Why Evangelicals Support Israel

Many among the 78 million evangelicals in the United States have supported Israel in the Middle East conflicts of the past years. For some the reasons have been biblical. Many evangelicals believe that Old Testament prophecies foretelling the widening influence of Israel, including victory over its ancient enemies, will soon be fulfilled. A deeply devout evangelical Christian who has recently written on this subject has suggested that the successes of the current U.S.-Israeli coalition are the prelude to the fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39.

“I am not saying that we are already experiencing exactly what Ezekiel prophesied around 600 B.C. But we can already see developments or ‘labor pains,’ ‘as that day draws near!’ (Heb. 10:25).”[1]

The “labor pains” to which the writer refers are the current conflicts between Israel and its enemies. The “day” that is drawing near refers to the second coming of Christ and the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy.

Evangelical support for Israel can be traced back to John Darby and the hermeneutics of dispensationalism.

John Nelson Darby: The Father of Modern Dispensationalism

Among the founders of modern dispensationalism, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) was the most influential. Darby grew up in a wealthy family in London. He was an outstanding student and, after studying law, was admitted to the bar on January 21, 1822. Three years later he was also ordained as a pastor in the Anglican Church.

He initially served as an assistant pastor in Calary, in eastern Ireland, where he was known for his extremely frugal lifestyle. Darby lived in a peasant’s cottage, going out every evening to hold Bible studies in the homes of the common people. He often traveled on foot over mountains and through swamps to fulfill his duties. It was rare for him to return home before midnight. According to Max Weremchuck, one of his biographers: “He ate whatever food offered itself, food that was often tasteless and indigestible.”[2]

He was also extremely generous. He spent much of his income helping the poor and building schoolhouses. Although he received a substantial inheritance through an uncle’s will, his cousins (or nephews—reports vary) deliberately borrowed cash from him at high interest rates. They knew of his generosity and, by borrowing from him, prevented him from giving away his entire inheritance.[3]

Darby, who experienced his own conversion at the age of 20 or 21, wrote that his faith was the result of “simply reading the Bible.”[4]

Darby’s Hermeneutics

Fundamental to his theology was the great value Darby placed on a literal interpretation of Bible prophecy. This method of biblical interpretation (also known as “literalism”) led him to the conviction that God’s promises regarding the restoration of the people of Israel would be fulfilled exactly as foretold. “The Restoration . . . of Israel involves the idea of Israel being reinstalled as a nation, in her land, with a specific identity. . . . In a literal, earthly kingdom—a millennium—the nation Israel will serve a functional role to the nations (Isa. 2:2-4).”[5] Although written by a later proponent of dispensationalism, this was a key conviction of Darby’s that resulted from his literal understanding of the Old Testament.

Darby’s convictions became highly popular in the twentieth century. When, in 1948, Israel was accorded nation status, dispensationalists saw the possibility of a verbatim fulfillment of postexilic prophecies. As Jews from all over the world began to return to Israel, they became convinced that the prophecy of Jeremiah had started to become reality:

Dispensationalism has become popular in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries because of its literalist interpretation of end-time prophecy.

“ ‘Therefore behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that it shall no more be said, “The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,” but, “The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.” For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers’ ” (Jer. 16:14, 15).

Doctrine of the Church

Darby was convinced that the Bible clearly distinguishes between the terms Israel and church. According to Darby, God’s promises to Israel under the old covenant cannot be applied to the New Testament church. “Darby came to believe that soon after the death of the apostles, (Christian) believers began wrongly to take Old Testament prophecies and promises and apply them to themselves.”[6] In Darby’s view, such an application contradicted a literal understanding of the Bible.

This idea resulted in the conviction that God is working with two separate groups of people—Israel on the one hand and the Christian church on the other. During the millennium, Christians will be in heaven (John 14:1-3), whereas Israel will enjoy the promises of a renewed earth (Isa. 65:17-25).

The Term Dispensationalism

The term dispensationalism derives from the English word “dispensation,” found in Colossians 1:25, KJV, and elsewhere. Paul wrote that he had become a servant of the church “according to the dispensation of God.”

Darby understood that as the administrator of His plan of salvation, God pursues specific goals throughout history. These goals, he believed, are subject to change from time to time.

Darby defined seven dispensations (or periods) in God’s plan of salvation: (1) From the Garden of Eden to the Flood; (2) Noah; (3) Abraham; (4) Israel; (5) the Gentiles; (6) the Tribulation; and finally (7) the Millennium.

THE 7 DISPENSATIONS

Later proponents of dispensationalism divided the stages of salvation history somewhat differently, but all share the fundamental belief that God has, in various “dispensations,” entrusted people with “specific and changing responsibilities.”[7]

The Teaching of Salvation

The conviction that human responsibility toward God can change under different dispensations has led to the belief that God’s law is not binding on believers of all ages. Man’s obligation toward God under the dispensations of “grace” and “law” are thus dissimilar: “All writers, of whatever theological persuasion, are sensitive to the antithetical nature of law and grace, and at the same time they all desire to maintain the doctrine of salvation by grace at all times. Both emphases are necessary, for there is an antithesis between the law and grace (or what do John 1:17; Romans 6:14; and Galatians 3:23 mean?),”[8] wrote Charles Ryrie, one of the foremost dispensationalist theologians. While dispensationalists believe in submitting to New Testament commands, they nevertheless do not observe the fourth commandment. The Sabbath, they argue, belonged to a different dispensation.

Darby’s Adoption of Futurism

Like many other theologians at the beginning of the nineteenth century on both sides of the Atlantic, Darby studied biblical prophecy. His views were controversial, yet they are the reason for the enduring interest in dispensationalism into the twenty-first century.

In the United States the first decades of the nineteenth century were marked by a great revival (the Second Great Awakening). In the wake of this revival, a deep interest in biblical prophecy emerged. William Miller’s interpretation of Daniel 8:14 and his conclusion that Christ would return in 1844 stirred thousands into great anticipation. When the day passed without the visible return of Jesus, many abandoned their faith. Yet the strong emphasis on the Bible as the Word of God within this movement later laid the foundation for the widespread acceptance of dispensationalism in the United States.

The key to all dispensationalist thinking, however, is the emphasis on a literal, historical-grammatical interpretation of Scripture.

At the same time as the Second Great Awakening occurred in the United States, revivals were also taking place in Europe. Among other events, the French Revolution fueled an interest in prophecy. Many believed that Napoleon was the coming antichrist. To clarify the various interpretations of prophetic predictions, Henry Drummond, a wealthy member of the English House of Commons, organized a series of conferences at his estate, Albury Park. Between 1826 and 1828 Drummond invited clergy and prominent laypeople from various churches to the conferences. The results of the discussions were similar to those of William Miller. They used the day-year principle to interpret the prophecies in Daniel and Revelation and came to the conviction that Christ would soon return to this earth.

Darby’s understanding of prophecy was, however, guided by the principle of literalism. This understanding caused him to reject some of the conclusions of the Albury Park conferences. Darby, convinced that the events described in Revelation had not yet literally taken place, refused to understand them to be historical sequences and placed them firmly in the future. Thus, he rejected the idea that Napoleon was the antichrist—but also rejected the Reformation conviction that the antichrist has been working through history in the form of the Papacy.[9]

The Doctrine of End-time Events (Eschatology)

Further Bible conferences were organized between 1831 and 1833 by one of the attendees of the Albury Park conferences, the wealthy widow Theodosia Wingfield, Viscountess Powerscourt. Lady Powerscourt hosted these gatherings on her estate in County Wicklow, Ireland. Darby participated, and at the 1833 meetings he surprised fellow believers by articulating his conviction regarding 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.[10] He believed that the church of Christ would not experience the tribulation of the end-times. “There is no event between me and heaven,”[11] he wrote. The Tribulation would begin only after the rapture of the true believers, and not before. In doing so, Darby disassociated the rapture from the Day of the Lord, on which Christ would return visibly and in glory. He viewed the rapture and the Second Coming as two distinct events separated in time.

DISPENSATIONALISM

This conviction had a profound influence on Darby’s understanding of Daniel’s prophecies. Because Darby believed that the prophecy of Daniel 9 referred to Israel and not the church (“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people . . .” [Dan. 9:24]), he also believed in a significant gap in the prophetic prediction of verses 24-27. He explained that the age of the church would be inserted between weeks 69 and 70 mentioned in Daniel 9:26. Later dispensationalists referred to this insertion as an intercalation in God’s plan of salvation for Israel. Others have tersely explained this surprising prophetic gap by saying that “the prophetic clock stopped ticking.” At the end of week 69 the Age of the Church would begin. This age would extend until the beginning of the rapture, which would mark the beginning of week 70.

Once the church had been raptured into heaven, God would resume His plan for Israel. During the final week, i.e., the last seven years of Daniel’s prophecy, the antichrist would emerge to plunge the world into a time of trouble. But Jesus would destroy the antichrist at His second coming in glory. His coming would end the seventieth week. From then on, Israel would enjoy the earthly blessings of the millennium (Isa. 65:17-25, see illustration).

Slide Between the Adventist and Dispensationalist Views

70 WEEKS

Later dispensationalists modified Darby’s initial convictions. The key to all dispensationalist thinking, however, is the emphasis on a literal, historical-grammatical interpretation of Scripture. No theological framework should be imposed beforehand on a reading of the Word of God. The historical, literal meaning is decisive.

Summary

• The hermeneutic (interpretation) of literalism has led dispensationalists to distinguish between Israel and the church. Biblical texts are examined to determine which group they address.

• Literalism also led to the division of salvation history into epochs (dispensations), during which human responsibility before God may vary. Certain divine requirements may apply to believers in certain dispensations, while others, such as obedience to the Ten Commandments, become invalid.

• Dispensationalism has become popular in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries because of its literalist interpretation of end-time prophecy. This understanding includes: (1) the rapture of the New Testament church before the return of Jesus, (2) a seven-year tribulation, and (3) a literal millennial reign of Christ on this planet.

Dispensationalism Must Be Examined Thoughtfully and Prayerfully

In his biography of Darby, Max Weremchuk calls him “the pacemaker” of modern dispensationalism.[12] Darby is representative of many dispensationalists who combine self-denial, high moral standards, and unshakable faith. Their conclusions, however, must be examined carefully and prayerfully for several reasons. While claiming not to impose a theological framework on the biblical text, dispensationalists nevertheless do so. The hermeneutic of literalism is such an imposition, which has led to an Israel-centered view of prophecy. The results can be seen in the support that many evangelicals are giving to Israel in the present Near East conflict.

Adventists also believe in a grammatical-historical hermeneutic, but modify it with the hermeneutics of progressive revelation. Progressive revelation is both biblical and Christ-centered (Luke 24:27). This will be the subject of a subsequent article.

[1] Rene Christen, Das Signal (Bern-Belp, Switz.: Schweizer Bund Aktiver Protestanten, June 2024), p. 10.

[2] Max Weremchuk, John Nelson Darby (El Cajon, Calif.: Southern California Seminary Press), p. 19.

[3] Ibid., p. 31

[4] Ibid., p. 13.

[5] Michael J. Vlach, Dispensationalism: Essential Beliefs and Common Myths (Los Angeles: Theological Studies Press, 2017), p. 47.

[6] Weremchuk ,p. 13.

[7] Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, ed., Scofield Bibel, Revidierte Elberfelder Übersetzung (Wuppertal, Germany: Brockhaus,1997), p. VII.

[8] Charles Ryrie, Dispensationalism (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2007).

[9] See Dennis Pettibone, “Martin Luther’s view on the Antichrist,” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 18, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 81-100, Martin Luther’s Views on the Antichrist

[10] Timothy P. Weber, “Dispensational and Historic Premillennialism as Popular Millennialist Movements,” in Craig L. Blomberg and Sung Wook Chung, eds., A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to “Left Behind” Eschatology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2009), p. 10.

[11] Weremchuk, p. 95.

[12] Ibid., p. 82.