God Bless Israel! or Not!

Commentary By:  Gordon King

There are many people who say that we should not bless Israel, after all they do have a star on their flag!  I mean it even has six points!  I don’t exactly know just where they came up with that star, but I do know that it is on their flag.  I do not bless their flag, I do however support and bless the nation of Israel!

I have been told many times that nowhere in the bible does it say to bless the Jews and or Israel.  I disagree!

God told Abram that he will bless those that bless him and curse those that curse him.

Genesis 12:3

“I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.“

The bottom line: support the nation of Israel and the Jews or don’t!  I’m not saying to worship the Jews or the nation of Israel or to place them on a pedestal, but to bless them, to support them, and not to curse them.

God was speaking to father Abram in Genesis 12:3, telling him that those who curse him will be cursed and those that bless him shall be blessed.  But did God actually mean only Abram himself, or was he also referring to the nation of Israel whom Abram will father?

Many believe that it is only referring to Abram and not the Jews or the nation of Israel, I disagree!

We need to put things into perspective, lets take a look at the preceding verse Genesis 12:2.

“I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.”

I will make you a great nation.  Does this mean that God will actually make Abram a great nation himself?  No, it means that he will make a great nation from Abram, not of Abram himself!  That should be very obvious.  Likewise, the following verse does not mean that those who curse or bless only Abram, but also his descendants!  Abram was a blessing in that he fathered the descendants who then fathered our Savior.  Not only that but many wonderful things have come out of the nation of Israel including modern technology and medical advancements.

God says “I will make you“, then He says “Those who curse you“.  Seems to be referring not only to Abram but also to his descendants.  We must take scripture for what it says and keep it in context, not what we think it should mean.

We merely have to take a look at scripture as a whole to see that God loves the nation of Israel and the Jewish people, why else would He have chosen them as His people to be born in the flesh through the Jews?

And if you say that you are a Christian yet do not support the Jews or Israel, then are you also not supporting Christ Himself?!  After all, Christ is a Jew!  That’s right, our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is Jewish, born in the nation of Israel!  Something to think about.

Yet, there are many followers of Christ who do not support the Jews or Israel.  They do not see it in scripture where it tells us to support them.  However, I see it clear as day throughout the entire scripture!

God says in Zechariah 2:8 that whomever touches Israel touches the apple of God’s eye, or pokes God in the eye!  Or in other words, Israel is the apple of God’s eye.

Zechariah 2:8-12

“For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. ⁹ For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me.”

Does this sound like God despises the Jews?  Not to me it doesn’t!  It sounds to me like those coming against Israel will be cursed!

Zechariah 2:10-13

‘ “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” says the Lord. ¹¹ “Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. ¹² And the Lord will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem. ¹³ Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!” ‘

If God wasn’t in support of the Jews then why did He rescue them from Egypt through Moses?  Why did He keep them alive in the desert for 40 years?  And why did He even make them a nation in the first place?

The bible is the story of Christ from beginning to end, but also a story of His chosen people the Jews!  It shows us that even though God’s people rebel and turn away, even though they are disobedient, God still loves them.  Don’t you think that God knew from the beginning that Israel would turn away from God in disobedience?  Of course He did, He knows everything past, present, and future, yet He still made promises to Abram.

And God said that He would once again return the Jews to their homeland and make them a great nation!

Ezekiel 37:21-22

“Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; ²² and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.”

Isaiah 66:8

“Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children.“

Zephaniah 3:9

“For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language,
That they all may call on the name of the Lord,
To serve Him with one accord.“

Amos 9:14-15

‘I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;
They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
¹⁵ I will plant them in their land,
And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God.‘

Does this mean that all Jews are good people?  No, of course not, no more than it means Americans, Europeans, or Asians are all good people.  There are ungodly and disobedient people in all nations, not only Israel.  Our good works are filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord if we do not worship Him and Him alone, and if our works are done with the wrong intentions. 

Isaiah 64:6

“But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.“

God has brought back a remnant of His people to the land of Israel, a people who will worship and praise Him.  There are those Jews who have accepted Christ, yet there are many more who have not.  And many shall go through the Tribulation period, some accepting Christ along the way, and a remnant accepting Christ at the end of the Tribulation period.

Revelation 12:13-14

“Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.  ¹⁴But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.“

The dragon (Satan) persecuted the woman (Israel).  At the beginning of the Great Tribulation (last half of the Tribulation period) a remnant of Israel will flee into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, or 3 1/2 years.

Revelation 12:6

“Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.“

The Tribulation period will last for seven years, the Great Tribulation period is the last half of that period spoken of by Jesus Christ in Matthew 24.

‘¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” ‘

^“21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Daniel 12:1

“At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book.“

The Jews fleeing into the wilderness will look to Christ as their Lord and Savior, mourning for the one that they have pierced (crucified)!

Zechariah 12:10

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.“

Are the Jews a perfect people?  No, of course not.  Scripture tells us time and time again of how the Jews rejected God and His ways, yet they are a chosen people, a people chosen by God Almighty!  And one day at the end of the Tribulation period a remnant of Jews will see that they were wrong and that Jesus Christ is their true Messiah!

Why do you think so many people in the world hate the Jews and Israel?  Because they are God’s chosen people!  No other reason.  The persecution of Jews in the world is increasing dramatically, and we only need to look back a few decades to see what happened to the Jews during WWII.

The world is becoming darker and more evil, Satan and his demons are seeking to destroy everything that is God’s including the Jews!  Satan hates people but especially God’s chosen people, Jews and Christians.  Haven’t you ever wondered just why the world hates the Jews so much?!  There is no rational explanation, other than they are God’s chosen people.  And why is it that Jerusalem is such a hot topic not only in the Middle East but the rest of the world?  Because God put His name on it, it belongs to Him!

We are called to love one another, and that includes the Jews!  Help, comfort, feed, clothe, pray for those in need.

If God blesses the Jews than I will too!  And if God blessed Abram with a nation and descendants to multiply as the stars in heaven and the sand on the seashore, then I will bless Israel also.

Genesis 22:17

“blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.“

God told Issac also that He will multiply his descendants as the stars of heaven.  And God also told Issac that in his seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

Genesis 26:4

“And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed“

For some reason many believers do not want to bless Israel or the Jews, as if it were a curse or something bad.  We are to be Christ-like and imitators of God.  We are to let God live in us and through us.  And if God is in us and He blesses Israel then shouldn’t we also?  Are we not to allow Christ who is in us to live through us also?  Isn’t this being a true follower of Christ?  Or should we choose to do things our own way?

It is not ours to judge, for there is only one judge of righteousness, Jesus Christ.  Let us not judge the Jews nor Israel, let us instead have a heart of God and bless them!

For myself, I choose to follow God’s lead and bless Israel and the Jews.  I know that there will be many who disagree with me, and that’s your choice.  Think about the scriptures, what do they tell you?  What are they about?  Who are they about?  What is coming our way in the future?

Revelation 21:1-4

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. ² Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.“

Revelation 21:10-13

“And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, ¹¹ having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. ¹² Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: ¹³ three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.“

The holy city, New Jerusalem!  Descending out of heaven from God, with the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel on the gates.  If God did not bless Israel nor want us to then why would he have the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel written on the gates of the New Jerusalem which will last forever?!  A place where God Himself will dwell with His people?  Think about it!

Bless Israel!  God does!

God bless my friends!  Maranatha!