The God of Israel Loves Arabs, Palestinians, Too!

Click here to launch a printable .pdf document.
Requires Adobe Reader software.

By Christopher J. Patton
Many reporters and writers have noted that the struggle in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Arabs is one between cousins, between anciently related peoples.

Most of the social forces feeding this seemingly endless struggle today revolve around cultural issues, too. When increasing numbers of European Jews began to immigrate to the land of Israel over a hundred years ago, they brought European values and worldview to the communities of religious Jews that had maintained a presence in the land under Muslim domination. While Jewish immigrants to southwest Asia have come from all over the world, the predominant character of the modern State of Israel is democratically western European as contrasted to Arabian or central Asian Islamic.

I often address these social and political dimensions of the news coming out of the Middle East from an evangeli-cally biblical perspective. Due to the space requirements, the overall spiritual context of the statements made here must, by necessity, be implied. Simply stated, the only ultimate solution to the crisis in the Middle East is spiritual.

The painfully forced peace described throughout the book of Revelation will come to all peoples, including Israelis and Palestinians, with Jesus' return to political dominion of the earth. In the meantime, each of us should share the heart of God's love for all nationalities through diligent prayer and caring evangelism of every person and national-ity, beginning with the Jews.

The struggle between Arabs and Israelis is often depicted as the modern continuation of the biblical stories about inheritance and blessing between Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau. In other words, the seed of Abraham contend-ing to see who would be the favored seed over a small strip of land given to Abraham. As Christians, we know that the true seed is Jesus and that peace is only found in Him. "And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." (Galatians 3:29) In Him only are eternal life and the enjoyment of all bless-ings. Jesus is the inheritance both peoples should contend for and not a strip of land smaller than Connecticut.

However, while waiting for Jesus to return, the policies of nations are best served by alignment with God's purpose and program as plainly stated in dozens of scriptural reference - not to mention the big picture context of Israel's historical and prophetic narrative. There are no exceptions to this principle. It applies to the United States, to China, to Russia, to Iran and Egypt - as well as to Palestinians and Israelis. There is no blessing outside of the will of God, and I favor blessings for each person.

The Bible is plain that the land of Israel was historically given to Isaac, who was offered up in sacrifice (Genesis 22). The Koran states that it was Ishmael, not Isaac, as is celebrated annually in the Islamic feast of Idh Il Adha. Prophetically, anyone who desires to inherit the land of Israel must do so through Jesus, the true seed, who is to be the King of a restored Israel in Jerusalem and in her ancient lands. There is the rest of the world for everyone else (a pretty big place), and that includes the Arab nations.

Much of the anti-Jewish sentiment found in the world today can be explained as spiritual rebellion against the will of God. In speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus stated in John 4:22,

"You worship that which you do not know, we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews."

Next, Jesus describes this salvation as the only true spiritual worship. It is a fact that each person must submit his or her will to, regardless of present nationality or religious persuasion. It was the Creator's decision to reveal Himself to the world as the God of Israel. It was not the Jews' or the Arabs' choice, nor is it ours. If part of the process of that revelation requires a love for of those God used to bring salvation to all and practical support of His promises to them, so be it.

The socio-political issues of the Middle East revolve around the same question that faces each of us in our daily lives: who is sovereign? This is just another reason why what happens in Israel today is important for us to under-stand as Americans.

© Copyright 2002 by Christopher J. Patton