The past week’s events in the Middle East, Israel in particular, has reminded me of God’s promise to Abraham to bless those who bless him (and hence Israel) and curse those who curse him. I know that not everything that Israel does is necessarily right, but they are still God’s people. I believe that now with criticism for around the world being levelled at Israel it is important to remember who they are in God’s eyes.

If we study the Bible we will notice that the size of land that God has given to Israel is a fairly large piece of land. According to Joshua 1:4, “Your territory will extend from the desert of Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates – all the Hittite country – to the Great Sea on the west.” which in today’s terms includes modern day Israel along with the Palestinian territories, Jordan and parts of Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Interestingly, Israel has never possessed all of this land and seeing as God has given it to them they will one day possess it. Remember that God as the Creator of the Universe has every right to give and take away whatever land He chooses.

When the Israelites first entered the Promised Land to claim it for themselves they had to defeat the inhabitants of the land. In fact God commanded them to wipe out the inhabitants of the land, because they were so evil and if they left any alive they ran the risk of being led astray by them. The fact that they didn’t wipe out the inhabitants of the land is what later led to all or at least most of their problems. When we read of the Israelites killing all of the men, women and children of certain cities we generally don’t feel too sorry for the citizens of those cities, nor do we feel anger against the Israelites for killing them, because they are following god’s orders to possess the land. Why is it that we now object? Is it because this feels more real than a Bible story? Is it because you feel like you can do something to stop the bloodshed? Is it because you do not believe that the Jews are still god’s chosen people? Is it because you cannot believe that a loving and merciful God could condone such violence, that God could be a God of violent judgement?

I am reminded of when Israel turn their backs on God that He raised up nations to conquer Israel, as punishment, but also to draw them back to Himself. But God didn’t bless those nations He caused them to be conquered and destroyed themselves. Even though Israel didn’t always follow God they never have nor ever will stop being God’s chosen people, and that is important to remember.

The Arab and Muslim world in general has made it no small secret that they do not want Israel to exist and that they want to drive all of the Jews into the sea. I think that can be interpreted as cursing Israel. God is therefore going to bring judgement down against the Arab and Muslim world, but all in His own perfect time.

I find that the timing of the Israeli retaliation along with the apparent worsening nuclear negotiations by Western powers with Iran very interesting from a prophetic, end times point of view. We’ve had the first of the blood moons in the blood moon tetrad, which is a prophetic sign in the Heavens. From an end time perspective we need to keep our eyes and ears open, watching and waiting for the signs and preparing ourselves and others for the coming of our King and Bridegroom.