(February 10, 2012)
“It is [God] who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings” – Daniel 2:21
“All of you must yield to the government rulers. No one rules unless God has given him the power to rule, and no one rules now without that power from God. So those who are against the government are really against what God has commanded. And they will bring punishment on themselves” – Romans 13:1-2
“God made countries, God makes kings, and the rules by which they govern” – Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire
Dispensation(alism)
4.Theology
a.the divine ordering of the affairs of the world.
b.an appointment, arrangement, or favor, as by God.
c.a divinely appointed order or age: the old Mosaic, or Jewish, dispensation; the new gospel, or Christian, dispensation.
- Random House Dictionary
There are some Evangelical leaders who disparage or dismiss those Christians who believe in some form of Dispensationalism, especially as it pertains to biblical End-Times or Apocalyptic prophecy and Israel. The worst offenders are those who subscribe to Replacement Theology. They believe the biblical promises and prophecies that pertained to the Jews and their nation of Israel now pertain only to the Christian Church since the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah and thus were “replaced” by the Church. They say that most of Jesus’ apocalyptic statements in the gospels referred to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. and therefore have no future application as Dispensationlists do. They say that modern Israel is secular and still in unbelief yet they fail to take into account the “Dry Bones” prophecy of Ezekiel which states that the restoration of Israel was a process starting with the spiritually dry foundation of unbelief but ending with God pouring out His Spirit on the nation of Israel. Some of these leaders say Christians should focus on the words of Christ in the gospels and give them primacy over the rest of the Bible. The entire Bible is God’s word, not just the gospels. Since Jesus is God the Son, whatever God did in the Old Testament is what Jesus did. He said He always did His Father’s will. I have dealt with these issues in other blog posts and articles on my website and aside from a few points I will not respond to them here. If you are interested in reading these articles you can click on the following links:
- Rick Warren: Should Christians talk about the End-Times?
- Rich Nathan: Pastor Rich Nathan of Vineyard vs Christian Zionism
- Jim Wallis: Does the land of Israel belong to the Jews?
- Liberal Theologians: An Open Response
- Biblical Basis for Christian Zionism: Christian Zionism
- The Third Jewish Temple: 2 Thessalonians 2:4 – A Literal Third Temple
There seems to be one major underlying premise to these leaders’ position on the current state of Israel. Their common objection is that Dispensationalism leads one to ignore the plight of “Palestinian” people and the injustices inflicted upon them by the Israelis. Because I and others believe that God gave the land of Israel to the Jews and that He has plans to bring them to salvation at the end of this age, they would say that our beliefs are not very Christ-like. However, I believe they are missing out on one of the two most vital areas that a Christian should be concerned with: The first area of concern should be “What is God’s will for my personal life?” The second, which is the area I believe they are missing and the one I will deal with in this article, is “What is God’s will for the world at large?” The answers to these questions are found in His Word, the Holy Bible.
The Bible makes it clear that God raises up countries for His purposes. In the case of Israel He said in the Old Testament that He decides when the Jews live in the land and when they don’t. He tells Moses to warn the Israelites that if they obey Him they will be blessed in the land of Israel. However, if they disobey Him, He will remove them from the land:
“1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field…63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. 65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.” (Deuteronomy 28:1-3,63-65)
Notice in this passage that it is the LORD who scatters the Jews from the land. Later in Israel’s history, God removed the Jews from the land for their disobedience. He used the Babylonian Empire to perform His judgment. However, He tells them that He will return them to the land after seventy years:
“4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon…10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:4,10-11)
Again, here God states that He is the one who caused the Jews to be carried away to Babylon and He will be the one to cause them to return to Israel. Jesus told the Jews that their Temple would be destroyed and their house left desolate. In 70 A.D. the Romans did destroy the Temple and in 135 A.D. they put down a Jewish uprising and dispersed the Jews throughout the Roman Empire. However, in the book of the prophet Amos God promised to bring the Jews back to the land forever:
“13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.” (Amos 9:13-15)
God states that He is always watching Israel:
“11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 12 A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” (Deuteronomy 11:11-12)
Thus, I ask the question of those Christians who oppose Israel’s right to exist at the expense of the Palestinians, “Why does Israel exist in 2012?” The Bible declares that the creation of the modern state Israel had to be God’s will since He is the one who raises up kings and kingdoms and He is the one who decides when the Jews live in the land of Israel. Why, after 1,800 years of Jewish dispersion throughout the world, would God bring them back to the land of Israel? Why can you not see the hand of God in this? Since you oppose the Jews’ modern incursion into the land of Israel because it infringes upon the Palestinians’ sovereignty would you also have opposed the Israelites’ invasion of ancient Israel which was commanded by God at the expense of the Canaanites and other groups of people who lived there? If so my response would be to quote the ancient teacher of the Law, Gamaliel, “38 So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.” (Acts 5:38-39)
