Forty-five years ago, God directed me to go to Israel…without telling me why. The only thing that I knew for sure was that I was supposed to meet with Prime Minister Menachem Begin, which was ridiculous. I didn’t know anyone on his staff, and there was no reason to expect the leader of the Jewish state to meet with a completely unknown minister of the Gospel from America.

But the Spirit of God had spoken to me through the wonderful promise of Isaiah 43:19 about the new thing He was going to do in my life. I was at a very low point then, suffering from a serious medical condition that made it very difficult for me to speak and minister to others. I even considered leaving the ministry and finding something else to do. But God was about to replace my desert with springs of water that flowed freely.

In obedience, I made the trip. Through a series of contacts that could only have been the result of divine intervention, I eventually did meet with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in his office on June 30, 1980. That was my birthday. After a few moments of small talk, he asked why I had come to see him. Of course, since God hadn’t told me, I couldn’t tell him! So I changed the subject as best I could.

After that happened a couple of times, he pressed the point. Reluctantly, I told him God sent me, but hadn’t told me why. I was so embarrassed, but I didn’t know what else to say! The Prime Minister laughed and said to his secretary, “Shake hands with him—you’ve finally met an honest man!” After we talked a little while longer, Mr. Begin told me that when I found out the reason I was supposed to meet with him, I should come back and see him again. I promised him that I would and left his office.

July 4th was the anniversary of the death of Yonathan Netanyahu in the daring raid that freed more than 100 Israeli hostages from the airport in Entebbe, Uganda. As I read the story in the newspaper that morning, the Spirit of God led me to go to the family home and express my condolences. It was on that visit that I met Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time, beginning a friendship that has lasted for decades.

That day as I prayed over him, I prophesied that one day he would be the prime minister of Israel. He was still in his twenties and not involved in politics at all—he laughed. But it was the Spirit of God speaking. On July 5th I met with Menachem Begin again. I told him I had met the prime minister the day before. He said, “You’re mistaken, we met on the 30th.” I told him it was the future prime minister, and asked him to give Benjamin Netanyahu his first political position, which he did.

On that second visit, I also told him that God had revealed His purpose for my trip—to build a bridge between Christians and Jews. With a laugh he asked, “Like the Brooklyn Bridge?” “A bridge of love and understanding,” I replied. “Then let’s build it together,” he said. And for the rest of his life, I had the privilege of working with Mr. Begin and being his closest Christian friend. The great worldwide prayer movement of the Jerusalem Prayer Team was born that day in the Holy City in the office of the leader of the Jewish state.

I was unable to protect my mother from the abuse she suffered at my father’s hands. It is no wonder that she thought Christians hated Jews. In addition to my church-going dad getting drunk and beating her on a regular basis, she lost many members of her family to the Holocaust. Her grandfather was burned to death inside his synagogue in what is now Belarus as those outside celebrated while shouting “Christ-killers!”

When I was just four years old, I was watching cartoons on television one morning. When that program ended, they began airing a Billy Graham special. My mother quickly came in and turned off the television. She told me, “Christians hate Jews. Christians kill Jews. Jesus is dead. Don’t dig him up.” So many Jewish people have never seen an act of love and compassion from a Believer, and we are working hard to change that.

Our first major public event was held in Dallas, Texas, with Jerusalem’s mayor at the time (and later prime minister), Ehud Olmert. Christians from around the country gathered and committed their support to the Jewish state. It was a powerful beginning. Over the years God has opened more and more doors for us to work in defense of His Chosen People.

I had no idea what God had in mind when we started out. I certainly was the last person anyone who knew me would have expected to be meeting world leaders and speaking to thousands on behalf of Israel. I was terrified to speak in public because I stuttered so badly. My life was gripped by fears, and I had horrible ulcers. I didn’t have any hope—but when God has a plan for us, He equips us to do the work to which He calls us.

When He makes a new way, no one can oppose His plan. No physical, spiritual, emotional, or mental opposition can overcome His mighty power. “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name” (Revelation 3:8).

God has given us unique favor with the state of Israel like no other Christian ministry has ever had. A large part of that is the relationship we have developed with the Netanyahu family—and before we talk about God’s next step for us, the Ambassador Program, it is worth taking the time to look back at the role these remarkable people have played in the creation and survival of the modern Jewish state.

Opinion: With hundreds of millions of supporters worldwide, Christian Zionists have shaped Israel’s modern history from early restorationist theology to political advocacy and remain a powerful force in global backing for the Jewish state

By Dr. Mike Evans

The power behind Israel’s global support

Israel has utilized all of its resources to unite Jewish Zionists. But it is very important for Israel to place a higher priority on Christian Zionists.

Over 700 million people globally are Christian Zionists. As shocking as it is to admit, the vast majority of Zionists in the world are not Jewish.

Christian Zionists believe that the return of the Jewish people to Israel and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of prophecy. Christian Zionists may differ on their political views, but not on their biblical views. The one scripture that unites them all is Genesis 12:1–3, which ends with the promise to Abraham: “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee.”

For millions of Christians around the world, support for Israel is not merely political — it is deeply rooted in biblical conviction and historical faith.

Netanyahu’s acknowledgment of Christian Zionism

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it this way:

“Christian Zionists made Jewish Zionism possible. It’s hard for me to conceive of the emergence of the Jewish state, the re-emergence of the Jewish state, without the support of Christian Zionists in the United States, also in Britain, but the main thrust was in the United States in the 19th century. So Christian Zionism facilitated the rise and success of Jewish Zionism, and it’s been an enormous partnership since then.”

Netanyahu’s own family history reflects this partnership between Christian and Jewish Zionists.

In his late father’s home growing up, he saw a silver cup that said, “Dedicated to my beloved godson Jonathan.” The cup was from John Henry Patterson, a Christian Zionist who led the first Jewish fighting force in 2,000 years called the Mule Brigade. Yes, Jonathan Netanyahu was named after a Christian Zionist, John Patterson.

The forgotten origins of Christian Zionism

Yet despite its enormous influence on modern Israel, the story of Christian Zionism remains largely unknown.

In 1844, the ten Boom family in Holland began a prayer meeting based upon Psalm 122:6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee.” The prayer meeting lasted weekly for 100 years. It ended when the family was taken to concentration camps for saving 800 Jews in their clock shop.

Long before political Zionism emerged, many Christians already believed the Jewish people would return to their ancient homeland.

When the name George H. W. Bush or George W. Bush pops up in the news or in conversations, we immediately think of the 41st or 43rd President of the United States, but not an ancestor of the two presidents who was a Bible scholar and Presbyterian pastor who taught Hebrew and Oriental literature at New York University.

Bush wrote The Valley of Vision; or, The Dry Bones of Israel in 1844, based on Ezekiel 37. Bush believed the Hebrew language would be revived, the Jewish people would return to the land of Israel, and the nation itself would one day be reborn. His book sold 1 million copies before the Civil War.

Christian Zionists who helped shape Jewish statehood

By the late 19th century, Christian Zionist advocacy had moved from theology into political action.

In 1878, 12 years before Theodor Herzl initiated the Zionist movement, Laurence Oliphant began petitioning for a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.

His secretary, Naftali Herz Imber, was a Jewish poet who published a collection of poems including “Our Hope.” He dedicated the book to his friend. Yes, “Our Hope” later became the national anthem of the State of Israel.

Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross and the first Nobel Peace Prize winner, was asked by Herzl to accompany him to the First World Zionist Congress. Herzl referred to him as a Christian Zionist, marking the first known use of the term. Dunant also helped found the YMCA and played a key role in the establishment of the Geneva Convention.

William Eugene Blackstone established the Blackstone Memorial, gathering signatures from some of the most prominent leaders in America for the establishment of a Jewish state in 1891.

Some of the 431 signers included John D. Rockefeller, Speaker of the House Thomas Brackett Reed, Cyrus McCormick, senators, Supreme Court justices and even President Benjamin Harrison.

Blackstone later sent his Bible to Theodor Herzl with all the prophecies concerning the land of Israel marked because he heard Herzl was considering Uganda or Argentina as the homeland for the Jewish state.

The legacy continues today

When I built the Friends of Zion Heritage Center in Jerusalem, I realized that man’s ability to confront evil is determined by the inspiration he draws from his heroes and history. I have written 120 books attempting to educate people on history and heroes.

That same partnership between Christian and Jewish Zionists continues today.

The battle Israel is fighting is not being fought alone. Bible-believing Christians are on the front lines, speaking loudly.

Fifty days, or seven weeks, following the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks, Shavuot, or Pentecost was to be celebrated signifying the end of the harvest. Mark Robinson, editor of Israel’s Messenger magazine, identified when the feast was celebrated by the early Jews: “The Sadducees, generally wealthy members of the Jewish aristocracy who had embraced Hellenism, were the Temple custodians. They numbered about 3,000 at the time of Jesus.  According to Josephus, in the 107 years from the beginning of Herod’s reign in 37 B.C. to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., there were 28 high priests. The Talmud records that by the time of Jesus, the high priest bought the office from the government and the position was changed every year. These policies resulted in a group of wealthy Sadducean priestly families being appointed to the office on a regular basis. They understood the Sabbath to refer to the first Saturday of Passover; thus, the counting was to begin on the first Sunday, always putting Pentecost on a Sunday.  The Pharisees generally came from the middle class, were zealous for the Mosaic Law, and were the “party” of the people. At the time of Jesus they numbered about 6,000.

They interpreted Sabbath not to mean Saturday but the first day of the rest (the first day of the Passover Festival). The counting would begin on the second day of the Passover Festival and Pentecost could fall on any day.  The Pharisees method became the generally accepted method and is used today among the Jewish people.”

The feast was to be a holy convocation. Numbers 28:27–31 gives us a much more comprehensive list of the types of offerings that were to be made: “. . . but offer a burnt offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old; also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for each bull, two tenths for one ram, a tenth for each of the seven lambs; with one male goat, to make atonement for you. Besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, you shall offer them and their drink offering. See that they are without blemish.”
In the Rose Guide to the Temple, author Randall Price explains the meaning of the celebration: “Fifty days after Passover the Israelites celebrated the Feast of Weeks. This feast is also known as Shavuot, Pentecost, the Feast of Harvest, and the Latter Firstfruits because it was the time to present an offering of new grain of the summer wheat harvest to the Lord, showing joy and thankfulness for the Lord’s blessing of the harvest. It is the second of the three pilgrimages.”

According to the Talmud, it does, however, have another, more spiritual meaning. It was on the day of Pentecost that God gave the Torah to the Jews. It also denoted the commencement of a new season of harvest, Hag HaKatzir or the “Harvest Holiday.” This name was derived from the custom of taking grain to the temple on the feast day.  After Herod’s temple was destroyed in AD 70, the celebration of Shavuot became more connected to the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Because of that association, the Ten Commandments are chanted on that day, and some Jews might spend the entire night studying the Torah.  Passover released the Israelites from physical bondage to Pharaoh; Shavuot is symbolic of the release from spiritual bondage.

Since about the second century, the practice of reading the book of Ruth during the celebration of Shavuot or Pentecost has been adopted. According to Rev. Mark Robinson of Jewish Awareness Ministries, that custom would play a role in the modern-day church. “For the festival of Shavuot the book of Ruth is read in the synagogue telling the glorious story of the love of a Jewish man for a Gentile woman as he followed the God of Israel’s desires. It is no coincidence that at the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost), a Jewish man, Jesus, and ultimately, primarily, a Gentile bride, the church, were brought together, in the birth of the church. This too is a love story of a Jewish man for His Bride!”

For New Testament Believers, the day of Pentecost represents the day on which the Holy Spirit was poured out upon those in the Upper Room who were awaiting His arrival and empowerment. Jesus had alerted His disciples of the happening in Acts 1:4–8: 

“And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’  So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?  He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’”

The prophet Joel had prophesied that the Spirit would come. Joel chapter one outlines the terrible drought and the plagues that had beset the Israelites and decimated the crops. In chapter two, he advised the people what would happen if they came together to worship and honor Jehovah: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit” (Joel 2:28–29).

As we read in Acts 2:2–4, fifty days following Christ’s ascension, the disciples were gathered together in a room in Jerusalem: “And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood before the assembled multitude and delivered his very first sermon. In Acts 2:40–41, we read of the disciple’s call to repentance: “And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’ Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.”  It is interesting to note that 3,000 were saved following Peter’s exhortation. Why might that be significant? Let’s look back at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. After Moses received the Ten Commandments written on stone tablets by the very finger of God, he returned to the camp to deliver them to the people waiting at the base of the mountain.  But what did he find when he descended out of the cloud? 

He found a people reveling in rebellion and delighting in disobedience. Having grown weary of Moses’ absence, the Israelites prevailed upon Aaron, Moses’ brother, to make them a god of gold—a calf. “Come on,” they might have said, “we don’t know what has happened to Moses. We need a god that will lead us out of the wilderness.” The psalmist, David, wrote of those who worshiped other gods. It was a description of idol worshipers of that time, but resonates with similar people of our time: “But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:4–8).

While the people danced before the golden calf, God warned Moses of trouble in the camp and threatened to destroy the people Moses had led out of Egypt. Moses interceded for the rebellious Israelites, and God heeded his plea to spare them. As Joshua and Moses reached the bottom of Mount Sinai, they were stunned by the sight that met their eyes: “When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it” (Exodus 32:19–20).

Moses must have turned to Aaron and asked, “What were you thinking?!” Aaron’s answer would have won an Oscar for his response and his lame excuse. Can you picture him with arms upraised and a shrug of his shoulders?  “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron might have answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

Aaron didn’t bow in contrition and take responsibility for his actions; he tried to justify going along with the crowd.  How often does that still happen…drifting into disobedience instead of taking a stand? We chuckle at Aaron’s disingenuous reply, but haven’t we been guilty of the same? We excuse our own behavior while pointing a finger at someone else’s fall into sin.  So distraught was Moses that he literally drew a line in the sand: “So he stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, ‘All of you who are on the Lord’s side, come here and join me.’ And all the Levites gathered around him. Moses told them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone—even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.’ The Levites obeyed Moses’ command, and about 3,000 people died that day” (Exodus 32:26–28).

On the day that the Law of Moses was given, 3,000 died because of sin in the camp. After Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, Luke tells us in Acts 2 that 3,000 were saved because of grace.  The day of Pentecost was so much more than tongues of fire and the disciples speaking in other languages. It was a new covenant: the Holy Spirit coming to earth to dwell in God’s people. The prophet Jeremiah spoke to the children of Israel: “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: ‘I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’” (Jeremiah 31:33).  At Sinai, the law was imparted on tablets of stone; in the upper room it was written on hearts of flesh and the people of God were called to be a holy nation and a royal priesthood (see 1 Peter 2:9).

The description of the seven feasts God instructed the Israelites to observe in Leviticus 23 provides a picture of the past, present, and future. The first four feasts—Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Pentecost—outline events that were fulfilled by Christ during His time on earth. Some Bible scholars believe the Church today is living in time symbolized by the three-month period between Pentecost and Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets. In Leviticus 23:22, God defined what was to take place during this time: “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”

Pastor Iain Gordon provides insight on the deeper meaning of this verse: “You can just take it as general instruction that He cares for the poor and those outside of Israel (which is certainly true) but in that all of this chapter is also prophetic in nature, I believe there is more to this verse than the obvious.  I believe that God has placed this as a sneaky little verse between Pentecost and Trumpets because He was indicating what He was going to do between the fulfillment of these two feasts. As you may remember from the introduction to the feasts study, between the spring and fall feasts there is a gap of over three months. Prophetically, this gap speaks of the Church age that began at Pentecost and will conclude at Trumpets. So what did God do during this time? He did [precisely] what He told Israel to do—He remembered the poor and alien (foreigner/stranger) in sending His word to the far ends of the earth so that the Gentiles could be saved. Now that age still continues today. It is the age of grace and shall continue until the day when trumpet sounds . . . and I believe we are very close to the time for the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets to occur.”  

No people have ever been as plagued, pursued, pressured, and persecuted throughout history than the Jewish people. Many attempts at annihilation have been made, dating all the way back to Pharaoh in Egypt, but none have succeeded. That is because God has made an eternal promise which can never be broken. The Jewish people will always exist. The nation of Israel is the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. No scheme of man or human decree can undo what God has promised. The miraculous rebirth of the Jewish state is the greatest miracle of the modern age.

On May 14, 1948, the day on which the British Mandate expired, the Jewish People’s Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum and approved a proclamation declaring establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael, to be known as the State of Israel. In an official cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to the UN Secretary-General on May 15, 1948, the Arabs stated publicly that various Arab Governments were “compelled to intervene for the sole purpose of restoring peace and security and establishing law and order in Palestine.”

That same day, Arab regular army forces from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq joined smaller units from Saudi Arabia and Yemen to fight against the Jewish forces. They were in many cases trained and equipped by the British. Very few countries would have anything to do with support of Israel. One of the few that sold military equipment to the fledgling state was Czechoslovakia. Though they were fighting with antiquated equipment and often against superior numerical opponents, the men and women of the Israel Defense Forces were fighting for more than their lives…they were fighting for their homeland and their people.

The rebirth of Israel was far more than just an unprecedented political event. It was also a long-prophesied spiritual event. More than 2,000 years before Israel was reborn, God came and spoke to the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel found himself standing before a valley filled with dry bones…human bones…As the prophet gazed upon the scene, God asked him if these bones could live…to which Ezekiel wisely replied, “O Lord God, YOU know!” What happened then must have been quite a sight to behold.

God told Ezekiel this vision was the future of the House of Israel. Just as these dry, dead bones had been restored to life, so Israel would be restored. God would bring the children of Israel from among the nations in which they had been scattered. He would gather them from the four corners of the earth and restore them into their own land. He did exactly as He promised. Though century after century passed and the cause seemed hopeless, the dream refused to die—both in the hearts of Jewish people and in Bible-believers who understood the prophetic Scriptures.

And when the time was right in May of 1948, the nation of Israel was “born in a day” just as God’s Word had foretold. This month we celebrate Israel’s 78^th birthday and renew our commitment to stand with and for the Jewish state and the Jewish people.