A friend of mine currently serving in the U.S. Army asked me to read and review an article. This was written in hopes of helping to clear up the confusion. This is only a brief explanation of this complex conglomeration of issues.
Danny Zacharias, in his article, “Why Zionism is so
Attractive—and Should be Rejected by Christians” argues against “Zionism” and
yet does not fully define “Zionism.” He also
speaks against a collection of other issues and beliefs while attacking his
version of “Zionism” leading the reader to believe all of these issues are
interconnected, but they are not. His article can be read here: http://www.dannyzacharias.net/blog/why-zionism-is-so-attractive-and-should-be-rejected-by-christians#.VAdkspV0zDd
Mr. Zacharias begins by asking several questions: “Do
I believe that the Jewish people were promised and given that land by God? Do I
believe that the people of God are only those who are in Christ? Do I think all
this is part of the unfolding of prophecy in the Bible? Or is it just political
circumstances?” Here is a short
evaluation of a few of his errors.
The Bible is God’s Word. God alone is the Author and men were only the
writers. This means the entire Bible is
from One Mind, and is both without error and without contradiction. Every verse, when taken in proper context,
compliments every other verse, not contradicts.
Two verses cannot say two conflicting ideas, or else God would be
contradicting Himself.
Mr. Zacharias makes the statement, “Yet, in matters
such as these, there comes a clear dividing line – Christians believe the NT is
scripture and Jewish people do not.” I
know many Jewish people who believe the New Testament is Scripture. I also know many Jewish people who have
received Jesus as their Saviour and Lord – they are called “Christian
Jews.” I believe Mr. Zacharias was
meaning to say Orthodox Jews do not believe the New Testament is Scripture.
Apparently, Mr. Zacharias does not agree with the
statement: “...God has promised the land of Israel to the descendants of Israel
and the promise will be fulfilled at some point.” Also he seems to believe, “...Christ is the
end/fulfillment (telos) of the law (Rom 10:4; 2 Cor 1:20; Heb 8:13),
thus the OT cannot be used as any sort of support for the modern secular state
of Israel.” Finally, in this same
paragraph Mr. Zacharias states, “it is hard to ignore the OT teaching that
fulfillment of God's covenant promises was conditional on the people's covenant
obedience (read Deuteronomy).”
I will address these three issues at this time: 1) Did
God promise any land to the descendants of Abraham? 2) Is the Old Testament law no longer in
effect? 3) Were all of God’s covenant
promises conditional on the people’s covenant obedience?
First, the Bible says God promised a special land to
the descendants of Israel and since the promise has yet to be fulfilled, and
God is not a liar, the promise will be fulfilled at some point. To understand the “promised land” you must go
back to Genesis. The Promised Land is
actually the same land originally created for Adam and Woman (she wasn’t named
Eve until after sin), prior to the fall.
Notice the East and West borders of the Garden of Eden:
Gen 2:13 And
the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole
land of Ethiopia. 14 And the name of the
third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And
the fourth river is Euphrates.
This means the Garden of Eden was bordered on the West
by the Gihon (Nile) river in Ethiopia and on the East by the Euphrates, between
Iraq and Iran. Compare this to what was
promised to Abram in Genesis 15 when God, Himself, established the
covenant. (As you know, a contract says,
“If you keep your part, I will keep my part.”
A covenant says, “I will keep my part even if you do not keep your
part.”)
Gen 15:17 And
it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a
smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with
Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Notice the words, “have I given” used here in a past
tense, an action already completed. Look
again at, “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto
the great river, the river Euphrates:”
What is the condition of this promise?
None. There was no, “If you, then
I,” statement. Look also at Genesis
13:15, 17:8, 35:12 and notice the lack of condition.
Notice how these are the borders of the original
Garden of Eden. Many people don’t get it
but the true Promise Land was actually the old Garden of Eden being given to
the descendents of Abraham.
Now someone may ask: “When will this land be given to
Abraham’s Descendants to possess?” As we
can see, at no time in all of history has the descendents owned all the land
from the Nile to the Euphrates. There is
no time where we can see the fulfillment of this covenant. So, either God is a liar, and we know God
never lies, or it is yet to be fulfilled.
We know in Revelation, Satan will be bound for 1,000
years. We also know we will reign with
Christ as kings and priests on this earth for that 1,000 years. (Revelation
1:6; 5:10; 20:6)
We find more clues in the book of Isaiah.
Isa 19:23 In
that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian
shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall
serve with the Assyrians. 24 In that day
shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the
midst of the land: 25 Whom the LORD of
hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of
my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
“That day” is a theological term referring to when
Jesus Christ will come to earth to judge the inhabitants and establish the
Millennial Kingdom. Notice what will
happen here. Verse 23 says there will be
a “highway” made from Egypt (on the West) and from Assyria (on the East) through
Israel. Egypt has the Nile river,
Assyria has the Euphrates river, and Israel will be between them. This is when Israel will possess the land
created for Adam and promised to Abraham.
Mr. Zacharias later says, “They do it because they
believe that the OT prophets' words about returning to the land is for our
future (though it is plain in the OT that the fulfillment happened
already, Neh 9:23). They also misunderstand God's promise to the land and
the fact that it was conditional (Lev 26:33, 42; Ezek 33:25-29).”
God’s promise was not to the land, it was to a
man. In fact, it wasn’t a promise, it
was a covenant. Covenants are to be
upheld in spite of what the other party does, not because of it. As shown above, Abraham’s descendants were
required to do nothing to receive the land, except for being a descendant of
Abraham.
The Abrahamic Covenant was NOT fulfilled in Nehemiah’s
time. The prophecies of Isaiah were
clearly not fulfilled in Nehemiah’s time or at any time since sin has entered
into the world.
Isa 11:6 The
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little
child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and
the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion
shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the
sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put
his hand on the cockatrice' den. 9 They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full
of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Israel will be in their land when “that day” comes
and, when “that day” arrives the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard
will lie down with the kid and the lion will eat straw like the ox. When has this ever happened? Only in the Garden of Eden prior to sin
entering into the world.
Again, Mr. Zacharias says, “But above all, they do it
because they think they are helping to fulfill prophecy to bring Jesus back
quicker. It is this religious motivation that ends up blinding them- they forget
about the other human beings, specifically Palestinians.”
The Bible states in the New Testament the Temple will
be rebuilt. Look at 2Thessolonians 2:
2Th 2:3 Let no
man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a
falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
This clearly says the Beast will be sitting in “the
temple of God”. Since this has not
happened yet, it obviously has fulfillment in the future. Some people try to wrongly claim this passage
refers to Antiochus Epiphanes. Only
problem with their claim is Antiochus Epiphanes was already dead when this was
written. In fact Antiochus died before
Jesus was born.
Can we “help” Jesus come earlier? In no way. Jesus will come at the appointed time, no
earlier and no later. We cannot speed it
up or slow it down.
Mat 24:36 But
of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my
Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also
the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For
as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took
them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
This leaves us with the final issue I will address
here: “Is the Old Testament law no longer in effect?” Look at what Jesus said about the Old
Testament:
Mat 5:17 Think
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I
say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these
least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the
kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be
called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the
kingdom of heaven.
If the Old Testament is no longer in effect, why does
every Christian carry one attached to their New Testament? Why do we still hear sermons preached from
it? Why do we still give authority to
the “Ten Commandments”? Why read the
Psalms or Proverbs?
Actually, when Jesus was still alive so was the Old
Testament. The New Testament could not
begin until the death of Jesus Christ.
Once Jesus died the New Testament could begin. Even after the New Testament began, what did
Paul, Peter, John and the other writers quote as if it still had authority? The
Old Testament.
Just two more pieces of evidence to prove my point,
although there are several, look at Acts 2.
Act 2:16 But
this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days,
saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old
men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my
servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and
they shall prophesy: 19 And I will shew
wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and
vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be
turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable
day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall
come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If, as Mr. Zacharias says, all the Old Testament was
fulfilled in Jesus Christ making the Old Testament a thing of the past, what is
Peter doing quoting it as being fulfilled in the New Testament, after the
death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ?
Finally, look at what Paul said to Timothy in 2
Timothy 3:14-17,
2Ti 3:14 But
continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of,
knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 15
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are
able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: 17 That the man of God
may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Notice how Paul speaks of the “holy scriptures”
Timothy was taught as a child. This was
obviously the Old Testament. Observe how
ALL Scripture (Old Testament and New Testament) is given by the breath
(inspiration) of God and both are profitable for DOCTRINE, REPROOF, CORRECTION
AND INSTRUCTION. If you throw out the
Old Testament, you violate God’s testimony of its value.
I do agree we need to be reaching the lost, both Jews and non-Jews and I believe much money is wasted trying to build a temple which is going to be built anyway. We need to be investing in the winning of souls and not the building of a building, but the bad behavior of a few people should not change our understanding of true biblical theology.
Thank you for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment