An appropriate response
In yesterday’s edition of Israel Today online it was reported that “The Islamic Jihad”, an Iran-backed Palestinian terror organization, attacked southern Israel yesterday morning by lobbing between 50 and 60 mortar shells at Israeli towns and communities in what is called the “Gaza belt.” Hamas later admitted it had condoned the attack after a number of their fighters attacked the Israeli town of Sederot on Monday evening with heavy machine guns. The Israeli military first responded to the largest attack on Israel from Gaza since the summer war of 2014 by using tank fire, which was aimed at Hamas positions near the Gaza border.” According to God’s Word He is going to deal with Hamas and those in Gaza seeking to attack Israel.
Fire on the walls of Gaza!
The prophet Amos wrote; “This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not relent. Because she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom, will send fire on the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses. I will destroy the king of Ashdod and the one who holds the sceptre in Ashkelon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, till the last of the Philistines are dead,” says the Sovereign Lord.” (Amos 1:6-8)”
God’s Firepower
When the Philistines were active in Old Testament times they used to make raids across the border into Israel and capture local towns and sell the Jewish people as slaves to Edom. The land of Edom was for the most part Saudi Arabia and the Philistines would sell off the Jews they had captured to their Arab neighbours. Of course the Philistines ceased to be a nation during the reign of King David. Now the Philistines are long gone but the demonic principality over Gaza is still around today pushing Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to harass and attack Israel as the Philistines used to do. Today Hamas and the PA are sold out to Islam and their evil intent is to destroy Israelis in any way possible. Also it would not be surprising to see them sell off captured Israelis to their Arab neighbours if they could. However, the LORD said that He would “send fire on the walls of Gaza that will consume her fortresses.” God’s firepower is by far greater than anything man can produce. In fact we are told in 2nd Peter that when the Day of the LORD comes expectantly upon the inhabitants of the earth who do not know God that “the heavens themselves will disappear with a roar and that the elements will be destroyed by fire or melt in the fervent heat.” In the Greek text of the Bible the Apostle Peter was describing the splitting of the Atom even though he was a first century fisherman. Of course he did not know about nuclear power but the Holy Spirit did.
Lightening Bolts!
The LORD’s firepower far exceeds any atomic explosion that man can produce. At the end of this present age when the wrath of God is poured out upon a world that hates and rejects our Messiah the Lord Jesus, it will bring about devastation unequalled in the history of the planet because the sin and rebellion against God in the whole world will be so great. What occurred with water in the time of Noah will happen again but this time with fire. This kind of fire power is released when God stretches out His hand. As it is written “He covers His hands with the lightning, And commands it to strike the mark.” (Job 36:32) Can you imagine lightning bolts flashing forth from the right hand of God? Whether it is Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, Turkey or any other militant nation for that matter hell-bent on destroying Israel, they will find their firepower is no match for the lightning bolts that blaze forth from the right hand of God, being the Messiah our Lord Jesus who is also called in the Bible “the Right Arm of the LORD.”
With the Rod of His Mouth
When He comes back at His command the armies of heaven, the armies of Israel and the glorified saints will go forth to strike down those nations whose armies have dared to defy the armies of the living God on earth namely Israel and the Church. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah; “And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.”(Isaiah 11:4b) ‘King David’ will arise again to deliver God’s people but it will not be literally King David of course but the Lord Jesus the anointed Messiah who comes in the character of King David, who, when he reigned in Israel, destroyed the enemies of God arrayed against Israel especially the Philistines in Gaza. (Jeremiah 30:9) This is the God of Israel and of our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! As for Hamas in Gaza the scripture tells us what the Israelis will ultimately do to that bunch and to the whole Islamic Arab world including the militant ‘Palestinians’. As it is written of Israel; “They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west; Together they will plunder the sons of the east; They will possess Edom and Moab, And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.” (Isaiah 11:14) In their day of battle Israel will be no joke!
Possessing their possessions!
Right now God is allowing Hamas and Hezbollah and Israel’s Islamic neighbours to harass and attack Israel, not to destroy them of course, but to bring about correction and repentance for Israel in order to bring them back to Himself. However, the day will come when the Lord Jesus our Messiah will come back and then the faithful remnant of Israel under king ‘David’ (the Lord Jesus) will “possess the gates of their enemies” and “possess their possessions.” They will swoop down into Gaza and into Saudi Arabia and retake all of the land promised to Abraham from the Wadi of Egypt to the River Euphrates. (Genesis 15:18-19) God will use the firepower of the Israelis to destroy all who come against them. Already we have seen the sovereign hand of God in Israel causing the rockets to be destroyed in the air or miss or to tall short of their targets. In all of the previous wars that Israel has had to wage against humanly impossible odds they have immerged victorious because the hand of the LORD was with them in those battles and is still with them today. He is still the God of the armies of Israel!
In Holiness and Righteousness
As it is written; “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” (Luke 1:68-79)
A Holy People
God’s ultimate goal is to have a holy people set apart to Himself and through applied pressure from Israel’s enemies God is doing His purifying work. The Time of Jacob’s Trouble still lies ahead for israel but after they have passed through it they will be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:1-6) A purified faithful remnant led by our Messiah the LORD Jesus will take out all of their enemies arrayed against them. As for Islam it will cease to exist! (Obadiah 1:8-14) After all God gave the Land of Israel, through cutting a blood covenant with Abraham, to be for them “an everlasting possession” and God will personally see to it that The Jewish people, “the Apple of His Eye” get what He has promised them. (Genesis 17:7-8) Once they have had a revelation of their Messiah and been reconciled to Him “all Israel will be saved… for the gifts and call of God is irrevocable.” (Zechariah 12:10-14) (Romans 11:25-29) God will deal with Gaza!
