Israel Under Assault

One of the most astounding stories in history is the story of the Jews and the nation of Israel. It became a monarchy about 1095 BC when Saul began his reign, followed by David and Solomon in a united kingdom.

When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam succeeded him and, by a very foolish decision, caused the nation’s split. Ten tribes united to become the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and two tribes (Judah and Benjamin) formed the Southern Kingdom called Judah. Because of apostasy – spiritual adultery and gross immorality, Israel was carried into captivity by Assyria in 722 BC. For the same reasons, Babylon conquered Judah and carried away captives in 586 BC.

Cyrus of Persia decreed about 70 years later that Jews could return to Jerusalem. The people who chose to return rebuilt \the walls of Jerusalem and built a new temple under the leadership of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel, along with the prophetic ministry and encouragement of Haggai and Zechariah.

One Bible story (the entire book of Esther) is dedicated to telling the story of Haman’s plot to exterminate all Jews in the kingdom of Persia about 510 BC. Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai exposed his plan and revealed to King Ahasuerus that they were Jews. They succeeded in completely foiling Haman’s plan and saved the Jewish people from this awful plot against the Jews.

Tumultous times were ahead. Israel would be hammered back and forth under various foreign governments as Greece and their various divisions, Egypt, Syria, and Rome battled back and forth, jockeying for power. They were helped temporarily by the resistance of the Maccabees in the second century BC, which resulted in a temporary period of independence for the nation.

At the time of Christ, the Romans were in authority in Israel. They destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. Rome dispersed the Jewish people to over 130 nations around the world. Over the centuries, these nations abused, victimized, and persecuted the Jews. They survived, as a people, even through the Holocaust of World War II.

They survived and became a nation again in 1948 after 2700 years of dispersion. They have their own racial identity as Jews. They revived the Hebrew language, now Israel’s dominant language. They have become an international leader in technology and have revived the desert into a thriving agricultural land.

But the enmity, hatred, persecution, and violence against Israel continue. On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked from Gaza, killing over 1200 Israelis and taking over 240 hostages. Hamas committed horrific atrocities that day and in the following days after the first attack. Israel quickly set up retaliatory attacks, declared war, and is still waging that war.

Isn’t it amazing? Israel contains about 8,000 square miles. It is surrounded by 5,000,000 square miles of hostile Arab country. Yet these Arab countries, and most of the rest of the world, cannot tolerate that tiny country’s success. They hate Jews and Israel.

Particular liberal churches also promote another war raging against Israel today. The teaching that God has replaced Israel with the church, replacement theology, provides a convenient excuse for people to turn against Israel. The promises to Israel are now redirected to the church. Israel is no longer worthy of support.

However, the Bible is quite clear concerning Israel and the church. In 1 Corinthians 10:32, Paul mentions three distinct groups of people: Jews, Gentiles, and the church. In Romans 11, Paul outlines God’s program for Israel. He states that “blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” followed by this prophecy: “And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” (Romans 11:25-26).

God communicates clearly in the Bible that Israel is his chosen nation to communicate the message of Christ to the nations. In Genesis 12:2-3 God tells Abram, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Please note the curse that God delivers against the enemies of Israel.

Jeremiah 31:35-36 tells us, “Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.” While prophesying the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by Babylon, Jeremiah gave this encouraging prophecy about God’s everlasting promise to Israel.

God is not done with Israel! And no amount of warfare and terrorism from surrounding nations is going to destroy that nation. God is still in control, and He is still omnipotent. He will accomplish His purpose and plan.

Ron Rhodes quotes prophecy scholar Mark Hitchcock in his book, Israel On High Alert, p. 21, “The Bible contains about 1000 prophecies, about 500 of which have already been fulfilled down to the minutest detail. With this kind of proven track record – 500 prophecies fulfilled with 100% accuracy – we can believe with confidence that the remaining 500 yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies will also come to pass at the appointed time.” God says in Isaiah 46:9-10, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none  like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”

God is sovereign, and He will do exactly as He planned.