While the first promise of the land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was given by God repeatedly in the Book of Genesis, it is restated numerous times throughout the Tanakh. It is further referenced in the New Testament. Clearly it is God’s will for the Jewish people to have Israel as their homeland.
Ever since the re-establishment of Israel as a sovereign nation back in 1948, there has been a concerted effort annihilate it. Arab leaders have openly promised to drive Israel into the sea. It is not a new problem.
Ha Satan is always in opposition to the righteousness of God. As recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, he even tried to disqualify the mission of Jesus, tempting him to deny His Father. So has he also set his sights on the destruction of Israel.
The psalmist Asaph, who likely was a worshiper in the Holy Temple during King David’s time, wrote Psalm 83, which pictures this problem, showing it existed even in ancient days.
In the Psalm (see inset), Asaph writes about the conspiracy of the surrounding nations to not only defeat Israel, but obliterate it from the face of the earth. Using language which is astonishingly applicable to the modern day state of affairs, the Psalm calls out the aggressors as the forefathers of those seeking to do the same today.
Look, the Jewish people in Israel, especially the vast majority who have not yet accepted Yeshua as Messiah, are not holy. But the land is (Zechariah 2:12). In fact, Jerusalem and Israel are the only places on earth God calls holy, and He deeded them to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Jesus had something to say about this. In Matthew 7:6, He proclaimed, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs.” In His day, the Gentiles were heathens, and were called dogs by the Jews. Therefore, His wide sweeping statement included, don’t give the Holy Land of Israel to the heathens.
Furthermore, Messiah will return to Jerusalem to be welcomed by Jewish believers (Matthew 23:39). Of course, Israel doesn’t do everything right - not even close. But the biblical mandate is specific. God wants Jewish people to inhabit Israel so His promises are fulfilled, even to the second coming of Yeshua.
Yet, let our prayers be from Psalm 122:6, “Shaalu shalom Yerushalayim, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem;” and Jeremiah 31:7, “O Lord, save your people the remnant of Israel.”
In Genesis 12:1, the Lord spoke to Avram, before his name was changed to Abraham, telling him to leave everything he knew and loved, to go “To a land that I will show you.” That Abraham did it, especially not knowing his destination, is amazing, and part of the reason his faith was accepted by God as righteousness.
Coming from Ur (modern day Iraq), Abraham was eventually led to Canaan, hundreds of miles away. Once there, Genesis 12:7, “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’” Take note, not only did Abraham come from a far country to Canaan, he also had no relationship to that land. He had no relatives there, he didn’t own any property and he hadn’t any business interests. Yet the Lord, Who owns the whole earth and therefore has the right to do with it as He pleases, deeded Canaan, which would become Israel, to Abraham.
In Genesis 15:18, God doubled down on His proclamation, “On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.’”
Since every word and promise of God are true anyway, I believe He uses the designation of covenant for man’s benefit. It helps us understand the depth of His integrity.
When Abraham was 100 years old, the Lord told him he would have a child by his wife Sarah. But when Abraham asked if his son Ishmael, the father of the Arab nations whom he had sired through Sarah’s Egyptian maidservant, would be his heir, God deferred. In Genesis 17:19, “Then God said: . . . Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”
God specifically restated that covenant of the land to Isaac, and to his son Jacob, as well as repeatedly throughout both the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament. It is biblically clear the Jewish people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are to be in possession of Israel.
In fact, Jerusalem and Israel are the only places on earth the Lord has designated as holy. Therefore, if any other people, especially those who don’t believe in the Most High God, were to ultimately own the land, its holiness would be defiled and God’s covenant would be broken.
Many folks call Israel the Holy Land, and rightfully so. After all, it is the only land God has designated as holy. But it seems to me this important title has been taken for granted and trivialized, becoming more like a catch phrase than a God-given designation.
Prophesying through Zechariah (2:12), the Lord made a powerful proclamation describing Israel: “And the Lord will take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”
In this scripture, the Hebrew word used for Holy is Kodesh, which comes from a root word meaning sanctify, or to set apart for God’s purpose. So the fuller meaning of holy in this context is not just pure or sacred, but something separated for a divine accomplishment. Indeed, that in part has been fulfilled as the Holy Land was the place of Messiah Yeshua’s birth death and resurrection; and will be completed as the place to which He will return.
We know the Lord created the whole earth, and therefore all of it has great meaning to Him. Yet He chose only Israel and Jerusalem to be Holy. That’s why Israel is the center of biblical activity. It is all part of God’s plan. That status needs to be honored.
We also know He intended the land to be inhabited by the Jewish people. The account in Genesis 15:18 makes it clear, “On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land.’” Check it, a covenant is an unbreakable promise, and God used one to give Israel to Father Abraham and his descendants.
Now what right did Abraham have to the land (called Canaan at that time)? He wasn’t born there, he had no relatives there, he had been there only a relatively short time. He really had no right whatsoever to claim it - except God gave it to him and his descendants forever!
It’s something like those movies or TV shows where, when the last will and testament of a wealthy person is read, the bulk of the valuable estate is left to someone other than the expectant heirs. And while there is a great fuss, the lawyer explains the deceased had the right to give it to anyone he chose.
Abraham, on the other hand, had no children. Even though his wife Sarah decided it would be better for him to have a son by her Egyptian maid servant to fill that void, the boy Ishmael was not a legitimate heir. But our sovereign King knew what he wanted, and told Abraham he would have another son to be named Isaac and (Genesis 17:19) “I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”
In doing so, the Lord ensured the land precious to Him would stay in the line of those who believed in Him. Many regard Ishmael as the Father of the Arab people, who of course historically have a different belief system. The Lord later clarifies the lineage for the covenant as going through Jacob and his descendants. Get it? The land was given by covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their descendants - the Jewish people. It was specifically not given to the Arab nations.
It is simple to understand that God would want His Holy Land to be in the hands of those who acknowledge Him as Lord. His Son Yeshua made that very clear when He said (Matt 7:6), “Do not give what is holy to the dogs.” Please note, in those days the Jews referred to the Gentiles, who were pagans, as dogs. So to paraphrase, Jesus was saying don’t give holy things like the land of Israel to those who don’t worship My Father.
Consider again the title Holy Land. Catch the power of that name. Now apply it to the current crisis in the Middle East. Who has a covenant right of ownership to the land, and who doesn’t? And therefore who has a right to protect that property?
To be sure, it is easy to see that modern day Israel is not a holy nation. There is great apostasy and lack of faith. Yet the Lord is so clearly specific, there can be no doubt that His will is for the Jewish people to inhabit Israel. Let’s remember God’s promise (Romans 11:26), “And so all Israel will be saved.”
In essence, Israel is not holy because it is central to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is holy because God declared it holy. Thus, as those who believe the Bible, we have an obligation to ignore the geo-political issues of the world today in favor of honoring God’s purpose.
Now here’s a possible stumbling block. How can we continue to support Israel when her warplanes are bombing terrorist targets, but also hitting innocent civilians? Even though we know the terrorists use civilian locations for their military operations, this is still a difficult issue.
I know this is a little abstract, but get the basic meaning. Do we trust in the Lord only when it is convenient, or seek to do so at all times as the Bible instructs? When we forgive, do we forgive only those who we think have repented, or do we forgive as Jesus tells us? Our support of Israel, therefore, should be based on biblical mandate, not on our interpretation of what’s happening at the moment.
Do I believe the government of Israel does everything properly? Certainly not! But I do believe the Lord’s Hand is upon that nation, and all of this is really a spiritual issue. It is the powers of spiritual darkness coming against the righteousness of God’s truth.
The radical Muslim agenda calls for the destruction of Israel. That is as blatantly anti-scriptural as it gets, and I believe clearly pictures the spiritual nature of this battle. The chant, “from the river to the sea,” which is now bandied about in protests against Israel, literally is a description of driving the Jewish nation into the sea.
Contrarily, although Israel is a Jewish state, only about three-quarters of its citizens are Jewish. The remaining 25% include many different religions, including Muslims. There are even Arab Muslim members of the Knesset, the Israeli Congress.
Nevertheless, we don’t want to see any more loss of civilian lives, or any lives for that matter. Yet the Lord tells us that our ways aren’t His, and that His ways are past finding out. Let’s not let our ideas of what seems fair take precedence over God’s will.
Personally, I am praying for the end of the violence in the region, but also for the destruction of the powers of spiritual darkness, and that revival in Yeshua HaMashiach sweeps through the Holy Land.
Many of us remember the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when the former Soviet Union began installing nuclear missiles in the communist island nation aimed at the United States. During the 13 days of the crisis, President John F. Kennedy risked starting a major war as he ordered a military blockade around Cuba to prevent the project from being completed.
It was an intense situation as the U.S. took action to defend itself, ignoring the sovereignty of the two threatening nations. Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Prime Minister, rattled sabres, as they say, with dramatic threats. However he backed down through a negotiated settlement.
Sound familiar?
Israel, threatened by the possibility of nuclear weapons being aimed at it, took pre-emptive action to protect itself. Of course there are significant differences in these two international incidences, but the underlying impetus is the same. Israel has the right to defend itself, and even more so because it is God’s Holy Land.
Let’s remember the miraculous existence of Israel is an affirmation of God’s many promises in Scripture, starting with His covenant with Abraham. In making that covenant, He said in Genesis 15:18, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.” Take note that land is much larger than modern day Israel.
Let’s also remember God ordered the land taken by force. When the Children of Israel ended their forty year exodus journey from Egypt, here’s how He instructed them to conquer the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 20:16-17) “But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly destroy them.”
Does it follow then that Israel has a God-given right to defend itself? The biblical answer is a clear yes, but with a twist.
Jehoshaphat was a good King of Judah who was faced with certain defeat at the hands of three nations combining their attack against Jerusalem. But the Lord gave him a prophetic word (2 Chronicles 20:15-17), “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s . . . You will not need to fight in this battle.”
And as promised, after Jehoshaphat sent worshipers out ahead of his army, the invaders suffered confusion and attacked each other, resulting in a great defeat without any engagement from the defenders of Judah.
The story of Gideon’s defeat of the Midianites in the Book of Judges exemplifies how God combined His supernatural power with the physical force of the army for victory. He commanded Gideon to attack a huge battalion with only three-hundred men, aided by blowing shofars and breaking glass pitchers while carrying torches. Although the Lord used that deception to rout the enemy, the troops of Judah, including additional reinforcements, then directly engaged in combat, completing the triumph.
And of course there were quite a few other battles which the Children of Israel both won and lost without the supernatural intervention of the Lord.
So the case for armed conflict is established in the Tanakh. But don’t Yeshua and other writings in the New Testament speak out against violence? There is actually some controversy about that.
The Jewish Apostle Paul did write in Romans 12:19, “Do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God.”
However, as explained in John 2:19, Jesus attacked the money changers in the Temple with a whip, violently driving them out and overturning their tables. Furthermore, many of His parables involved violence. Then there’s the Book of Revelation which is full of death and destruction.
In Exodus 15:3 we read, “The Lord is a man of war,” and in Daniel 2:21, “He removes kings and raises up kings.” He hasn’t modified His truth. Malachi 3:6, “For I am the Lord, I do not change.” James 1:17, “The Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
Perhaps all this leads us to a conclusion that military action to defend a country is not good, but can be necessary.
But can Israel, in it current spiritual condition, justify a righteous defense? While there is a growing movement of Messianic Judaism in the land, the vast majority of the nation is close to apostate. Although Israel is not yet in right order with God, the Lord historically has used even heathen nations to carry out His will, including against Israel.
In Jeremiah 25:9 He says, “Behold, I will send Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant . . . against this land, against its inhabitants. . . and will utterly destroy them.” Isaiah 10:5, “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath.”
Again, can God not even more so allow the defense of His Holy Land despite its overall iniquity? As several passages in Romans declare, “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not!” (Rm 3:3), “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!” (Rm 9:14), “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!” (Rm 11:1).
The Lord’s Hand is still upon the nation of Israel, to preserve it, to protect it, to allow its defense, to prepare it for the day when salvation belief in Yeshua HaMashiach will flood the land, and ultimately welcome the glorious return of our Messiah.
As Paul declared in Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”