Israel’s Struggle for Survival

The only realistic solution to the Middle East conflict, and the end of Israel’s struggle for survival.

More and more Christians are rejecting Israel. But is it even possible for a born-again Christian to not support Israel?

In the Old Covenant, God says: “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth” (Isa 62:6-7).

And in the Psalms, we read: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! ‘May they be secure who love you! Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!’ For my brothers and companions’ sake I will say, ‘Peace be within you!’ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good” (Ps 122:6-9).

Christians who believe in the Bible are like watchmen on Jerusalem’s walls, praying for the peace of the city of God. They stand behind Jerusalem. Not because the Jewish nation is better than others, but because God has chosen the Jewish people and promised them a glorious future.

God’s prophetic Word shows us that the fight against Israel is Satan’s fight against God. This reality can be clearly seen if we just recall the daily stream of news, especially since October 7th. Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack didn’t awaken the world’s understanding of Israel. To the contrary: Global anti-Semitism has steadily increased since then. The Jews have been used as scapegoats for everything. A great deal of false information is being spread about Israel through news reporting on the Gaza war, such as the accusation that Israel is obstructing aid and provoking a famine. The UN has become a tool of Israel’s enemies. Even the Jewish State’s closest allies, such as the United States, have withdrawn support for a time. Israel is under immense pressure.

What’s remarkable about this is that everyone is talking about Israel. Everyone has an opinion about the Gaza war, the Jewish State, and the Palestinians, even if only few know what’s behind the conflict. But why Israel in  particular? Why is scarcely anyone talking about the human rights violations in China, Sudan, Libya, and in the Muslim world generally? Why isn’t anyone talking about the injustice that the stateless Kurds are having to suffer? Israel is different. Even those who hate God’s people can see this, without being able to explain exactly why they hate them.

Since October 7th, many believers have been trying to put the terrible events in and around Israel into context. Some invoke the prophet Zephaniah and other passages from the Old Testament prophets, in an attempt to connect biblical prophecy to the present war in Gaza. Zephaniah 2:4 is often quoted: “For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted.”
 
Although it’s possible that parallels exist, God’s Word doesn’t directly mention either the Hamas terrorist attack or Israel’s military response. The time of Tribulation, during which the prophets’ yet unresolved prophecies will start coming to fulfillment, hasn’t arrived. The Antichrist isn’t ruling, and the Lamb is still holding back His wrath. In fact, nobody expected the Gaza war. No one was taking Hamas’ saberrattling seriously, and Israel had no secret plans to invade and destroy Gaza. In the run-up to October 7, everyone was wrong in their assessment of the situation. Israel and all of the Middle East observers were taken by surprise when Hamas attacked.

As I mentioned before, it can generally be said that the fight against Israel is a fight against God—even if those involved are unaware of it. The conflicts in and around Israel have significance and a purpose in redemptive history: Israel is being prepared for the Lord’s second coming. Everything is leading up to the moment when Israel’s Messiah will appear in glory.

Humanly speaking, Israel is in an impossible situation: a small Jewish nation surrounded by much larger Islamic ones, and with Islamic enclaves within its own borders, such as the West Bank and the currently contested Gaza Strip. The border with the West Bank is 791 km (491 mi.), the border with Jordan is 309 km (192 mi.), with Lebanon 79 km (49 mi.), with Syria 92 km (57 mi.), with Egypt 241 km (150 mi.), and the Gaza Strip 40 km (25 mi.). The nations that surround Israel aren’t allies but have traditionally been hostile to the Jewish people: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Libya…

How can Israel successfully defend itself in the long term, when war is breaking out on all fronts around the country? There are three possible solutions to the Middle East conflict: 

The first option is the one-state solution: Palestinians and Israelis live together as equals in a single state. That sounds wonderful, and it would be if both sides wanted peace equally. But the reality is that in such a case, the Muslim population would predominate (just consider the regional demographics), so that the Jewish State would quickly become no longer Jewish but Arab/Islamic. And, we’ve seen enough of what happens to Jews in countries dominated by Islam from Israel’s neighbors. It would be the end of Zionism and its goal of a safe homeland for the Jewish people, free from persecution.

The second option seems to be the most realistic one from a secular perspective: a two-state solution in which Israel is Jewish, and an independent Palestine is Arab. But Hamas’ gruesome attack and the organization’s increasing popularity among Arabs, show that this wouldn’t bring real peace to the region. The infamous slogan, “From the river to the sea,” expresses that Hamas wants to see the Jewish people exterminated from all of Israel’s territory. Their endgame is for no part of the Middle East to belong to the Jewish people any longer. The goal declared by Israel’s enemies remains: to drive the Jews into the sea. They would simply see a two-state solution as an intermediate step toward this goal.

The third possibility sounds the most utopian, but is ultimately the only one that will bring lasting peace to the region: It is God’s kingdom, ruled from Jerusalem as heralded by the Old Testament prophets, the so-called Greater Israel. This solution can never be brought about by Israel’s own military power. It’s only possible when the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, returns and sets His foot upon the Mount of Olives, to judge the nations and rescue Israel.

The book of Zechariah, especially chapters 12–14, describes this glorious future in detail. In Zechariah 2:8 and 4:6, we read the powerful words: 

“For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.” And, “Then he said to me, ‘This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.’”

Israel’s path to redemption will be through suffering: “Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it” (Jer 30:7).

Zechariah 11:15-17 signals the Antichrist for this time of Tribulation: “Then the LORD said to me, ‘Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs. Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!’”

And Jesus told the people at His first coming: “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (John 5:43).

The Antichrist will be a false messiah, and the divine judgments of Tribulation will begin with his appearance. This will lead to Israel’s redemption. In Zechariah 12–14, the phrase “on that day” appears 17 times in this context. God will cause the nations of the world to march against Israel, because He must first humble His people in order to save them. At the same time, this final campaign against the city of God will lead to judgment on the kingdoms of this world (Zech 12:1-9). God will pour out His Spirit on Jerusalem, so that the Jewish people will recognize their Messiah and repent in light of this knowledge (Zech 12:10-14).

During this time of Jacob’s Trouble, “on that day,” Israel will be cleansed (Zech 13:1-2), sifted (13:8), delivered from all its enemies (14:3-15), and completely sanctified by the Lord (14:20-21). If we read chapters 12–14 of the prophet Zechariah carefully, we’ll see that the prophecies recorded there aren’t strictly chronological. The various visions of the last days illuminate what will happen “on that day” from different perspectives. For example, chapters 12:2-3, 13:8, and 14:1-2 all address the same event: the nations’ attack on Israel and the siege of Jerusalem: 

“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it” (Zech 12:2-3).—“In the whole land, declares the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive” (Zech 13:8).— “Behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zech 14:1-2).

These terrible events of Israel’s tribulation and sifting have a purpose: “And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God’” (Zech 13:9).

The announcement of the siege of Jerusalem begins with the words: “The oracle of the word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him” (Zech 12:1). This introduction allows us to have the proper perspective about everything that is written afterward about Jacob’s Trouble, about the Tribulation “on that day.” All the turmoil and wars, all seductions and destruction, all preservation and salvation come from the One who sits on the throne. God is, and remains, sovereign in and over all things.

Isaiah 46:9-10 emphasizes: “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’” And Deuteronomy 32:39: “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”

There’s a good reason Zechariah calls Jerusalem a “cup of staggering.” The nations will get drunk and intoxicated due to this city. The greedy desire to destroy its inhabitants and possess it will go to the heads of Israel’s neighbors like excessive drinking. And the delusion that Israel’s destruction will finally bring peace to the world will drive the other nations into war. But their drunkenness will give way to a terrible disillusionment: Too late, they’ll have to admit that they’ve picked a fight with the God of Israel. Zechariah also speaks of the nations around Jerusalem and calls it a “heavy stone for all the
peoples.” This end-time war will impact the entire world.

God has made the city of Jerusalem a cup of staggering and a burden: He Himself ensures that there is no human solution to the Middle East conflict. Neither a one-state nor a two-state solution is the answer; only the kingdom of God, when the Lord stretches out His hand to judge the nations, purify His people, and usher in the Messiah’s arrival. And so, Israel’s struggle for survival will only end when two of God’s conditions are met: Arabs no longer possess the land that God promised to Abraham and his descendants. And, the Jews will be able to live in peace in the land of their fathers if they have accepted Jesus as their Messiah.

Zechariah shows us that God will open Israel’s eyes in the midst of their greatest distress. Then they will recognize Jesus their Messiah, their Shepherd, their King and Savior. After this final great war described in Zechariah 12:1-3, 13:8, and 14:1-2, Israel’s national conversion takes place. The remnant will look to Jesus, Yeshua: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn” (Zech 12:10; cf. 13:8-9).

It’s not Israel’s strength or defense capability, the alertness of Mossad or the might of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). It’s God who will fight for this people and triumph: 

“On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I 14 strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.’ On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem. And the LORD will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them. And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zech 12:4-9).—“Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward” (Zech 14:3-4). 

Then, Israel’s longing will be fulfilled, and its struggle for survival will be over. The Prince of Peace will reign. Therefore, when Bible-believing Christians stand behind Israel and act as watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem and pray for peace, that means we first and foremost cry and plead, “Maranatha, our Lord, come!”

New From Israel - 03/2025