Israel, Arabs and the Family of God
John S. Piper, is admired by most evangelicals. He is the founder of www.desiringgod.org and he is the chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis. Presbyterians are the ones who are usually associated with Calvin but not the Baptists. Some people refer to John Piper as a Calvinist Baptist author and preacher. His books include Spectacular Sins, What Jesus Demands from the World, Pierced by the Word, and God's Passion for His Glory. His bestsellers include: Don't Waste Your Life and Passion for Jesus Christ. His organization "Desiring God" is named for his famous book Desiring God: Meditating of a Christian Hedonist (1986).
On March 4, 2011, John Piper was approached at his church by an Arab Christian who was in anguish regarding a burning issue. Below is a description of that encounter and Piper's 12 points mandate on how should Christians perceive the State of Israel. These 12 points are John Piper's views and they appear on his website.
MARCH 4, 2011
Israel, Arabs, and the Family of God
Last Sunday I met an Arab Christian who was visiting our church. In a respectful way, he poured out his heart concerning the plight of his people in the Middle East and his sadness at how few American Christian pastors ever say anything positive or hopeful about Arab Christians.
His perception is that Christians in America give carte blanche support for Israel. No injustice against Palestinians or Arab Christians elsewhere seems to get a response in American pulpits.
So I thought it would be good to publicly affirm a few positions that I think the Bible mandates:
1. True Christians are citizens of the kingdom of Jesus Christ first, and only secondarily citizens of any earthly nation or state.
2. True Christians are united more closely to each other as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ than we are to any earthly bonds of family or nation.
3. American Christians are more closely united to Palestinian Christians and Arab Christians and Jewish Christians throughout the world than we are to the state of non-Christian Israel.
4. Israel was chosen by God from all the peoples of the world to be the focus of special blessing in the history of redemption which climaxed in Jesus Christ, the Messiah. “The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6).
5. God promised to Israel the presently disputed land from the time of Abraham onward. God said to Moses, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring’” (Deuteronomy 34:4).
6. Israel, like every other nation on the earth, including all Arab states, does not affirm Jesus Christ as God, Messiah, and Savior, and is, therefore, not a covenant-keeping people in relation to God. Rejecting the Son of God is rebellion against the God of the covenant.
7. A non-covenant-keeping people—Jewish or Arab—does not have a divine right to hold the land of promise while they are living in rebellion against the God who promised it to an obedient people. “If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples” (Exodus 19:5).
8. This does not mean that other nations have the right to molest Israel, nor Israel to molest her neighbors. Israel and the surrounding nations still have human rights among nations, though they have no divine right to claim the land while rejecting the Messiah.
9. God has saving purposes for ethnic Israel (Romans 11:25-26), as he does for the Arab nations (Isaiah 19:19-25; Psalm 22:27; Matthew 28:19-20; Romans 3:29-30).
10. The Christian plea in the Middle East to Palestinians and Jews is: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). This is the path to peace. “Jesus himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14).
11. Until that great day, when both Jewish and Gentile followers of King Jesus inherit the earth (including the promised land), without lifting sword or gun, the rights of nations should be decided by the principles of compassionate and public justice, not claims to national divine right or status.
12. Therefore, all Christians, especially Christian pastors, should speak openly and joyfully of our unity with Arab and Jewish Christians, and should not rank political support for Israel or any Arab nation above our family support for fellow believers.
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.
Questions for Reflection
1. Do you agree with John Piper on his eschatological views?
2. Do you agree with Piper on his mandate # 6? If not, why and how do you disagree with him?
3. Do you agree with Piper on his mandates # 7 and 8? If not, why and how do you disagree with him?
4. Do you agree with Piper on his mandate # 11? If not, why and how do you disagree with him?
5. If what John Piper has written is biblically accurate, why is it that these views are not preached from the pulpits in America?
6. Why is it that Arabs and Muslims have a bad reputation in Western media. Please look at this interesting article.