Why Christians Should Support Israel
God has already confirmed His commitment to the Jewish people by bringing back thousands of Jews from all over the world to their homeland and in the recreation of the modern State of Israel as that homeland.
That Israel should once again be a soveriegn nation should not come as a suprise to any serious student of the Bible as it is a familiar theme throughout the Old Testament:
4 If any of your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there will the LORD your God gather you, and from there will he bring you back 5 and the LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers.
Deut. 30:4-5
21 Say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, where they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all; 23 neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. 24 My servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25 They shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children's children, forever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever. 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. 27 My tent also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 The nations shall know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore.
Eze. 37:21-28
14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity,
and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them;
and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them.
They shall also make gardens,
and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their land,
and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,”
says the Lord your GOD.
Amos 9:14-15
Since God has not rejected His people and still has yet to fulfill all of the promises that He made to them, then it stands to reason that we as Christians must be in agreement with God and His purposes for Israel and the Jewish people. God has determined that whoever blesses Israel will be blessed and that whoever curses Israel will be cursed:
2 "I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you, and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you."
Gen. 12:2-3
Notice that God said "I will"; this promise stands on the integrity of God — it is an everlasting promise, not dependant upon what Abram or his descendants would or would not do, and so therefore it still stands today as it has ever since the day that God declared it to Abram and confirmed it to Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel (Genesis 32:28):
Your [Jacob] seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.
Gen. 28:14
It is important to notice that not only will all the families of the earth be blessed 'in your seed' – which is Christ (see Galatians 3:14-16) but that it also says 'In you ...will all the families of the earth be blessed.'. The 'In you' refers to Jacob, which is Israel. What God is saying is that the Gentiles will be blessed both by the 'seed', that is Christ and in Jacob/Israel - that is, the Jewish people will be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Isn't this a very real reason to pray for Israel and the Jewish people? That if they are to be a blessing to the Gentiles what else are we to do but to bless them and pray for them.
God has determined that His calling to the Jewish people will one day come to fulfillment:
25 For I don't desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won't be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written,
"There will come out of Zion the Deliverer,
and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
27 This is my covenant to them,
When I will take away their sins."
28 Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Rom. 11:25-29
Supporting Israel is not to give blanket approval to everything that the State of Israel does – Israel is by no means perfect – but we should always bear Israel up in our prayers, recognising the hand of God at work.