The Evening News Part 2: The Spiritual Warfare Over Israel

Editor’s note: This is a sermon from First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen, delivered on Sunday, May 5, 2024

Intro: Good morning. We are officially in the month of May. Soon, the streets will be buzzing with activity. And speaking of buzzing with activity, I’m sure you’ve all been seeing what’s going on at certain college campuses around the country. Thankfully, locally, it’s been quiet. But as you know there have been some protests–to put it mildly, against Israel and for Palestine, or for Hamas.

And I don’t know about you, but it just makes me scratch my head because I never thought I would see so much antisemitism in the United States–especially from the younger generations. I mean, the idea of antisemitism or race, religion, bigotry…I mean doesn’t it seem odd that it’s this generation that’s exemplifying these things–after all we’ve accomplished? What’s worse is, the protesters don’t see it as antisemitism.

This is from The New York Times: Pro-Palestinian student activists say their movement is anti-Zionist but not antisemitic. It is not a distinction that everyone accepts.

From The Washington Post: At protest camps, lists say “No Zionists.” Many Jewish leaders and Jewish students say the word is being used as a synonym for Jews and is antisemitic.

They probably don’t know what that word anti-Zion or antisemitic means, and they probably have no idea how Israel has been and will be The Holy Land. Now, I have to admit, that when I was that age, I really didn’t get it, either. I mean, I knew it was The Holy Land, yet people in Israel are not primarily Christians, and then there’s The Dome of the Rock, which is Muslim, so I was confused. Why are Christians so supportive of Israel today, when it’s not a Christian nation? Shouldn’t God have set Israel aside? 

Well, we’re going to look at that today, so if you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Deuteronomy 7, we’ll read verses 6-9; and then if you have a bookmark, we’ll go to Psalm 87, and read the whole chapter, which is only seven verses long.

So, Deut. 7; and Psalm 87.

I hadn’t planned on preaching on this today, in fact, on Friday, I was starting to go one direction and then God took me by the shoulders and said, “No, go here.” And then I started going back in the other direction and God took me by the shoulders again and said, “No, no…this way.” And I started going that way and then tried to veer off in my original direction, and God took me by the shoulders again and said, “No, you’re going this way.” So, I was pretty tired and said, “Okay, I’ll start over in the morning.”

And so a couple of months ago, in fact it was on Palm Sunday, I did a sermon on The Evening News, I guess you could call this The Evening News Part 2–even though it isn’t part of the sermon series. Kind of like when Star Wars does these stand-alone series. By the way, I hope everyone’s May the 4th was festive. 

And speaking of Star Wars, let’s read our scripture verse this morning. I’m sure that some of you will see where George Lucas borrowed a phrase for Star Wars here.

Scripture: 

From Deut. 7:6-9

6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

7 The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. 

Now Psalm 87, again all seven verses:

1 He has founded his city on the holy mountain. 2The Lord loves the gates of Zion
    more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are said of you, city of God:

4 “I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me—Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush—and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”

5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.” 6 The Lord will write in the register of the peoples: “This one was born in Zion.” 7 As they make music they will sing, “All my fountains are in you.”

Central Truth: I could go on and on, and probably spend half of the sermon today just reading scriptures that pertain to God’s love for Israel and the love/hate relationship Israel had with God, but I won’t. These were to show you God’s love for Israel in spite of Israel’s rejection of God. By the way, that’s called true love. Have you ever loved someone who didn’t love you back? You understand the pain and rejection, but it probably didn’t make you stop loving them, did it? 

And that’s the way it is with God’s love for Israel. He loves that nation no matter how much they reject him in the past and in the present.

Point 1:  We’ve all heard that Israel is God’s chosen people, but what does that mean? Going back to Deuteronomy 7 again, verse 6 says, “You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.”

So remember, prior to Israel, people were living however and wherever. It got to the point where Noah was the only righteous man on earth. By the way, I used the term antisemite earlier, and it’s an odd term. It actually stems from Noah’s son Shem, who established himself in the middle eastern region after the flood, and so anyone, really, who is of middle-east descent is considered a semite. But oddly, anyone who is an antisemite specifically refers to someone who is anti-Jewish. Someone who is pro-Jewish is called a Zionist, and I’ll get to that later. 

But first, why and how is Israel God’s chosen people? What does it mean for God to choose people or a race or a nation? Why? For what?

Once Noah’s sons left the ark, it is believed that they scattered in three directions–one being the Middle East, the other Africa and the third in the India/Persia and European regions. And so, anyone who writes a story knows that you have to have a setting and main characters. God wanted to write a narrative. But he needed a setting. And so, he created one, called Israel. And it is within Israel that the whole Bible and the whole unveiling of God’s character, laws/commandments, his faithfulness, his judgments, his grace, and his messiah. 

And both sides of Jesus’ lineage–through his mother’s side and through his father’s side are 100 percent from Israel–traced as far back as Abraham and Adam. Even though Joseph is not Jesus’ biological father, no secular historian can claim that Jesus’ lineage isn’t 100 percent of Jewish descent from the lineage of David as promised in the Old Testament. Also, if you were a secular historian, you’re forced to say that yes, Christianity was birthed by Jewish people in Israel. We know that it spread to the gentiles, but it spread from Jews out of Israel. The whole Bible all takes place–even the events that are yet to come–in Israel.

Of course because it is a nation established by God, God has required Israel to be set apart from the other nations as a holy nation. God’s standards for Israel have been very high. God did not give his laws and precepts or temple to any other nation. Just this one. We’re so used to churches everywhere, and we can find Jewish synagogues in different cities, but at the time of the Bible, there was only one temple (at a time) in the whole world and it was in Israel.

Gotquestions.org says: Israel’s responsibilities have included keeping and preserving the Law (Joshua 22:5); being “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6); and bringing “renown and praise and honor” to the Lord (Jeremiah 13:11). Their high calling is straight from the God who chose them out of all the nations of the earth.

But of course, it isn’t just a narrative that God established Israel for, like I said, it was also to demonstrate his love. When you look at other ancient religions–even current religions–there is no God of love, really. Just a god of do’s and don’ts. Remember studying the ancient Greek and Roman gods when you were in school? I still have no idea why we had to do that. But it at least gives you a glimpse into what man-made religion looks like–gods that are no different than us. One of the reasons why we can look at the Bible apologetically–you can tell it wasn’t written by man because it goes against our nature and everything we desire. 

But in ancient religions, the gods were as bad if not worse than humans, and they not only allowed or tolerated debauchery, but the gods engaged in it and encouraged it, and in some cases, that was a form of worship. Here, the people of Israel saw a holy God like no other. Powerful, mighty, fearful, demanding and…kind, gentle and loving.

What other religion even uses the word, sin–is strict and vengeful against sin–but yet has a God who loves us enough to send his only son to take the punishment that we deserve so that we may be right with him? 

The main difference between Christianity and all other religions is the concept of grace. Christianity is the only religion where God provides a way for us out of an ultimate demonstration of love. We don’t have to earn our salvation.

I say that because God’s love for Israel and its people is evident throughout the whole of the Bible–yes, His judgments, but also balanced with his love. 

In fact, it’s debated whether or not The Song of Songs or The Song of Solomon is allegorical or literal or both.

The Milken Archive, which is dedicated to American Jewish music, says, Song of Songs was long accepted in Jewish tradition as an allegory of the relationship between God and the people of Israel rather than as human love poetry. That allegorical interpretation permitted its canonization, and indeed, the Targum (the Aramaic version of the Bible, which is also interpretive in character and approach), the Midrash, and many medieval commentators viewed the book as a depiction of a “spiritual marriage” between God and Israel following the revelation and acceptance of the Torah at Sinai.

Zechariah 2:8 says, “—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—” This is a great example of God’s righteous jealousy. “Don’t you dare touch her, she’s mine!”\

Point 2: A few minutes ago, I said that I was going to get back to the idea of what it means to be a Zionist. Well, remember when we read from Psalm 87? 

It begins with:

“He has founded his city on the holy mountain. The Lord loves the gates of Zion / more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. / Glorious things are said of you, / city of God.” According to this verse, Zion is synonymous with the city of God, and it is a place that God loves. So in other words, Zion is another name for Jerusalem. Mount Zion is the highest hill in Jerusalem on which David built a fortress. It is on the southeast side of the city, and if you Google it, you can see pictures of Mt. Zion, though David’s fortress is no longer there–but it is believed that his tomb is there–but that is probably a tourist trap–much like Mt. Sinai–which is a whole other video that I have for Sunday School someday.

It is unknown but because there is a rather fancy place called, “The Upper Room” there, Mount Zion is believed to have been the location of The Last Supper, Jesus’ appearance before Ciaphas and Pentecost. 

But Zion is not just a location in Jerusalem, nor is it an overall nickname for the city, but again, quoting from gotquestions.org, 

It says,

In the Old Testament Zion refers figuratively to…the people of God (Isaiah 60:14). In the New Testament, Zion refers to God’s spiritual kingdom. We have not come to Mount Sinai, says the apostle, but “to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22). Peter, quoting Isaiah 28:16, refers to Christ as the Cornerstone of Zion: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6).

Mount Zion as a geographical area is currently the center of much dispute. The Bible is clear that, one day, Zion will be the sole possession of the Lord Jesus, and Zion—the nation and the city—will be restored. “Awake, awake, / Clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion; / Clothe yourself in your beautiful garments, / O Jerusalem, the holy city; / For the uncircumcised and the unclean / Will no longer come into you” (Isaiah 52:1). And “the children of your oppressors will come bowing before you; / all who despise you will bow down at your feet / and will call you the City of the LORD, / Zion of the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 60:14).

So you see how Zion and Jerusalem and Israel all go hand in hand? So then, what is a Zionist or Zionism? Well, before I answer that, which is a simple answer, let me just say why I’m bothering talking about it at all. Because of the campus protesters–by the way, many of them are not students. According to a headline and subhead on the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, NYU: Over half arrested for anti-Israel riots not tied to school: New York City Mayor Eric Adams said “outside agitators” played a key role in pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University.

Either way, these protesters are yelling things to people like, “You’re a Zionist–You’re a fascist! You’re a genocide supporter!”

So what is a Zionist? Is it a fascist? Is it someone who supports genocide? Is it a person who plays a Zion guitar? Or a person who goes to Zion Bible Institute? I hate to do this, it makes me look unprofessional, but again from the same source as before:

Zionism is an international movement for the return of the Jewish people to Zion, the land of Israel, while exercising their right to retain authority of government over the state of Israel, which was promised to them in the Hebrew Scriptures. The roots for Zionism lie in Genesis chapters 12 and 15, in which God makes a covenant with Abraham promising him that his descendants would inherit the land between Egypt and the Euphrates River.

This next sentence is important. And this is why I can’t understand the protestors who want to free Palestine. 

Gotquestions goes on to say: the Zionist movement, begun in the late 1890s, found fulfillment in 1948 when Israel was officially recognized as a state and granted sovereignty as a nation by the United Nations. 

I think many of you know that Israel was re-established as a nation in 1948, I mentioned that in my Evening News Part 1 sermon. So, how is this even an issue? It was granted by the United Nations fair and square. Done, right? So what’s the fuss? 

Well, that leads me to my last point.

Conclusion: And my last point is this: Why should we care? What does this conflict on the other side of the world and on college campuses miles from here have to do with our everyday lives in Watkins Glen? Well, actually, a lot. Because as Christians, what happens in Israel and what happens to Israel and what happens to the Jewish people really is our business. We can’t just sit and say, well, that’s for those people. We’re Christians, they’re Jews, two different religions, none of our business. 

That’s wrong. 

Dr. Sean Gooding, a Baptist pastor in Ontario, Canada said this:

Now we know that Israel and in particular Jerusalem were unfaithful to God and some really bad things happened to them including captivities in Assyria and Babylon, but God never abandoned Israel and while He was pronouncing the judgment on Jerusalem through Jeremiah, He made sure to include this promise from Jeremiah 31: 36-38,

Only if this fixed order departed from My presence, declares the LORD, would Israel’s descendants ever cease to be a nation before Me.” 37 This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above could be measured and the foundations of the earth below searched out would I reject all of Israel’s descendants because of all they have done,” declares the LORD. 38 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this city will be rebuilt for Me, from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

Now we know the city was rebuilt in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, but this was an eternal promise as well, one of those double prophecies. Israel today is rebuilt from the ruins left by the AD70 invasion and the myriad of crusades that were fought over the centuries. She was basically a barren land for the better part of 1900 years, but now Israel and in particular Jerusalem are rebuilt. She will never cease to exist ever again and one day, Jesus, the King of the Jews will sit and reign from the throne of His father David. God loves Israel; so much so that His Son came as a Jew. I leave you with Psalm 122:6, we are called to love who or what God loves,

Regarding the current Israeli-Hamas War, Israel didn’t start it. They were the ones who were invaded on Oct. 7.  I read this in my last sermon on The Evening News, but it bears repeating. 

This is from americanjewishcommittee.org:

On October 7, Hamas terrorists waged the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust — slaughtering babies, raping women, burning whole families alive, and taking hundreds of innocent civilians hostage. Since October 7, more than 1,200 Israelis have been killed. Terrorists are still holding 134 men, women, and children in captivity.

Do you see how the overall truth gets twisted? 

This also from the same website: Rape and sexual violence are war crimes and violations of international law. Yet that was overlooked in an Oct. 13 statement by U.N. Women, which equated the Hamas attacks on civilians in Israel with defensive actions taken by Israel and made no mention of Hamas’ barbarism.

“Twisted Truth” was going to be my original sermon for today–but I was going to use it in a wider scope and paint with a broader brush, and the current protests were just going to be an example, and that’s when the Lord steered this sermon to talk about that subject specifically.

The return of the Jews to the Promised Land is the fulfillment of prophecy and is seen, especially by Christians, as a sign that the world has entered the end times.

When I did the first Evening News sermon on Palm Sunday, the main scripture reading was Matthew 24:4-8. I guess you could really say this is part two of that sermon because–once again, I didn’t plan this–but discovered as I got to this point in preparing the sermon that I’m going to close with the following verses out of Matthew 24–where we left off last time–with verses 9-14, followed by–you guessed it–gotquestions.org.

Matthew 24:9-14: 9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

And from gotquestions: It says: Conflict in Israel has been a reality whenever Israel has existed as a nation. Whether it was the Egyptians, Amalekites, Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites, Amorites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, or Romans, the nation of Israel has always been persecuted by its neighbors. 

Why is this? 

According to the Bible, it is because God has a special plan for the nation of Israel, and Satan wants to defeat that plan. Satanically influenced hatred of Israel—and especially Israel’s God—is the reason Israel’s neighbors have always wanted to see Israel destroyed. Whether it is Sennacherib, king of Assyria; Haman, official of Persia; Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany; or Rouhani, President of Iran, attempts to completely destroy Israel will always fail. The persecutors of Israel will come and go, but the persecution will remain until the second coming of Christ. As a result, conflict in Israel is not a reliable indicator of the soon arrival of the end times.

However, the Bible does say there will be terrible conflict in Israel during the end times. That is why the time period is known as the Tribulation, the Great Tribulation, and the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7).

Remember when I said that Israel is surrounded by its enemies? Like I said, Israel is so small in comparison, it has nothing to do with land. That’s just an excuse to get people on the side of Hamas. And unfortunately, it’s working. And so again, why does this concern us in Watkins Glen? Because this is spiritual warfare. Satan is trying to get as many people as he can to side against Israel. He’s always tried to do that. That’s why the current war in Israel was not part of an Evening News series, it was part of our Esther, Easter and Evening News series. Satan has made Israel a hated nation, and he’s made some Israelites reject Christ. Clever. I’ve said it before, but when God made Lucifer, he made him a genius. Satan thought he won when he turned Jesus’ followers and the Jewish religious leaders–even Jesus’ own disciple against him. 

Satan thought he had won when Israel was sacked in 70 AD. I’m sure he was so proud of Hitler, right? I mean 6 million Jews? That’s quite an accomplishment. But there’s more on Satan’s to-do list. Just wait until The Antichrist appears on the scene.

A couple of more Bible verses and then we’ll close.

Ephesians 6:11-13;18 – Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 – For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Communion

The Bread: Tying communion in with our sermon today, as I said earlier, God chose to create the nation of Israel to be the people through whom He would reveal himself, and through whom the Messiah would be born. 

In Isaiah 49, God says of Israel “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Israel is a light to the nations because Jesus provided salvation through the cross for the nations–not just Israel–the whole world; and then authorized His apostles to spread the good news throughout the world. And Jesus said that he would wait until the whole world hears before he comes back again. But it was in Israel that God’s design for salvation was accomplished, and therefore the source of light to the world. Let us eat and remember.

The Cup: Earlier I spoke about the love of God. How an almighty, all-holy God would still be so gentle and kind. The cross is the perfect example of God’s love balanced with God’s wrath.

2 Cor. 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 

This means that Jesus, although sinless, was treated as if He were not. Although He remained holy, He was regarded as guilty of all the sin in the world. Through our sins being placed upon Him, He became our substitute and the recipient of God’s wrath against our sin. 

In the Old Covenant, God’s established way to atone for sin was through the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). That is why during the Last Supper on the night of His arrest, Jesus passed the cup to the disciples and told them, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). 

When Jesus was crucified, His blood provided for the forgiveness of the sins for the whole world—the basis of the New Covenant. “By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13). Salvation is now a free gift for any and all who will call upon the name of the Lord.