Christian Zionism 1/5 Defending Christian Zionism; Five good New Testament verses, “five smooth stones from the stream”

Some thoughts on Christian Zionism;

First, a definition; Christian Zionism = The belief that Israel, the Jewish people, still have a redemptive purpose in God’s salvation history

This is the first of five shorter posts looking at different aspects of Christian Zionism. the titles for these five posts are;

1.1     Defending Christian Zionism; Five good New Testament verses, “five smooth stones from the stream” (1Samuel 17:40)

2.2      Christian Zionism and Gentiles,

3.3     Christian Zionism and Jews,

4.4      Christian Zionism and the Gospel, and

5.5      Christian Zionism and Jesus.

1.This post!

      Defending Christian Zionism; Five good New Testament verses, “five smooth stones from the stream” (1Samuel 17:40)

 “Be always ready to give an answer.” Five New Testament verses, with their Old Testament backup, that present a quick introductory basis for believing God still has redemptive purposes ahead for the nation of Israel. We start with two verses from Romans and Acts, which are then followed by three verses from Luke.

A.    
           Two great verses for showing Christian Zionism in the New Testament!

Romans 15:8 and Acts 3:21; God’s promises to the Patriarchs and God’s promises through the prophets!

In the New Testament, Paul states that; “Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs.” (Romans 15:8), while in Acts, Peter says of Jesus “He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” (Acts 3:21) 

1. First verse “Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs.”

Paul has already mentioned both these promises and the patriarchs; 

Romans 9:3-5 those of my own race, ⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. ⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

So, what are some of these promises to the patriarchs that Jesus came specifically to confirm? A good place to start is Psalm 105:8-11; “He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: "’To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit’."

So, among others, according to Paul, Jesus came to confirm this promise!

 

2.  Second verse “He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.”

According to Peter, Jesus will return to ‘restore all things promised by the holy Prophets’? – What did these promises given to the prophets include? Well, look at  

Ezekiel 20:41-43 I will accept you as fragrant incense when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will show myself holy among you in the sight of the nations. ⁴² Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land I had sworn with uplifted hand to give to your fathers. ⁴³ There you will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done.

Ezekiel 11:17-20 "Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.' "They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. ¹⁹ I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. ²⁰ Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Jeremiah 31:35-37 This is what the LORD says, 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: ³⁶ "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me." ³⁷ This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD.

 

Jeremiah 33:25-26 This is what the LORD says: 'If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.' "

Ezekiel 37:12-14, 21-28 “Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.' " … 21 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²⁴ " 'My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. ²⁵ They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever.” I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷ My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.' "

Discussion

So, God’s promises to the Patriarchs and through the prophets show his continuing faithfulness and love for Israel, and that he will restore them. Look again at the second of those two verses; “He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” This links to Acts 1:6-8 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" ⁷ He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Both use variations of the same basic word, restore.

Acts 3:21; ἀποκαταστάσεως  noun, gen. fem. sing

Acts 1:6; ἀποκαθιστάνεις verb, ind. Act pres, 3^rd p sing.

Calvin’s false comment; “there are as many errors as words in their question” is answered by the context.

Acts 1:3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

Acts 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit

So, in Acts 3, Peter has;

1. been taught by the risen Lord about the kingdom for 40 days,

2. has been filled with the Spirit, and,

3. having been present in Acts 1 when the question about restoring the kingdom to Israel was asked, and having heard the reply from Jesus, here he is,

4. and now, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is speaking words that that same Spirit has seen fit to include as part of the inspired word of Scripture!

So, he now repeats the word "restore" from the earlier question, confirming that everything promised by the holy prophets will be restored when Jesus returns! And as just seen, those promises major on the restoration of Israel! The change from “Israel” to “all things” probably shows already a processing of Jesus reply to the earlier question, his command to preach the Gospel to the ends of the world – “all things” now includes both the promises to Israel and those to the whole world. Note that in the same speech, Peter likewise references God’s promise to Abraham; 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'

Speaking of God’s promises;

Three great verses on God’s promises!

Psalm 89:34 I will not violate my covenant or alter (אֲשַׁנֶּֽה  repeat, 1 Samuel 26:8) what my lips have uttered. 

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

2 Corinthians 1:20 “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.”

So, did God promise to restore the people of Israel to their own land? Yes, and because of Jesus we know this will happen. What we see now are the first blossoming’s of redemption! He will gather and restore his people, and through him that “All Israel will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.” (Romans 11:26.)

The promise focuses in on Jesus! He is the deliverer, he will banish godlessness from Jacob, because in him all God’s promises find their yes!

B.     Next, 3 verses from Luke – the most universal and the most Jewish of the Gospels! Luke 1:54-55, Luke 1:67-74, Luke 1:32-33.

Luke begins with Zechariah, an old righteous priest chosen by lot, in the holy place of the Temple, surrounded by the prayers of Israel, with a message personally great for him, yet is met with unbelief!!! 

John 1:11-12 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

So, in Luke we find this continuity/discontinuity with the Old Testament promises and covenants right from the very beginning, for even after his initial unbelief, Zechariah goes on to proclaim God’s faithfulness;

Luke 1:67-74 “His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: ⁶⁸ "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. ⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David ⁷⁰ (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), ⁷¹ salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us-- ⁷² to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, ⁷³ the oath he swore to our father Abraham: ⁷⁴ to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear.”

See also the witness of Mary;

Luke 1:54-55 “He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful ⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."  

These verses show that it is through Jesus that God is helping Israel! He is God’s chosen vessel to help his servant Israel, it is in sending Jesus that God 

“has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David … salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us-- ⁷² to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, ⁷³ the oath he swore to our father Abraham: ⁷⁴ to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear.” Here, the Holy Spirit, at the very start of Jesus ministry, clearly affirms his continuity and fulfilment of God’s promises to David, covenant with Israel and oath to Abraham.

It is centered in Jesus! (not in Israel!) Jesus is the Messiah (!), and it is through him that God’s promises and covenants are enacted; “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.” This is all only possible because of Jesus!!

Finally, as the Angel of the Lord says to Mary;

Luke 1:32-33 “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, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

It is the Lord God who will give him the throne of his father David. If Jesus does not reign over the house of Jacob, then it is not the Jewish people who failed, but rather God himself! Note that Jesus also directs a question to himself about the kingdom, “will you at this time” to God the Father; "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” This is because while Jesus is the king, it is God the father, by his authority, who gives the kingdom to him.

Praise God he has not failed, and praise God his promises and covenants with Israel remain true!