Jews Grafted In: A Case Against Christian Zionism

Self-denial, fasting, prayer, baptism,
first communion, Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs — all those things,

while good, cannot get rid of a single sin.

In this awkward
time in history, with the Christian Right exerting undue influence on
foreign and domestic policy, we who claim to be Christian need to
remember our roots in Judaism. Christian Zionism is gaining momentum
and threatens to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Armageddon looms
on the horizon, not necessarily because of the hand of God, but
because of the hand of humans interpreting the Plan of God.

Four hundred years
had passed from the time of Joseph to Moses. The promise that had
been given to Jacob, Joseph's father, was likely just faint
folklore by the time the people of Israel were indentured into
slavery in Egypt.

There were over two million Jews in
Egypt by the time Moses was called to lead them out. Pharaoh
enslaved them because he feared there were too many foreigners in his
country. That was a big mistake because it set them apart as a
people and prepared them for what God had in store for them.

By the time Moses
came back to Egypt to demand of Pharaoh that he let God's people
go, the Egyptians were insisting that they make bricks even though
they had run out of straw. Moses was distressed and came before the
Lord. Here is what the Lord said to him:

"I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God
Almighty, but by my name the Lord, I did not make myself known to
them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land
of Canaan, where they lived as aliens…I have remembered my
covenant…I will take you as my people, and I will be your God."

Two things are about
to happen. God is revisiting His covenant with Abraham. In order to
honor that covenant, He must first take the people of Israel out of
Egypt and make them His own. Then He must make Himself known to them
as Lord.

Egypt was hit with nine plagues in the
attempt to force Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go. Nine
plagues, and none of these was sufficient to force Pharaoh to relent.
There was to be, however, one more plague. And that plague was the
very sign that has stretched through redemptive history into our day
– the plague of death.

The people of Israel were to get ready
to leave. Each Jewish household was to sacrifice a lamb, paint the
door frames of their houses with the blood, eat the lamb – all of
it – and retire for the night.

Here is the way God told it to Moses:

"On that night, I will pass through Egypt and strike down every
firstborn – both men and animals – and I will bring judgment on
all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for
you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will
pass over you."

In future generations, children would
ask of their parents, "What does this service mean? Why do we take
all this care about eating the lamb and the unleavened bread? What
is the difference between this meal and other meals?"

Parents were to tell their children,
"It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. Even though there
was grievous sin in our own camp – sins against the Lord our God,
God graciously appointed and accepted the family sacrifice of a lamb,
instead of the firstborn." God Almighty, you see, would have
killed the firstborn for their sin. But God as Lord showed mercy.

It is not difficult to understand how
the people of Israel soon forgot, in the uncertainty of the desert,
the significance of their ceremonies. We Christians, in our own
wasteland, are inclined to forget the significance of what we believe
God has done for us in Jesus Christ. As we have wandered in the
Promised Land of the Kingdom of God, we have forgotten what it cost
God to grant us life.

As the Jews look back to the Exodus and
forward to the Messianic Age, Christians look back to Calvary and
forward to the Resurrection. The writer of of the Book of Hebrews
summarizes the Judeo/Christian ethic this way: "Without the
shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin."

Lately, I have been visiting a number
of blogs on religious web sites. What I have come to understand is
that there is beneath the surface of this country a lot of hostility
toward God. It is a hostility that has always been there, but it is
kept quiet within the folds of religion or unbelief. The blog gives
vent to this hostility, and some of it is pretty vile.

Christians are rightly accused of being
hypocrites because the Christian community in America is pretty
hypocritical. But the accusation of hypocrisy is nothing but a red
herring to justify anger against God. At the core of the anger is a
refusal to accept the blood. Moral codes, however nice they are,
don't cut the mustard.

Here is an important point. The only
way anyone could take delight in the blood offerings of ancient
Israel was if he had a lively faith and felt the need for
purification. Otherwise it was repulsive and an ordeal that had to
be endured for the sake of ritual. To the unbeliever in our culture
as well, the shedding of blood for the remission of sins is
repulsive.

For the Christian, the days of bringing
offerings for sin expired at the Cross. Instead, we come to accept
an offering – one that already has been presented.

Can you imagine, then, how foolish it
is for Christian Zionists to be praying for and hoping for the
rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem at the risk of bringing down on
Israel all the Muslims in the world as the Dome of the Rock is
demolished? The renting of the temple veil was the end of sacrifices
for the Christian. Now some want to restore them.

The resurrection of the OT saints who
looked forward to the coming of the Christ was on hold until the
final sacrifice of the Lamb of God, which Christians believe has
already occurred. Those saints could not receive remission, nor have
their debt paid to God, until the blood of the Lamb of God was shed.

It is ours to err; it is God's to
forgive.

"Without the shedding of blood, there
is no remission of sin." There is in this verse a great hope but
also a sweeping indictment. Those who are trusting in repentance for
the pardon of their sin may be disappointed. Those who, in our
culture, think they have secured their eternal destiny by repeating
the so-called Sinner's Prayer may be in for a rude shock.

All the repentance in the world cannot
erase the smallest sin. Where repentance is the work of the Spirit
of God, it is a precious gift and a sign of grace. But there is no
atoning power in repentance alone. For "…without the shedding of
blood, there is no remission of sin." For those who insist that you
can couple the Sinner's Prayer with a reformed life, they may also
be in for a rude shock. Reformation is a good thing, but a debt
already incurred is not settled by not getting further into debt. To
reform can make no atonement to God for the sins that were in the
past, or those yet to be committed, albeit unknowingly.

For those who are mighty in prayer and
make much of public praying, they also may be in for a rude shock.
All the prayers of all the saints on earth and heaven combined could
not blot out a single sin. There is no detergent power in prayer.

Self-denial, fasting, prayer, baptism,
first communion, Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs – all those things,
while good, cannot get rid of a single sin. For "…without the
shedding of blood, there is no remission."

There are those who are so engrossed in
the Second Coming of Christ that they seem to have fixed their faith
on the future – too much of Christ on the throne, and not enough of
Christ on the Cross. That is driving the politics of the Christian
Right today.

The answer from the Heavens rings down
through history: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you."

"Show me the blood!"

Stan Moody, Christian Policy
Institute, author of "Crisis in Evangelical Scholarship" and "McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry."