A History of Prophecy in Israel

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The future of that remnant (Israel) lay in the reign of an ideal king (as described in Isaiah), indicating that the prophets were not antiroyalists. Though they could and did oppose individual kings, the prophets could not make a separation between Yahweh and the reign of his chosen king or dynasty. Their messianic ideology, referring to the messiah, or anointed one, is based on old royal ideology, and the ideal king is not an eschatological figure (one who appears at the end of history). In that respect, the prophets were nationalistic. They believed that the ideal kingdom would be in the promised land, and its centre would be Jerusalem. As a teenager I was interested in timelines. I inherited some books from a grandfather who was a Brethren. I find the whole thing futile now in my mid 60s. It is interesting to observe that despite clashing on a number of issues ranging from culture wars to specific theological tenets, the Christian Right have achieved an exceptional degree of interfaith unity with Jewish Americans, through a mutually unwavering commitment to securing Jewish possession of the covenanted land.

If you say you are a “Jew” today…. you are also saying you’re 85-90% Ashkenazi Eastern European from one of several countries in Eastern Europe who have mostly Khazarian ancestors. So modern so called “Jewish” people have absolutely no connection whatsoever because they are not even remotely a Semitic people and HAVE NO CONNECTION AT ALL (through Ancestry or by religion) to Abraham and the 12 tribes of Hebrew Israelites. And modern so called Israel has absolutely no connection to ancient Biblical Israel. How DARE THEY even call it today “Israel”. It is an ABOMINATION. For a second resource, I turn to Gary M Burge, who is a theologian in the Christian Reformed Church in the US, and in 2019 wrote this helpful assessment of Christian Zionism. Ever since secular cultural trends took root on American soil from the second half of the 20th century, the Christian Right slowly abandoned their long tradition of quietism by naturally aligning their interests with the Republican Party, given its traditionally conservative stance on topics like abortion, homosexuality, pornography and marriage.The sentence beginning ” The covenant with Abraham —–will be brought to its consummation.” Really? Is that with or without,say, the promise of the land [Genesis 17:8] ? Reply A resident of ancient Judea was called a Judean; so when the 2nd draft of the KJV Bible was introduced in the 1800’s a NEW WORD was ADDED to replace IEWE and that was the word “Jew” (an abbreviation for a “Judean”— a person living in ancient Judea — but Yahusha (aka: Jesus Christ) is NOT from Judea and NEVER WAS and therefore Yahusha (JESUS) IS NOT a “Jew” or a Judean! Today, this dispensationalist view of history is shared by a core American constituency consisting of a faith-based right-wing movement dubbed the New Christian Right who are bent on resurrecting what they deem to be the unadulterated liturgical meaning of the Promised Land. These were the kind of hopes of a better future that were held by many Jews in the first century, and summed up by Luke in expressions like ‘the consolation of Israel’ (Luke 2.25), ‘the redemption of Jerusalem’ (Luke 2.38), ‘the one who was to come’ (Luke 7.18) and ‘the one who was going to redeem Israel’ (Luke 24.20). People must have thought, ‘If the visions of Ezekiel and the other prophets have hardly been fulfilled in the history of the nation until now, surely God has to intervene in a dramatic way to demonstrate his faithfulness to his promises!’ When there’s a Republican president they have a seat at the table it doesn’t mean the president’s going to do exactly what they want, but they’re the ones that the president’s listening to more than other interested parties on Israel,” Hummel said.

My view that reading Ezekiel (as well as parts of Revelation/Daniel and the gospels) in this way is problematic and at at times illogical remains precisely that; the opinion of an internet commentator with no more authority than anyone else. For someone who was raised, trained and steeped in USA dispensationalism but came away from it, with some wrestling, to a reformed position see Baptist Dr Sam Storms book, Kingdom Come. In it he sets out the main eschatological positions and draws out a conclusion from scripture, a conclusion you may disagree with (amillenialism), but as he does he dispells dispensationalism.

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Soon an “Evangelical statement in support of Israel” was issued by the ethics and religion liberty commission – an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, a denomination which has 45,000 churches in the US. Still, some might ask if emphasizing the centrality of Christ’s covenant leads to the dismissal of Judaism and its covenants. Would this lead to anti-Judaism in the church? I certainly don’t think Christians should take a position that Israel is right, come what may. However, I am more concerned at the antisemitism that lies behind much hostility to Israel. Other countries do much worse and no eyebrow is raised. That Israel alone is treated with opprobrium suggests an anti-Semitic impulse.”