I will never forget sitting with Mother Teresa. During our conversation, she shared a truth that has stayed with me for decades. She said, “You cannot love Jesus without loving the Jewish people, because Jesus was Jewish.”
Those words were not political. They were biblical. They reflected an understanding that Christianity did not replace Judaism. Rather, Christianity was born from God’s covenant relationship with the Jewish people. Jesus was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, worshiped in the Temple, celebrated the biblical feasts, and fulfilled the promises God gave through the prophets of Israel.
That simple conversation captures the heart of Christian Zionism.
The foundation of Christian Zionism
Christian Zionists believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God. We believe that the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob remains in effect because God is faithful to every promise He has ever made.
The modern State of Israel exists in the very land that Scripture repeatedly identifies as the inheritance of the Jewish people. Our support for Israel is not based on changing political winds or election cycles. It is rooted in God’s eternal Word. That conviction also shapes how Christians understand the land itself.
This is why so many Christians reject the term “West Bank.” The Bible never calls this region the “West Bank.” Scripture calls it Judea and Samaria. These names are not political inventions; they are the biblical names of the land where the story of redemption unfolded.
Why Judea and Samaria matter
Nearly 80% of the major events recorded in the Bible took place in Judea and Samaria. Abraham walked these hills. Joshua led Israel into this land. Samuel judged here. David ruled from here. Elijah and Elisha ministered here. The prophets proclaimed God’s Word throughout these mountains, and Jesus Himself traveled, taught, healed, and preached throughout Judea. The history of both Israel and the Church is inseparable from this land.
When Jesus gave His final commission before ascending into heaven, His words reinforced its importance. In Acts 1:8 he declared, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Notice where the Great Commission begins: Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. The Gospel spread to the nations from the very places that many today insist Christians should treat as merely disputed real estate. Jesus did not separate His mission from the land of the Bible, and neither should His followers. That is why, when Christians refer to Judea and Samaria as Bible land, they are acknowledging that this region is the setting for much of God’s redemptive story. The biblical names remind us that Scripture is rooted in real places, real people, and God’s enduring covenant with Israel.
This is a biblical conviction, not a political one
Critics often portray Christian Zionists as people motivated primarily by politics, but that misses the point entirely. Christian Zionism is first and foremost a theological conviction. It is the belief that God keeps His covenants and that His promises are trustworthy.
The names Judea and Samaria are not modern political slogans. They are biblical names found throughout Scripture. To erase those names is to erase much of the geography of God’s redemptive story.
If God can abandon His promises to Israel, then every believer has reason to question whether He will keep His promises to us.
The reality behind the conflict
A biblical worldview changes more than our understanding of history. It changes how we interpret the events unfolding in Israel today.
The violence directed against Israel also deserves to be understood honestly. Jews are not murdered simply because they happen to live in a particular neighborhood or beyond a particular line on a map. They are targeted because they are Jews.
The horrific attacks of October 7 once again demonstrated that the goal of Hamas was not merely territorial change but the destruction of Jewish lives. For generations, terrorists have attacked Israeli civilians in homes, buses, restaurants, schools, synagogues, and public streets because they reject the very existence of a Jewish homeland.
Recognizing that reality is essential to understanding why so many Christians stand firmly with Israel. Christian Zionists believe Israel has both the right and the obligation to defend its citizens against those who seek its destruction.
A growing theological divide
Another difficult reality is the growing theological divide between Christian Zionists and many prominent Palestinian Christian leaders.
The majority of Palestinian Christian organizations reject the belief that God’s covenant promises concerning the land continue to apply to the Jewish people today. They argue that the promises should instead be understood spiritually or through the Church.
Christian Zionists respectfully but firmly disagree because we believe God’s covenants are irrevocable and that Scripture should be interpreted according to its plain meaning.
This disagreement is ultimately not about politics. It is about whether God means what He says. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God repeatedly affirms His covenant with Israel. The Apostle Paul reminds believers in Romans that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” God’s faithfulness is measured by His willingness to keep every promise He has made, even when the world questions those promises.
Bible land
Mother Teresa understood something that much of the modern world has forgotten. Jesus cannot be separated from His Jewish identity or from the people through whom God brought His plan of redemption into the world. To love Jesus is to honor the story God wrote through Israel.
That is why Christian Zionists will continue to stand with Israel and continue to call Judea and Samaria by their biblical names. To us, this is not simply the West Bank. It is Bible land, the land where God revealed Himself, where the prophets proclaimed His truth, where Jesus walked, and where the Gospel first went forth to the nations.
The writer has written 120 books, is a #1 New York Times best-selling author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. He is the founder of the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, the Ten Boom Museum in Holland, and Churches United with Israel, one of the largest Christian Zionist networks in America.