Christian Zionism - New Life Tabernacle of Chattanooga

‘We expect that in the latter days, Antichrist being destroyed, the Jews
called, and the adversaries of the kingdom of his dear Son broken, the
churches of Christ being enlarged and edified through a free and
plentiful communication of light and grace, shall enjoy in this world a
more quiet, peaceful and glorious condition than they have enjoyed.’ 112
It was this optimistic postmillennial worldview, which in part provided the
motivation for the expansion of European Protestant missionary movements
in the 17 th and 18 th Century. For example, convinced that Jewish restoration
to the Land would follow their conversion to Christ, in 1649, Ebenezer and
Joanna Cartwright, English Puritans living in Amsterdam, sent a petition to the
English government. It called for the lifting of the ban on Jews settling in
England and assistance to enable them to move to Palestine. ‘That this
Nation of England, with the inhabitants of the Netherlands, shall be the first
and the readiest to transport Israel’s sons and daughters on their ships to the
land promised to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for an
everlasting inheritance.’ 113 This was apparently the first time human
intervention had been sought to achieve a Jewish restoration rather than rely
on God to accomplish it. 114
By the late 17 th Century and right through the 18 th Century, especially
during the period of the Great Awakening, postmillennial eschatology came to
dominate European and American Protestantism. 115 The writings and
preaching of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), 116 as well as George Whitefield,
were influential in the spread of the belief that the millennium had arrived, that
the gospel would soon triumph against evil throughout the world and God’s
blessings of peace and prosperity would follow the conversion of entire
nations, including Israel, prior to the glorious return of Christ. 117
111 DeJong, op.cit., pp27-28.
112 DeJong, op.cit., p38.
113 See Don Patinkin, ‘Mercantilism and the Readmission of the Jews to England.’ Jewish
Social Studies, 8. July (1946), pp161-78; and Cecil Roth, England in Jewish History,
(London, Jewish Historical Society of England, 1949), p7, cited in Sharif, op.cit., p24.
114 Sharif, op.cit., p25.
115 Cornelis P. Venema, The Promise of the Future, (Edinburgh, Banner of Trust, 2000),
pp219-229.
116
Jonathan Edwards, ‘The History of the Work of Redemption’, The Complete Works of
Jonathan Edwards, Volume 2 (Edinburgh, Banner of Truth, 1974).
117
Other leading theologians to espouse this view included J. A. Alexander, Robert Dabney,
30