Gaza Heartache
Gaza Heartache
It is impossible not to feel heartbroken and haunted by this week's television images of Israel's internal turmoil and struggle as it withdraws and "disengages" from Gaza; territory captured from Egypt during the 1967 war.
Heartbroken...because "any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand." (Matthew 12.25)
Haunted...because the two major parties involved are (God bless them) in error:
The government of Israel's costly policy of appeasing the Palestinian Authority by giving them land legally acquired by conquest in ‘67, is never going to work. The Palestinian Authority will only finally be satisfied when there is no Jewish state anywhere in the world, and when Jerusalem is entirely under Islamic control.
The "settlers" dream of the restoration of "greater Israel" to bring messiah is triumphalistic and enjoys little endorsement from scripture or history. They will not receive the Kingdom, until they receive God’s King/Messiah. Also, the empires of David and Solomon at their fullest stretch did incorporate vast tracts of present-day Lebanon, Syria and Jordan...but did not include "Philistia" (Gaza).
Israel's (state and people) only hope from this week on is divine intervention, as foretold and promised by the prophet Zechariah 2,500 years ago, "I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured...then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations...in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives." (14.2,3,4)
It is now clearly and decisively the time for Christians to cry out day and night for God to "pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication, so they will look on Me (Jesus) whom they have pierced." (12.10)
Lest the Christian community be tempted to smugly stand on the sidelines spectating, ponder this. Israel (especially since 1900) has been an accurate prophetic barometer to the church. (Ref. "Elijah must come" pages 3-6)
So:
1) The modern church is infinitely more divided against itself that present-day Israel.
2) Many modern "successful" church movements are based on a philosophy and programme of appeasing the world; hoping to make ourselves attractive to the unsaved by trying to be what we think they want us to be...relevant, non-threatening, pc, trendy. What price "success"?
3) Modern Christian triumphalism is expressed most clearly today through a host of "neo-apostolic" movements. By submitting yourself to "the man of God" and his "message" and his "movement" you are promised spiritual and material "success" in every area of your life. This trend is frankly denied by the Bible (especially the Gospels) and history. E.g. Roman Catholicism and Exclusive Brethrenism.
As for Israel, so for the Church. Our only hope of ever being and doing all He has called us to is divine intervention/visitation/awakening/revival:
"Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence...to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your Presence." (Isaiah 64.1-2)
