Israel has held a special place in my heart ever since the summer of 1971, when I helped Roy Gustafson, one of my father’s associate evangelists, lead Bible teaching tours of the Holy Land. Roy also connected me with two fearless missionaries in Mafraq, Jordan, the late Dr. Eleanor Soltau and nurse Aileen Coleman, who operated a hospital for patients with respiratory diseases.
My time in the Middle East during my late teens and early 20s, working alongside these godly men and women, shaped my life profoundly, culminating in 1974 when—after reading in John 3 about Jesus’ encounter with the rabbi Nicodemus—I put out my cigarette and dropped to my knees in a Jerusalem hotel room and surrendered my life to Christ.
Israel and its people are front and center throughout the Bible, especially regarding the Old Testament prophecies and their ultimate fulfillment in the New Testament through a Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, who came to save us from the penalty of our sins to life everlasting. I have never forgotten how Roy’s nightly Bible studies came to life before my eyes when I accompanied him during those visits to the Holy Land years ago.
More recently, however, I’ve been troubled by the increasing number of churches and Bible teachers who are misinterpreting God’s timeless promises to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.
This false teaching, called replacement theology, suggests that God’s covenant blessing with the nation of Israel and its allies no longer exists and instead has somehow been reinterpreted to apply only to God’s modern-day fellowship of believers, His church.
Nevertheless, a faithful reading of Scripture proves unequivocally that God’s covenant with Abram in Genesis 12:2-3 remains true as ever today: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Did you know that in the year following Hamas’ evil attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents were documented in the U.S.? Now, more than ever, Christians should stand with Israel and the Jewish people.
The Apostle Paul’s declaration in Romans clearly states God’s steadfast heart for His chosen people, the Jews, through whom He sent His one and only Son to be the Savior of the world.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
Two years ago, it was my privilege to be in Israel to film a special Easter message from Jerusalem, where our Lord was crucified. I stood in front of Joseph of Arimathea’s rock-hewn tomb, where I gave the Gospel invitation to trust in the Risen Savior whom God raised from the dead so that all who believe in Him can receive the gift of eternal life. You can’t find the bones of the Lord Jesus Christ, because there aren’t any. His tomb is empty! He’s alive.
Because of the reality of Christ’s resurrection, we can be sure that He will return one day soon, and His believers will have glorified bodies to go along with their redeemed souls. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).
And when our resurrected Lord does return, He will not come as the suffering Messiah prophesied in Isaiah 53, but as King of kings; not as a lamb, but as the Lion of Judah, to pour out His wrath on those who have rejected and scorned Him, and to welcome all whose names have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. There will be a new Heaven and a new Earth, with no death, no tears, no pain, no sin.
But until the day of King Jesus’ return, we have our Risen Lord’s mighty presence minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. He is with us always (see Matthew 28:20). He is interceding for us when we don’t even know how to pray (see Hebrews 7:25). He is our Advocate before the Heavenly Father when we sin (see 1 John 2:1).
God has never forsaken His promises to the people of Israel and He never will. Remember that our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, is the fulfillment of God’s covenant to His chosen people and the divine means through which Israel continues to be a blessing to the world.
“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16).
