At a time of rising anti-Israel sentiment, anti-Zionism, and antisemitism, it is worth asking why nearly 800 million Evangelical Christians continue to stand firmly with the nation of Israel.
At the recent Muni Expo in Tel Aviv, I participated in a panel discussion titled “Faith, Freedom, and the Future of the Free World.” The panel was organized by security expert Sagiv Asulin under the banner of “The Eighth Front” and was moderated by Dr. Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. Diker posed a simple but profound question:
“For an Israeli Jew who may not be familiar with the various Christian denominations and movements,” he asked, “could you explain the roots of the connection between the Evangelical Christian world and Israel?”
The answer to this question deserves to be heard far beyond the conference hall, especially at a time when the battle for truth is raging.
Charlie Kirk and I often discussed how a nation’s story shapes its identity. For Americans, that story is rooted in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Emancipation Proclamation: a story that, as Eric Metaxas argues in his new book on the American Revolution, was itself inspired by the formation of the nation of Israel at Sinai.
The point is, if we lose our story, we lose our identity.
The same principle applies to understanding the enduring bond between Evangelical Christians and the State of Israel.
To understand that relationship, we must first go back to the story that begins with Abraham and God’s promise that, through Abraham, He would establish a nation of people through whom He would bless all the families of the earth. Through the lineage of this people, one was to come who would be the Messiah and Savior of the world.
From that promise flows the story of the exodus and the Passover, when the blood of the Passover lamb marked the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Here is the key point: that story is not only foundational to the identity of the nation of Israel – it is also foundational to Christian identity.
It was at a Passover seder that Jesus revealed to His disciples that His death would inaugurate the new covenant foretold by the prophet Jeremiah, which would bring about the forgiveness of sins, the transforming work of God’s Spirit within the hearts of His people, the preservation of the nation of Israel, and the coming kingdom of God, whose epicenter is Zion, Jerusalem.
The day after, still on Passover itself, Nisan 14, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus to be crucified. For Christians, Jesus’s death, vindicated by His resurrection, inaugurated a new exodus from the bondage of sin and death – a redemption that has transformed billions of lives throughout history.
This is the Christian story and therefore intrinsic to Christian identity. That is why the connection between Evangelical Christians and Israel runs far deeper than modern geopolitics. Whether or not one agrees with every policy of Israel’s government is beside the point. For a follower of Jesus, it is impossible to separate Jesus from Israel – past, present, and future.
In addition, the Christian faith produces a moral and theological clarity that fuels moral courage and sharpens the discernment needed to recognize evil, which is the ultimate gaslighter that distracts, deflects, and deceives to destroy.
It is for this reason that Evangelicals have led with moral clarity in recognizing that Israel is on the front lines against the enemy of humanity, which seeks not only Israel’s destruction but ultimately the destruction of the entire free world. We must stand with her in this fight. Hitler believed in a “superior race,” but today the Iranian Islamic leadership believes in a “superior faith” that seeks to destroy Western civilization and replace it with a new Islamic world order.
Antisemitism is an evil entity
Concerning antisemitism, Evangelical Christians have been among the strongest voices opposing it. They do so not only because it is a form of racism but also because it is a Trojan horse of evil and a direct assault on the truth of the gospel.
The gospel diagnoses humanity’s greatest problem as sin and separation from God, a condition shared by every human being regardless of race or nationality.
Therefore, in the Christian view, everyone is in need of a Savior. Antisemitism, on the other hand, replaces that truth with a dangerous lie, claiming that humanity’s problems can be traced to one people: the Jews. It is not only morally evil – it provides cover for evil to advance.
The elephant in the room is that the global Christian story would not exist apart from the first followers of Jesus, who were all Jews. Think about it: it was Israel who gave the world a faith in Jesus beginning in Jerusalem that, in turn, produced a moral and theological clarity that has enabled followers of Jesus to bless and stand with Israel.
Jewish philosopher Martin Buber observed, “We must overcome the superstitious fear which we harbor about the Messianic movement of Jesus, and we must place the movement where it belongs, namely, in the spiritual history of Judaism.”
The bond between Evangelical Christians and Israel is rooted in God’s story, a story that is still unfolding.
It is a bond that will not be broken.
The writer is the pastor of Rise Church in San Marcos, California, and the founder of Pastors Alliance for Israel.