A Christian Reflection
Someone wrote to me recently lamenting that Christian preachers were saying so little about the issue that is presently convulsing the world. I thought about giving a talk in our little town, then decided something in writing would occasion more thought, and perhaps less heat.
I should begin by disclaiming political expertise; nor do I have time for the kind of research I should first undertake before writing a paper like this. Nevertheless, as a Christian preacher I am accustomed to needing something for my congregation on a weekly basis. Also, for many years I have studied the Bible’s teaching about Israel and the nations—and there is much of it—and pondered how it might relate to the modern world. What I write is one Christian’s viewpoint.
Some Observations
I start with a few observations:
- As Christians, we are commanded by our Lord to disciple (teach) all the nations. This includes Jews and Palestinians. Jesus has opened the kingdom of God to believers of every tribe and ethnicity. We can do damage when we take sides in a conflict like this.
- There are Israeli Christians and Palestinian Christians. They are our true brothers.
- Israel is a secular democracy, containing people of many faiths, as well as atheists, Christians, and Muslims.
- There are many more Christian Palestinians than Christians in most Muslim-majority nations and many fine Christian institutions. A few years back I visited Bethlehem Bible College. It is a modern, innovative institution. I was especially taken with their college library which has a children’s section where mothers can bring their children on shopping day. What a good way to interface with a community. Recently we have become aware of Christian hospitals in Gaza; there is another in Nazareth. The Anglican Church has an archbishop in Israel. He is a Palestinian and the cathedral is in East Jerusalem. In 1977 I spent a month at St Georges College (part of the cathedral complex) doing an orientation to the Holy Land. We had lectures from Israelis and Palestinians.
- At a recent conference in Jerusalem I listened to talks by an Israeli and a Palestinian Christian. They were friends.
These things are personal awarenesses that underline the present tragedy for me.
Israel and the Covenant with Abraham
After the story of creation, Genesis comes quickly to the story of Abraham. God promised to be his God, and the God of his descendants, and to give them the land that is at the centre of the present struggle. I will call it “the Land,” the territory between Lebanon and Egypt. He also said that his blessing would come through Abraham to his children, and ultimately to all the nations of the world. Jews, Christians, and Muslims acknowledge Abraham as their father.
The outlines of the Old Testament story are also held dear by all three faith communities. Moses, David, and the prophets are held in honour by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Differences arise over the meaning of the four great exiles, the first in 721 BC when the kingdom of Samaria was removed from northern Israel, the second in 586 BC when the Jewish survivors of the war with Babylon were taken away from their land, the third in AD 70 when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans, and the fourth in AD 132 when Jerusalem was cleared of its Jewish inhabitants.
In Christian understanding Jews who do not follow Messiah Jesus are still in exile, whether or not they live in the Land; they are still away from God. They cannot claim the Land is theirs by divine right while they remain in a state of alienation.
In some Christian thinking God has rejected his historic people and replaced them with an international “church” of believers. This is called “replacement theology.” According to this understanding, the Church is “the new Israel.” Islam adopted this understanding, except that it is the Ummah (the worldwide community of Muslims). Muslims believe they are the heirs of the promise to Abraham and that the Land is theirs by divine right. Christians have never made any claim on the Land.
Other Christians acknowledge the various exiles of Jews from Palestine, but believe they still have a God-given calling, and a destiny as the historic people of God. This is my personal understanding. The new covenant (Jeremiah 31.31–3) was made with Israel and Judah, and is not conditional on their obedience. Therefore, it cannot be annulled or transferred. This is because in the new covenant God promises to overcome the Israelites’ inability to keep the law and give them a new heart.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Thus says the Lord, 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. Jeremiah 31.31–37
I do not believe this covenant has been annulled, nor that there has been any replacement of Jews as the sons of Jacob. I regard the continued existence of Israel as a miracle. What other nation had maintained its identity through four thousand years of suffering and struggle? However, what this means in terms of the Land is a more difficult question.
Jews, Muslims, and Christians
Muhammad valued both Old Testament and New, and viewed Christians and Jews as “people of the Book.” He placed them in a different category to idol-worshippers. In AD 637 Muslim Arabs conquered Palestine from the Christian Byzantine empire and ruled it until it was taken back by the Crusaders 400 years later. The Crusader kingdom lasted nearly 200 years, during which time Jerusalem was retaken by the Arabs. In the 7th century, the second holiest Muslim shrine was built on the site of the ruined Jewish temple (Haram al Sharif), and Muslims regard the Land as their own. In 1516 Palestine passed into the hands of the Ottoman (Turkish) empire (also Muslim) and remained under its control until it was taken by the British in the First World War, and given them to administer by the subsequent Treaty of Versailles. The British withdrew in 1948 and the Land was partitioned into a Jewish and Arab states by the United Nations. Muslims did not accept this recognition of Israel as an independent state.
Christians and the Land
Christians are on the sidelines in the present conflict, but it is important to understand their beliefs. The New Testament writers distinguish between the present city of Jerusalem and “the Jerusalem above,” meaning the inhabitants of the Land, and the people of God who are known only to God (Galatians 4.26). Jesus announced the coming of the kingdom of God. This was Jewish language referring to the end of this present evil age, the arrival of Messiah (the promised king), the resurrection of the dead, universal judgement, and the “age-to-come.” The age-to-come, or the aeon of eternal life, will entail the end of all evil and suffering, and “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Peter 3.13). When the human race said its big “No” to Jesus and his message, this kingdom was pushed into the future, but Christians (and Muslims) believe it will come as promised, when Jesus returns to rule the world. When Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth (land),” he spoke about the renewed world beyond the resurrection. (Matthew 5.5)
As far as Gentile Christians are concerned this means that the physical land of Palestine ceases to have any significance as the inheritance of the people of God in this age. The apostle Paul says that the promise to Abraham and his descendants was “the cosmos” (the universe: Romans 4.13). In Ephesians he prays for Christians that they might understand “the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” which is nothing less than “all things” (the universe), which has been placed under Christ’s rule. Christian hope, therefore, is directed towards “the world-to-come” which lies beyond Christ’s return and the general resurrection. They make no claim on the Land—which leaves us with the claims of Jews and Palestinians.
Jews and Palestinians
Jews were driven away from the Land in the second-century AD, but some soon returned, and there has been a Jewish presence ever since, living under different powers. Jews suffering persecution in Russia, France, and other countries came back in increasing numbers in the 19th and 20th centuries, and lived alongside the Arabs. It is questionable whether there was a “Palestinian” identity before state of Israel was declared. Arabs throughout the Levant lived under Turkish rule; they saw themselves as Arabs, whether they lived in Palestine or what today we call Saudi Arabia or Jordan. The Land was not heavily populated at this time. The Zionist movement, which began at the end of the 19thcentury, encouraged more Jews to return, which resulted in improvement to the economy, and an influx of settlers, both Jews and Arabs. Growing anxiety among Arabs at the number of Jews came to a head at the end of WWII, when the UN partitioned the Land between Arabs and Jews and the state of Israel was declared. This was resisted by Arabs, who, backed by armies from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan launched attacks on Jews, aimed at forcing them out of the country. This backfired when the Jews fought back and were victorious. The Arabs lost land, and the state of Israel became a political fact. Two more wars brought the same result: Israel consolidated its position each time they were attacked. Hamas (means “violence,” “passion”) is committed to driving all Jewish people from the Land and giving it back to the Palestinians.
Understanding Islam
Arab conquests began with Muhammad’s victorious campaigns in Arabia, and were and are seen by Muslims as God’s blessing and vindication. According to Islamic theology the world must become Muslim, preferably voluntarily, but if not, then by force. Islam is a martial religion. Muslim navies once controlled the Mediterranean, North Africa and Spain were conquered, and Muslim armies advanced as far as Vienna. This was the end of their expansion and the beginning of a long period of decline, which is a great sorrow to many Muslim people. According to their theology, they are meant to rule. To be subject to infidel powers, as they were under the British Empire, is a humiliating affront. Various jihadist movements have arisen, determined to carry on the holy war, especially against the American infidels. The presence of a non-Muslim state with American backing in Islam’s heartland is deeply resented, and Hamas is committed to removing it. This is a Muslim thing, more than Palestinian.
An Insoluble Problem
During WWII Nazi Germany attempted to annihilate the Jewish people. As we know, six million were murdered in concentration camps. For more than 18 centuries they had lived according to their own customs, dispersed in many countries, often persecuted, but surviving, and with no realistic prospect of a homeland of their own. Many now saw they would never be safe without a homeland of their own, and moved to the Land. In the wars of 1948, 1967, and 1973 many Palestinians lost their homes. When two people groups claim the same territory, there is a problem which sometimes is only solved militarily, regardless of the moral issues involved.
I believe the world owes the Jews—and the Palestinians. The holocaust was such a hideous crime, and ongoing anti-semitism is so serious, that the world owes it to provide the Jews a safe home. This was promised by the British at the time of WW I, and granted by the UN in 1948. We can hardly blame the Jews for fighting back when they faced annihilation in 1948, and in 1967, and in 1973. The world is now faced with the reality of a Jewish homeland. But what of the displaced Palestinians? The world owes them as well.
No more than we blame the Jews for defending themselves in 1948, 1967, and 1973 and coming out on top, do we blame the Palestinians for wanting back the lands they once lived on. But three and now a fourth war has only entrenched the Jews further. We must accept that Israel is here to stay. Anyone who believes in the providential rule of God—Christians do—should accept Israel’s existence; Muslims believe in fate, they should too. The question we must ask of Hamas and those who demonstrate for them is what they propose to do with the nine million Jews presently populating the Land. The thought is too horrible to contemplate, and explains why the Israelis will always fight like cornered tigers. They know, and have been there before.
So, we are left with the question how the world is to help the Palestinians. Part of the answer is the Arab diaspora we see nightly on our TV screens, though many of these are Arab Christians who have been made unwelcome in their own countries. But more help is needed, especially from their brothers in the Arab world.
With regard to the present conflict, the world’s leaders should be calling on Hamas to cease fighting. They could slip away tomorrow to Iran, or wherever, and the carnage will be over. If they are determined to fight on, Israel has no alternative than to destroy them—while they are bent on Israel’s destruction, to leave them in power means another war, and another.
Israel’s Future
My main study focus these days is the writings of Luke. He is the only non-Jewish writer of the New Testament. I am convinced he wrote in part to persuade Jewish people that Jesus truly came from God, and is their longed-for Messiah. I’m guessing Luke hoped to see a national turning even in his own time, though he never did.
Jesus himself warned his people that unless they repented and turned to God, they would be abandoned to their fate at the hands of the Gentile nations. He predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and city by the armies of Rome. Nevertheless, he also spoke of an eventual turning and of ultimate glory: an “until” which looks forward to better things.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you … Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ (Luke 13.34–35)
Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the time until the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled. (Luke 21.24)
The apostle Paul took up this question in answer to Gentiles who thought God’s mercy to them meant the final rejection of Israel. He says first that God’s election of Israel as his special people stands.
… God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11.29)
He explains that Israel has experienced a hardening—true in Paul’s day, and also in ours. Today, and though the ages many Jewish people have believed in Jesus Messiah, but the nation remains aloof. The consequence of their hardening is that the salvation Jesus promised for Israel did not come, but mercy has come to the Gentile nations. When will “the times of the Gentiles” be fulfilled? Only God knows that. The fact that people all over the world are still being drawn to trust in the Saviour shows that the door of forgiveness is still open.
But Paul also looks forward to the time when salvation will catch up with Israel, and hints that the end of the age will not be far away when it does.
If their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead. (Romans 11.15)
Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And thus [in this way] all Israel will be saved. (Romans 11. 25)
The State of Israel
I am often asked whether the gathering of Jews in the state of Israel is connected in some way to biblical prophecy? I do not know; I do not think we can say. Only God knows what he is doing, and what the future holds. When all is done, we will see it and understand, but until that time we cannot know. All we can say is that it may be so. Perhaps God is gathering his historic people for some great purpose. As Christians we should not be surprised if it were so. As a Christian, I pray for God’s Spirit to do a miraculous work among his historic people to turn their hearts to Jesus. I know it will happen one day, but cannot say when or how. One thing I am sure of: I would hate to be found fighting this people. God’s promise to Abraham stands: “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” (Genesis 12.3) In the past, Christians have ignored this reality and sinned grievously. We must not do so again.
I hope all Christians will be much in prayer to the God of history—whatever their views—to quickly bring this suffering to an end.
David Seccombe