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Zionism in biblical prophecy, part 1

Both the Israelis and the Palestinians generally believe that the old land of Canaan/Israel belongs to them. The average American remembers little about the origin of this dispute a century ago. World leaders are far more knowledgeable about this, and they choose sides accordingly.

Non-Christians, whose views are based largely on principles of justice, see the Israeli state as the perpetrator of injustice to the Palestinians, who were displaced from their homes where they had lived for about 1300 years. Christians usually take a more simplistic view, interpreting Scripture to say that God gave the land to the Jews. Period. Combined with their Old Covenant viewpoint, they do not care at all about the Palestinian people—not even the Christian Palestinians.

The question really boils down to who has the right to claim that land. This question is complex, because there are so many Scriptural and historical misunderstandings. More than that, where does this issue begin? With the Canaanites in the days of Joshua? With the Muslim conquest in the 7^th century A.D.? With the Balfour Declaration in 1917? With the UN resolution in 1947? With the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948?

It appears today, with the start of the war in Gaza, that this dilemma is about to be resolved. To know how this will turn out, we need to know the prophecies as well as the laws undergirding those prophecies. The law is not only a moral document but is also prophetic. I hope to unwrap some of these complex issues so that you can get a biblical perspective.

It is not possible to understand and resolve the Israel-Palestine dilemma without knowing the history of Esau-Edom. The true origin of this controversy began with Jacob and Esau, brothers who each claimed the birthright and the right to own the land of Canaan.

The Controversy of Zion

Isaiah 34 is a prophecy of judgment upon Edom. (Esau’s nickname was Edom, “Red,” as we see from Genesis 36:1). So we read in Isaiah 34:8 KJV,

⁸ For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.

The NASB renders this, “the cause of Zion.” The Hebrew word is reeb, “strife, controversy, dispute.” The root word (a verb) means “to conduct a legal case or suit.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7379/kjv/wlc/0-1/

So this is a prophecy about a legal case in the divine court, where God issues His verdict, and we then see the results in terms of earthly events. Isaiah 34:9, 10 foretells the results of His verdict:

⁹ Its streams will be turned into pitch, and its loose earth into brimstone [sulfur], and its land will become burning pitch. ¹⁰ It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will go up forever [olam, “indefinitely”], from generation to generation it will be desolate; none will pass through it forever and ever [netsakh, “continually”].

We see from this that Edom was to be judged with fire and brimstone, reminiscent of divine judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaiah lacked the terminology to describe a nuclear explosion, but it appears that this is what he was describing. Obviously, such an event has yet to occur, showing that God’s judgment upon Edom is reserved for the end of the age.

In other words, when Judah conquered Edom in 126 B.C., nothing like this happened. The Edomites merely converted to Judaism and, as Josephus puts it, “they were hereafter no other than Jews” (Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, ix, 1). The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (1970 edition) tells us,

“The Edomites were conquered by John Hyrcanus who forcibly converted them to Judaism, and from then on they constituted a part of the Jewish people” (p. 587).

The Jewish Encyclopedia (1903 edition) tells us,

“From this time the Idumeans ceased to be a separate people, though the name ‘Idumea’ still existed (in) the time of Jerome” (5^th century).

Hence, the nation once known as Edom (or Idumea in Greek) ceased to exist forever, although the people themselves survived. For the next century, men still referred to them as the Idumean branch of Jewry, but after the Roman war, the name gradually died out, and men stopped distinguishing Idumeans from Jews.

The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1925 edition, tells us bluntly,

“Edom is in modern Jewry” (Vol. 5, p. 41)

The significance of this, from a biblical standpoint, is that this merger between Judah and Edom meant that Jewry itself now had two sets of prophecies to fulfill. I should add that if the Edomites had been truly converted to God in their hearts by faith, they would have become citizens of the Kingdom. But forcible conversion only puts people into a religion.

In this case, the Edomites received fleshly circumcision, but not heart circumcision. Heart circumcision is the only type of circumcision that has any value to God (Romans 2:28, 29), and it raises people to a relationship that supersedes genealogy. For this reason, any Jew or Edomite who receives heart circumcision is no longer a Jew or an Edomite but is part of the “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15) that God is creating in the earth.

Who is a Jew?

The carnal Edomites were absorbed into Jewry, which itself rejected Christ (John 1:11) and His New Covenant heart circumcision. Only a few accepted Jesus Christ as the King of Judah, and these, Paul says, are the real members of the tribe of Judah whom God recognizes (Romans 2:29; Philippians 3:3).

For this reason, there was a division in Judah during the first century. Each part claimed the Dominion Mandate given to Judah in Genesis 49:10. Each claimed to be the heir of the promise. The carnal side, claiming a genealogical connection to Judah, the patriarch, was by far in the majority, but the followers of Jesus were united with the rightful King of Judah, who alone could claim the Dominion Mandate. With the King went the tribe itself, regardless of numbers. One cannot claim to be of the tribe of Judah while rejecting the legitimate King of that tribe.

So while the Judah-Edom nation in the first century and onward, which rejected King Jesus, continued to be recognized by men as “Jews,” God recognized only those with circumcision of the heart. The church did not replace the Jews; the church was, in fact, Judah from the start, because they are the only ones who “praise” God in an acceptable manner. (Judah means “praise.”) That is the point of Paul’s teaching in Romans 2:29, saying, “his praise is not from men, but from God.” In other words, his status in the tribe of Judah is not based on recognition from men, but from God’s perspective.

Equality under the Law

To the tribe of Judah many from other ethnic groups were added as they were united to the King by faith. Their right to join the tribe by faith was established from the beginning (Isaiah 56:6-8). The carnal Jews themselves, who based their status on genealogy, built a dividing wall on the temple grounds to keep proselytes (and women) at a distance from God. This was unlawful, for we read in Numbers 15:15, 16,

¹⁵ As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the Lord. ¹⁶ There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.

In regard to the observance of Passover, Exodus 12:49 adds,

⁴⁹ The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you.

Likewise, the feasts of the Lord were to be kept by all, including foreigners. The Feast of Weeks (i.e., Pentecost) was to be observed by foreigners (Deuteronomy 16:10, 11), as was the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:13, 14). None were excluded.

There were many foreigners who left Egypt with the Israelites under Moses. For this reason, King Jesus “broke down the barrier of the dividing wall” (Ephesians 2:14) in order to re-establish unity and equal justice in the Kingdom. The idea of a “chosen people” based on their genealogy is not biblical, for it creates two unequal classes of citizens and makes the flesh superior to faith.

Hence, those who desire to establish the Kingdom will fall short of the glory of God if they do not recognize this law of God and the work of King Jesus in demolishing the dividing wall. God is working with “one new man”—not with two men who are unequal.

This was one of the major disputes that arose when Jesus Christ came to claim His throne rights in the first century. His rights were disputed by the religious leaders of the day, and so for the past 2,000 years this issue has remained unresolved without a final verdict from heaven. The dispute itself was described in one of Jesus’ parables in Luke 19:12-27, where we see how “a nobleman [Christ] went to a distant country [heaven] to receive a kingdom for himself and then return.”

We read in verse 14,

¹⁴ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, “We do not want this man to reign over us.”

When the nobleman returned, He rewarded those who supported His claim to the throne. But as for those who opposed Him, we read in verse 27,

²⁷ But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.

We now live in the end time when this is being fulfilled. Zionism has provided the motive to bring Christ’s enemies back to the old land in order to be judged for rejecting the rightful King of Judah. So while Zionism is a violation of God’s will (in that it treats people unequally), it is all part of God’s plan. The Israeli state, I believe, was given 76 years in which to repent and avoid divine judgment. It has now been 75 years, and we still see no national repentance. Only a few individuals have repented, and these will be spared.