There is no subject in our time more entangled with emotion, politics, and prophecy than the modern State of Israel. Yet when we clear the dust of argument and stand upon the sure ground of Scripture, a remarkable pattern emerges — one that magnifies the faithfulness of God without confusing it with the ambitions of men. The question before us is not whether God has finished with Israel; Scripture answers that emphatically. The question is whether we, as the Church, can discern the difference between Israel reborn and Israel born again.
From the beginning, God’s covenant with Abraham was not merely a spiritual abstraction but a tangible oath binding together a people, a land, and a promise that through his seed all nations would be blessed. The land was never incidental. It was the visible witness of divine faithfulness — a stage upon which God would reveal His name to the nations. In Genesis 17 He declared, “I will give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger… and I will be their God.” Centuries later, through Moses, the same covenant was reaffirmed, sealed by warning and by mercy: if they turned from Him they would be scattered among the nations, yet when they returned to Him with all their heart, He would gather them again and bring them into the land of their fathers. Thus the covenant joined heaven and earth, faith and geography, spirit and soil.
History bears witness to both halves of that promise. Israel was scattered, and the land lay desolate, just as Leviticus 26 foretold. For nearly two millennia the covenant people wandered across the world, chastened yet preserved. Then, in history many of us can touch, the unthinkable happened — a nation long buried among the Gentiles was reborn. However secular its leaders, however imperfect its politics, the sheer fact of Israel’s re-emergence cannot be divorced from the providence of God. He who scattered has also gathered. He who promised has remembered. What we behold is not the fulfilment, but the prelude — a sign that the Author of history has turned a new page.
This is where discernment is needed. Many Christians, moved by love for Israel and respect for Scripture, have rallied to what is now called Christian Zionism: the belief that supporting modern Israel politically is an act of obedience to God’s prophetic plan. Their zeal often springs from good soil — from the desire to bless the people through whom salvation came. Yet it risks a subtle confusion. It treats the rebirth of the nation as if it were already the redemption of the nation, and the political state as though it were the kingdom of God. The two are not the same.
Some will rightly point to God’s promise to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you” (Genesis 12:3), as though this requires unconditional allegiance to modern Israel. But Scripture interprets Scripture: blessing Israel means aligning ourselves with God’s covenant purpose for her — the purpose fulfilled and still unfolding in Messiah. To bless Israel biblically is therefore to pray for her repentance, to proclaim her Redeemer, and to honour the covenant God made with her fathers. God’s covenant faithfulness is absolute, but the spiritual condition of Israel today remains, by and large, unregenerate. The covenant stands, but its blessings await the revelation of the Messiah.
It is vital, too, that we do not drift into what has come to be called replacement theology — the notion that the Church has supplanted Israel and inherited her covenants in full. That is not the teaching of Scripture. Paul’s image of the olive tree in Romans 11 could not be clearer: the Gentile Church has been grafted into Israel’s root, not grafted in place of it. The covenants, the promises, and the calling remain Israel’s even in unbelief, for “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29) The Church does not replace Israel; rather, both Jew and Gentile together will one day stand in the mercy of the same Redeemer. The plan of God is not substitution but fulfilment — the one new man in Christ, born from the same root of promise and nourished by the same grace.
The Church’s responsibility in this hour is to speak God’s own words over Israel — not our opinions, our politics, or our sentimental hopes, but His living Word. We are to declare what He has said about her: that she is chosen, beloved, chastened, and destined for restoration. His words are creative, His promises sure; when spoken in faith they agree with heaven’s decree and call forth what is not yet visible. To intercede for Israel is therefore to echo the Word of God back to its Author, trusting Him to perform it in His time. Yes, we can and should support Israel in practical ways — many Christian ministries and charities already do so with great compassion both within and beyond her borders — and such mercy is admirable. But the Church’s highest calling is not to defend her politics but to affirm her destiny: to uphold her before God in prayer, to remind the world that her hope lies not in might or technology, but in the coming of her Messiah and the outpouring of the Spirit of grace. Blessed and favoured though she is, Israel is not yet redeemed. Our task is not to pretend she is something she is not, but to stand in the gap until she becomes what God has promised she shall be.
Nor can we ignore the darker undercurrents within Israel’s present life. The nation’s founding and preservation have been marked by undeniable miracles of divine protection, and God’s mercy towards His people has been astonishing. Yet alongside these mercies, spiritual deception also lurks. Some commentators have observed that the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem, opposite the Knesset, contains architectural features that have been interpreted as Masonic or esoteric symbolism — whether by design or coincidence, such impressions reflect the complex spiritual climate of modern Israel, where ancient faith and secular mysticism often mingle uneasily. Mystical traditions such as Kabbalah retain strong cultural influence, both among the devout and the secular, and the prevailing atmosphere remains far from the fear of the Lord. We must not bury our heads in the sand. Israel is miraculously reborn, but she is not yet holy. The land is partially reclaimed, but the throne of David awaits its rightful King.
To see this clearly we must return to the prophets. Ezekiel 37 presents the vision of the dry bones — Israel long dead and scattered, yet suddenly stirred as bone joins to bone and flesh covers them once more. “But there was no breath in them,” says the prophet. That, in essence, is Israel reborn: a nation restored in form, but not yet filled with the Spirit. Then comes the second command: “Prophesy to the breath… breathe on these slain, that they may live.” The Spirit of God enters, and they stand upon their feet, a living army. Only then do they know the Lord. The same pattern unfolds in Zechariah 12–14, where Jerusalem is once again the centre of world attention, surrounded by enemies, and the Spirit of grace and supplication is poured out upon the house of David. Only in that moment — after return, after pressure, after divine intervention — do they look upon Him whom they pierced and mourn as for an only son. That will be Israel’s true new birth.
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, understood this mystery. In Romans 11 he warns the Church not to boast against the natural branches, for though they were broken off through unbelief, God is able to graft them in again. Israel’s hardening, he says, is only in part and until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Then “all Israel will be saved.” The sequence is precise: first the partial blindness, then the global ingathering of Gentile believers, and finally the unveiling of Israel’s Messiah. God’s faithfulness will triumph in mercy, not through politics but through revelation.
Therefore, when we speak of Israel today, we must hold two truths in holy tension. First, that the modern regathering of the Jewish people to their ancestral land is indeed an act of divine providence — the bones coming together in preparation for life. Second, that the nation’s salvation, its spiritual rebirth, awaits the moment when the Spirit is poured out and their eyes are opened to behold the Lamb they once rejected. To confuse the first with the second is to mistake the dawn for the day.
As Christians, our call is not to endorse every action of a secular state, nor to turn prophecy into politics. Our call is to recognise the faithfulness of God unfolding before our eyes, to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and to intercede for the salvation of Israel. To bless Israel biblically is not to idolise her; it is to yearn for her redemption. We bless her best when we proclaim to her the gospel that first came from her — the good news that her Messiah has come and is coming again.
So, yes, Israel is reborn, but not yet born again. The covenant stands unbroken; the land waits in readiness; the prophecies are moving towards their appointed hour. When the breath of God enters once more, and the nation turns in repentance and faith, then the promise will be complete, and the world will behold the splendour of divine fidelity. Until that day, the Church watches, prays, and bears witness to the truth that every promise of God, whether to Israel or to the nations, finds its “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ.
A Prayer for Israel
God and Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God of the covenant and Lord of all nations, we thank You that Your promises do not fail. You have sworn by Yourself that Israel shall not be forgotten, and that as long as the sun and moon endure, she shall remain before You. You have gathered her from the nations and planted her again upon the mountains of her inheritance. We acknowledge Your hand in her preservation, and we bless Your holy name for Your faithfulness.
Now we speak Your Word over Israel as You have spoken it: “I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you.” (Ezekiel 36:24–26) Lord, hasten that day. Pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication, that they may look upon the One whom they pierced and mourn as for an only son. (Zechariah 12:10)
We pray that all Israel shall be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” (Romans 11:26–27) Let the veil be lifted, O Lord. Let the breath come from the four winds and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. (Ezekiel 37:9)
And we remember Your command: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces.” (Psalm 122:6–7) Lord, establish Jerusalem in righteousness, make her a praise in the earth, and let Your glory dwell within her gates. Until that day, set watchmen on her walls who will never hold their peace day or night. Teach Your Church to bless Israel with truth, to proclaim Your Word over her, and to await her redemption in patience and hope. For Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, and the fulfilment of every promise You have spoken. In the name of Jesus her Messiah, Amen.