By Gustav Kros
In my previous Just a Minute I started to share some of the lessons I learned during my visit to Israel in February, and I will now conclude the topic by sharing a few final thoughts after much time of reflection and processing.
During my visit I had the opportunity to meet with orthodox Jews, secular Jews, Messianic Jews, Palestinian Christians and expat Christians. As I got to hear everyone’s opinions on what’s happening in the country, I became more aware of how complex the situation is, and I realized that I could not truly understand the complexities without gaining the firsthand experience of visiting the land and speaking to the people personally. Even now after my visit I must admit that it does not matter what my academic knowledge on the matter is, one visit certainly does not make me an expert on what’s happening on ground level within the country. That is the reality if I only look at it from a physical and worldly perspective, but when I look at it from a spiritual perspective, it becomes a lot less complex.
I had the privilege to meet with wonderful Messianic brothers and sisters, and with a wonderful Palestinian brother in Christ. Through these meetings I saw that peace in the middle East, and more specifically in Israel, is possible, but only if people live in relationship with the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. I saw Jews expressing their love towards Palestinians because of Christ’s love inside of them, and I saw a Palestinian brother expressing his love towards the Jews because of Christ’s love inside of him.
I was especially encouraged to sit with the Palestinian brother and to hear him say, with a smile on his face “I am 100% Israeli, and I am 100% Palestinian”. He does not appose the Israeli government under who’s authority God had placed him, but he exemplifies what it looks like to live a Christlike life that we read of in Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17, concerning submitting to the governing authorities placed over us. Meeting with him contributed to the realisation of the complexity of the situation on ground level because I saw that also within the Christian Palestinian community there are varied perspectives, but at the same time I saw in him that peace is possible in the Middle East.
Seeing members of Christ’s Body expressing His love across the ethnic and religious divide within the country was greatly encouraging, and I realize that it is the only solution to find peace within this complex situation. I truly believe there is no earthly peace plan that can bring lasting peace to the situation in Israel because the world will never accept God’s plan with this piece of land and the Jewish people. The only solution for peace, is to introduce people to the Prince of Peace, so they can experience true peace in their hearts despite the turmoil surrounding them.
In order to see this happen, it’s vital to support the Body of Christ who display their unity in Christ across the ethnic diversity in the land. When people see Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians worshipping together and expressing Christ’s love towards each other, then the world will see the answer to true peace. This is also where the key lies to introducing more Jews and Muslims to Christ. When Messianic Jews displays Christ’s love to their Muslim Palestinian neighbours, and when Palestinian Christians share the love of Christ with their Jewish neighbours, then they will experience something supernaturally. In this way peace will spread across the land as more people step into relationship with the Prince of Peace one soul at a time.
Another lesson I learned related to this, is that a two-state solution will be counter productive in this regard, because two states will just contribute towards further division. Then the Palestinian mission field wild be separated from the Messianic Jews, and the Jewish mission field will be separated from the Palestinian Christians. It is precisely within the turmoil of the situation where the cross-ethnic outreach is most effective, and a two-state solution will greatly diminish this potential.
As the world thus continues to try and find worldly solutions to the situation in Israel, may we as the Church remain focused on God’s Kingdom and how we can introduce more people to His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the greatest peace plan we could possibly focus on, and the first step within this is to support the Church in Israel who is focused on being His Kingdom ambassadors across the ethnic divide.
