THE POPE AND ISRAEL

June 2009 article by David Sanders

Last month Pope Benedict XVI flew to Israel for a five day pilgrimage. His visit had everything the world wanted to see. There was religion and there was politics, but also controversy.

Landing at Tel Aviv airport the Star of David flew from the cockpit. This is quite remarkable when you consider the Catholic persecution of the Jews in times past and the Church Fathers declaring that the Jews were a cursed people because of their involvement in the death of The Lord Jesus Christ. It took a long time for the Vatican to change its view of Israel. It started slowly, first in1966 at VaticanII which released the Jews from “collective guilt” for the death of Christ, then in 1993 when it established full diplomatic ties with the State of Israel.

But times have changed. The Vatican views have changed because of what happened in 1948 when The Lord God Of Israel kept his many promises to restore Israel as a nation once more. Ezekiel the prophet through inspiration prophesied in Chapter 37v20-21:

Behold , I will take the children of Israel from among the nations , whither they be gone , and will gather them on every side and bring them into their own land . And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel …

Notice the emphasise that God himself is responsible in making this to happen. Isaiah also prophesied that God would “gather together the dispersed of Judah and Israel from the four corners of the Earth.” It doesn’t matter what the Pope or any politician says or does - it will not alter what The Almighty God will do .

The Pope on his visit said “I appreciate the opportunity that has been offered to me to come on a pilgrimage to a land that is hallowed by the footsteps of patriarchs and prophets, a land that Christians hold in particular veneration as the setting for the events of the life, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Yet his belief in the patriarchs and prophets does not mean he endorses God’s promises that the Land of Israel would be the inheritance of the Jewish people. The Roman Catholic church maintains that Israel’s right to be the Kingdom of God ended for ever with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. Growing in dominance the Vatican claimed to be the rightful heir of The Kingdom of God with Rome as the “ New Jerusalem ”. There is only one eternal city that is Jerusalem which we are told “is the City of the great King”.

That King is the Lord Jesus Christ who is about to return to set up God’s Kingdom on this earth which he asks us to pray for. Continuing with verse 21 of Ezekiel we referred to earlier “and one king shall be king to them all”. God has spoken and it will happen.

If you want to know more about this Kingdom and how to be a part of in the future , we have regular weekly Sunday evening meetings and various links with information on this web site to help you find out what a glorious future God has in store for us.