Sermon Recap
Zionism
Part 6 of 9 in Unbreakable
Parte 6 de 9 de la serie Unbreakable
Brian Hunter · March 1, 2026
“who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, Let it be rebuilt, and of the temple, Let its foundations be laid.”
“This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut.”
Scripture Referenced
Recap
Week six, and Brian said what it was going to be about before he started: Zionism. He was equally clear that whatever anyone in the room had heard or read about the word, it was worth talking about properly rather than leaving it to whoever shouts loudest.
His first move was to take the word back. Why does anybody else get to define words and terms and phrases. Let God have the last word on the vocabulary, and then the argument can proceed. He gave the definition plainly: a movement to secure and maintain a safe homeland for the Jewish people as a nation. Not a conspiracy, not a slur, a definition.
He then walked through the shape of the argument he keeps meeting, the one that runs from a single figure or a single act to the conclusion that therefore the entire Zionist movement is tainted and evil. He asked the room to see the logic rather than the emotion, because it is the leap in the middle that does the damage and it is the leap that goes unexamined.
The teaching went to Cyrus in Isaiah 44 and 45, and this is the passage that makes the point uncomfortable in a useful way. God calls a pagan king his shepherd and his anointed, and commissions him to rebuild Jerusalem. Brian asked the room to reconcile that with their understanding of God’s character, because it will not fit inside a tidy version of how God is supposed to work.
From there, the question of judgment and who has the authority to render it. Brian’s line was that it is not yours to declare, and that God has used instruments before. The flood was one. A nation has been another. It is not comfortable, and he did not sand it down.
He closed on the assumption most likely to mislead the room, which is the quiet Christian confidence that God is on our side. He does work all things for the good of those who love him. That is not the same claim, and the difference between the two is most of what this series has been trying to teach.