In an era when Christian Zionism faces mounting criticism from commentators like Tucker Carlson and prominent theologians, one of the Christian world’s most respected biblical scholars is making a case that may surprise both his fellow Christians and skeptical Jews: Jesus and the apostles never stopped believing in God’s promise of the land of Israel to the Jewish people.
Dr. Gerald McDermott, Distinguished Professor of Theology at Jerusalem Seminary and the world’s foremost authority on Jonathan Edwards, argues that the New Testament doesn’t replace or spiritualize the Hebrew Bible’s promises about the land of Israel—it reaffirms them.
“If you don’t read the Bible, and all you pay attention to is social media on your cell phone, you’re going to miss this,” McDermott told Rabbi Pesach Wolicki in a recent interview. “But it’s all over the New Testament.”
The Edwards Connection
The discussion began with an unexpected historical figure: Jonathan Edwards, America’s greatest theologian and philosopher. Yale University Press recently completed a 73-volume critical edition of Edwards’ works—each volume running 400-800 pages—a testament to the prolific output of this 18th-century thinker who died in 1758.
McDermott revealed that Edwards, writing long before modern Zionism, predicted that Jews would one day return to their land. In Edwards’ words, the Jews “will return to the land and they will establish a polity”—what we would call a state today—”because it’s prophesied in the Bible.”
This matters because critics frequently dismiss Christian Zionism as a fringe theology linked to dispensationalism, a 19th-century interpretive system. But Edwards predated dispensationalism by more than a century. America’s greatest theologian was a Christian Zionist before the term existed.
Paul’s Explicit Teaching
McDermott’s most striking claims concern the Apostle Paul. In Romans 11:28-29, Paul writes that despite Jewish rejection of Jesus as Messiah, “they are still beloved because of the fathers… for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
“Paul is reaffirming that the Jewish people are still the chosen people,” McDermott explained. “And ‘gifts’ clearly includes the gift of the land.”
How does he know? In Acts 13, Paul preaches in a synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia around 56 CE—more than two decades after his Damascus Road revelation. Speaking to fellow Jews, Paul recounts Israel’s history: “The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country… and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance” (Acts 13:17-19).
“Paul could not have been more explicit,” McDermott said. “This is not a holdover belief that he later rejects. He’s still holding onto this shortly before the end of his life.”
Jesus and Jerusalem’s Future
But what about Jesus himself? McDermott pointed to Luke 21:24, where Jesus prophesies: “Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
“This was a Jewish idiom for political sovereignty,” McDermott explained. “Jesus was predicting a future time when Jews would once again gain complete control of their capital city.” That happened 1,937 years later during the Six-Day War in 1967.
In Acts 1:6-7, just before his ascension, the apostles ask Jesus: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Generations of Christian commentators have called this a stupid, carnal question. McDermott disagrees.
“Jesus showed every sign of taking the question seriously when he replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or seasons,'” McDermott said. “In other words, ‘Yes, I will restore the kingdom to Israel, but the time for that cannot be revealed to you right now.'”
The Beatitude Mistranslation
Even the famous Beatitude “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” actually refers to the land of Israel, McDermott argues. Jesus was quoting Psalm 37:11 word for word: “But the meek shall inherit the land.” That psalm repeats “inherit the land” five times—clearly referring to the land of Israel, not the world.
“It is time for Christians to realize that the land of Israel still has theological significance and that Jesus himself testifies to this,” McDermott said.
The Supersessionist Problem
McDermott acknowledged that this interpretation conflicts with supersessionism—the dominant Christian view that the church has replaced Israel in God’s affections. “That’s a very different religion,” he said.
He noted that in Matthew 5:17, Jesus declared that not even “one jot or one tittle”—the smallest stroke of the pen in Hebrew—would pass from the Torah until heaven and earth pass away.
“Jesus could not have expressed greater reverence for the authority of every word” in the Hebrew Bible, McDermott said, “where it’s affirmed over and over and over again that the Jews are God’s chosen people and that the land promise is integral to the covenant.”
McDermott has counted every reference: the land promise appears more than 1,000 times in the Hebrew Bible.
The Current Crisis
Why then do so many Christians reject Christian Zionism? McDermott put it bluntly: “I think it’s coming from people who don’t read the Bible.”
He noted that Tucker Carlson “just proudly announced that he’s read the whole Bible just recently.” The problem, McDermott said, is that “a biblical Christian reads the Bible constantly.”
He identified two categories of pastors avoiding this teaching: those trained in supersessionist seminaries (the majority), and those who “know there’s something to this” but fear controversy that might drive congregants away.
The result? “The people in the pews are never taught about this very important subject today.”
Implications Beyond Theology
Rabbi Wolicki pressed McDermott on why this theological dispute matters beyond academic debate. Wolicki argued that a Christian’s position on Israel and the Jewish people isn’t merely one theological point among many—it fundamentally reshapes what Christianity itself means.
If the Jewish people remain God’s chosen people and their restoration to the land remains central to God’s purposes, Wolicki suggested, then gentile Christians relate to Jews as those “grafted in” to an ongoing covenant. But if the church has replaced Israel entirely, then Christianity becomes something fundamentally different—a religion severed from its Jewish roots and promises.
“I don’t think you’re going too far,” McDermott replied, “because a supersessionist Christianity… that’s a very different religion.”
The distinction matters. A supersessionist reading of the New Testament suggests that God’s promises can be revoked, that election can be cancelled, that covenants can be dissolved. A non-supersessionist reading—the one McDermott advocates—argues that God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people demonstrates the reliability of His promises to all believers.
McDermott’s approach is notable precisely because it rests entirely on scriptural exegesis rather than contemporary political concerns. He’s marshaling New Testament texts to argue that the land belongs to the Jewish people not because of current events in the Middle East, but because he believes the Christian scriptures themselves—properly read—demand this conclusion.
Whether his fellow Christians will listen remains an open question.
