A paper on the historical link between proto Christian Zionism and the Balfour Declaration delivered at a conference organised by the Balfour Project in association with the Church of Scotland at the Quaker Meeting House in Edinburgh on Friday 2nd November.
Introduction
In this presentation we are going to trace some of the significant events and individuals that led to the Balfour Declaration.
1. Puritanism and the Conversion of the Jews
The road to Balfour began in the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation brought about a renewed interest in the Old Testament and God’s dealings with the Jewish people. From Protestant pulpits right across Europe, the Bible was for the first time in centuries being taught within its historical context and was given its plain literal sense. At the same time, a new assessment of the place of the Jews within the purposes of God emerged.
Puritan eschatology was essentially postmillennial and believed the conversion of the Jews would lead to future blessing for the entire world. In 1621, for example, Sir Henry Finch, an eminent lawyer and member of the English Parliament, published a book,
The World’s Great Restauration (sic) or Calling of the Jews, (and with them) all the Nations and Kingdoms of the Earth, to the Faith of Christ.
By the late 17th Century and right through the 18th Century, especially during the period of the Great Awakening, postmillennial eschatology dominated European and American Protestantism.[1] The writings and preaching of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758),[2] as well as George Whitefield, were influential in the spread of the belief that the millennium had arrived, that the gospel would soon triumph against evil throughout the world. God’s blessings of peace and prosperity would follow the conversion of Israel, prior to the glorious return of Christ.[3]
A Highland farmer was overseeing his animals in a remote mountainous pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW coupe appeared out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a white Armani suit, Ray Ban sunglasses, YSL tie, and Mediterranean tan, leans out the window and asks in a perfect Oxbridge accent, “If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?”
Wednesday was our monthly day of prayer and fasting. In the evening we prayed for Kylie serving in India, for Francis and Georgina moving to Holland and for Ian and Suzanne going soon to Uganda.
An hour outside the Saudi capital of Riyadh, in the rocky terrain of the desert, a Saudi family concludes a daylong outing. A full moon illuminates the black line of silhouettes in prayer. Karen House, writes of what happened next in Newsweek, “While I sit by myself on a blanket nearby, Ahmad and his father, brother, and young sister prostrate themselves in the direction of Mecca. Observing my failure to pray, Ahmad, who is 6, approaches, clearly concerned. “I need to teach you something,” he says. “What?” I ask. “Do you know what to say when the angel of death comes?” he says. Assuming I do not, the little boy then provides the answers that the dying should give if they want to transit successfully to the hereafter: “The angel asks you, ‘Who is your God?’ and you say, ‘Allah,’?” says Ahmad. “?‘Who is your prophet?’ You say, ‘Muhammad.’ ‘What is your faith?’ You say, ‘Islam.’”
“The Temple Mount is like a smouldering volcano that is bubbling and threatening to erupt – a threat that is liable to endanger Israel’s existence.’ That was the summary of a report delivered to the Israeli prime minister by the former head of the Israeli secret service and by the former police commissioner. And the tragedy is this – some misguided Christians it seems are ready to light the fuse. Many Christians raised on the Scofield Reference Bible and books by authors like Hal Lindsey are convinced the Jewish Temple must be rebuilt so that it can be desecrated by the Anti-Christ, before Jesus can return. Hal Lindsey writes,