GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 91

How The War Ends

It’s Hard To Know

Some things about this war are hard to figure out. Will Hezbollah decide to attack in full force or will they back off temporarily? Will Hamas let the hostages go to buy time when they see there is nothing to be gained by keeping them? Will Iran call off the dogs and let Hamas perish to live another day? Will the International coalition take out the Houthis with vastly superior power or let them meddle and just contain them? Will Israel’s government force Netanyahu to resign and face an internal distraction when critical decisions need strong, stable leadership? Will the Psalm 83 coalition of enemies come together and decide to end Israel once and for all? Will Israel finally take out Iran’s nuclear capacity before they can use it against them? Will Damascus be destroyed as prophesied in Isaiah 17? Will Israel be able to live in peace and safety and take down their walls because all terrorist threats around them are defeated? Will Israel live without the sirens of attacks going off daily? All of these things are hard to know, but Biblically there are some things that can be known with certainty.

Three Parts To Every Conflict

In a less than profound statement, we know that there are three phases in any war and they are the beginning, the middle, and the end. Put another way they are the short game, the middle game, and the endgame. These usually have a myriad of twists and turns to them and allow for changes in strategy, actually needed changes at each point. We’re seeing this happen daily and I’m happy to point them out to you as best I can. Today we saw debate over who controls Gaza in what is called the “day after” plans. We also saw Israel may be in talks with Rwanda and Chad to take in Gazans who voluntarily agree to move which makes sense since the area will need substantial rebuilding once the fighting ends. These and more are how the short and middle games work. But as opposed to secular speculators, we know more because we are told things in the Bible that help us be more definitive in our predictions. You see, we know the end game right now and actually in any attack on Israel.

Israel Will Never Be Destroyed

For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. (Zech 2:8, NKJV)

I imagine those listening to this video or reading these notes will tune out and scroll to another video that agrees with their philosophy. Freedom of thought is encouraged here and I would never tell someone they can’t disagree with the things I postulate. I do suggest that if you are tempted to move on, to give me your attention a little longer if only to understand where I and those who agree with me get our logic on Israel from. I will warn you that this is primarily based on the Bible, but it also finds proof in history because there have been many, many times when a people or nation and nations attempted to wipe Israel off the map. And failed. Sometimes because Israel’s army was stronger, but more times because their ace in the hole was the creator of the universe. That would be the God of Israel. Israel is called the apple of His eye for a reason. This turn of phrase is used a lot in the Bible (see Duet 32:10, Ps 17:8). I like how David M. Levy, a Bible teacher, author, former pastor, and the retired director of International Ministries for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry explains this phrase in an article on the topic:

The prophet Zechariah said, “He who touches you touches the apple of His eye” (Zech. 2:8). In other words, anyone who harms Israel is harming God.

When Israel is afflicted, God feels it as though the affliction happened to Him. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “In all their [Israel’s] affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old” (Isa. 63:9).

The “Angel of His presence” is a personification of God’s protective presence over Israel. God’s watchful care guarantees Israel’s survival and ultimate deliverance from every aggressor outside His will who seeks Israel’s annihilation. God’s love for Israel is unconditional (Dt. 7:6–8), unfailing (Isa. 63:9), and unending (Jer. 31:3). Israel will be preserved as long as the world exists (vv. 35–37).

Pretty definitive, right? All that matters are the details. The end is already known. Israel will win this war. But I bet you still need proof? Allow me to give you recent examples.

New Examples: The 1948 Attack

It can be said that we can’t know for sure that these previous attacks were real since evidence for them is buried underground or the writings talking about them could be exaggerations at best. Even though archaeology constantly supports them eventually, that argument can stand for now. Lets turn to more recent illustrations, ones that are found in secular history books and from non-biblical sites online. We start with Israel in 1948. The territory called Palestine was occupied by both Arabs and Jews under the rule of Britain. The UK decided to evacuate her troops on May 14, 1948. With no real plan that all parties agreed to, and with hostilities from both sides rising, Israel declared itself to be nation again. And against his own state department, the President Harry Truman recognized them making the world fall in line. That is the non-Arab states, who refused to do so. Over the months Israel was outmanned and outgunned, but somehow managed to hold on and even gain advantages in the war. It was a truce that allowed them to rearm and rest that made the difference when fighting Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt. By all military projections, they should not have won this war, but they did.

New Examples: The Six Day War Of 1967

Without going into all the events that led up to this war, Israel was at war with Syria and Egypt. Their intentions were wholly seen in these two quotes, the first heard on the Voice of the Arabs radio station and the second from the Syrian Defense Minister Hafez Assad:

“As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.”

“Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united....I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation.”

Israel, who had known about plans to attack them were forming, attacked Egypt in a preemptive attack. Jordan, whom Israel had a treaty with begged them to not intervene, but they did. Though they initially had the element of surprise, they were again the underdog in the fight once Jordan joined the fray. But miracles kept happening at key moments in the war as described in an article from CBNIsrael.org:

Although outmanned and outnumbered, the Israeli fighter pilots realized that God’s supernatural intervention secured their victory. Pilot and IDF Major General Ezer Weizmann was asked to explain how for three hours, Israel Air Force planes destroyed aircraft at one Egyptian airstrip after another—yet the Egyptians did not radio ahead to let their forces know about the imminent air attacks. Weizmann, who later served as President of Israel, said simply: “The finger of God.”

Many eyewitness accounts, which have been well documented, emerged in the following months. Older airplanes that had been plagued with problems behaved surprisingly well that day. Squadron members who flew the aging Vautor bombers said that on June 5th, the aging aircraft operated without a single malfunction. An enemy shell that made a direct hit on a munitions pile miraculously failed to explode.

One Israeli infantry recruit, on patrol with one other soldier, reported an encounter with a truck loaded with 18 well-armed Egyptian soldiers. The two Israelis, equipped with inadequate weapons, believed they faced certain death. However, the Arabs, looking panic-stricken, did not fire on them, and complied immediately when the Israeli soldier then shouted, “Hands up!” Later, he asked an Egyptian sergeant why they hadn’t shot at the Israeli soldiers. The reply: “My arms froze—they became paralyzed. My whole body was paralyzed, and I don’t know why.”

Arabs not only gave in to their fears and waved white flags of surrender; one tank commander later explained that he gave up to a far smaller number of Jewish tanks because he saw a desert mirage that made him “see hundreds of Israeli tanks.”

Thus, it should be no surprise that the secular newspaper Haaretz carried this comment by one of its military correspondents: “Even a non-religious person must admit this war was fought with help from heaven.”

New Examples: The Yom Kippur War of 1973

Egypt and Syria, still licking their wounds from the 1967 war loss were not keen on letting Israel continue. Israel was not willing to do a preemptive strike like the last war in 1967 for fear that the world would not support them like before. And intelligence sources were all over the map on a new attack. This time, the attack on Israel would be a surprise on done on Yom Kippur, the holiest of days for the Jews. At least nine Arab states, including four non–Middle Eastern nations (Libya, Sudan, Algeria, and Morocco), actively aided the Egyptian-Syrian war effort. And Russia was solidly behind the Arabs this time when in 1967 they gave Israel support. The United States was backed into a corner because siding with Israel could start a nuclear war with Russia. And Nixon was embroiled in the Watergate Scandal. Israel, though caught by surprise regrouped and started to win again. If not for diplomatic efforts, Israel was fully ready to attack Damascus and Cairo to end the war. Once again, Israel prevailed when initially they could have been destroyed.

Israel Will Play a Key Role In Prophecy

I know that this point will be debated, but from a Bible standpoint Israel will win the current war even if all the terrorists attack all at once. They play a critical part of the war of Gog and Magog and they will a focal point during the Tribulation. And Jesus will rule from Jerusalem in the Millennium. I might not be able to tell you how the war in Israel right now will conclude, but I do know that Israel will prevail. In recent conflicts, God has helped Israel to win, often in miraculous ways. Just as He did in the Old Testament over and over, He will aid the apple of His eye even when she is wayward and backslidden as she is now. I know making predictions is a precarious endeavor, but if I were a betting man, and I’m not, I would wager that Israel will end up on the winning side of this war because I know God and He never loses. Which should be a good place for Christians because when we were saved, we were grafted into the family tree of Israel. If we stay on the side of God, He will protect and provide for us, too. That’s a good place for an amen.