God is Desiring Israel – I cheekily chose the title as a play on John Piper’s Desiring God. God desires to redeem the nation Israel. Moreover, He will do so for His name’s sake. God is Desiring Israel to be saved. He has said as much.
I’ve profited from various articles on John Piper’s website. I own three of his books: Think, God’s Passion for His Glory and A Peculiar Glory. The last one is highly endorsed by John MacArthur (often a critic). I can see why. The book is a great introduction to Presuppositional Apologetics.
Yet I have reservations regarding his position on modern Israel. My areas of concern stem from three of his sources: 1) Israel, Palestine and the Middle East; 2) Should we side With Israel or Palestine?; 3) Who is the True Israel?
I agree with some things Dr. Piper has said regarding Israel and the Palestinians. We ought to abhor anti-Semitism and think and pray about peace and justice in the Middle East; that God chose Israel and that the Land was part of the promise to Abraham and his descendants forever.
However, in the same article he makes the statement that Israel’s existence and borders are, “…perhaps the most explosive factors in world terrorism and the most volatile factors in Arab-Western relations.” The insertion of such a statement – to my thinking – potentially (if unintentionally) leads the reader down a certain track of blame or consequence.
Does Dr. Piper think (like Stephen Sizer and Gary Burge) that the creation of the Jewish state was a mistake? – Probably not. But unfortunately he leaves the statement unattended for those who lean to that position.
He writes that both Arab and Jewish roots to the land go back thousands of years, and that both lay claim based on historical presence and divine right. As we saw, he agrees that the Land was given to Abraham’s descendants.
But then he disqualifies modern Israel’s claim to it on the basis that it is out of covenant favor with God. The Land will be inherited by true spiritual Israel, not disobedient unbelieving Israel. He therefore concludes that the secular state of Israel cannot lay claim to the Land by divine right.
John Piper writes that Land ownership must be based on “international principles of justice, mercy, and practical feasibility.” Again, this is a loaded statement. Are we to trust unbiased UN resolutions? If obedience and covenant relationship to God is a basis for ownership, then do the Arab nations even qualify?
I don’t intend to detail the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Certainly Israel has faults, as any other nation does. Notably, Piper’s column was written in 2004. In 2005 Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza . Hamas immediately began rocket attacks into Israel. The fact is that Israel desires peace, while its neighbors want to destroy it.
Dexter Van Zile Dexter is an analyst for CAMERA. Part of his role is to combat anti-Israel bias. It’s significant that Dexter is also a Roman Catholic. Hence, he isn’t a John Hagee enabled agent. His motivation in the conflict isn’t governed by his theology – it is fairness. The fact that there’s a watchdog organization such as CAMERA highlights an existing problem of bias against Israel.
Who is True Spiritual Israel according to John Piper?
We get a hint in his video on Romans 9:6-9 (linked above). The emphasis is not on Jewishness (or Isaac) but the promise of God and on those who believe. So Dr. Piper opens the door for believing Gentiles to become part of True Spiritual Israel (which is often read into Paul’s argument). For example he writes:
There are Jewish Christians and there are Palestinian Christians and these Christians are the meek who will inherit the earth including the land of Israel some day.
Now Dr. Piper wouldn’t see his position as “Replacement Theology.” But it is problematic. For more on this see Michael Vlach’s Various Forms of Replacement Theology and Paul Henebury’s Replacement Theology series.
The swapping of Israel for the church is commonplace in Covenant Theology. One example is Charles Spurgeon’s (October 22) devotion on Hosea 14:4 I will love them freely. He says this sentence is a “body of divinity in miniature.” Spurgeon applies it as a lesson for the church (and it works on that level). Yet Hosea’s subject is the redemption of unfaithful Israel.
I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. Hos 14:4 (Note also Hos 5:15)
How can men like O. Palmer Robertson write books like The Israel of God and The Flow of the Psalms and yet miss God’s love for recalcitrant Israel? Psalm 136 mentions God’s loving-kindness (steadfast love, mercy) in connection to Israel, 25 times. See also Psalms 130:7-8, 131:3, 135:4-5, 137:6-7 (If I forget you, O Jerusalem…).
Michael Rydelnik (Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict) responded to John Piper (Chapter 16 Whose Land? A Biblical Perspective). Dr. Rydelnik points out that God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people as an eternal inheritance (Jer 7:7, 25:25; Amos 9:14-15).
Dr. Rydelnik shows that while ownership of the land is unconditional and irrevocable (Rom 11:26-29), Israel’s enjoyment of it is conditional on faithfulness (Deut 4:40). While Israel was warned and admonished Israel in Leviticus 26:27-33, God would not totally reject them. He would remember His covenant (verses 44-45). God will do this for His name’s sake – see Ezekiel 36: 19-28, 37:1-14.
Finally, modern national Israel’s existence didn’t occur in a vacuum, and not just by man’s design. God has sovereign control over the nations. God’s will supersedes the United Nations. We see in Zechariah 14 that at some future point God will bring the nations against Israel and then go out and fight for them.
For the record, while I disagree with John Piper’s position on Israel, he has a passion for God which I can only hope to emulate. He has set a fine example.
Pray for peace in Jerusalem and Israel’s salvation, as well as its Muslim neighbors.
Maranatha!
Further resources:
Barry Horner (Future Israel) gives an interesting and candid talk on Gary Burge’s Territorial Supercessionism HERE. Also his article Territorial Supercessionism: A Response to Gary Burge
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