Inside View Jul/Aug 2024
From the time the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob settled in the Promised Land following their 40-year wilderness wandering, they have faced enemies who have sought their destruction. In the days of the Israelite kingdom, Asaph the psalmist cried out to God to intervene as the Israelites’ enemies were plotting to “cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more” (Ps. 83:4). For centuries since then, many nations have shared this desire.
On our tours to Israel, we visit Tel Megiddo, a mound comprised of 26 strata of ruins. Each time the city was destroyed, it was rebuilt on the ruins of the previous civilization because it was a strategic town that controlled one of the main trade routes connecting Africa to Europe and Asia.
The top of Tel Megiddo provides a panoramic view of the 147-square-mile Jezreel Valley, where many enemies fought against Israel. This valley is a natural battlefield because it is long, wide, and flat. Living in or around Israel, the Amalekites, Canaanites, Midianites, Amorites, Philistines, and others sought to crush the Jewish nation. As we read the accounts of these battles in the Old Testament, we realize what appears to be human conflict is really spiritual warfare.
Certainly, these enemies attacked Israel for personal gain, seeking to steal its wealth and crops, control its land, and enslave its people. But for 4,000 years, a multitude of people groups has targeted Israel more than any other nation. This fact demonstrates a continuous pattern of demonically inspired influence to use other nations to eliminate Israel.
The dark spirits of this world, led by Satan, desperately want to end Israel’s existence in order to thwart God’s judgment and secure their future. God’s plan to defeat Satan (Gen. 3) and his adversaries when Jesus Christ returns to Earth flows through the little Jewish nation (Zech. 14; Rev. 19—20).
So, Satan and his demons influence people to hate Israel and oppose its existence. The apostle Paul reminds us that the greater battle is not with flesh and blood but “against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). However, this spiritual war pours over into the human realm, which we see each time Israel is physically attacked.
With Hamas’s massacre last October, we again witnessed Israel’s enemies attempt to wipe the nation off the map. Since Israel’s rebirth in 1948, it has faced many attacks by neighboring nations that sought to eliminate it, including the War of Independence (1948), the Second Arab-Israeli War (1956), the Six-Day War (1967), the Yom Kippur War (1973), and the Lebanon War (1982).
In this issue, we take a look at a future, monumental attack on Israel instigated by the spiritual battle between God and Satan. In what is commonly called the Battle of Gog and Magog, Israel’s enemies will rise up to destroy the Jewish nation; but the Lord will strike and defeat their armies.
Though Satan will pursue his campaign to eliminate Israel until he is finally defeated (Rev. 12), God will protect and preserve Israel. He sovereignly chose the Jewish people to bless the world (Gen. 12:3) and raised them up to be the nation through whom He will redeem His creation, provide the way of salvation for humanity in the person of the Messiah, and defeat the dark prince of this world.
Nothing can keep God the Creator from completing His plan and accomplishing His will over His creation. To that we say, “Amen!”
