Biblical Zionism & Modern Zionism

If you're confused why Believers should support modern day Zionism...READ BELOW

The modern discussion surrounding Zionism is often framed almost entirely through the lens of twentieth-century politics, colonialism, nationalism, or Middle Eastern conflict. Yet the roots of Zionism long predate modern political movements. The idea of Zion, the covenant of the land, the preservation of the Jewish people, and the centrality of Jerusalem are deeply embedded within the Hebrew Scriptures and within the historical continuity of the Jewish people themselves. Biblical Zionism begins not with modern diplomacy or political ideology, but with a covenant. It begins with God’s promises concerning a people, a land, and the divine revelation entrusted first to Israel.

The biblical narrative presents three inseparable covenant realities: the covenant of the land, the covenant of the people, and the covenant stewardship of the Scriptures. These themes move together from Abraham through the patriarchs, through Israel’s kings and prophets, through exile and dispersion, and ultimately into modern history. Modern Zionism became the political and historical expression through which many Jews sought survival, restoration, and return to their ancestral homeland after centuries of persecution and displacement. Biblical Zionists, therefore, see modern Israel not as an isolated political accident, but as part of a covenant narrative extending across generations.

The covenant begins in Genesis 12 when God calls Abraham out from among the nations. The promise immediately includes geography:

“To your descendants I will give this land.” — Genesis 12:7 - The promise expands: “For all the land which thou see, I give to you, and your descendants forever.” — Genesis 13:15

Then in Genesis 17, the covenant is formalized: “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant.” — Genesis 17:7

The language is unmistakably generational. The covenant concerns a people, a land, descendants, and continuity through time. Biblical Zionism is therefore rooted not merely in ethnicity or politics, but in covenant continuity. The promise was attached to Abraham’s descendants “throughout their generations,” establishing an enduring covenant identity tied to the land itself.

The covenant is then rehearsed and reaffirmed through Isaac: “for to you, and your descendants, I will give all these lands.” — Genesis 26:3

The same covenant structure appears again: seed, inheritance, land, and continuity. Scripture deliberately repeats these themes to demonstrate that the covenant is inherited rather than reinvented. The covenant then passes to Jacob: “The land on which you lie, I will give to you, and to your descendants.” — Genesis 28:13

Jacob later receives the name Israel: “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel.” — Genesis 32:28

One of the most profound yet often overlooked aspects of the Abrahamic covenant is found in Genesis 15, where God establishes the covenant with Abraham in a manner that demonstrates the covenant was fundamentally initiated, secured, and guaranteed by God Himself rather than dependent upon Abraham’s ability to uphold it perfectly. In the ancient Near East, covenant ceremonies commonly involved both parties walking together between divided sacrificial animals, symbolizing that each participant bound himself to the terms of the covenant under penalty of death if broken. Yet in Genesis 15, something astonishing occurs: Abraham does not walk through the pieces. Scripture says, “a deep sleep fell upon Abram” (Genesis 15:12). Abraham is effectively rendered passive while God alone — represented by the smoking furnace and burning lamp — passes between the covenant sacrifices (Genesis 15:17). The imagery is emphatic and covenantally staggering. God alone binds Himself to the covenant promises concerning the land, the seed, and the future generations. Abraham, being asleep, cannot negotiate it, alter it, revoke it, or later detach himself from it. The covenant is therefore not portrayed as a merely mutual political agreement that could later be annulled by human weakness or historical failure; it is presented as a divine oath sworn by God Himself. This is why the covenant concerning the land and the people survives exile, dispersion, judgment, and centuries of history.

The covenant rests ultimately upon God’s faithfulness rather than Abraham’s perfection. The entire structure of biblical Zionism and covenant continuity flows from this extraordinary moment, because the promises concerning the land, the people, and the future inheritance were established while Abraham slept, demonstrating that the covenant originated from the sovereign will and irrevocable purposes of God Himself. This covenant is to be called “the Elect” – not those who are automatically saved into eternity with God, but given access to the truth and through their faith and believing loyalty to the covenant and the Scriptures, would partake of the Blessing of Abraham. As Believers, we find that in Yeshua/Jesus as the Saviour and Messiah, but we must have the same faith and believing loyalty to be grafted in through the work of the death and resurrection He performed on the Father’s behalf for the nations to come in, and therefore anyone, as we believe this is the Gospel. The thing is, we cannot confuse everlasting covenants of calling and purpose, and the covenant of salvation. The Land of Israel was given to the people of Israel.

So, at this point, the covenant becomes nationalized through a people called Israel. The descendants of Jacob become the tribes of Israel, and the covenant concerning the land becomes attached not merely to a family line, but to a covenant nation. The Scriptures themselves are also inseparably connected to Israel. The Torah was given through Moses. The prophets arose from Israel. The Psalms emerged from Israel’s worship life. The covenantal revelation of God entered history through the Jewish people first. The Apostle Paul later acknowledged this directly: “to them were committed the oracles of God.” — Romans 3:2

This is profoundly significant because the Scriptures themselves are part of Israel’s covenant stewardship. Biblical Zionism is not merely about territorial claims. It concerns the preservation of covenant revelation, covenant identity, and sacred history through the people of Israel.

Centuries later, God reminds Moses of the covenant lineage: “I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob...” — Exodus 6:3

Then again: “I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan.” — Exodus 6:4

The repeated phrase “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” appears throughout Scripture because it reinforces covenant continuity across generations. The covenant survives fathers, children, exile, suffering, and national upheaval.

Under David, Zion becomes central to Israel’s national and spiritual identity. Jerusalem becomes the covenant capital, and Zion becomes associated with worship, kingship, prophecy, covenant continuity, and the future Messianic kingdom. Jerusalem, therefore, becomes more than merely a political city within Scripture. It becomes covenant geography. Psalm 132 declares: “The Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation.”

The prophets repeatedly foretold both exile and restoration by warning Israel what came originally in the Torah: “The Lord shall scatter you among all people...” — Deuteronomy 28:64

Yet restoration was also promised: “The Lord your God will bring you back from captivity... and gather you again from all the nations.” — Deuteronomy 30:3

This becomes one of the strongest theological foundations connecting biblical Zionism and modern Zionism. Scripture predicted dispersion, preservation, regathering, and eventual return to the land. Historically, the Jewish people experienced exactly such a dispersion following successive conquests and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD and later suppression after the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 AD. Yet even after Roman renaming policies and centuries of foreign rule, the Jewish connection to the land never disappeared.

This historical continuity is frequently overlooked in modern narratives. The land passed through numerous empires and governing authorities, including Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic Caliphates, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman, and British rule. Yet throughout every transition, Jewish communities remained continuously present in the land.

Jewish communities continued in Jerusalem, Tiberias, Safed, Hebron, and throughout the Galilee. These cities became known historically as Judaism’s holy cities. Jewish life persisted there for centuries despite discrimination, taxation, expulsions, massacres, and changing rulers.

When the Romans renamed the province “Syria Palaestina” after suppressing Jewish revolts, the act was largely punitive and political. It was intended to diminish Jewish national association with Judea by invoking the ancient Philistines. Yet the renaming of a Roman province did not erase the Jewish identity of the land. Jewish writings, liturgy, prayers, and covenant memory continued referring to Zion, Jerusalem, and Eretz Israel — the Land of Israel — for nearly two thousand years afterward.

Even during Ottoman and British Mandate rule, the term “Palestine” was geographic rather than ethnic or national in meaning. During the British Mandate period, many institutions identified as “Palestinian” were in fact Jewish institutions. The Palestine Post, which later became the Jerusalem Post, was a Jewish newspaper. The Palestine Symphony Orchestra was Jewish. The Anglo-Palestine Bank was Jewish. Jewish sports clubs, labour organizations, and governing institutions operated under the geographic designation “Palestine” because that was the official territorial name used under the British Mandate.

The British Mandate Palestine passports often included Hebrew alongside English and Arabic. In Hebrew, the designation included “Eretz Yisrael,” meaning the Land of Israel. Jewish governing institutions such as the Jewish Agency and the Vaad Leumi functioned as recognized representative bodies overseeing immigration, education, social welfare, and local administration for the Jewish community in the land.

This history is significant because it demonstrates that the term “Palestine” historically referred primarily to the territory itself and not necessarily to a distinct Arab national identity as understood today. Before the 1960s, many Arabs living in the region identified more broadly through clan affiliations, local village identity, Arab identity, Syrian identity, Jordanian identity, or regional connections.

The development of a specifically modern Palestinian national identity accelerated particularly during the twentieth century and became politically formalized during the 1960s with organizations such as the Palestine Liberation Organization. This does not mean Arabs did not live in the land historically — they certainly did, especially following centuries of Islamic rule and migration during the Ottoman period. However, the modern concept of Palestinian nationhood as a distinct political identity emerged comparatively recently within the broader context of Arab nationalism, British Mandate politics, Zionism, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Meanwhile, Jewish covenant identity connected to the land long predated these modern political developments by millennia. Throughout dispersion, the Jewish people maintained Hebrew liturgy, Torah observance, feast days, covenant prayers, attachment to Jerusalem, and hope of return. Generation after generation at Passover declared: “Next year in Jerusalem.” That phrase alone demonstrates covenant memory preserved across centuries of exile.

One of the most remarkable realities in human history is that despite dispersion across continents, the Jewish people preserved national identity, language elements, Scriptures, covenant memory, and connection to Zion while many ancient empires disappeared entirely. So, what I like to ask those who want to debate or contradict the facts is this question: If God could preserve His Firstborn (Ex. 4:22) through Exilic empires ruling over them, from Pharaohs to Emperors; using SECULAR governments to place hold the Land for a time and season, then why can He not use a secular Jewish Government, who’s motto is “Never Again” to preserve the lives of Jews from around the world from annihilation to make their family’s Aliyah, or pilgrimage, until the One who is to come, the Messiah, where the governments will rest upon His shoulders, comes and sets up His throne? Why is that NOT a possibility when history has already repeated it over and over?

Let’s keep going - Modern political Zionism eventually emerged in nineteenth-century Europe through figures such as Theodor Herzl, largely because of intensifying European antisemitism, pogroms, and the urgent need for Jewish survival. While much of early Zionism was secular in tone, biblical Zionists point out that throughout Scripture, God frequently used secular rulers and governments to accomplish covenant purposes. Cyrus the Great permitted Jewish return from Babylonian exile, while Darius the Great supported Temple rebuilding. Pagan rulers became instruments within covenant history itself.

The establishment of modern Israel in 1948 is therefore viewed by biblical Zionists as historically extraordinary. A dispersed people returned from over one hundred nations, revived Hebrew as a spoken language, restored sovereignty, rebuilt cities and agriculture, and re-established Jewish national life in the ancestral homeland.

Many connect this with Ezekiel’s prophecy: “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.” — Ezekiel 36:24

And Isaiah’s declaration: “Shall a nation be born at once?” — Isaiah 66:8

With no equivocation, Biblical Zionism does not argue that every action of the modern Israeli government is beyond criticism, nor does it ignore the complexity of Arab and Palestinian history in the region. Rather, Biblical Zionism argues that the existence, preservation, and restoration of Israel are deeply tied to covenantal promises extending across generations. The strongest bridge between biblical Zionism and modern Zionism is continuity. The covenant first spoken to Abraham was rehearsed through Isaac and Jacob, preserved through Moses and the prophets, safeguarded through the Scriptures entrusted to Israel, carried through exile and dispersion, maintained through centuries of foreign rule, and ultimately connected by many believers to the restoration of Israel in modern history.

We must solidify the fact in our hearts and with our voices that the land, the people, and the Scriptures remain inseparably connected throughout the biblical narrative and Jewish history. The Scriptures came through Israel first. The covenant concerning the land was attached to Israel first. The prophetic promises concerning regathering and restoration were spoken to Israel first. This is why biblical Zionists view modern Israel not merely as a political state, but as part of an ancient covenant story stretching from Abraham to the present day through exile, survival, remembrance, and return.