For those of us who love the Lord, we’re also watching ancient Bible prophecies being fulfilled before our very eyes. And the most repeated promise in the Old Testament is that God will return His people to the land.
Zionism is the attempt to reestablish the Jews in their land with their religious identity. You don’t need to be a Jew to believe in Zionism. You can be a Gentile and still believe in the rights of the Jews over the land.
Are you a Zionist?
The world will portray you as racist if you call yourselves Zionist. In today’s progressive world, Judaism without Zionism neutralizes antisemitism. The two together are a major driving force for antisemitism, and antisemitism, according to Yad Vashem, is hatred of Jews as a people or of the Jew as a concept.
According to Yad Vashem, the term antisemitism was first coined in the late 1870s. Subsequently, it is used with reference to all types of Jew hatred, both historical and contemporary.
The word itself comes from the idea that Hebrew belongs to the Semitic language family, and thus Jews must be Semites. Many other languages also belong to the Semitic language family, such as Arabic or Aramaic, or Amharic even, of the Ethiopians, and therefore other cultures could also be called Semites. However, there is no such thing as Semitism and no other groups have ever been included in the hatred and prejudice denoted by antisemitism. Geographically, by the way, Shem’s descendants settled in the region of Israel, but extending all the way down through the Arabian Peninsula. But antisemitism started when the Jews began to fulfill their destiny, which God promised through Abraham, to be a chosen and separated nation.
While the church has fallen into the habit of dividing itself into sub-groups and categories –Charismatics, Pentecostals, Evangelicals, etc. – there is one label that every Christian should have as an identifying component of their beliefs. That label is Zionist. A Zionist, by definition, is a person who believes in the development and protection of the Jewish state known as Israel. To some, a Christian Zionist means a heretic or, at the least, an uninformed Christian.
Zechariah 8:3-8 KJV – “Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.”
Zionism is not the blind support of every decision or action Israel takes. Zionism is the recognition that the nation of Israel must exist, and Jerusalem must be in the possession of the Jews in order for prophecy to be fulfilled. Zionism is neither heresy nor a “misunderstanding” of scripture. The Lord said through Zechariah, Jeremiah, Amos, and Isaiah that the Jews would return to their national homeland by the hand of the Lord. Moses even wrote of such a time:
Deuteronomy 30:1-6 KJV – “And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”
The end of verse 6 assures us that what is in view is the final return of God’s chosen people to their homeland. For only after their regathering and the Great Tribulation will they love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul. God is regathering His people in the land which their fathers (ancestors) possessed, and the people and the land are prospering.
Another thing we must keep in mind is that if God has cast off His people forever, somebody forgot to tell Satan. He’s still trying to kill them. He’s still stirring up antisemitism. He’s still working on turning all the nations against them, and for a short time he will succeed, according to Zechariah 12:3. That means that antisemitism and anti-Zionism are not only unbiblical, they are antichrist.
Standing with Israel does not make you a racist. Standing with Israel is to stand in line with the word of God. It is also a reminder that God does not cast off His people, even though His discipline can be severe at times. He honors His word and never forgets His promises.
Mt. Zion is in Jerusalem, and Jesus is returning to Jerusalem. If He was done with the Jews then why would He return to the city and people from which He Himself came into the world as the blessed One who comes in the name of the Lord?
Matthew 5:11-12 KJV – “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
Let them call you a heretic if they want. God is still standing with Israel, and it’s better to stand with Him than anyone else in this world.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
