justus-insights

[justus-insights]

Jerusalem's Cry: Seeking Peace in a Divided Land

“A couple years ago, as I was reading through Matthew chapter 5, I remember praying to Jesus after I came across verse 44, ‘Jesus...I wish you didn’t say that.”

Above, is a quote from a Christian who lives in Israel whose name is not shared due to security and safety reasons. This man was being interviewed for a documentary to show the conflict between Israel and Palestine, hoping to help Christians understand what is truly going on in that region of the world. There is and has been much hate towards Yahweh’s people that has been going on since the times of Exodus and is still happening to this day. There is a great deal of hate and anger, so much so, that I believe it would be wise as one of God’s image bearers to be slow to anger as I am called to be “set apart” and try my best to understand the spiritual warfare between Palestine and “God’s chosen people.”

On October 7, 2023, Hamas, the Iran-backed terror group controlling Gaza, launched an unprovoked and vicious surprise attack on over 20 Israeli communities. Using rockets, paragliders, boats, motorcycles, and other vehicles, and whatever other means they could, terrorists infiltrated Israel with one goal—to murder and kidnap Israelis. Over 1,200 Israelis have been killed, thousands of rockets have been fired on Israel, and over 134 hostages are being held by Hamas. This was the largest terrorist attack in Israeli history and the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. In order to protect itself, Israel is working to eliminate the threat that Hamas poses through an air, sea, and ground campaign against the terror group’s operations.

There has been trouble between these two people groups since 1948 and now it seems it is worse than ever. My reason for writing about this topic is not for political reasons. I pray the prayer of Isaiah 62 and hope for peace and unity. Israel was given to the Israelites by Yahweh and is “The Holy Land” why is there so much fighting and war over a place that should be a place of worship and prayer to the One and Only God? Israel is the site of divine encounters between man and God and the land where Jesus lived, died, and rose again. It is also the place where Jesus will one day rule and reign again. After God punishes Satan and his followers, “Jehovah will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem” (Isaiah 24:23).

Jewish hate is nothing new. This goes back centuries. Egypt wanted to destroy the Jews when Pharaoh gave the order to murder the Jewish baby boys (Exodus 1). Ancient Persia (modern Iran) wanted to eradicate the Jews through the wicked plot of Haman (Esther 3). Fast forward: Adolf Hitler had his “Final Solution” to destroy the Jewish people and ultimately murdered over 6 million of them in the Holocaust. But God intervened.

Now we have Hamas committing murders and unthinkable atrocities. But God always intervenes—He raised up Moses to deliver the Jews from Pharaoh and Egypt. He raised up Queen Esther to use her influence to save her fellow Jews from the plot to destroy them.


But why this hatred for the Jewish people? The answer is simply, Satan hates what God loves. God loves and chose the Jews as His very own people. “The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:7–8).

The fact is that the Jews have always been—and always will be—God’s chosen people. And then Jesus came and made it possible for Gentiles to be “grafted in” to the promises given to the Jewish people by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Going back to the quote from the beginning, yes, loving our enemies is extremely hard. The word love comes from the Greek word “agape.” The word love is used so often and in many different ways that it has kind of lost its true meaning. But here is what is fascinating, the earliest followers of Jesus looked to the teachings of Jesus and the story of His life to redefine their very concept of love. For Jesus, agape love is not primarily a feeling but an action. It is a choice that you must make to seek the well-being of people other than yourself. For a people like the Jews who have known much oppression and persecution from surrounding people groups since the beginning of time, this is not an easy task.

Our fellow brothers and sisters are facing great hardship. Let us pray for their strength and perseverance and the ability to love their adversaries. May we also pray for unity among these communities, that the Spirit would bring these people groups together to love one another. I hope that Jerusalem will become a place of peace and a place where everyone can go and praise Jesus for all that He has done because He is worthy.

From the Jews came our Bible. From the Jews came our Messiah. We owe them a great debt, and now we must pray for them as a nation and a people.