03/05/2026
With so much confusion and even sinfulness being portrayed in the world today regarding Israel, it is imperative that Christians think with an accurate biblical lens on current topics. Today, there are many on the political right and also many within Christianity who are becoming very hostile toward the modern state of Israel, as well as fellow believers who affirm a future restoration of Israel. It is important for us to understand what Scripture clearly says so that we can discern how to navigate these times.
Romans 11:25-29 says:
“25 For I do not want you, brothers, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,
‘The Deliverer will come from Zion,
He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.’
27 ‘And this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.’
28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
We are warned here not to be “wise in your own estimation." The Lord tells us through Paul that the Jewish people have rejected their Messiah, and as of now, “from the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake.” This means that we do not consider non-believing Jews to be kindred brethren following the same God; they are not. They are antagonistic to the gospel and enemies of God. We should confront their sin and call them to repentance. However, this also does not mean that God has turned His back on Israel because “from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.” This means that God still has a plan for this ethnic people according to His predetermined choice. The reason we know it is absolutely certain is because “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
Many faithful theologians throughout the centuries from different theological perspectives have recognized the clear words of Scripture, that there will be a regathering of Jews to their land, a re-establishment of the Nation of Israel, and a nationalistic salvation by the grace of regeneration and through faith in the gospel.
Presbyterian Charles Hodge said this: “Israel, here, from the context, must mean the Jewish people, and all Israel, the whole nation. The Jews, as a people, are now rejected; as a people, they are to be restored.”
Anglican JC Ryle said it this way: “The curses of the Jews were brought to pass literally; so also will be the blessings. The scattering was literal; so also will be the gathering. The pulling down of Zion was literal; so also will be the building up. The rejection of Israel was literal; so also will be the restoration.”
Reformed Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards also affirmed: “Nothing is more certainly foretold than this national conversion of the Jews is in the eleventh chapter of Romans. And there are also many passages of the Old Testament that cannot be interpreted in any other sense, that I cannot now stand to mention.”
Regardless of eschatological positions or political preferences, one of the clearest biblical doctrines is that God will bring ethnic Israelites back into the land, establish them as a nation, and bring about spiritual transformation to the whole of the people of Israel. To deny this truth, or to even seek after the destruction of the modern Nation of Israel, is to find oneself in opposition to the sovereign hand of God. Understanding this does not justify Israel’s rejection of the Messiah, and it also does not mean that we give ethnic Jews a free pass to commit sin without confrontation. But, it does mean that we should think of them the same way that God does, believing that their regathering to the land is in line with prophetic fulfillment, and praying for their salvation as a people to the glory of God
