President Obama and the 1967 Boundaries

“Don’t divide the land,” says a recent speaker, referring to Joel 3:2. President Obama’s speech yesterday follows conventional wisdom in calling for a “two-state” solution to the Israel/Palestine standoff, and breaks new ground for the US in calling for a return to something like the 1967 boundaries in the Holy Land. Israel is unlikely to agree; after all, the 1967 boundaries were always temporary and Israel went to war because of threatened invasion across them in 1967. Moreover Israel is unlikely to agree to the re-division of Jerusalem as per pre-1967 boundaries.

But does this signify the imminence of the day of the Lord? Maybe not tomorrow, but soon? After all, Joel is full of such language.  But of course, the land has been divided for over 60 years; in fact, it was only united in modern history, at least for any length of time,  under the Ottoman Turks. But Joel’s (original) targets were those who attacked Israel in ancient days: the people of Tyre, Sidon, Philistia and the Greeks (Joel 3:4,6). Since then we have had the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, rule by the Persians and Greeks, the brief period of independence under the Hasmoneans, the long rule of Rome, the destruction of the temple in AD70, the even longer period of Muslim rule, etc. Is God about to punish all these people? Is he going to side with an unbelieving and anti-Christ nation?

Well, maybe. No doubt God has not forgotten his ancient people, as Paul affirms (Rom.11:1). But the promise of both Joel and Romans suggests that God’s concern for the Jews is centred on bringing them to Christ rather than on guaranteeing their natural borders. Joel looks forward to the era of the Spirit and the salvation that Jesus came to bring (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-21). Paul confidently expects that Israel will receive mercy and “all Israel will be saved” (Rom.11:26). And Jesus refused to indulge the disciples’ speculative question about restoring the kingdom to Israel, instead promising that they would be Spirit-empowered witnesses to Jews and Gentiles alike (Acts 1:6-8).

This is God’s agenda; not redrawing the political boundaries, but calling people to Himself through Christ.