I am glad that David has felt able to commend my own book, Zion’s Christian Soldiers. “my fellow Zionists… will be disturbed by my agreement with much of Sizer’s criticism of this position.” (p. 19). “I am grateful to Stephen Sizer for drawing attention to the legitimate criticisms of dispensational Zionism. He has rendered a service to the cause of Zionism which was needed.” (p. 39) I have to say, however, that David’s book is a disappointment. I don’t think that is simply because David has put my name on the cover and admits on page 17, “Sizer is my main ‘target’” The book appears to have been written in haste and without much attention to detail. This might explain some of the factual errors it contains, besides the sweeping generalisations and occasional inflammatory language.
I am disappointed most of all because David does not engage with my arguments from Scripture but rather restates his own views while taking swipes at what he thinks I believe. This suggests that while his book was written as a defence of Christian Zionism and to refute the position I have taken in my two books, Christian Zionism: Roadmap to Armageddon? (IVP, 2004) and Zion’s Christian Soldiers? The Bible, Israel and the Church (IVP, 2007), he does not actually engage with either. And yes, in places, it does get a little personal.
Although David’s book has 160 pages, the font is larger than usual and the spacing wider than necessary so the book appears more substantial than it is. Also, I am sure it is embarrassing to David that on the front cover his name is unusually printed in a larger font than even the book title. Sadly, the book has no footnotes, no references and no bibliography so there is no way to check the occasional sources quoted. It is therefore a book to read but not particularly useful for Bible study.
The book has five main chapters besides and introduction and conclusion: Two Zionisms, Five Covenants, Two Peoples, The Promised Land and the Second Coming. The book concludes with an appendix critiquing a sermon by John Stott on the ‘Place of Israel’ which is included in my second book.
The saddest aspect of the book is the tone with which David occasionally writes. There is an impatience with positions he disagrees with and sometimes barely concealed anger. Sometimes David implies Divine judgement on those who challenge his position.
For example, in his conclusions he refers to an international conferences held in 2004 and sponsored by Sabeel in Jerusalem, entitled ‘Challenging Christian Zionism’. The participants included evangelicals, liberal and Catholic Christians together with Jewish and Muslim speakers and participants, who were deeply troubled by the failure of the international community to bring about justice for the Palestinians, peace for Israel and reconciliation between Jews and Arabs. Nevertheless, David, who was not a participant, writes, “Now a rising tide of anti-Zionism is added to the mix. The Archbishop of Canterbury consents to speak at a conference in Jerusalem… specifically denouncing Christian Zionism… The most belligerent speaker died shortly after returning home. Stephen Sizer was a delegate. Some preachers deliberately attack Israel… How does the Holy One of Israel feel about all this?” (p. 154)
In the Appendix, David summarises, despite very few actual quotes, an unpublished sermon by John Stott, which he graciously allowed me to include in Zion’s Christian Soldiers. In my opinion, the book is worth buying just for this sermon. David begs to differ however. “It is unlike such a careful scholar to build so much on so flimsy a foundation… when it comes to expounding particular texts Stott gets into difficulties, coming up with some unusual, even bizarre explanations… For Stott ‘Jerusalem’ does not refer to the Jewish capital at all but to “the whole present world order” which will be brought to an end before Jesus returns. This extraordinary claim…” (pp. 159-160).
David seems unaware that this is how the Apostle Paul associates Jerusalem with the opponents of Christ (Galatians 4:21-27) as does the Apostle John (Revelation 11:8). The writer to Hebrews calls us to look to another Jerusalem as our true home (Hebrews 12:22-23). He concludes with the regrettable comment, “it is a great pity that this sermon had not remained unpublished.” Perhaps it would be charitable to suggest it would have been better if David’s comment had remained unsaid.
My question to David is this. Was the coming of Jesus the fulfillment or the postponement of the promises God made to Abraham?
David’s case for Christian Zionism requires him to show that unconditional promises concerning the land were made by God exclusively with a racial group descended from Abraham, and apply in perpetuity to their physical Jewish descendants, apart from faith in Jesus Christ. This he cannot and does not prove from Scripture.
This is why I continue to regard Christian Zionism as an oxymoron, a basic contradiction in terms. Nothing in David’s book leads me to think otherwise.
John Stott has commented on this blog, "I am glad and grateful that you have taken up the cudgels in defence of our views which have been misrepresented by David Pawson in his latest book. Now that I have entered my 88th year, I am really no longer able to enter into this kind of debate..."
To read the full review http://www.cc-vw.org/articles/defendingchristianzionism.htm
To listen to this review http://www.cc-vw.org/audio/defendingchristianzionism.mp3
To listen to the Premier Radio Debate with David Pawson http://www.cc-vw.org/audio/pawsondebate.mp3
4 comments:
I look forward to listening to your debate. Please mention it again in the e-news when it becomes available so that I am reminded to get it.
~ Clare
Stephen wrote; “David’s case for Christian Zionism requires him to show that unconditional promises concerning the land were made by God exclusively with a racial group descended from Abraham, and apply in perpetuity to their physical Jewish descendants, apart from faith in Jesus Christ. This he cannot and does not prove from Scripture. This is why I continue to regard Christian Zionism as an oxymoron, a basic contradiction in terms.”
Lets see, Stephen’s above statement can be divided into two propositions.
1) “That unconditional promises concerning the land were made by God exclusively with a racial group descended from Abraham”, and
2) That these promises exist “apart from faith in Jesus Christ”.
Regards the first proposition, a few of the possible verses which could be quoted are;
2Chronicles 20:7-8 Are You not our God? Did You not drive out the people of this land before Israel, and give it to the seed of Your friend Abraham forever?
Psalms 105:8-11 He has remembered His covenant forever, the Word which He commanded to a thousand generations; the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac; and He confirmed it to Jacob for a Law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance;
Genesis 13:14-17 And after Lot was separated from him, Jehovah said to Abram, Lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are northward and southward, and eastward and westward. For all the land which you see I will give to you, and to your seed forever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be counted. Rise up and walk through the land, in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it to you.
Genesis 15:18 In the same day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
Genesis 17:7-11 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you. And I will give the land to you in which you are a stranger, and to your seed after you, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. And I will be their God. And God said to Abraham, And you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you in their generations. This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. And it shall be a token of the covenant between Me and you.
Genesis 26:2 -4 And Jehovah appeared to him and said, Do not go down into Egypt. Live in the land which I shall tell you of. Reside in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and to your seed I will give all these lands; and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of the heavens, and will give to your seed all these lands. And in your Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,
Genesis 28:13 -15 And behold! Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac! The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your seed. And your seed shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in you and in your Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with you, and will keep you in every place where you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.
Genesis 48:3-6 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me. And He said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you. And I will make of you a multitude of people, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession. And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who are born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; like Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. And your issue, which you father after them, shall be yours, and shall be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
Exodus 6:2 -8 And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am Jehovah. And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty. But I was not known to them by the name JEHOVAH. And I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their travels, in which they traveled. And I have also heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, those whom the Egyptians are keeping in bondage. And I have remembered My covenant. Therefore say to the sons of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you out of their bondage. And I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments. And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And you shall know that I am Jehovah your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in to the land concerning which I lifted up My hand to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And I will give it to you for a heritage. I am Jehovah!
Exodus 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.
Deuteronomy 1:8 Behold, I have set before you the land; go in and possess the land which Jehovah has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.
Judges 2:1 And the Angel of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you go up out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land which I swore to your fathers. And I said, I will never break My covenant with you.
1Chronicles 16:14-18 He is Jehovah our God. His judgments are in all the earth. Be always mindful of His covenant, the Word He commanded to a thousand generations, which He made with Abraham, and of His oath to Isaac. And He has confirmed the saying to Jacob for a Law, to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, To you will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance,
Jeremiah 31:35-37 So says Jehovah, who gives the sun for a light by day and the laws of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divides the sea when its waves roar; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; if those ordinances depart from Me, says Jehovah, the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever. So says Jehovah, If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be searched out, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Jehovah.
Is there really any doubt that God did indeed make “unconditional promises concerning the land were made by God exclusively with a racial group descended from Abraham”?
Concerning the second proposition, “That these promises exist ‘apart from faith in Jesus Christ’”, this question is really asking about the importance of the Messiah to God’s promises to the Jewish people.
If we look again at Psalms 105:8-11 , does this talk about a promise given to the fathers (i.e., to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob)? Clearly, it does. Now we read;
Romans 15:8-10; And I say, Jesus Christ has become a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the nations might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written, "For this cause I will confess to You in the nations, and I will praise Your name." And again He says, "Rejoice, O nations, with His people." (Note Paul says “with”, not “in stead of”, or “as a replacement”!)
2 Corinthians 1:20 “For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God by us.”
Romans 9:3-4 For I myself was wishing to be accursed from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites; to whom belong ... the promises;
Look again at the first coming of Jesus. Simeon said Jesus came as “a light for revelation to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.” The angel told Mary that “He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Mary herself prophesied that “He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.” John’s father likewise prophesied; “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from eternity; that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham, that He would grant to us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.” Did Jesus fail? Or will his love for Israel, and his promises to David and Abraham yet prevail, and all Israel be saved?
The messiah is not irrelevant to God’s promises to Israel!
Now, if the promises remain in force (for God is not a liar), and if these promises were indeed confirmed by Jesus, then, according to Scripture, the land of Canaan remains promised to the Jewish people.
This conversation clearly has a ways to go, but that’s enough for a start! Over to you, Stephen.
Thank you Colin for this extensive list of scriptural quotations which rightly show the place and purpose
of the Jewish people within God's covenant purposes,under the Old Covenant - but not the New Covenant. The New Covenant shows, what is implicit in the Old Covenant namely that:
1. the Covenant promises were always conditional.
2. Israel was always a spiritual reality not racial.
3. The Patriarchs were not even looking for a permanent home in the Land of Canaan anyway.
Let me unpack these a little more:
1. the Covenant promises were conditional.
Let me give just one example. In Ezekiel 33, the arrogant attitude displayed in Israel then seems remarkably similar to sentiments expressed today. Notice their logic.
“Son of man, the people living in those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as our possession.’ Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you eat meat with the blood still in it and look to your idols and shed blood, should you then possess the land? You rely on your sword, you do detestable things, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?” (Ezekiel 33:23-26).
The answer to the rhetorical question is clearly ‘no’. In the following verses Ezekiel leaves us in no doubt as to the consequences of disobedience:
“I will make the land a desolate waste, and her proud strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will become desolate so that no one will cross them. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable things they have done.” (Ezekiel 33:25-29)
On the basis of such sober warnings it could be suggested that unless there is an imminent spiritual revival, Israel is more likely to experience another exile rather than a restoration. The Abrahamic and Mosaic promises were always conditional. ‘Obey and stay or rebel and be removed.’
Jesus himself warns: “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” (Matthew 21:43-44)
Jesus makes faith in him a condition for continued residence in his kingdom as does Peter in Acts 3:17-26.
2. Israel was a spiritual reality not racial.
Jesus was scathing toward those who thought their relationship to Abraham gave them certain rights, privileges or security (John 8:39).
Indeed Jesus explicitly warned that apart from faith in him, people would be excluded from God’s people (John 15:5-6).
To suggest that the Abrahamic covenantal promises still apply to people who reject Jesus because of their race and because “God cannot lie”, is to set Scripture against Scripture. For example, Jesus warned,
“I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:11-12)
The Apostle Peter reiterated this soon after the Day of Pentecost.
“For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’ (Acts 3:22-23)
In the following verses Peter specifically links the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant blessing with ‘these days’ meaning the ministry of Jesus sent to ‘bless’ those who turn from the ‘wicked ways’. No doubt Peter also has in mind Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on people of all nations who had repented and believed in Jesus:
“Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” (Acts 3:24-26)
Peter is urging those listening to repent and believe in Jesus also and experience the Abrahamic blessing. It is inconceivable that Peter had in mind a blessing apart from faith in Jesus.
In Romans 2:28-29, Paul emphasizes the same truth - that a Jew is not one outwardly but inwardly of the heart.
In Galatians 3:16-18 Paul emphasizes that Jesus is the seed in whom the Abrahamic covenant is fulfilled, and that the children of Abraham are those who exercise faith in Jesus, through whom all nations are blessed (Galatians 3:7-9). In Galatians 4 he goes further and says that Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus are the true children of Sarah and those who reject Jesus are the children of Hagar (Galatians 4:21-31).
In Ephesians 2 Paul emphasizes the unity of God's people, Jews and Gentiles built on the foundation, not of Israel, but the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus the chief cornerstone.
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men) — 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.” (Ephesians 2:11-21)
How there can possibly be a continuing earthly ‘blessing’ of land, based on the Abrahamic Covenant for those who reject Jesus, defies the spirit and letter of the New Testament.
3. The Patriarchs were not looking for a permanent home in the Land of Canaan.
Hebrews 11 describes the journey of the Old Testament saints and shows that Abraham’s descendents were never destined to live in Canaan forever; indeed the writer insists they knew this!
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13-16)
And how does this journey of faith end? In what are Israel’s future hopes consummated?
“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39-40)
The writer to Hebrews is describing the unity of God’s purposes in bringing together one people of faith from all nations and all generations, to be consummated in heaven when Jesus returns.
This is a brief overview - the reply to David is more expansive as is my book Zion's Christian Soldiers - details, audio and text downloads available from www.sizers.org
John Stott has commented, "I am glad and grateful that you have taken up the cudgels in defence of our views which have been misrepresented by David Pawson in his latest book. Now that I have entered my 88th year, I am really no longer able to enter into this kind of debate..."
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