God will use Israel to reveal to the world that He is God

Too often, opinion on Israel is seen as a popularity contest. We look at the number of likes a post has on social media, or the number of people in the streets protesting, and assume that because it appears popular, it must be right.

As 1 Corinthians warns, “the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.”

Christians are easily the largest supporters of Israel globally. It makes sense as our Judaeo-Christian faith is anchored in God’s Word, which details the covenant God made with the Jewish people to give them the land of Israel as an eternal inheritance. God is the originator of Zionism.

You probably realise this, but Christian Zionists are in the minority. It’s true that we’re seeing movements like CUFI grow, with more Christians connecting with us each day. Globally speaking, however, those who oppose Israel are greater in number than those who support Israel. 

We can understand this better when we break down the numbers. Christianity is the world’s largest religion with over 2.3 billion adherents, but in total, Christians are only 31% of the world’s population. 

Christians are in the minority globally. Shamefully, Zionists are also a minority within the Church.

When we break down the number of Christians who are Zionists, just one-third of mainstream Christian denominations believe that Israel is a fulfilment of Bible prophecy. Israel has become a controversial topic, and most churches teach forms of Replacement Theology, leading hundreds of millions (if not billions) of Christians astray. 

It’s no wonder so many Christians in the UK contact CUFI and tell us they cannot find a church that supports Israel in their area.

God’s people turning away from His teachings is not a new phenomenon. There were many times in the Bible when most of the Israelites were led astray, turning away from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and instead worshipping false idols. 

In Elijah’s times, the Israelites had turned away from God to worship Baal. So, God used Elijah to demonstrate His power and reveal Himself as the God of Israel.

Elijah called the Israelites together to witness a contest between the prophet of God and the prophets of Baal. As the story goes, the 450 prophets of Baal cried out, danced, and even cut themselves to try and get Baal to ignite their altar, but nothing happened.

Elijah was already outnumbered 450 to 1, but in order to demonstrate God’s power further, he ordered that water be thrown over his altar three times; so it was filled with water. The Israelites would have thought this was foolish of Elijah. The prophets of Baal had already failed, and there were hundreds of them. How could one man call upon God to burn an altar that was now drenched in water? 

1 Kings 18:36-39 says, “At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.’”

God used one man to stand against all odds to demonstrate His power to the Israelites and prove to them He is the only true God. The result was all the Israelites acknowledging “the Lord, He is God.”

Many in the Church have been led astray. The Church is bowing down to false idols. Just as we learn in the book of Revelation, most of the seven churches had fallen into false teaching. Only two of those seven churches were praised without rebuke. 

We do not need to treat Israel as a popularity contest. Just as God used a miracle for Elijah to demonstrate His power to the Israelites, He too will perform a miracle for Israel that will reveal His power to the Church, to Israel, and to the world.

The Scriptures tell us that there will come a time when the entire world thinks Israel is about to be destroyed. Indeed, many will believe this is ‘judgement’ against the Jewish people. Then, by His amazing grace, God will come to their aid right at the last moment. The God of Israel will rain down fire from heaven on Israel’s enemies and defeat them just as He rained down fire on the altar to defeat Baal. 

“So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel,” (Ezekiel 39:7).

Then, and only then, will the entirety of the Church, Israel, and the nations of the earth know that “the Lord, He is God.”