The October 7th Hamas attack catapulted Israel to front page news and worldwide sympathy. Seven months later, as war in Gaza rages on, the tide of public opinion seems to be turning toward Hamas. As this issue becomes more polarized—even among Christians—it highlights our need for a biblical perspective on Israel. Some readers are probably familiar with Amir Tsarfati, a Christian Jew living in Israel who speaks about current events relating to Israel and prophecy. This seems a fitting time to analyze Tsarfati’s teaching from his book Israel and the Church.
Writing from a dispensational perspective, Tsarfati sees Israel and the church as two distinct peoples with distinct purposes and distinct paths. He compares the two groups to the two trumpets made by Moses—two instruments each proclaiming God’s message with its own note. Tsarfati makes several distinctions: Israel is God’s chosen ethic people, the wife of God; the church is God’s chosen spiritual people, the bride of Christ.
At first glance, this distinction makes sense. As Gentile Christians in America, Judaism seems very distant indeed. Yet, further reflection reveals that the line between church and Israel is perhaps not so sharp as Tsarfati paints it. Consider, for instance, the Old Testament saints. Weren’t they saved by looking forward to the Messiah in faith, just as we are saved by looking back to him? Consider also the first Christians in Jerusalem—they were all Jewish. Did they think they were leaving Judaism to start a new chosen people? Of course not. They saw themselves as true Jews, who had found the true Messiah.
Tsarfati warns that anyone who rejects this two-peoples view is embracing replacement theology. “Those who hold to this view say that Israel was so bad that God cast the Jewish people aside and gave all their promises to the church” (59). He rightly debunks the idea that the church is God’s “plan B,” the new favorite. Sadly, some Christians throughout history have embraced anti-Semitic views like this.
However, this is not a fair characterization of most other eschatological views. Christians can agree that God loves the Jewish people, that he protects them from total destruction, and that one day they will turn to the Messiah—all without a dispensational framework. Furthermore, the Bible says many things that fit better with the idea of one people of God. (Both Jesus and Paul affirm that those who have faith are Abraham’s true children; and in Romans, we don’t find God planting a replacement tree—we see the Gentiles grafted into the Jewish tree whose root is Christ.) Tsarfati fails to explain why dispensationalism is the only acceptable alternative to replacement theology.
Further on in the book, Tsarfati gives an overview of Israel’s role in the end times. I respect his desire to take the book of Revelation seriously. Still, his view that God has restored the nation of Israel to be center stage in the last days begs several questions. Is God blessing the modern state of Israel, even as it rejects its rightful king, the Son of David? And relevant to the current conflict—does Israel have the divine command to kill or drive out all the foreigners who live in Israel? (This is not questioning the Israeli government’s responsiblity to defend itself and “bear the sword.” Rather, it’s asking whether modern Israel could wage holy war like it did in the OT.) These are tensions that Tsarfati, a former major in the IDF, does not elaborate on.
I was disappointed that Tsarfati does not meaningfully engage with any of the other end times views held throughout church history. Instead, he seemed dismissive. At one point, he refers to John Piper’s views as “absolute baloney” and says Piper asks people to believe his own ideas instead of the Bible (226, 227). Rather than recognizing that eschatology is a disagreement among brothers, Tsarfati seems overly critical of Christians who disagree with him.
The bottom line: We can appreciate and learn from Tsarfati’s love for the unbelieving Jewish people. He rightfully encourages us to pray for their salvation, and not to despise them. Nevertheless, Tsarfati does not satisfactorily answer the problems dispensationalism creates, and his critique of other viewpoints ranges from oversimplified to uncharitable. He would do well to heed his own advice that “we grasp with both hands truth that is clearly spelled out,” but hold on “more loosely. . . where we seek to read between the lines” (152)