Shalom-Salem 2
6 min read
15 “The day of the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.
16 Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.
17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance.
18 Jacob will be a fire and Joseph a flame; Esau will be stubble, and they will set him on fire and destroy him. There will be no survivors from Esau.”
The LORD has spoken.
— Obadiah 1:15-18
We have received the covenant promises of God through faith in Jesus Christ. In that way, we are the spiritual descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Spiritually, we are the children of Israel.
In this way, the church is spiritually connected to the people of Israel. The nature of that connection is not easy to understand. But the word of God tells us that that connection is there (Romans 9-11). And that is why we find so many evangelicals supporting Israel today in the face of so much criticism against Israel for its military onslaught on Gaza.
Paul wrote:
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.
— Romans 9:6-8
The promise that Paul refers to is the one that was given to Abraham, originally stated in Genesis 12:1-3:
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Anyway, my point is that if us Gentiles can be spiritual descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through faith, Scripture also makes it clear that the genetic Israelites can also be the spiritual descendants of Esau.
If we embrace the covenant promises of God only for its blessings to us and yet reject the covenant obligation of being blessings to others, then we are not really living according to the covenant stipulations.
Of course, we are all sinners in need of grace. But some sins ARE more devastating than others in terms of the toll it takes on human life—the toll it takes on bearing witness to the goodness of God.
And so I would advocate for peace. And I would pray for peace in Gaza.
Who doesn’t want peace? Those who are politically knowledgeable may call me naive and say that peace is impossible given the general animosity toward Israel. Maybe in some sense that his true. But “impossible” is such a funny word.
Father, I pray for peace in the Middle East. I pray that Your Spirit would bring wisdom and a compassion for humanity to global politics, especially as it regards Israel. I don’t understand even just a little bit of the struggle. But You know all things. And nothing is impossible for You. In Jesus’s name. Amen.