Why I Stand With Israel
I’ve been getting the same question over and over lately. Maybe it’s my Facebook profile pic, or the Israeli flag we’re flying outside our house (next to, but respectfully lower than our American flag). Maybe it’s the “I Stand with Israel” sticker on our truck or my “I Stand With Israel” sweatshirt. Whatever the reason, both online and in person, the inquiry that has been coming my direction is: “Why do you support Israel?”
There’s a long answer (see below). But the simple reason comes down to just four words: “In the beginning God...”
Any “why?” asker who isn’t on board with that phrase and the 66 books that follow it, can skip the rest of this.
(I’ll wait while you close the window and go back to scrolling Facebook.)
Ok. We now return to our regularly scheduled blog: “In the beginning God...” How we respond to those four simple words impacts how we live and what happens to us when we die. After learning that God was there in the beginning, we read further and learn that He created everything – the universe, the stars, the sun, the moon, the earth, the animals, the plants... And He created us in His image – a revelation that gives us all value and results in a respect and love for others because, no matter how we might behave, we are all divine image bearers.
Why stand with Israel? While there are plenty of reasons, I’ve boiled mine down to five.
Critical Sidenote: We also find in that first book that our ancestors chose to rebel against God and that we now carry that same nature (Genesis 3; Romans 3:10-12). As a result, we are incapable of living up to God’s standard as set forth in the Bible. Bottom line: we are all guilty of breakings God’s law. The Bible puts it this way: “...All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The punishment for this is death (Romans 6:23). Which is why God made the grand sacrifice of sending His only Son, Jesus, to die in our place. We now have the opportunity to be forgiven and, instead of being sentenced to eternal death, can receive the free gift of God – eternal life in Christ Jesus (Romans 10:9).
Back to Israel: Why stand with them? While there are plenty of reasons, I’ve boiled mine down to five.
Reason 1: God specifically chose Israel and the Jewish people.
In Genesis, God singled out Abram and told him: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you...” (Genesis 12:1,2).
Later, in Deuteronomy, the Bible declares: “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6). (See also Psalm 135:4, Exodus 19, Jeremiah 30:22.)
Reason 2: God gave the land to Israel and the Jewish people.
God led Abram to the land of Canaan (the modern nation of Israel lies within the borders of that territory), and promised, “The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).
Later in Genesis, God told Abraham’s son, Isaac: “Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father” (Genesis 26:3).
Then God made the same promise to Isaac’s son, Jacob – aka Israel: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you” (Genesis 35:12).
Reason 3: God promised that the Jewish people would be dispersed, and that He would eventually regather them into the land of Israel.
Through the prophets, God told the people of Israel that they would be scattered to the nations because of their disobedience (Leviticus 26:33). In AD 138, the nation of Israel ceased to exist and in fulfillment of prophecy, they were dispersed. However, the prophet Jeremiah, writing between 630 and 550 BC, predicted God would bring the Israelites back. God promised, “For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors” (Jeremiah 16:15). In Jeremiah 24, God repeated, “I will bring them back to this land...” (See also Isaiah 11:10-12; Jeremiah 33)
An entire chapter in Ezekiel prophesies the same event: “For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land” (Ezekiel 36).
The prophet Isaiah, writing between 740 and 701 BC, described how God would accomplish this great feat: “Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?” (Isaiah 66:8). And on May 14, 1948, God did just that: Israel became a nation again in a single day.
Zechariah talked about the eventual reclamation of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God” (Zechariah 8:7,8). In 1967, Israel reclaimed Jerusalem.
Reason 4: God says He will bless those who bless Israel.
God makes it crystal clear: “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you...” (Genesis 12:3a). It’s both a promise and a sobering warning.
Reason 5: God promised to bless the nations of the earth through Israel.
The fulfillment of this can be seen in several respects. The Jewish people and the nation of Israel have been responsible for astounding innovations and inventions in every field – from mathematics and chemistry, to medicine and computers. (For a sampling, go here and here.) Israel also boasts a disproportionate number of Nobel prizes – more per capita than Germany, the United States, or France, and more Nobel laureates than India, China, and Spain.
Jesus came from the tribe of Judah, from the line of King David, as the Jewish Messiah.
Far, far beyond their amazing scientific, technological, and medical contributions, God has used the Jews and Israel to bless the world with His Word and His Son. Of the 66 books in the Bible, all but two (the Gospel of Luke and Acts) were written by Jews. Jesus came from the tribe of Judah, from the line of King David, as the Jewish Messiah. (See Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38.)
God conducted His global rescue mission through the Jews and Israel – in the Person of Jesus (John 3:16).
In summary, God says He is for Israel and the Jewish people. Therefore, I am too.
Important note: Even if none of the above were true, I would still be compelled to take Israel’s side in the present war. To do otherwise would be to condone, support, and participate in barbaric, horrific, unconscionable acts of violence carried out by maniacal terrorists. There is no excuse for the Hamas attacks and no defense for their complete disregard for human life and demonic thirst for blood. Their actions must be condemned and they must be defeated.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who stood against the Nazis and was hanged for his dissent, once declared:
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
While it may not be a popular position in our upside-down world, I choose to unapologetically speak for, act on behalf of, and stand with Israel.