Confused about Christians who say they pray for Israel's peace and salvation or call it the Holy Land?

Question

If you follow the New Testament, it clearly shows that God no longer considered the Israelites to be his choosen people and that "the Holy Land" ceased being a physical place, but was a reference to his heavenly kingdom.
He allowed Jerusalem to being destroyed as punishment for the rejection of Jesus and allow all nationalities to worship him. Jerusalem and Israel lost all religious signifigance.
So why do so many Christians speak of Israel as the Holy Land and Jerusalem as God's Holy City? If Israel IS the Holy Land then the Jews are still God's Holy People, which doesn't fit it to well with the New Testament.
I am CONFUSED!!!!!!!!!! Please explain!

By the way...no offence to Jews!!! I am not trying to be rude at all, I am just confused by all this. Its contradictory.

Just had a thought....99% of the Christians I have heard saying they pray for Israel to be restored are pro-Bush. Is that the reason they say this?

Earl D....your point was what exactly? You confused me somewhat.

Chopper and anyone with his line of reasoning:
Well if the Jews are God's Holy People, then where the heck does that leave Christians!!

Answer 1

dont see how it says that, jews rock socks anyway!

and peace is good anywhere

Answer 2

Some consider the land holy because Jesus walked there. A lot - they had no cars, etc so everybody walked to go from A to B. And the NT talks of several tripe Jesus tool, by foot, around the area - including through areas repugnant to the Jews of that day (Samaria, which is now primarily the Palestinian West Bank area).

As for being pro-Israel, I see that as a mis-guided interpretation of rthe Bible by some Christians - but definitely not all. These people tend to blindly support any politician who gives open support of Israel. Thus most are pro-W; they were also pro-Clinton, Bush-41, and pro-Carter for the same reason.

The real smudge is that modern Israel is a nation-state and not anything like the kingdom that God intends to bring to this earth. That nation has usurped the name - and some mistakenly think they are thus entitled to special benefits in God's eyes. I do not agree with that thinking.

I believe that all land is given by God for stewardship to the people who live in it. And all have to answer to God for their actions, individually and as a nation. I feel that what we see today in the holy land is repugnant in God's eyes.

Answer 3

It is the Scriptures themselves that direct us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. (Psalm 122:6) The Jews are still God's chosen people. Clearly you have been reading the New Testament only. To have greater insight into it, you must study the Old Testament also. the 144,000 mentioned in the Book of Revelation are Jews. Mount Zion therein, along with Mount Moriah, are the two mountains that Jerusalem is built upon. Follow the history of Mount Moriah back through the Old Testament, and you will find that it's where Solomon built the first temple, and further back, it is where Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac.
The OT Prophet Hosea reveals just how faithful God is to His unfaithful children. If you are reading only the New Testament, you are missing half your faith!

Answer 4

During the Millennium, Yeshua (Jesus) will sit on the throne of David. That is in Jerusalem. It is there we will come and worship once a year.
The Jews are still God's chosen people and according to Romans 11 (see Apostle Jeffs post above), they still have a destiny to fulfill. Bless a Jew when you see one, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Here is the destiny of Israel and the Church...
http://www.schneblin.com/studies/pdfs/seventieth_week_of_daniel.pdf

Answer 5

So You don"t believe the 11th chap;Of Romans:or Revelation chap 4 thru ch 18, Or James chap 1 ( This thinking that Church has taken the place of Israel) This Mindset has caused Anti-Semitism , I would have to rip out too many pages of My Bible to Believe it is as You say.Pray for Israel because when Jerusalem is at Peace the whole World will be at Peace.

Answer 6

Resounding HELL NO from Nevada! Isarael is termed the "Holy Land" by some of my Hebrew friends because like me, they haven't gotten the Windows update on this either.
Sounds like a political agenda to me and I would steer clear of this school of thought, make friends with one of the Y!A atheist or agnostic contributors and maybe find you have a thought or two which can agree with one of theirs. None of us are 100% right or wrong and listening to an atheist POV is not going to send you to Hell, especially if you are just seeking "more input" as "Number 5 of the SAINT line" was so fondly and desperately stating.

Answer 7

All land is holy, yet its each and every physique isn't. Israel is likely considered one of the main corrupt worldwide places in the international. The Israel spoken of in the Bible is long long previous; at present's Israel is occupied territory and undeserved.

Answer 8

Whoa there! Just a galldern minute.... aside from everything else said here - whether right or wrong - please be advised that "He" did NOT "allow the destruction of Jerusalem as punishment for the rejection of Jesus", but rather the rejection of G-d. This occurred long before the birth of Jesus.

Answer 9

I agree with everything you said. The New testament indicates that the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile has been taken down through Christ's work on the cross. We are a spiritual body and we are all one in Christ.
Bo

Answer 10

Anyway how can Christians pray for Israels peace when its very existence is illegal and hosted by no one else but USA.
Israel doesnt fight its own wars, USA fight Israles wars
So if anything Christians should pray for the removal of Israel as it goes against everything the bible teaches!

Answer 11

Not at all. You are completely wrong. Please read Romans 11 below. Also, many of the old Prophets predict that Jesus will come back and rescue Israel from complete destruction. The Book of Revelation has many pictures in words of how Jesus will save the Jews.

Romans 11

1. I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--how he appealed to God against Israel:
3. "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me" ?
4. And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
5. So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
6. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7. What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
8. as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day."
9. And David says: "May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever."
11. Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
12. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
13. I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry
14. in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.
15. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
16. If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,
18. do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."
20. Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
21. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
23. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
25. I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
26. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."
28. As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
29. for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.
30. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
31. so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you.
32. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
33. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
34. "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"
35. "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"
36. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.