Christianity and the Hope of Israel

If you were to ask a Christian about the meaning of their faith, you would likely receive a wide spread of answers. Some would say that they are a Christian because they want to promote love in the world, and they feel that Christianity is a religion of love. Others would perhaps suggest that their family has always been Christian, and therefore they identify as such. Still others may argue that though there are various reasons for being a Christian, Christianity largely focuses on salvation and on saving people from their sin (this view is often seen in evangelical Christianity and “the Romans Road”). Christianity means different things to different people. Nevertheless, most Christians would agree that somehow, their faith is linked back to the Bible, whether it is the stories recorded there, the psalms and the depth of their emotion, or the moral teachings of Jesus. Whatever it is that has drawn people to Christianity, they recognize that their faith is inextricably linked to the Bible. With that acknowledgment, however, it likely surprises many Christians to hear that their Bible and their religion are not just connected to an ancient book, but to another ancient religion. When Jesus’s apostles first founded Christianity, they founded it as a Jewish group. Jesus himself, along with all those twelve apostles, was Jewish. The theology that Jesus and his apostles spread was not something altogether new; they preached out of the Jewish scriptures and emphasized the connection between their preaching and “the hope of Israel” (Acts 28:20). In other words, Christianity finds its roots and its basis within Judaism.

If I were to ask you, “What was Jesus’s main message when he preached?,” what would you say? Maybe you would suggest that he wanted everyone to love each other. Or maybe that he wanted to comfort those who were suffering and heal those who were sick. Or maybe you would feel that he came to teach about God. All of those ideas find a basis in how the Christian scriptures describe him. Yet, they are also missing things; while they touch on what Jesus did, they fail to get to the heart of what he was doing and who he was. Thus, when Jesus went from town to town preaching, he had a very specific message: “The season is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14 my translation, as are all the biblical quotations). From one place to another, this was what he said to the people. In one instance, when he was in Capernaum, the people begged him to stay with them longer; nevertheless, he rejected their invitation, saying “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities as well–this is why I have been sent” (Luke 4:43).  The gospel writers show Jesus with a singular focus: to preach to others about the kingdom of God.

But what is the kingdom of God and why was Jesus so focused on telling others about it? Here is where the links to the Hebrew scriptures begin to open up Jesus’s message; without understanding this Jewish background of Christianity, much of Christianity is obscured. The kingdom of God was another name for the nation of Israel. In the first book of Chronicles, King David, one of the ancient Israelites, refers to his kingdom as “the kingdom of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 28:5). One chapter later, as David dedicates large amounts of material for the first temple, he acknowledges in his prayer that the kingdom of Israel, his kingdom, belongs to God (1 Chronicles 29:11). This chapter and this prayer forms the basis for what has come to be known as the Pater Noster, or the Lord’s Prayer. In that prayer, which Jesus taught his disciples, Jesus states that the kingdom belongs to God, often memorized as “thine is the kingdom” (David’s exact phrase). David and Jesus were referring to the same kingdom.

At the time of Jesus, there was no Jewish kingdom. There hadn’t been one for the last few decades, since the descendants of the Hasmoneans had given their kingdom over to the Romans. Yet, Jesus’s preaching about the kingdom was intimately linked to that history. Jesus wasn’t telling the people about some kind of ethereal or mystical time. He was basing his words on the Jewish scriptures. He was looking back to the time of David, using David’s own phrases, and telling the people that the kingdom––the same kind of kingdom that David had ruled over––was near. In some ways, it was the same message that the Hebrew prophets had preached. Ezekiel, writing centuries after David’s death, described a time when David would again be a prince (Ezekiel 34:23–24) and a king (Ezekiel 37:24–25). Hosea said the same thing (Hosea 3:5). In other words, when Jesus preached, his words had nuance, but they didn’t create some kind of new interpretation or new idea that was foreign to Judaism. When Jesus preached, he preached all about Israel, and he did so from the Hebrew prophets and the Hebrew writings. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that when Jesus’s disciples asked him about this kingdom, they described it as the restoration of “the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6).

This is why Jesus’s message and the apostles’ message was described as “the hope of Israel.” Though the preaching affected morality and encouraged people to live in love and compassion, the main message was about the kingdom of Israel. Though the “Romans road” does consider personal salvation, many Christians miss this crucial part of Christianity’s message. Without Judaism and the Jewish scriptures, Christianity loses its foundation. Rather than opposing one another, Christianity and Judaism are intimately linked.

A post-October 7th world requires Christians to understand their roots. In a day where universities are overrun with protestors who cry out against Israel’s very existence, and a time where the streets of major cities overflow with vitriol against Jews, Christians must understand that their Messiah, Jesus, loved the city of Jerusalem. So great was his love that he wept over the city’s eventual destruction (Luke 19:41). Along the same lines, the Psalms exhort believers to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” recognizing that a blessing comes for those who love the city (Psalm 122:6). Christianity is a religion that transcends eras, cultures, and circumstances. Yet, its connection to Judaism can never end; through this blog, we’ll continue to explore all of those connections, from the Last Supper to Jesus’s teaching about Shabbat. In doing so, we will re-root Christianity in its biblical and historical foundation. Not only does this re-rooting bring Christianity back to the Bible, but it also unearths the affinity between Christians and Jews.

For centuries, Christians have persecuted Jews. They did so during the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and even at times during the Holocaust. Yet this historic and theological link suggests a different relationship. Rather than that of persecution, Christians should recognize all they share with Judaism. These are not two separate religions, but one group which developed out of another.

In this moment, Christians now have an opportunity to stand behind Judaism, not because Christians agree about everything with Jews, but because we stand against those who embrace antisemitism and hatred. We know where we came from.

Now is that time for Christians to recognize their debt to Judaism. Now is that time, as antisemitism hits a new high, for Christians to acknowledge that the good news of Jesus is not simply the offer of salvation or the promise of a life to come––but it is the “hope of Israel.”