only the time factor that the disciples wanted to know. "This same Yeshua, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." (Ac 1:11) He will come back to do what? To set up the kingdom of God and rule on the throne of his father David forever. That is the clear message also of the New Testament.

Who will be the key to the rebirth of this world when the Son of Man sits down on his glorious throne (Mt 19:28)? The author is correct in stating that it is the Jewish people that will bring this about (Rom 11:15 and Ac 3:19-20). But where will it happen? Can it really happen just as well in New York as in Jerusalem as the author claims? Absolutely not! Yeshua clearly said that it will happen in Jerusalem. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, .I tell you, you will not see me again until you [Jerusalem] say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Mt 23:37,39) When will this happen? When the nations who attack Jerusalem are defeated and the spirit of grace and supplication is poured out upon the Jews in that city (Zec 12:9-10). Can we be faithful to God and still be neutral in this the final conflict of all ages? Impossible!

Replacement Theology

The author preaches classic replacement theology while at the same time stating that he rejects this theology. Based on replacement thinking he makes a fundamental error in his comment on Romans 11 when he says, "It is like a new branch that has been grafted onto an historic olive tree while the original branches (ethnic Israel) have been chopped off through unbelief (Rom.9-11)." What a totally misleading picture! The Bible does not say that the original branches have been chopped off whole sale. Furthermore, it is not one new branch that has been grafted on to a chopped down tree like if the church is a new people of God, a totally new tree just planted on to an old root.

Romans 11 gives us a completely different picture. Paul is explaining the miracle that Gentile believers have been grafted into the cultivated olive tree called Israel, which began with the calling of Abraham. Romans 11:17-18 says, "If some [not all!] of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others [among the Jewish believers who never left their tree] and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you." * The same message is given by Paul in Ephesians 2 and 3. Gentile believers are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with the people of Israel. (Eph 2:19) "This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." (Eph 3:6)

There is no doubt who the host people are. The covenants and the promises have not been given to the church. They have been given to Israel (Rom 9:4, Eph 2:12, Heb 8:8). The mystery of the gospel is that Gentiles can share in the new covenant and in the promises together with the Jewish people joining them in their own tree. Most Christian theologians have been blind to the mystery of Israel and have had it backwards for at least 1700 years. The Jews are not called to join some kind of non territorial, new, universal, Gentile church with a "pie in the sky" future. They are predestined to be grafted back into "their own olive tree" that Gentiles "against nature" through faith in their Messiah have been grafted in to.

Romans 15:8-10 explains, "For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs [not removing the promise from the Jews and giving them to the church] so that [in order that] the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: .'Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.'" (Rom 15:8-10) If God does not fulfill his promises to the Jewish people regarding their land and their city, neither will Gentiles have anything to rejoice about in the kingdom of God. It is that simple.

Instead of replacement theology and dispensational theology with two people of God, the Bible teaches "grafted in" theology. How fitting Paul's solemn warning to Gentiles still is today, "I am talking to you Gentiles .I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited [so that you will not be blinded by pride through an exaggerated opinion of your own importance]: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until [it is only a partial and temporary hardness or blindness] the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved." (Rom 11:13,25-26) As someone has said, "Always when Paul says, 'I don't want you to be ignorant', it is because we are!" How true this is in the church, not just about the gifts of the Spirit, but even more so concerning Israel!

Conclusion

In the Hebrew mindset the spiritual and the physical world go together. They are never separated. The so called New Testament is not a Greek book even though the message of its Jewish authors was translated into Greek. "Jerusalem above," is not unrelated to or opposed to dusty, old, physical Jerusalem in the Middle East even though spiritually the city at present is called Sodom and Egypt. God has never changed His original plan. Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, taught us to pray, "Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Jerusalem above will one day break through into the physical realm of the Middle East. This is the reality behind the worldwide, military and political conflict that we now see played out before our eyes in the Middle East. Principalities and powers in the unseen realm are very aware of what is at stake even though most Christian theologians blinded by anti Jewish bias tragically don't see it. May God have mercy!

The message of the entire Bible is territorial. Yeshua is waiting in heaven to return and sit down on the throne of his father David in Jerusalem. It is not as the author says that if we want to read the promises given to Israel and "shrink them back into literal, territorial dimensions we undermine the basis upon which we can believe in them ourselves." The Bible says that it is the exact opposite. Romans 15:10 says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." If God does not fulfill His promises to the Jewish people, their land and their city, neither will His promises be fulfilled for Gentiles through the coming of the kingdom of God in the earth out from Jerusalem.

With hundreds and hundreds of Bible verses promising the land of Israel forever to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in fact it is the most repeated promise in the entire Bible, it takes quite a lot of guts to make statements like, "From a biblical point of view we cannot say whether the return of Jewish nationhood (1948) has any significance, or was an act of man or of God. .Israel's claim to the land, .is not a claim Christians should support as their biblical mandate." Don't play "Russian roulette" with the Scriptures! It might just be that after all God actually means what He says and says what He means. There is too much is at stake here to take a chance. Most of the Jewish leaders missed the Messiah's first coming. Will most Christian theologians miss his second coming?

As Yeshua approached Jerusalem for the last time "he went on to tell them a parable" because "the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once." "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return."

"For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." (Lk 2:30-32)


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Endnotes

* Paul does not even use the term cut off concerning the natural branches, but the Greek word "ekklao" meaning "break off." Later on in verse 22 he uses a different Greek word for Gentile grafted in branches "ekkopto" meaning "cut down (off, out), hew down," indicating a definite "chopping off" with no future remedy.

"Prepare the way for the LORD"