On Israel, America, and the Church
One of the nation’s most hotly contested Senate races was here in our own backyard. The political theatre of Abdul El-Sayed vs. Mike Rogers garnered national attention - the drama with Democratic Primary candidate Haley Stevens endorsing Mike Rogers at curtain call, the historic ramifications of El-Sayed as the first Muslim senator in American history, and of course the policy disagreement surrounding Palestine and Israel. The New York Times reported that, among all the other drama, one of the reasons Stevens defected and endorsed the Grand Ole’ opponent was El-Sayed’s opposition to Israel.[1] In the 78 years since Israel was once again recognized as a geopolitical entity, U.S. support for Israel has been unquestioned, and the Michigan senate race has reignited the conversation surrounding Israel, Palestine, and the United States of America.
In the last eight decades Evangelical support for Israel has been fervent. In most cases this support is derived from bad hermeneutics - a poor interpretation of Scripture. Many Christians base support for Israel’s right to and occupation of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea on the divine promise in Scripture. This argument derives from bad hermeneutics.
After Joshua led the Canaanite conquest, he records these words:
43 Thus yhwh gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And yhwh gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for yhwh had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that yhwh had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass (Josh 21.43-45).
The promise of land occupation was initially fulfilled at the Canaanite conquest. By the reign of King Solomon Israel possessed the totality of the real estate promised by God. Of course, because Israel didn’t keep the covenant, they were exiled from the land under the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. The Jews returned to the land after 70 years, but something was different - the Davidic king was not restored to the throne, Israel remained under Persian rule, and while they rebuilt the temple, the Spirit of yhwh never returned to the temple in the visible demonstration of Solomon’s temple.
God’s redemptive plan moved forward and, as we turn to the pages of the New Testament, it is revealed that Israel never truly was an ethnic people group, but a man. In Galatians 3.16 St. Paul makes clear that Jesus Christ is true Israel:
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ
A redemptive-historical reading of the Gospels, especially St. Matthew’s Gospel, underlines the point. The life of Jesus Christ is a providential recapitulation of the Israel narrative. Like Moses, Jesus’ life is threatened from the start. Joseph flees to Egypt with his bride and the infant Christ. Once it’s safe, they return from Egypt - This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Matt 2.15; cf. Hos 1.11).
Like Israel in the exodus, Jesus comes through the waters and into the wilderness for a duration of 40[2] (Matt 3.13-4.11; Mark 1.9-13; Luke 3.21-4.13). In the wilderness Israel came to Mt. Sinai where the prophet Moses brought them the Law. After the wilderness temptation, St. Matthew moves right to the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). The most important occasions in the early life and ministry of the Lord Jesus are recapitulations and fulfillment of Israel’s history revealing that Jesus Christ is the true Israel.
Because Jesus is true Israel, all who trust in Christ - Jew and Gentile - encompass true Israel. St. Paul teaches, [f]or no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter (Rom 2.28-29). True Israelites are those who have been circumcised in heart by the Spirit.
In Romans 4 St. Paul writes that Abraham was counted righteous (Gen 15.6) before he was circumcised in order that he might be the father of all who believe - the circumcised and the uncircumcised (Rom 4.11). In Galatians 6.16 St. Paul refers to the church as the Israel of God. St. Paul isn’t the only apostle equating Israel and the church. St. Peter wrote:
[Y]ou are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1st Pet 2.9-10).
In Hebrew 4 the eternal rest of the new creation is revealed as the true and final fulfilment of the land promise given to Father Abraham and his sons (cf. Rom 8). In Revelation 21. 1-2, St. John reveals that the new creation was the telos of Jerusalem all along:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
Revelation 21.9-22.5 expands the exposition cloaking the new creation in the language of the Promised Land. Ethnic Israel under the old covenant was a type and shadow of the true Israel - the Lord Jesus Christ. Now all who are in Christ make up the Israel of God, the sons of Abraham by faith, the church. The land promise to Israel was fulfilled initially in the Canaanite conquest and fully in the reign of Solomon, but the land promise substantially will be fulfilled in the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection, and the new creation.
There may be good reasons for America to support Israel - chiefly since Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East - but one of those reasons should not be bad hermeneutics. Furthermore, we ought not employ bad hermeneutics to justify war crimes. Modern Israel is a geopolitical nation; they are not the people of God. The people of God are all those - Jew and Gentile - in Christ. Israel may be America’s ally, but the church is the people of God.
[1]https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/01/us/politics/el-sayed-stevens-meltdown-michigan-democrats.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20261102&instance_id=184529&nl=from-the-times®i_id=283437045&segment_id=229086&user_id=8fa1a80ef06028ed1f4d46793d8ba9ec
[2]Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus Christ was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness for 40 days.