On October 7—the fiftieth anniversary of the Yom Kippur War of 1973—the terrorist group Hamas fired thirty-five hundred rockets indiscriminately from Gaza into Israeli territory. Israel was caught completely off guard in what is being called the darkest day in Israeli history.
Armed terrorists crossed the border into Israel, going from house to house killing families, beheading babies, killing elderly people, and taking many hostages. The early toll was at least twelve hundred dead in Israel, including twenty-two Americans. Israel formally declared war for the first time in fifty years.
I recently talked to Joel Rosenberg, New York Times best-selling author and founder of the Joshua Fund, All Israel News, and All Arab News. He called it the biggest murder of Jews since the Holocaust. “It’s just off-the-charts demonic and satanic,” he said.
I also talked to a man who lived in Israel for a long time and served in the Israeli army, a PhD known as Steve the Tour Guide.
Steve said, “I think on [October 7th] we saw a moral clarity that has rarely been presented to us—the face of pure evil on display versus the faces of its victims. A lot of people, including Christians, are going to be put to the test.” He said that our success in that test has to do with our convictions and how much time we spend in the presence of the Lord each day.
“We’ve entered a very dark time. The only way any of us can survive it, stay clean, and be able to love others—even people we disagree with—is to go to that fount where we get the living waters Jesus spoke about in the book of John…. Go to them each day and drink from them.”
I can’t say it any better than that.
Ezekiel 38 and 39 predicts a future war that involves Israel fighting against an alliance of Russia, Iran, Turkey, and the Islamic states. We call it the War of Gog and Magog. What you’re seeing is not that war. It looks like it may be leading up to that war.
A lot more could be said but let me leave you with some things we can do as Bible-believing Christians.
Stay prayerful. We are commanded in Psalm 122:6: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘may they prosper who love you.'” We should be praying for stability in the Middle East, particularly for the peace of Jerusalem.
Stay aware. We’re living in difficult days. Not everybody in the world is good, and bad things can happen to good people. In addition to the instability in the Middle East, tens of thousands of military-aged males from Middle Eastern countries have infiltrated this country. We don’t know who they are. We don’t know where they are. Some of them have been on the FBI’s terrorist watch list.
Stay informed. Stay strong. We’re going to be tested in the days ahead. Hamas and Iran want images of Israel inflicting damage so they can show them to the world. They want to win the media war, and to win the hearts and minds of people around the world.
Stay encouraged. Psalm 121:4 promises, “He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” God has seen Israel through many trials in its history, including the Holocaust and three wars in the twentieth century. This is a horrible time, but God’s going to get them through. And our ultimate encouragement is from Jesus: “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).
And remember. We are saved for a purpose. Here’s my challenge: Raise the bar on your spiritual life—in personal service, personal fellowship, witnessing, etc. Devote yourself to a systematic study of the Word of God. Raise the bar of your spiritual commitment and of your love for God’s people and for the Lord.
