HOW CAN YOU NOT SUPPORT ISRAEL AS A CHRISTIAN
There is currently, February 2026, a video circulated by gift of the giver, saying that you cannot be a Christian if you support Israel. Well on the contrary, the question should be “how can you not support Israel, as a Christian”. The answer is found in the Bible and is not motivated by a political or ideological agenda. In the Bible we read the story of Jacob who wrestled with the angel of God during the night, in the morning the angel of God touched him and changed his name to Israel.That battle was significant, in that Jacob submitted to God’s will for his life in reference to what was to come.
Name change in the Bible, as with Abram to Abraham, has a future reference and often of supernatural inheritance. The name change from Jacob to Israel, referred to a future reference where the name Israel meant what is stated in the Bible, Israel as prince of God or triumphing with God or walking upright with God. Today we seem to position ourselves based on the gift we received from God, salvation in Christ Jesus. But as Paul said be very careful, for just as we have been grafted into Israel, we could easily be cut of, since the root is not affected by the branches, but the branches is affected by the root. We are part of Israel as Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:13-19 But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood. For he himself is our shalom—he has made us both one and has broken down the m’chitzah (dividing wall) which divided us by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity. Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby, news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family.
God chose Jacob to become His beloved Israel, to be a shadow and example of what God intended for all mankind, i.e. when we are recreated by His Son Jesus Christ. The transformation of Jacob to Israel is like the old man, who through the touch of Jesus, becomes re-birthed through baptism in Christ. The Old man receives not only a new name in Christ Jesus, but also a new character in Christ Jesus. Let us consider the character change from Jacob to Israel :
New Nature – free from the past.
Isaiah 43:1 But now this is what ADONAI says, he who created you, Ya’akov, he who formed you, Isra’el: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I am calling you by your name; you are mine. Jacob was redeemed by God and Israel His called one, so we have been redeemed in Christ to be set free and to live by the new recreated nature in Jesus Christ. We can bear the mark of Christ, just as Israel bore the mark of God. We can be free from the past just as Jacob after he had been touched by God, lived as Israel, a new man in accordance to his new nature.
Christ’s power within
Genesis 3:15 I will put animosity between you and the woman, and between your descendant and her descendant; he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel. “ The old nature strives to succeed and the fear of failure can bruise us, but the recreated nature is free from fear as we trust in God and in His ability. Jacob was physically weaker after he had been touched by the Lord, but he had the boldness to face his fears (his brother Esau) in the knowledge that God made a promise He will fulfil. 1 Peter 4:1-2 says:’ Therefore, since the Messiah suffered physically, you too are to arm yourselves with the same attitude. For whoever has suffered physically is finished with sin, with the result that he lives the rest of his earthly life no longer controlled by human desires, but by God’s will. Our enemy is our flesh (me, myself and I) that is unwilling to submit to God. Consider James 4:7: ‘Submit to God resist the devil and he will flee from you”.
Father God’s plan for our lives.
Ephesians 2:10 ‘For we are of God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Jesus for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do.’ Jacob knew that God had a plan for his life, but Israel followed according to the guidance he received from the Lord. The recreated man Israel surrendered to God and His perfect will, while the old nature strove with his brother and within himself. Balaam, the pagan prophet’s example gives us insight into the difference between Jacob and Israel’s personalities. He was summoned to curse the Jewish people and ended up mouthing one of the most beautiful odes to Jewish life and destiny contained in the Torah. In the second of Balaam’s curses-turned-blessings, he proclaims: “[God] sees no guilt in Jacob, nor toil in Israel.” This implies that Jacob does experience toil, though his struggles and difficulties do not result in his guilt in the eyes of God. Israel, on the other hand, enjoys a tranquil existence, devoid not only of guilt but also of toil! (This is the recreated nature in Christ)
God’s servants but also God’s children!
With the result that “Jacob” is the name reserved for us when we are referred to as God’s “servants,” while “Israel” is God’s name of choice when He speaks of us as His “children.” The defining element of the servant’s life is his service to his master. The child also serves his father, but their relationship is such that his service is not toil but pleasure. What for the servant is work, is for the child his identity as the extension of his father’s essence. When we become children of God in Jesus the Messiah and realise our value as children then we do not need to strive with our brothers for recognition. We are children, and strive nor anything we perform will make us more than what we already became in Jesus the Messiah! Jacob took his brother’s birthright and blessing, but as Jacob found himself fighting with God. Subsequently he received the blessing from God Himself and became Israel and as a result he ceased to strive within and with his brother.
We as the Body of Christ, should not consider ourselves as a Jacob who needs to strive with our brother. We need to see ourselves as Israel, children loved by our Father, not based on what we have done, or performance, but based on the fact that in Christ we have been re-birthed and renamed. If we consider the mentioned that we as children of God, became part of Israel, with a future reference that Jesus will reign from Israel. Then as children we need not strive with our brothers we should pray for them. We know that God used Israel to bring about salvation to the world, now we have the privilege through loving our brothers in Israel to be instrumental in their salvation as we pray for them and the peace of Jerusalem. It is time to come into your full inheritance as a child of the living God in Christ Jesus, remember what Paul said concerning Israel in Romans 11:28-32 With respect to the Good News they are hated for your sake. But with respect to being chosen they are loved for the Patriarchs’ sake, for God’s free gifts and his calling are irrevocable. Just as you yourselves were disobedient to God before but have received mercy now because of Isra’el’s disobedience; so also Isra’el has been disobedient now, so that by you showing them the same mercy that God has shown you, they too may now receive God’s mercy. For God has shut up all mankind together in disobedience, in order that he might show mercy to all.
Paul is reminding us that we had a nature that was an abomination in the sight of God, therefor God destroyed the whole earth through the flood based on the evil that prevailed. We have not been saved because of the good we did, we have been saved by the Son of God, Jesus Christ who attained the victory over death and sin on the cross so that in Him we have been recreated to live the life of Christ living in us. As a Christian we should remind ourselves from where we came, so that we can pray for those still lost and without Christ. Don’t be deceived concerning Israel by those who have their own agenda and not God’s agenda in mind, we have been saved so that we through thankfulness can impart love to those still lost and without Christ.
IN SUMMARY. We as children of God, became part of Israel, with a future reference that Jesus will reign from Israel. Then as children we need not strive with our brothers we should pray for them. We know that God used Israel to bring about salvation to the world, now we have the privilege through loving our brothers in Israel to be instrumental in their salvation as we pray for them and the peace of Jerusalem.