Table of contents
Believers are meant to bless Israel…
But why is it important to bless Israel?
What are the biblical reasons?
And how can we answer the call?
Join us as we discover God’s plan, covenant, and prophetic promise to Israel, to those who are grafted into Israel, and to those who bless Israel and her people!
Why Bless Israel?
This is a question that has largely been unasked or ignored. Yet, when we see how often Israel, her people, and the call to bless her is mentioned within Scripture, it is one of the first questions that ought to come to mind…
Why bless Israel? Why bless her people?
No matter how we refer to the people of Israel…
- Israelites
- The Chosen
- Jews
- The Children of Israel
- God’s Special People
- Hebrews
- Children of Abraham
Or the land of Israel or Jerusalem…
- The Promised Land
- The Apple of God’s Eye
- The Place Where God has Written His Name
- Zion
- Land of Milk and Honey
God’s Word is filled with the mentions of them. In both the Old and New Testaments. In promises, covenants, prayers, prophecies, and more.
Not once does God say that He broke His covenant with Israel or her people. Not once is it indicated that God chose to replace them or remove their blessings…
Instead, God promises to keep His covenant with them. He promises to bless them. To be their God forever. It is through God’s goodness that He has brought us, the Gentile Believer, INTO this promise. Grafting us in and allowing us to partake of His goodness, His mercy, His love, and all of the blessings and covenants He has made with the people and land of Israel…
Still, there is a problem. Not with God or His promises. But with us. With our lack of understanding of God’s relationship, covenants, and promises with the people and land of Israel…
The Biblical Significance
There is endless biblical proof behind God’s love for Israel and her people. Of His covenant promises and blessings. And of His desire for us to stand with Israel as part of the grafted-in.
Ezekiel provided us with a prophecy about the restoration of Israel…
“When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.”
—Ezekiel 39:27-28
Isaiah prophesied that the Gentiles would help restore Israel…
“The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I have had mercy on you. Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings in procession. For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.”
—Isaiah 60:10-12
Isaiah prophesied that the land of Israel would be renewed, and the people would return…
“The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
even with joy and singing…
“…For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall
become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water…
“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing,
with everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
—Isaiah 35:1-2, 6-7, 10
The book of Deuteronomy describes the Lord’s love for Israel and her people…
“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
—Deuteronomy 7:6-8
Romans 11 tells us how the restoration of Israel is fullness for the Gentile Believers…
“So I ask, did they [Israel] stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!”
—Romans 11:11-12 (ESV)
Romans 11 also tells us how the Gentile Believers are grafted into Israel, not the other way around…
“If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.”
—Romans 11:16-18 (ESV)
Romans 11 also tells us how Jesus came not only to bring Salvation, but also to restore His people, Israel…
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 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;
for this is My covenant with them,
when I take away their sins.’”
—Romans 11:25-27
These are just a FEW of the many, many Scriptures and promises that surround Israel and her people. They speak not only of God’s great love in NOT casting His children away, but of His desire that the whole world would be brought to the saving knowledge of trusting faith in His Son, Yeshua Messiah.
They speak of the mystery of Israel’s union with the Gentiles, being grafted in as branches of the tree rooted in the mystery of their faith in Messiah. The Gentiles partaking of the fullness of this union in Messiah, and perhaps creating in the unbelieving Jew a great desire—a jealousy—for their God and Messiah. Jew, Gentile and Yeshua creating a three-stranded cord of the One New Man!
What Can We Do?
As the Scriptures say, we—as Gentile Believers—are meant to play a part in the restoration of Israel. Fulfilling prophecy, bringing God’s love, and answering the call we have as grafted-in Believers.
But how do we do that?
We can…
- Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, Israel, and her people (Psalm 122:6)
- Pray for wisdom, restoration, and wholeness for Israel and her people
- Spread the truth about Israel, her people, and their biblical importance
- Become informed about Israel, through the Word and beyond
- Buy made-in-Israel products to provide jobs for the people of Israel
- Plant olive groves and grape vineyards in Israel to fulfill biblical prophecy and provide employment and resources
- Plant Hope by blessing Israel
In blessing Israel, we too are blessed. God’s Kingdom is blessed. And God’s will is done.
“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
—Genesis 12:3
