The Middle East has been in the news lately, Syria, Iran, Egypt and of course Israel with the recent conflict in Gaza. There is hardly a day that goes by without Israel being in the news somewhere. Why is that? How come that a small nation, the size of New Jersey makes it into the headlines just about everyday?
Is it because Israel is one of the leading countries in science and technology? Or is Israel making headlines because of the agricultural achievements over the years? Maybe it’s because of computer science, electronics, genetics, medicine, optics, solar energy and engineering that Israel is in the news?
Israel is a highly advanced country, filled with scientist and engineers that work in aerospace, agricultural, hydraulic and military engineering. But that’s not why Israel makes the news.
Israel makes it in the news because it is surrounded by enemies that want nothing more than Israel being wiped off the map. Iran has openly called for the annihilation of the Jewish State. That is the sentiment in the Middle East. Israel is not welcome there and is not recognized as a State by most of the surrounding countries.
The Palestinian Authority refuses to recognize Israel as a state and even after many concessions from Israel, there is no real peace in sight. Recently Gaza and it’s people are in the news after Israel took out one of the high-ranking Hamas military commanders, Ahmed al-Jabari, who was killed by a precision drone airstrike.
After that rockets from Gaza started to rain down on Israel and we all know from the news what’s going on with that. This could develop to an all out war or maybe there will be some kind of truce between Israel and Gaza as we have seen many times before until it gets broken. I guess we have to see what will happen in the next few days. No one wants war and it is always a tragedy when people die on either side. I am praying for the peace of Jerusalem and Israel as well as for the Palestinian people and Gaza.
Most people look at the current events that are happening around the world from a human perspective rather than from a spiritual perspective.
What is the perspective of YHWH the Creator of all things on Israel? Does this little sliver of land matter to Him? The answer to that question is yes. Israel does matter to God. He loves Israel and His chosen people. With that stated, He loves the Palestinian people and all Muslims as well and He wants them to come to the knowledge of the truth.
From God’s view, Israel is the center of the world and Jerusalem the center of Israel. (The Temple Mount is the Epicenter.)
“Thus says the Lord GOD: “This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her.” Ezekiel 5:5.
What is Israel to God and how did Israel come into existence? It happened about 3800 years ago in a place called Ur, which is in modern-day Iraq. Abram who was chosen by God lived there with his father and family. One day God told him to leave his homeland.
“Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.” Genesis 12:1-5
To make a long story short, Abram was a Gentile and God chose him to become the father of many nations. God gave Abram the land of Cannan which is modern-day Israel. (Gen 13:14-18)
God made a promise to Abram in his old age.
“Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Gen 15:5, 6.
God also made an unconditional covenant with Abram, please read it in Genesis 15. These promises and covenant were made while his name was still Abram a Gentile. It is not until Genesis 17 that God renames Abram to Abraham, the father of many nations and Sarai to Sarah, the mother of many nations. In the earlier chapters of Genesis we read that God promised Abram that Sarai would bare him a son, even in their advanced age. Well, the lost their patience and Abram fathered a son with Sarai’s hand maiden Haggar, whose name was Ishmael. They did not wait upon the Lord, but God fulfilled his promise a few years after the birth of Ishmael, when Sarah bore Issac.
Ishmael was the son of the flesh and Isaac the son of promise. In Genesis 17 God once again tells Abraham that Sarah shall bear him a son. Abraham of course thought that Ishmael was his son, by God did not recognize Ishmael, because His covenant with Abraham was to be through Isaac.
“And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. “And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” Genesis 17:19-21.
So Sarah bore Isaac who later married
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