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Situation in Israel & How We View World Events

There is a lot of back and forth over the Hamas situation, so we briefly summarize where things are at. More importantly, we discuss some important points concerning how we view world events compared to how the world views them.


Update on the Hamas-Israel Situation

Hamas and the hostage situation still dominate the headlines, and situation continues to be unresolved. A ceasefire has technically been in place for a few weeks which supposedly stipulated that a ceasefire would be enacted in exchange for the return of hostages, but Hamas broke it on the first day and has still yet to return all hostages (All Israel News). Other nations are pressuring Hamas to return all bodies of hostages, and it seems that many will not be returned because Hamas cannot “find them”.

 

While nations are calling for an end to the conflict and for peace in the region, we know from Scripture that this will not be achieved. The Bible teaches us this in a few ways – one being that Israel will only know peace when Jesus rules as their king (Jeremiah 23:5-6), and the other being that the Gaza Strip is a latter-day enemy of Israel that will be destroyed by Christ (Psalm 83:7, “the Philistines” inhabited what is now the Gaza Strip when this prophecy was given). It is already clear from the present situation that peace has not and will not be achieved, even though the bulk of the fighting for this round is likely over.

 

Right now, nations are trying to figure out how to get the rest of the hostages back and run the Gaza Strip peacefully. There have been numerous suggestions on how it will be governed, and Trump’s plan appears to involve other nations helping to patrol it. Jordanian King Abdullah declared that he will not use Jordanian forces to perpetually patrol Gaza (The Jerusalem Post). Turkey has shown willingness to use troops for this purpose, but Israel rejects their inclusion because of Turkey’s war-like position against Israel (All Israel News). Turkey has been expanding their influence in the Middle East, and supposedly they wish to be the new “Iran” and encircle Israel (United with Israel, World Israel News). For obvious reasons, Israel does not want Turkish troops right next to their border.

 

But this is what the world is wanting to do. Israel is wanting to gain control over Gaza because they believe that this is the only way to prevent another October 7, and this is a valid position. As long as the Hamas ideology exists and they can rule themselves, then another attack is merely a matter of time. Israeli intel has stated that Hamas has already regained de facto control over the area, and Israel wants to use military force to exterminate the threat and possess the land (World Israel News). This too we believe will not happen for the same reasons stated above – there must be a latter day enemy to fight Israel from the Gaza Strip region, and this enemy must be destroyed by Christ. If Hamas is eradicated, then another organization just like them must resurface.

 

As to prophetic relevance, these events continue to polarize Israel on the international stage. Netanyahu himself is in a difficult position. He has to appease both US interests and those of his government. America wants Netanyahu to toe-in-line with their policies and let Gaza be supervised by other nations, but his right-wing, religious government is pushing hard for sovereignty over Gaza. The Knesset has even gone so far to advance a bill for sovereignty over Judea and Samaria against both Netanyahu and America’s will (Israel365 News). But I feel there is some trickery here. Netanyahu wants Judea and Samaria, and it seems to me that he is secretly urging his government to push for it even though Netanyahu publicly opposes it. The aim is to get what Netanyahu wants in a way that looks like it isn’t his doing. These are my thoughts, at least.

 

But this doesn’t truly matter – we’re looking at the big picture. Israel is being villainized as the bad guy in most cases, and this is helping bring the nations together for the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16). We must remember – even though things seem to be slowly moving along, there is a lot going on behind the scenes that we cannot see, all of which is furthering God’s plan.

 

We must also remember that what we think might be God’s intention behind a certain event is not always correct. It is easy for us to see and event and say, “God is clearly using _____ event for this specific purpose,” but times goes on to show that it had a different effect than we anticipated. Whenever we are examining world events, we must be ever-aware of the severe limitations of our feeble frame and state things only with the amount of certainty that we can reasonably have. Particularly when we are talking about unfulfilled prophecy, the only wise course is to say, “It seems to me that such and such is the case.” Resolute dogmatism about finite details of unfulfilled prophecy is speaking about things which are beyond our “pay grade”, and it will almost certainly prove to be wrong. In such cases, there is only things to be lost – not gained. If we happen to somehow have a perfect understanding of all prophetical details, there is no prize. If, however, we are incorrect in our forecasts of world events, we risk misleading others into false expectations. Let us be wise and disciplined in all of our speech – particularly in those things which relate to God’s Word. As is written in Jeremiah, “he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully” (Jeremiah 23:28).

 

Is Amalek Arming?

On that note, we now share an observation from a recent news headline. One of Israel’s enemies in Psalm 83 is named “Amalek” (Psalm 83:7). These are the Amalekites, and as far as we can see, the land they inhabited at the time of the Psalm is what is now called the Negev in southern Israel. This is an interesting player to identify, and the only thing I can see it referring to as things are today is the Bedouins. 75% of the population in the Negev is Israeli, but the other 25% are Bedouins. My present thoughts are that the Bedouins are therefore who are intended by “Amalek” in the prophecy, and I therefore found this recent article of great interest:

 

 

That this area is a hot spot for illegal weapon exchanging is interesting if this is the correct interpretation of the prophecy. Something could change though and give Amalek an entirely new identity, but I believe we must interpret it by looking at where Amalek inhabited when the prophecy was given and who resides in that territory today. This is how every other entity of Psalm 83 is identifiable, and consistency requires that the same rule be applied to Amalek. We shall see!

 

US-Israel Relations

I believe it important to briefly mention US-Israel relations at present. To be concise, Trump is supportive of Israel as long as they do what America wants. But Netanyahu does not fully see eye-to-eye with Trump on how to handle Hamas, and his recent moves have frustrated Trump and produced the following headlines:

 

 

There are many ways that the US could abandon Israel as prophecy suggests they will, our job is simply to watch and see how.

 

I want to close with a brief note of great importance:

 

God’s hand is at work, but not how most people think

Oftentimes, we will see statements from those in political or leadership positions talking about “what God is doing”, and the following is a recent example in relation to the hostage situation:

 

 

Things were going well with the Hamas negotiations, and Israel’s ambassador therefore said that people are witnessing a miraculous thing from God. It is entirely possible that God was working in this situation, but people often attribute things that are of a general “good nature” to God’s work. It arises out of the sentiment that God exists to do good to mankind. This is not an accurate portrayal of God’s nature, character, and purpose. It misunderstands God’s intent with His creation, and in misunderstanding His goal, they also misunderstand what God is doing and what He isn’t doing.

 

In short, God tells us in the Bible that His ultimate plan is to fill the earth His glory and inhabit it with sinless, immortal spirit-beings who have served Him faithfully. But to bring this to pass, the nations must be conquered and subdued, and this transition period of going from “the kingdoms of this world to the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ” is one of trouble and war – not because God wants war, but because man is going to resist God’s anointed when he returns to establish righteousness (Psalm 2). It is essential that we ensure that our world-view and perspective is shaped by what God has said, not by what we think God has said. The majority of man’s misconceptions about God arise from not knowing His Word, and this is why we are taught to read and ruminate upon His word daily (Joshua 1:8, 2 Timothy 2:15). It is through continued, focused expose to the light of God’s Word that we are “transformed by the renewing of our minds”, and this is what allows us to “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). Let us feed and keep our lamps burning brightly and fervently for the remainder of his short night of darkness. We believe that very soon, our Lord will appear to this earth as the “Sun of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2), and in that day, we who are in covenant and keep our garments clean will no longer need the light of his word – we will have the ultimate light dwelling amongst us. Of the New Jerusalem, we are told:

 

Revelation 21:23 – And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

 

In the One Hope of Israel,

Tanner Hawkins

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