Monthly Archives: February 2024

Shalom in His grace. I am still reflecting on my recent trip to Israel and remain in constant contact with our forty-plus staff members serving the Lord in the Holy Land. The impact of the war and security challenges for Israel continue, but this is not the only problem Jewish people and lovers of Israel face today.

I am sure you have also noticed the increased antisemitism around the world and in our country, much of it occurring on our college campuses. It was encouraging how many in the global community, saved and unsaved, were supportive of Israel at first after the atrocities of October 7, 2023. But with the advancement of the ground war to neutralize the lethal threats Hamas and Hezbollah pose against the Holy Land, we now find Israel, unfortunately, cast in a negative light among the nations of the world.

Current circumstances remind me of the words of the prophet Zechariah, who wrote, “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it” (Zechariah 12:3).

We already see Jerusalem, all of Israel, and Jewish people once again becoming a heavy stone the nations of the world are trying to lift with dire consequences. Many countries like Iran and their proxies in Gaza, southern Lebanon, and Yemen are gathering against Israel, determined to destroy her. 

When one looks at the span of world history and the millennia of persecution Jewish people have endured, we gain a deeper understanding of what is happening today. The attacks against Israel by Iran and her proxies and the rising global vitriol foisted upon Jewish people are a new expression of an older antisemitism masquerading as noble politics and compassion for the Palestinian cause. 

WHY DOES THE WORLD SEEM TO HATE JEWISH PEOPLE?

During a recent conversation with one of our Jewish staff members in Israel, she recounted how her young son asked the piercing question, “Mom, why does the world hate us so much?” Little boys and girls have asked this very question for many years! 

We can also ask this “why” question about other events in Jewish history. Please allow me to expand the question: “What did the Jewish people do to deserve the Crusades, the Holocaust, the pogroms in Russia, or the attacks of October 7?” 

I hope to answer these questions as I think many of us might be wondering the same. From what I can see, the whole world does not hate Jewish people. Those who love the God of Israel usually love the people of Israel, both those living in the land of Israel and those in the Diaspora. There is no better friend of Jewish people than non-Jews who cherish the same Bible (at least the first half) and identify with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

The spiritual connections between Jewish people and true Christians are powerful. Most Christians I know love Jewish people, recognize the Bible is a Jewish book, understand Jesus is Jewish, and believe God chose Jewish people for a special purpose. I wish my own family could meet many of you reading this letter and sense your love for Jewish people because of these truths. 

Jewish people today are often surprised to discover there are non-Jews who love Jewish people. I myself was stunned to discover the love for Jewish people and loyalty to Israel, which unites many true Christians. Numerous Jewish people, especially in our current antisemitic environment, ask me why Christians seem to love Jewish people with such passion. In contrast, many other non-Jews seem to express the opposite. 

Those who express hate for the State of Israel and the Jewish people are not familiar with the promises of God to Israel and are inspired by demonic plans to wipe out Jewish people. My reading through the Scriptures leads me to believe the underlying reason Israel is so hated is because the devil knows God’s plan for the people of Israel and the triumph of Messiah’s kingdom. Is it any wonder our adversary is trying to get all the help he can to put an end to God’s plans? 

HOW WOULD YOU DESTROY JEWISH PEOPLE?

From the start, the devil wanted to destroy Jewish people to prevent the possibility of Jesus’ atoning death on the cross! Satan understood the power of the cross, resurrection, and what history’s most critical and transforming event would do to his plan to usurp God’s throne. Perhaps the easiest and most thorough way for the devil to prevent Jesus from ever being born was to annihilate Jewish people beforehand through agents of evil, like Pharaoh, Haman, and those who followed after them. Yet, against all odds, they all failed! Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, was born into a Jewish home in Israel, as the Hebrew Scriptures predicted, and God’s plan of redemption came to pass. 

Destroying Jewish people would have prevented the Messiah’s first coming and solved the devil’s problems. Now, the evil one is again using the nations of the world to try to prevent the second coming. The devil knows when Jewish people turn to Jesus and say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” He will return (Matthew 23:39). I believe this is a foundational biblical teaching embraced even by Christians who hold differing views on the end times. Believers representing almost every theological perspective believe a day is coming when, according to the apostle Paul, “All Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26)—which refers to all Jewish people alive when Jesus comes back. 

Since the devil is trying to prevent the second coming, he once again needs to wipe out Jewish people! If the devil can annihilate Jewish people, then he thinks he can foil God’s plans for the ultimate redemption of the world, overthrow the holy one of Israel, and 

remain the god of this world. Remember, according to Scripture, the devil is not all-knowing or all-powerful and will fail in his mission. He will never be successful, but he can cause considerable suffering along the way. 

One of my dear friends, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, founded Ariel Ministries, an excellent Bible-teaching ministry. He entitled his sermon on Jeremiah 31, “How to Destroy the Jews.” Sarcastically, he presents Jeremiah 31:35–37 as a manual on how to annihilate Jewish people, which includes the disruption of the solar system, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the trajectory of the planets. Jeremiah wrote: 

Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is His name: “If this fixed order departs from before Me,” declares the Lord, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the Lord, “If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:35–37) 

This extraordinary passage of Scripture teaches us Jewish people are indestructible—not because of human greatness but because of the power and plan of the one true God who created and called Jewish people to be a light and a blessing to the nations. It seems ironic how the very nations called to bless Jewish people will attempt to destroy the nation God created to bless them. 
STAND UP FOR JESUS AND FOR JEWISH PEOPLE 

How should followers of Jesus respond to the devil’s diabolical efforts to derail the plan of God? 

We cannot sit idly by while the devil uses nations to annihilate Israel and Jewish people. He will never be successful, but he can deceive and cause great harm. What, then, can we do? 

• The Bible tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and promises blessing to those who love Jewish people (Psalm 122:6). 
• The Scriptures tell us to bless and not curse Jewish people, who, in turn, will bless all the families of the world (Genesis 12:1–3).
  

Some Christians may have objections to supporting the modern State of Israel. However, God wants non-Jews to support Jewish people, which might mean standing with the State of Israel even if you do not believe the modern state is the fulfillment of prophecy or has a biblical right to the Land.

Blessing Israel includes the modern state and Jewish people more broadly. Since the majority of Jewish people live in Israel (7.5 of 14.5 million), in order to bless Jewish people, we need to extend love, mercy, grace, and understanding to Jewish people within the Land of Israel and worldwide. 

God wants Gentile believers to bless Israel so she can, in turn, bring blessings to the world. Therefore, we must help Israel survive and fulfill her divine destiny. Jewish people need our support, for when Israel is left on her own, she is far more vulnerable to the efforts of her enemies—and the evil one—to destroy her. 

The text in Jeremiah and many others make it clear: no one can utterly wipe out Jewish people because God made an indestructible covenant with Israel’s patriarchs. On this subject, Paul wrote, “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28–29).

We are not suggesting the government of Israel is God’s government, nor are we claiming disagreement with the policies of Israel is unchristian. Sinful people lead governments and are subject to human frailty, sin, and bad decisions. 

What we saw transpire on October 7, 2023, in Israel was not simply one nation rising up against another but rather an all-out effort to destroy Jewish people. It was genocide! I believe followers of Jesus should love what God loves and hate what God hates, which means nothing less than loving Jewish people and working toward the benefit and against the destruction of the Jewish community. 

So, to return to the simple question of a small child to his mother, “Why do they hate us?” Sometimes, simple questions have complex answers. But sometimes, they do not. Those whom Satan influences will hate Jewish people. Those who belong to the God of Israel—Jewish and non-Jewish—must be steadfast in their love for Jewish people. Moses wrote about this love:

The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:7–8)

Let us imitate God’s love for His Jewish people. Have you considered this . . . one of the most effective ways to show your love for God and Jewish people is to share the good news of the gospel with His chosen people? Thanks for caring.

P.S. Please take another look at the statement we wrote in support of Jewish people in light of the Israel-Hamas war and the global rise in antisemitism—and please sign it! Go to chosenpeople.com/affirmationofisrael. Also, pray with us as construction on our new Tel Aviv center is moving along—praise God!