How should we think about the war in Gaza? How should we pray about it?
Let’s begin with the most crucial point. There is not a single person involved in this conflict that God does not love. There is no Israeli and no Palestinian who does not matter to God. There is no person in Gaza or in Israel who is beyond the saving power of Jesus Christ.
With that as our starting point, what else can we say?
First of all, the invasion of Israel by Hamas was barbaric and horrific. It was evil. Hamas targeted civilians, they killed women and children, they took women and children as hostages, they paraded gruesome images and videos. The word for it is evil.
Secondly, Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas. In addition to the October 7 massacre of Jews, Hamas has oppressed and brutalized the Palestinian people for years. They have conducted their operations from hospitals and other civilian areas, exposing innocent people to danger. They use women and children as human shields. When Israel urged civilians to flee the upcoming war zone, Hamas told them to stay, so that they would serve as a human barrier and so that their deaths would escalate worldwide disapproval of Israel.
We must distinguish between Hamas and the Palestinian people, just as we distinguish between the Iranian government and the Iranian people, and just as we distinguish between radical Muslims and ordinary Muslims.
Thirdly, the Jews have a special place in the plan of God. God sent the Scriptures through the Jewish people. God himself became a Jew to save people from sin. The focus of God’s plan in the Old Testament was Israel. Even though the focus of God’s plan in the New Testament is the church, an international body, the Jews have a special place in the heart of God, and therefore they must have a special place in the heart of Christians. Because of God’s choice of the Jews, there has been and there will be hostility to the Jewish people.This hostility goes beyond mere human opposition. There are also supernatural forces at work.
This does not mean that each government of modern Israel always does what is right. Like any other government, they are led by flawed people. But we do recognize the place of Israel in the heart of God.
My biggest concern since the October 7 attack is the rising antisemitism around the world. It has been rising for some years, but it has dramatically escalated since October 7. How tragically ironic that it has escalated after a brutal attack on Jews!
Disturbingly, we are even witnessing hostility to Jews in the United States, which has long been the closest friend to the Jews and the safest place for the Jews. We are seeing things today which bring to mind antisemitism in Germany in the early 1930s.
Shall we forget the Holocaust so quickly? Can so many people today be unaware of the tragic hatred of the Jews, not just by the Nazis, but by people down through the centuries? Can Christians be unaware of the supernatural opposition and persecution of God’s chosen people?
Sadly, yes, they can.
Christians care about injustice and oppression of all peoples, both Jews and Muslims. We oppose racism in all its forms. Certainly this includes the Jewish people, who have been so oppressed throughout their history.
We pray fervently, expectantly for peace. We hurt for innocent civilians, both Jews and Palestinians. And we stand against antisemitism wherever it raises its ugly head.
