Over the weekend, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has once again been in Tel Aviv in an effort to help broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
As a global economy feels the pressure of rising oil prices, The Middle East Quartet, made up of the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States, is urging both sides to comply with the terms of The Road Map to Peace.
Meanwhile a humanitarian crisis is growing in Gaza even as Hamas militants continue to launch rockets into Jewish communities. The terrible human price of suffering in both Jewish and Palestinian homes is immeasurable and growing.
In previous posts, I expressed my convictions that followers of Christ need to rise above national and political alignments to show concern for both Jewish and Arab communities. I want to be counted with those who believe that biblical predictions of the eventual outcome should never be an excuse to ignore the urgent need for a just peace, humanitarian relief, and spiritual answers.
At the same time, it seems important not to forget the obvious:
Whether loved or hated, Israel is a magnet. She attracts immigrants, journalists, and statesmen from all corners of the earth. Jewish, Christian, and Muslim visitors stream through Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport to see a few acres of land tied in a tangible way to their deepest thoughts and beliefs.
Israel’s existence is an international object lesson. Her 4,000-year history has given the world a physical statement about the nature of God. The events of her birth, growth, demise, dispersion, and regathering are a living record to One who can predict the future and explain the past.
Israel’s land is a stage. At its longest and widest points, it is a 260- by 60-mile platform on which the most important drama of history has played before a watching world. Her story is a romance of inexpressible affection, and a tragedy of immeasurable pain.
Her location is strategic. Positioned on a historic landbridge and trade route to Africa, Asia, and Europe, Israel of the past sat at the crossroads of the world. As the curtain of history has risen and fallen on the Jewish people, all the world has been compelled to watch Israel to protect their own interests.
Modern Israel is a museum of history, a vast archeological dig whose treasures bear tribute to the record of the Bible. She is a backdrop to the people and events of the Scriptures.
Israel is an enigma. While being called to be a “holy” nation, separated from the world to give honor to God, she is said by the same book to have sunk lower than Sodom and Gomorrah. She is a “holy land” that makes no one holy.
Israel is a timepiece. The calendars of the world are set by the events of her past. The tick of every clock moves us closer to the any-moment return of her Messiah.
Israel is an obsession. The world cannot ignore her. God has tied her to the hopes and fears of the world, and to the day set for all of us to give account of ourselves to our God.
Even as followers of Christ wait for his return, the Scriptures are clear when Paul writes to the Romans,
“I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, “The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins” (Rom 11:25-27).
So let me ask you, if Israel is one of God’s many ways of calling a runaway world to himself– what are you thinking? If you disagree with anything I’ve said or implied, please leave a note. The whole idea here is not just for me to sound off, but for you to respond :-).
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