“This is the land that I swore to Abraham..."

From the opening chapters of Genesis forward, Yahweh promised the land of Israel to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - clearly, repeatedly, and unambiguously.

To Abraham:

• Genesis 12:7 - “To your offspring I will give this land.”

• Genesis 13:14-15 - “All the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.”

• Genesis 15:18 - “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land…’”

Reaffirmed to Isaac:

• Genesis 26:3 - “To you and your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.”

Reaffirmed to Jacob:

• Genesis 28:13 - “The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.”

• Genesis 35:12 - “The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”

Reaffirmed to Moses:

Just before his death, as Moses looked into the Promised Land from Mount Nebo [in modern-day Jordan, east of the Jordan River across from Jericho], God declared:

• Deuteronomy 34:4 - “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.”

The testimony of Scripture is consistent, and God’s promises are unequivocal; the land belongs to Israel and the Jewish people by Divine Covenant.

A heresy known as Replacement Theology is circulating that the Christian Church has replaced Israel in God’s covenantal purposes - that the Jewish people no longer have a distinct, ongoing role in God’s redemptive plan and that the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants now apply exclusively to the Church.

This is a delusion wholly devoid of any objective reality in Biblical truth.

The early Apostles did not teach that the Church had replaced Israel. In fact, Paul’s Epistle to the Romans 3:1-2 states: “What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.”

D. Stuart Briscoe [1930-2022] notes in his Commentary on Romans:

“Whatever their failings, the Jews were God’s special people, the Law He gave them was His unique word, and the rite of the covenant was His chosen sign.”

Zionism is simply the belief that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, and the overwhelming majority of Evangelical Christians who know the Word believe in the Abrahamic Covenant and affirm the same. It is as straightforward as 2 plus 2 equals 4, compounded by the self-evident fact that Matthew, Mark, John, the Apostle Paul, and Jesus Christ were all Jews.

Christian Zionism is not a political invention; it is a Biblical conclusion.

As background, in August 2005, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew Israeli citizens from Gaza in a “land for peace” deal intended to improve Israel’s security and international standing. Shortly thereafter, in 2006, Hamas won local elections and has since controlled the Gaza Strip and, functionally, significant parts of the West Bank.

What Israel received in return for withdrawal was not peace but thousands of rockets, nonstop terror tunnels, and the transformation of Gaza and portions of the West Bank into breeding grounds for terrorism.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, slaughtering 1,200 Israelis, raping women, burning families alive, kidnapping children and the elderly, to next entrench themselves, their hostages, and their weaponry in hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings, using Palestinian civilians as human shields, a war crime by every international standard.

If one were to scale Israel’s October 7th death toll to the population of the United States, the numbers become staggering. Had Hamas attacked the United States instead of Israel, the equivalent per-capita death toll would be approximately 43,000 Americans killed in a single day, 14 times the deaths of 9/11 and exceeding all U.S. deaths in the Korean War.

The current conflict is justifiably a war of self-defense by Israel, rather than the outright falsehood of “ethnic cleansing in Gaza.”

Let’s be clear: Evangelicals support God’s covenant with Abraham [Genesis 12] because it is Biblical and everlasting. On the other hand, Christians are not obligated to support every action of any modern Israeli government. Governments are human, fallible, and morally accountable.

This brings us to Tucker Carlson and his attempt to drive a wedge between Evangelical Christians and Israel. For the record, we love Tucker Carlson; he is a talented guy.

But he is not a theologian, has never written thoughtfully on Biblical studies, and has no record of engaging Scripture within the historic Christian tradition. So when he begins reinterpreting Biblical covenants, casting doubt on the Abrahamic land promise, or suggesting that Christians should detach from Israel, he is not speaking in theological terms but is engaging in political posturing.

More specifically, Carlson’s sudden interest in ‘reinterpreting’ Israel must be understood politically, not theologically. Tucker’s comments are the opening moves in the 2028 Republican presidential nomination. The wedge being driven is neither organic nor theological; it is entirely political, part of the early jockeying for ideological supremacy in the Republican arena.

As for Carlson, he played a documented, meaningful role in shaping candidate Trump’s thinking about JD Vance in 2024, although he was not the sole factor. Tucker personally urged Trump to consider Vance for Vice-President, communicated with Trump’s inner circle during the vetting process, and publicly praised Vance as the most articulate, disciplined, and ideological heir to the Trump movement.

Insider reporting from The Washington Post, Axios, The New York Times, and Politico all noted that Trump knew Carlson favored Vance and took that assessment seriously because of Carlson’s reach, his instinct for the Republican base, and his ability to shape narrative and perception.

At the end of the day, however, the issue before Christians is not Tucker Carlson, J.D. Vance, or the early maneuverings of 2028. The issue is whether the Church will remain anchored to the plain testimony of Scripture or be swept into the winds of political fashion. God’s covenant with Israel predates every empire, every election cycle, every media personality, and every political calculation. It stands because God Himself established it. Evangelicals do not stand with Israel because of politics, but because of promise, because the God who swore the land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob does not revoke what He has decreed. The question, therefore, is not whether the covenant remains, but whether we remain faithful to it.

Gideons and Rahabs have begun to stand.

David Lane

American Renewal Project