On Sunday, John Mulligan talked to us about the current hostilities in Israel, “Complication and Compassion: Responding Correctly to the Conflict in Israel.” This short summary may create more questions than answers for you. Please take the time to watch the full video if you didn’t see it on Sunday.
Using the Apostle Paul’s writings in Romans chapters 9 through 11 as his talk’s foundation, John helped us to look at Israel from a Christian standpoint and to think about what to pray for. As John said, Israel has an extremely complicated past AND present - its Biblical history, current history, and political challenges make for very complicated personal challenges, as well. He gave us five essential principles to help us understand Israel today:
1) God worked through the nation of Israel and respect needs to be given about that. That history is how Jesus eventually came to us. As it says in Romans 9:5, “Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.”
2) Israel today is a political state. The ongoing debate is about who has the right to that land. An important point made in Rom. 9:6-7, “For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”
3) Some religious leaders wrongly hope for a full “restoration” of Israel. Romans 10:1-4 reads, “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” We all need to come to God through Jesus. It’s not about land, it’s about being saved.
4) God’s greatest hope is for all Jewish people to accept Jesus and be saved. His hope is about their spiritual state.
5) Pray for conversion as well as protection and peace. An important point is that when we speak to a Jewish person, we must speak gently and with love. We have to realize that due to their past persecutions, they are extremely sensitive to any message that might make them feel different, or ‘wrong’. God loves us all equally. He did not reject the Jews. Rom. 11-4-6: “...I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”
So when we think about Israel and its residents today: Pray for protection. Pray for peace. Pray for all God’s people.
view more