I have been asked many times over the past two weeks what I think about the situation in the Middle East. My staff, who know I’m a pastor, and customers who come in the shop, upon finding out I’m a pastor, will ask my opinion on the situation. I will always answer, “In what regard?”

I answer that way because it matters in what regard we look at the situation in Israel and Gaza. In one regard, the conflict is nothing new. It’s as old as the Bible itself. There have been wars in the Middle East since there have been people in the Middle East. Go back to chapter 14 of Genesis and you’ll read of a war in which five area kings were at war with four area kings. It is the first recorded war in the Bible, and dates back to 1800 BCE. That war would eventually draw Abraham into it, so conflict in the Middle East is not a new phenomenon.

Of course, everyone really wants to know what it means in regard to the end times. That’s a tougher question to answer because I really don’t know. There were prophets and prognosticators who were certain the end was near when Israel became a nation in 1948. And, they might be right. Scripture seems to indicate that Israel would re-form as a nation. 

The OT prophet Zechariah indicated the Jewish people would turn to God, through the Messiah, only after returning to Israel (Zech.12:10; 13:1). Likewise, the prophet Ezekiel stated God’s promise, “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land” (Ezek. 36:24). The passage continues, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean…. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36:25–26). Note that the spiritual regeneration of Israel follows the restoration of the Jewish people to the land. Thus regathered, Israel will, as a nation, turn in faith toward the Messiah.

I think the nation of Israel’s existence is biblical. Is it the end? It could be. It could not be. I could be the beginning of the end, or it could be another conflict in the region that needs to be settled. I won’t speculate either way. I don’t claim to be a prophet. There are plenty of people who do claim to be a prophet and you can read 427 different interpretations of the current situation. You might be equally confused by all of them. I know I certainly am.

Let me share what my thoughts are on the current situation, though. First, Israel is not responsible for what happened two weeks ago. No amount of verbal gymnastics or woke ideology can ever make Israel responsible for the murder of innocent women, children and elderly persons. None! What Hamas did is evil and atrocious and there is no justification for their actions. There is no moral equivalency between Hamas’s actions and Israel’s prior acts or current reactions. To make it so is to reveal one of two things: either your ignorance of history or your hatred of Jews.

Has Israel committed prior bad acts? Certainly. Read the Old Testament. It’s filled with instances of bad choices, terrible decisions and wrong actions. Why would it be different today. We’re all still human and human nature hasn’t changed. Have civilians suffered as a result of Israeli actions? Unfortunately, yes, but civilians have never been targeted as participants of war. To draw a moral equivalency between Hamas and the nation of Israel is, at best, disingenuous.

Second, I believe Israel will ultimately prevail in the current conflict. And, I think the church is right to affirm Israel’s right to self-defense and self-determination, and from a political standpoint, the United States should stand with Israel (yes, I do!). 

I’m not so sure that people don’t hate Jews because they are God’s chosen people. They are the physical representation of God upon the earth. The same thing could be said about the church and is said about the Church. For the same reasons, the Jewish nation and the Church are both hated in the world because they are both the physical representation of God on the earth. We should expect evil to attack the nation of Israel and the Church. Until Christ comes again, unfortunately, it will likely continue. Remember what Jesus told his disciples? John 16: 1-2 says, “I have told you these things so that you won’t fall away. For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing God a service.”

The reaction of many in the West comes as a result, I believe, of the “woke” culture that sees oppression as the great sin of the culture. There are levels of oppression and the more degrees of oppression you are able to claim, the more of a victim you become. It’s a terrible philosophy.

History changes the oppressor and the oppressed. How often throughout history has Israel been oppressed. Let’s see, there’s the Egyptian slavery, the Babylonian captivity, the Assyrian captivity, the Roman occupation, the Holocaust. We could name others. Throughout history, the oppressed have often become the oppressor. I suspect that current “woke” culture, with its stress on oppression is simply history’s latest attempt to have the oppressed become the oppressor.

I say all that to note the irony of many on the left in the West that have called the Jews Nazis. Literally the same people who were exterminated by the Nazis are being called Nazis. Again, that is a reflection of people’s ignorance of history and of their pure hatred for God’s people.

So, what should we do? First, we pray and work for peace. Jesus said in Matthew 5: 9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” The Church should be involved in the peace process from a prayer perspective. No, we won’t be invited to sit at the negotiating table, nor should we, but we should pray that peace would come to the Middle East by whatever means the Lord deems necessary. We should pray for our national leaders as they work to bring peace to the region, and we should stand behind their efforts, whether we agree with them or not. The end goal is peace, not revenge.

We should also be praying for the Palestinians and Hamas. Praying for them will help us not lose sight of their humanity. The civilian populations of both Israel and Palestine are in harm’s way, and that not of their own doing. They are suffering, and the Church is called to enter into the suffering of others (that’s what the word ‘compassion’ means) to suffer with them. Why? Because Jesus died for all men. No matter how evil we believe Hamas or the Palestinians have been, we shouldn’t wish them dead, we should wish them saved!

If you or I are part of the crowd that seeks revenge on Hamas and relishes in waiting for Israel to exact her revenge, then we’re not in the correct crowd. We need to check our discipleship. We might need Jesus as much as those in Hamas. I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words to the Roman Church: 

I think that would be quite revolutionary in and of itself. I need to remind us that we are called to be disciples by one who, himself, was a revolutionary. 

I remind us that Jesus has a disciple named Simon who was also known as the Zealot. Do you know what a Zealot was in the first century? Zealots were pretty much the terrorists of their day. They were prone to starting fires over here and starting fights over there to get at their Roman oppressors. They were known to attempt assassinations and to kill Roman soldiers. Yes, Jesus called one of those people as a disciple, but it wasn’t for a political revolution. It was for a spiritual one. As confusing as it was then, it seems to be equally confusing today.

Secondly, we should live as if the end is now. Jesus tells a great parable:

We need to live as though Jesus is coming back today or tonight. We live obediently today in light of his imminent return. No one knows when He will come back—not even the Son, Himself (Matthew 24:36). It may be fun to play in the sandbox of end times prophecy, but it is a completely pointless endeavor if it distracts from the ultimate purpose of the Church, and that is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that all men might be saved.     

That’s sort of what I tell staff or customers who ask whether what is happening in the Middle East is fulfilling prophecy in the Bible. I don’t know if it satisfies their curiosity or answers their question, but I know it’s the only answer I can give.

Until next time, keep looking up…