The War in Israel

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Let me start by reminding you of what you know, and that is that Israel became a nation in May of 1948, and over the next seventy-five years, there have been multiple attempts to wipe them out by their Arab neighbors.  But, back in 2005, Israel offered the Palestinians control of the Gaza Strip as a kind of olive branch – sadly, shortly after that, the radical group Hamas, funded and directed by Iran, took control of the Gaza Strip.  Hamas is committed to the total destruction of Israel – that is their one stated objective. So, Israel has had to secure its borders with Gaza, had to limit trade to prevent Hamas's access to more and better weapons, while still allowing medical and other non-military supplies. And, of course, that brings us up to last Saturday, October 7, when Hamas brutally attacked Israel – they indiscriminately killed men, women, and children of all ages; they took more than 150 hostages to Gaza.  It seems Iran helped them plan and fund the attack.  We become so jaded to what happens in the Middle East that it's easy for us to think that this is just business as usual – this is not business as usual.  This is the largest war in Israel in fifty years, since the 1967 war and the Yom Kippur War of 1973 – and, of course, anything that happens in the Middle East sits on a powder keg that could certainly grow into a more regional conflict.

So, how are we, as believers, to process all of this – how are we to understand it biblically?  This morning, I want us to consider four key biblical perspectives about the current war in Israel that, I think, will bring clarity to our understanding.  The first perspective helps us think about this whole situation historically.  Historically – and there are two historical perspectives we need to examine.  The first is that God promised the land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants forever. Go back to Genesis 15 – you remember, in Genesis 12, God calls Abraham to Himself, makes him the promise that from Him will come spiritual blessing to the world, the promise of the Messiah – and He also promises him land.  Here, in Genesis 15, God reiterates the promise, the covenant with Abraham, and He explicitly stipulates the land promise.  In verse 4, "the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 'This man will not be your heir, but the one who will come forth from your own body will be your heir.'  He took him outside and said, 'Look towards the heavens, count the stars, if you are able to count them.'  And He said, 'So shall your descendants be.'  And he believed in the Lord, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.  And God said to him, 'I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.'  He said, 'O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?'"[SR1]   And God initiates a solemn ceremony in which an animal is cut into pieces – and then Abram waits.  Go over to the end of the chapter, to verse 17 – "It came about when the sun had set, and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces."  In other words, God manifested Himself, and God walked, as it were, between the pieces of that carved-up animal – it's a very solemn occasion. God was essentially saying to Abraham, if what I'm promising you doesn't come true, may what happened to this animal happen to Me.  Verse 18, "On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates" – from the Nile all the way to the Fertile Crescent and the Euphrates; God says, I've given you that land.

Go to chapter 17, verse 6 – another reiteration of the covenant, "'I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.  I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.'"[SR2]   Now, watch verse 8 – "'I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.'"  God says, I have given this land to you as long as the earth stands – God promised the land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants forever.

So, where did the conflict come from?  That brings us to the second historical perspective, and that is, this war is the latest conflict between the descendants of Abraham through Isaac, and those through Ishmael, over that very piece of land.  You know the story – rather than trust God and wait for the heir that God had promised them in their old age, Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands, and Abraham had a son by Hagar, Sarah's maid, in chapter 16 of Genesis.  His name was Ishmael – and this is important to understand – Ishmael is the father of all of the Arabs; that's where the conflict begins.  Look at chapter 17, verse 20 – God says to Abraham, "'As for Ishmael, I have heard you; and behold, I will bless him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly.'"  That's Ishmael, that's the Arabs.  "'He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.  But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year,'" at 99 and 100, the two of them.  So, God promised that He would bless Ishmael in answer to the prayer of Abraham, and He did – the descendants of Ishmael spread across the Middle East, became a great people and great nations.

Now, fast-forward from two thousand years before Christ to six hundred years after Christ – the Arabs are all over the Middle East; a great people, many nations, but they eventually become one vast empire because of the religion founded by Mohammed, who was born in Mecca in the year 570 A.D.  Mohammed claimed to be a descendant of Ishmael, and almost certainly was.  He became the source of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, and that's how the Arab peoples became one vast sort of amalgamated people, was through the religion founded by Mohammed in 610 A.D.[SR3]   Now, listen, here's the problem – today, there are 456 million Arabs in twenty-two countries, that surround 6.8 million Jews who live in Israel.  456 million Arabs in twenty-two countries surrounding 6.8 million Jews in a single country.  So, this conflict has profoundly deep historical roots.

Now, that brings us to a second perspective that helps us think about the war – let's think about it theologically.  Let's move on from the historical perspective to a theological one – and there are several theological perspectives that really do give us insight.  The first one is this:  This war is part of Satan's long war with God.  Turn to Revelation 12 – as you're turning, let me just remind you that in Genesis 3, Satan initiates his war against humanity.  In Genesis 12, then, God chooses Abraham as the father of the nation Israel through whom He would put Himself on display; Israel would be God's witness nation.  And from Israel would come God's word and the Messiah; the word written, and the word incarnate – and with that began Satan's war against Israel.  Now, Revelation 12 tells us that throughout human history, Satan has been at war with God, then with His Messiah, and with His people Israel, and those attacks will only intensify as the end nears.  Let's look at it – John first introduces us to the three main characters in this drama; we meet the first main character in verse 1. "A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" – I wish I had time to explain the symbolism in all of that; you can go listen online if you want to fill this out a bit.  But the key question is, what does this woman represent?  Well, notice in verse 5 – it says she gave birth to the Messiah; so, this woman represents Israel.  In verse 3, we meet the second character – "Then another sign appeared in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon."  Verse 9 identifies this dragon as "the devil and Satan." He's called a dragon here to picture his character; he's ferocious, he's violent, and he's great; that is, he's enormous in size, terrifying in appearance.  In verse 4, we learn how Satan's evil career began; it says, "And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to earth" – that's a very abbreviated form of what Ezekiel 28 tells us. Ezekiel 28 tells us that Satan was once the "anointed cherub that covered,"[SR4]  a holy angel, probably the prime minister of heaven – but his heart was "lifted up"[SR5]  with pride; he imagined himself greater than God, and so he rebelled against God his creator and began a cosmic war that reaches to every corner of the universe today.

His war against God has been fought on two fronts – initially, it was fought directly against God and His holy angels in heaven; that's alluded to in verse 4.  But Satan's mutiny eventually opened a second front, as he led a rebellion against God among humanity – since the Fall in the Garden in Genesis 3, this planet has been the primary theater of Satan's war against God.  Tragically, Satan doesn't fight this war alone – verse 4 says "his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to earth."  In other words, a third of the angels joined Satan in his rebellion – once cast out of heaven to earth, he directed his attacks against Israel; his ultimate target was Israel's Messiah.  Throughout history, he attempted to destroy the people of God in order to prevent the birth of the Messiah – I wish I had time to take you back through the Old Testament and show you how often that plays out.  In fact, there's one point in Israel's history when the line of the Messiah hung on a single young child, and the enemies of God sought to kill that child. Despite Satan's efforts revealed in verse 4 – look at verse 4 again; "the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child."  Again, you see alluded to there even Herod's killing of the newborns in Bethlehem. Despite his many efforts to prevent the birth of the Messiah or to kill Him shortly after He was born, verse 5 says she; that is, Israel, "gave birth to a son, a male child" – this is the incarnation of the eternal Son of God.  Romans 1:3, God's Son was "born of a descendant of David according to the flesh."  Verse 5 describes this son, this male child, very clearly – notice, "who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron."  And then he says, "her child was caught up to God and to His throne" – in other words, John skips over Jesus' ministry; skips from Jesus' birth to His ascension and exaltation.  That's because of the point he's making in this chapter, because in verse 6, John suddenly jumps again from the life of Jesus and the ascension of Jesus to the end of history, to the last three-and-a-half years of the future seven-year Tribulation; verse 6, "Then the woman fled into the wilderness."  During the Tribulation, Satan will try to kill the Jews so that none of them will be saved, as God has promised, and enter into Christ's millennial kingdom. Verse 6 goes on to say "the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand, two hundred and sixty days" – that's three-and-a-half years.  So, why do I go through all of that?  The big point I want you to see is this – the current war of Hamas against Israel is simply the latest battle in Satan's long war with God, and that war centers in attacking God's people who gave birth to the Messiah.

A second theological perspective we need to understand is that Satan is a murderer who loves to kill and destroy, especially God's Old Testament people, Israel, and New Testament believers.  In John 8:44, Jesus describes Satan this way – "He was a murderer from the beginning."  Satan is a murderer – he loves to kill and destroy; that's his nature – and Satan's murderous rage is uniquely focused on God's people.  Look at [Revelation] chapter 12, if you're still there, verse 13 – "When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to earth" – this is a battle that will happen during the Tribulation that mirrors an earlier one – "when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child."  He persecuted Israel; he will focus his rage on Israel, as he has done throughout history, and will do again during the Tribulation.  But it goes on in verse 14 to say that "two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman" – in other words, God helped Israel fly into protection in the wilderness.  And when Satan sees that God has protected Israel, notice what he does in verse 17 – "the dragon was enraged with the woman" – but he can't get to her, so what does he do?  He "went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus."  In other words, he will level and redirect his rage on Gentile believers.  Satan is a murderer, and he hates God's people, whether you're talking about God's Old Testament people, Israel, or whether you're talking about New Testament believers – that's what you see happening in the Middle East.

A third theological perspective is this – like all false religion, Islam is inspired and empowered by demons who use its worshippers to advance Satan's cause.  If I had time, I'd take you to chapter 17 of Revelation, where there we meet the False Prophet [who] brings together all the world religions into one great ecumenical force that will include, by the way, Islam.  He brings them together into one great force, and there, God describes false religion like a harlot empowered by Satan.  It was true then, and it's still true today – it's explicitly put in 1 Corinthians 10:19-20. Paul says, "What do I mean, then … that an idol is anything?  No" – an idol isn't anything – "but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God."  In other words, an idol isn't a real god, but what empowers that god; what is it that brings and inspires worship of that non-existent god? It's demons – so, when the people of the world are engaged in false religion, they are actually unwittingly worshipping demons.  Islam, like all other false religion, is under the control of demons, and fulfills Satan's purposes.  You know, when you think about the destruction of innocent human life last week, certainly it's an expression of human depravity at its worst – at the same time, it is also an expression of the evil of false religion.

Now, don't misunderstand me – not all Muslims kill the innocent, and not all false religions urge their people to kill innocent people.  And, I think, at the same time, it's important for us to remember that those who are enslaved in false religion, including Muslims, are not our enemies – they are our mission field.  However, understand that every false religion damns the souls of people; that's the point – and false religion always has been one of the greatest persecutors of the people of God; Islam is no exception to that.  In fact, you know, we look at a sort of whitewashed, Westernized version of Islam – understand that historic Islam is an imperialistic, militaristic faith; it doesn't try to convince and persuade others to join. You know, we go evangelizing, we appeal to people, we try to persuade them to believe in Christ with the gospel – that's not how Islam works.  I read a book a number of years ago written by a professor at Old Dominion who is a Muslim, and he was – the book is called The Future of an Imperialistic Faith[SR6]  – and he argues that Islam is about subjugating others to Allah, whether by force, as has happened often in history, or by simply overwhelming them with the birthrate, by having a lot of children, and in the end, there are more Muslims than there are non-Muslims, and in that way, people are forced to do obeisance to Allah.  The media says that Hamas and Hezbollah practice a radical form of Islam that has hijacked an otherwise peace-loving faith – the truth is, Hamas is far closer to the earliest and purest form of Islam under Mohammed.  So, understand – the war that's happening in the Middle East right now is perpetrated by a demonic religion.

A fourth theological perspective is that God is sovereign over, and uses His enemies, to accomplish His eternal plan of redemption – God has a plan, and that plan is redemption.  Chapter 17, verse 17, talking about Antichrist, and talking about that great, one-world, ecumenical force of false religion, says this:  "God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose."  God has a plan.  In chapter 13, verse 7, it says Antichrist was "given" power.  In chapter 13, verse 15, it says the False Prophet was "given" power – and in context, it's not Satan, it's God allowing that to unfold for His own purposes.  You see, at God's command, false religion is allowed to flourish, and at God's command, it will ultimately be destroyed – but until He does so, He uses all these things to accomplish His redemptive purposes.  Go back to chapter 7 of Revelation – you know, as all of this unfolds, as Antichrist does his worst, as false religion runs rampant on this globe, as God's people are persecuted and put to death and martyred, notice what God is in the business of doing.  Verse 9, Revelation 7:9, "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'"  While Antichrist does his worst, while false religion does its worst, God is redeeming a people by His Son, for His Son, to His own glory.  Even this recent tragedy in Israel – God's plan is redemptive; out of this, while He will judge those who perpetrated it if they don't repent and believe in His Son, He is redeeming a people.  His plan was redemptive for the infants who were tragically, sinfully slaughtered, but who are now safe in the arms of God.  For some around the world unsettled by these events, some who are enslaved to Islam, some who are unbelieving Jewish people – some of them will in part, because of these circumstances, come to realize their lostness and come to faith in Christ; God has a redemptive purpose.

That brings us to a third perspective about all of this – it helps us think about the war prophetically.  Prophetically – just a couple of things we need to understand; first of all, God will preserve Israel as He promised.  God will preserve Israel as He promised – God explicitly states that He will never forsake His people.  Psalm 94:14, "Yahweh will not abandon His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance."  But I love Jeremiah 31:37; listen to this:  "Thus says Yahweh, 'If the heavens above can be measured,'" if we can measure the universe, "'and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,' declares the Lord."  In other words, it's not going to happen; no matter what they do, I will not abandon them, because I have made promises.  It's exactly what Paul says in Romans 11:1, "God has not rejected His people."  Israel will suffer under God's judgment, Satan's hatred, persecution – but she will not be totally destroyed as a people; God has promised.

At the same time, there's a second prophetic perspective you need, and that is that Israel currently rests under the judgment of God.  Israel currently rests under the judgment of God – I wish I had time to develop this, but if you go back to Luke 19-21, you find, again and again, Jesus making this point.  He says, listen – you rejected and killed the prophets that were sent to you, and now God has sent Me, His only Son, and you're going to kill Me.  And, because of your rejection of God's prophets, because of your rejection of your Messiah, because "you didn't recognize the time of your visitation,"[SR7]  as Jesus puts it – you're going to be under the judgment of God, partially fulfilled in 70 A.D. when "not one stone was left upon another,"[SR8]  but ultimately fulfilled through history, and even to the very end, in the Tribulation period.  That's why the Tribulation is called the "time of Jacob's trouble" [SR9] – it's part of the judgment of God.  Israel killed the prophets, she killed her Messiah, and she's now under the judgment of God.  So, listen carefully – there's a balance to preserve here.  On the one hand, the Jewish people are still under God's care because they are the descendants of Abraham, and they will not be destroyed.  On the other hand, they're suffering God's judgment for rejecting His prophets and their own Messiah – but listen; God is not done with them yet, as we'll see in a moment.  So, that means, as believers, as New Testament believers, we still honor the Jewish people as the people of God, the people God chose and that God is not finished with, and will ultimately redeem, even while we recognize that most of them are unbelievers who have rejected their Messiah and rest under God's judgment.

There's a third prophetic perspective we need, and I love this – at the Second Coming, God will save all the living descendants of Abraham by His grace.[SR10]  During the second half of the Tribulation, because of Antichrist's brutal persecution and war against God's people, only one third of the Jewish people will survive the Tribulation. Zechariah 13:8, "'It will come about in all the land,' declares the Lord, 'that two parts of it will be cut off and perish, but the third will be left in it.'"  God will intervene, and He will rescue a Jewish remnant – the third who survive from Antichrist.  In Daniel 12:1[SR11] , they are called those who are "found written in the Book," meaning the Book of Life.  Some of the remnant will believe during the Tribulation, through the ministry of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses and other gospel witnesses that God appoints.  The rest of that third who survive the Tribulation will be saved at the Second Coming – Zechariah puts it this way, Zechariah 12:10 – I love this – "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn."  Zechariah 13:1 adds, "In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity."  That's exactly what Paul promises in Romans 11; he says, here's the mystery – at that time, "all Israel will be saved."[SR12]  Why?  He says, because "the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable."[SR13]  So, we need to think about this war prophetically.

A fourth perspective helps us think about the war personally – just a couple of thoughts to consider; how do you address this from a personal standpoint?  Number one – repent and believe the gospel.  In Luke 13, Jesus describes the recent massacre by the wicked Pilate of some worshippers who were at the temple offering their sacrifices – He describes it, and then He says something very interesting. He says, "Do you think that those who were killed by that wicked man Pilate were worse than the rest of the sinners in Jerusalem?" And He says, no, they weren't worse – "but unless you repent, you will also perish."[SR14]  Do you know what Jesus was saying? He was saying people who die, even at the hands of wicked people – those people who died a week ago at the hands of Hamas – they weren't more wicked than the rest of us!  But what their death reminds us of is that we, too, will die, and we won't know when and we won't know how – and we had better be prepared to meet God, our Creator.  Jesus says, repent – repent, or you will perish.  My cry to you today, if you don't know Jesus Christ, is to recognize that those people weren't more wicked than you are – they didn't know, when they were asleep in their beds that Saturday morning, what would happen to them; they died, and so will you, and you won't know when and you won't know how – Jesus says, repent, or you too will perish.

Secondly, if you're a believer, trust in God's sovereign power and plan.  It's so easy, isn't it, to get caught up in everything that's going on and to think the world's out of control, all of this is going to explode, World War III – listen, let me just say that if the very worst happens, if that powder keg in the Middle East explodes and engulfs the world in world war – which I don't think is going to happen, but I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet – if the worst happens, God is on His throne. Psalm 33:11 – I love this – "The counsel of Yahweh stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation."  Nothing that happens in this world messes up His plans, and His plans will stand and will happen – so, sit back, you know, get rid of the white knuckles[SR15] ; you're along for the ride.  But there is somebody driving the bus – it's not you, it's God Himself; you can trust Him.

Number three – pray for the salvation of Jews and Arabs.  Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:1, I want prayers to be offered for all people. Listen – God is redeeming a people for His Son, from all people and tongues and nations; pray for the salvation of Jews and Arabs through all of this.

And number four – this is from Psalm 122:6 – "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."  But listen – when you pray that, you're not praying that some human broker of peace will show up who somehow patches together a temporary truce; that's not peace.  You're praying that the Messiah will come, the only One who can bring peace. And how does He do that?  He first brings peace between us and God, as Ephesians 2 says, and then He brings peace between us and others.  That's the only way it ever happens.  That's our prayer, "pray for the peace of Jerusalem."

Take a moment now and prepare your heart, as the men come to serve us the Lord's Table.

Our Father, I pray, first of all, for any here this morning who have not repented and believed in Your Son – Lord, help them to see the truth of what Jesus said, that those who died a week ago in Israel were not more wicked, and that we are all going to die; we won't know when and we won't know how – help us to be prepared.  I pray for them, that You would help them to be prepared by repenting and trusting in Your Son, in His life, death and resurrection as their only hope of being right with You.  Lord, for the rest of us, help us to trust You, to pray for Your redemptive purpose to be done.  Thank You that You have brought peace between us and You – and because of that, we enjoy peace with each other.  Lord, we live in a divided world, but we thank You that Jesus is our peace, with You, and with others.  Thank You that we can celebrate that in the Lord's Table, that He is our reconciliation. Lord, as we prepare to take of the Lord's Table, we pray for Your forgiveness, for Your cleansing – Lord, don't let us come to this with anything less than clean hands and pure hearts; forgive our sins against You.  Lord, each of us individually lift up our hearts to You, the sins that we know, and the sins that we don't, asking that you would cleanse, forgive, and give us a renewed resolve to follow Jesus in obedience.  Receive the worship that we bring now.

We ask in His name. Amen.

 [SR1]Genesis 15:4-8.

 [SR2]Genesis 17:6-7.

 [SR3]Tom said 570 A.D. here, but that was the year Mohammed was born, so it couldn’t have been founded that year.  Muslims say he had his first “revelation” in 610 A.D. and consider that the year that Islam began.

 [SR4]From Ezekiel 28:14.

 [SR5]From Ezekiel 28:17.

 [SR6]This book is Islam as Political Religion: The Future of an Imperial Faith by Shabbir Akhtar.

 [SR7]From Luke 19:44.

 [SR8]From Luke 21:6.

 [SR9]From Jeremiah 30:7.

 [SR10]I assume Tom is referring to the descendants of Abraham through Isaac here, and not those through Ishmael.  - SR

 [SR11]Tom quotes this as Daniel 12, verse 2, but the excerpt is from the end of verse 1.

 [SR12]From Romans 11:26.

 [SR13]From Romans 11:29.

 [SR14]Paraphrases of Luke 13:2-3.

 [SR15]Tom first says “get the white knuckles” but then corrects himself.