While working on the index for The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, I came to the comment on Jeremiah's warning of impending attacks upon the Philistines at Gaza, and on his allusion to the time when "Pharaoh smote Gaza." As I typed the entries, "Gaza: taken by Egypt" and "Gaza: importance to Egypt," the thought came to me that these references to an ancient historical event sounded like variations of modern news items on the conflict, military and verbal, that centered in the Gaza strip a few months ago. The front-page references to Gaza have mentioned the thousands of Arab refugees in that narrow strip of coast line—people who form a portion of those who lost their homes in the territory that is now Israel during the Arab-Israeli war of 1947-48. Thus the public has been reminded of the appalling conditions under which more than 800,000 homeless people in Gaza and in other refugee camps have been living for almost ten years while awaiting a political settlement of their ever-worsening situation.
Some time ago the Christian Century, in an item of religious news, reported a thought-provoking remark on these refugees made by a member of a group of clergymen from the United States and South Africa who were on a tour of Palestine. These men, who evidently hold a certain popular view of prophecy, "did their bit," it was reported, to solve the problem of Jerusalem "by saying publicly that while they felt sorry for the Arab refugees, the day of the Jews has come, and 'in the light of prophecy they [the Arabs] must make other arrangements.'" A neat disposal of a matter that has taxed the statesmanship of world leaders for so many years!
Leaving aside the fact that the festering sore of the refugee problem cannot be solved summarily by the wave of a ministerial hand, one shudders at the state of mind of anyone who can use a prophetic interpretation to pass sentence on the individual and collective misery of nearly a million human beings, and then depart contentedly for his comfortable home. It is to be hoped that the spokesman who delivered such glib words to the press was incompletely quoted, or that he unintentionally misrepresented the humane feelings of the members of a group who had presumably seen with their own eyes something of the destitution, the hopelessness, and the bitterness of the hapless victims of war and political upheaval.
The question of who is right or wrong, or of who is to blame, does not affect the hunger of a man homeless in the land of his birth, or the warped outlook of a child growing up amid degredation and bitterness without even remembering a normal home life. No one is in a better position to understand the plight of the Arab refugee than the Israeli who has recently fled from persecution in Europe. Even if these tourists had made a sacrificial contribution for the relief of such unfortunates, surely none would feel like leaving such a scene with merely a theological pronouncement that would presume to settle the fate of nations; or with merely a deprecating "We're sorry, but . . ." for the supposedly minor matter of the welfare, happiness, and future usefulness—or menace—of nearly a million suffering and hopeless human beings.
Prophetic Views and Humane Feelings
This incident is not related here for the purpose of accusing these men of callousness, but to point out that it was their system of prophetic interpretation that had thrown their vision out of focus.
This sort of theological astigmatism may be explained as the natural result of the form of prophetic teaching that makes the return of Christ convert the Jews and set up, as an important part of His kingdom on earth, the dominion of a Jewish state over the unregenerate nations of the world during the millennium. This is believed to produce a multitude of conversions, but to end in the revolt of the unwilling "nations" who have been coerced into outward submission to the millennial kingdom. In this sort of scheme the imprecatory psalms and the dire prophecies of vengeance on the enemies of God are often applied to the enemies of the Jews and of the supposed coming kingdom of Israel in Palestine.
Indeed, one of the favorite points of those who hold this system of prophetic interpretation is the contention that nations which oppose the Jews will be punished by God in direct ratio to their opposition to what they call His "covenant people." While history shows that God has permitted the punishment of one nation by another, yet we must not conclude that those nations who suffer because of conflict with the Jew are being visited with the judgments of God.
The question may be raised as to whether those who are steeped in the view that anticipates such developments as imminent, and who are inclined to regard the establishment of the present Jewish state in Palestine as the beginning of the fulfillment, might be in danger of a subconscious tendency toward equating the opposers of the Jewish state with the enemies of God. At least such an anticipation would prepare one to tolerate the idea of a millennium during which Jewish dominion over the nations is to be maintained by force—which always means suffering for multitudes of helpless people.
We as Adventists have a different view of the millennium—that the coming of Jesus at the beginning of the thousand years will decide the fate of every human being, and that, except for the necessary destruction of sin and sinners at the close, the Second Advent will end all human suffering. We hold that the future dominion of this earth in its eternal state belongs to "the saints of the most High," to the saved of all nations.
All Men Equal Before God
The ancient Hebrews were chosen of God not because of merit, but in order that they might be "priests," that is, conveyers of the blessings of God to other people. "If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me . . . : and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests" (Ex. 19:5, 6). They lost their special status because they failed to meet the conditions and finally rejected Christ, their Messiah. The majority of the Christian church through the centuries has believed that the Jews forfeited their right, as a nation, to the kingdom of God (Matt. 21:33-45), but that the New Testament makes it clear that the individual Jew is on an equality with everyone else before God not only as far as salvation is concerned, but in matters of justice and human relationships.
In teaching this, one must not be considered anti-Jewish or pro-Jewish. The true Christian should really be pro-everyone in declaring the gospel of salvation impartially to all the world. Are not those who hold to an earthly Jewish millennial rule the ones who really deprive the Jew of his full status? Such teaching seems to keep him in a mortal state and outside the redeemed church of the millennium, and in this respect actually rebuilds the "wall of partition" that Christ broke down (Eph. 2:14). A close study of the New Testament reveals that the Jew has no special privileges, neither is he subordinate to or segregated from the non-Jew. Any Jew who accepts salvation receives it on the same terms as the Gentile and is enrolled among the transformed saints who live and reign with Christ a thousand years.
Millennial Kingdom Not National
Those who, like the touring clergymen, believe that "the day of the Jews has come" say to us, "See, the events of these last days are proving us right. The Jews are already being restored. Look at the state of Israel!"
Well might one ask, "How could anyone know that the return of some of the Jews—even a large number of the Jews—to set up a state in Palestine will result in a permanent and powerful state that will eventually be the world power?" There was a time when Allenby's victory and the British mandate over Palestine were hailed by certain groups as proof that the prophesied kingdom was being divinely bestowed on the supposed literal descendants of the ten lost tribes. It is not safe to base a prophetic interpretation on political developments that are still in process of change.
There was a time when Hitler seemed to be uniting most of the iron and clay fragments of Daniel's fourth kingdom; then some people quavered, "What about Daniel 2? Haven't we always said that Europe would never be reunited?" And others replied, "Whether some of us said it is beside the point; what the Bible says is not that they shall never be put together, but that 'they shall not cleave one to another.'" Long before Hitler, Napoleon united a larger portion of Europe for a much longer time, and the results of some of the changes he introduced are still with us.
But the united pieces did not cleave together. They did not stick; they fell apart again. Daniel 2 still stands.
Jew and Gentile in True Israel
But the question of Israel goes deeper than that. The state of Israel today is not the heir of the prophecies of the future kingdom. Those prophecies apply to the true Israel, to the true fig tree into which we must all be grafted—whether we are the wild branches or those of the original stock that were broken off long ago (Romans 11). If in the words of the clerical gentleman, "the day of the Jews has come" in that part of the globe, it will be merely a matter of the fortunes of war or politics, nothing more. It is interesting to note, however, that a recent book on British policy in Palestine makes the point that a strong factor in the inception of British official interest in reestablishing the Jews in Palestine was the zeal of certain influential men to bring about what they considered to be a fulfillment of prophecy.* It would be interesting to know to what degree a mistaken interpretation of prophecy among so many premillennialists of Britain and America has had its effect in conditioning present-day public opinion.
Kingdom Not Set Up by Human Means
The Bible has never said that the literal descendants of Israel would never migrate to Palestine, or that they would never set up a state of any sort. But it has certainly said enough about the rejection of the Jews as the people of God and about the inheritance of the promises by spiritual Israel—without distinction between Jew and Gentile—to make it clear that the setting up of a Jewish state by purely human means and for purely human ends cannot be the real fulfillment of the prophetic promises to the covenant people of God. A dozen Jewish states or one Jewish superstate would have no bearing on the kingdom prophecies.
To what degree the ancient Messianic prophecies of earthly glory and power might have been realized literally if the earthly Israel had been obedient and faithful through Old Testament times, if they had accepted their Messiah and had served as missionaries to all mankind, it is futile to speculate. To what degree they are spiritually fulfilled in spiritual Israel, the church universal, and to what degree they are yet to be fulfilled literally in the new earth, we cannot know except in so far as other scriptures make it clear.
This article cannot go into that subject. (Read Patriarchs and Prophets, chapter 59, "The House of Israel.") But we cannot set aside positive statements of Jesus and the New Testament writers in order to interpret the kingdom prophecies literally, that is, of the Jews in the flesh. Nor have we any right to use such prophetic interpretations to pass judgment on the destiny of present nations and groups of people whose fate yet hangs in the balance, least of all to use one's interpretations as a lever to sway the political outcome.
Two Prophetic Errors to Avoid
We hope our tourist friends will neither assume that the Palestinian refugees are to be the victims of their personal views on prophecy, nor allow their preoccupation with their Jewish-nation ideas to dull their sensibilities to the visible evidence of human suffering. On the other hand, we too should beware of making a prophecy equivalent to an edict of predestination.
Jesus told His disciples that events were foretold in advance so that when the fulfillment came they might believe (John 14:29). He did not say that the function of prophecy was to determine the outcome. The prediction of Judas' perfidy did not make it inevitable that he should betray Jesus in spite of himself; if so, Judas would not have been responsible for his sin. God's foretelling the wars, evils, and increasing sins of these latter days does not mean that His will has decreed them.
To declare a future event is not the equivalent of sponsoring it. Neither the erroneous belief that the Jews are prophesied to rule on earth, nor the correct belief that God's gathered-out ones from every nation comprise the true Israel, is a valid reason for taking sides on a purely human issue. If it were, one who believes in the prophecy of the coming religious persecution under the beast power of Revelation 13 would be quite logical in working to help bring that about!
Prophecy Not Basis for Complacency
An emphasis on prophetic interpretation should not overbalance our feeling for the sufferings and needs of our fellow men.
We are a people of prophecy, and rightly so. We stress prophecy because it is essential truth for this time. But it is not the whole body of truth; obviously, convincing a man of the nearness of the end is not so important as converting him to Jesus Christ. It may be possible to become so absorbed in expounding prophecy as to give the impression that we derive satisfaction not only from the fact that prophecy is fulfilling, but also from the un fortunate developments that constitute the fulfillment.
One prominent premillennialist leader has been quoted as saying, "As awful as conditions are across the water, and as awful as they may become in our country, the darker the night gets the lighter my heart gets."—R. A. TORREY, quoted in William P. King, Adventism, pp. 69, 70. Even if that can be regarded as a half truth (as a parody on Luke 21:28), it would be sad if we could permit prophecies of present evils to make us in any degree complacent over the woes of mankind today, or even to mislead us into giving that impression erroneously by appearing to rejoice over the fact that worsening conditions vindicate our prophetic doctrine. That is what makes others accuse premillennialists of pessimism, of downright enjoyment in insisting on the terrible fate of mankind, and of delight in the conflagration of the wicked. This is, of course, an unfair exaggeration, but it contains an admonition for us.
God forbid that in our zeal to study the movements of the nations, and in that to discover the nearness of the end of the age, we should overlook the need of suffering human hearts. Salvation has ever been an individual matter; we are not saved because of who we are but because "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
The spirit of the Master will lead us to weep over the tragedies of our time, rather than to sit in judgment; it will awaken in our hearts love and sympathy for our fellow men whoever they are and wherever they may be found.
Note:
Barbara Wertheim Tuehman, Bible and Sword (New York: New York University Press, 1956), pp. 78, 79, 113, 114, 117, 121, 122, etc.
