Greetings, Newsies! Whether you’ve just joined this special group or been with me from the beginning, I appreciate you! Generally speaking, my Newsies are committed to spreading the news of Jesus and Biblical Truth to the nations. I spread those messages with deeply researched Old Testament novels that teach through the power of stories.
Hopefully, this post will bring some biblical understanding to the current-day crisis of Israel’s war (written November 2023). If you haven’t yet read the FIRST PART of this post, please CLICK HERE to do so before continuing…
A Biblical Progression of “Enmity”
The enmity that began between God and Satan in the Garden has been played out in battles on earth since Adam and Eve left their paradise. The consequences of their disobedience erupted in selfishness, envy, anger, and eventually Cain’s murder of his brother Abel (Gen.4).
Genesis 6 tells us that the “sons of god” found the “daughters of men” attractive, resulting in offspring–giants–called, Nephilim. Though God sent the Flood that wiped out all humans and beasts on land, these giants somehow appear again on earth during the Israelites’ conquest as Rephaites (Deut.3:11) and when David fought Goliath (1 Sam.17). We see more “Garden Serpent” activity in the New Testament when Jesus casts out demons, and the Apostle Paul makes it clear there is an UNSEEN battle raging:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12
The biblical war that started in the Garden still rages today with bombs and missiles and death. That age-old serpent, Satan, still seeks to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10) every human soul, defame Jesus Christ, and deceive the masses.
Recognize Biblical Battle Beginnings
In Genesis 12, God promised Abram (Abraham)—a descendant of Noah’s son, Shem—would possess the land of Canaan. Canaan was a descendant of Noah’s son, Ham. According to Genesis 10:6, Ham’s descendants included: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. Do you see why hostility has existed between Semites (descendants of Shem) and Ham’s descendants since Abram (Abraham) first entered the Promised Land?
God promised Abram’s (Abraham’s) descendants would outnumber the stars and the sand on the seashore. His barren wife, Sarai (Sarah), grew impatient in her old age, so she offered to her husband a handmaid, Hagar, to bear a child on Sarai’s behalf. Hagar birthed Abram’s first son, Ishmael, but God said he wasn’t intended to be the child to inherit God’s Covenant Promises. In Genesis 17, God changes Abe’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. A year later—Abraham (age 100) and Sarah (age 90)—receive God’s miraculous son from Sarah’s body. Isaac is born and, with him, another generational conflict between Ishmael’s descendants (Arabs) and Isaac’s (Israelis) that burns hotter with every wrong done to each tribe.
Ishmael left Abraham’s camp and became the father of twelve strong nations. Isaac married Rebekah who, after twenty years of barrenness, conceived twin sons. God chose the younger, Jacob, to inherit Abraham’s Covenant Promises instead of his older brother, Esau, as custom dictated (Gen.25:21-23). Jacob married four wives, who bore him twelve sons, and then God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. One of Israel’s sons—Joseph—became a prince of Egypt and invited Jacob’s family to Egypt during a famine, where they eventually became slaves.
(Right click on map and open in new tab to enlarge it.)
Family Feuds
After Moses killed an Egyptian—trying to be Israel’s deliverer by his own power—he fled to Midian, the descendants of Abraham’s second wife, Keturah. The Midianites were another branch of Abraham’s family that would someday hold a grudge (Gen.25:1-6). However, they were a forty-year haven for Moses until Yahweh called him back to Egypt to deliver “His people.”
Israel had grown into a nation. But after four hundred years of bondage, Israel had little memory of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob or His Covenant Promises.
God led them to the edge of the Land of Promise, and the spies reported Nephilim in the land. Remember them? Descendants and agents of the Garden Serpent (Num.13:33). Are you hating these guys yet? Israel focused on the giants on earth rather than God’s Promise.
For forty years, God revealed His faithfulness to His fledgling nation. Finally, the Israelites were ready to fight for the Promised Land and the Covenant God made with Abraham centuries before. By then, however, ancient family squabbles had become major hurdles to God’s promise.
- Edom (Esau’s descendants) refused to let Israel march through their territory to reach the Promised Land. God punished them for it (Num.20; Obadiah).
- The Midianites (Ishmael’s descendants), who had sheltered Moses when he fled Egypt as a fugitive, had become an idolatrous enemy by the time Israel entered the Promised Land. Midian deceived Israel, which brought down God’s judgment on both Israel and the Midianites (Num.25).
- Moab and Ammon (descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew) fought Israel during the conquest and for generations after (Gen.19:36-38; Judges; 1-2 Kings; 1-2 Chronicles).
The biblical account—both Old and New Testament—shows how God battled the unseen realm (Deut.32:16-17) and shared Abraham’s blessing with all nations (Gen.22:17-18).
Who Are God’s People Today?
God still remembers His Covenant promises to Abraham. Israel has always been His chosen people, recording and maintaining the inerrant Word of God so the whole world could one day recognize the fulfillment of God’s promised Serpent Crusher:
“The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is Christ.” Galatians 3:16
The unseen battle crescendoed when Satan “struck the heel” of Jesus on the Cross, and Jesus “crushed the serpent’s head” by rising from the dead and redeeming all those who believe. Both Jews and Gentiles put Jesus on the cross, and both Jews and Gentiles must be saved by Jesus’s sacrifice to receive eternal life (John 3:16).
Who Gets Abraham’s Promised Land?
Through Jesus’s sacrifice, we’ve all become children of Abraham, but not all the children of Abraham were intended to receive the Covenant Promises—remember Ishmael, Keturah’s sons, and Esau (Isaac’s firstborn)?
Though Jesus defeated the Garden Serpent through His Resurrection, we’re living in an “already, not yet” situation, awaiting our Conquering King’s return. Satan rages, knowing his doom is sealed, taking as many as he can deceive before that Day comes. FAITH in Christ’s coming is our greatest defense.
“Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” Romans 4:16-17 (emphasis added)
1949-1967 Armistice Lines; https://israeled.org/resources/maps/
The map on the left comes from the Center for Israel Education, which offers various maps to tell Israel’s more recent history.
How To Pray…
Psalm 122:6 commands us to PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM. I, too, plead with everyone reading this post to pray for peace in ALL the Promised Land. But make no mistake. Peace only comes with Jesus.
Sometimes Jesus brings peace to an individual’s heart. Someday, He’ll appear in the clouds and then reign forever over a New Jerusalem! Either way, it’s only Abraham’s Seed who can be victorious over seen and unseen battles that plague the Middle East.
