The mystery that is Israel

 

Gen 15:18

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—

There it is. Clear and precise. God’s promise to Abram that the physical land which today is known as Israel, is only a small piece of the greater landmass that God actually gave to Abram’s descendants, forever. And no, this does not include his offspring through Keturah (Gen 21:12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.) His descendants through Isaac are the people we know today as the Jews.

The country Israel makes the whole world feel uneasy and unsettled, and when people are asked why this is so, they will generally mention, politics, war, settlements, borders. But the truth goes much deeper - it lies not in what Israel does, but in what Israel is.

Israel is roughly the same size as the Kruger National Park; has no oil like many of its near neighbours; has a population barely even the same number of citizens living in some cities in the rest of the world. They are surrounded by bitter enemies; hated in the United Nations; boycotted; slandered; and attacked both physically and verbally. And still, they thrive! In technology; in security; in agriculture; in intelligence; in morality; in medicine; in military – the list is endless. They took a land that existed mostly of swamps and desert and turned it into fertile farmland. They have survived wars that should have wiped them out, and not only survived them, but won.

The world witnessed all these things since ages past and cannot understand any of it. The people of Israel were supposed to disappear a long time ago, as always happened with exiled, enslaved and hated minorities throughout the centuries. But against all odds they returned, revived their language and rebuilt their land.

Israel in the natural does not make any sense. How do you explain a people who had to endure the Babylonians, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Inquisition, the pogroms and the Holocaust, and yet are still showing up to work on Monday mornings in Jerusalem?

And what drives the world crazy is the knowing that if this maligned nation is somehow still chosen and protected by God and even thriving – then maybe God is not a myth after all. Maybe Israel is the testimony He chose them to be. Maybe their survival is divine. And this is what they are raging against – it is much easier to slander and ridicule Israel than to admit that God is real and keeps His promises!

Pearls to ponder:

One day, nations will be judged on how they treated Israel (Matt 25:32-46). Are you fervently standing in the gap and repenting on behalf of our leaders who are taking action against Israel and the Jewish people?

Israel - Land of Promise