17 April 2025
At the heart of Pesach and Easter is the suffering lamb that was slain, in order that God’s people might be freed from slavery.
Suffering is the doorway to freedom, salvation and ultimately resurrection.
In the book of Lamentations, the writer calls out in desperation:
“All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction.” Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees.”
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"That is what the conflict is all about: the refusal to acknowledge the Jews as an independent nation in the land of their forefathers."
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The Jewish people today are experiencing in an excruciating way the suffering, ruin and destruction that has been their lot for centuries. The eyes of the Jewish nation are weeping and mourning for their lost loved ones, and the captives still held in the dungeons of Gaza.
The vicious and incessant attacks by Hamas and other Islamist jihad groups on Israel have led Israel to respond with massive force, causing immense destruction, ruin and suffering of the people of Gaza.
All of this is the result not of Israel’s perverseness, or its desire for revenge, as many argue No, it is a direct result of the violence of those who are possessed by incessant and irrational hatred of the Jewish people.
The truth is that if the Islamic nations and the rest of the world were simply to accept the right of the Jewish people to live as a nation (together with the non-Jews in their midst) within safe and secure borders, the conflict in the Middle East would be over in a second.
For centuries, a part of the Arab/Islamic world has consistently refused to accept the existence of the Jewish people in their midst as a nation.
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"The hypocrisy of those national leaders who criticize and condemn Israel is mind-boggling."
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And the nations of the West have also been complicit for centuries in aiding and abetting those who seek Israel’s destruction. Today, billions of dollars and euros continue to be poured from Western countries into the coffers of extremist groups in the Middle East.
That is what the conflict is all about: the refusal to acknowledge the Jews as an independent nation in the land of their forefathers.
It is in that context that we should view Israel’s current ongoing campaign in Gaza, including its refusal to allow food supplies into the Gaza Strip. This policy is attracting widespread condemnation. However it needs to be appreciated that Hamas continues to refuse to release 50 hostages held in their tunnels. It also refuses to give up its dedication to the slaughter of Jews and destruction of Israel. And the revolutionary regime in Tehran – the largest sponsor and promoter of violence against the Jewish people – continues to threaten to annihilate the Jewish state.
Opinions may differ about whether Israel’s policies are wise or likely to succeed. But the right of the State of Israel to make independent decisions concerning its vital national security cannot and should not be denied.
What would other nations do in similar circumstances? The hypocrisy of those national leaders who criticize and condemn Israel is mind-boggling.
The task of the church and of the nations today is not to constantly criticize and condemn Israel, but to repent of our own sins. Our policies and prideful actions over the centuries have caused much suffering and destruction.
Instead of telling the Jewish people what to do, we should be demanding that Israel’s enemies finally recognize Israel’s existence and turn their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2). Then they will discover that Israel is a blessing to the nations.
As we celebrate Easter, let us gentiles in the nations acknowledge that our failure - today and over the centuries – to love and support the Jewish people as a nation has led to the current chaos and suffering. Let us repent of our own sins, and pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, and the coming of the Prince of Peace. Then “the Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth” (Isaiah 25:8).
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Cash-strapped Hamas can’t pay fighters as Israeli offensive hits funding sources — report
Times of Israel: “Sources tell Wall Street Journal terror group used seized goods from humanitarian aid supplies to raise money, but with deliveries cut off, it is running out of resources.”
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Palestinians: Slaughtering Jews While Falsely Using Al-Aqsa Mosque as a Pretext
Bassam Tawil: “Peaceful and permitted outdoor tours to the grounds around the Al-Aqsa Mosque are regularly described by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas as violent incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is time for the US and other Western countries to impose consequences on Palestinian leaders, especially Mahmoud Abbas and his senior representatives, for spreading falsehoods and libels against Israel and Jews. It is precisely this type of rhetoric that incentivizes Palestinians to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews.”
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Hamas said to reject Israeli ceasefire proposal
JNS: “The terror group Hamas has reportedly spurned the offer over Israel’s demand that it disarm.”
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‘A selfie with an Israeli is worse than joining ISIS’
Rawan Osman is a Syrian-Lebanese activist who advocates for Israel. Through her social media platforms, she speaks out against hatred toward the Jewish people and combats misinformation. Recently, she spoke at universities in the Netherlands, where pro-Palestinian activists attempted to disrupt her lectures due to her support for Israel.
UN Watch invited her to deliver a speech in Geneva at the United Nations, addressing Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Syria, and Lebanon. She questioned why these nations have not taken action against Hamas or provided aid to the people of Gaza.
Listen to her story in this interview.
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The Dirty Side of Redemption | The Book of RUTH with Johannes Gerloff #61
“Redemption” is generally a positive term for us. In Scripture, however, the process that this word describes also has a dirty, bloody, disgusting side.
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SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK:
Lamentations 3:25-59
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
34 To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny people their rights
before the Most High,
36 to deprive them of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?
37 Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?
39 Why should the living complain
when punished for their sins?
40 Let us examine our ways and test them,
and let us return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven, and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled
and you have not forgiven.
43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
you have slain without pity.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse
among the nations.
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide against us.
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls,
ruin and destruction.”
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.
49 My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.
51 What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.
53 They tried to end my life in a pit
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,
and I thought I was about to perish.
55 I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths of the pit.
56 You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”
58 You, Lord, took up my case;
you redeemed my life.
59 Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.
Uphold my cause!
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Israel & Christians Today
The goal of Israel & Christians Today is to help Christians to take God’s Word seriously, and study current events in the world in the context of the Bible.
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