Warring against God

The people involved are not just at war with Israel, they are at war with God. They are called God’s enemies

Do not keep silent, O God!
Do not hold Your peace,
And do not be still, O God!
² For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
³ They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
⁴ They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

⁵ For they have consulted together with one consent;
They form a confederacy against You:
⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
Moab and the Hagrites;
⁷ Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
⁸ Assyria also has joined with them;
They have helped the children of Lot. Selah

Psalm 83.1-8

“You” equals the God of the Bible who is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ / Yeshua the Messiah. Specifically, they are opposed to Israel’s occupation of the land of Israel.

Now, if you look at the Bible from a ‘biblical point of view’, you can see that going way back to Genesis chapter 15, God made a covenant, an agreement with Abraham through which He would give to him a multitude of descendants, as many as the stars in the heavens and the sand on the seashore, and He would give them the title deeds of ownership of the Promised Land.

We read also that Abraham believed God and God accounted it to him for righteousness.

⁵ 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.”

⁶ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

⁷ Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”

Genesis 15.5-7

So, there are two aspects to the Covenant:

1.  Abraham would have a multitude of descendants: the descendants through Isaac and Jacob will be the descendants who would be part of the promised land of the Jewish people
2. They would have some degree of ownership over the land upon which Abraham was a stranger

And, in the book of Deuteronomy, we read how the Lord gave them the land, following the Exodus. Deuteronomy chapter 31 is interesting:

Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. ² And he said to them: “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in. Also the Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ ³ The Lord your God Himself crosses over before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua himself crosses over before you, just as the Lord has said. ⁴ And the Lord will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites and their land, when He destroyed them. ⁵ The Lord will give them over to you, that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you. ⁶ Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

⁷ Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. ⁸ And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

Deuteronomy 31.1-8

There is a word from God in which He says He is going to go with the children of Israel into the Promised Land. He is going to keep them in the land, and He is going to be with them. He is not going to forsake them. He is going to go with them by covenant.

On the other hand, Moses does teach in the latter parts of Deuteronomy that their occupation and blessing in the land will also depend on their obedience to the Law of God given through Moses. If they are disobedient, the final judgment will be to be removed the land yet, even if the Jewish people are removed, they will come back again to the land because of the Covenant which God made with Abraham.

“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, ² and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, ³ that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. ⁴ If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. ⁵ Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. ⁶ And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Deuteronomy 30.1-6

Now the indication in Bible prophecy is that, following their return, they will also face an ongoing opposition from the nations that surround them who reject the God of the Bible and the covenants He has made with the Jewish people. The eternal fulfilment of God’s covenant with Israel in the Promised land has already taken place in the past. Every time the Jewish people have been exiled from their covenanted land because of their infidelity to God, they have nevertheless been infallibly returned to it.

³⁶ “Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: ³⁷ Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. ³⁸ They shall be My people, and I will be their God; ³⁹ then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. ⁴⁰ And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. ⁴¹ Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’

⁴² “For thus says the Lord: ‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. ⁴³ And fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” ⁴⁴ Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captives to return,’ says the Lord.”

Jeremiah 32.36-44

The nations at war with Israel are following another god, a god who is not the true God, and who is at war with the Jewish people, with Israel.

It says in this passage that they make crafty counsel, they make your deception against the people of Israel.

³ They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
⁴ They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”

Psalm 83.3-4

And you can see this has happened in the times of the Bible, in historical sections of Judges, and Samuel, and Kings. It also happened at the time after the Jewish people returned from Babylon in Ezra and Nehemiah, but you also see it happening in our time.

And, if you believe the Bible as I do, then, the Bible says that if even if the Jewish people are scattered to the ends of the earth, in God’s time, He is going to bring them back to the land of Israel, and this is going to be a sign of the last days before Jesus returns.

We have a number of scriptures saying that. I’ll just refer to one or two:

In Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse 24 he says:

²⁴ For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ²⁸ Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

Ezekiel 36.24-28

This is a prophecy showing God taking the Jewish people from the nations of the world and bringing them back to the land of Israel. He is also going to give them a change of heart.

Jeremiah chapter 31 says:

¹⁰ “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
And declare it in the isles afar off, and say,
‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’
¹¹ For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
And ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
¹² Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion,
Streaming to the goodness of the Lord—
For wheat and new wine and oil,
For the young of the flock and the herd;
Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden,
And they shall sorrow no more at all.

Jeremiah 31.10-12

This mean that we have seen the scattering of Israel, but we are also going to see the regathering of Israel.

Now, biblical Christians have seen this happen before. Barbara and I watched a video from CMJ (Church’s Ministry among Jewish people) recently which was about the restoration of Israel. There were a number of people in the 19th century who saw this happening and realised from reading scripture that it was going to happen. Among them were very prominent preachers like JC Ryle and Charles Hadden Spurgeon, William Wilberforce, leaders of the Evangelical movement. They did not only see this in theory, they also acted to bring it to pass. They set up Christchurch in Jerusalem as the centre for the restoration of Israel. They set up schools and hospitals in Israel to care for the Jewish people before the Zionists got there to do it themselves.

The documentary said that the Jewish agency became so concerned that this had been set up by Christians that they were motivated to do it themselves unless the Jews should be caught up by missionaries and become believers in Messiah. But it is interesting that this was happening before Herzl and before Zionism got off the ground in 1840s.

Then, they saw from scriptures there would be a return of the Jews to the land of Israel and they began to work towards it. Why did they see this? Because we have the same book, we have the Bible.

Now, it’s interesting also that, if you look at the people who don’t have the Bible, who are opposed to the Bible, you’ll find that almost all, to a greater or lesser extent, are opposed to the restoration of Israel.

Islam, Leftist forces, Christian replacement theology also strongly deny the connection between modern Israel and the Bible. Even some Jewish groups called out and say that the Jews should not go back to Israel until the Messiah comes and are therefore opposed to the existence of the current State of Israel. Finally some of the liberal, Left-wing Jews are also against the current campaign.

Israeli government and a campaigning against it so you have kind of division even within the Jewish community but if you can see from the Bible you can see that there’s going to be a restoration of Israel albeit in unbelief but in through the purposes of God going to come to recognize Him.

If you analyse these views, as I said, they are all opposed, not just to the restoration of Israel but to the views of Bible-believing Christians. They will generally dismiss and reject the idea that Israel has anything to do with Bible prophecy, a belief in the literal return of the Messiah, and the establishment of a Messianic Kingdom. As you see in Isaiah chapter 2 and in Revelation chapter 20.

¹² For the day of the Lord of hosts
Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,
Upon everything lifted up—
And it shall be brought low—
¹³ Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up,
And upon all the oaks of Bashan;
¹⁴ Upon all the high mountains,
And upon all the hills that are lifted up;
¹⁵ Upon every high tower,
And upon every fortified wall;
¹⁶ Upon all the ships of Tarshish,
And upon all the beautiful sloops.
¹⁷ The loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;
The Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
¹⁸ But the idols He shall utterly abolish.

¹⁹ They shall go into the holes of the rocks,
And into the caves of the earth,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

Isaiah 2.12-19

Islam in particular, also opposes the basic Christian belief that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross and rose from the dead, and not only opposes it but even persecutes those who hold to it.

Okay, so there is going to be at war with God.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. ² He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; ³ and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

⁴ And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ⁵ But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Revelation 20.1-6