Christian Zionism 5/5 Christian Zionism and Jesus.

Christian Zionism and Jesus.

It is all about Jesus and his glory!!

Our salvation and Israel’s restoration and the redemption of the whole earth are all focused on Jesus!!  In the New Testament, several times questions about the future of Israel are re-phrased to focus in on the person of Jesus. Because the Messiah has come, we know that Israel will be restored. Note that in these verses, there is usually also a stress on witnessing in the present, an appeal to the authority of the Old Testament prophets, and the promise that the redeemed Israel will be a blessing to the entire world (as promised to Abraham).

Luke 24:21-27 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see." ²⁵ He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

The disciples were sad and confused because Jesus had suffered and died, when they had thought that he was going to be the one to redeem Israel. Jesus replies that they should have believed what the prophets had spoken, that the Messiah had to suffer these things “and then enter his glory.” Does Jesus thereby equate the redemption of Israel with his entering his glory? And if so, why? Is Israel redeemed when Jesus enters his glory?

Luke 2:25-32 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ²⁹ "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. ³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation, ³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all people, ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

Simeon was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” The Holy Spirit directs him to “the Lord’s messiah.” The disciples want Israel restored? – look to my Glory. Again, there a link between Israel being consoled and Jesus. Especially as he is here described as “the glory of your people Israel.”

Are you and grieving over Israel? – look to God’s Messiah! Long for his glory to be revealed!

Well, firstly, God has already glorified Jesus. Acts 3:13 “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.” Philippians 2:9-11 “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name”. Daniel 7:14 “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power.”

Note however that this glory, while given, is also described in terms directly related to the second coming of Jesus. The Philippians passage continues; “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. Likewise in Daniel; “all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

This seems similar to Luke 19:12; “He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.” He has been given the glory, but it is only fully entered into when he returns, just as he has been given a kingdom, but only fully rules it upon his return.

The Scriptures about his return certainly major on his glory!

Psalm 102:16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory.

Psalm 24:7-9 Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. ⁸ Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. ⁹ Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Just in case there are any doubts as to who this is, 1Corinthians 2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Luke 17:24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.

Isaiah 52:9-10 Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people [the consolation of Israel], he has redeemed Jerusalem. ¹⁰ The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Simeon is looking for the consolation of Israel, and is fully satisfied when he sees Jesus. Why? Because we read in prophecy that the LORD will redeem Jerusalem, and he has seen the LORD!! Again, it is not just about Israel, rather it is the beginning of world wide redemption!

Isaiah 60:1 "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. ² See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. ³ Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

In Isaiah 49:6 God the Father says to Jesus: “He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

Isaiah 66:19 "I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations--to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians, to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.

Malachi 1:11 My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty. 

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. ² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.… ⁵ And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Isaiah 59:19-20 From the west, men will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along. ²⁰ "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the LORD.

Acts 3:25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'

Hebrews 2:10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Clearly, the prophets see the coming of the Messiah to Israel, the second coming of Jesus, as revealing his glory, rescuing Israel and blessing all nations. This is why Paul directly connects the consolation of Israel with the kingdom of God – the grafting back of the natural branches with the first resurrection, the return of the Lord; Romans 11:15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

God is doing all things well!! He is faithful to his promises for thousands of years, he is faithful to Abraham, and is working for the redemption of all humanity. God loves us all. There is indeed no favoritism, rather an endless generosity, proclaiming his goodness!!

Romans 11:28-36 “As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. ³² For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. ³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ³⁴ "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" ³⁵ "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" ³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.