Israel Shakes the World
The signs read in Hebrew, “Say what you will, nothing’s going to happen because God is with us.” And, “The Bible is our mandate and England cannot overrule it.”
Opinions are divided on Israel. Or we could say, Israel divides opinions. The country isn’t just in a situation of severe conflict; it’s at war! Media coverage of the current conflict ranges from fake news to one-sided, manipulative propaganda. In order to get closer to the underlying problem, it’s essential to take a look back at the history of the Jewish land and people. A historical review should make the answers to the following three questions easier to understand:
1. To whom does the land of Israel belong?
2. Who were the region’s native inhabitants?
3. How did Islam come into being?
TO WHOM DOES THE LAND OF ISRAEL BELONG?
This is a good question, but a tricky one. The Bible gives an answer that initially surprises: The land belongs neither to the Jews nor to anyone else, but to the living God. In Leviticus 25:23, it is written, “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.” The Lord also speaks of “my land” in other passages of Scripture. Israel is the land that God is watching over day and night. It is the place on earth that the Lord has chosen to fulfill His plan of salvation. But the land is intended for no one besides His people Israel, with its inhabitants “strangers and sojourners.” Questions about the land of Israel are inextricably linked to questions about God.
WHO WERE ISRAEL’S NATIVE INHABITANTS?
From the Old Testament writings (the Hebrew Bible), believers surely know the events surrounding the Hebrew patriarchs, which is why I’m only listing the key points here. Roughly 4,000 years ago, God called Abraham and instructed him to leave his hometown of Ur in Chaldea (in present-day Iraq) for a land that He would show him. The Bible then records the subsequent generations in Genesis: Isaac and Jacob, whom the Lord later called “Israel.” Jacob had twelve sons who went to Egypt during a great famine, and were welcomed there by Joseph and the incumbent Pharaoh. The descendants of Jacob and his sons grew very numerous in the centuries that followed. The later Egyptian ruler eventually classified them as a threat, and ordered the midwives to drown the Israelite boys in the Nile immediately after birth … proving that a form of anti-Semitism was already evident at that time. The Bible then reports how God miraculously helped the Israelites escape the Egyptians’ massive oppression and slavery. “I am who I am!” is how God revealed Himself to Moses, whom He called to lead the entire people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. In Exodus 3:15, more is said about this God, Yahweh: “God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.’”
After leaving Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, and wandering through the desert for forty years, the Israelites reached the northern end of the Dead Sea. Led by Joshua, they crossed the Jordan and conquered the Promised Land, which was divided between the twelve tribes according to God’s instructions. A few centuries later, under kings Saul, David, and especially Solomon, the land had expanded and reached as far as the Euphrates (including parts of what is now Syria and Jordan, and certainly many areas “from the river to the sea”). It’s interesting that Israel has been celebrating this Exodus from Egypt every year for 3,400 years now, as part of Passover! It not only commemorates the past, but also looks to future redemption through the promised Messiah and the coming kingdom of peace.
HOW DID ISLAM COME INTO BEING?
Israel’s conflict with its surrounding nations and people in the Middle East today, is also religious in nature. Fanaticism and hatred of Jews came from Islam in particular. This is why we should take a look at the history of this religion. Mohammed lived from 570 to 632 AD (about 2,500 years after Abraham, 2,000 years after Moses, and 500 years after Jesus). There was no Islam before Mohammed, even though certain circles claim that Abraham was the first Muslim. (There is no ancient writing or archaeological evidence supporting this.) Mohammed was illiterate, but he had many conversations with Jews and Christians. Much of what he heard appears in the Koran in one form or another, although sometimes slightly or heavily modified. In other words, through the Koran, Mohammed was creating a bootleg copy of Israel’s holy Scriptures, with elements from the New Testament. The entire piece was nationalized toward Arabs, so that the son of the promise is not Isaac but Ishmael. Salvation no longer comes from the Jews (as Jesus said in John 4:22), but from Allah or, figuratively, from the Arabs. Yet God has expressly said that Isaac is the one to perpetuate the line of promise and redemption. We want to hold to this truth and not shake the Bible’s completely certain foundation. Ultimately, it comes down to the battle between light and darkness, truth and lies, good and evil! In news reporting on the current conflict, especially by Israeli media, there is often talk of evil. And yes, the way Hamas acts is cruel, inhumane, and evil!
ISRAEL, GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE
At the beginning of the article, I mentioned the questions surrounding the land being connected with the questions surrounding God. Along these lines, I could also say that Israel is proof of God’s existence. Deuteronomy 4:32-33 says: “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?”
This was God’s mighty appearance on Mount Sinai, during the forty-year journey through the desert. Then, verse 34 continues: “Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”
The ten plagues and God’s heavy-handed words were necessary for Pharaoh to finally let the people of Israel go, although he quickly regretted it and pursued them with his large army. The Israelites were able to cross the Red Sea on dry land, while the Egyptian army drowned in it. God redeemed His people from slavery in Egypt by performing divine signs and wonders.
Verses 35-37 continue: “To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power.” This is the chosen people of Israel, the apple of God’s eye!
“Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD…” (Deut 33:29). This is Moses’ summation—his testament, so to speak—shortly before his death.
The Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth, also gave commandments, laws, and guidelines for living together to His people from Mount Sinai. Deuteronomy 4:6 says: “Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’”
God gave these wonderful instructions, the Ten Commandments, on two stone tablets engraved with His own finger. The Lord continues: “And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them” (Deut 28:13).
This is Israel’s very special position among the other nations! Despite their great achievements and inventions, their power and splendor, Israel brought completely different spiritual values—and, above all, the knowledge of the one true God.
Moses writes the commandments in Deuteronomy 32:47a this way: “For it is no empty word for you, but your very life…” The Lord Jesus also underscores God’s Word in Matthew 4:4: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” As people created in God’s image, we need this spiritual orientation, this essential information from His Word, in order to have true life.
Under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Paul wrote about God’s mighty plan of salvation for His chosen people and the nations in Romans 9–11. In Romans 9:3-5, he emphasizes Israel’s special position, even under the new covenant: “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”
Paul stresses that all these things belong to the Jews. So, let’s be wary of Replacement Theology, which irrevocably erases Israel and puts the Church in the position of being the exclusive target of every promise. Let’s be thankful that the light was brought to the nations, because the Jews were temporarily set aside. The Church can now partake of the sap of the cultivated olive tree—of these covenants God made with Israel, especially the new covenant—as a wild branch that was grafted in (Rom 11), thereby attaining salvation through faith, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. Any boasting or arrogance against the temporarily broken-off, cultivated branches (the Israelites) is inappropriate, because salvation comes from the Jews! Jesus of the tribe of Judah is Israel’s Messiah. He will come again and rule in the land of Israel in His kingdom of peace. Israel is and will remain God’s chosen people. All would do well to accept this. However, we’re well aware that many don’t accept this fact, reject Israel, take refuge in other religions, and try to avoid Jesus and the blood He shed on the Cross.
The Jews were set to one side and scattered among all the nations because of their unbelief. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, as the Lord Jesus prophesied in Luke 21:24: “They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” And Matthew 23:38 records, “See, your house is left to you desolate.” The Lord said of the temple: “But he answered them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down’” (Matt 24:2). This judgment came upon the Jewish people because they had rejected their Messiah.
We also find a corresponding Old Testament prophecy: “For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days” (Hos 3:4-5).
During the many centuries of the Jews’ dispersion (Diaspora), they always looked toward Jerusalem and hoped to return in the future. This hope is also expressed in Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem: “As long as in the heart within, the Jewish soul yearns, and towards the ends of the east, [the Jewish] eye gazes toward Zion, our hope is not yet lost, the hope of two thousand years, to be a free nation in our own land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.”
“IN THE LAST DAYS”
From the passages I’ve just quoted (Luke 21:24; Hos 3:4-5), we can see that there is an “until” and an “afterward.” That “afterward” means “in the last days.” This future time period always refers to the coming of the Messiah to establish His kingdom of peace. During this time, tremendous things will happen to Israel, both the land and the people. The whole world has already experienced some of these tremendous things, especially in connection with the founding of the modern State of Israel on May 14, 1948.
Many prophecies were fulfilled before our very eyes when, increasing numbers of Jews began to immigrate to the former territory of Israel in several waves to resettle there, beginning in about 1880. Jeremiah 31:10b says, “He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.” Scripture also states, “He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isa 11:12).
God is gathering the Jews who have been scattered throughout every nation for two thousand years, and is bringing them back to His chosen land! These events came as an unexpected surprise to Islamists and all the Middle East! That’s why Israel is in such a difficult situation today … because Islam still claims the same territory that is now the Jewish homeland. There is true despair, and disbelief that it was even possible. The region had been Islamic soil for so long. Where is the strong arm of Allah? Israel has won many wars since its founding. And, despite ongoing hostility, boundless hatred, and massive threats, the Arabs have never succeeded in destroying the country. The Bible says that God will judge these people—whether Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, Iran, or Turkey.
We know from history how the Arabs came to claim ownership of the land. At the time when “Jerusalem was being trampled underfoot by the Gentiles” (as referenced before), Mohammed came up with his teachings of Islam in the 6th century. His successors later occupied the Temple Mount, and built the Dome of the Rock precisely where the Jewish temple used to stand. A bit later, Muslims from Syria built the Al-Aqsa Mosque beside it. There, where Abraham would have sacrificed his son Isaac, the place that was shown to David and Solomon as the place of sanctuary and God’s presence, the Muslim cry of “Allahu Akbar” was now ringing out— “Allah is the greatest.” And so, Yahweh, the God of the Bible and of the Jews, seemed to no longer have a say there, because Arabs now occupied the former Temple Mount. They had taken possession of it, Jerusalem, and the land. They became an occupying power, as the Jews are accused of being today. As I mentioned already, God won’t let this go unpunished. His judgment will come in due time, as it did to the Nazis: “From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken” (Job 38:15). The uplifted arm of the Nazi salute was broken, and a German soldier or civilian died in World War II for every Jew killed in the Holocaust.
However, it seems that no one has learned from history; especially not today’s Islamists, who are among the worst anti-Semites. We know that the Jews and the land of Israel cannot be destroyed, because they are God’s chosen people and still have a wonderful future ahead of them.
New From Israel - 04/2025
