Wars!

September 30, 2024 Monday Message:

2 Samuel 2:26 NLT: “Abner shouted down to Joab, ‘Must we always be killing each other? Don’t you realize that bitterness is the only result? When will you call off your men from chasing their Israelite brothers?’”

Nowadays we think of Israel as one country. But historically, Judah and Israel were separate and opposing nations, David leading Judah while Ish-bosheth led Israel. That’s right, tribes of God’s Chosen People were fighting one another with real pointy spears! Finally Abner and Joab, the military leaders, said, “Enough killing!” The conflict was not settled, but they agreed to go their separate ways. This was about 900 years before Jesus, so Middle East conflict has been ongoing for over 3,000 years that we can document.

The irony is that at the time those battling one another were all related, probably cousins. By the time Jesus arrived, Israel was united. But right in the middle of their country were the Samaritans, again cousins, but considered unclean by the Jews. Complicating matters was Rome, who occupied most of the world at the time. Israelites weren’t sure who to battle first, the Samaritans or the Romans!

God, through his servant Moses, led the Hebrew people to the edge of the promised land, Canaan. A Rabbi once told me, “It’s our land; God gave it to us!” And that is Israel’s position as war once again breaks out in the Middle East.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian militants invaded Israel from Gaza, killing over 1,100 and capturing about 250, some of whom are still being held. As you’d expect, Israel retaliated. It wasn’t pretty. Then, months ago, Iranian backed Hezbollah started lobbing rockets from Syria into Northern Israel. Their rockets have gone deeper and deeper into Israel, until Israel felt it had no choice but to retaliate. Now Houthis from Yemen have been attacking shipping in the Red Sea, and have longer range missiles reaching Southern Israel. Again, Israel is retaliating.

In an unrelated incident, I have felt for some time that the US and its NATO allies are battling Russia, North Korea and China in what could be the beginning of WWIII. For now, the fighting is all taking place on Ukrainian soil, and Putin doesn’t seem interested in backing down. (That’s just my opinion, not from the Bible!)

The point is that Jesus said there will be wars and rumors of wars until he returns, and we have war in spades! There are over 40 different war-like conflicts in the world today. But each day we’re one day closer to the second coming. We’ve been given signs to watch for, but trust me, everyone will be surprised when it happens!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship