From the Editor May/Jun 2026

Israel My Glory Sneak Peek with Jesse King, our managing editor, is a video series that gives a glimpse into our latest issue.

As I write from my desk in New Jersey, I am at peace. Strangers aren’t picking fights with me. Soldiers aren’t lying in wait to kill me. I have no reason to fear that my wife and children will constantly be targeted for attack by terrorists. I thank God for this blessing.

Sometimes, I feel spoiled by this gift of peace. I have done no more to earn safety than those around the world who are engulfed in conflicts they did not start and wars they never asked to join.

In their precarious Middle East standing, Israelis face the threat of danger and even death every day. “Normal” for children in Israel means dropping their toys and immediately running to bomb shelters for safety from aerial assaults when they hear the Israel Defense Forces’ Red Color sirens. Teenagers spend their high school years anticipating the mandatory military service awaiting them when they turn 18. Men and women born in the Holy Land may spend their entire lives with the inescapable knowledge that, if given the chance, a terrorist wouldn’t hesitate to kill them simply because they are Jewish.

Since its birth in 1948, the State of Israel has faced hostility, annihilation, and everything in between without letup. Every inch of its land is beset by entities that, at various points, have tried to destroy it.

This issue of Israel My Glory explores Israel’s volatile history with six of its most prominent regional neighbors: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran. Four of these nations tried to strangle Israel in its crib; and four are trying to smother it again today, centralizing their efforts under Iran’s domineering hand.

One day, all the nations of the world will share Iran’s desire to destroy Israel and will band together against it (Zech. 12:3; 14:2). They will echo the cry of the nations in Psalm 83:4: “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” They will rage against the Lord Jesus, hoping to prevent His Messianic enthronement in Jerusalem (2:1–2, 6). But God will gather them for judgment “on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land” (Joel 3:2).

Israel’s enemies fight a losing battle. If God’s Chosen People will endure until the sun, moon, and stars disappear (Jer. 31:35–36), what chance do mere mortals stand against them?

In His service,
Jesse King
Managing Editor