Once again a nation so tiny that most people would not be able to find it on a map of the world or a globe is in the forefront of our news – daily. How can this be? This fact alone is of great significance which the wise will take note of.
I’ve been amazed at how several conservative commentators who I may otherwise agree with have taken sides against Israel in the current conflict in the Middle East. True, the U.S. should not be the policeman of the world, and American young people should not be sent all over the world to fight without very good reason. However, some causes are worth defending even from afar, and for the Christian there should be no ambiguity in this case: little Israel needs our help, even if it’s only our financial support, our prayers and encouragement.
TAKING SIDES WITH HITLER
The majority of people in my country of origin, the United Kingdom, are opposed vehemently to the state of Israel. All the people I once mixed with and had so much in common with – liberal and progressive in their views – would be angry with me for defending Israel’s actions in recent times, and in fact have been angry with me on every other occasion in the past when Israelis have attempted to defend themselves. They feel that way because they’re fed a steady diet of propaganda from their media and their professors with no balance to the story, but also because their spiritual position in relation to the Biblical God is intentionally in direct opposition to mine.
Such bias was apparent even decades ago, long before the terrible conflict in Gaza, and long before the current war with the republic of Iran. Eventually the anger will boil over into a full-blown assault on that tiny strip of land – the only piece of Jewish land on earth – in which Jews attempt to live out their lives in security. We may wish we didn’t have to take sides, but sooner or later there will be no choice. Multitudes rail indignantly against a nation attempting to remain alive and thriving. Israel’s tenacity was foretold beautifully, two and a half millennia ago:
“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations (Zechariah 12:2-3).
THE REPLACEMENTS
People like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, because of their low and myopic view of Scripture while they regard themselves as being Christians, see Israel as just another secular nation, and one which causes trouble and mayhem. I see it the other way around, partly because I once spent six months in Israel and saw how small is the land they have to defend; partly because I’m aware of the history of Israel and their enemies who have sought their destruction through the decades and the centuries, and partly because, thanks to the people who led me to a complete understanding of what the Bible says about Israel, I can see that what’s happening was foretold and is within the plan of God, not just for Israel but for the whole world.
JUST ANOTHER NATION?
Those who have convinced themselves that God’s commitment to Israel ended two thousand years ago are seriously wrong and misguided. True, most Israelis are no more righteous than the people of any other secular nation of the world and will face a judgment and a trial of their own, but it’s a colossal mistake to abandon them to their enemies.
FLAWED BUT ACCEPTED ANYWAY
If Candace Owens were to read the Bible rather than just the pronouncements of her church, she would find that the people of Israel will be protected by God in spite of their sin. Yes, Candace, Scripture is clear that God did choose the nation of Israel – for several purposes – and didn’t go on to reject it permanently. Their calamity at the hands of the Roman legions in the first century was the consequence of continually turning against their God. To write them off now because they’re no better than anyone else is a judgment against self. Don’t forget that Christ died for our sins when we were yet in them – not when we stopped sinning. We all obtain mercy because we all need it, including you and I Candace. More than that, we and the Jews share an inseparable kinship through our cultures and through the eternal plan of God.
THE PROMISE KEEPER
Prophecies which relate to God’s actions on behalf of Israel make clear that God intends to fulfill His promises in spite of the shortcomings of the nation He has made those promises to. Isn’t it good to know that God is faithful even when we are not? Otherwise we would all be facing an inescapable judgment. This is made clear by God through the prophet Ezekiel. Regathering comes first (as it has been since 1948 and continues today). Salvation from the enemies of Israel – the world – comes next, and then spiritual cleansing:
“I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, people of Israel!” (Ezekiel 36:32).
“When I have brought them (Israel) back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God” (Ezekiel 39:27-28).
TROUBLEMAKERS
Has Israel really caused all the problems? Again, look at that map. The immediate enemies of Israel command land hundreds of times the size of the nation of Israel, but they claim Israel’s land too. Do-gooders in the West want to shrink the area Israel occupies to a totally indefensible size with no regard for their safety. Even in Europe antisemitism grows, and has become mainstream in many nations such as the U.K. At the heart of Israel’s greatest foes’ theology – which was contrived long after Israel first occupied Canaan – is the stated determination to own it all, and to drive the Jews into the sea (“from the river to the sea” etc).
DEFEND OR DIE
Israel is defending its very existence. The war in Gaza was begun when thousands of armed Hamas fighters broke into southern Israel and began slaughtering and raping as many men, women, children and babies as they could, in horrible ways. Are Israelis not supposed to defend themselves? Are they supposed to just sit back, whimpering, and wait for the next slaughter?
Again, the Iranian republic has vowed to destroy the state of Israel and has been developing nuclear weapons. Should Israelis wait for them to do it, or should they perhaps act to protect their ten million citizens? When Hitler threatened Britian, did the British just sit there and wait for him to arrive on the beaches of southern England? No, they did not. They knew they had to take the fight to Hitler before it was too late to defend the homeland.
Scripture shouts the future, while fools ignore it. There in the pages that people like Candace never read is compelling evidence that our times are profoundly significant:
“On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place” (Zechariah 12:6).
Ultimately, the haters of Israel and Jewry throughout the world will attempt their own “final solution”, but they will find themselves fighting against God. Amazingly, the fight will be arranged by God Himself, providing his own opportunity for and process of judgment:
“In those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will gather all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:1-2).
Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision (verse 14).
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 