Shalom Dear Friends,
Disappointed and Dismayed: Part 1
Here I go again—another Robert rant. Recently, I was asked about a dialogue-by-letter that has taken place between the well known author and Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, John Piper, and David Brickner, the Executive Director of Jews for Jesus. The discussion centered around a four-part exchange of views on the subject “Do Jews Have a Divine Right to Israel’s Land.” You can read the exchange of letters at the Christianity Today website: www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/juneweb-only/john-piper-david-brickner-israel.html.
Unfortunately, I came away from the discussion disappointed and dismayed. Why? I was surprised that both men displayed a real weakness in regard to Israel as it exists today. David Brickner, himself, hit this nail on the head when he stated in part three:
Christians often have a great depth of theological understanding regarding Israel in the past. Many also have a keen interest and firm convictions regarding Israel in the future. Yet when it comes to present-day Israel it seems biblical thinking often takes a back seat to political expedience on both sides of the current conflict.1
I heartily agree with David Brickner’s assessment because I have personally encountered it. However, while David Brickner recognizes the problem, I was dismayed over the fact that he presented a weak explanation of present-day Israel.
On the other hand, in part two Pastor Piper states his understanding of present-day Israel in this manner:
Today, Israel as a nation is a covenant-breaking people—they are rejecting their Messiah, Jesus. In this condition of unbelief and disobedience, she has no “divine right” to the Land of Promise.2
Pastor Piper’s viewpoint on present-day Israel is nothing new. I encountered it during my seminary training at a good, conservative, Bible believing, Baptist seminary some 26 years ago. It appears that many good, solid, Bible believing pastors would agree with Pastor Piper. They would agree that the Jewish people have no divine right to the Land until they become believers in Jesus. Then, when the Messianic Kingdom is inaugurated, they will have a divine right to dwell in the Land. In this position, in my opinion, a good brother in in the Lord exhibits a lack of Biblical understanding about the covenants, the prophets, and the topic of present-day Israel. I was very disappointed as I read Pastor Piper’s take on the subject.
My first response to Brickner and Piper’s exchange of ideas is to strongly recommend that people, professors, and pastors alike master the Biblical material found in Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum’s ground breaking work “Israelology: The Missing Link in Systematic Theology” or in my own contribution to the subject, “Biblical Perspectives on the Middle East.” Mastering the material in these books will help you to effectively dispel simplistic and inaccurate statements that Israel has no divine right to the Promised Land.
OK, it is time for me to stick my neck out and share my opinion regarding Israel’s divine right, or lack of divine right, to the Promised Land. We need to start with the basics: a biblical definition of the term “divine right.” As I read the exchange, I got the distinct impression that Pastor Piper and David Brickner were not on the same page, even though they used the same terminology.
David Brickner offered no definition for the term “divine right,” although he uses the term three times in part one and agreed with Pastor Piper that Israel has “no divine right” to the Land today. He goes further and states that Israel has never enjoyed a divine right to the Land.
I agree with you that Israel does not currently enjoy a divine right to the Land. But I would argue that it has never been by divine right but rather by divine mercy Israel has dwelt in the Land.3
Pastor Piper offers an explanation of what he means by “divine right” in part two:
All I am saying with the term “no divine right” is that the promise of God that Israel will someday rightfully possess the Land carries no leverage among the nations while she is rejecting her Messiah.2
With all due respect to my brother in the Lord, this explanation of the terminology is biblically unconvincing! He appears to mean that the approval of the nations is needed in order for the term “divine right” to have any validity. However, the nations of this satanically influenced, sinful, rebellious world system do not consider God’s decrees to have any validity at any time. They reject Jesus too!
A quick perusal of the Hebrew Scriptures will reveal that the nations surrounding Israel never acquiesced to Israel’s divine right to the Land. In the book of Joshua, the Canaanites did not leave the Land of Israel peacefully as Israel approached. They had to be rooted out by war. When Israel returned from the 70 year exile in Babylon, did the inhabitants of the Land of Israel welcome them back with shouts of joy? No! There was constant strife between Israel and the inhabitants of the Land. A reading of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah reveals resistance to the God-ordained return from Babylon.
The parallel remains true today. The nations of this world system, influenced by Satan, do not want the State of Israel or the Jewish people to exist. However, divine right does not depend on the approval of the nations. It appears to me that Pastor Piper does not factor in Satan’s war with God and hatred of the Jewish people. Satan cannot touch God, so he attacks the “apple of His [God’s] eye” (Zech. 2:8).
For me, the term “divine right” demands the idea of God’s sovereignty. The Lord is the King of Kings. What He decrees stands whether the nations accept the decree or rebel against it. His authoritative promise determines “divine right.”
This analysis will be continued in the next two months in Parts 2 & 3!
1 David Brickner, “Do Jews Have a Divine Right to Israel’s Land?”, June 20, 2012, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/juneweb-only/john-piper-david-brickner-israel-3.html
2 John Piper, “How to Treat a Rebellious Israel”, June 21, 2012, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/juneweb-only/john-piper-responds-to-david-brickner-israel.html?start=2
3 David Brickner, “Do Jews Have a Divine Right to Israel’s Land?”, June 20, 2012, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/juneweb-only/john-piper-david-brickner-israel.html
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