What does Tribe teach about praying for israel?

At Tribe, the teaching on praying for Israel starts with the conviction that it is not optional for followers of Jesus. Brian Hunter has led the congregation through Isaiah 62 as a sustained call to intercession, anchoring the whole conversation in verse one, where Isaiah says he will not keep still, cannot remain silent, and will not stop praying for Israel. Brian pressed the room on all three of those postures, saying they are not just Isaiah's personal devotion but the posture the Lord calls His people into. He was direct that staying neutral is not a Christian option, and that the cognitive dissonance between trusting God and watching war on the news has to be held honestly rather than papered over with a tidy religious answer. As Brian put it, "You cannot claim to be a Christian and have a narrative that is contrary to God's narrative on Israel in this situation."

The practical shape of that prayer draws from Isaiah 62:6, where God says He has posted watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem who are to give Him no rest until He establishes her. Brian pointed out that the language is deliberate: God is the one doing the appointing, not the community, which makes this a serious assignment and not one anyone wanders into casually. He connected the watchman image to the Advent season, noting that in the generation when Jesus first arrived, God was already preparing hearts through people like Anna, Simeon, and John the Baptist, and that he believes God is raising up a similar generation now to pray without rest until the second advent. Praying scripture back to God over the situation, starting with the promises in Isaiah 62 itself, was held up as something more substantial than simply venting concern.

Brian has also been clear that this teaching requires a biblical framework already in place before the news cycle sets the terms. When the Hamas attack broke out in October 2023, he told the congregation that without a biblical narrative on Israel, believers will be swept into someone else's narrative or into no coherent narrative at all. He pointed to Zechariah 12 and Romans 11 as the backbone of that framework, and he said the twenty-one day fast for Israel that Tribe had done earlier that fall turned out to be preparation the congregation did not know they would need. The thread running through all of it is that praying for Israel is an act of alignment with what God is doing in history, and that "if you stand against Israel, you are standing against the Lord."

Taught from Isaiah 62:1 · Isaiah 62:6 · Ezekiel 33:1-6 · Zechariah 12:10-11 · Romans 11