If you’ve been following the recent online chatter, you know that the legitimacy of Israel’s existence as a nation has been under challenge. Are these the real Jews? Why should it be their land? Are they still God’s Chosen People? Or, perhaps Scripture talked about their appearance in the Last Days: But isn’t this an illegitimate and artificial Israel that was created after World War II….This is NOT the Israel of God’s Promise. Doesn’t this Land belong to the Palestinians?
Actually, these are all legitimate questions…..But they are being asked, in many cases, in an illegitimate way. The intention is to undermine the authority of Scripture and thereby the Word of God! These are the questions that this series will address.
CONTENTION #1 – The Modern State of Israel is the result of a political project brought forth by human hands. It is NOT a fulfillment God’s Prophetic Word. It is therefore, in that sense illegitimate and the promises of Scripture do not apply.
Dr Ray Taylor makes the case. We’ll let him build it. “The biblical texts often cited to legitimize modern Zionism are frequently misinterpreted, taken out of context, or outright manipulated. This paper argues that the state of Israel represents a modern political entity rather than the continuation of an ancient covenant people…. Isaiah’s prophecies of restoration refer to the return of exiles from Babylon, not to a modern political entity thousands of years later. Similarly, Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones (Ezekiel 37) symbolizes the spiritual restoration of a community in exile, not a 20th-century nation-state.” He goes on to argue that “many biblical prophecies have already been fulfilled,” including the rebuilding of the Temple and that Judaism borrowed its’ concepts of monotheism, angels, Satan and End Times judgement from Zoroastrianism. The notion of being a Chosen People, well that was the construct of Cyrus the Great and Persian rulers. It served as a political tool of empire. His conclusion is similar in content to many who attack the legitimacy of the modern Jewish state. “Israel is not a continuation of an ancient biblical people but a political entity born out of modern nationalist aspirations. Biblical prophecies often cited to justify its existence have been fulfilled in the ancient past or were never intended to predict a future state….Zionism, both secular and Christian, exploits these misinterpretations, creating a dangerous ideological framework that perpetuates conflict and delusion.”[i]
Let’s start breaking down the argument.
- Taylor argues that Israel does not represent an ancient covenant people. However, that is exactly what the League of Nations recognized in 1920 when they affirmed the principle of the Jewish population returning to Palestine. Here is a portion of the text of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. “Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.”[ii] The confirmation of Jewish genetic legitimacy can be found in a myriad of genetic studies conducted on the Jewish population in Israel and around the world. Whether Ashkenazi (Central & Eastern European), Sephardic (living in the Iberian Peninsula & North Africa) or Mizrahi (from the Middle East) all have a significant genetic connection to the ancient Israelites.[iii] [iv]
- In addition, historical evidence abounds that the Hebrew population of the Holy Land was driven out after revolts against Roman rule in both AD 70 & AD 135. Traveling around the world they yet maintained key aspects of their culture including their religion of Judaism.
- Taylor also maintains that because there was a political element to the creation of Modern Israel, therefore it could not be a work of God. Any student of the Bible realizes that God works through history to fulfill His promises and His will. It took a Roman census to take Jesus’ parents to Bethlehem to fulfill the prophetic word regarding the location of Messiah’s birth. Dr Taylor further dismisses Ezekiel’s prophecies of return and restoration in the End Times, asserting it could only refer to the Babylonian Exile. Isaiah 11:11 gives the lie to that limiting interpretation of God’s power. “It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.” That verse was written before the Jews were called back to the Land from Babylon – that is, before the first time.
- Another argument is that the idea of Israel being a Chosen People came out of Persia. In fact, it is recorded in the Hebrew Scripture going all the way back to Genesis – as we will see in this series. A belief in Monotheism. The truth is the Jewish belief in One God is a foundational tenet of the Faith. – [“Hear O’ Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) is among the earliest Jewish Scriptures.] – and was always a central component of the Faith. The same is true of angels, Satan and Final Judgment.
CONTENTION #2 – The Jews living in Modern Israel are NOT REAL Jews and therefore have no right to the Land. The Jews in Israel came from the ancient Kingdom of Khazar. These Khazarians converted to Judaism, ended up in Eastern Europe and became the Ashkenazi Jews. The Khazars are Turkish with no ties to Jewish bloodlines. [Now, this also ties in with something called British Israelism which says that the Ten Tribes that broke off from Judah and formed Israel did not disappear from history but migrated to the British Isles. Therefore the Anglo-Saxons are the Lost Tribes and they have the right to the Holy Land.] Yeah, we’ve got a lot of nonsense to deal with here!
First the Khazars. Now some people claim the Khazars are the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Others say, they are genetically Turkish. Historically, we know that some of the Khazarian leadership converted to Judaism in the middle of the 9th century. King Bulan was trying to navigate a path of political independence between the Islamic Caliphate and the Christian Byzantine Empire.[v] There has been ample genetic testing of the Jewish population both in and out of Israel. It has consistently come to the same conclusion. “While small traces of Khazar lineage could be present in some Jewish communities, most data points to Near Eastern origins consistent with the Biblical and Second Temple diaspora timelines.”[vi] Further, these studies rule out the idea that the Khazars are the Lost Tribes or that the Anglo Saxons operate in that role. So, what happened to the so-called Lost Tribes? Well, first of all, from God’s standpoint they were never lost at all. These of course refer to the Ten Tribes of the Northern Kingdom that were conquered by Assyria around 722 BC. Most were taken to the Assyrian Kingdom. However, many people around the world, including people in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan and even North America, among others claim to trace their origins back to these tribes. The fact is, while many were scattered through the diaspora, others remained in the Land and reunited with Judah.
Follow the historical pattern, and we realize that those Israelites from the Northern Kingdom, would then have been taken to Babylon what that nation conquered Judah & Benjamin. So, after 70 years of captivity, when King Cyrus allowed the Israelites to return, there would have been Jews from all 12 tribes. We know that God still has a purpose for all the tribes of Israel. In Revelation 7:4-8, we see that God will seal 12.000 from each of the tribes of Israel. Each tribe is called by name. These are actual Jews – not just spiritual Jews!
So, I think we’ve taken care of one case. The people who migrated to Israel are related to the remnant that remained there throughout the centuries of temporary, if long-term conquests. Yes Virginia, the Jews are actually Jews. But that leaves some other very thorny issues. To whom does the Land belong? And are the Jews still God’s Chosen People? And we will begin to take a deep dive into those issues beginning next week.
[i] Ray Taylor, The Modern State of Israel and the Misappropriation of Biblical Prophecy, Wise As A Serpent, https://bishopraytaylorphd.substack.com/, November 19, 2024
[ii] Micael Carter, The first two-state solution – Part 1, All Israel News, January 10, 2026
[iii] Katsnelson, Alla (3 June 2010). “Jews worldwide share genetic ties”. Nature. doi:10.1038/news.2010.277
[iv] rudakis, Tony (2010). “Ashkenazi Jews”. Molecular Photofitting: Predicting Ancestry and Phenotype Using DNA. Elsevier. p. 383. ISBN 978-0-08-055137-1
[v] Irwin Halfond, Khazars Convert to Judaism, EBSCO, 2022
[vi] Who are the Khazar Jews?, Bible Hub, Retrieved January 16, 2026
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