My annual Christmas letter is later than usual this year. I generally tend to write a letter that is more unifying in focus, however this year I’m going to touch on a more controversial issue that it is very applicable to the violence Christian and Jewish communities have faced during this year’s holiday season.

As typical, we’re going to start with our bible passages:

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Jeremiah 23:5-6 NKJV

‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: ‘In those days and at that time

I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’

Jeremiah 33:14-16 NKJV 

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Luke 1: 30-33 NKJV

The incarnation of Jesus, His conception by the Holy Spirit and His birth by the Virgin Mary, validates the prophetic hope which promises earthly Jerusalem will be raised and established as the seat of earth’s authority when Jesus of Nazareth rules over the earth from the throne of His father David.

Those who believe this and put all of their hope, trust, and faith in Jesus Christ will be saved. Even those who have been enemies of God and enemies of God’s people will be forgiven should they turn from their sins and toward Jesus. All are invited to believe in Him and become His followers. The mercy of God is magnificent, and His mighty gracious arm is never too short to save.

Despite these evident truths, even many who call themselves Christian are turning their backs against Jesus’ covenant city, Jerusalem, and against the promises given to the ethnic people who are promised to be governed by Jesus from the city and over the whole land of Israel, namely– the Jews.

As some Christians are departing from these promises, we are also seeing another rise of Jew-hatred among other religions. Historically speaking, this is certainly not a new thing. Even so, we are witnessing the increasing trend towards open global persecution of Jews and their allies.

In Australia, Jihadists murdered Jews on the first day of Hannukah, a holiday commemorating the defeat of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, one of the clearest historical examples of the Antichrist spirit.

The same Antichrist spirit at work in Jihadists in Australia is working in Nigeria, where Christians and others are being targeted and killed by extremists. With greater threats on Christmas imminent, our season of joy and peace is marked by bloodshed.

In America, this same Jihadist and Antichrist spirit is at work in Free Palestine protests and through pseudo-Conservative influencers such as Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson.

Their message is simple: Jews are evil and Christian Zionists may be worse.

In such an environment, I believe the only right thing for me to do is to boldly claim that I am a Christian Zionist who believes in the spiritual, covenantal, and ethnic eternal covenant promised to the Jewish people through the Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New Covenants. The covenants have been extended to all who believe in Jesus, for He tore down the diving wall of enmity through His shed blood. (see: Ephesians 2)

I know many Christians, genuine believers who love God and love others, who are ignorant of Israel. They have absorbed the doctrine of demons that has inserted itself into many iterations of Augustinian and Reformed belief systems, not because they have rejected Jesus, but because they have unknowingly received the anti-Jew beliefs of these historic theologies as gospel.

The controversy over Jerusalem and the Jewish people will not allow people to stand on the sidelines of this issue. Though many churches will try for as long as they can to sideline this issue due to its controversial nature, God will force the issue to be heard. While the controversy is nothing new, we are headed towards global circumstances that will require us to address this issue whether we want to or not.

My encouragement would be to “get right” on this matter now, because your faith will depend on it in the coming years. To begin this process, let’s take a look at the biblical verses above.

In Christian theology, we rightly believe that Jesus Christ is our righteousness and that faith in Him is sufficient for our salvation and right standing with God. Like Abraham, our faith is credited to us as righteousness. Let’s take a closer look at what this righteousness promises to us. It promises to us that a king shall reign and prosper, and that Israel and Judah will dwell safely. The righteousness of Jesus demands that all of these conditions will eventually be met.

Let’s take a look at the same prophecy, ten chapters later. The promise of Christ’s righteousness is first and foremost to Israel and the house of Judah, yet the King’s righteousness will not only save Israel but will go throughout the earth. When this happens, Jerusalem will assume the same covenant name as the Christ King, ‘The LORD our Righteousness.’

The covenantal capital city of the Jewish people is given the same covenantal name as Jesus of Nazareth. I’ve heard some say, “Salvation has a zip code.” In our salvation by faith in Jesus, we cannot ignore the biblical promises to the Jewish people and their covenant geography.

We may think this is a side issue, one of those non-essential teachings we’re warned about fussing over. Maybe you’ve heard the quote, “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity.“

Yet, this was not a side issue to the angel Gabriel when he revealed to Mary that she was with child. When the angel of the LORD gives a message to the mother of our LORD, we should not immediately assume that reigning over the house of Jacob with an eternal kingdom is some kind of promise we can spiritualize and turn into a metaphor.

There must be room in our theology for Jesus reigning personally on earth from Jerusalem over the nations with a kingdom whose “increase of government and peace there will be no end.”

We cannot reduce the idea of the future reign of Jesus from Israel to mere arguments about end-times views. This must become a central focus of our preaching of the gospel. The belief that Jerusalem matters in the plan of God and that God intends on saving the Jews should be one of the essentials that we unify around.

If you cannot unify around this message, consider what the prophet Joel has to say about those who afflict Israel:

“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations…”

Joel 3:1-2 NKJV

Let us also consider what the apostle Paul says to the Romans:

“For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh (Israel) and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

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.”

Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Romans 11: 14-29 NKJV

In essence, there is a coming day when having a right belief regarding Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jewish people will be a salvific issue. Not because Jews are the source of salvation for the Gentiles, but because opposition to Jesus’ plans for Israel will require us to reject Jesus.

What better time is there to reflect on this truth than when we are celebrating and reflecting upon the incarnation of the Christ child. It may be the very thing that will spare you from getting swept up by the Antichrist spirit.

Merry Christmas

J. S. Marek