Israel

This is another scenario in which the Christian worldview differs immensely from the secular and indeed other religious worldviews. Once again that makes conversations difficult, since there are so many differences that need exploring and explaining. And once again I can only scratch the surface here.

The Christian worldview is based upon scripture which is very, very clear that the people of Israel are special, a race chosen by God (YHWH), set apart and used as His instrument on the earth. It was out of Israel that the Father birthed His Son, the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). Jesus himself, the “son of David”, predicted (prophesied) so many times in the Old Testament.

If you believe the Bible then you see the history of mankind and God’s purposes planned out from beginning to end. The future is not an unknown unpredictable set of events. Some of it is spelled out so that we may observe and know. See “End Times“.

The Land

Thus, for instance, Jesus himself predicted the fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple and the diaspora of the Jews which lasted almost 2000 years up until living memory! And the Bible predicted the return of the Jews to their homeland. And we are still seeing the conflicts and struggles around that today and in current politics.

The First World War spilled over into the Middle East and left “Palestine” in the control of the British. This created the opportunity to re-establish the Jewish homeland of Israel. For a secular explanation see “Balfour Declaration“. At that time Britain was still essentially “Christian” and behind the political manoeuvrings were those who knew that they were fulfilling prophecy with regards to Israel.

I hope it is clear that the Jews returned to their ancient homelands. However the re-establishment of Israel was inevitably an “occupation” of lands that had for hundreds of years been the home of Arab peoples. So it is today that the lands are still violently disputed. But so it is also that any Christian has to see, controversially, that from a biblical viewpoint this is God’s will.

Sadly this contention is exaggerated by the essential differences between Islam and Judaism. The ‘Allah‘ of Islam is a very different to the God of Judaism – YHWH, Yahweh, Jehovah, “The Lord”, Adonai. To each the others are unbelievers, followers of lies. Mis-representers of the true God. Irreconcilable.

For Christians the choice is clear.

The “Allah” of Islam is not God the Father, whereas YHWH is. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New. The God of the Koran is not. He is a very different.

The land of Israel belongs to the Jews. It is the “Promised Land“, the land promised to the Jews.

The Nation

What is the nation of Israel?

That is not a simple question.

Modern Israel is a secular state, with no state religion, evidenced in recent years by the government’s stance on gender and sexuality. But its people, although having a shared nationality, are diverse in beliefs and culture, many holding to very strict traditional Jewish beliefs, morality and rituals, while others are indistinguishable from other “westerners”. Indeed one could be forgiven for thinking it just another state of the United States!

Perhaps the one thing that modern Jews all share is their memory of more modern history. The Holocaust is not to be easily forgotten. They are a nation that survived genocide and potential obliteration; a nation that has survived in the face of overwhelming millions of Moslems who would have them pushed into the Mediterranean!

They are a proud nation, a creative nation. Their renown in the worlds of science and medicine is unmatched. There is certainly something very special about them.

But they are also a nation that on the whole has forgotten its God. Thankfully He has not forgotten them!

For a nation that knows what it is to be oppressed and ill-treated there are times when that is not obvious in their treatment of others. They cause many to polarise in their views. Propaganda on both sides accentuate the ambiguities. On the one hand we see images of young “Palestinians” throwing stones and being shot at in response, manhandled, beaten, ill-treated. We see Arab houses being demolished “where they shouldn’t be” and Israeli houses being built “where they shouldn’t be”.

On the other hand we see Arabs employed, housed and living at peace within Israel, indeed calling themselves Israelis. A “united nation” defending its borders and protecting its small land mass.

“Strangely” after all these thousands of years Israel is still very much at the centre of world events. Or maybe that isn’t so strange after all.

Mike Pompeo – October 2021 Israel – Iran – The West Bank – U S Embassy – What Trump did right and Biden has got horribly wrong!