My eldest daughter is doing a bold thing. She is flying out to Israel and meeting some Arab Christians, staying at a hostel run by some nuns in Haifa, before driving over to the sea of Galilee to meet some friends. She is doing this solo.
Strangely enough very few visitors to Israel ever meet a Palestinian Christian
The words Israel and Zion evoke very strong emotions at the moment. There is a very strong movement in the Church called Christian Zionism, which has been deeply impressed by the creation of the state of Israel and which feels that this event will be the trigger that precipitates the end of this age and the coming of Jesus as the promised Messiah. They feel that the restoration of Israel to its ancient land in 1947 is a remarkable fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. They interpret the ancient prophecies of the books of Daniel and Revelation as providing us with exciting insights into the End Times.
Others think very differently. They feel that the church has replaced Israel in the purposes of God (replacement theology), and they feel that the current support for Israel by the evangelical Church, especially in America, is a recipe for future disaster.
Others feel that the preterist position regarding Daniel and Revelation is the only true one to take. They say that the force of evil in Revelation is undoubtedly Rome as represented by the monstrous emperor Nero, and that the book has nothing to do with the End Times. They quote Rev 1:1. which states that all these events will take place "soon" or "shortly" (translations vary). These adverbs can hardly be used to refer to events two thousand years later. They mention that Neron Caesar, when the letters are used as numbers in both Greek and Hebrew, can be represented by 666.
For those with sufficient leisure and curiosity, all the various details of this often acrimoniousness debate can be accessed by reading the relevant books by the chief protagonists: David Pawson and Stephen Sizer.
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