Major Christian convention misses ‘biggest issue of the day’ — Charles Gardner

I recently returned from what must surely be among the most inspirational Christian events on the planet.

The Keswick Convention celebrated 150 years of its annual Bible teaching festival which now runs over three weeks in the summer amidst the spectacular scenery of the English Lake District.

As usual, everything about it is focused on Jesus and I could find no fault with what was said. My issue is only over what wasn’t said.

With the theme of Resurrection, as seen through the eyes of the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel in week 2, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to explain the context of the passages, especially from chapters 36 and 37.

This surely concerns God’s promise to restore the Jewish people to their land and, with a new heart, to their Lord. From the Valley of Dry Bones – a stark picture of a future Holocaust – to new life and hope with the miraculous rebirth of the nation.

In view of the exponential rise in global antisemitism following the barbaric October 7 2023, massacre by Hamas, it is surely the biggest issue of the day. And while it is perfectly reasonable to interpret the passages under discussion to the new life experienced by individual Christians, as was ably achieved, they clearly refer primarily to what will happen to Israel.

Even Charles Spurgeon, in the mid-19^th century, well before the beginnings of modern Zionism, understood this – that the focus here was not principally on the resurrection to come of all those who follow Jesus, but on the glorious future God has in store for his chosen people.

Speaking at Southwark Cathedral in 1855, he said: “You cannot read the Bible without seeing clearly that there is to be an actual restoration of the children of Israel… The day shall yet come when the Jews, who were the first apostles to the Gentiles, the first missionaries to us, who were far off, shall be gathered in again. Until that shall be, the fulness of the church’s glory can never come.”¹

And in a sermon preached at London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle on Thursday evening June 16 1864, he made it abundantly clear that, in Ezekiel 37, the prophet was speaking about Jewish restoration, both to their land and their Lord.

He conceded that some see this vision as a description of the resurrection, or of revival of a decayed Church, and that although it could reasonably be applied to both, it was not the plain meaning of the passage.

“He was talking of his own people and, led by the Holy Spirit, he gives us an explanation of the vision – not ‘Thus says the Lord, my dying Church shall be restored,’ but ‘I will bring my people out of their graves, and bring them into the land of Israel’ (verse 12).

“The meaning of our text, as opened up by the context, is most evidently, if words mean anything, first, that there shall be a political restoration of the Jews to their own land and to their own nationality; and then, secondly, there is in the text, and the context, a most plain declaration that there shall be a spiritual restoration – a conversion in fact of the tribes of Israel.”²

Spurgeon, no doubt saw the “dry bones” as a picture of the Jews’ spiritual condition, which was true enough, but could not have foreseen how literally it would be fulfilled in the Holocaust. To be fair, Andrew Sach, in his closing talk, acknowledged the need to pray for Israel and Gaza, and for mission to both Jews and Arabs. But at a time when global antisemitism is possibly worse than ever, the biggest issue facing Christians desperately needing clear teaching on the subject needs to be seriously addressed.

I really don’t enjoy rocking the boat. I believe Keswick represents the best of evangelicalism, certainly in the UK, and I want to see the movement grow and flourish. But this is surely a case of the “Missing Link” in much of the Church.

The British public – mostly ignorant of the real issues behind the Middle East conflict – has been brainwashed by the Hamas-led pro-Palestinian lobby. And the Church, fearful of being divisive, remains largely silent, like the German church of the 1930s who subsequently had to bear the national guilt for not speaking up while six million Jews were sent to the gas chambers.

All of which coincides with supermodel Bella Hadid advertising trainers first released for the 1972 Munich Olympics when the Palestinian Black September group murdered 11 Israeli athletes. Neither Bella nor Adidas seemed to make the tragic connection – until it was brought to their attention by the Israeli government. Adidas duly pulled the ads.

But do you see what I mean by ignorance and brainwashing? A despised terror group 50 years ago is now, in the form of Hamas, entirely woke and acceptable.

And yet as I cast my eyes over the mountains of books on display at Keswick – many of which are no doubt excellent and one of which I bought – I didn’t find any that dealt with the crucial issue of Israel.

But a major article in the August issue of Evangelicals Now, given out freely to thousands of attendees, offers fresh hope with Joseph Steinberg, CEO of the International Mission to the Jewish People, calling on the Church to repent over its lack of concern for reaching Jews with the Gospel. I should add that the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ), for whom I volunteer, had a stand at the convention (for the second successive year) where many have signed up for membership.

As Spurgeon said, until Jewish restoration is complete, “the fulness of the church’s glory can never come”.

¹A Nation Reborn, Christian Publications International, p29

²King of the Jews, CPI, p153 – both authored by Charles Gardner

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