The past couple of weeks the Jewish people have commemorated three big events on the Jewish calendar, none of which are in the Bible, but all of them are important in their role in shaping Jewish history and ultimately in the fulfilment of Bible prophecy.
First was Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) when Jews remembered their darkest days in history. Next commemorated Yom HaZikaron (Day of Remembrance for Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror), remembering the bravery of the Jewish men and women who paid the ultimate price for their freedom. Then they celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) and the miracle of Israel’s rebirth as a nation.
As Christians, we believe there is a spiritual war raging against God’s people. Satan was the mastermind behind Hitler’s hatred of the Jews which led to the Holocaust. So brutal was this genocide against the Jews of Europe that there are still fewer Jews living on earth today than there were before World War II.
This same hatred flows through the antisemitic anti-Israel movement that is turning hearts and minds against Israel today. The connection between the Nazis, the Palestinian movement, and Islamists, is their hatred of the Jewish people. It is no surprise that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem during World War II travelled to Germany, met with Hitler, visited the death camps, and broadcast sermons to his followers to carry out the same bloodthirsty campaign in the Middle East.
It must have been a huge surprise to him, and every antisemitic force on earth, when just three years after the Holocaust, the modern state of Israel was reborn. In a hostile region that Satan likely thought he had full control over, God had other plans, using Jewish determination, ingenuity, and instincts for survival in order to establish His people in their land of promise.
The Jews have a unique history and identity that perfectly suited them to the role God needed them to fulfil in order to accomplish His prophetic vision for the rebirth of Israel. The Jewish people, by looking back at the past, use their history to ground themselves in the present. Israel is unique, because it is the nation that God ordained. God is both the originator of Zionism and the defender of Israel. No matter what move Satan makes, there is no way to outmanoeuvre God.
The Jews have survived some of the worst atrocities to face humanity and they have come out the other side victorious. In most fictional stories, once the battle is fought and the victory is won, the story comes to an end. The reality for Israel is that the horrors of the past are a reflection of the threats of the present. Battles have been won, but the war is still ongoing.
Even as Israel celebrated its 77th Independence Day, those who hate Israel lit fires in the Judean hills, causing some of the worst fires in Israel’s history. Those who claim the land for themselves seem to forget one important thing. While Israel is only 77 years young, the Jewish people’s connection to the land is more than 3,000 years strong. The Jewish people’s love for Eretz Israel has been forged into their DNA by God Almighty and cannot be broken.
Despite the current threats, of which there are many, we can be encouraged that the “battle is the Lord’s” (1 Samuel 4:17). God who has delivered and protected the Jewish people over history will be with His people to the end.
Let’s pray this week that the Jewish people will draw closer to God with a stronger understanding that He is the only one who will never leave them or fail them. Pray for protection over Israel as it faces wildfires and terror threats, and pray for the return of the hostages and for victory over Israel’s enemies in the knowledge that every battle that Israel faces is the Lord’s.
“Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Psalm 121:4
