Remember: Israel’s Independence Day and the War with Hamas
It was the most well-attended event celebrating Israel in a long time. Friends from near and far gathered to joyfully celebrate. And all along, nobody knew that the Jewish State would be shaken by a devastating
attack by Hamas two weeks later.
Many attended Israel Day on September 24th, enjoying the fellowship and atmosphere of peace and friendship with Israel, shaped by God’s love in Christ. It’s something Israel desperately needs today!
Fredi and Beate Winkler, longtime managers of the Beth Shalom Guest House in Haifa, were still in Switzerland on Independence Day. But as soon as they returned to Israel, the extensive, brutal attack by Hamas broke out on the Sabbath of October 7th. It bore striking resemblance to the Yom Kippur War, almost exactly 50 years later. At the time of that first war, the Winklers were just beginning their service as a young married couple. The war broke out as soon as they were in the country.
Fredi Winkler writes:
“The fact that Hamas was able to surprise Israel to an almost unbelievable degree, shows how completely wrong the country was in its assessment of the situation, and how the intelligence service failed.
“These events are of such shocking scale that it will take time to get an objective picture of what happened. For the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel has declared this attack as war, meaning that martial law has been imposed. It’s hard to guess what the consequences will be… At any rate, these events bring us a big step closer to the end-time events that the Bible describes. Jesus said, ‘See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.’”
Be not troubled! The God of Israel doesn’t forget or forsake His people, even when some think He has. At the Israel Conference, Norbert Lieth and Nathanael Winkler both spoke in their messages of how we shouldn’t forget that the people of Israel are divinely elected, especially today. They shared some moving examples from the past and present, which demonstrate what happens when Christians forget Israel’s place in God’s plan of salvation.
Second Timothy 2:8 was central to the conference: “Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel.” As Norbert Lieth emphasized, the Church needs to remember that its Redeemer is from “the seed of David.” We cannot separate Israel from our Lord.
Israel Day was a blessed and happy occasion. It served as an impetus to continue in prayer for God’s first love, and to stand behind the country and its people. It’s unfortunate that two weeks later, we were shown in concrete terms how necessary this is.
Midnight Call - 03/2024
