A Kingdom View of Israel and Hamas
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This week’s unfolding nightmare in Israel and Gaza is the tragic result of missing what we were made for. The Palestinians have missed it, but so have the Israelis, the nations, and many Christians, including some of us.
We humans are designed for a Kingdom, for a territory that’s safe, free, beautiful, blessed, and prosperous. God designed us to exist in a “homeland for the human soul”. And so he programmed that dream into our very DNA. But here is the problem: we have the dream without the interpretation, and so we go about looking for it in all the wrong ways: “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it.” (James 5:1-2) These two verses describe human nature with shocking precision.
But the answer, unfortunately, can never be found in diplomacy alone, nor in armed conflict, resistance, or endless retaliation. Neither the UN, the Jewish nation, the Western Powers, nor Radical Islam have a lasting solution to the complexities of the Middle East. Yet there IS an answer: We must all return to the Lord, receive a new heart, and embrace the hope of the Kingdom.
His is a Kingdom of forgiveness, enemy-love, and humility, where the nations beat their swords into plowshares, and the art of war is forever forgotten. A pipe dream, you say? Then tell us where and when it has ever been tested and shown to be a failure? The problem with the Kingdom is not that it has failed. It has barely been understood, and certainly never been tried.
But you are here at The Everyday Kingdom, and you are curious! So let’s get started: It all begins when we embrace the life of Jesus and the beauty of His dream for the world. We move forward by learning the ways of the Kingdom, as we imitate and share the life the King Himself: Our part is simply to pray, love, forgive, serve, and declare the good news of that different world.
There certainly remains the embedded problem of human wickedness. Christians have wrestled for centuries for the proper Christian response to war and violence. Must we stand in the face of wickedness and reject it? Certainly. Should we protect, comfort, and care for the victims of evil? Absolutely! We must remember, however, that evil rests in individual human hearts, and avoid the sweeping condemnation of all Palestinians because some are terrorists. Alas, there are no human tools for turning hardened terrorists into loving, forgiving saints.
And yet there is hope! There is One who can wash evil from the human heart. Jesus does not choose sides like we do. He simply opposes evil and receives all who will come to him. If we long for the beautiful Kingdom to become a reality, then we must do our part. He is certain to do His.
© 2023, Don Stephens
We humans are designed for a Kingdom, for a territory that’s safe, free, beautiful, blessed, and prosperous. God designed us to exist in a “homeland for the human soul”. And so he programmed that dream into our very DNA. But here is the problem: we have the dream without the interpretation, and so we go about looking for it in all the wrong ways: “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it.” (James 5:1-2) These two verses describe human nature with shocking precision.
But the answer, unfortunately, can never be found in diplomacy alone, nor in armed conflict, resistance, or endless retaliation. Neither the UN, the Jewish nation, the Western Powers, nor Radical Islam have a lasting solution to the complexities of the Middle East. Yet there IS an answer: We must all return to the Lord, receive a new heart, and embrace the hope of the Kingdom.
His is a Kingdom of forgiveness, enemy-love, and humility, where the nations beat their swords into plowshares, and the art of war is forever forgotten. A pipe dream, you say? Then tell us where and when it has ever been tested and shown to be a failure? The problem with the Kingdom is not that it has failed. It has barely been understood, and certainly never been tried.
But you are here at The Everyday Kingdom, and you are curious! So let’s get started: It all begins when we embrace the life of Jesus and the beauty of His dream for the world. We move forward by learning the ways of the Kingdom, as we imitate and share the life the King Himself: Our part is simply to pray, love, forgive, serve, and declare the good news of that different world.
There certainly remains the embedded problem of human wickedness. Christians have wrestled for centuries for the proper Christian response to war and violence. Must we stand in the face of wickedness and reject it? Certainly. Should we protect, comfort, and care for the victims of evil? Absolutely! We must remember, however, that evil rests in individual human hearts, and avoid the sweeping condemnation of all Palestinians because some are terrorists. Alas, there are no human tools for turning hardened terrorists into loving, forgiving saints.
And yet there is hope! There is One who can wash evil from the human heart. Jesus does not choose sides like we do. He simply opposes evil and receives all who will come to him. If we long for the beautiful Kingdom to become a reality, then we must do our part. He is certain to do His.
© 2023, Don Stephens
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We all need to pray that Christians will have the wisdom to respond to these issues. We want to support Israel and not fall into the trap of expressing a moral equivalency between the evil of Hamas and the response of Israel. Yet, Christ has his arms open to even the most hardened terrorist who repents and turns to him. His heart, and our hearts, also must go out to the innocent victims, no matter where they reside.