The following message was delivered at Grace Community Church in Panorama
City, California, By John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape,
GC 90-49, titled "War in the Gulf: A Biblical Perspective" Part 2. A copy of
the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama
City, CA 91412.
I have made every effort to ensure that an accurate transcription of the
original tape was made. Please note that at times sentence structure may
appear to vary from accepted English conventions. This is due primarily to
the techniques involved in preaching and the obvious choices I had to make in
placing the correct punctuation in the article.
It is my intent and prayer that the Holy Spirit will use this transcription
of the sermon, "War in the Gulf: A Biblical Perspective" Part 2, to
strengthen and encourage the true Church of Jesus Christ.
Scriptures quoted in this message are from the New American Standard Bible.
War in the Gulf
A Biblical Perspective (Part 2)
Copyright 1991
by
John F. MacArthur, Jr.
All rights reserved.
As you know, last week I began a special series entitled, "A Biblical
Perspective on the War in the Gulf." And I am going to continue that series
this morning. And then, because so much has come to light through the pages
of Scripture and in the events of what is occurring, I want to carry on that
series beyond today. For today, just a very obvious reminder that
psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors of all kinds, are having
currently a run on their services because people are experiencing heightened
fear and anxieties and confusion over the scary chaos that is occurring in
the Middle East.
There is a certain frightening uncertainty about everything that has come in
just the last few days, few weeks. The course of the direction of the world
seems to be changing dramatically. In fact, just when we thought we were
getting over the unnerving threat of Russian aggression, when we were finally
over the issue of fearing that the Russians would drop a nuclear bomb on us,
the worldwide collapse of Communism and Perestroika in Russia made us believe
that particular threat was no longer in existence, and we were beginning to
feel comfortable and rest. And to enjoy a little bit of safety and sanity,
then all of a sudden a new source of terror developed and it feels like we
might be on the brink of World War III, and indeed that is a real
possibility.
The chaos that is occurring now in the Middle East has certainly ripped up
the comfort of many people, who have traded in their soap operas and sitcoms
for some heavy doses of real death and destruction, and their false emotions
for some real emotions. The world seems to be so totally unpredictable, so
utterly insecure, so very threatening. We know that as Christians, Jesus
said, that the "kick off" signal for the End Time would be "Wars and rumors
of wars, nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." And the
Bible is also very clear that the final World War, the final massive
holocaust, will occur in the Middle East. It will be a massive war of the
world that will end with Christ's Return and Glory to setup His Kingdom.
In fact, that war is called, in Revelation 16:14, "The war of the great day
of God, the Almighty." It will be a war with many nations. It will be a war
fought on many fronts. It will be a war fought by many men, but it will be
God's war. It will be the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. And so
the question comes before us--the fact that history has moved so rapidly to
the Middle East, and the fact, that war has broken out on such a massive
scale and threatens to implicate and involve more and more nations all the
time--are we really seeing the setup for the last war, the war of the end,
the final battle? Is it possible that this is the beginning of the end?
Before we can answer that question properly we need to understand a few other
issues. And so, I am endeavoring to unfold those issues to you which will
lay a foundation for answering that very important question. The first
question that we asked last time was the question, "Why does war happen? Why
is there war at all when man, so long on the earth and so sophisticated in
his technology, psychology, sociology, and theology should have advanced
beyond the point where he massacres one another? Why is there war?"
And we noted that there are basically three components in war. One is evil
aggression. James 4 says, "You lust and have not, so you make war." The
other is just protection. Romans 13 says that the government bears the sword
and the sword is to protect the innocent and to punish the evil. And so
there are wars of protection and self defense; wars which act to the benefit
of society when they are fought against an evil influence, or an evil
aggressor. And the third component we noted in war is divine judgment;
"Since the wages of sin is death," the New Testament says, "And the soul that
sins shall die," the Old Testament says. God often uses war as His weapon to
execute His judgment, to bring about death.
And all of this complex of factors, evil aggression, just protection, and
divine judgment, work and operate in all wars over which God is perfectly
sovereign, almighty, powerful, and in absolute control. When we see in a
war, like the one that we are watching now, sin and lust and passion for
self-glory and self-gratification and evil aggression lead to vicious
attacks. We understand that that's the human heart at work. When we see the
just protection and defense of the victim by those nations which still
understand their God appointed purpose, we say, "Well that's God's design for
government at work." But in and through it all, inexorably at work is the
judgment of God. God bringing about death as judgment on sin. And so war
happens for those reasons.
Secondly, and this is where we left off, we asked the question, "Can war be
moral or just?" And I said to you last time, "From the viewpoint of reason,
the answer is yes. From the viewpoint of sense, common sense, the answer is
yes." There must be built into human society the role of protector. So we
said there is a just war, and a just war could have this kind of definition:
- It would have to have a JUST CAUSE, that means defense and protection.
- It would have to have a JUST INTENT, peace and safety and freedom not,
conquering, devastation and destruction.
- It would have to be as a LAST RESORT, after all negotiation
possibilities have been exhausted.
- It would have to have LIMITED OBJECTIVES, peace and safety, not the
slaughter and massacre of the whole population.
- It would have to have LIMITED MEANS, that is, its force would be
limited to its objectives.
And even the matter of reason tells us there are times when a war is just. A
war of defense and protection. A war that removes some kind of malignancy
from human culture that threatens its very existence. But beyond that,
beyond reason, let's go to Revelation. I want to pick up that second point
for a moment, this morning, and say, from the standpoint of the Scripture,
"Does God in the Bible give governments the right to make war? Or, is the
use of military force, in restraining, resisting, and even punishing violence
entrusted to human government? Does government have the right to move in and
restrain and resist and punish violence?" And the answer to that leads us to
a very simple, direct, Biblical theology of war.
Let me give you several points. Point number one. The Lord forbids murder;
the Lord allows war. That's true in Scripture. All throughout Scripture,
from that old Hebrew command, "You shall not kill," God forbids murder; the
Hebrew word "Rascot" [spelling?], God forbids that. But the Lord does allow
war. "Milcomah" [spelling?] is the Hebrew word. God does not forbid war.
God even said, Proverbs 20:18, "Prepare plans by consultation, and make war
by wise guidance." God never says that about murder. He never says, "Plan
your murders well." But He does say, "Plan your wars well." In Proverbs
24:6 He says, "For by wise guidance you will wage war, and in abundance of
counselors there is victory." Again God says, "If you are going to go to
war, make sure that you carefully assess it."
In the New Testament, Jesus followed up by saying, "A man doesn't go to war
unless he counts the cost." The assumption being there that there are times
and seasons when war is a fitting thing. As Ecclesiastes 3:8 says, "There is
a time for war, and a time for peace." Go to Hebrews 11 for just a moment,
and I am going to be moving rapidly this morning and you are going to need to
"hold on," as we will cover many fascinating truths.
In Hebrews 11:32, here we have the Heroes of Faith; here we have the Hall of
Fame of the Old Testament. The people who were the most decorated; the most
spiritually heroic, are given us in Hebrews 11. And I want you to notice
verse 32. As the writer of Hebrews exalts the Heroes of the Faith, he says,
"Time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David."
And you will note that those individuals were engaged in wars and battles.
And also of Samuel and the prophets. And then he says this about them, "Who
by faith conquered kingdoms." That indicates war. "Performed acts of
righteousness, obtained promises, shuts the mouths of lions, quenched the
power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong,
became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight." Here you have a list of
warriors, a list of soldiers, who are the great Heroes of the Faith. God
identified those who fought in wars as heroes. So, God while forbidding
murder and forbidding personal vengeance does not forbid war.
Second point. The Lord instituted the death sentence and gave its power to
government. God knows and has set into human society, from the very
beginning, that man will be dangerous and must be controlled. And the
ultimate weapon of control is death. And there are times, when man must be
controlled and that man must be killed. And also, in order to demonstrate
the sanctity and sacredness of human life; one who sheds blood must shed his
blood. In Genesis 9 we find this principal initially given. Verse 6,
"Whoever sheds man's blood (Genesis 9:6), by man his blood shall be shed, for
in the image of God He made man."
Man is so significant as made in the image of God that if you take a man's
life, your life must be taken. Your life must be taken. Not to do that is a
sin. Not to avenge the death by a death is to go against the Word of God.
Look at Numbers 35:33 for a rather graphic illustration of this, "So you
shall not pollute the land in which you are." Now how could they pollute
their land? "For blood pollutes the land." What do you mean? When people
are killed in your land their blood pollutes it, and no expiation or no
covering or no cleansing can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed
on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Very clear.
Your land will be polluted by blood until you take the life of the one who
shed that blood in the first place. God instituted a death sentence and gave
the power of its execution to government. Not to an individual avenger, but
to the government. Many Old Testament texts show that God enjoined His
people to take action against an evil aggressor. Many Old Testament
passages, you remember, show how God commanded Israel to act as an instrument
of judgment on an evil nation. Sometimes it was in defense as that nation
came against Israel, but other times, God said, "Go and destroy that nation
because they are a blood thirsty people," not only that, they are against
God. "They are idolatrous, they are adulterous, they are a malignancy on
human society, they need to be removed."
And Israel, very often, acted as the weapon of God's judgment against other
nations, to enact a judgment, which they deserved, even as the prior
generation deserved the Flood which drowned them all. And so Israel was used
by God often as the executioner of the godless wicked who polluted the earth
and threatened the good. That was a common Old Testament picture. God even
promised to lead them into battle as a Man of War, He called himself and
their Commander-in-Chief.
You say, "Yes, we know about that in the Old Testament. We know that there
were wars and God commanded them and that God used Israel as a weapon of
judgment, and so forth in the Old Testament. But some would say that the New
Testament changes all of that. And all the people who are pacifists will
come and say that the New Testament calls for a completely different
attitude, and there is no allowance or tolerance for war of any kind in the
New Testament." But the New Testament does not say that. And so we need to
understand that the principle, that the Lord has designed a death sentence
and given the power of execution to the government, is true in the New as it
was in the Old. Let me show you that very clearly.
Look at Matthew, chapter 26, and verse 52. Jesus is in the Garden here and
the soldiers are coming to take Him captive. Peter pulls out the sword to
defend Him. Peter is taking upon himself personal vengeance and he is going
to murder the first guy in line, who happens to be the servant of the High
Priest. Peter tries to cut off his head, he ducks and loses his ear, as you
know. In verse 52, Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword back into its
place." Put your sword away Peter, "For all those who take up the sword
shall perish by the sword."
Jesus is affirming a principle. If you take a life, you give your life. He
is upholding that Old Testament standard. The New Testament never ever
lessens the standard of Capital Punishment for one who takes a life. Jesus
said, "Peter if you take a life, you will give your life." That is a divine
principle ordained by God and Jesus would uphold it. And He did uphold it.
In Acts, would you look at chapter 25 for a moment. Towards the end of the
Book of Acts we find the Apostle Paul is a prisoner, not unlike that of our
Lord, in terms of being a prisoner of the Romans. And in chapter 25 of Acts,
the Apostle Paul is pleading for a hearing before Caesar.
In verse 10, Paul said, "I am standing before Caesar's tribunal, where I
ought to be tried." Try me in a court before Caesar. "I have done no wrong
to the Jews, as you also very well know," he says to Festus. But notice
verse 11, "If then I am a wrongdoer, and have committed anything worthy of
death, I do not refuse to die." What a statement. "If I have committed a
crime worthy of death then give me death. I deserve it." Now here the
Apostle Paul upholds the authorities' right to execute him. They have the
power of death. It has been given them by God.
You say, "Well, that's Capital Punishment, that's an individual case." War is
Capital Punishment extended to the level of the crime. The greater the
crime, the more far reaching the crime, the greater the execution threat that
government should bring to bear upon it. But the New Testament never ever
speaks against war and being a soldier either. Let me show you. Go back to
Luke 3. Luke, chapter 3. This is a fascinating look at John the Baptist,
who came and preached repentance. He preached for people to turn from their
sins and prepare their hearts by faith in God for the coming of Messiah. And
when he was preaching it says that people believed on him. And verse 7 says,
"Many were going out to be baptized."
It was a Baptism of ceremonial outward cleansing to speak of the fact that
they were saying in their hearts, "We want to be clean and we want to receive
the Messiah. We want to repent of our sins and so he was baptizing them."
In verse 8, he says, "You need to bring forth fruits in keeping with
repentance." Now you need to demonstrate the reality of your repentance in
your life. Now they want to know how. Go to verse 10. "And the multitudes
were questioning him, saying, 'Then what shall we do? How do we do it? How
do we show the attitude of repentance?'" And he gives them some practical
things, "Let the man who has two tunics share with him who has none; and let
him who has food do likewise. Let's see it in your love. Let's see it in
your humility. Let's see it in your generosity. Let's see it in your
unselfishness. Let's see it in your willingness to share. That's the kind
of fruit that will evidence your repentance."
And then in verse 12, some tax collectors were there and they had come also
to repent and be baptized. And they said to him, "Teacher, what shall we
do?" Now if he would have been against taxation, he would have said, "Get
out of the tax business my friend. Get out of that business." But he
doesn't, he says, "Collect no more than you have been ordered to. Just be
fair. Take exactly what you are supposed to take and don't gouge anybody.
That's how you can show the genuineness of your repentance." Then in verse
14, here's is the key. And some soldiers were questioning him, and the
soldiers said, "And what about us? What shall we do?" And he didn't say to
them, "Get out of the Army. Take off that uniform. Stop warring and
battling. Stop carrying a sword." He didn't say that. He said, "Don't take
money from anyone by force," which they could easily do. He said, "Don't
accuse anyone falsely and be content with your wages."
That is a very significant passage. There you have the affirmation that
being a soldier is ok. Being a soldier is fine. Now it would of been
questionable if it would have said, "Some murderers came to him and said,
'What shall we do?'" And he said to them, "Don't kill anybody unless you
think they really deserve it." No, no, no, Jesus and God in the Old
Testament forbid murder; but in terms of being in the army; and being in the
police; and keeping peace, and maintaining society by the threat of the
sword, that is legitimate. So he says, "Just don't use your power to get
money by force. Don't falsely accuse anybody, and you be content with your
wages."
Now, what is happening here is implicitly John the Baptist and the Scripture
affirming being a soldier. It is just there and it is assumed on the basis
of everything else the Bible teaches that it doesn't even need an
explanation. Go to Acts, chapter 10, as the Church moves into the Gentile
world, the first Gentile convert is a man named Cornelius. Interestingly
enough, Cornelius by profession was a soldier. And he was a Roman soldier.
And he was a soldier in an occupying army. An army that was occupying the
land of Palestine. He was stationed at Caesarea which was the location of
the Roman Army. His name was Cornelius. He was a centurion of what was
called the Italian battalion or cohort.
He was a leader over at least 100 men. He was a very significant soldier.
Verse 2, "A devout man, and who feared God with all his household, and gave
many alms to the Jewish people, and prayed to God continually." He was a
God-fearing Gentile Roman soldier. You remember that the Holy Spirit came to
Peter, of course, in a wonderful vision, and he was instructed to go and meet
Cornelius and give him the Gospel. And what a tremendous, tremendous thing
that occurred. Verse 22, "They said, 'Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous
and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was
divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and
hear a message from you.'"
The Spirit of God had dispatched an angel and put this whole scenario
together, and Peter was going to evangelize Cornelius, this soldier, this
righteous God-fearing man, and he did. And you know of course, the result
was that he believed. And a wonderful story of his conversion is told and
then down in verse 48, at the end of the chapter, "He ordered them to be
baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ." This whole entire story takes up 48
verses of the tenth chapter. It is apparent all the way through that this
man is a soldier.
There is not a word to him given, that says that he should in any way, shape,
or form, change his career or his lifework, his livelihood, his profession,
what he does. Again, a very strong implicit argument that being a soldier is
not, in and of itself wrong, because government must maintain its authority
for the preservation of society. And it must bear a sword; it must wield the
power of death in order to restrain the power of the evil doer, whether he be
an individual or a nation of people moving against society in a destructive
way.
There are other passages that we must note. First Peter 2, verses 13 to 15,
and here is an explicit statement about government's authority. 1 Peter 2,
it says, "Submit yourselves," in verse 13, "For the Lord's sake to every
human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors
as sent by him," here it is, "For the punishment of evildoers." Government
is sent for the punishment of evildoers. That is the principle here.
Police, soldiers, the same. By the way, in ancient times, police and
soldiers were the same. They were the same persons, the same force.
In whatever quantity, whether one policeman or an army of them, they are sent
for the punishment of evildoers. And they punish with the sword, which means
there is death implied. In fact, may I say, that this is the primary duty of
civil government. The primary duty of civil government is to protect the
ones who are doing good and to punish the evildoers who seek to harm the
others. That is the primary duty of civil government. Now civil government
has gotten into all kinds of other things and has usurped the role of the
individual, the role of the Church, and the role of people helping people in
society. And has over burdened itself financially with all kinds of things
that people are to be doing themselves for other people, and does not have
the resources to provide the protection it should have. And that is its
primary duty.
Let me put it to you simply. The greatest need in our city is to strengthen
the police force. That is government's primary duty. Money used for other
things in our government should be reallocated to strengthen the police
force. Why? Because government has that as a primary responsibility. And
people in our city, and in certain sections of our city, live in constant
fear for their lives, because there is not the kind of force that can protect
them. And that is government's task, to protect the people and punish the
wicked. In Romans, chapter 13, we find similarly, as I noted for you last
time, that in verse 4, it says, "That Government is a minister of God to you
for good." Government is a mercy. The death penalty is a mercy. The police
are a mercy from God. Armies are a mercy from God to protect. And it says,
"If you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for
nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the
one who practices evil."
That is government's primary responsibility, to punish those who do evil.
And when government doesn't do that--evil runs amuck, and people's lives are
in danger, and society begins to disintegrate and collapse. The granting to
government the power of the sword to kill is a mercy from God or evil men
would destroy everyone. And by the way, without the powerful obstacle of
human government to halt the selfish malignant passions of men, it would be
better to live with animals in the wilderness than in human society. It
would be safer were it not for government restraint. And when these
restraints don't operate, man shows the depths of his depravity and no one is
safe.
Read the last chapters of the Book of Judges, if you want to read the horrors
of what happens when there is no authority in existence. And they start
chopping up bodies and start shipping them all around. Unbelievable
scenario. Or read in literature, the book, "The Lord of the Flies." Or just
take a good hard look at the inner cities of America, where the criminals way
outnumber the protective capabilities of the police forces. God knows that
government must bear the sword and not bear it for nothing. But bear it to
bring about swift death to those who will destroy society. The whip, the
noose, the guillotine, the firing squad, the gas chamber, the electric chair,
as well as the gun, the rifle, the canon, the bomb and the missile. Those
all stand behind the stability of a civilized society.
Man's worse enemy is man. From the Jungle to the High Rise and it has always
been that way. It has always been that way. So government has been given
the power to kill as a necessity for the preservation of society. And war is
simply using the sword on a scale required by the crime. That's all.
Frankly, nothing shows more clearly the moral bankruptcy and lostness of our
society than its breakdown in concern for the protection of life by the swift
use of the sword against evil aggressors.
There is just war. The war of protection, yes, and defense. And the war of
punishment against a malignant society. Now somebody says, "Look, so many
die. How can it be a just war? So many die, that's not just." Yes it is!
"The wages of sin is death." We should remember that. And all people
without Jesus Christ deserve death. And all will someday die and perish
without him. The issue is not "So many die, that it is not just." No the
issue is, "So many do not die, that it is not just!" It is merciful. The
fact that we are not all dead is mercy. Isn't it? We all deserve to die.
So many do not die. That's not just, because they deserve to die. "The
wages of sin is death." And when many die in a war, that is justice. And
when many survive, that is mercy. For they all without Christ deserve to
die. Yes, there is a just war, for protection, preservation, and punishment
of evildoers.
A third question faces us. And to this I want to give our attention, and you
listen very carefully. We are going to go rapidly. Given this background,
how are we to understand the Gulf War? How are we to understand the Gulf
War? Should we be afraid? We see wars everywhere. Whites killing whites in
Ireland. Blacks killing blacks in South Africa. Browns killing browns in
the Philippines. Teenagers killing teenagers in the U.S. Russians killing
Russians in Russia. All showing the depravity of the human heart; the
failures of the human systems to cope with the escalating wickedness of man.
War all over the place, but nothing has hit us like this war in the Middle
East.
And we feel like we don't know whether our government is really doing what it
ought to do. That's right because we are so confused. You say what has
confused us? Well, we have a government that believes in keeping law and
order with police and armies, while at the same time it believes in
legislating against morality and virtue. Right? It's schizoid. On the one
hand, our culture is busy feeding the perverted lusts of the worse of men and
then on the other hand, trying to develop systems to stop them.
In one courtroom we are trying to get a sentence on a murderer; in the next
one we are trying to make sure that the rights of a pornographer are not
violated. So we pollute the whole moral stream and then when man runs amuck
we don't have the system to control him. So in the schizoid that is American
stupidity at that point, we are seeing the chaos before our eyes in our own
country. And so when our government tries to act in a moral, virtuous, just,
and protective way, it seems a little bit out of character.
All over the world the turmoil indicates that the Biblical view of man as an
incurable sinner is accurate. The radical wretchedness of the human heart is
showing itself, and as Paul said in Second Timothy 3:13, "It is getting worse
and worse." And man has to be controlled and sometimes killed, and in our
world today we make it harder to control him because we don't have any moral
standards.
But specifically then, how are we to understand the Middle East War? I don't
want to oversimplify because it is a very complex, complicated history in the
Middle East. But I want to give you a clear track to follow from the
beginning to the end of this trouble, that I think you'll understand.
Now we have to start back, believe it or not, in Genesis. In Genesis, the
first book of the Bible. Just listen for a minute, when God created man and
woman, He placed them in a place called the fertile crescent, the Mesopotamia
Valley, the land of the Tigris and Euphrates river. There He gave them a
garden called the Garden of Eden. The original paradise, according to
Genesis, chapter 2. It was that place where God put Adam and Eve, and where
it says God walked with them and talked with them in the cool of the day. It
was there where God put the Tree of Life. It was there God put the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was there where God gave to Adam the
marvelous responsibility of caring for that beautiful Garden and of naming
all the animals. And that place today is called Iraq!
A long way from the Garden of Eden. And a long way from the place where God
walked and talked in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve. It was after the
Fall of Man, that in that area, sinful, wicked men fallen into idolatry,
decided to build a ziggurat. Which is a temple that ascends into the sky to
their god, to touch the hem of the garment of their false deity. That became
know as the Tower of Babel. And it was that violent idolatry and sin against
the true God that caused God to scatter all the languages into that populous,
and so they couldn't speak to each other, or understand each other. And that
is what proliferated the languages of the world, that later became Babylon.
And it was Babylon that spawned all of the filthy religions that have
corrupted human culture since that very beginning. All of the mysterious
religions of Babylon became the false religions of the world. They all came
out of that same place, where Eden once was. It also is the place where Noah
lived. The place where Noah preached, where Noah built his boat, and where
it first rained, as God broke up the waters of the deep and the waters in the
heavens, and drowned the entire population of the earth, with the exception
of eight souls.
It was in that piece of land, all the way from the Mediterranean coast to the
depths of the Babylonian Valley, that God promised to the Children of
Abraham, His covenant people. That land. Abraham, you remember, was a
semitic man, that is, he was a child of Shem. Noah had three sons, Shem,
Ham, and Japheth. Out of Shem came the Semites; Abraham was one of them.
Abraham, interestingly enough, came from a city called Ur of the Chaldeans.
Where was that? Interesting. Where was it? I was recently made aware of a
personnel intelligence report, that was given to the people in the armed
services at Nellis AFB, those in the F-117A program in Nevada at Nellis,
making comparisons between modern day Middle Eastern countries and Ancient
countries. And out of that report came this, Iraq is ancient Babylon.
Kuwait is ancient Ur of the Chaldeans.
We are right back where we started folks. Right back where we started. The
Bible said history began in that area. The Bible says history will end in
that area. Now the key people in that area are the Jews, the people of
Israel. The people that came out of the loins of Abraham through Sarah.
Let's go back to Genesis 12 and see how this comes about. And how it leads
us to where we are today.
In Genesis, chapter 12, "The Lord said to Abram." The Lord called this very
unique man because God's sovereign purpose designed to do it. He said, "Go
forth from your country," from Ur of the Chaldeans, "From your father's house
to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I
will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and
I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." For that is
known as the Abrahamic Covenant. Down in verse 7, "The Lord appeared to
Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land. This land. This
great land. You are going to have a race come out of your loins and I am
going to give them this land."
Go over to chapter 15 of Genesis, verse 18, "On that day the Lord made a
covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your descendants I have given this land.'"
What land? "From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river
Euphrates." All the way from the Nile; all the way from the Nile sweeping up
through Saudi Arabia; up through all that area; clear to the Tigris Euphrates
Valley. Far to the north, to the mountains of Lebanon, to the coast of the
Mediterranean. The land of the Kenite, Kenizzite, Kadmonite, the Hittite,
the Perizzite, the Rephaim, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and
the Jebusite. All their land I give to you.
You say, "Why did God want to dispossess those people?" They were pagan.
They were idolatrous. They were godless. They were committing adultery.
They were malignancy on human society. They were polluting the world and God
said, "I am giving you the land, and you are to be my weapon of judgment to
go in there and wipe those people out and take the land." And this would be
a just conquering, even as God was just to drown the world in Noah's day
because of their wickedness, only this time it wouldn't be water. It would
be the sword of God coming through Israel that would be the weapon of their
judgment.
So by divine right, that whole region belongs to the Jews! All of it. All
of it belongs to the Jews. And they cling to that right ferociously. Don't
they? Already existing in the area, at the time of Abraham, were lots of
people. I just read you a whole list of them. I read you that there are
least 9 or 10 different nations. They were already there. Now they were
really a kind of Nomadic people, moving around in that area. But that was
their land. And so it wouldn't be easy to just move in and take it all,
because it was already populated. And because it was the most wonderful land
on the face of the earth they wouldn't want to give it up very easily.
You can add to that if you go back to chapter 10 of Genesis, there is a Table
of the Nations. And listen in chapter 10, you don't need to look it up, "Is
Misrayim (which is Egypt), Ancient Aram (which is Syria), and Asshur (which
is Assyria)." So you had not only the 10 different people named in chapter
15, but you had Egypt, Syria, and Assyria already occupying that area. All
of these tribes and all of these nations were idolatrous, rejectors of the
true God. Who would turn their back on the God of their father Noah and his
son Shem. They were a Semitic people who had rejected the true God. They
were set into idolatry, adultery, and wickedness. And they were therefore
set on a collision course with Israel bearing the sword of God to wipe them
out. It was a just judgment coming on their idolatry.
Now as I said, the Middle East region is the richest land on the face of the
earth. From the Mediterranean Sea on the west, which gives you access to
tremendous trade and all the bounty of the Mediterranean Sea, to the
Mountains of Lebanon on the north, with its valuable timber. Magnificent,
gorgeous mountains filled with timber populated that area. Do you remember
when Solomon built his temple? He sent north to Lebanon to get the Cedars to
build the temple. Tremendous resources in terms of timber. All the way to
the fertile plain of the Jordan Valley which is the most productive piece of
land on the face of the earth, equaled only by the San Joaquin Valley of the
United States for producing food.
All the way to the incredible wealth of the Dead Sea, the greatest mineral
wealth in the world. All the way to the Black Gold of oil that lies very
shallow below the sand of the Babylon Valley. God gave it all to them! All
of it. The idolatrous and sinful people of the region were to be wiped out
and they could possess the land. This promise of God to give them the land
is called the Palestinian Covenant, and it is detailed even further in the
Book of Deuteronomy. But God put a condition in it. He said, "In order to
conquer the land and take it, you are going to have to be obedient to me.
You have to be a godly, obedient people, or you are not going to be
successful."
And of course, as you and I well know, in studying the Old Testament, they
were not godly and they were not successful. They fell into idolatry. They
fell into disobedience and as a result when they engaged themselves in battle
with all of these peoples sometimes they won and sometimes they lost. And
the conflict went on and on and on and on and on. And sometimes their
defeats were major significant defeats. In case of the Babylon captivity,
they were actually hauled away in three deportations by Nebuchadnezzar, and
were gone for 70 years and more. So it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy. Not
because they didn't have a right to, and not because they don't now have a
right to it. But because of their unbelief and rejection and idolatry and
adultery and immorality.
So there they were, the people of God, given the opportunity to take this
land. To be God's weapon of justice and judgment against the wicked nations,
who would pollute them and destroy God's truth. They were hated then by all
of these people, the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, the Hittite, the
Perizzite, the Rephaim, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, the
Jebusite, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Syrians, and other Nomadic
tribes. They were all after them. And the only way they could ever survive
it would be by God's protection. And the only way they could ever conquer it
would be by holiness.
Now, if it wasn't bad enough to have all those people ganged up against you,
Abraham added to the trouble. Go to Genesis 16. God said, "Abraham, you are
going to have a child." Abraham was 100 years old and had no children,
never. Sarah was 90 and never had a child either and they thought it
wouldn't work. So they thought they would help God. Verse 1, "Sarai,
Abraham's wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose
name was Hagar." Here is another Semite, but not one of the covenant people.
Here is an Egyptian, Hagar. "Sarai said to Abram, 'Now behold the Lord has
prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I shall
obtain children through her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai."
Now there is somethings your maid can do for you folks, and there is
somethings she can't.
"After Abram had lived ten tears in the land of Canaan," God's already put
him in the land. Canaan is were Palestine is today. And he is ready. Out
of his loins is going to come the people that is going to conquer all that
that is east of that. But Abram is so concerned, that he caves into this
whole deal. "Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave
her to her husband Abram as his wife." Tried to legitimized it by doing
polygamy here. "He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw
that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. And Sarai
said to Abram, 'May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your
arms; but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight.'"
In other words, Sarai is mad because what amounts to Hagar going, "Nan na nan
na nan na, you couldn't have a baby, I could!" That's the basic deal here.
So she's saying, "Look what you did, you made my maid mock me." Abraham said
to Sarai, "Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your
sight. Do whatever you want to her. Get back at her.'" Foolish. "So Sarai
treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence." So this woman is
running off. "Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in
the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur." The angel comes, the
angel of the Lord and finds her, and he says, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where
have you come from and where are you going? And she said, 'I am fleeing from
the presence of my mistress Sarai.' Then the angel of the Lord said to her,
'Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.' Moreover,
the angel of the Lord said to her, 'I will greatly multiply your descendants
so that they shall be too many to count.'"
Do you know who they are? Arabs. More, not only the 10 that are mentioned
in 15; not only the 3 nations that are mentioned in Genesis 10; now all of
the Hagrites. First Chronicles, chapter 5, verse 10, verses 19-22, talks
about the Hagrites; came out of Hagar; became the Arab people through
Ishmael. Abraham's foolish, foolish act of distrust compounded his problems.
You will be very interested to know, won't you, that Mohammed when he
established Islam, in the Middle East, claimed for the whole world, the
direct descent from--guess who? Ishmael.
And so, chapter 17:20, "As for Ishmael, (this child that was born from
Hagar), I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him
fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of
twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation." Oh my! For your
information, there are a lot more Ishmaelites in the world than there are
Israelites. Out of Ishmael came the Hagrites who are part of the enemy. The
Edomites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, though not coming directly from
Ishmael, were related to him through Hagar. And so this people begins to
proliferate.
Look at Genesis, chapter 36. And you remember, Genesis 36 tell us about a
man by the name of Esau. Esau really had the birthright, he was firstborn,
but Jacob supplanted him. And out of the two sons of Isaac, the true son,
the son of covenant, came Jacob and Esau. Esau was cast out and Jacob was
chosen. And verse 1 says, "The record of the generations of Esau (that is,
Edom)." And down in verse 8, it says, "Esau is Edom." What happened? Esau
moved away from the true religion of Isaac and the true religion of his
father Abraham. And he picked up the daughters of Canaan, it says, Adah the
daughter of Elon the Hittite and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, and the
granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite. In other words, he started moving in and
mingling with the pagans. And so he was set apart and he produced more of
the Arabic people. More people to battle.
So now you have the original three nations in the list of the nations in
Genesis 10. You have all of the tribal people in Genesis 15. You have all
of the children that came out of the loins of Hagar and Ishmael. And then
you have all of the dependents that come from Edom and Esau. More people to
fight. And the region today is filled with people whose primary role seems
to be to fight against Israel.
David Lamb in the L.A. Times, November 25, 1990, wrote, "The Middle East is
the world's deadliest neighborhood. It has 17 Arab countries and a Persian
Republic populated by 231 million Muslims, as well as a small Christian
minority and one Jewish state with a population of less than 5 million. 231
million to 5. It has known few days of true peace in this century. None
since Israel was born to a rattle of gunfire 42 years ago. Lurching from
crisis to moments of ill conceived optimism and back into crisis. It has
spent more on weapons, fought more wars, and suffered more casualties than
any other part of the Third World."
And all he is talking about is the last 42 years, and we are talking about
since the beginning. Always there has been war there, because the right to
the land has been held by Israel. And they have ferociously demanded it.
And the other people have fought them off and withstood them and tried to
obliterate them. And Israel has been unsuccessful in taking the land,
because of her apostasy and unbelief. Therein lies the root of the conflict.
Now God wanted to remove these wicked, idolatrous, adulterous people. When
He led Israel out of Egypt, after 400 years of captivity, He showed what He
would do. In one great act, God just wiped out the Egyptian culture, didn't
he?
First thing He did, was just massacre all the firstborn in Egypt, after a
whole long list of plagues. Then He drowned the entire Egyptian Army. And
God was saying, "We are on the way, let's take the rest." No sooner then
they were out of the land; Moses went up to get the Law and Aaron led them in
the worship of what? A golden calf. And then God slew them. And God's
judgment turned on them, and some of them were massacred. And God said,
"Because of your sin and wickedness, you are all going to die in the
wilderness. You are not even going into the Promised Land." And they
didn't. Forty years they wandered in the wilderness of Kadesh-Barnea until
they were dead.
And then God got a new generation. And then in Deuteronomy, chapter 3, that
new generation started their march again. And they conquered all of the
tribes across the Jordan, read Deuteronomy 3. And they had conquered all of
those people across the Jordan. And they were ready to move across the
Jordan into Canaan. And they were standing there, Deuteronomy 4, Moses gives
them a speech. And he says to them, "If you are holy, you'll win. If you'll
sinful, you'll lose. That's it. This is a conditional covenant. The land
is yours if you obey God. If you don't, you are not going to win it." And
God says, "When you're pure," Deuteronomy 20, "I'm your weapon."
And there they were, feeling we had just conquered. We had seen Egypt
destroyed. We have seen the tribes across the Jordan wiped out. Here we go
into Canaan. And no sooner had they gone into Canaan and they hit Jericho,
the walls fell, a tremendous victory. And no sooner had they experienced
that victory; they went to Ai and they lost. And they were terribly
defeated. Why? Because a man named Achan had sinned in the camp. And God
was saying, "If there is sin in the camp, there is going to be tragedy." And
they never "got their act together." Sometimes they won, sometimes they
lost. And the battles went on and on century after century after century
after century, all the way up until the modern time. And they are still
going on.
And Israel has a right to the land, but they never gained the right of
possession, because they never have come to the true knowledge of God, and
never lived in obedience to Him. Their possession of the land is conditioned
upon their obedience to God. And so what we see today is an apostate Israel
being continually defeated by enemies who have no right to the land they are
in. It really belongs to Israel. And I am not saying this in any way
antagonistically towards Arab nations. I am just saying that this is the
scenario laid out in the Word of God. And an unbelieving and apostate Jew or
Gentile or Arab, all fall into the same category of God's judgment.
Look at Psalm 106, because I want to show you several Psalms that will put
this into perspective. Psalm 106, verse 40. Well, you can go back to verse
34. What happened was that they went into the land, and verse 34, the first
thing that happened was, they didn't destroy the peoples as the Lord had
commanded them. Do you see that? God told them to wipe them out and they
didn't do it. Instead they mingled with the nations. "They learned their
practices, and served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even
sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, and shed innocent
blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to
the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with the blood. Thus they
became unclean in their practices, and played the harlot in their deeds."
What a heartbreak. They were given that whole land.
Beloved, it is a simple thing. You look at it today and there is no body to
blame but who? But themselves. Verse 40 says, "Therefore the anger of the
Lord was kindled against His people, and He abhorred His inheritance. Then
He gave them into the hand of the nations; and those who hated them ruled
over them." And that is how it is today. "Their enemies also oppressed
them, and they were subdued under their power. Many times He would deliver
them; they, however, were rebellious in their counsel, and so sank down in
their iniquity." Every time God delivered them they would fall back into
sin. He'd deliver them, they'd fall back into sin. He'd deliver them,
they'd fall back into sin. He'd deliver them, they'd fall back into sin.
Nevertheless, "He looked upon their distress, when He heard their cry." Verse
44, "He remembered His covenant for their sake, and relented according to
the greatness of His Lovingkindness. He also made them objects of compassion
in the presence of all their captors." He protected them even when they were
in captivity. And He always brought them back because of His covenant. And
that's the way it has been. They sin; they fall into the power of the
nations; He delivers them. They sin; they fall again into the power of the
nations; He delivers them. Out of His compassion and His covenant He
continues to do it. He continues to do it. Really incredible. They will
never be totally defeated. There are no Kenites, Kenizzites, Perizzites,
Hivites, Jebusites, Girgashites, but there are Israelites.
All those other peoples have literally been lost in the blur of the Arab
world. They don't know where their original sources are, in terms of life,
genetics. But the Jews do. They have been kept pure because God has
a purpose for them. And any nation that threatens the existence of Israel
will come under the judgment of God. They may be victorious for a while, but
the day will come when God will release their grasp on Israel and set them
loose again because He will always preserve His people.
Look at Psalm 121. Psalm 121, here the Lord is designated by a marvelous
title, down in verse 4. Verse 1 says, "I will lift my eyes to the mountains;
from whence shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven
and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not
slumber. Behold He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." God is
always awake and always on guard. "The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your
shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by
night. The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth
and forever." God promises to guard Israel. And whoever curses Israel
ultimately is going to be cursed. Whoever blesses; ultimately blessed.
Look at Psalm 125, "Those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion, which
cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so
the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever." God will
forever protect His people. Forever protect His people. Look at Psalm 129,
"Let Israel now say," verse 1, "Let Israel now say, 'Many times they have
persecuted me from my youth up; yet they have not prevailed against me. The
plowers plowed upon my back; they lengthened their furrows. The Lord is
righteous; He has cut in two the cords of the wicked. May all who hate Zion,
be put to shame and turned backward, let them be like grass upon the
housetops, which withers before it grows up; with which the reaper does not
fill his hand, or the binder of sheaves his bosom; nor do those who pass by
say. We bless you in the name of the Lord.'"
In other words, "May those people who come against Israel be cursed. May
they be overthrown. May they be defeated." And they will be. Look at Isaiah
43, fascinating text. Isaiah 43, listen to this, verse 1, "But now, thus
says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, 'Do
not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by my name; you are
Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you walk
through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For
I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given
Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. Since you are precious in
My sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your
place and other peoples in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am
with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the
west. I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not
hold them back.' Bring My sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of
the earth, everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My
glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made."
God says, "Look, I am going to collect you from all over the world." And we
are living in a time when we have begun to see the precursor to that
happening, as the Jews are moving back into that place. Since 1948, they
have reconstituted their nation. They have an identity, a homeland. And God
has shown us a preview of the gathering that will come in the end.
So the conflict goes way, way back, between Arabs who today can't even
understand why they hate the Jews so badly. The descendants of all of those
people from ancient times, who are a heterogeneous mingling of Nomadic
peoples, as it says in the 17th chapter of Genesis, "When Ishmael is born he
will be a wild donkey of a man." We have seen a whole people who seem wild
and uncontrolled. These people have collected as the enemies of Israel for
millennia, and millennia, and millennia. And thus their attitude runs
deeply, very deeply. 231 million of them set against less than 5 million
Jews who have a right to have it all.
But what is really behind it? Satan. Go to revelation 12. We wrap it up
with this point this morning. Revelation, chapter 12. In Revelation 12 we
find a very interesting scenario, it is a vision, and I am not going into
detail. I am simply going to point out its significance. There is a woman,
there is a child, and there is dragon. In verse 5, "The woman gave birth to
a son," The woman is Israel and the son is the Messiah, "and the son is to
rule the nations with a rod of iron; and to be caught up to God and to His
throne." That has to be Christ. Israel is the mother who gave birth to
Christ. "And the woman," verse 6, "fled into the wilderness." Why? Because
the dragon wants to kill her. The dragon wants to destroy Israel. You find
if you follow down in the chapter, the dragon in verse 13, "Was thrown down
to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child."
You see, Satan's strategy is to destroy Israel. Why? Because if he destroys
Israel, he destroys God's Word. Because God promises future salvation for
Israel. And someday He will give them His Kingdom and all their land will be
theirs to possess, and they will be blessed. God has promised that to them,
and if Satan can kill them, wipe them out, destroy them, then there is no
promise fulfilled. And God cannot keep His Word and Satan has won. That's a
major focal point of the battle. Satan goes after Christ, he wasn't
successful. Now he is going after Israel.
He tried it a number of ways. He tried it in the Old Testament by getting
the pagans to intermarry with them. Once the were intermarried they would
lose their identity and there would be no more nation Israel. That's why God
wanted the Jews to kill those pagan nations. To preserve the purity of His
covenant people and the coming of Messiah. That is why Balaam was used to
seduce the Jews to commit adultery with the pagans, to pollute the race, so
there would be no people of God. That's why Antiochus Epiphanes tried to
wipe out the Jews. That's why Hitler, as the pawn of Satan, came to try to
wipe out all Jews, because he was Satan's tool. Saddam Hussein, or any other
leader of the current world, who seeks to destroy, devastate, and wipe out
Israel is the agent of Satan who is still after the woman.
Verse 17 says, "The dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make
war with the rest of her offspring." And so behind it all is Satan. There
is no question in my mind that all aggression that is against Israel, that
attempts to obliterate Israel, is Satanic. Now, having said that, I want you
to know that does not mean that God doesn't very frequently judge Israel. He
does. But always preserving her from those who would attempt to annihilate
her. Scripture says, Genesis 16:12, "The descendants of Ishmael will dwell
in the presence of all his brethren." And that is how it is. In the same
area with the other offspring of Abraham. So you have the Jews and the Arabs
together. Arabs surrounding Israel. That's what Genesis 16 said and that's
what you see today.
Here we are. Israel is back in the land, and there they are surrounded by
Muslim Arabs. And that does not even include all the Iranians who are not
true Arabs. They are Persians who speak not Arabic but Persic, a different
language. This mass of people is set against them with the destruction of
Israel on their minds. Saddam Hussein is not shooting his little Scud
missiles over to Israel in an effort to destroy Israel by the means of those
Scud missiles. No, what he is trying to do is to irritate Israel, so that
Israel will retaliate, and then therefore, all the Arab world that is hostile
to Israel will unite against Israel. That's his ploy.
During Bible times, all these Arab groups were separate, they were
disconnected. And now they are all one great nation united by Islam. Guess
who authored that? Satan knew that he could never get all those diverse
nations to unify against Israel, unless they had a common cause. And the
common cause is Islam.
In our next message I am going to tell you all about where it came from and
what it means, how it works, and I am going to answer the question, "Is this
the end of the world? Or are we near it?"
Let's pray. Father, we have covered so much this morning, and yet just
touched the surface. Lord it is so comforting to know that all of this is
just the way you said it would be. That everything is on the perfect divine
timetable. Is there a reason to fear? Have you lost control? Is Satan
going to win the victory? Certainly not if we believe the Word. For we have
a sovereign God who has promised the survival of His people Israel, and that
someday they will possess all that land. And who has promised to judge the
infidels and the unbelievers, and the wicked, who are blights on the earth.
Lord may we take great confidence in the fact that you are God. That your
power is ultimate and that your purpose cannot be withstood.
Father, we are seeing the drama played out on the theater of the Middle East,
just the way Scripture indicated that it would be. And we know that Israel
will never take that land until they bow the knee to their Messiah, and
become obedient to Him. And under His rule they will possess it all and live
in that glorious Millennial Kingdom to receive the fullness of the promise
they have forfeited by their centuries of unbelief. But Lord, how thankful
we are that you protect them, for we see in that your faithfulness.
Father we ask, that as we continue to watch these things happen before our
very eyes on television, that we might interpret them in the light of your
truth, with the realization that human history began there and that it will
end there. And frankly we know that Jesus could come at any moment, and then
the end. We pray that no one will be ill prepared for such a very real
possibility. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
Transcribed by Tony Capoccia
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