The Bible is emphatic that God ordained the Jewish people as His vehicle to bring Jesus into the world to redeem all who trust in Him. The Bible is also emphatic that, despite Israel's rejection of Jesus, God will someday obtain national righteousness from Israel, and a remnant will "look upon Him" whom their fathers pierced (John 18:37). During the thousand years of righteousness under Christ's rule, Israel will give their Messiah the praise and honour due to Him.Yet, because Israel has not yet experienced such a change of heart, but rather, opposes Christ and his followers, our Lord and New Testament Scriptures warn Christians to be suspicious of the "whited sepulchers" of a religion based on the teachings of those who killed Christ, the Pharisees. Christ said, "beware of the leaven (teachings) of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." (Mark 8:15) Paul said of the Jews, "beware of the concision." (Philippians 3:2) He also said of the Jews, that "from the standpoint of the gospel" they are enemies for your sake. (Rom. 11:28)
The balanced Christian, thus, recognizes God's long-term plan for the redemption of a remnant of Israel. At the same time, he is very wary of a system which, rejecting great light, has plunged into great spiritual darkness. Tragically, the church has been unable to retain this Biblical balance and perspective during the 20th century. Believing that to "bless" Israel means agreement with it and support of its policies, right or wrong, the church has bid godspeed to a wicked system. Far from redeeming it, it has become a partaker of Israel's injustices. By supporting Israel's atrocities against Palestinians, the church has alienated the Arab world against the gospel and encouraged the growth of international Arab terrorism.
Only by returning to the Biblical balance between love for Jewish souls, yet wariness of their sins, can the church escape moral blame and the kind of geo-political backlash from the Arab world that occurred on September 11, 2001.
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