ISRAEL
Why Israel?
Many people want to understand the level of priority that Eagles’ Wings places on right understanding and relationship with Israel and the Jewish people. As we have interacted deeply with Israel and the Jewish people around the world since 1992, three clear motivations frame our understanding and drive all that we do as a movement
GRATITUDE
The Christian Church owes a debt of gratitude to Israel and the Jewish people.
REPENTANCE
The Christian Church owes a debt of repentance to the Jewish people.
Common Ground
We stand for common values against common enemies.
The Christian Church owes a debt of gratitude to Israel and the Jewish people
Our faith is founded upon Judaism. It is our root. (Romans 11:17-18)
Christianity exists today because the Jewish people kept themselves faithful to God and His Covenant with them, generation after generation, persecution after persecution, diaspora after diaspora.
Our faith was generated from a consecrated place – Israel – and a chosen people – the Jews. The gospel is a Jewish message about a Jewish Messiah given to Jewish disciples within a Jewish context. The Bible tells us that salvation is “of the Jews” (John 4:22) and that to them “pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants… and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God” (Romans 9:4-5).
The Christian Church owes a debt of repentance to the Jewish people
Down through the centuries, people claiming to be Christians have acted against the Jewish people in unspeakable ways. Again and again, generation after generation, in “Christian” city after “Christian” city, the Jewish people have been maligned, ostracized, tortured and even burned alive by Christians acting in Jesus’ name. These crimes against humanity often occurred while other Christians – equally culpable in their indifference and inaction – allowed such atrocities to take place. The culmination of this, in a sense, was the sin of silence and apathy of the European “Christian” church in the 1930’s & 40’s, which in great majority sat idly by while 6 million innocent members of Jesus’ biological family were liquidated in the Shoah (Holocaust).
Israel matters because our support of her becomes a practical act of repentance for centuries of sin so black and grim that it has stained the soul of the church.
We stand for common values against common enemies
Israel is not a perfect society. Indeed, no nation is. But Israel stands as a beacon of democracy, human rights, and pluralism in the midst of surrounding dictatorships filled with the repression of basic human rights. These values are under extraordinary assault, and Israel is the front line of this battle. When we stand with Israel, we are standing with the values of democracy, freedom, and human rights.
For more information about why you should stand with Israel, we recommend the following resources:
Why stand with Israel?
Click below to read a short article by Day of Prayer Co-Founder Dr. Jack Hayford.
Israel: A Dividing Line
Click below to hear this full-length teaching from Dr. Robert Stearns.
