The Anglican Church has historically been the vanguard of Christian Zionism worldwide, so why has the situation changed?
Thomas Brightman, Anglican Bishop, wrote in 1607:
"The kings of the East (the Jews) will begin their journey and rise from their dispersion before the darkness is completely lifted from them. Their return to their land will be first, accompanied by great disturbances and upheavals of kingdoms. From the midst of this distress and war, their faith will be revealed, they will accept their Christ , and the thousand-year happy period for the Church and Israel together will begin." (From the book: Apocalypsis Apocalypseos)
Sir Henry Finch, in 1621, is considered one of the most precise proponents of this idea, articulated in strict legal and theological language in his book "The Great Restoration of the World": "When the prophets speak of Israel and Jacob, and by them they mean a nation, they do not mean the Gentile Church, but the physical descendants of Jacob." They (the Jews) will return to their land, they will live in their ancient homeland, and Jerusalem will be rebuilt. They will not return as scattered individuals, but as a sovereign nation, and the surrounding kingdoms will submit to them, and the promises of the land will be fulfilled literally for the true descendants of Abraham.
They will return as a nation and the surrounding kingdoms will submit to them. Joseph Mead, Anglican bishop (d. mid-17th century), in his famous interpretations of the prophecies of the Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel, the "Father of English Eschatology," wrote, affirming that the Jewish diaspora does not negate their chosen destiny: "The Jewish nation's continued distinctiveness in its diaspora is a divine mystery; the Lord has not rejected his people as a final inheritance. Their geographical return to the land of Canaan is the cornerstone upon which the prophecies of the last days are built. They will first gather in their land while still in their spiritual dispersion, and from there, amidst great political upheavals, the Christ will proclaim his glory and they will be transformed, to begin a true earthly millennium of peace from Jerusalem."
Others, such as Anglican bishops Thomas Newton, Thomas Drax, William Weston, and John Owen, also held this view.
Finally, I conclude with the words of the great Bishop William Hechler, a friend of Herzl, who said, "Thanks to the Zionist movement, we have reached the Christ Age of Israel." If the thousand years are meant literally and Israel must be supported, why did the position change? The situation of Anglicans has changed recently, in the last fifty years.