What’s Going On?

By Michael Griego on October 13, 2023 • ( 0 )

Terror strikes again in the land of the Bible. What does this mean for Israel? What does this mean for Christians? What does it mean for the world? ◊

A truly terrible thing happened this past week in the Middle East. Palestinian terrorists executed a brutal sneak attack on Israel just across the border of the Gaza Strip, an area along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea ceded to the Palestinians in 2005 as part of peace-keeping compromise.

There won’t be any real peace in the region for a while.

To date, over 1,400 Israeli civilian people were killed, including elderly, women, and children. Palestinian civilians will no doubt be caught in the coming cross-fire of counter-attacks coming from the Israeli government seeking revenge and obliteration of Hamas, the Islamic terrorist group who claimed responsibility for last week’s attack.

“What’s Going On?”
After the initial shock waves of the attack and then horrific details of death and mayhem hit the world, now comes the posturing and questioning and predicting from leaders and politicians, media, and of course, pastors.

Eventually, everyone’s got a personal take or opinion on this matter.

What’s yours?

It could be any of the following:

“It’s the same endless fighting over there. I’m not sure what’s going on!”
“The terrorists (Hamas) did a terrible thing!”
“I think Iran was behind it!”
“The Palestinians are only fighting to get their land back!”
“The Israeli people are only living on the land that God promised them!”
“This is the beginning of the end that Jesus talked about in Revelation!”
“This means the Rapture is getting very close!”

What’s the Truth?
Actually, there is endless fighting over there, and Hamas is a terrorist group that did a terrible thing. We will most likely learn someday that Iran was connected to this Islamic attack.

Additionally, the Palestinians were removed from their homeland (~ 700,000 people) in 1948 after a post-WW2 movement by the United Nations, global sympathy for the Jewish people recovering from the Holocaust massacres, a longstanding Zionist push for a national state of Israel, and an Arab-sparked war with Israel.

Their hatred for Israel runs deep – all the way back to the Old Testament Book of Joshua, when Joshua, after the death of Moses, under God’s direction leads the people of Israel into the Promised Land, a land occupied by the Canaanites, ancient ancestors of today’s Middle Eastern nations.

And yes, God did promise Israel the land (Exodus 23:31), and God did deliver them into the land, fulfilling that promise. After the 12 tribes of Israel (the 12 sons of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham) had successfully taken possession of the promised land, the final verses of Joshua chapter 21 states the following:

So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled. (Joshua 21:43-45)

But Joshua, before he dies, reminds the people of Israel at the end of Joshua chapter 23, the following condititions that went along with that promise:

“Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.” (Joshua 23:14-16)

As we know now almost 3,500 years since that point (circa 1245 BC), Israel did violate the covenant of the Lord God and was punished in 722 BC (destruction of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians), and in 586 BC (destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the Southern Kingdom by the Babylonians), and finally again in AD 70 (destruction of the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans).

As Christ predicted, their final punishment in AD 70 was because apostate Israel rejected their Messiah.

But as the Old Testament points to Jesus Christ, and the New Testament lays out the fulfillment of Jesus Christ, the focus since His entrance into the world should be on Jesus Christ.

But for many in the secular world, including Israel, it is not.

What About the Rapture and the End?
Unfortunately, many Christians see these types of events in the Middle East as, ironically, an exciting time of anticipation of coming end times events like the Rapture.

The Rapture is a human construct. It has no Biblical basis. Many pastors point to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 for their Biblical exegesis and teaching on this matter. If you read the full passage you will not see any mention of our modern-day Church being “raptured” or taken to heaven for any reason.

Traditionally, this passage has been interpreted to refer to the final ending and judgment of the world, not a pretribulational rapture of the Church. Moreso, this passage is Paul’s imagery explaining how Old Covenant believers were in a temporary holding place (see Luke 16:19-31 and Matthew 27:51-53).

In this passage of 1 Thessalonians and the entire Book of Revelation, there is no mention of a tribulation period, a discussion of the prophecy found in Daniel chapter 9, or any reference to God dealing separately with the nation of Israel, or the Antichrist making and breaking a covenant with the Jews, rebuilding the temple, or Jesus returning “with His church” to set up His earthly millennial kingdom after seven years.

All of these are common belief elements of those Christians who hold to a belief in the Rapture. Most who believe this cannot explain their beliefs, as they have only been taught them by pastors who often themselves are hard pressed to connect the dots Biblically on this popular but false doctrine.

But doesn’t Jesus talk about this?

No. If Jesus ever mentions destruction relative to “the end”, it is His direct prediction in Matthew 24 that He (the Son of Man mentioned in Daniel 7) would come in judgment upon disobedient Israel at the end of the Age (meaning the end of the Old Jewish Covenant, not the end of the world). This happened in AD 70 “after the tribulation” with the final destruction of the Temple and the nation.

And this happened just as the burgeoning “New Way” – Christianity – with God’s powerful Holy Spirit now released to the world (see Acts 2), was made available to both the Jews and the Gentiles. In other words, all the nations of the whole world – thus fulfilling the original promise to Abraham in Genesis 12.

Finally, lest you hear anyone try to tie this past week’s events to Revelation, the Book of Revelation is not about us 2,000 years later. It is Christ’s final warning, written by John prior to AD 70, to the early Christian churches in Asia Minor (chapters 1-3) and the prophetic vision, rich with Old Testament imagery, of the coming destruction of Jerusalem (chapters 4-19). I believe the final 3 chapters (20-22) are about the final throne judgment (in the future) and the ushering in of an eternal new heaven and earth.

So What About the Terrorist Attacks?
This past week in Israel reflects the ongoing plight of man apart from a saving faith in Christ. We are all sinners who sin, and hate, and love, and desire peace for our own kind and families. We can read about these same ongoing atrocities from the beginning of the Bible, the beginning of mankind.

We can call it geopolitical and religious wars and strife. We can call it cruel and evil, reflecting man’s inhumanity to man. We can call it sin.

With human leadership and diplomacy we can get to temporal peace, most likely after more bloodshed. But real peace begins and ends in the heart, mind, and spirit of men and women who acknowledge and surrender to the true King of Peace, the Son of God, the Lord God of this physical world and beyond, Christ Jesus.

Do you know what’s going on?
_______________________________
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33