By Gustav Krös
Israel is without a doubt the most important Hotspot Nation in the world. There simply is no other nation like it. When you search the name “Israel” in the Bible, you get 2,431 results – 2,344 times in the Old Testament and 87 times in the New Testament. From a Biblical perspective, no other nation has impacted our faith like Israel has.
When we look at the world today, it seems like nothing has changed. Major secular news agencies like Reuters, the BBC and the Associated Press have dedicated pages to cover the news of Israel’s war against Hamas. These news agencies also have a similar page for the Russia–Ukraine war, but there is no additional news page for the war in Sudan or the war in Myanmar. When one looks at the scale of the Russia–Ukraine war, one could understand the reason behind it having its own dedicated news page, but when one looks at the scale of the Israel–Hamas war, it is hard to understand why it has its own news page, while countries like Sudan and Myanmar do not.
The nation of Israel was reborn on 14 May 1948, as Isaiah 66:8 says: “Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.” Since that day, the nations of the world have systematically grown in obsession with the nation of Israel, and since the development of the internet and smartphones, this has skyrocketed.
Though Israel as a nation didn’t exist for nearly 2,000 years, it’s as if it just picked up where it left off. It truly is a miracle to marvel at. If you take into consideration that the Jewish people were scattered amongst the nations and yet, for roughly 2,000 years, they maintained their Jewish identity, it is remarkable. They didn’t assimilate with the cultures they lived amongst to the extent that other people do. One would think that over such a vast time, and being scattered as they were, they would have been completely absorbed by the world, but it didn’t happen, because the Lord has set them apart. As Leviticus 20:26 says: “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.”
Their set-apartness over such a long time is a testimony to the fact that the Lord’s word never fails (Luke 1:37). It is also their set-apartness that made it possible for the nation of Israel to be re-established, because if there were no Jews, there would be no need for a Jewish homeland. Then, after roughly 2,000 years, a Jewish homeland is found. Even though in the aftermath of the Holocaust they could have formed a Jewish homeland anywhere in the world, it ended up being in exactly the same spot that God promised to give them forever. As God says in Genesis 17:8: “The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
At the same time, since God had given them the land as an everlasting possession, He also said multiple times throughout the Old Testament that He would bring them back to that exact piece of land after He had scattered them amongst the nations. As God says in Ezekiel 11:17:
“Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’”
In addition, the Jewish people could have given their new homeland any name they wanted, but they chose to call it Israel. And so, after nearly 2,000 years, Israel has just picked up where it left off. It is a testimony that God’s plan with them isn’t over yet, while at the same time it is a testimony that God’s word never fails. Thus, the re-establishment of the nation of Israel is also a testimony to God’s greatness and His faithfulness to His people, as Isaiah 11:12 says:
“He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.” The miracle of the existence of the nation of Israel is truly like a banner to the nations, testifying that our God is real and His love endures forever (Jeremiah 33:11). Yet, the world will do anything to diminish the existence of the nation of Israel.
Psalm 83 gives us great insight into the reason for this when it tells of the Lord’s enemies conspiring against Him by targeting Israel, with verse 4 stating: “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.” The enemy, the devil, is incapable of fighting against God, and so he tries to diminish and tarnish God’s name by targeting Israel as a people and the piece of land, because God has connected His name to Israel for eternity.
Throughout the Bible, one of the most common names that God is referred to as is “the God of Israel”, and He also said that He would place His Name in Jerusalem forever, with 1 Kings 9:3 stating:
“The Lord said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.’” Furthermore, we also see that it is exactly due to His connectedness to Israel that He has brought the Jewish people back into the land of Israel, with Ezekiel 36:22 stating: “Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.’”
We can therefore see that Israel is, first and foremost, a Hotspot Nation due to the spiritual battle that is raging over it, because of how God has connected Himself to the people and the land. The physical wars that have thus been fought over Israel since the first day of its re-establishment, including the current war, are a clear reflection of the spiritual war that’s fought over the land. As Psalm 83 shows us, as long as Israel exists, the devil will have an object against which he can unleash his hatred towards God.
Through Scripture we can see that the battle the devil is fighting against Israel will only continue to intensify, and thus the media’s obsession with Israel will grow alongside it. This will ultimately bring us to the great battle around Jerusalem, of which we read in Zechariah 14, with verses 2-3 stating:
“I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.”
Thus, as the attention around Israel continues to grow, we should be careful not to be deceived by the devil into joining the fight against its existence, because we see that ultimately Jesus will come to Israel’s defence—or, should we rather say, the defence of His Holy Name—and you certainly don’t want to get caught on the wrong side of the line on that day.
In relation to this, we read the following in Joel 3:1-2:
“In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.”
We can therefore see that, due to God’s connectedness with the nation of Israel, it will remain the most prominent Hotspot Nation in the world until Christ returns. And although, as a people, we will then all be united together under the Kingship of Christ, Scripture shows us that the land itself will continue to hold a special place in His Kingdom.
We read in Zechariah 2:10-12:
“Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.”
As we thus move closer to that day, we shouldn’t be distracted by the devil’s schemes to encourage hatred towards Israel, but we should rather continue to keep our eyes focused on the Kingdom of God. As Jesus indicated to His disciples in Matthew 24, when He spoke to them about the events that will take place before His return, He told them in verse 14:
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” This clearly showed the disciples where their focus should be in the midst of all the turmoil that will be taking place.
If we then turn our focus towards this aspect, we see that the land of Israel is still a vast harvest field. According to the Joshua Project, the population of Israel, excluding the area of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), is 9.4 million people, of which only 1.34% are Christian, and 97.0% of the population is still considered unreached with the Gospel. The Joshua Project groups Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) together with Gaza, and gives the combined population as 5.5 million, of which 2.51% are Christian.
This might be surprising—that in the land where Jesus was born and where the Gospel was first preached, 97% of the population is still considered to be unreached. To clarify this, we must first look at the Joshua Project’s definition of ‘unreached’. It states as follows:
“Less than or equal to 5% Christian Adherent AND less than or equal to 2% Evangelical. An unreached or least-reached people is a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance.”
We thus see that the definition of ‘unreached’ isn’t based on the amount of people within a specific people group who have heard the Gospel, but it is based on the amount of people who believe the Gospel. If we focus specifically on the Jewish population in the land, then one can safely say that by far the most, if not all of them, know that Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah, but less than 1% believe it themselves, and they are thus classified as unreached.
Once again, this could be surprising to some, seeing that the Jews are the people who have been waiting for the Messiah for so long due to the prophecies of His coming. Like the well-known words of Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”
But we also know that due to the Jewish peoples’ transgressions, the Lord said that He would ultimately hide His face from them, leaving them unable to recognise Him as the Messiah. As it says in Deuteronomy 31:18, “And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.” Thankfully God is full of mercy and grace, and He also said that He will not keep His face hidden from them forever, as we read in Ezekiel 39:28-29, “Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. 29 I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
We thus see that the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel is all part of God’s plan to ultimately turn His face towards them, which will enable them to recognise Him as their long-awaited Messiah. Paul also gives us insight regarding this matter when he writes in Romans 11:25, “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”
It is thus no surprise that there are so few Jewish people who believe in Jesus as the Messiah, since we are still seeing God’s plan with them being unfolded. At the same time Paul gives us interesting insight with regards to the fact that He says Israel’s hardening will last until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. We should thus expect the Gentiles in the land to enter into God’s Kingdom at a greater rate than what we see amongst the Jews, and that is precisely the case. When we look at Palestinian Israelis, then we see that 2.6% are Christian, whereas Jews in the land are only 0.43% Christian.
This small community of Jewish Believers represents the remnant in the land that God has always maintained for the glory of His Name. As Paul also testifies in Romans 11:5, “So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” This remnant of Messianic Jews, together with the Gentile Believers, physically displays the one new man that Paul writes about in Ephesians 2:15 and testifies to the peace that can only be found in Christ Jesus, since they display that it is through Him that they can love each other and live in peace together. This stands in direct contrast to the narrative of the world, which proclaims that peace is only possible by dividing the land among the Jews and Palestinians.
As the spiritual battle around Israel will thus continue to increase, and it will continue to be manifested in the form of physical war, it is important that we support the Body of Christ in the land. It is precisely in the midst of war that they display the fact that true peace can be found in Christ. It is also through the Body of Christ in the land that both Jews and Gentiles will experience the love of God and be drawn into His Kingdom.
May we thus continue to display God’s love to the nation of Israel, and to all those who call it home until we see Christ returning on the clouds.
Please pray with us:
- Pray that the Lord will guard His people and His land amidst the ongoing physical and spiritual battles. As Psalm 122:6 urges, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem…”
- Pray that the Jewish people will have their eyes opened to recognise Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah, according to His will and in His timing.
- Pray that Jewish and Palestinian Believers in Israel will grow in unity and remain steadfast, boldly shining the light of Jesus to both Jews and Gentiles amid the ongoing conflict. May their witness point to the truth that lasting, eternal peace is found only in Christ.
Sources:
https://joshuaproject.net/countries/IS
