War in Israel: What’s Your Perspective?
Episode Two
Several decades ago I received an assignment in a women’s ministry to travel around Indiana and Ohio teaching about God’s covenant with Israel. The question to be answered was simply, “Why Israel?” Last week we looked at Gen. 3:15 and the perpetual hatred of Satan toward the promised Messiah (Christ) and now we’ll find out why this small nation is his target.
I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you. Genesis 12:2-3
That verbal promise of God was confirmed and reconfirmed throughout Scripture, especially in Gen. 15 when He, represented by fire, literally walked through a blood sacrifice and cut covenant with Abraham, and his descendants after him. Later, in Gen. 17:1-8 God promised this to be an eternal covenant never to be broken. So why did He choose Abraham to begin this covenant nation?
The Lord did not set His heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and He was keeping the oath He had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Deuteronomy 7:7-8
Clearly, it was nothing the descendants of Abraham did right, they repeatedly failed Him, but God’s love is eternal. It’s no different for us; Jesus came to earth to die for us and it wasn’t because any of us deserved it. It was simply His unfailing, merciful love. Never forget that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham (Matt. 1:1-2), Paul calls him the ‘heir of the world’ (Rom. 4:13) and those who repent and believe are his offspring. That’s you and me when we share the faith of Abraham.
Moving on, after 400 years of Egyptian slavery God sent a Christ-like figure named Moses to bring deliverance and lead His chosen people back to their chosen land. Satan may have thought he’d gotten rid of them in Egypt, but God’s covenant won’t fail. Satan found a new enemy in the Promised Land called the Amalekites and Moses sent Joshua to fight them while he, Aaron, and Hur interceded in prayer (Ex. 17:8-16). What a fabulous story! Their first enemy, first battle, and first victory was over this pagan tribe that attempted to keep the children of Abraham out of the Promised Land. Sound familiar? Interestingly, the spirit of the Amalekites is still with us today with new names: Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. God promised to erase their memory (Ex.17:15-16) because their fist (violence) was against His throne, but that day hasn’t arrived … so we keep praying.
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