The End Times Bible Report Quarterly
Winter 2026: Issue Number 115
How God Views Antisemitism
“He that touches you touches
the apple of His eye.” — Zechariah 2:8
Antisemitism is real and it is growing. Note the Anti-Defamation League report showing an 893% increase in antisemitic incidents in the last decade. Their research also shows that “Nearly half of all people worldwide hold elevated levels of antisemitic attitudes.” (1/14/25, ADL.org) It is troubling that these polls even include Christians! But why? This contradicts the clear teaching of both the Old and New Testaments which state that God still loves Israel and the Jewish people. The Apostle Paul simply stated that “they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.” (Romans 11:28) Yes, God still loves them because of the great faith of their fathers — Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Because of father Abraham’s incredible faith, God promised by an oath that He would bless Abraham’s descendants. (Hebrews 6:13-17) His blessings have included periods of favor upon Israel for their obedience, and discipline or disfavor for acts of disobedience and unbelief. Paul made it very clear that God never renounced His love of Israel — the descendants of Jacob’s twelve sons. Romans 11:1, 2
Paul’s statement of God’s love and commitment to Israel is confirmed in Ezekiel Chapter 36. “Say unto the house of Israel… I do not this [act of favor] for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name’s sake, which you have profaned... I will sanctify my great name… and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD… For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.” (Ezekiel 36:22-24) The LORD in no uncertain terms promised that His intention has been to regather the Hebrew people to their ancient homeland. He does this to vindicate His great name before the rest of the world by showing His great power when He delivers His people Israel to a permanent peace.
Why is There So Much Antisemitism Today?
The term “Semite” is a reference to the descendants of Noah’s son Shem. This includes not only the Jews, but also the Arab nations living in Northeast Africa and the Middle East. Today, however, it has become a term primarily applied to the Jewish people. The term antisemitism was coined in 1879 by Wilhelm Marr, a German journalist, designating it as “anti-Jewish acts of hatred.” (britannica.com/topic/antisemitism)
Today, antisemitism manifests itself vividly online in verbal and written hate speech and conspiracy theories. This has incited vandalism on synagogues, Jewish gravestones and homes, as well as violent physical attacks and discrimination against Jews in their workplaces and schools. The majority of Jews around the world live in fear for just being Jews.
There has been a significant rise of antisemitism worldwide particularly since October 7, 2023. The FBI reported that in 2025, of all the religiously motivated hate attacks in the U.S., 68% were directed against Jews. Of note is a 2025 Pew Research Center poll which reported a sharp generational divide in perceptions of and attitudes toward Israel — 76% of Americans 65 years and older have a favorable view of Israel while only 46% of those age 30 and younger have a favorable view. Yet, in this younger group, 60% have a favorable view of the Palestinian people. The constant conflict in Gaza and the plight of the Gazan civilians has certainly worked to increase sympathy for Palestinians and has stirred up antisemitism.
It is also worth noting that in the early days as a nation, Israel was viewed as the underdog, and the Arab nations were viewed as the aggressive bullies. By the 1990s, pro-Palestinian factions succeeded in convincing the world that they were a dispossessed political entity, distinct from other Arabs. (Time Magazine, 1994) This changed the perception of Israel from the underdog to the occupying bully. Consequently, world opinion has been clamoring for Palestinian statehood, encompassing the West Bank and Gaza with Jerusalem as its capital. Escalating ethnic conflict between Israel and her neighbors, the Gaza war, and the conflict with most other nations over the solution to the Palestinian issue has certainly made Israel a “burdensome stone” as stated by the prophet Zechariah. “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” Zechariah 12:3
What is God’s Peace Plan
for the Middle East?
What will bring about peace? What will again shine a favorable light back upon the Jewish people? Will the two-State proposal be the solution? What is God’s plan?
The Scriptures indicate that God clearly gave the land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants. The Jewish people had been living in their land for 1700 years until the Roman destruction of Israel’s polity in AD 70. When God gave the Hebrews the land as their inheritance, He was very specific regarding its borders: “...the wilderness [desert] and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.” (Joshua 1:3, 4) “This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families…. Ashdod with her towns and her villages, Gaza with her towns and her villages, unto the river of Egypt, and the great sea, and the border thereof.” (Joshua 15:20, 47) These verses reveal that God gave the Israelites all the coastal land along the Mediterranean Sea, including the Gaza Strip.
After reviewing the history of the Mid-East conflict and antisemitism, and having witnessed current events, we may still have mixed feelings about supporting the Nation of Israel. To help us evaluate this complex issue, we need to look at the Jewish people and the Nation of Israel separately. There is a religious element among the Jews that has great faith in God and His promises. However, the civil government is generally more rash and defensive and not motivated by faith. God is now working with Israel for the sake of those Jews who have sincere faith in the His Covenant with Abraham. Knowing God’s plan for His people, we can be supportive of Israel, even if we do not always condone or agree with the actions of the current government.
The Tragic History of
Antisemitism Among Christians
We would, of course, like to have a proper God-like attitude toward Israel and the Jewish people. But some Christians have the idea that Israel permanently lost its status as God’s “Chosen People” when the nation did not accept Jesus as the long-promised Messiah. Yes, Jesus did say in Matthew 23:37, 38, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate,” and many look at this statement as absolute and permanent. In fact, this was why the historical position of the Roman Catholic Church has been extremely antisemitic. Early in the Christian era, Justin Martyr (A.D. 100 – 165) presented the concept that Christians alone inherited God’s promises to Israel when the Jews rejected Jesus. Augustine (A.D. 354–430) also embraced the concept that the “House of Israel” was permanently cast off. Consequently, the Church of Rome became increasingly active against the Jews, even to the point where Pope Paul IV, in 1555, established a ghetto in Rome to wall the Jews off from the Christian community. In B.C. 1574, Pope Gregory XIII declared that Jewish guilt for crucifying Christ “only grows deeper with successive generations.” In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, expelled the Jews from Spanish territory, and those Jews who falsely claimed Christian conversion faced the full fury of the Inquisition.
The most extreme example of our time was when hideous antisemitism manifested itself in Germany in the 1930’s on the pretext that Jews were the direct cause of Germany’s many problems. Following the example of the Church of Rome, Hitler’s solution was to confine the Jews to walled ghettos. Then, shortly after that came the Holocaust — the systematic murder of over six million Jews who lived within the extensive reach of Hitler throughout Europe.
Through all of this history it is easy to see that Satan — the god of this world — and his agents on earth have done everything possible to thwart God’s plans for Israel and to destroy the descendants of Abraham. (2 Corinthians 4:4) “They have taken crafty counsel against thy people. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.” Psalm 83:3
Sadly, on January 18, 2026, the cleric heads from the historic Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant communities in Jerusalem published their most recent stand condemning Christian support for Israel being a Jewish homeland. The declaration reproves Christian Zionism as promoting “damaging ideologies... which may harm the Christian presence in the Holy Land...” (1/18/26, en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info) This kind of attitude only serves to fuel antisemitic behavior. But, it is important to understand that, despite any efforts to the contrary, God’s merciful purpose for Abraham’s descendants will be fulfilled. Isaiah 55:11
Paul’s Exhortation to Christians
Christians should examine carefully the Apostle Paul’s exhortation in Romans: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in [the completed Christian Church]. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant [promise] unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes . . . these also now believed not, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.” Romans 11:25-28, 31
Some Christian groups today do actively preach support for Israel and the Jewish people, but the majority consider themselves to have replaced the Jews as the recipients of God’s Old Testament promises and prophecies. Contrary to this idea, the Apostle emphatically stated that ALL Israel shall be blessed and granted an opportunity for salvation once the Christian Age is complete. Yes, God foreknew that Israel as a nation would reject Jesus as their Messiah, and Paul provides assurance that this would then allow the Gentiles to have an opportunity for salvation. In other words, accepting the Gentiles into God’s grace did not change His plan of salvation for the Jews. Paul left no doubt that God would “take away their sins” through Jesus their Messiah, who “shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”
An Equal Portion of Favor and Disfavor
Zechariah also prophesied that Israel would lose God’s favor for only a fixed length of time. (Zechariah 9:12) Previous to the death of Christ, the children of Israel had enjoyed an extensive period of exclusive favor. In Amos 3:2, God said, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth...” This special period of favor began when Israel officially became a Hebrew Nation at the death of their father Jacob in B.C. 1812, and this national favor ended in A.D. 33 when Jesus cast them off as unfaithful, saying, “…your house is left unto desolate.” (Matthew 23:38) At that point, Jehovah would then render a double portion of disfavor. “...I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double…” The word double is translated from the Hebrew word mishneh meaning an equal portion. (Jeremiah 16:18) Therefore, Israel was to experience a period of disfavor that was equal to their previous period of favor, and that equal portion of time in disfavor would be accomplished before the regathering of the Jews to their homeland. Remarkably, the fulfillment date of their regathering was precise, for in A.D. 1878 the Berlin Congress of Nations, in establishing the treaty of the Russo-Turkish War, granted Jews the right to own land in the formerly Turkish controlled Palestine. Prior to this treaty, Jews were not allowed to own land in Palestine. This was the beginning of God’s favor returning, and the seed of Abraham began to blossom again as a nation. See Isaiah 35:1.
Jeremiah 16:15-17 stated that God “…will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers [the Zionist movement], saith the Lord, and they shall fish them [draw them back to the land]; and after will I send for many hunters [the Holocaust and antisemitism], and they shall hunt [drive] them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” How important it is to note that the Old Testament prophets and the Apostle Paul recognized that the Jewish people would eventually be brought back into God’s favor after their time of punishment for abandoning God’s Covenant. As Christians, we should recognize the miraculous manner in which the State of Israel has both come back into existence, as well as how Israel has persevered as a people — against all odds.
Earthly Agents of Blessing
There is a beautiful depth of meaning in God’s promise to Abraham: “... in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 22:18) God plans to bless everyone who has ever lived through two groups of people working together — faithful Christians as the heavenly agents of blessing and the regathered Nation of Israel as earthly agents of blessing. (Galatians 3:8) Yes, God’s ultimate purpose for Israel in the Land of Promise is declared in Isaiah 2:2-4: “...the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains... And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And... they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
While the Church will be the heavenly New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1,2), Jerusalem on earth will be the visible capital to the world, and the ancient fathers of Israel will be God’s representatives of His earthly government. (Psalm 45:16) Then all people recognizing God’s blessing to Israel will ask the Jews to teach them of the all-encompassing Abrahamic Covenant: “In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.” Zechariah 8:23
A Proper, Godly Perspective
Christians should have nothing to do with hateful attitudes and behavior toward the Jewish people. From Genesis to Revelation, we learn that God has chosen Israel out of all other nations to be His channel of future blessings to the entire world. So, in today’s world of escalating antisemitism, Christians are to comfort, support and encourage the Jewish people to believe in their prophetic destiny — “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare [of discipline] is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1, 2; Genesis 28:14) While today, many disdain the Jewish people, God declared: “And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.” (Zechariah 8:13) Yes, God will give “no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” (Isaiah 62:7) We should know and understand God’s love for Israel and develop sufficient faith to stand by Israel and the Jewish people in the face of increasing worldwide antisemitism.
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