Will the Real Israel Please Stand?

 

Will the Real Israel Please Stand?
By
James Scott Trimm

 

I am proud to say that the Texas Republican Party is a pro-Israel party, with a pro-Israel platform, and that earlier this month at the State Convention 95% of Texas delegates voted in favor of the pro-Israel plank of the Texas Republican Party Platform.

That said, antisemitism in the world, the US and in Texas is on the rise.  And unfortunately there are efforts to undermine the pro-Israel aspect of the Texas Republican Party.  There were efforts to remove the plank by some, and an effort to exclude the term "antisemitism" was successful.  

Now certain voices in our party are asking "Will the Real Israel Please Stand?" challenging the legitimacy of the modern State of Israel and what they call "Christian Zionism".

Let me begin by saying that "Zionism" is simply the belief that the world's only Jewish state has a right to exist.  If you don't believe that the world's only Japanese state has a right to exist, then you are anti-Japanese.  And if you don't believe that the world's only Jewish state has a right to exist, then you are an antisemite.  Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.  

Those making these attacks are disguising their anti-Zionism (antisemitism) as mere "eschatology" and interpretation of biblical prophecy.  They then present an interpretation which casts modern Israel and the Jewish people as a false-Israel.  Some will go so far as to identify them as the "synagogue of Satan" mentioned in Revelation. 

Christian eschatology falls under three categories, premillenialism, postmillenialism and amillenialism.  Premillenialists believe that Jesus will return to establish his 1,000 year Kingdom.  Postmillenialists believe that the Church will build the Kingdom and Jesus will return to receive it.  And amillenialists believe that the Church is the Kingdom. Premillenialism can be further subdivided into Historical Premillenialism and Dispensationalism.  Dispensationalists tend to believe that there will be a rapture of the Church followed by a seven year tribulation and then Jesus makes his final return to establish his Kingdom on earth.  The majority of Evangelical Christians in the United States are Premillenialists, mostly Dispensationalists.While Amillenialists, like Premillenialists, see a great tribulation coming and "dark decline" in the last days, Postmillenialists see the Church building God's Kingdom on earth in the last days.  This gives rise to "Kingdom Now" and "Dominion" theology.  So-called Christian Nationalism is an outgrowth of this Kingdom Now theology.  In many cases, these individuals wish to create an American Christian Theocracy.

These three different theologies tend to shape one's view of Israel.  Premillenialists, especially Dispensationalists, tend to view the Church and Israel as two separate entities.  They believe that the Jewish people are God's chosen people and that God's plan for Israel and the Jewish people is not over.  As I said, these are the majority of Evangelicals in the United States.  It is this theology that Andrew Iskar, Christian Nationalist writer and speaker, calls "dubious theological shackles."  

This leaves us with Postmillenialism and Amillenialism.  Those who subscribe to these theologies fall into two major groups: Dual Covenant Theology and Church Israel Replacement Theology. Dual Covenant theology teaches that the Church and Israel (i.e. the Jews) each have their own dynamic relationship with God thru separate Covenants.  While Church Israel Replacement Theology (also known as Supersecionism, teaches that the Church has replaced Israel, and that the Church, not the Jewish people, is the true Israel. One may hold to supercesionism without being an anti-zionist a supersionalist need not oppose the right of Japan to sexist or be anti-Japanese.

Finally a special note is required regarding the Roman Catholic Church.  Under the Vatican II declarations, the Catholic Church recognized that the Jewish people have a Covenant relationship with God apart from the Church, and rejected antisemitism and in 1994 the Roman Catholic Church established diplomatic relations with Israel, recognizing it's right to exist.  However some fundamentalist Roman Catholics reject these moves by the Church.

Now these different views see modern Israel as fitting into Biblical Prophecy in different ways, but many of them see a prophetic significance to the birth of the modern State of Israel.  Whole books have been written on this topic.  The Republican Party has always been pro-Israel and our Texas Republican Party Platform has always been pro-Israel.  

Allow me to share my own view, of biblical prophecy concerning the birth of modern Israel.   

1 Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:
2 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:
3 Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:
4 Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about;
5 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.
(Ezekiel 36:1-7 KJV)

I have included only the first seven verses here, but you may want to read the whole chapter.  God does not restore the Jewish nation because of merit.  He does not do so because of anything the Jews have done.  Ezekiel 36 tells us that God would restore the Jewish people to their land because of their terrible mistreatment at the hands of other nations.  And this is exactly what happened.  In the wake of the holocaust, there was great sympathy for the Jewish people, and the UN voted to partition land for Israel out of the British Mandate (there was never a Palestinian State there).  

Is God done with the Jewish People?  The prophet Jeremiah writes:  

35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
(Jer. 31:35-37 KJV)

What is the “Synagogue of Satan” mentioned in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9?   Both passages identify this group as “those who say they are Jews but lie”.

An interpretation of the above texts have surfaced which interprets these texts to refer to those Jews who do not accept Yeshua as the Messiah. But an honest look at the Scriptures will show that it is not possible to identify the “Synagogue of Satan” in this way.

To begin with it is important to recognize that the same John wrote both Revelation and the Gospel of John. Not only is this the traditional understanding, but there are a number of common elements that point to the common authorship of these two books. Both books identify the Messiah as the “lamb” (Jn. 1:29; Rev. 5:6, 8, 12; 14:1) and as the incarnate “word” (Jn. 1:1-3, 14; Rev. 19:13) and both refer to the “living waters” (Jn. 4:10; 7:38; Rev. 22:1). 

Now we must look at how John uses the word “Jew” in his own writings. John himself frequently invokes the term “Jews” to refer to Jewish people who did not accept Jesus as the Messiah. For example:

“therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus” (Jn. 5:16)
“the Jews sought more to kill him” (Jn. 5:18)
“the Jews then murmured at him” (Jn. 6:41)
“the Jews sought to kill him” (Jn. 7:1)
etc. etc. etc.

Clearly John has absolutely no objection whatsoever to using the term “Jews” to refer either to Jews who accepted Messiah or those that rejected him. Therefore the statement in Rev. 2:9 and 3:9 cannot be criticizing the usage of the word “Jews” to describe Jews who don't believe Jesus in the Messiah. Otherwise John would here be criticizing his own inspired writing in the Gospel of John in which he does just that himself frequently!

In closing, this is our Texas Republican Party Platform on Israel.  Do not be fooled: