The Israel-Hamas War: Whose Side Are You On?

Good afternoon, everyone. Good to see all of you this afternoon. It's a beautiful Sabbath. We have had a little bit of sun, I think, off and on during the day, but we are enjoying the moderating temperatures. Appreciated the special music, and it's always a joy to have that here. It's also good to see the younger group in for the Teen Speech Club tonight. That's correct, right? That's the way the others are here.

I'm glad that that is an institution that has kind of circulated here in Ohio in recent years in Columbus and now down here to provide an opportunity for our youth to not only be together but to learn to speak and express themselves and defend themselves and whatever else they may do in the course of the program.

But I would say to all of you young people in that club, take advantage of it and hurry up and develop so you can take the place of some of us that have been at this for any number of years here. Let me ask a question as we begin today. Which side are you on in the war that is raging right now between the state of Israel and Hamas? The terrorist group that launched an invasion on October 7th, which for us was the eighth day of the Feast of God, and what the Jews call Simchat Torah, a different name, but a horrendous attack that we're still sorting through the aftermath of.

Now nearly two months later there's been a ceasefire, but it has ended, I think, as of yesterday by Israel's continued invasion, bombardment, clearing of the region of Gaza. But it took place on a holy day, didn't it? And as we've watched the scenes and read about it, of course we had church members ending the Feast of Tabernacles and getting ready to observe the eighth day when all of this broke out there in Jerusalem and Israel.

And we were, no doubt, many worried about it and thinking about them praying for them. I saw a Facebook post from a member that was in the group and big blaring headlines were under attack. And I thought, oh, that's, you know, what does that mean? That can't be real. And then others kept popping up on my Facebook feed. I said, yeah, they're under attack. And knowing that I've been in Jordan when there was a terrorist attack a number of years ago, and I've been in the middle of that, I can understand.

And I knew exactly the anxiety that they were going through. And fortunately, everyone got out of our members and other groups and that were there at that particular time that a lot of people go to Israel during the Feast of Tabernacle period, not just our own group, but other evangelical Christian groups do that. But it was a well-timed event. I don't think it was a coincidence that it took place on one of God's sacred feast days. I read the Bible about a powerful spirit being named Satan, who is called the Prince of the Power of the Air, who hates the purpose and the plan of God, and who stirs nations to attack at times that can coincide with God's eternal purpose.

Many of you know that 50 years ago, this fall, on the Day of Atonement, what the Jews call Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria launched another surprise attack in 1973 upon the State of Israel on a holy day and caught the State of Israel on their back foot off guard at that time. And they had to battle back and finally did that.

If you haven't seen the movie that has come out this fall called Gola, I would highly recommend it, because it chronicles exactly what happened on that Yom Kippur War in 1973. And in many ways, they got caught surprised again this year, again on another holy day. And again, I don't think that that is a matter that we in God's Church should just pass over, at least as we look at these two major attacks upon the State of Israel and its most recent one on the eighth day.

Because I do think that as we look at it, and as my question raises, we need to understand this significant event in a context that is based upon the Bible, what we would call a biblical worldview.

We have an issue coming out of the Beyond Today magazine and the January-February issue, where we will talk about that and talk about having a biblical worldview when it comes to the world, world events, life, the purpose of life and everything, and how important that is. And on this particular matter, having that biblical worldview should frame, if you will, the side that we might be on.

And I'll talk about that as we go along here and how we view it, how we talk about it, and understand it, and explain it to people in our family, co-workers, even as we talk about it among ourselves. I do think that we should take a step back and think about this event and many other world events and other trends and events that are taking place, always framed in a biblical worldview. But on this one in particular, there's a great deal for us to understand, to review, and to understand in regard of how God looks at it, and make sure that our conversations and the way we would even explain it and have opportunity is in a way that presents it from that biblical worldview so that we can rise above the political and highly politically charged environment that this creates, and the other issues that are contingent upon it, as I'll talk about here in brief throughout this message. A biblical worldview is so important, and there are a number of books that have been written about it. I use one in a lecture that I usually give every year to the ABC class on having a biblical worldview, and what our particular slant on that worldview is and how it's even different from other, say, the Christian religions because of the unique truths that we have from the Word of God that even added deeper, truthful dimensions to the reality of life, the purpose of life, who and what is God, what man's destiny is, because a worldview is something that touches on not only world events and history, but the basic fabric of reality and the basic purpose of meaning, and certainly all things spiritual. You know, in the Church of God, we have a very long history of involvement with the state of Israel. Just comment on that for a moment. And it began more than 50 years ago. I spent the summer of 1971 in Israel at an archaeological dig at the Temple Mount that the church and the Ambassador College was very heavily invested in and was for a number of years where we sent students there. The year I went, we had probably 70 students from all three campuses of Ambassador College at that time. It was the summer of my life in many ways, and we were right there at the Temple Mount digging up the ruins of the ancient story and history of Jerusalem. We had contacts and maintained contacts for a number of years with the Prime Ministers of Israel, the Mayor of Jerusalem, and as I said, we were very heavily involved there. I don't know all the details. I actually sat through a couple of these banquets that were held at the time and saw firsthand a few things and our involvement at that. And at the college at that time, we had all kinds of Israeli and Jewish dignitaries coming through, always lecturing and giving talks to the students in our assemblies and forums.

And you develop a perspective because as we look at the state of Israel, it's a Jewish state.

There is the Sabbath and the Holy Days. There is the Bible history and story in the land of Israel and Jerusalem. And there are these connections that we have. We should understand it, and as I say, I think it's helpful, very helpful, to take a step back and recognize the broader story and what we should learn from the Bible as we view our reactions and what we think and say and how we we talk about this. Because it's very easy to slip into perspective that is biased toward one point of view. And as I've noticed through the years, and as I have seen, to have a pro-Jewish or pro-Israeli point of view is one view. Is it the whole story?

Is it the whole story to have a pro-Hamas view or a pro-Arab or a pro-Palestinian view? I've kind of interacted with both sides in some of the trips that I've made to Israel over the years and I've seen a few things that just make you... they broaden your perspective. I'll just put it that way and make you realize that everyone at that level, there are human beings, human stories, and there are matters that we, from God's point of view, should always keep in minds as we we frame ourselves and not and be very careful that we understand what we are saying, what we are doing, and even what we may be writing at any particular time. In this particular war, one thing that I have seen is that there is a bigger reaction against the state of Israel than any past war that I've ever seen. We're in a different world with social media, the internet, and information and visual images that have been passed around and there's been horrific evil that has taken place with the attack upon Israel, and then there has been this tremendous reaction that is quite different that has raised a great deal of anti-Semitism, pro-Palestinian, pro-Arab, pro-Hamas in that, and it is quite different. And we in the church need to be able to understand what the Bible says so that we can explain it and certainly have the reaction and approach to it that is from a biblical worldview. I'd like to turn to a scripture that I am calling my anchor scripture for today, and it's Isaiah 2. It's not an unfamiliar scripture to us, Isaiah 2, but I want to look at this as an anchor scripture and read it at the beginning. Isaiah 2 is a millennial scripture. We usually read it in any number of sermons at the Feast of Tabernacles on any given year. Isaiah 2, beginning with verse 1, the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains. We understand the mountain and prophetic symbolism to be a nation, and God's government, God's kingdom will be established on the top of the mountains above all other nations at this time, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. Verse 3, many people shall come and say, let us come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. This is speaking of the temple and the center of the worship of God. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. And that will happen.

That's not happened today or at any time in the past where all nations, and that is all the Gentile nations is what it's saying, all the nations beyond Israel or Judah or any of the tribes of Israel, all the peoples will go up to Jerusalem to learn of the way of God at the house of Jacob. It says, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Very specific. And He shall judge among the nations, meaning Christ, and they shall rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. We all know that scripture, and that is at the core in the sense of what the millennium may picture to us. The United Nations statue given by Russia to the United Nations many years ago of a man beating a sword into a plowshare is a well-known, iconic image of this very passage from the Book of Isaiah.

Unfortunately, nobody's learned it in the world today. None of the nations have learned it, so we know that this hasn't happened. Look at this passage, though. All of the players, all of the terminology is in this passage. Jerusalem, the God of Jacob—that would be Israel, its 12 sons, pointing them toward that part of the promise—of Zion. And all of that, the implications that Zion can mean biblically from an actual location within Jerusalem, to the church sometimes, but to the spiritual body through whom God is working, the nations going up, all peoples, Jew and Gentile, Israelite and Gentile, Arab and Israeli. All will be going there. That will be the center. So all the players are mentioned in this particular verse. Now, with that as an anchor, let's go back and trace a bit of the story that we, again, know so well, but remind ourselves of just a few things.

In Genesis 12, we have the beginning of where God calls Abraham, a Brahm at the time, and He calls him out of his homeland and tells him, get out of your country. Verse 1, from your family and from your father's house to a land—and keep in mind, brethren, that as we, all of the discussion about even the current issues are all over land. Whose land is it?

Who owns it? Who has the right to it? God says here that He's going to give to Abraham the land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and curse those him who curses you, and in you all of the families shall be blessed. This is, again, kind of the beginning Scripture of the promises that God made to Abraham that were then passed on to his son Isaac and to his son Jacob, and Jacob passed them on to his sons Ephraim and Manasseh through Joseph and those two sons, all told in the book of Genesis here. But this is the verse where it all begins. And note what we're told. The land is God's because He gives it, in this case, to Abraham and to his descendants, but it's His. And that should always be in our forefront of our mind so that as we look at the story that begins to unfold here from Genesis 12, the story of Abraham and his family and his descendants, we know it well. But look at some of the lesser reviewed details. If you go to chapter 16, there is the story of where after the promise is made that Abraham was going to have a son and you know that he and Sarah were old, Abraham takes it into his own hands and decides to go into at Sarah's request, permission or whatever. Here, take my handmade Hagar. Go into Hagar and produce a son by her. I can't do it. And he does. And a son is born named Ishmael. Well, human nature is then what it is today. You can't have a son, a child born of the handmade, a servant in the household, and the wife not have jealousy. And then, of course, Isaac comes along and poor Ishmael and Hagar have to leave. That's one of the more poignant stories and scenes that you see in the Bible.

I remember that somewhere at Ishmael in Israel, we were at some little pageant or play we were taken to and there was a reenactment of this. And it was very, very emotional and the players brought it out quite well. To imagine a mother like Hagar having to take her child and leave like this, it's part of the story. But from Ishmael, we know, and the Muslim Arab world knows as well, that many of their families and tribes are descended from Ishmael. And the words that were said to Hagar here in this passage are interesting to remember and to note as well, because the angel of the Lord says here, and it's in chapter 21, when they have to depart, Genesis chapter 21, the angel of the Lord says to Hagar and to Ishmael words of hope, words of part of the promise. In verse 12, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand against him, it says. He will live in hostility towards his brothers, which is a reference toward an enmity that has historically existed among the Arabs, between the Arabs and with the other sons of Abraham through Isaac. Verse 12 says, what God said to Abraham, whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice, for in Isaac your seed shall be called. And then God assures Abraham, I will make a nation of the son of the bondwoven, because he is your seed. And so there is a promise of a nation to Ishmael as well. In the story, later we find that Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau, and that opens another great chapter of a story in the book of Genesis. And to Rebekah, the wife of Jacob, when she was pregnant with, at that time, God tells her that there are two nations in your womb. In Genesis chapter 25, verse 23, two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. One will be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.

And so two nations did come from Jacob and Esau, and that is, again, documented and known to be a part of the story as well, the story of the wrestling for the birthright of the two. Esau sells out his birthright. He's the firstborn. He sells it for a bowl of soup. And then Jacob later goes in and deceives his father Isaac, and you know that story, to give him the blessing, which enrages Esau. And Jacob then has to flee from the scene for a number of years. But this is all part of the story that helps us to understand that from Esau and his descendants that then begin to marry with the descendants of Ishmael, we have this large body of people that are still in that same region of the Middle East known as the Arabic peoples whose predominant religion is Islam, which comes along much, much later in the story. But they all understand and know that they are descended from Abraham. And they know the story of Jacob and his descendants as well. If you will remember just a few years ago during the Trump administration, one of the initiatives that was undertaken was treaties and arrangements between some of the Gulf State Arab nations and the state of Israel to create partnerships that were economic in nature and meant to try to draw people together in a, say, an economic framework that would mitigate the hostility and the enmity and hopefully lessen the war threat. But they recalled the Abrahamic accords. And there was some measure of success during the Trump administration. And in fact, there was a revival of that just a few months ago prior to the October 7th war where, again, there was talk even with Saudi Arabia reaching an agreement with the state of Israel, something unheard of. Of course, that's now blown apart by this latest war. But the Abrahamic accords took their name from the affinity and the relationship, the family ties that go all the way back to these stories in Genesis that we see as the beginnings of the people in this land. And we understand the promises that God made through first Abraham and then to Isaac, who's the son of promise, and to Jacob, and to his sons there. And yet God holds out other promises for the others, all of this contingent upon, in a sense, human nature, people deciding to get along, and people living righteously. But we know the story that that doesn't always happen. We come fast forward in the story to the time when God then brings the descendants of Jacob out of Egypt in the Great Exodus and now is going to bring them into the land. And there's one passage that I would like to read in Deuteronomy chapter 4 that I think sets the—that we should again be kind of another anchor verse passage to understand why God put Israel, the descendants of Jacob, in the land, drove out the other Gentile nations that were there and placed by promise and by God's design and all of the story that we know, Israel, in this land, but for a reason. And that's what we have to understand as we frame our understanding in this biblical worldview. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 4 and beginning at verse 1. Here's what, through Moses, just as they were about to go into the land on this repetition of the law and the whole story, it says this, now, oh, Israel, verse 1, listen to the statutes and judgments which I teach you to observe. And they had the law, they'd been given that already, but at Mount Sinai and the entire structure had been established, that you may live and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you.

Again, who owns the land? God. He's now giving it to the descendants of Abraham through Jacob as a gift by promise. You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it that you may keep the commandment of the Lord your God which I command you. And that was all laid out in the Ten Commandments, statutes and judgments that were then given. Verse 3, your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-Pior for the Lord your God is destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal-Pior, one of the Gentile pagan gods. God's intent was that Israel would go in and they would, in a sense, purge the land of the corruption of pagan religion, which they began to do and did in part, but not completely as we know from the story. But that was God's intent.

Verse 4, that, but you held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you. Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me that you should act according to them in the land that you go to possess. They were to live by God's Word. They were to establish a model nation, in a sense that God was working through, to be a light and a signal to all the other nations of God's way of life based upon His law and His statutes. Therefore, verse 6, be careful to observe them. Be very careful. For this is your wisdom. This is where all of their knowledge and development of culture and all would flow from, the Word of God, the commandments and the teachings of God. This is your wisdom and understanding and the sight of all the peoples who will hear all these statutes and see them, I might add, through their example, and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. This is what they were to become.

For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed, verse 9, to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life, and teach them to your children and to your grandchildren. Those nine verses kind of sum up many, many other passages throughout the Scriptures here in Deuteronomy and other places of what God wanted Israel to become, and what they were to do, and how they were to live in the land. But we know they didn't.

Not in every case. There were patches and times when they did. There were many, many times when they didn't. When you look at the biblical record that we see, and in the Pentateuch and through the story of Israel and in the histories, there's a lot of what took place in the land. Again, I use the term unreservedly of the evil that was visited upon the Israeli population on October 7. It was pure evil. But evil is evil. And in that land, the history tells us that there has been a great deal of evil perpetrated in the story.

When we look just at the Bible story, we can see that. Back in Genesis 34—I won't turn there—but it's the story of the Levian Simeon, two of Jacob's sons, killing Hamor and Shechem and others in their village because of what had happened between Shechem and Dinah, their daughter, their sister, and the slaughter. The evil that was visited upon them rather than a different outcome that could have come. And Jacob blistered his sons because of the shame that was brought upon the family. Certainly in the aftermath of Deuteronomy, as they go into the land, and Joshua and Judges tell us that God did vomit out of the land, the nations that were there, and He gave the land to Israel. That's part of the rub that comes from critics who look at the Bible and reject God, reject the story. How could that happen? And commit these atrocities under Joshua and the conquest of the land, but it happened, and it happened for a reason that God did vomit them out.

Then we have the story of Israel. At the very end of the book of Judges, there's this horrible story of what takes place among the, to the tribe of Benjamin that is told in Judges 21, where Benjamin who saws up his concubine.

And then the other tribes gear up and come in, and they nearly wipe out Benjamin, one of their brother tribes. The story is told in Judges 21 to the point where in verse 15 there it says that as they looked in the aftermath of it, their exclamation was, quote, the Lord has made a void in the tribes of Israel. A horrendous thing. And that was entered Nicene. That was among the the the Israel, the tribes of Israel themselves.

It was an evil. It was an evil. It was an evil run rampant. Well, eventually Israel did the same in their story. They became like the nations around them.

They set up idols. They polluted themselves. God sent prophets. There was reforms. The the northern nation of Israel that splits off, they eventually go into captivity. And ultimately Judah does as well. The idolatry, the sacrifices, the pagan customs, even to the point in Judah of child sacrifice. A great evil done by the king, Manasseh, is something that God eventually caused them to be driven from the land. In 2 Kings 17, again, just one passage that sums it up, that fits both all of Israel, the northern ten tribe nation of Israel as well as the nation of Judah. 2 Kings 17.

We're going through this just to understand the history of what has happened in that land, how God looks at the peoples who have lived there, whether it was the descendants of Abraham, or it was peoples from other nations who came and went themselves prior to Moses, prior to Abraham, or subsequently, whether they're Samaritans or whatever they might be. 2 Kings 17 and verse 13, it sums up what God did.

The Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all of His prophets, every seer saying, turn from your evil ways. This was kind of the primary message from the prophets. Keep my commandments, my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Nevertheless, they would not hear, but stiffen their necks like the necks of their fathers who did not believe in the Lord their God.

And they rejected the statutes and His covenant that He made with His fathers and His testimonies, which He had testified against them. They followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. Quite a contrast to what we read in Deuteronomy 4, which sets up what they should have done and what they should have become. In verse 17, they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire. Therefore, in verse 18, the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight, and there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. And also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord, but walked in the statues of Israel, which they made. And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel. And remember, it was Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of plunders until He had cast them from His sight. And so the fate of Israel, the nations of Israel and Judah, as they were at the time, ceased to exist. But you know, in God's Word, there's always, and according to God's purpose, there's always hope. And God always along the way even held out hope that they would repent. But even in this darkest moment, when they were all cast from the land, there was the promise of restoration. Jeremiah 29 is a well-known verse that we understand. Beginning at verse 10 of Jeremiah 29, that kind of sums up God's desire to restore to the land.

The descendants of Jacob, some remnant of them. Because He says in Jeremiah 29 and in verse 10, thus says the Lord, after 70 years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and cause you to return to this place.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil.

Thoughts of peace, even in the worst of times, God still in His heart held out hope and His intent. He made it very plain that He says, I give you a future and a hope.

You shall, you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you and you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all of your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity. He did that. He did that under a pagan, Gentile monarch named Cyrus the Great. In the beginning of the year 539, when Cyrus conquered Babylon, one of the first things he did, and we read about it in the first chapter of Ezra, he made it a creed to the Jews to return, to rebuild the temple, to rebuild the culture and the city.

And that was a necessary part of what God's purpose was for the land and for His people.

People descended from Jacob had to be in that land for key prophecies to be fulfilled, where Jesus would be born. The death of the suffering servant that Isaiah talked about, the coming even of the church. And that Jewish state was reborn, and time went by several hundred years, and Jesus was born of the line of David in Bethlehem, according to the prophecies.

And then after His death, the church began. The church could not have begun in any other time or place because of the nature of the church, in a sense being the spiritual inheritor of the promises that had been given to Abraham and passed on through Isaac and Jacob, and the nation and the people. And it started with a dominant Jewish presence and then ultimately went to the nations. The church did. But all of that had to be as a result of this people, this presence in the land of these descendants, and in a sense a Jewish state. But we know that that state didn't endure because as Jesus even predicted as a type, they were destroyed. In the year 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the city, sacked the temple, killed many, many Jews in the Jewish state that had been refounded through the decree of Cyrus came to an end. 70 AD.

Now Jesus, as I said, knew that that would occur. But Israel had rejected the prophets and they also, and they were turned out of the land there, and they rejected Christ. And they persecuted the church and so as a result, their time in the land came to an end.

It was early in the first half of the second century AD that the Romans renamed that entire land. They didn't want any Jewish presence or even a Jewish name. They renamed Jerusalem Ayleia Capitolina, gave it a Roman name, and they renamed the land Palestine. And that is where we come up with the term Palestine or Palestinian to refer to this land. It came from the Romans. The story fast forwards into the modern period. When we come to the late 19th century and into the 20th century, the Jews have been scattered. The Jews have developed a culture and their dispersion that is known today essentially as Judaism. They had retained their identity. They had retained the Sabbath and many of the aspects of the law. And that's a part of the story. They had also added a great deal of tradition and other customs depending upon the regions of Europe or the Middle East where they were and variations of that. But Judaism, as it is in the modern term, is not anywhere near what Moses gave to Israel from God as the word, the law, the way of life. But nonetheless, has been a part of what they have maintained as an identity, but not without a cost of pogroms and persecutions and holocausts that ultimately came to a point where a few leading Jewish thinkers, primarily a man named Theodore Herzl, who was born in Budapest in Hungary, came up with the idea called Zionism of a homeland that had to be created somewhere for the Jewish race as they had been expelled from Spain and as they had been persecuted in Russia and had to move here and there because of hatred for them by the various nations. The solution was homeland. Interestingly, the initial thoughts were not to go to Palestine.

Someplace else. But ultimately, it came down that Palestine was the only place that it could go to.

And so we have this idea called Zionism, which gets bandied about today and is a very highly politicized topic. You hear that in the debate and the discussions about the current issue.

But it was not until after World War I, with the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, that the Jews began to really return to Palestine, called the Land of Israel.

It began with a promise from the British government. There's a famous declaration that was given in 1917 called the Balfour Declaration. The Secretary of State of Great Britain, or the equivalent of it, the Foreign Secretary, David Balfour, issued this declaration essentially saying that the British government would support the establishment of, quote, a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. This was 1917. The Ottoman Empire controlled Palestine, the Turkic Empire, but there was a minority Jewish population there at the time.

And in the aftermath of World War I, a number of treaties and decisions, even the League of Nations officially recognized that the Jews could have a homeland there in Palestine. But there was an Arab population. Interestingly, the Arabs had supported the British in World War I against the Ottoman Empire. If you've ever seen the movie Lawrence of Arabia, you see that story told there because T. E. Lawrence was a British agent and he rallied the various tribes in the Bedouin tribes and they attacked the British. Well, the promise was to the Arabs, you do this and we'll provide, you know, we'll make it right for you in the aftermath of this. We'll give you a homeland or whatever. But the British didn't. They went back on their word. And through this and other treaties, basically it was going to, the promise was then made to the Jewish settlement in the land. And it was then not done. World War II comes and the Holocaust. Jewish people continue to flood into the land. And in 1948, you have the establishment of the declaration of the state of Israel that is finally made in May of 1948. And the state of Israel comes into existence the first time that there has been a Jewish state there since 70 A.D. Interestingly, President Harry Truman was the first, wanted to be the first world leader to recognize the new state.

Harry Truman read history and he read the Bible. And he knew the story of Cyrus, that Cyrus had let the Jews go back. He wanted to be kind of a modern-day Cyrus. And so he was first in line against the advice of all of his cabinet and top advisors to recognize the Jewish state. There was a lot of politics and there was a lot of back and forth, even at that time, that came about in the creation of the land. Immediately there was a war and it was the expulsion of tens of thousands of Palestinians from Jerusalem and other lands there that created this outcast class of people called the Palestinians who today still are not without a home.

And the discussions and the treaties and the efforts that have gone on through the years have not remedied that situation. It's a convoluted, complicated story that probably nobody knows all of the back channels, operations and everything. But no Arab state has been able to take care of those peoples. And the state of Israel has not come to a solution as well. There have been strife all across the table among so many of them. I was reading something recently and, you know, in the talk of some of the recent talks about genocide and Israel's reaction in Gaza, I was reading an article that brought up some of the original Zionist leaders in the 1930s and 1940s who themselves knew that if they were going to have a Jewish presence in Palestine, they had to remove the Arabs, the Palestinians, all of them. This is in their own writings.

The point is there's a lot that's on both sides that can be known and will likely never be known as you deal with all of this. There have been multiple wars and strife and today there is deep division in Israel and in the part of the nations against Israel. Even the Israelis question, some of them the secular Israelis question what it means to be a Jew. They were tearing themselves apart with an internal dispute prior to October 7th between conservative and more liberal progressive elements of the Israeli society that was threatening their own survival. I had read that because their antagonism toward Prime Minister Netanyahu that some of the reservists of the Israeli Defense Force were making the threat that if his policies were accepted, they would not answer the call to go up and join the military should there be something that happened on October 7th. When I read that a few months ago, I thought, boy, that's how deep the rot has gone in that culture. They've got problems. Well, October 7th came and these people, these reservists did answer the call and they're on the front lines. But there will be a day of reckoning because they were caught flat-footed and there will be an inquiry when and if the dust ever settles to lay the blame at somebody's feet. It's not over yet. What is very interesting is that Benjamin Netanyahu was able to form a coalition to be in office at this present time because he had to make bargains with a very conservative religious element of the Jewish political culture for the first time. And these were the ones who want to build a temple. These are the ones who want to build the third temple. Now, these people who have always wanted to go up and offer sacrifice on the Temple Mount every year around the day of trumpets, Rosh Hashanah, now they have political power and they're helping to hold that government together. There are people that were over there for the feast this year went to the Temple Institute to see where all the regalia of the priesthood and all is all set up and that's been known for years and years for the time when sacrifices at an altar or a rebuilt temple of some sort would then be done. Well, those people now have political power and there was fear part of the story is that they even actually met in an undisclosed location very, very near the Temple Mount area, the cabinet of the Prime Minister Netanyahu, and in the days leading up to the October 7 surprise. That's why the Hamas has called this the Al-Aqsa war because there was a fear that their plans would be to tear down the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is a revered mosque on the Temple Mount. And so this is what is being dealt with and this is a part of the story that is in the backdrop to what has been taking place with this war and the riots, the demonstrations all around the world against Israel, anti-Semitic steps, and the problems that are there. I want to mention one other element. I want to take that should be a part of our view of this and again, it's our worldview. I want to mention something about this anti-Semitism because since October 7, there's been a resurgence, there's been an increase in attacks upon Jews, synagogues. In one airport, there was a group that actually tried to storm an airplane looking for Jewish passengers to drag them off. This took place in Europe someplace.

And demonstrations and all that is making it all quite different. Anti-Semitism or anti-Jewishness has been on the rise for a number of years, but it's now multiplied many fold since October 7.

And it is something to note. The Holocaust of World War II certainly is a result of that. And you go all the way back to the Bible. We know the story of the book of Esther, where this Haman wanted to kill all the Jews in Persia. That's one of the original Holocausts that was being planned right there. But God stopped it through Esther, her relationship with the king, and you know that story there. But when you stop and think about anti-Semitism, here's the key. Certainly it is aimed at the Jews and for any number of reasons.

But at the heart of anti-Semitism, brethren, is a hatred of God. That's really at the heart of it. It's not just a hatred for people of Jewish descent. It is a hatred of God, and particularly the Ten Commandments, the law of God.

Human nature, mankind hates that law, hates all that it means.

And as I mentioned earlier, the Jews certainly have maintained their identity down through the generations, mixed in with a lot of other culture and their own traditions. But the Sabbath and the Holy Days, with their own traditions and customs and all, at least have perpetuated and they know their descent. They know their identity, which as I said, some have even questioned what it means to be a Jew or an Israeli today and things that they've lost, they've lost a number of things.

But anti-Semitism is bigger than that. It's really a hatred of God.

Romans 1.28. Paul has this wonderful passage, or this insightful passage, I should say.

And in verse 28, God says about people, about humans, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.

They gave them to a reprobate mind and has not wanted to keep God in their knowledge.

Anti-Semitism is a hatred of God, and particularly His Word and His law.

Now, today, anti-Semitism is aimed at the Jews, the visible remnant of Israel.

But the Bible shows us something else, that tomorrow, at some point, anti-Semitism, this virulent hatred, will be aimed at the church.

And we should know that. We should think about that. We should not forget it. And that should frame a significant part of our worldview. Turn, if you will, over to Revelation 12.

Revelation 12, the concise story of the church, beginning with the sons of Jacob and moving through to the birth of Christ, and the persecution upon the people of God and the church engineered by Satan, who's deceived the world, as we're told, that great serpent in verse 9, the great dragon, and his desire to try to kill Christ when he was born, you know, that story from the Gospels, and to thwart the purpose of God at any point in time, as we know from the story of the Bible. And again, I do draw a connection to this latest attack on the eighth day, a holy day of God, to the mind of Satan. That's something we should note and remember.

But in Revelation 12 is the persecution and the attack that Satan engineers through human governments mounts. God protects the people in what is called her place. But look at verse 17.

After the protection that comes from the earth opening its mouth, verse 17 says, the dragon, which is Satan, was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring. He's still enraged with the church. And the latter part of this verse tells us why. The rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. At the very end of the age, prior to Christ's return, there will be a persecution of those who have the commandments of God. Keep in mind I said anti-Semitism is really a virulent hatred of God and in particular His law. And the testimony of Jesus Christ. That's the church. This is not the Jews. The Jews don't accept Christ. They don't have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

This is talking about something that will come upon the remnant of the woman. How and where and why and how it will take place. You know, the other parts of the Bible can give us other understanding. But that should be very sobering to us as to what is talked about. As we frame our view of what is happening and where it's going. What we should understand about this current crisis.

And be very careful. I asked the question at the beginning. Whose side are we on? I think I've answered who owns the land. And I think I've answered as to why God put He made a promise to a specific man and his descendants. And He fulfilled those promises with very exact job description of what they were to be and do and believe and everything else. And that didn't happen. God removed them. He brought them back. He removed them again. He's put a remnant there at this time in the end, again for prophetic fulfillment. Matthew 24, 15, and some type of an abomination that Daniel spoke of that will be in Jerusalem and people having to flee. Those that are in Judea flee to the mountains, he said. That's future.

So there has to be a presence of the people in the land. Whose side are we on?

What do we need to learn to have a correct biblical view?

Let me summarize this with a few points. We all like points, right? And I think I've got seven points. Do I have seven points? I do. I have seven points here today.

Not six. I've got seven. All right. Number one. We're seeing God owns the land. God owns the land. Genesis 12. He gave it to Abraham's seed.

Point number two. He put Jacob's descendants in the land to be an example of righteousness. We read that in Deuteronomy 4 verses 1 through 8. They didn't accomplish that.

And no modern state has done this today. I've read that the biggest pride parade in the world every year is held. Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv, Israel. The biggest one. And most of them are pretty big. I've seen the aftermath of one in Berlin a few years ago. You remember that one? That was pretty awful just to see the aftermath of a pride parade. You don't want to see the full parade. I don't. But the biggest one I've been told is in Tel Aviv. Point number three. God restored Israel to the land in the sixth century Persian period. He did that to further his purpose. And they remained there to 70 AD when God again removed them from the land in exile. Point four. He then restored them to the land in 1948 to further his purpose in the time of the end. There are many prophecies, particularly in Zechariah 12 and Zechariah 14, that point to what will happen. Zechariah 12 in particular talks about the nations being drunk over Jerusalem. When you read some of the other prophecies about the nations coming against Jerusalem at the time of the end, spiritual drunkenness and spiritual deception is the only way to explain what is taking place. And even today, so many different ways, that nobody can come to any solution. And some of the escapades of the current political situation can only be explained by a spiritual drunkenness. But that is what God is dealing with. He restored them to the land in 1948, again, to further his purpose and events that will take place. Christ will return and stand on the Mount of Olives. And then from there, as we saw, the Word will go forth. Point number five. I think this current attack and situation and this evil that did take place on the eighth day is a wake-up call. We in the church should note that, I think, with a deep sobriety. Satan does move the nations to battle against the purpose and plan of God. And he did it on a day that shows the timing of the resurrection of the dead, small and great, to stand before God at a time when God will take another major step in bringing together all things in heaven and earth through Christ. Palestinians, Arabs, Israelis, Russians, any nation and every nation will be a part of that day. We should be sobered by that. I think we have in front of us a great sign from God, a teaching moment for us all to understand about the truth that God has revealed to us as the prime reality of the entire universe.

When we keep the Holy Days, we have a blueprint to understand who and what God is and what man's purpose is. And this is something that we should take as a wake-up call.

Point 6, Jerusalem is going to be the center from which all the nations will learn the way of God.

We read that in the anchoring verse of Isaiah 2. And then point 7, 7, brethren, we need to rise above the politics of this event that are there that can polarize us. We need to rise above the ideologies that confuse and divide and cause people to miss God's perspective. We need to develop a worldview that helps us to carefully discern the times in which we are living so that we then can come to a correct conclusion to the question of whose side are we on.