Zionism in the broadest sense is an international movement to get the Jews back into their homeland of Zion (Israel). Zion is used in the Bible specifically to refer to the hill in Jerusalem that David captured and called “the city of David” (1 Chronicles 11:5). Zion is also used more generally as a designation of the entire city of Jerusalem or even the nation of Israel as a whole (Psalm 147:12; Zechariah 9:13). In a spiritual sense, Zion is used of God’s spiritual kingdom, the heavenly Jerusalem, or even heaven itself (Hebrews 12:22; Romans 11:26).
There are different forms of Zionism, many of which are political amongst the Jewish people. These groups support the return of the Jews to the land of Israel through governmental and grassroots means. Supporters of Zionism stress to a lesser or greater degree the Jewish customs, traditions, and beliefs as found in the Old Testament.
Christian Zionism also has different perspectives, but at its core is the strong biblical conviction that God would return the Jewish people to the land of Israel. This is the cornel of truth that must be emphasized when it comes to what the Bible says on this subject. God promised Abraham a people and a land. Genesis 13:14-17, 14 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are–northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. 16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 17 Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” This promise has never been fulfilled in its entirety. The missing ingredient is that the Jewish people as a nation have not recognized and received Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah. This will happen one day when Christ returns. It is at that point of the Second Coming of Christ that the Jewish nation will be saved and God will fulfill all the promises made to them in an earthly kingdom where they will worship Christ as Lord and Savior. Romans 11:26, And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Israel’s rebellion, disobedience, and subsequent exile from the land of Israel throughout history does not make void God’s promises (Deuteronomy 30:1-6). Over and over again in the Bible, God promises to restore the Jewish people to their ancient homeland never to be removed again (Jeremiah 31:7-10; Ezekiel 36:27-30; 37:25-28).
Some Christian Zionists have developed an unbiblical focus in their thinking. Rather than naming the fulfillment of biblical prophecy as the basis for their support of the State of Israel, they believe it is the moral duty of Christians to support the Jewish people because of past wrongs they have experienced. Some even advocate that the Jewish people do not need to be saved by Christ and therefore do not need to be evangelized. This is a heretical position, since no person, Jew or Gentile, can be saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ. Every Jewish person must repent of their sins and trust in Christ’s saving work in order to go to heaven. There is no salvation apart from Christ (Matthew 11:27). While God still has a plan for Israel, that does not negate in any way shape or form their need for their Messiah.
Scripture Reference
The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You shall not enter here.” Nevertheless David captured the stronghold of Zion (that is, the city of David).
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
For I will bend Judah as My bow,
I will fill the bow with Ephraim.
And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece;
And I will make you like a warrior’s sword.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels.
And so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
1 “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the Lord your God has banished you,
2 and you return to the Lord your God and 1obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons,
3 then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.
4 “If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.
5 “The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.
6 “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
7 For thus says the Lord,
“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give praise and say, ‘O Lord, save Your people, The remnant of Israel.’
8 “Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great company, they will return here.
9 “With weeping they will come, And by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by streams of waters, On a straight path in which they will not stumble; For I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn.”
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, And declare in the coastlands afar off, And say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.”
27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
28 “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be aMy people, and I will be your God.
29 “Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I awill not bring a famine on you.
30 “I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.
25 “They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever.
26 “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever.
27 “My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.
28 “And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.” ’ ”
All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
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