Turmoil is increasing all around us — and governments and other rulers and principalities are promoting and stoking it — yet we can have a peace that surpasses all understanding. What a wonderful gift that our heavenly Father has given us when we believe in His beloved Son, Yeshua the Messiah/Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit indwells us! Tomorrow is Independence Day in the USA, and next week on the 14th is Bastille Day in France. Both countries are in major shakedowns, YHVH God allowing whatever is necessary to bring more nominal Christians — whether Jewish or Gentile — to wake up and discern the times, and for many more unbelievers who fear God and want righteousness and truth to come to a saving knowledge of the gospel, and to repent unto salvation.
Even today in Israel, there is a pretty major military and police operation going on in the northern Samarian city of Jenin, which has long been a hot-bed center for armed resistance and terror against the State of Israel and her citizens. It is never easy to hear of major armed conflict (nor, actually, even at the personal level), but the Word of God tells us in the New Testament that government authorities have God’s approval to use the power of the sword vested in them to deal with evil-doers, whether it be in crime, or in rebellion against one’s country, or in wars provoked by other nations or entities. Also today, even as I write, there are unruly protests at Ben-Gurion Airport by those who are also acting lawlessly while they shout out democracy. (Rom 13:1-7) Jesus tells us that vengeance is the LORD’s, and not for us to take it, as in Islam, nor for us to take the law into our own hands, as in vigilante groups or violent protests. There may be some exceptions in dire situations of lawlessness in which the authorities have “surrendered” their God-authorized moral authority, but when situations get to that level, it just adds more lawlessness. Come, Lord Jesus!
Praying, testifying of the hope that is in us, keeping out of the fray — all these may be the best and most faithful things that we can do, and not to resort before the time to act according to the flesh, but to ask and depend upon the grace of the Lord to speak or act — or not — in a way that honors His Name, and is in accord with His will and purposes. There is not one answer that fits all situations, but our hearts need to be faithful to our God and Savior.
Israel is not a Christian country (none are in actuality), and even though she holds off before acting, she can not be judged as if they are disciples of the true Messiah of YHVH. Westernized Jews have been Judeo-Christianized, and want only a free, liberal, democratic society that has a consensus of “normalcy”. God intends to restore His righteous kingdom to Israel when the Lord comes back. These are not equal. The zealous religious nationalists that want the promised inheritance of the land of Canaan — not knowing the righteousness of God — are prepared to take it by force from those who reject the very notion that the sovereign State of Israel for the Jewish people should be allowed to exist at all.
Those who want judicial reform (which I do, but with some adjustments to a couple of the proposed measures) are short-sighted in the political interests that are driving them, which is actually the over-throw of the PM and of his democratically-elected government; those who oppose any reform are generally fearful of losing their freedom to do whatever they want, without accepting any “godly norms”. Neither side is righteous — neither the right nor the left; neither the Jews nor the Arabs. YHVH God is righteous, and Yeshua/Jesus/Yasua is the Righteous One that satisfies God’s requirements and allows Him to justify those who believe in Him and confess His name. In HIM we are reckoned as righteous, and God has His own plan to establish His righteousness and justice.
But the return of the Jews to reestablish their homeland here is legally sanctioned by the international community and Gentile world powers since the end of WW1. And by historic rules of war, Israel has the right to possess and control territory taken in wars which sought to annihilate her. Yet despite all this, all sides claim all kinds of arguments why it is otherwise, including the Jews who claim self-determination for our rights here. Historic Christianity claims that God is finished with His covenant promises and oaths regarding His chosen people; and Islam claims that since it conquered and occupied this land for hundreds of years, Jews are not permitted to have priority and sovereign governance. All three of these “monotheistic” religions have put the true God and Savior outside of their parameters, whatever the rulers of this world and their gods might say.
As believers, we have brought some of the trouble upon ourselves and upon our societies because the light that we are to shine is dimming as we enjoy too much, maybe, being part of the world, and the salt that we are to preserve and to bless might be getting less tasteful. We allow for and approve things that the Word of God does not; or we allow technical legalities in our culture to become norms even though they justify fringe elements over the time-honored accepted norms of what is good vs what is evil. The exceptions must not become the rule/norm; the fringe cannot become the center. When it didn’t negatively affect us personally, we let it go. When it comes to us, we sometimes soften God’s righteous judgment, because of our own personal relationships with family members or friends, or in order to be accepted as long as possible by the “wide-road community”. When the dam is breached, the evil comes in with a flood of increasing magnitude and destructive force and power.
Praise God that He is still working to redeem and to save as many as will! If we are not faithful, He still is! He cannot deny Himself, and the price for that redemption in the shed blood of His Son on the cross.
