Is the current state of Israel a work of God as predicted in Bible prophecy or is it merely an accident of history? I believe that modern Israel is a Divine work and is in the process of fulfilling Bible prophecy. I believe that Israel, as she is constituted today, is a work of God in progress preparing the nation for the tribulation, which will lead to her national conversion, the second coming of Christ and His millennial reign.

Christian Support for Israel

On the one hand, there is great support for Israel generally among the Evangelical Christian Community. This is likely the main reason that opinion polls in the United States show great support for the modern state of Israel, in contrast with Europe, which tends to overwhelmingly support the Arabs. It is not the Jewish lobby that is so effective in America, while they struggle across the Atlantic. The reason there is such great support for Israel in the U. S. A. is because biblical Christianity resonates more here than in the Old World. There are not many Bible-believing Christians in Europe compared to this country. Further, there is a greater number of Muslims in Europe than in North America. Their influence is driving opinions in Europe in much the same way that Evangelicals tip the scales in this country.

While the larger majority of Evangelicals have always supported Israel, the Jewish community is only recently becoming convinced of this support.

National Review’ s Rod Dreher says evangelicals who hold a ” divine right” viewpoint support Israel with an ” uncritical fervor that exceeds that of even some American Jews.” Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Lapin, in an article posted May 7 on National Review Online, says American Jews are ” waking up” to Christian support.[1]

For many Evangelicals, the modern state of Israel is such an important item, that it will be the central issue by which they will determine who to vote for in this year’ s election. For Christians like myself, we believe that it is still a dictum of history that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse the one who curses Israel (Gen. 12:3).

Fighting God

Yet, even within the Christian community in America, there are those who do not believe that the modern state of Israel is related to God’ s Sovereign plan for history. Preterist Gary North has boasted that he has a book already in his computer for when ” Israel gets pushed into the sea, or converted to Christ.”[2] Lutheran Don Matzat has said,

The present-day nation of Israel is no more involved in God’ s plans for the future than is France, England, Germany, the United States, etc. The teaching of the New Testament is very clear- Jesus fulfilled everything pertaining to Israel and formed the New Israel.[3]

Even a number of dispensationalists today say that there is a restored nation of Israel in God’ s plan for the future, but there is no reason to think that the current nation of Israel is necessarily prophetically significant. Current president of Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Mark Bailey said,

Is that what is happening today? I can’ t say for sure. It is the first time in 2,500 years, though, that you have this kind of constitution of people in the land, but I don’ t know what that means. This may be the prelude to end-time events, but I think we’ re presumptuous if we try to give it meaning beyond that. It may be, that’ s all we can say.[4]

It is not surprising, in light of his view of the present state of Israel, that Dr. Bailey recommends Christians not support Israel politically.[5]

Modern Israel IS a Work of God

There are many reasons why we can say that the modern state of Israel is prophetically significant and of stage-setting significance for the tribulation. I will list a few here, but will do a more thorough job in a forthcoming book. First of all, Israel is not going to get pushed into the sea. Second, France, England, Germany and the United States are not mentioned hundreds of times throughout the Bible as is the case with Israel. The Bible says many times that Israel is not done in history, but many Christians act as if that were not true. Paul said in Romans, ” I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” (Rom. 11:1a).

There are dozens of biblical passages that predict an end-time regathering of Israel back to her land. However, it is a common mistake to lump all of these passages into one fulfillment time frame, especially in relation to the modern state of Israel. Modern Israel is prophetically significant and is fulfilling Bible prophecy. But readers of God’ s Word need to be careful to distinguish which verses are being fulfilled in our day and which references await future fulfillment. In short there will be two end-time regatherings: One before the tribulation and one after the tribulation.

Hebrew Christian scholar Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum- a graduate of Dallas Seminary- explains the biblical basis for the current state of Israel as follows:

The re-establishment of the Jewish state in 1948 has not only thrown a wrench in amillennial thinking, but it has also thrown a chink in much of premillennial thinking. Amazingly, some premillennialists have concluded that the present state of Israel has nothing to do with the fulfillment of prophecy. For some reason the present state some how does not fit their scheme of things, and so the present state becomes merely an accident of history. On what grounds is the present state of Israel so dismissed? The issue that bothers so many premillennialists is the fact that not only have the Jews returned in unbelief with regard to the person of Jesus, but the majority of the ones who have returned are not even Orthodox Jews. In fact the majority are atheists or agnostics. Certainly, then, Israel does not fit in with all those biblical passages dealing with the return. For it is a regenerated nation that the Bible speaks of, and the present state of Israel hardly fits that picture. So on these grounds, the present state is dismissed as not being a fulfillment of prophecy.

However, the real problem is the failure to see that the prophets spoke of two international returns. First, there was to be a regathering in unbelief in preparation for judgment, namely the judgment of the tribulation. This was to be followed by a second world-wide regathering in faith in preparation for blessing, namely the blessings of the messianic age. Once it is recognized that the Bible speaks of two such regatherings, it is easy to see how the present state of Israel fits into prophecy.[6]

First World-Wide Gathering in UnbeliefIn 1948 when the modern state of Israel was born, it not only became an important stage setting development but began an actual fulfillment of specific Bible prophecies about an international regathering of the Jews in unbelief before the judgment of the tribulation. Such a prediction is found in the following Old Testament passages: Ezek. 20:33-38; 22:17-22; 36:22-24; 37:1- 14; Isa. 11:11-12; Zeph. 2:1-2 and Ezek. 38- 39 presupposes such a setting.

Zephaniah 1:14-18 is one of the most colorful descriptions of ” The Day of the Lord,” which we commonly call the tribulation period. Zephaniah 2:1-2 says that there will be a world-wide regathering of Israel before the day of the Lord. ” Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame, before the decree takes effect- the day passes like the chaff- before the burning anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’ s anger comes upon you.”

Ezekiel 20:33- 38 speaks of a regathering, which must take place before the tribulation. The passage speaks of bringing the nation of Israel back ” from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out” (Ezek. 20:34). ” With wrath poured out” is a descriptive reference to the tribulation. Thus, in order this to occur in history, Israel must be back in the land before the tribulation. This passage clearly says that it is the Lord who is bringing them back. The current nation of Israel is in the process of fulfilling this passage.

In a similar vein, two chapters later, Ezekiel receives another revelation about a future regathering of national Israel (Ezek. 22:17- 22). This time, the Lord is ” going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem” (Ezek. 22:19). Like the metallurgist, the Lord will use the fire of the tribulation to purge out the unfaithful. The Lord is going to ” gather you [Israel] and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it” (Ezek. 22:21). Once again, ” My wrath” depicts the time of the tribulation. It also follows here that the nation must be regathered before that event can take place. The outcome of this event will be that the nation ” will know that I, the Lord, have poured out My wrath on you” (Ezek. 22:22). For this to occur, there must be a regathering by the Lord of Israel to the land, just like we see happening with the modern state of Israel. God is at work through the current state of Israel.

Surely, anyone who claims to believe in a national future for Israel would have to say that the valley of dry bones prophecy in some way, shape, or form relates to modern Israel (Ezek. 37:1- 14). The prophet describes a future process through which the nation of Israel will come to be reconstituted and (when the process is complete) enter into a faithful spiritual relationship with the Lord. This multi stage process must surely include the current nation of Israel, in unbelief, that is being prepared to go through a time that will lead to her conversion to Jesus as their Messiah. This is said by Ezekiel to be a work of the Lord (Ezek. 37:14). Thus, the modern state of Israel is a work of God and biblically significant.

Second World-Wide Gathering in BeliefMany passages in the Bible speak of Israel’ s regathering, in belief, at the end of the tribulation, in conjunction with Christ’ s second coming, in preparation for commencement of the millennium. These references are not being fulfilled by the modern state of Israel. Some of the citations include: Deut. 4:29-31; 30:1-10; Isa. 27:12-13; 43:5-7; Jer. 16:14-15; 31:7-10; Ezek. 11:14-18; Amos 9:14-15; Zech. 10:8-12; Matt. 24:31 and many more. I think that this regathering will fulfill the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) for the nation of Israel.

Matthew 24:31, records a future regathering of Israel, this time in belief. ” And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matt. 24:31). This is said to take place after the tribulation (Matt. 24:29), which would be the second coming.

Conclusion

The fact that the last fifty years has seen a world-wide regathering and reestablishment of the nation of Israel, which is now poised in just the setting required for the revealing of the Antichrist and the start of the tribulation, is God’ s grand indicator that all of the other areas of world development are prophetically significant. Dr. Walvoord says,

Of the many peculiar phenomena which characterize the present generation, few events can claim equal significance as far as Biblical prophecy is concerned with that of the return of Israel to their land. It constitutes a preparation for the end of the age, the setting for the coming of the Lord for His church, and the fulfillment of Israel’s prophetic destiny.[7]

It is true that the Bible predicts a future time when Israel will be regathered in belief and will then enter into the kingdom for a thousand years. However, as I have demonstrated above, the same Scriptures also tell us of a time when Israel will be regathered in unbelief, before the tribulation in order that God may complete His plan for national Israel. The current nation of Israel is the beginning of fulfillment of just such prophecy. Modern Israel is the result of God’ s direct intervention in history. I believe that those who speak contrary to this will be found to be fighting God. Maranatha!

 

Endnotes
[1] Taken from The Journal: A Summit Ministries Publication (September 2002), p. 7.

[2] Personal letter from Gary North to Peter Lalonde, April 30, 1987.

[3] Don Matzat, ” The Great Premillennial HOAX,” Issues, Etc. Journal(Internet edition, www.issuesetc.com/resource/journals/v1.htm).

[4] Mark Bailey, ” The Lord’ s Land Policy in Israel,” Veritas (Vol. 2, No. 3; July 2002), p. 4.

[5] Bailey, ” Land Policy, p. 6.

[6] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (Tustin, CA: Ariel Press, 1982), p. 65.

[7] John Walvoord, Israel in Prophecy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1964), p. 26.

Hank Hanegraaff of Bible Answer Man fame has recently delved into the field of eschatology (the study of last things) with the release of a novel calledThe Last Disciple,[1] co-authored with Sigmund Broward. It appears that Hanegraaff has adopted the preterist position in this first novel in a series that sees the book of Revelation as having been fulfilled in the first century. ” Hank is a partial preterist who holds to a view on eschatology that is similar to the position held by Gary DeMar,” [2] according to DeMar’ s American Vision website. The Last Disciple is being billed as a preterist counterpart to the Left Behind novel series of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.[3] In the past Hanegraaff would not publicly state his views on eschatology but now is aggressively propagating them as the true biblical teaching.

Literal Or Spiritual?

On a recent Bible Answer Man radio broadcast, a caller asked Hanegraaff: ” How do you know when to spiritualize things in the Bible and when to take them literally.” Hanegraaff’ s reply was as follows:

If the Bible is using a metaphor or a figure of speech, do you want to take that in a wooden-literal sense? I think not. For example, the word ” thousand” is used throughout the Bible. I don’ t know of any, or at least many places where that word thousand is used in a literal sense. For example, if you look at the Decalogue. Thousand is used but not in a literal sense, when God shows His loving-kindness to thousands of generations. We’ re not to take that in a wooden-literal sense, but we are to take that in the sense in which it is intended. God says that He is a jealous God punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands. Now the question is does God only show love to a thousand generations or does He extend it to a thousand and one generations? What does a thousand mean? It means that He extends His love forever.

Or it says in Scripture God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Do we say then, ” Oh my goodness, I didn’ t know that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, but the thousand and first hill, I guess He doesn’ t own those cattle.” So who owns them? Well, we know what that means. It means that God owns all the cattle.

If the Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as many as the stars in the sky. May the Lord increase you a thousand times and bless you as He has promised. We don’ t want to take that thousand in a wooden-literal sense. And I think this is the problem. People end up, in fact, ironically of the most symbolic of all the books of the Bible taking thousand in a woodenly literal sense. When it is never used in Scripture in a woodenly literal sense. So you always want to take something in the sense in which it is intended. And when you don’ t, the Bible becomes non-sense.[4] (emphasis added)

Hanegraaff says that the word ” thousand” is rarely used in a literal sense throughout the Bible. I am not sure of which Bible he has studied, because when I looked up the word ” thousand” it was used at least 531 times in the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for a thousand is ‘ elep and it occurs 497 times. In the New Testament the Greek words are chilia and chiliades, which occur 34 times.[5] While there are a few examples of a non-literal use of ” thousand,” and some instances that could be disputed, it is safe to say that almost all uses of this word carry a literal value, contra Hanegraaff.

Exegetical Eschatology?Hanegraaff claims that his approach to Bible prophecy is ” based upon a methodology called exegetical eschatology.” [6] Hanegraaff explains: ” I coined the phrase ‘ exegetical eschatology’ to underscore the fact that above all else I am deeply committed to a proper method of biblical interpretation rather than to any particular model of eschatology.” [7] It is common today to stress method over outcome, but nevertheless, Hanegraaff does conclude that the Book of Revelation was primarily fulfilled in the first century of Christianity. Such a view is known as preterism.

Hanegraaff contrasts his ” exegetical” approach with wooden literalism. He characterizes the Left Behind eschatology as the product of wooden literalism. Why does Hanegraaff frame the contrast by using the extreme and pejorative term ” wooden literalism,” instead of the more accurate portrayal of ” literal’ ? Is it because he wants to plant in the listener’ s mind, through dishonesty in labeling, that a literal understanding of a thousand years in Revelation 20 is somehow an extreme view? Hanegraaff used the occasion of the call, not to go to Revelation 20 and demonstrate exegetically within the context why a thousand years is symbolic rather than literal. Instead of demonstrating an exegetical approach in his answer, as he boasts is his method, he argued from other biblical texts that ” thousand” should be taken symbolically. By not dealing with the context of Revelation 20, Hanegraaff did not arrive at his view through exegesis. He merely transfers into Revelation 20 an interpretation he had already arrived at without ever examining the text he had referenced. On this occasion Hanegraaff failed to live up to his self-proclaimed label of ” exegetical eschatology,” rather he provides an example of ” eisegetical eschatology.” [8]

The Cattle On A Thousand HillsHanegraaff is correct to note that Psalm 50:10 means that ” God owns all the cattle.” [9] How do we know that ” thousand” in Psalm 50:10 is figurative? We know because the context supports a figurative understanding. In Hebrew poetry it is common to have two lines juxtaposed to each other. This is the Psalm 50:10 which says, ” For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.” The first line states that God owns all beasts. The second line gives an example (cattle) of all the beast of the forest belonging to God. Thus, the context supports in this instance a figurative use of ” thousand.” The next line (Psalm 50:11) continues in the same vein: ” I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine.” Does God only know the birds or the mountains and not those of the valleys? In this verse the Psalmist goes from the specific to the general. It would make sense from this passage to conclude that God owns all. However, this passage is not an example of a figurative use of a thousand years.

Thousand in the Decalogue” If you look at the Decalogue,” declares Hanegraaff, ” Thousand is used but not in a literal sense, when God shows His loving-kindness to thousands of generations.” [10] (emphasis added) By my count, ” thousand” is used 120 times in the first five books of the Bible in the Hebrew text. Most of these instances are literal uses of the word ” thousand.” Exodus 20:6 and Deuteronomy 5:10 include the statement noted by Hanegraaff. First, these two instances both use the plural ” thousands,” unlike the singular use in Revelation 20. A singular ” thousand” is found in Deuteronomy 7:9. Second, I agree that a figurative meaning is most likely intended in these passages. ” Thousand/s” appears to be used in these contexts to refer to an indefinite amount. The reason a figurative understanding is possible in these texts are due to the contextual factors found in these verses. Third, none of these three instances use the word ” thousand” with a number, such as one thousand, two thousand, etc. In order to have relevance to assist us in understanding the thousand years in Revelation 20, Hanegraaff would need to find examples of the figurative use of years.

Context is KingOutside of the six occurrences in Revelation 20, the term ” a thousand years” is only used twice (Ps. 90:4; 2 Pet. 3:8). In both instances they require a literal used of a thousand years. ” The idea of 2 Peter 3:8, which is an amplification of Psalm 90:4, is that the delay of a (literal) thousand years may well seem like a (literal) day against the backdrop of eternity,” notes Matthew Waymeyer.[11] Thus, there is no lexical basis, outside of Revelation 20, that would support a figurative reading of the thousand years in the Apocalypse, as asserted by Hanegraaff.

In spite of the semantic range of a word when used in various contexts, a word or term can only have a single meaning in a given context. Context limits the possible meaning of a word to a single meaning. This is why any good exegete knows that a suggested meaning for a word lives or dies on whether it fits the context in which it appears. For example, there are dozens of nuances for the word ” run.” ” She has a run in her stocking.” ” He scored the winning run.” ” Run to the store.” ” There is a run of salmon.” In spite of many possible meanings of the word ” run,” we do not have a hard time understanding how the word is used when it appears in a specific context. The same is true in the Bible. The context is the deciding factor for determining how a word is used.

It is interesting to observe that Hanegraaff went to a couple of the few examples of the figurative use of ” thousand” found in the Bible and argued from those instances. He never went directly to instances of a thousand in Revelation 20 and attempted to make his case from that context, yet, the issue to which he spoke was concerning the meaning of a thousand years in Revelation 20. Instead of demonstrating to the caller an example of ” exegetical eschatology,” Hanegraaff provides a example of an ” exegetical fallacy.” This is example of the hermeneutical error termed by Barr as ” illegitimate totality transfer.” [12] While totally ignoring contextual uses, Hanegraaff seeks to establish his own context for a thousand years. Hanegraaff creates this error by attempting to establish the meaning of a thousand from its use in other passages and then illegitimately transfers a foreign meaning into Revelation 20, without support from the immediate context. So much for ” exegetical eschatology!”

Conclusion

The original question that precipitated Hanegraaff’ s answer was ” How do you know when to spiritualize things in the Bible and when to take them literally.” I believe that Matthew Waymeyer provides a much better answer to that caller’ s question than did Hanegraaff. Waymeyer says: ” In order to be considered symbolic, the language in question must possess (a) some degree of absurdity when taken literally and (b) some degree of clarity when taken symbolically.” [13] (emphasis original) There is nothing absurd about taking a thousand years literally in Revelation 20 as was noted in the contextual uses of passages like Psalm 50:10- 11.

The literal reading of a thousand years in Revelation 20 makes perfect sense. The only reason it may seem strange to an individual would be because they have a bias, for some reason, against such an understanding. Non-premillennialists have just such a bias: if they let the statements of a thousand years stand, then this passage clearly teaches premillennialism. ” With this in mind,” concludes Waymeyer, ” it is difficult to imagine why one would consider the ‘ thousand years’ in Revelation 20 to be symbolic language, for it possesses neither a degree of absurdity when taken literally, nor a degree of clarity when taken symbolically.” [14] Maranatha!

 

Endnotes
[1] Hank Hanegraaff and Sigmund Brouwer, The Last Disciple (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004).

[2] American Vision homepage, www.americanvision.org, accessed Sept. 27, 2004.

[3] American Vision homepage.

[4] Hank Hanegraaff, The Bible Answer Man (BAM) radio program, Sept. 28, 2004.

[5] Based upon searching the computer program Accordance, version 5.7.

[6] Hank Hanegraaff, BAM radio program, Sept. 24, 2004.

[7] Hanegraaff, BAM, Sept. 24, 2004.

[8] Exegesis means to lead out the meaning, thus, eisegesis is the opposite and means to read into a passage a meaning from outside of the text, not intended by the author.

[9] Hanegraaff, BAM, Sept. 28, 2004.

[10] Hanegraaff, BAM, Sept. 28, 2004.

[11] Matthew Waymeyer, Revelation 20 and the Millennial Debate (The Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications, 2004), p. 100. This recent book is an excellent overview of the millennial debate and defends the premillennial position. It can be purchased at www.kresschristianpublications.com.

[12]James Barr, The Semantics of Biblical Languages (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), p. 218.

[13] Waymeyer, Revelation 20, p. 50.

[14] Waymeyer, Revelation 20, pp. 51- 52.