THE ENIGMA OF ISRAEL

This is the last of three successive columns on the Middle East. This final focus is on Israel which I described in the last column as being in the eye of the storm and watching the confusion of her detractors.

I also said that the outcome of most of what we see is uncertain. However, I make exception for one thing, about which I feel absolutely certain; that is that the intense and bitter hatred towards Israel shown by her neighbouring nations will not go away, no matter what the outcome of their political struggles might be or who may gain power or in what way they may rule.

The reason I am so sure about this is that such antagonism is a spiritual issue, not a political issue, and its certain continuance is an ongoing fact underlined indelibly by the witness of history. The most extraordinary and ironic part of that historical witness lies in the very story of the secular Zionist movement that propelled the Jews into statehood from the late 19th century until the mid 20th century. The founders of that movement were driven by the secular, pragmatic belief that the only way that the Jews would escape the storm of anti-Semitism which raged in Europe in the 19th century would be to find a country of their own in which they could settle. That alone would bring peace, and it would definitely bring peace. Such was the profound conviction that was voiced in Theodore Herzl’s epoch making book “The Jewish State” and inspired his World Zionist Movement at the end of the 19th century. It was the same belief which drove the continued Jewish settlement of Palestine throughout the first half of the 20th century. Thus for sixty years it was the flag of Jewish hope – a new nation of their own in which there would be peace. The bitter fact is, however, that on the very day of the proclamation of the state of Israel, the Jews found themselves locked into an armed struggle for survival against Arab nations determined to repeat the Holocaust and drive them into the sea. They have been locked into it ever since. The failure to find peace is the fundamental failure of Zionism, even though God used Zionism to bring his people back to their historic land.

Israel survived the attempted destruction in 1948 and has survived other concerted attempts since to destroy her. Israel has now had over 60 years of history as a state, but it has been anything but a story of peace in their own land. They remain the butt of a hatred as strong as it has ever been at any time in their history. The essence of the Zionist dream, peace and acceptance, has never been fulfilled. Israel is hemmed in by a ring of nations seeking its destruction, and which at this very moment are targeting her cities and people with any number of missiles.

The failure of the Zionist hope lies in the fact that it was a purely secular and political hope. The Zionists certainly knew how deep the roots of anti-Semitism were, and they knew that for two thousand years the Jews had suffered from it; but they never appreciated the deeper spiritual root of the problem and never countenanced the hand of God in it. They vainly looked for a human and political answer to a problem only God could answer.

Sadly the Jewish state and its leaders are as secular as its Zionist forebears, and can look no further than political answers and sheer force to maintain their existence. This they have done with all the ingenuity that they have showed throughout their history. However, in their unbelief they remain blind to any true spiritual understanding that it is only God who can give them true deliverance from hatred.

A second certainty follows from this first, namely that God will not allow them to be completely destroyed no matter how much pain, hatred and threat they go through. The last 60 year of the history of Israel has amply demonstrated how the providence of God has kept that nation from destruction. He will continue to do so. He will continue to show his “holiness” (i.e. his complete commitment to his promises) among the nations by what he does for his people.

Where will it all end? I have no better guide than Zechariah 12:2ff and 14:2ff. In that prophetic scenario all the nations of the world, led by the spiritual principalities and powers of the world will come against Israel in a final attempt to destroy the nation and frustrate God’s purposes. They will appear to succeed but will be finally met and destroyed by the intervention of God. At the same time the Messiah will be revealed to Israel. That will be the moment of peace. We have seen enough in the last 60 years to make to Zechariah prophecies entirely credible.

When this will happen and what lies between now and then I have no certainties whatsoever except that we shall be watching an unparalleled end time period of history as the process unfolds.



Bob




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