(Psalm 66:12) “We went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance.”
In the online edition of All Israel News this past Friday it was reported that a drone apparently launched from Yemen exploded near an apartment building in Tel Aviv early on Friday morning, killing one Israeli and wounding eight others. According to the Tel Aviv police, the explosion shook Tel Aviv around 3 a.m., triggering hundreds of concerned calls to the police hotline. The explosion happened in the air and was reportedly heard all across the greater Tel Aviv area. The air blast caused significant damage to several buildings, with the shrapnel killing a man of about 50 years, and lightly wounding four other people. Four additional victims were treated for shock and anxiety. Israel has responded with a massive air strike in Yemen and Yemen is threatening to retaliate. Having said this in no way diminishes the perpetual and relentless attacks on Israel by their Islamic neighbours, and while Israel is winning in their war with Hamas in Gaza, in the north Hezbollah are continuously ‘upping the ante’ on their rocket attacks on Israel, not to mention the increasing Arab hostility against Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, the Biblical heartland of Israel.
Why is God allowing this?
Why is the Triune God of Israel allowing these acts of violence against His people Israel? Why is He allowing the leaders of the nations to turn against Israel? Why is He allowing political unrest in the Knesset? Why is He allowing individual acts of terror in the streets of Jerusalem and in other cities in Israel? Why is He allowing the international community to push for the two-state solution from Hell? Why is He allowing the United Nations highest Court, the International Court of Justice, to accuse Israel of Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria and in East Jerusalem, and the Israeli government, as being maintained in violation of international law? As tragic as it was, why did He allow the October 7th 2023 massacre of Jews at the hands of the Satanic Hamas ‘butchers’ and the Arab citizens from Gaza who also took part in that terrible atrocity? Why is America starting to pull back from defending Israel?
Satan Behind the Scenes
We know that Satan is orchestrating these acts of violence and terror against Israel because of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus, who, at the cross, defeated the power of Satan and his hordes from Hell to keep men and women enslaved to sin and from hell, and because the Messiah our Lord Jesus was Jewish. Ask any Islamic terrorist today why they hate and kill Jews, and they will answer merely because they are Jews!
God’s Greater Purpose
In all of the severity of Israel’s afflictions today, more so than at any other time in past history, except for the Holocaust, we need to see the greater purpose God has for His covenant people Israel and His sovereign destiny for them as a nation, not to see then destroyed, but to come into a place of abundance which can only come about in a revelation of, and their reconciliation with, the Messiah our Lord Jesus. At present Israel as a nation by and large still reject their Messiah who has bled and died for their sins as their Passover Lamb, and for the sins of the whole world (1 Corinthians 5:7) (John 1:29) (1 John 2:2).
To reject the Lord Jesus as ones Saviour, Lord and Messiah, is to remain under the judgement of God (John 3:18, 36). Whether one is Jewish or Gentile by birth they need to be saved through repentance and faith in the Messiah and in His shed blood that has atoned for their sins to receive salvation. Rabbi the apostle Paul understood this when he wrote; “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Romans 1:16).
And again he wrote; “God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism” (Romans 2:6-11).
Having said this in no way cancels out or does away with God’s end-time purposes for Israel as a nation! At the end of this present age, every Jew still alive on earth will see He whom they have pierced with their sins and be saved! (Zechariah 12:10-13:1). God’s greater purpose for Israel will happen and no devil in hell, angel in heaven, or any earthly power of man will prevent it from happening. God can do all things and no purpose of His can be thwarted! (Job 42:2).
The spirit of the world
By and large the lifestyle of society in general in Israel reflects the spirit of the world. Tel Aviv has been designated as the gay capital of the world, not to mention the continuing persecution of New Covenant Messianic assemblies for the most part by the religious Orthodox Jewish leaders who reject Messiah. Also in Israel according to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics report from 2004, in 2003 you had 42% of abortion procedures performed for unmarried women. While there are therapeutic reasons for some abortions, these are minimal compared to the non-therapeutic abortion procedures done for convenience, which is characteristic of all the western democracies. In Israel the altars of Molech are being replayed on the altars of abortion clinics. As for the government of Israel by and large they are not looking to the Triune God of Israel for their security but to ‘the Egypt of this world.’ The decadence of western civilization with its pleasures and pursuits and all it offers, is a distinctive mark of Neo-Paganism within wider Israeli society today which God has to deal with, and is dealing with through applied pressure coming from Israel’s immediate Islamic neighbours, and from the nations of the world, a situation we see mirrored in the book of Judges.
The LORD Loves Israel
Now let’s be very clear! The LORD loves Israel and the Messiah has bled and died to save His people from their sins! (Matthew 1:21). Our Triune God most certainly has not finished with Israel, and Gentile Christendom has not replaced Israel! In the very last days, after God has spiritually purified His people and refined them as silver and gold, for His own names sake, and because He keeps His covenants, He will have mercy on Israel, not because they have earned it, deserved it or merited it in any way but because His gifts and His call are irrevocable! (Ezekiel 36:22-23) (Romans 11:29). God always remembers and honours His covenants!
God always knows what He is doing
Despite what we see happening in Israel our Triune God still has everything under control. Psalm 66:8-12 reflects what the LORD has done with Israel in the past and what He is doing with Israel today. Let’s look at this psalm briefly…
(Psalm 66:8-12) “Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of His praise be heard; He has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For You, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.”
This is what the LORD is doing with Israel today. All of the afflictions Israel is experiencing are part and parcel of God’s sovereign purpose and plan for the nation to ultimately bring them to; “the place of abundance,” that time when the surviving remnant of Israel will encounter the Messiah our Lord Jesus who will bring about their salvation and deliver the nation in their darkest hour when it looks like all hope has gone for Israel (Zechariah 12:10-13:1) (Jeremiah 30: 1-10). God is spiritually purifying Israel right now, as we are in the very last of the last days. When He has finished His sanctifying and cleansing work, a faithful remnant will come forth, whose praise will be heard around the world as they testify to the saving and keeping power of Messiah, and about He who kept their feet from slipping and to co-reign with the Messiah our Lord Jesus in His Millennial Messianic Kingdom after He has returned and destroyed all opposition against Him, and against those in Israel, who, in the Messiah, have received redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of their sins according to the riches of God’s unmerited, unearned favour (Ephesians 1:7).
A tremendous testimony!
In that day; “All Israel will be saved!” Israel as a nation “will possess their possession” and “possess the gates of their enemies!” To these things the scriptures testify! Once again we need to understand that God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). Their testimony to the saving and keeping power of the Messiah will resound throughout the surviving nations of the world, and in that day we will see Jews and Arabs united and reconciled in Messiah. In light of the suffering of the Messiah for His people, Israel will know in that day why they have suffered so. “We went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance.”
