The Million-Dollar Question
For millennia, the Jewish people have struggled to survive; and many people wonder why.
Israel is always at the center of conflict. Will there ever be true peace—shalom—in the Middle East?
This is the million-dollar question, and answering it demands returning to the first pages of the book of Genesis and understanding the first conflict revealed in God’s Word.
In Genesis 3, we meet Satan, who succeeded in causing Eve and Adam to fall into sin. Who is this Evil One? Where did he come from? And what is his agenda?
Satan’s Scheme
According to the Jewish prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, Satan was created as a perfect archangel and was named Hailel Ben-Shahar, meaning “Day star, son of Dawn” (Hebrew, רחש ןב לליה; Isa. 14:12).1 However, he was not satisfied with God’s task for him and desired to be like God (v. 14).
Isaiah and Ezekiel prophesied against their contemporary, prideful, Gentile kings (king of Babel and king of Tyre), who, like Satan, were discontented with what God orchestrated for their lives. Both prophets described Satan (Isa. 14:12–14; Ezek. 28:13–15) as an example of how futile it is to attempt to stand against God and aspire to get what He did not design for you. Satan’s end (like that of the kings of Babel and Tyre) is what awaits everyone who follows and adopts Satan’s pride.2
What did Satan do to accomplish his wicked plan? As Andrew Woods wrote, “Satan’s success in inciting Adam and Eve’s rebellion effectively removed the office of Theocratic Administration from the earth, as Satan at that point became the ruler of the world (Luke 4:5–8; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor. 4:4; 11:14–15; Eph. 2:2; 1 John 5:19).”3
God’s response to this event is detailed in Genesis 3:15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
From the moment Satan understood that his defeat would be executed by the Seed of the woman, his primary goal was to annihilate every single human link from which this promised Seed would come. Since the Seed was to come through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and the family of David—who are the people of Israel—Satan did and still does his utmost to destroy the promised line and the nation of Israel in its entirety.
Throughout history, the Evil One has utilized a devastatingly repetitive pattern:
→ Egypt’s Pharaoh commanded that all males born of the Hebrews be killed (Ex. 1).
→ The Edomites tried to annihilate the Israelites and possess their Promised Land (Ezek. 35:1–10; Obad. 1).
→ Haman offered Persian King Ahasuerus an attractive sum of money to murder all the Jewish people in the Persian kingdom (Est. 3:5–11).
→ Antiochus Epiphanes (171–164 BC) tried to destroy the Jews (see 1 and 2 Maccabees).
→ Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany tried to do likewise.
→ Today, many nations religiously believe erasing Israel and the Jewish people from the world is their God-given command. Satan continues to pursue his evil plan.
Satan’s Fixation
Shimon Peres, Israel’s late prime minister, president, and Nobel Peace Prize winner (1994), declared in a speech that the foundation for true and lasting peace in the Middle East lies in advancing education and developing a prosperous economy that offers equal opportunities for Jews and Arabs. Most, if not all, world leaders agreed with him.
Though these factors produce many advantages, none is able to change the sinful nature of human beings and heal the broken relationship between us and a holy God. Therefore, any peace without God is a launching pad for the next war (see Joshua 9:14). A sobering proof is described in Ezekiel 38.
The prophet described Israel’s land and people in the future, when they will enjoy a peaceful era with open borders and no fear. However, we’ve already established that Satan is fixed on destroying everything that is good and that is of God, which is why he will use Israel’s enemies as his pawns to overcome Israel and satisfy their (and his) evil intent.
Gog, with his nefarious partners, will mobilize a coalition to conquer and loot Israel. Daniel 9:27 foretells that Antichrist, Satan’s henchman, will confirm a covenant with many at the beginning of a seven-year period of tribulation. This false peace (1 Th. 5:3) will mark the start of an unprecedented worldwide disaster that will end with the annihilation of almost two-thirds of the world’s population.4
No matter what angle you take to look at these events, they still all point again and again to Israel and Jerusalem. Why? Because from the moment God declared Jerusalem to be His (“The city of the great King,” Ps. 48:2),5 Satan’s fixation has been to destroy God’s Chosen People and rule the world from Jerusalem. Furthermore, in his attempt to present himself as God, Satan will create a pseudo trinity with himself as the father, the Antichrist (false messiah) as the son of God, and the false prophet as the Holy Spirit (Rev. 13; 16:13).
Humanity’s Hope
In light of such events, is there any hope for Israel and humanity? Let’s return to the beginning, where Adam and Eve enjoyed peace with God. Due to their sin, that peace disappeared. The consequences of sin are death and separation from God; but in His righteousness and grace, God made a way for us to reconcile with Him in true, eternal peace (Isa. 53:6; Jn 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:21).
The path to world peace (and the hope for humanity) must start with the individual restoration of peace with God through Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1–17; 10:8–9). And what about Israel?
The Bible teaches that the world will enjoy peace only after Jesus (Hebrew, Yeshua) returns to Earth at the end of the seven years of tribulation. Then, many great things will take place:
→ All God’s enemies will perish (Isa. 63:1–6; Zech. 14:1–11; Rev. 19).
→ The remnant of Israel will be saved and call on Yeshua’s name (Zech. 12:10; Mt. 23:39; Rom. 11:26).
→ Christ Jesus will establish His holy, righteous Kingdom on Earth (Ps. 2:6–9; Isa. 11; Dan. 12:12; Rev. 20—22). This will be a wonderful time of true, lasting peace for Israel—and for the world.
Should we wait for the future to enjoy God’s peace? The Lord Jesus told people who have trusted Him for salvation, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (Jn. 14:27).
Paul the apostle wrote, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).
God’s peace is available to us right now. But we must come to Him; confess our sinfulness; and place our faith in the Lord Jesus, who willingly endured the punishment for our sin so that we could have eternal life with God.
ENDNOTES
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- The KJV and NKJV translate Hailel as “Lucifer.”
- Frank E. Gaebelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), 6:105, 882.
- Andrew M. Woods, The Coming Kingdom (Duluth, MN: Grace Gospel Press, 2016), 7–8.
- The fourth seal judgment will kill one-quarter of the world’s population (Rev. 6:8). The sixth trumpet judgment will kill one-third of the world’s population (9:18), and the seven bowls (chap. 16) will increase the death toll.
- See also Psalm 2:6; Isaiah 2:1–4; Daniel 11:45; Micah 4:1–5.
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