Christian Zionism - New Life Tabernacle of Chattanooga

future purposes for restored Israel will be related to the Church and both will
enjoy God’s blessing together during the millennium. 94 Dispensationalists
however, distinguish between God’s eternal purposes for Israel and the
Church, in separate dispensations: the former seen as God’s earthly people,
the latter his heavenly people. Dispensationalism is essentially sectarian in
origin, preceding and inspiring the development of both Christian and Jewish
Zionism. It has also become normative within American evangelical,
Pentecostal and charismatic churches, para-church institutions and mission
agencies. While Classical Dispensationalism has remained predominantly
evangelistic, since 1970 especially, new forms of dispensational Christian
Zionism have emerged in America, distinguished by their different emphases.
Three, in particular, have influenced the development of Christian Zionism:
Apocalyptic Dispensationalism is preoccupied with the ‘signs of the times’;
Messianic Dispensationalism with reaching Jews for Jesus; and Political
Dispensationalism with defending and ‘blessing’ Israel. These different and
sometimes contradictory strands of evangelical Christian Zionism share three
basic tenets: a commitment to biblical literalism; a futurist eschatology; and
the restoration of the Jews to Palestine.
1. The Early Intimations: Proto-Christian Zionism
1.1 The Emergence of Biblical Literalism
While advocates claim that Christian Zionism is entirely biblical in origin, 95 its
genesis as a theological doctrine and religious movement lies within the
Protestant Reformation. The Reformation brought about a renewed interest in
the Old Testament and God’s dealings with the Jewish people. The
translation, publication, and free access to the Bible among the laity created a
Pennsylvania, Herald Press, 1995).
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This view was propounded by among others Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Benjamin
Newton, Samuel Tregelles, J, C. Ryle, Andrew & Horatius Bonar, Francis Schaeffer and
Martyn Lloyd Jones. Christian Witness to Israel and many serving with the Churches
Ministry among Jewish People identify with this position. See Errol Hulse, The Restoration
of Israel, (Worthing, Henry Walter, 1968).
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Wendell Stearns, Biblical Zionism, (Hilversum, Holland, Moriah Foundation, 1994);
International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Christians and Israel, Essays in Biblical Zionism
and on Islamic Fundamentalism, (Jerusalem, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem,
1996); Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Israelology, The Missing Link in Systematic Theology,
(Tustin, California, Ariel, 1989).
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