In the churchyard of a historic congregation in New Jersey stands a monument most visitors would not expect: a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, raised by Christians at Deerfield Presbyterian Church determined to stand with the Jewish people. Carved into the stone is a single line from Psalm 118: “I shall not die, but live.”^[1]

This monument is a striking act of solidarity because antisemitism is climbing again across the very societies that once vowed “never again.” In a time when antisemitism is becoming mainstream on every side, it is easy to give into pressure and let slide the hatred and scapegoating against the Jewish people—whom God loves and through whom God chose to bring salvation to the world in His Son, the Jewish Messiah. But to stand strong with God’s chosen people under this pressure, we need to understand what God bound Himself to do when He set the Jewish people apart, and that understanding begins in the opening pages of Scripture.

A Covenant That Cannot Be Broken

Nearly 4,000 years ago, God spoke a promise to a childless man that would shape the rest of human history. The Abrahamic covenant carries no fine print. It simply says this: “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:1–2).

God’s promise did not rest on Abraham’s merit. Nor did He set His love on the Jewish people because of size or strength, but simply out of grace and faithfulness to the oath He had sworn (Deuteronomy 7:7–8). That distinction carries more weight than it first seems. To modern ears, “chosen” can sound like a claim of superiority. But Scripture teaches us that the distinction is closer to a commission than a privilege.

Israel was chosen to be a “light of the nations” (Isaiah 49:6), and woven through God’s covenant is a promise that reaches beyond this small minority to everyone else. Centuries later, the apostle Paul—writing to a mostly Gentile church in Rome—insisted this calling still stood. Paul reminded first-century believers that God’s chosen people remained beloved for the sake of the patriarchs, and “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28–29). To honor that choice is to align with God’s plans and purposes. Likewise, to despise God’s decision is to set oneself against the One who made the promise in the first place.

A People Preserved

Approximately 15.7 million Jewish people live around the world, with the largest communities in the State of Israel and the United States.^[2] The Jewish community is remarkably diverse, and Jewish identity is rich and varied, spanning a wide range of religious observance, belief, and worldview—from deeply devout to entirely secular. Yet, what unites the Jewish community is not uniform belief, but a shared heritage, culture, and history—and, for many, a shared hope that God has not forgotten His promises.

That hope has faced the darkest of days, including expulsion, pogroms, and the murder of 6 million Jewish people during the Holocaust. Yet, Jewish survival stands as a testament to God’s faithfulness that we cannot take lightly.

Jewish culture today reflects both continuity and adaptation, and no story captures that quite as well as the Hebrew language itself. For nearly 2,000 years, Hebrew survived as the language of prayer and study. Then, in the late nineteenth century, a determined lexicographer named Eliezer Ben-Yehuda revived it and brought it back into daily life. Today, it is the everyday language of millions of people.

Alongside that continuity, the ancient festivals, including Passover and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), along with the weekly Sabbath, continue to shape Jewish life even among Jewish members of the community who are not religiously observant. Within the community, there is a relatively small but growing number of Messianic believers who recognize Jesus as Messiah.

Beyond faith, the young State of Israel has become a global center for medicine, agriculture, and technology, and Jewish communities worldwide have made contributions to fields like law, the arts, and civic life for the betterment of society as a whole.

When the Chosen Are Attacked

Since the Jewish people are beloved by God and chosen by Him to be a vessel of blessing to the world, then hatred aimed at the Jewish community is never merely social or political—it is an assault on a people who are precious to God and beloved by Him. The wording of Genesis 12:3 cuts both ways: those who bless the Jewish people share in that blessing, while those who curse the Jewish people invite the very judgment God pledged to bring.

The danger is not abstract. In 2025, the Anti-Defamation League reported 6,274 antisemitic incidents across the United States—an average of 17 every day.^[3] That number fell by 33 percent from the record set in 2024, and at first glance, that sounds like a relief. It is not. The 2025 total still ranks as the third highest since the organization began tracking in 1979, and the hatred grew sharper even as the count eased: physical assaults rose, attacks involving deadly weapons increased by 39 percent, and for the first time since 2019, Jewish people were murdered on American soil in antisemitic attacks.

The hatred may change shape, but the root cause is the same ancient hostility that Scripture frames in deeper terms still. When God called Abram to be the father of His chosen people, the evil one made the Jewish people a target. Throughout history, Satan has sought to destroy the line through which the Messiah came into the world, for to break the promise God made to Abraham would be to make the word of God itself fail. Antisemitism, then, is not only a human sin but a spiritual assault that believers are called not to ignore but to stand against.

A Mandate to Stand

What does it look like to stand with the Jewish people? It begins with learning the history of antisemitism, naming it, and refusing to repeat it. Then it continues with having the courage to speak up when a stereotype surfaces in conversation, or when a conspiracy theory circulates online. Silence, however comfortable, is its own kind of acceptance. Standing with the Jewish people also involves growing relationships; genuine friendships with Jewish neighbors and coworkers does more to dissolve prejudice than any argument.

There is another reason to stand with the Jewish people that runs deeper than politics or duty. Every root of the Christian faith runs through the Jewish people—Scripture, the prophets, and the Messiah Himself, who was born of the tribe of Judah and the Jewish son of a Jewish mother. If you remove the Jewish people from the story, then there is no covenant, no Scripture, and no Savior. To stand with the Jewish people is to stand on the very ground the Christian faith is built upon. Believers who treasure the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) have every reason to stand with the people He came from—and to say so clearly, especially now. To learn how to do that today, the Coalition Against Antisemitism offers a variety of free resources including articles, podcasts, and videos that will explain how you can oppose this ancient hatred with God-given wisdom and grace.