What is it About Israel?
By Tom Gilbreath
On a map, the world’s only Jewish state looks like a small sliver in the vast lands of the Middle East. Including Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank), Israel occupies only 10,000 square miles in a Middle East region of 8.4 million square miles. Yet in the news and in the minds of humanity, the nation of Israel looms large.
Most people in the world do not have passionate feelings about the people of Portugal, Austria, Hungary, or other people groups in nations with population sizes similar to that of Israel. But it’s hard to be neutral about Israel or the Jews. Winston Churchill said, “Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.”
Think about why that might be. The Bible says that God chose Israel for certain purposes. Isaiah 43:10-11 says, “‘You are My witnesses,’ says the Lord, ‘And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, And besides Me there is no savior.’”
Have the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob always been faithful witnesses for the one, true God? Like other members of the human race, their story is one of repeated failure. Even today, the society of Israel fiercely advocates for a plethora of unbiblical things. And then there’s Jesus. Though there are many individual Jews who recognize the Lordship of Christ, as a people they have consistently rejected Him.
But God is not finished with the Jews. Romans 11:26 says, “All Israel will be saved.”
In Ezekiel 36, God explains that He scattered the people of Israel out of their land and into other nations because of their disobedience. But, He says, He will bring them back, and not because they first change their ways. In Ezekiel 36:22, God said, “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake.” He will do it because He said He will do it, and He always keeps His word.
As we saw in Romans 11:26, they as a group will be spiritually restored. But through the prophet Ezekiel, God said that restoration will not happen to them as a nation until after they have returned to the land. Ezekiel 36:24-28 says, “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart…. I will put My Spirit within you…. You shall be My people, and I will be your God.”
Notice the order of events. First, He will bring them into the land He gave to them in perpetuity through promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others. Then He will spiritually cleanse the nation. In other words, He will restore them to the land; then He will restore them to Himself. He’s bringing them back to the land right now. Every act of antisemitism across the world brings more of them home. And, as promised, the desert is blooming. Soon, He will fulfill all the other promises as well.
It’s hard to be neutral about Israel because it’s hard to be neutral about God.
