Israel: A Nation the World Can't Ignore

The Flags of Israel & Jerusalem (Unsplash Stock Image via Wix)

The history of human civilization is a graveyard of vanished empires. The Hittites, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians once commanded the world with absolute authority, yet they have long since dissolved into the dust of archaeology. The mighty Persian and Roman machines, which once seemed eternal, eventually crumbled into the footnotes of history books, their gods forgotten and their customs lost. Amidst this debris of fallen titans, one ancient thread remains remarkably unbroken. While other people groups have been absorbed into the cultures of their conquerors, it is the Jewish people that have maintained a singular, unyielding identity for four millennia.

Tracing their origins back to the Bronze Age, when God called Abraham out of Mesopotamia, this lineage established a cultural and territorial identity in the Levant that became the foundational cornerstone for Western systems. From the emergence of the Davidic monarchy to the strategic power shifts of the classical Mediterranean, the survival and enduring presence of this nation remain a central, inexplicable constant. Israel stands as the great historical and providential exception: a people who also survived about two thousand years of global displacement only to return to some of the very land promised at the dawn of history.

From Dispersion to Restoration

Even the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. failed to sever the thread. And, while the conquering Romans eventually went the way of the Babylonians as well, the people of Israel still did not cease to exist. They endured centuries of wandering, systematic pogroms, and the horrors of the Middle Ages, preserved by a providence that defies natural explanation. Then, in 1948, following the atrocities of Nazi Germany during World War II, the United Nations officially recognized the modern State of Israel.

Yet, while the UN could ratify a border, it played no role in a foundation that transcends bureaucracy. The true creation of the Jewish people began in Genesis, shortly after the dawn of history. From those ancient roots to the harrowing attacks of October 7, 2023 and ever-escalating tensions with Iran, Israel still remains the undeniable axis of the world’s gaze.

The Foundation: Proper Hermeneutic

For the Christian, navigation of both headlines and history must be dictated entirely by a proper hermeneutic of God's Word, the interpretive anchor that either secures the believer in the unchanging truth of Scripture or leaves them adrift in a sea of human opinion. Put simply, a Biblical hermeneutic is the lens through which one reads Scripture. It dictates whether the plain, inerrant text defines what is true, or if the shifting winds of modern politics are allowed to redefine the text of Scripture. 

Just as a Biblical view of creation dictates one's perspective on science, morality, and history, a consistent hermeneutic is the only way to process the evening news. To abandon a literal, contextual reading is to invite the very intellectual deceptions, past and present, that prioritize human pragmatism over the unchanging faithfulness of Yahweh.

Intellectual Deceptions: Then and Now

History reveals that whenever a civilization or its intellectual elite adopt a posture of antipathy toward the Jewish people, moral and societal decay follows. This trajectory of ruin is visible today across the Islamic states, descendants of Abraham’s other son, Ishmael, and it has haunted history for millennia. Encompassing the stories of Haman the Agagite’s conspiracy in ancient Persia to the Roman Empire’s desperate campaign of damnatio memoriae, an attempt to erase Jewish identity by renaming the land Syria Palaestina and the capital Aelia Capitolina, time and again, those who attempt to contest or erase Israel’s existence find themselves standing on the wrong side of divine providence. This pattern reached a most horrifying zenith in the systematic pseudo-intellectualism of 20th-century Germany, where the call to “solve” the Jewish question resulted in the total collapse of the Third Reich and a permanent stain on the conscience of the world.

This assault on Israel also took root in the late 18th-century rise of German Higher Criticism, or the historisch-kritische Methode. Pioneered by rationalists like J.G. Eichhorn, this method deconstructed the Bible from the inerrant Word of God to a mere collection of human artifacts. By reducing Biblical Israel to just another ancient Middle Eastern tribe, these scholars effectively “de-Judaized” Christian theology, stripping the Hebrew people of their unique covenantal significance and providing an intellectual veneer for extreme anti-Judaism. Today, this same spirit of “higher criticism” is now seen in the form of modern Christian deconstructionism. Swap an intellectual's academic gown for a podcast studio and the “ideological captive” has simply found a new megaphone for his prideful stance, allowing a new generation of “enlightened” voices to once again replace the literal promises of God with their own social and philosophical higher criticisms.

Tucker Carlson has recently personified this spirit of deconstruction by challenging the long-standing Christian consensus on Israel’s territorial rights. His rhetoric appears driven by a shifting isolationist alignment with Russia, a power historically hostile to the Jewish state. In these exchanges with US politicians aligned with Israel, Carlson weaponizes a hyper-secularized “who is a Jew?” debate, specifically targeting the Eastern European ancestry of leaders like Benjamin Netanyahu to invalidate their connection to the Levant. He attempts to sever the modern state from its Biblical status by focusing on the secularism of its founders, as if the unconditional covenant of Yahweh could be nullified by the spiritual hardening of a single generation. By reducing the divinely authored “property deed” of Genesis 15 to a forensic dispute over DNA and foreign policy, Carlson is doing more than questioning an alliance; he is attempting to litigate the faithfulness of God in a court of nationalistic pragmatism. In such an arena, the eternal mandates of Scripture are cross-examined by the immediate, material interests of the state and the “already-not-yet” reality of God’s unfolding plan is wholly rejected. Tucker Carlson suggests that the veracity of the literal Word of God is ultimately subordinate to political sense, failing to recognize that the current nation, secular as it may be, remains the providential vessel for the very remnant Yahweh swore to preserve.

Tucker Carlson's political sense overrides Biblical hermeneutics and the result is a grievously distorted view of the Word of God. This is seen in rampant manifestation both on the political right and the political left. Those who align their views with secular agendas, movements, or powers that oppose the inerrant Scripture, including those promises made to Israel and the inextricable link to “modern day Israel”, find themselves forming wild views with which to wriggle out from under such odds.

The Arrogance of the Enlightened

History shows that when the intellectual elite decide they are too “enlightened” for the plain meaning of Scripture, they create a vacuum filled by the same spirit of pride that birthed the ideologies of Adolf Hitler. Antisemitism has a horrifying intellectual history rooted in the attempt to undermine the very integrity of God. By claiming He has discarded His ancient promises, these critics aren’t just attacking a nation; they are attempting to prove that God is capable of breaking His Word. 

This history is paved by men who were highly esteemed and wise in the eyes of the world, yet they became a living testament to Romans 1:22, “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” Scripture again warns of this arrogance when Paul writes, “For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.’” (1 Corinthians 1:19) When a Christian adopts these sophisticated, politically-driven arguments, they are not merely engaging in debate, they are participating in a spiritual insurrection against the immutable character of the Sovereign they claim to serve.

The Vessel and the Remnant

To navigate the modern “lay of the land,” we must distinguish between “Old Testament Israel,” the covenant nation of promise, and “modern-day Israel,” the secular state established in 1948. While these two entities are not identical, they are inextricably bound by the immutable faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God. History has shown that Yahweh consistently employs physical, geopolitical “vessels” to safeguard His redemptive ends. We see this in the Decree of Cyrus the Great, a secular mandate that served as the providential vessel to return the Jewish remnant to the land after the exile.

If God previously used a pagan king to facilitate His promises, it should not be surprising that He uses a secular nation-state as the holding vessel or land for that same people. Such a holding land is vividly captured in Ezekiel 36:24-25, where Yahweh declares, “And I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idols.” The order is crucial: the physical restoration to the land (the vessel) precedes the spiritual cleansing! Therefore, they will be restored to their land while, as Romans 11:25 says, are still partially hardened (see also Romans 11:5).  Isaiah 11:11 echoes this, prophesying a “second time” that the Lord will recover the remnant of His people from the four corners of the earth. This second time is the “already-not-yet” of providence: the vessel is prepared even before the inhabitants are spiritually restored.

To sever the link between Old Testament Israel and modern Israel is to repeat the ancient error of the Gnostics and radical Allegorists, who viewed the physical world as a mere distraction. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul delivers the final gavel in Romans 11:28-29, insisting that while the nation may be in a state of unbelief, they remain “beloved for the sake of the fathers,” because the “gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” This irrevocable calling is proof of the divine guarantee that God never break the promises made to His people, Israel. If one believes that the same God who sovereignly elects the Church to an eternal destiny is the same God who spoke the Old Testament covenants, then one must conclude that His promises to ethnic Israel are as irrevocable as His promises of salvation to the saints. (see John 10:28-29, Romans 8:38-39, Philippians 1:6, Ephesians 1:13-14, 1 Peter 1:5) 

The late pastor and author, John MacArthur, stated that it is a theological inconsistency to champion the “permanent election” for the believer while relegating Israel’s election promise to a “temporary” status that was somehow canceled by their hardening. “You have to basically say that when God called Israel His elect, and when God gave them unconditional, unilateral, irrevocable promises, He didn’t keep them – or He doesn’t keep them – so that election doesn’t mean permanent election; it might be temporary, as in the case of Israel.” (MacArthur, Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist, Part 3 2007) To do so makes God a liar and strips the Word of its literal authority. This is, in fact, heresy.

While “modern day Israel” originated largely through the efforts of secular Zionists who claimed no divine mandate, the student of Scripture sees what the secular world misses: God is keeping His word. As Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler states, “Israel and the land on which Israel now sits are a part of God’s eternal purposes.” (Friel & Mohler, Many Believers Will Disagree With Our View on Israel, but It’s Biblical, 2026) This geopolitical infrastructure provides the “holding vessel” for the ancient covenant remnant throughout the modern state, until the purposes of God reach their final consummation. 

To be clear, this recognition is not some modern theological novelty; believers have affirmed this understanding since the promises were made, not because of tradition, but because God, the Author of Scripture has laid it out so succinctly. And through all of this, the very recent restoration events less than 100 years ago, in 1948, stand as a monumental sign of God’s covenantal faithfulness that continues to unfold.

An Unconditional Deed: The Sovereign Abrahamic Promise

The foundation of a Christian’s attitude toward Israel rests firmly upon Scripture's account of the Abrahamic Covenant. When God cut this covenant in Genesis 15, He performed a solemn, one-sided ceremony. God caused Abraham to fall into a sleep, while God alone passed through the divided pieces of the sacrifice. This act signified that the fulfillment of the promise depends entirely on God’s immutable character and absolute sovereignty, not on man’s fickle performance or constant failure and even temporary spiritual blindness. Yes, this is an unconditional, unilateral treaty. If the promise were dependent on Israel’s obedience, it would have been forfeited just a few years after it began. But, like salvation by grace through faith alone that, once received cannot be rescinded or lost, it depends on the veracity of the Almighty; it is a permanent and irrevocable deed. 

The Abrahamic Covenant consists of a threefold promise: a land, a nation, and a seed. This is what is laid out in Genesis 12:7, 13:15-16, 17:8, and 26:4. And, in Galatians 3:29, the marvelous reach of God’s grace is revealed to the rest of the world! “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” This extension of the promise signifies the grafting in of the Church, not as a replacement for Abraham's lineage, but as a participation in the spiritual blessings of the covenant through the ultimate Seed, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. (see Galatians 3:16) Now, while the “seed” finds its ultimate and glorious fulfillment in the Person of Jesus Christ, the “land” and the “nation” remain active, unfulfilled components of God’s divine plan. Scripture defines the Jewish people by lineal descent, and the Church holds no authority to redefine them as a solely metaphorical or spiritual entity. God does not lie, nor does He issue temporary promises that expire due to human failure. To suggest that the Church has somehow usurped or “inherited” the specific territorial and national promises given exclusively to the physical descendants of Abraham is to embrace the grave error of Replacement Theology.

Supersessionism: Conditional Grace

That theological view, also known as Supersessionism, fundamentally attacks the character of God by implying that His Word has a “conditional clause” which has now been violated. In reality, God’s Word remains a standing order for every nation and every generation. “And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3) This is not a mere suggestion for ancient history; it is an active principle of God's providence. To stand against the preservation of the Jewish people is to stand against the very Sovereign who swore by His own name to bring them back to their own land! (See Ezekiel 36:22, 24 and Zechariah 2:8 for a warning.) 

When a Christian chooses to turn against Israel, he demonstrates none of the grace that God has shown to him.. Such a proponent believes it is all over for Israel as a nation due to their unbelief and they have lost their function in the history of redemption as a result. To have such a view, John MacArthur says, “you have to ignore the clear words of Zechariah 12 to 14, Ezekiel 36 to 39, Romans 9 to 11, particularly. And you also have to do damage to your own understanding of sovereign grace, because you are saying that Israel failed to believe, Israel failed to embrace Christ, and so Israel on its own failed to do what it was supposed to do. By saying that, you would have to also say that Israel would have guaranteed its own place in the future purposes of God if on its own it had done what was right. The problem is, nobody can believe except by the sovereign grace of God. Israel has failed, but that has not altered God’s plan, because the generation that is elect has not yet come.” (MacArthur, Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist, Part 3 2007)

The Gavel of Romans 11

Any remaining illusions of Replacement Theology are blown completely away in the eleventh chapter of Romans. The Apostle Paul addresses the error of those who think God is finished with His people, cancelled His promises, and gone back on His Word to Israel. He asks point-blank, “Did they stumble so as to fall? May it never be!” (Romans 11:11). Again, he further clarifies the nature of God’s commitment by saying that the “gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29)

The relationship between the church and Israel is not one of replacement, but of grafting. Paul explains that the natural branches (Israel) were broken off so that wild branches (Gentile believers) could be grafted into the tree of promise. However, the tree itself remains rooted in the covenant made with Old Testament Israel. Scripture does not support a new tree; it teaches clearly that they are grafted into Israel’s promise. Furthermore, Scripture promises that, of those branches even broken off, “God is able to graft them in again.” (Romans 11:23)

As if he could see the types of theological views that would come after him, Paul lays out an undeniable refutation of any theology conceived by the “wise” intellectuals preach a dismissal of the future of the Jewish nation and have decided that such a stance fits better into their geopolitical worldview than the clear teachings of God’s Word. Paul writes, “For I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved.” (Romans 11:25-26) The clarity of this divine decree leaves no room for ambiguity: the current spiritual “hardening” is strictly partial and explicitly temporary. It is a sovereignly timed pause, not a permanent rejection. Scripture frames the ultimate salvation of “all Israel” not as a hopeful possibility or a metaphorical sentiment, but as a future certainty guaranteed by the immutable Word of Yahweh!

Futuristic Premillennialism and the Literal Reign

A consistent, literal hermeneutic leads inevitably to the eschatological framework that has been recently termed as Futuristic Premillennialism to set it apart from other conclusions that are similar but contain discernable error. It is important to recognize that many theological systems often contain fragments of truth without being accurate in their entirety. In this sense, Futuristic Premillennialism shares certain foundational points with Dispensational theology, particularly regarding the future of Israel. John MacArthur famously described himself as a “leaky dispensationalist” to highlight this very distinction: one can affirm the truthful, Biblical aspects of a system while firmly rejecting its errors. Consequently, while there may be common ground found on the timing of the return of Christ, sharply diverging from classic Dispensationalism must be given simultaneously by rejecting any suggestion of multiple ways of salvation or a “two-kingdom” theology that separates God’s redemptive purposes. 

Futuristic Premillennialism holds to a literal, 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ upon the earth. During this Millennium, every promise made to “Old Testament Israel” will be realized, including the specific territorial boundaries, stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates, decreed in Genesis 15. While the Church currently enjoys the spiritual blessings of the “already-not-yet” reality, Israel remains the parallel example of God’s physical faithfulness. The promise is made; the deed is signed; the full possession awaits the return of the King.

The Mandate for Scriptural Integrity

When Christians allow themselves to be swept up in antipathy toward Israel, they repeat the errors of those who paved the way for the darkest chapters of human history. There is no right to define the Jewish people in any way other than how the Word of God defines them. They are the sons and daughters of a covenant that God refuses to break.

Proper hermeneutics is not an academic exercise; it is a matter of spiritual life and death. If the Bible does not mean what it says about Israel, it cannot be trusted to mean what it says about the church or anything else: creation, moral order, wisdom, or even the Gospel! The mandate is clear: recognize the holding vessel nature of the modern state, honor the providential preservation of the Jewish people, and look with expectancy toward the day when the Redeemer comes out of Zion to remove ungodliness away from Jacob. (ref. Romans 11:26) God is faithful, His word is unbreakable, and His purposes for Israel are eternal.