Why We Should Stand With Israel?
As Bible believing Christians who take the whole counsel of God seriously, we should stand with Israel. This is not first and foremost a political calculation. It is a conviction required by scripture itself and by the character of God who never breaks covenant.
God’s relationship with Israel begins with a sovereign call and an everlasting promise. In Genesis 12:1-3 the Lord said to Abram: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 17:7-8 seals this as an everlasting covenant: “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and to you descendants after you; and I will be their God.” The promise is confirmed to Isaac and to Jacob. In Genesis 32:28 God renames Jacob “Israel.” From Jacob’s twelve sons the tribes are born. Through the Exodus, the covenant at Sinai (Exodus 19:5-6), and the giving of the Law, the nation is formed and set apart. Formed the beginning, Israel is chosen by God’s free and sovereign love, not by merit. That choice still stands.
Out of the tribe of Judah came David, the man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13: 22). He rose from the sheepfolds to the throne, United the tribes, established Jerusalem, and received the promise of an everlasting dynasty (2 Samuel 7:12-16). The Messiah Himself is repeatedly called the son of David. David’s life mirrors Israel’s larger story: chosen by grace, disciplined for sin, yet never cast off. God’s covenant faithfulness holds even when the human partner fails. If god kept faith with David, He keeps faith with the people from whom David came.
Scripture repeatedly names Israel as God’s treasured possession. Deuteronomy 7:6-8 declares: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors.” The same truth resounds in Deuteronomy 14:2, Exodus 19:5-6, Isaiah 41:8-9, and Psalm 135:4. Romans 11 stands as a New Testament pillar: God has not rejected His people. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, and “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). To treat that calling as canceled is to treat God’s world as unreliable.
The biblical pattern is clear and consistent. Deuteronomy 28 sets the terms of the covenant: obedience brings blessing; disobedience brings curse, defeat, and scattering. The prophets warned of exile, yet they also promised restoration. Jeremiah 30-31 speaks of a new covenant and the regathering of Israel. Ezekiel 36-37 portrays the valley of dry bones rising and the two sticks becoming one. Isaiah 11 looks forward to the Branch form Jesse and a peace that fills the earth. Romans 11:25-26 gathers these threads: “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.” God disciplines those he loves, but he does not abandon the covenant sealed by His oath. If we believe the prophets and the apostle, we must believe that God’s future for Israel remains.
Israel failed again and again. They grumbled in the wilderness, fashioned a golden calf, pursued the gods of nations, silenced the prophets, and at last rejected the Messiah who came to them. Yet God continued to pursue them. That is the heart of the God we worship. He is not like the false gods of the nations that demand endless works, blood, and sacrifice to earn favor. The true God is so gracious that He gave His only son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). The cross is the once for all sacrifice. No more animal blood. No more human sacrifice. The finished work of Jesus stands complete. All He asks is that we come, believe that He is the one true God, the king of kings and Lord of Lords, and then walk with Him in repentance and faith. We fall short, yet He remains faithful. He is just, yet He is merciful. He hears the cries of His people. The same grace that sustains us is the grace that still holds Israel.
As Gentile believers we have been grafted into the olive tree of God’s covenant people (Romans 11:17-24). We did not replace the natural branches; we were graciously joined to the root sustains us. Paul warns us not to become arrogant toward the natural branches. The root supports us, not the other way around. Therefore we should stand with Israel not because every modern government decision is perfect, but because God’s covenant purposes remain. Governments are composed of all fallen people. Their policies must be weighed by the standards of truth and righteousness. we may disagree with particular leaders or actions while still affirming what Scripture teaches about the irrevocable calling of God upon Israel. We hold governments accountable without pretending the covenant has been canceled. God is faithful even when man is not. To abandon the people God has not abandoned is to place our own judgment above His word.
Jesus told the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). An enemy sowed weeds among the wheat. Both grow together until the harvest. Then the weeds are gathered and burned, and the wheat is brought into the barn. The field is the world. The good seed are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one. In this age the two grow side by side. The conflict between light and darkness makes the difference plain. At the harvest the son of Man will send His angels to separate them. Until that day we are called to stand with the purposes of God revealed in His word. Standing with Israel is one concrete way of aligning ourselves with those purposes rather than with the spirit that opposes them.
The land itself bears witness. The territory promised to Abraham’s descendants was the land of canaan. The coastal region later associated with the philistines was distinct. The regions corresponding to modern modern Iran appear in scripture chiefly as Elam, Media, and later persia nations that God used in judgment and in restoration according to His sovereign will. Geography does not override covenant, but it reminds us that God’s promises are concrete, not abstract.
I do not celebrate violence. Yet Scripture recognizes the right of people under covenant to defend the life God has given them. The same God who disciplines also protects.History records a long pattern of hatred directed against the Jewish people the people through whom the scriptures and the Messiah came. That pattern has served as a warning: the spirit that hates what God has chosen does not stop with them. It turns next upon all who bear the name of the true God.
Therefore we should stand with Israel. We stand because the Bible presents them as God’s chosen people from Abraham onward through the tribes, through David, through exile and return, through hardening and promised salvation. I stand because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. I stand because the true God is gracious, not demanding blood or works to earn His favor, but inviting us to believe, to surrender, and to walk with Him. We pray for the salvation of the Jewish people, that they may recognize Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the fulfillment of every promise. We do not place politics above truth. We simply believe that God keeps the covenants He makes.
The wheat and the weeds are growing together. At the harvest God will separate them. Until then, as those who take the whole counsel of scripture seriously, we choose to stand with the people and the nation that scripture repeatedly calls His own. God is faithful. His word is sure. His covenant stands. That is why we should stand with Israel.