As expressed by the Presbyterians, “The continued existence of the Jewish people and of the Christian communities elected by God is, as the Apostle Paul expressed it, a mystery. We do not claim to fathom this mystery, but we cannot ignore it.” The fertile soil of anti-Semitism or, at the very least an ambivalence toward the Jews and the Jewish state, is still present in covenant theology.
An early-19th century Irish pastor named John Nelson Darby was the key figure in the formulation of a new view of Jews avowed by the Plymouth Brethren, a breakaway movement from the Anglican Church. According to Darby’s literal reading of the Bible, the Jews were and will always be the chosen people of God. Though they endured suffering because of their periodic rejection of God’s commandments, they always remained God’s chosen and were remembered by Him.
To Darby, the Jews’ rejection of Jesus required God to create a special time period, or dispensation, during which the Jewish people would stand on the sidelines as the Church assumed the primary role of spreading God’s Word. At the end of days, however, the Jews would return to center stage, ushering in Jesus’s return to reign over the world for a thousand years of peace. Thus the Jews enjoy a key role in God’s redemption of humankind.
Darby spent time in the U.S. and had a profound effect on many fundamentalist Christians. Some of the great preachers of the day – including D.L. Moody, founder of Moody Bible College in Chicago, and baseball player-turned-evangelist Billy Sunday, who eventually conducted over three hundred revivals drawing over 100 million people – accepted Darby’s dispensationalist theology and his understanding of the role of the Jews.
For dispensationalists, the two world wars, the Holocaust and, most important, the founding of the State of Israel were all signs of the truth of their beliefs. This naturally resulted in a philo-Semitism and a deep commitment to Israel.
While it is true that among their ranks are those who believe in bringing the “good news” to the Jew, there are many who believe that Jews – as Jews – play a fundamental role in the plan of God. Yet even among those who do believe in converting Jews, the motivation for kinship with the Jewish people and support of the State of Israel has little to do with their conversionary efforts.
Ultimately, they are motivated by a singular statement in the Torah – God’s declaration to our first Patriarch, Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Genesis 12:3). The word “you” in Hebrew is in the plural, indicating Abraham and his descendents.
Dispensationalists, and evangelical Christians in general, see this as one of their central marching orders.