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[Magic Man]

I've recently been perplexed by the Christian fundamentalist support of Israel, and it took me some research to realize that it appears to be wrapped up in the second coming of Christ and how it's a sign that Jews will return to Israel and that they will be converted to Christianity.

[jimwalton]

Christians are generally (nothing to do with "fundamentalism") in support of Israel because of their understandings of prophecies in the Bible about Israel returning to the land of Abraham (Canaan; Palestine) and flourishing there. There is much disagreement among theologians about whether or not "Israel returning to the land" is meant literally (it will be a historical event) or metaphorically (the Church is now the new "Israel", and all such prophecies are meant to be understood spiritually in relation to the Church). This view holds that Israel has been displaced or supplanted by the Church because of the Jews' rejection of Jesus as Messiah. This debate will not be resolved because the Bible doesn't give us enough information to sort it out. Those who understand the prophecies to be literal/historical are glad to see Israel back in the land and want to support that Zionistic dream.

But you should understand something else: Christians' support of Israel is by no means an endorsement of their politics or their military actions. Atrocities have been committed by all sides in the perpetual Middle East conflict, and those crimes are morally unjustifiable. In my post I am not taking a stance on the rightness or wrongness of action by the Palestinians, Israelis, Syrians, or anyone. All I'm saying is that Christian support of Israel doesn't necessarily mean they condone every action of the Israeli government or military.

But there's a caveat with which Christians don't often deal: What's to say that this return to the land (circa 1948) is the one of Biblical prophecy? True, the Bible doesn't mention a series of returns, exiles, returns, exiles, and then the final return, but prophecy is a tricky business that rarely (oh, I should say never) mentions everything we'd LIKE to know. But I think it's fair to say that Christians, in their eschatological fervor, support Zionism because they would like to believe that Jesus is returning soon, and feel that a literal Israel in historic Canaan/Palestine is an important part of that picture.

If you really want to dive into it, you can Google something like "where does the bible say that in the end times jews will turn back to jesus", and you'll come up with more than you ever wanted to know! Suffice it to say that it is generally accepted by many Christians that (1) Israel would one day become a country again (happened in 1948), (2) Jews would return to the land of Israel (happening continually now), (3) the Temple would be rebuilt on the Temple Mount, and (4) there would be a large turning of Jews to Jesus (not necessarily all Jews, but a substantial movement).

[tiger48]

to piggy back off the original question...

It seems to me with the coming of Christ that "the people of God" shift from the Jews to the Church (Jews, Gentiles, and everybody). Do the prophecies of the Old Testament also shift to the overall view of the universal Church or is it an either or kind of thing?

[jimwalton]

Tiger, that's a big debate. Just being honest. There is obviously some kind of shift. The NT confirms that the Gentiles have been "grafted in," and we at least now share in the blessings and prophecies of the people of God. What's largely debated is whether the Jews are still part of that whole picture, or whether their rejection of Christ really did put them out, like OUT—completely. Lots of Christians still believe that Jews are still part of the picture, that they haven't been totally displaced, but they're just, figuratively speaking, just in exile. But that the day will come when Jews turn to Jesus in large numbers, and that the prophecies of the OT that pertain to them will come true not just for the Church, but in some literal ways in the country of Israel and for the Jewish people. (But there is still considerable disagreement about all of this stuff. Discerning prophecy is tricky business.)

To further answer your question, I'd hate to generalize. It wouldn't be fair to the integrity of the text, and that counts high in my book. We'd almost have to take text by text and examine them to see what exactly you're thinking about, and whether those prophecies are generally considered to be for the Jews and Israel or for the Church. If you want to at least ask about a few, we can talk about it. Well, we can talk about many also, depending on how much time you want to invest and how much conversation you want to have.