Pray for Israel. On October 7th, 2023, Israel was attacked without warning by land, sea, and air by Hamas, a terrorist organization currently elected as the governing entity of the Gaza Strip. October 7th was a Saturday, and was a special Sabbath day known as Shemini Atzaret, or the eighth day Sabbath of Sukkot. This special Sabbath day is added onto the seven day Feast of Booths (Sukkot) and wraps up the Jewish Feast which is a fall harvest celebration and commemoration of the wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. This attack immediately reminded me of the attack on Yom Kippur in 1973, which consisted of a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria.
Some may wonder why Christians, especially Evangelicals, support Israel so strongly. Israel is a Nation which is not very big, and hasn’t always been fully supportive of American interests. Also, while the nation of Israel is largely non-religious it could be argued, the state-sponsored religion is of course Judaism, which denies that Jesus was the Son of God. It seems strange to many why Evangelical Christians consistently come to Israel’s defense.
Christian’s support Israel because God told us to…It’s as simple as that. Genesis 12:1-3 says: “The LORD said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
It is important to understand that the Christian Church did not replace Israel in any sense or fashion. Many Christian denominations teach that when Jesus the Messiah was rejected by Israel, that God’s favor and promises were then transferred to the Church. They believe that the Church is therefore the heir of all of Israel’s promises and prophetic statements. That is simply not true and bad theology.
The Church is the Bride of Christ and the Body of Christ. It is referred to as the “mystery” in the New Testament. Paul in Romans chapter 11 explains clearly that we were “grafted” into the cultivated root which is Israel as God’s chosen people, but we do not become that root. In fact, it is stated that Israel will someday be “grafted in again.”
That promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 12 still applies and is in effect…God will Bless Israel, and ALL the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham and his descendants. This refers directly to Jesus coming from this lineage to save Jew and Gentile alike.
The Christian Church seems to be focused on the end goal of getting to heaven. Heaven is the final destination, and that is all that really matters to them. This is also wrong and un-biblical. The Bible does not stop after the rapture occurs. Time does not just end there. That is because after the rapture, the Bible then refocuses on Israel, and the rest of the book of Revelation after chapter 3 to chapter 22 is the completion of the story started in Genesis.
God’s chosen people, Israel, are redeemed and restored to a right relationship with their Messiah, Jesus Christ. Through the 7 years of the tribulation, and the 1000 years of the millennial Kingdom, Israel is once again the focus of the Bible’s attention. The sacrificial system in the temple is re-implemented, the Feasts are re-implemented, and Jerusalem is the capital city of God’s kingdom on earth. God will bless those who bless Israel, and will curse those who curse Israel.
There is a lot of confusion and rewriting of history about the region of Israel, or “Palestine” as it is often referred to in mainstream media today. There are also a lot of players in the region that are confusing. The conflicts between the nation of Israel and their Arab neighbors go back decades, and really even centuries to be honest. The strife between Israel and their Arab neighbors can be found in the stories of the first book of the Old Testament known as the book of beginnings, Genesis.
In Genesis chapter 16 we are told about Hagar, the handmaiden to Abraham’s wife Sarah. Sarah encourages Abraham to conceive a child with Hagar, in order to “help” God out by providing the promised son (Isaac) that had yet to be born to Sarah. She then gets jealous of Hagar and sends her away. God intervenes and promises Hagar that her son will also be blessed. Ishmael becomes a leader of his people, and Hagar has 11 more sons. The descendants are known as Hagarenes, and also as Ishmaelites in the Bible. They are associated with Arab nations that are constantly in conflict with Israel today.
In Genesis chapter 19 we are told about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot and his two daughters escaping the destruction. Lot’s two daughters go on to marry and eventually form the people groups known as Moabites and Ammonites, both groups who were in conflict with Israel and who makeup the Arab countries surrounding Israel today.
In Genesis chapter 25 we are introduced to Esau, son of Isaac. Jacob and Esau are in conflict from the very beginning, at birth even. Jacob would later be called “Israel”, and Esau would become the father of a group of people called the Edomites. The Edomites were in constant conflict with the nation of Israel, and makeup part of the Arab countries surrounding Israel today.
The strife in the Old Testament between these people and the descendants of Abraham which become “Israelites” continues on into the modern times. The conflicts that the nation of Israel has with the surrounding Arab, predominantly Islam, countries can all be traced back to these original conflicts detailed in the book of Genesis.
Here is the truth of where the history of the “Palestinian people” actually comes from. After World War II, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for the area which they called “Palestine.” The plan recommended the creation of an independent Jewish state known as Israel. The Plan was accepted by the Jews but rejected by the Arabs. The day after the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14th, 1948, neighboring Arab countries invaded Israel in what became known as the “First Arab–Israeli War.” Just prior to the attack, the Arab countries advised all “palestinian people” living in the newly formed area called “Israel” to flee their homes temporarily, to aid in the destruction of the new nation known as Israel. They assured them that once Israel was completely destroyed, they could return to their homes and land free of the Jewish people once and for all.
Of course, that is not what happened. God miraculously protected Israel and they triumphed over the Arab countries in the face of overwhelming odds. As a result, those several hundred thousand of Arab “palestinian people” who had voluntarily left their homes became refugees. The surrounding Arab countries refused to integrate the refugees into their lands, and instead setup refugee camps which remain to this day in the areas of Gaza and the West Bank primarily.
Here are some terms that it may be helpful to explain more fully:
“Palestine”=The Roman Empire initially used other terms for the region, such as Judaea, but renamed the region Syria Palaestina. The area has been called by many names, including Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and the Land of Israel.
“Gaza” = The Gaza Strip, or simply Gaza, is a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The smaller of the two Palestinian territories, it borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the east and north. Together, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank make up the State of Palestine. Gaza is governed by Hamas, a militant, fundamentalist Islamic organization. Since then, Gaza has been under a full Israeli-led land, sea and air blockade. Gaza has around 2 million Palestinians who are descendants of refugees who fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
“West Bank” = The West Bank is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Western Asia that forms the main bulk of the Palestinian territories. It is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel to the south, west, and north. It has been under an Israeli military occupation since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War. It initially was a Jordanian-occupied territory after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, before being annexed outright by Jordan in 1950, and was given its name during this time based on its location on the western bank of the Jordan River. The territory remained under Jordanian rule until 1967, when it was captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War. It has a population of 2,747,943 Palestinians, and over 670,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank.
“Hamas”= an acronym for Ḥarakah al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah, or the 'Islamic Resistance Movement'. A Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization in Palestine. It won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and became the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip following the 2007 Battle of Gaza. Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization. It is not considered a terrorist organization by Brazil, China, Egypt, Iran, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Syria and Turkey. In December 2018, a resolution to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization failed to pass the United Nations General Assembly.
“Hezbollah” = Hezbollah or "Party of God", was founded in 1982 by Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Its primary objectives were to export Iran's Islamic Revolution and combat Israeli forces that had invaded Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). Hezbollah has recently been operating out of the West Bank, and is funded and supported heavily by Iran.
