Israel and the land

The best way for Israel to stop terrorist attacks in its territory is by first ceasing its occupation of all Arab land it captured in the 1967 War which, admittedly, Israel did out of self-defence. Israel was correct in defending itself.

However, the issue now is no longer so much about self-defence. The problem is that Israel will not pull back to its pre-1967 borders so long as many Israelis and most evangelical Christians in America continue to believe that present day Jews have a biblical right to all of the Arab territory in Palestine.

As an evangelical Christian, of Indian origin, I wish to set the biblical issue in proper perspective.

Although the modern state of Israel now has every right to exist as any other nation (as long as it honours the UN resolutions upholding Palestinian rights) this does not mean that Zionism (the belief that Jews have a biblical right to all of Palestine) is correct. And it is Zionism that is primarily fuelling the building and expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on Arab land.

From a purely biblical perspective Zionism has enormous problems.

The fact is almost none of the Jews in modern Israel today are descendants of the original Jews of Palestine thousands of years ago. Most of the Jews in Israel today are descendants of Europeans who had converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages (known as Khazar or Ashkenazi Jews).

The last time that God had promised in the scriptures to bring the Jews back to their ancestral homeland was already fulfilled centuries ago when He brought them back from their Babylonian captivity. So, the Jews in present day modern Israel are not a fulfilment of that ancient promise.

Furthermore, God’s promises concerning the land to the Jews in the Old Testament were conditional: only so long as they obeyed Him were those promises concerning the land binding.

Most evangelical Christians today are looking forward to the seven-year tribulation period of Israel which would require for the Jews to be on the land. But this period had already occurred in history during 63 AD to 70 AD (seven years) when the Roman army besieged and destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple. It was this destruction that Jesus said would mark the end of the age (the Jewish Age that is).

Evangelical Christians, who are dispensationalists, are still seeking an Israel that the New Testament says is the spiritual body of Christ made up of both Jew and Gentile believers in Jesus Christ, and who together inherit the same promises.

The problem with most evangelical Christians today is they interpret the Book of Revelation literally. Revelation is a book of symbolism and not to be interpreted literally and in fact the Book itself tells us not to interpret it literally.

In the very first verse of the very first chapter we read, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God (the Father) gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John" (Revelation 1:1, KJV). The word "signified" in the passage comes from a Greek word meaning "signs" or "symbols". Thus, Revelation was meant by Christ to be interpreted symbolically, not literally.