From the WSJ Opinion Archives
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
The Power of Prophecy
Why Israel means so much to evangelical Christians.
In Jerusalem's New Imperial Hotel in 1966, Bishop Homer A. Tomlinson of the Church of God (World Headquarters) crowned himself King of the World.
A genial American evangelical and occasional presidential candidate on the Theocratic Party ticket, Tomlinson had already set foot in as many nations as possible, claiming them for God's kingdom. Evelyn Waugh happened on the scene in Dar-es-Salaam when the "purposeful and recollected" Tomlinson placed a "light and inexpensive crown" on his head and announced his rule as God's agent over Tanzania.
Tomlinson's calculations, based on the prophecies of Daniel and biblical commentaries, convinced him that in 1966 the Kingdom of God would come on Earth and the throne of David would be restored. The New Yorker even tracked Tomlinson's road to Jerusalem.
Well, the Kingdom of God did not arrive in 1966. But its arrival is still on many minds. While most evangelicals know nothing of Tomlinson's antics, most share his deepest conviction: that the nation of Israel and the "end times" are inseparably linked. Indeed, they believe that the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 set the stage for the return of Christ. This is one reason evangelicals have been such strong supporters of Israel throughout its history, including today.
One source of an end-times scenario is the best-selling Scofield Reference Bible (1909). There we can read how Christ's Second Coming and the founding of a new Heaven and new Earth will follow the arrival of the Anti-Christ, the tribulation and the conversion of the Jewish nation. The battles of Armageddon will take place in Israel, it is believed, and the triumphant return of Christ will end them, establishing Jerusalem as the capital of his earthly kingdom.
A vast popular literature draws on this passion for unlocking the future, and it revolves around Israel as the place to which Christ came and will return to reign for 1,000 years. Jerusalem, the seat of the earthly kingdom of God, is central to such eschatology. Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth" and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins's "Left Behind" series are two of its best-selling forms.
But the evangelical interest in Israel reaches much further back than 1948. Jonathan Edwards, grandson of the Puritans and promoter of the Great Awakening, proclaimed in the 18th century his expectation that the Jews would return to the land of Israel. For Edwards, this certainty was rooted in the character of God, who had promised it. And so generations of American evangelicals have embraced the view that the God who is faithful to his promises will someday restore Israel uncontrovertibly to the Jews.
This historical fascination with Israel does not mean that evangelicals everywhere endorse whatever Israel does. Though they may point to biblical passages that seem to them to explain the conflict, they do not neglect the biblical injunction to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And clearly the most strident factions of the Christian Right do not speak for all evangelicals.
This interest easily takes political form, but its driving force is spiritual and its implications are practical. What happens to Israelis and Palestinians is for some evangelicals primarily about God and God's covenant with man. Events in Israel perennially suggest to them that "the day" is at hand, summoning all humankind to conversion.
Ms. Blumhofer directs the Institute for the Study of Evangelicals at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill.
