We would suggest that the “lens of the gospel” gives the only hope for the peace of Jerusalem. The “lens of justice” only brings further bitterness and resentment towards the State of Israel.[1] The need is for grace and forgiveness. Seeking justice does not bring peace in Jerusalem or anywhere else. The reality is that Jesus took the injustice on Himself.   He unjustly suffered so that those who believe in Him might demonstrate compassion and seek reconciliation.

Read Part 1, “Why Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem?”
Read Part 2, “The Conflicting Narrative of Jerusalem”
Read Part 3, “Pain: God’s Megaphone”
Read Part 4, “Does God Have a Plan for Israel?”
Read Part 5, Underlying Causes of the Conflict Between Israel and the Arabs
Read Part 6, “Which is the Older Faith – Christianity or Judaism?”

When we look at Jerusalem and the surrounding region through the lens of politics, the history of the peace process gives no hope of resolution. There is less hope today for peace than at any other time. The city is heading towards greater conflict as both Palestinians and Jews have conflicting visions for the city.

Yet, with shrinking support for Israel among former allies, the Jewish government has found enthusiastic support among the evangelical community. This support dates back to the British Evangelicals of the late 18^th and 19^th centuries.

The Reformation regained the biblical interpretative principle that valued the history of the Old Testament. As a result, the Reformers interpretation of Scripture took a substantially different view of the Jewish people than the view of the councils of the 4^th through the 7^th centuries, and the Medieval Christian church. Whereas the councils viewed the Jewish people as a threat to Christian faith considering them rejected by God for their part in the death of Jesus Christ, the Reformers saw the Jewish people as stewards of the grace of God preparing the way for the Promised Messiah.

The doctrine of justification by faith clarified that God the Father laid the sins of us all on Jesus. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4). The Jews were not the “Christ killers” but “all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

The Reformers read the promises in the Old Testament of a time when the Jewish people would come to faith in Jesus as their Messiah. This became “the Puritan hope.”[2]

Jewish people often freely assert that Christianity is at root anti-Semitic. Certainly there is a strand of anti-Semitism that extends from the early church fathers through the Reformation.

However, the Reformation in England resulted in recognizing the human rights of all people as made in the image of God. As a consequence, many ethnic groups, as well as Jews, were granted legal protection that was unknown until the 17^th and 18^th century in England.

The heirs to the Reformers read about the promises in the Old Testament about the Jewish people and they desired for the Jews to return to the land they believed God had promised to them. The Reformation heritage of historic orthodox Christianity is in no way anti-Semitic but paved the way for Jews to have a homeland.

The heirs of the Reformation, the 18^th and 19^th century evangelicals, became known as Christian Restorationists. This vision was expressed by the Scottish Free Church pastor, Alexander Keith, when in 1843 he wrote that the Jews are “a people without a country, even as their own land . . . is in a great measure a country without a people.” Lord Shaftsbury in July of 1853 asserted that greater Syria (which was still part of the Ottoman Empire at that time) was a “country without a nation in need of a nation without a country.”

William Blackstone, an American evangelical wrote, “And now, this very day, we stand face to face with the awful dilemma, that these millions cannot remain where they are, and yet have no other place to go . . . This phase of the question presents an astonishing anomaly – a land without a people, and a people without a land.”[3]

The Jewish writer Hugh Schonfield acknowledged the significance of the Protestant missionary effort:

It must be clearly recognized, however, that the Missions to the Jews, mainly founded in the nineteenth century, paved the way directly for the reconstitution of Jewish Christianity as an organic spiritual community, not only because their high-souled efforts won thousands of Jews for Christ and so provided the living materials for such a reconstitution, but because some of them sponsored and assisted the first hesitant steps of Jewish Christians to unite with one another in a corporate existence. The debt of Jewish Christianity to the modern Protestant missions is indeed an overwhelming one, and can only be repaid by the fullest exhibition of Christian character and by the utmost endeavour to realize in function the vision of so many saintly Gentile Christians of a national Jewish witness for Jesus the Messiah that in the dark hour of almost universal unbelief would hold aloft the torch of faith, and fulfill the historic mission of Israel to the world by showing forth the pattern of a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.[4]

So it is simply not true that Christianity is anti-Semitic. The Bible has led many Christians to be committed to the Jewish people. However, by the end of the 19^th century, the focus regarding the Jewish people had shifted for many evangelicals from the Reformation vision of the salvation of the Jews to the return to the land.

Much of 20^th century evangelical teaching shifted to “prophecy” which focused on the return of the Jews to the land and the establishment of the State of Israel. God’s prophetic clock was now winding down to bring about “the last times” and the imminent return of Jesus. The spiritual need of the Jews for a Savior was obscured as seen through the prophetic lens.

For most evangelicals, the focus shifted away from evangelizing the Jewish people. Earlier, the Church of Scotland’s efforts in the Galilee, and the efforts of Anglicans such as the London Society for Christianity Among the Jews (today it is called the Church Ministry Among the Jewish People – CMJ) were on reaching the Jewish people for Christ. Although there were some evangelical organizations that sent workers to minister the gospel to the Jews, vast numbers of evangelical Protestants began to flock to “Prophecy conferences” to learn about future events. The goal was to learn about the Lord’s soon return and possibly hasten His return.

As a result, the vision was not evangelizing the Jewish people but affirming the Jewish people’s rights to the land, the rebuilding of the Temple, the conflicts with the Arabs (who were viewed as having no right to the land), the rise of the anti-Christ, the battle of Armageddon, the tribulation, the rapture of Christians, and the return of Jesus to reign for a 1,000 years from the City of Jerusalem. All of these events are to be initiated by God and require no particular action of believers. Yet such prophecy conferences and teaching energized Christians. Such prophetic views have no vision for ministering the gospel to the Arabs. The Arabs simply disappear from view and live in Israel’s shadow.

The evangelical statements regarding “a people without a land for a land without a people” have been adopted by Jewish Zionists. Arabs have understandably been insulted by the perception that the land has been uninhabited by Palestinian Arabs. The result is the charge of Zionism as a racist position.

Yet some evangelicals believe that all of the land of Palestine (greater Israel) belongs to the Jewish people. The issue becomes one of “the Land” not one of the heart and motivation of the Jewish people.

As a consequence, evangelical Protestants raise significant amounts of money to bring Jews from Russia to Israel so that they can live freely as Jewish people in Israel. Evangelists, such as John Hagee, believe the Jewish people are chosen by God therefore there is no need to offer the gospel to Jewish people. He believes the Bible commands Christians to support the State of Israel and the Jewish people in order to “bless Israel” based on Genesis 12:3.

In 1980, the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem was established with the a number of objectives. From its foundation the ‘charter’ of the ICEJ has been to ‘comfort’ Israel. This has been defined in terms of encouraging and facilitating the ‘restoration’ of the Jews to Eretz Israel although the exact geographical extent of ‘greater’ Israel is usually left ambiguous.  In 1993, the ICEJ declared itself to have nine objectives, many of which were overtly political.

• To show concern for the Jewish people and the reborn State of Israel, by being a focus of comfort.
• To be a centre where Christians can gain a biblical understanding of Israel, and learn to be rightly related to the nation.
• To present to Christians a true understanding of what is taking place in the Land today so that world events may be interpreted in the light of God’s Word.
• To remind and encourage Christians to pray for Jerusalem and the Land of Israel.
• To stimulate Christian leaders, churches and organisations to become effective influences in their countries on behalf of the Jewish people.
• To encourage Jewish people to return to their homeland.
• To be a channel for fulfilment of God’s promise that one day Israel and her Arab neighbours will live in peace under the blessing of God, in the middle of the earth.
• To begin or assist projects in Israel, including economic ventures, for the well-being of all who live here.
• To take part through these activities in preparing the way of the Lord and to anticipate His reign from Jerusalem. (ICEJ 1993: 5)

Nowhere does the ICEJ express the desire to compassionately minister the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jews.

John Ross, deputy director of Christian Witness to Israel and a minister of the Free Church of Scotland insists this failure in evangelism is “a form of religious anti-Semitism which is as basically evil as the philosophy of the Nazi’s.”[5] The theology of ICEJ is evaluated by Donald Wagner. “If the church is deemphasized and a modern secular/ethnic government assumes total authority, the Christian message is clearly undermined. The gospel of Jesus Christ becomes secondary. The task of doing justice and proclaiming salvation in Jesus Christ is lost. The future revival of all nations, their prosperity and destiny, are made conditional on the degree to which they support the political State of Israel.”[6]

Such a prophetic vision results in rejection of the Arab peoples. Using Bible prophecy to exalt the State of Israel is an idolatry that only increases the conflicts and problems in Jerusalem rather than leading to reconciliation.

On the other hand, some Palestinian believers desire for Christians to look at Jerusalem through the “the lens of justice.” Palestinian believers believe justice needs to be done. The Israeli government must be forced to acknowledge the rights of Palestinians and to cease abuses. Many see the region through the lens of justice. We would suggest that the “lens of the gospel” gives the only hope for the peace of Jerusalem. The “lens of justice” only brings further bitterness and resentment towards the State of Israel.[7] The need is for grace and forgiveness. Seeking justice does not bring peace in Jerusalem or anywhere else. The reality is that Jesus took the injustice on Himself. He unjustly suffered so that those who believe in Him might demonstrate compassion and seek reconciliation.

For either side to see the injustices done to them as greater than their rebellious thoughts, words, and deeds against Almighty God is to minimize sin. All sin is against the One who created us and before whom all we stand to give account. Jesus had to take our sin on Himself and “become sin” so that we might stand as righteous before Him. This narrative gives one narrative for both Jews and Arabs.

The question then moves from should the State of Israel exist but how is the State of Israel to protect equally the rights of all its citizens to life, liberty, and property. The Jewish people are ordained by God as a unique ethnic people. The State exists to protect the life and liberty of Jewish people. But also, the State is to demonstrate no partiality, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.  Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:17-19). The Word of God insists that Israel care for the Arabs as God cared for the Jews when they were strangers in Egypt.

We need the lens of the gospel in order to understand what God’s plan is for both the Jews and the Arabs. Only the gospel can transform hearts and minds for reconciliation to take place.

What to Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem:

• Pray that evangelical Christians would focus on the need the Jews have for the gospel rather than on the Jews’ “rights” to the Land.
• Pray that Evangelicals would hold lightly their views of “prophecy” so that it would not distort their care for Jewish and Arab peoples.
• Pray that Jewish people and particularly Messianic Jews would not view Christianity as essentially anti-Semitic. Help Messianic Jews to see the role Evangelical and Reformed Christians played in the formation of the State of Israel.
• Pray for Palestinian believers to know how to deal with the pain and trouble of everyday life under the State of Israel’s authority without succumbing to bitterness. Help them to genuinely hold up Jesus Christ and the hope of the gospel more loudly than their legitimate pain and suffering.

Dr. Douglas W. Kittredge is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is senior pastor of New Life in Christ PCA in Fredericksburg, Va.

[1] Tom Getman, Lens of Justice

[2] Ian Murray, The Puritan Hope: Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy, The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA, 1991, p. 4.

[3] Ariel Yaakov, On Behalf of Israel, American Fundamentalist Attitudes Toward Jews, Judaism and Zionism, 1865-1945, Carlson Publishing, Brooklyn, NY, 1991, p. 74.

[4] Hugh J. Schonfield, The History of Jewish Christianity, Kemp Hall Press, Ltd. 1936, p.209.

[5] John Ross, Anxious for Armageddon, Herald Press, 1995, p. 24.

[6] Wagner, p. 104

[7] Tom Getman, Lens of Justice