Should Christians Support Israel?
Why do so many Christians support Israel? Have they been duped by Zionist propaganda? Do they naively believe that Israel can do no wrong? Some might. But thoughtful Christians do not base their support on politics. They base it on God’s promises.
First off, supporting Israel does not mean endorsing every action of the modern nation or its government. Christians can recognize that the state of Israel, like every other government, is made up of sinful people who make sinful decisions. Our support is not political. It is theological. We support Israel because God keeps His promises.
Understanding the Bible is a lot like assembling a massive jigsaw puzzle. You need the box cover to see how each piece fits, and the nation of Israel is a crucial part of that picture. Israel’s story begins in Genesis 12 when God called Abram, later known as Abraham, from his homeland. God blessed Abraham by promising him land and numerous descendants. He also said through Abraham, all families of the earth would be blessed by the promised Messiah, who would save humanity from sin. Although this promise was made in Genesis 12, the covenant was not ratified until Genesis 15, and it was established in quite an unusual way.
In the ancient Near East, a covenant was typically sealed by cutting animals in half and walking between the pieces, which symbolized a binding agreement. If either party broke the covenant, it would be nullified, leading to the same deadly fate as the animals. Interestingly, in Genesis 15, God put Abraham into a deep sleep and established the covenant unilaterally. This one-sided agreement meant that God alone took responsibility for fulfilling it. As Numbers 23:19 states, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.” This means that God will not break the covenant made with Abraham and his descendants.
However, that was not the only covenant God made with the Jewish people. He also enacted the Davidic covenant, establishing David’s lineage as the royal line through which the Messiah would come. In 2 Samuel 7:12-13, God promised David, “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” This covenant affirmed God’s commitment to David and his descendants, pointing to Jesus Christ, the ultimate Davidic King, who will reign from Jerusalem upon David’s throne. And the reason He will reign is that He has fulfilled the third covenant.
The third covenant God made with Israel is known as the Mosaic covenant, which includes not only the Ten Commandments, but also the additional 603 laws that the Jewish people were to follow. Unlike the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants, which were based solely on God’s promises, the Mosaic covenant is bilateral, requiring both God and the Israelites to uphold their responsibilities. The terms were straightforward: “Obey, and I will bless you. Disobey, and I will curse you” (Deuteronomy 28:1, 2, 15). However, human sinfulness revealed the law’s limitations, since no one could perfectly adhere to its demands. At least not until Christ.
In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.” Through His perfect obedience and sacrificial death, Christ met the requirements of God’s law on our behalf, reconciling us to God by faith. In doing so, He upheld the Mosaic covenant and ensured that the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants would one day be fulfilled through Him as the perfect Son of David, who will reign in Israel with all of God’s people.
So what does all this have to do with supporting Israel? In Genesis 12, a part of the Abrahamic covenant states, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” Therefore, Christians support Israel for two reasons. First, God supports Israel. Second, through Israel, God has blessed us. The same verse continues, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” It is through Jesus Christ alone, the perfect Israelite, that we experience that blessing by grace through faith in Him.
The Bible is clear, the blessings God is bringing through Israel are not finished. In Romans 11, Paul reminds Gentile believers that we have been grafted into the covenant blessings that first belonged to Israel (Romans 11:17-18). He warns us not to become arrogant, for if we received such mercy through their unbelief, how much greater will the blessing be when all Israel believes (Romans 11:12, 25-26). When that day comes, the world itself will be flooded with blessing and glory, as God keeps His promise to restore His people and reign through His Son (Zechariah 12:10; 14:9; Revelation 20:4-6).
Christians do not support Israel because we believe she is perfect. We support Israel because her story reveals a faithful God who keeps His word, even when His people do not.
