Psalm 122:6 is likely the key passage in the Bible that addresses this issue. “Send prayers for Jerusalem’s peace. May those who adore you flourish. The focus is on offering prayers for Israel. This is hardly shocking considering that the majority of the Psalms are written by Israelites, and most of the Old Testament is devoted to the history of Israel and God’s connection with them. We learn from the Old Testament that God had a unique bond with the Israelites. Jeremiah 31:9 even describes them as his firstborn.
God’s promises
When God called Abraham, the forefather of Israel, God promised:
- blessing to Abraham’s descendants (Israel)
- that they would be a great nation
- that He would leave them the inheritance of the land of Canaan.
- that God’s covenant would last forever
- that Israel would bring blessings to all the nations on earth (see, for example, Genesis 12:1-3, 17:4–8)
Fulfillment of promises
Some of these promises are gradually revealed in the Bible to have come true.
- Thanks to Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah, dubbed “the son of promise” (Galatians 4:21–31), the people of Israel grew to become a powerful nation.
- The people of Israel entered Canaan according to God’s promise
- It was promised to David, the second king of Israel, that his throne would be an everlasting one.
- The first chapter of the New Testament tells us that Jesus Christ’s mother, Mary, was a descendant of David. The throne of his father David will be given to him by the Lord, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, with no end to his kingdom, according to Luke’s gospel (Luke 1:32–33).
Key promise: the Messiah
The Old Testament says repeatedly that God would send Someone to save Israel and the nations from sin, idolatry, enemies… and bring a glorious future. The Jews called Him Messiah. This is a key figure in all God’s promises regarding both Israel and the rest of the world. But when the Messiah finally came in the person of Jesus Christ, they did not recognize Him as such and even rejected Him. Jesus was arrested, accused falsely and crucified on a Friday — but on the Sunday He rose from the dead. Jesus appeared to His disciples and commissioned them to go throughout the world telling everyone the good news of why He came: to take the punishment of the sins of mankind and to show us the way back to having a right relationship with God. Now He reigns in heaven forever. This was the fulfillment of the promise to David that His kingdom would be established forever, and of the promise to Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in his descendants.
Pray for Israel
Unfortunately, a large portion of Israelis still do not recognize Jesus as their Messiah and the One whom God sent. For this reason, Christians should continue to offer prayers for Israel. We have salvation, the Bible, and the Messiah through Israel, as Paul states in Romans 11. The possibility for us gentiles (non-Jews) to become God’s people was made possible by Israel’s rejection of the Messiah. Paul states that Israel will be saved in Romans 11:26 and that, because of God’s promise to their forefathers, they are still loved in Romans 11:28. Thus, it is crucial to offer prayers for the Israelites just as you would for a close brother who is still in the dark about the whole truth that is
Obviously, the area that the Jews claim as their territory is strongly linked to them as a people. Furthermore, a great deal of God’s promises had to do with their land. Given that other people groups either claim this area as their own or even wish to exterminate Israel, this raises some extremely difficult political issues. Please read Why are Israel and the Palestinians fighting? to learn more about that.
