So many people have come up to me and said, “I am so glad you got back safe from Israel! I was praying that you would be safe!” Both members of our church, and people outside of our congregation have expressed this to me.
I am grateful for each of you. I am surprised at how many people outside of our church knew about my trip. And I am humbled by the concern of so many. My response was and is always the same: “Thank you for praying. I’m glad we got back safe and sound, too.”
Many of you know that tensions were on the rise while our study group was in Israel, particularly after the kidnapping of those three Jewish teenage boys. While we were there, the Israeli Defense Force was conducting a massive nation-wide, house-to-house search for them. It was not learned until after we got back that those boys had been murdered almost right away. Our hearts were broken along with the Israeli people.
Even then, the difference in reactions illustrate vividly the depth of tension and outright hatred simmering in the Middle East. Palestinian people cheered and celebrated the kidnappers of those three Jewish young men, and hailed them as heroes. When a few days later a handful of Jewish extremists kidnapped and murdered a poor Muslim teenage boy in a “revenge killing”, practically all of Israeli society from the Prime Minister on down loudly denounced the crime. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated publicly that the murderers of the Muslim boy were not heroes, but criminals; they would have no streets named after them, but instead be hunted down, arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. And that’s exactly what happened: within days, five Jewish men were arrested and charged with the murder of that Muslim boy. The accused are currently awaiting trial.
But among the Palestinian people, when a Jew is murdered, there is cheering and dancing in the streets. The murderers are hailed as heroes, and streets are named after them. Dr. John Monson, our tour director, told us that he has been to Arab towns where he was welcomed and shown wonderful, warm hospitality. And while they were sipping mint tea together, the mayor of the town would point to pictures on the wall and say, “We are proud that we have three suicide bombers who have come from our town!” And they had posters of them up all over the town…these suicide bombers who would go, not to military targets, but to shopping malls and bus stops; and kill, not soldiers, but dozens of civilian men, women and children. And they are hailed as heroes.
Little Muslim boys and girls are taught from the time they are born that Jews are sub-human, are descended from apes, and are to be hated and ultimately “driven into the sea”. We witnessed firsthand the ferocious hatred of the Muslim children when a group of Jewish men made a rare visit to the Temple Mount while we were there. There were Muslim children all over that vast complex, in groups of twenty or so, being taught by Muslim women in outdoor classes of their madrassas, Muslim schools. And those children came running from all over the plaza to shout and jeer at the Jews as they walked by. If the Jewish men had not been accompanied by armed Israeli police, I shudder to think what might have happened. Dr. Monson told us to stay together and walked us quickly away from the conflict. Only a few days before, we had watched from the Mount of Olives as Israeli police dispersed a Muslim mob with rubber bullets and stun grenades, right there on the Temple Mount where we were standing. Some of the Muslims had begun pelting the Jewish men praying at the Wailing Wall with stones and firecrackers on that day. None of us had any desire to be caught in the middle of something like that.
The rockets began to fall on Israel after we had returned home. My son Josh and I talked on the phone: “Can you believe rockets are falling there? We were in those places, a week and a half ago!” It left us feeling a little stunned, in disbelief…and very grateful that we weren’t still there.
I heard Pastor Erwin Lutzer of Moody Church in Chicago once say, “The bottom line on the Middle East situation is this: there will be no peace there until Jesus returns.” I believe he is right.
But after being there and seeing the people, both Jewish and Arab, it breaks my heart.
Psalm 122:6 tells us, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!” We should include all Israel, and Gaza and the West Bank, too. We still have Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters in those places. We got to meet one of them, Pastor Naim Khoury of the First Baptist Church of Bethlehem. He told us, “You cannot love Israel and hate the Palestinian people.” He and his family have literally risked their lives for almost 30 years in that place, out of love for their own people and a desire to see them come to faith in Christ. All of those people, Jews as well as Muslims, need Jesus, and need our prayers. Jesus loves them, too. So should we.
So thank you to all who prayed for my safe return.
And we can all pray for the return of Another, who will put an end to all conflict and make us all safe. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor David