Loading...

Israel: The Center of the World

Anyone who has studied the Bible realizes the importance of Israel and the Middle East in the world. In the Last Days, everything and everyone will be focused on the Middle East. It is the center of the world biblically, and in March 2001, I had the opportunity to visit the center of the world and tour through the Holy Land. It was the most incredible journey of my life, to walk the streets and paths where Jesus may have walked and sail into the middle of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus and Peter walked on water. Nothing has touched or transformed my life like that journey through the Bible, in Israel and Greece.

Fourteen years later, an epic event in Israel touched my life again. It was the elections for Prime Minister. I cannot remember an election in a foreign country ever affecting me the way this one did. I found myself waking up on Tuesday morning, March 17, 2015, turning on the news, waiting to hear any results from the elections in Israel. Had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retained his position in Israel? Would the people of Israel be protected from the threats of radical Islam? How could they elect anyone else? These were the thoughts I woke up with.

Earlier in the month, on March 3, 2015, I heard Prime Minister Netanyahu speak to Congress. I was impressed by his knowledge and wisdom. He stood strong for the nation of Israel, recognizing the very real threat radical Islam is to his country, other countries in the Middle East and the world. He knows Israel will be the first to be attacked, but it would not end there. He stood, a man of passion and vision, with a heart for his people first, and the world second. He stood and spoke the words many did not want to hear or accept.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand.” As a man who knows God’s Word, he spoke of the Book of Esther, when another Persian leader, Haman, tried to kill the Jewish people, but God intervened and Haman was defeated. God and His people prevailed, and the Prime Minister recognizes it was the hand of God upon the Jewish people and the land He had given to them.

As Christians, we have to know the Word of God. We have to know Israel will never stand alone. God will stand with Israel. He has never allowed Israel to be destroyed and He never will. Go back to the promise God made to Abraham when He called him out:

“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).

It was God who called Abraham out to make the nation of Israel, and God will bless Israel and her allies. In turn, He will curse her enemies. Those are promises from the Lord.

I know, many will not agree with my image of Prime Minister Netanyahu. There are many who have called him a fear monger. However, as Americans, living so comfortably, thousands of miles from the terrorists and their attacks, it is easy to grow complacent, easy to be apathetic, easy to be critical of a man and a land which has seen atrocities we cannot even imagine. We have not sent our children to school wondering if they will be blown up on a bus. We have not gone to the market anticipating a suicide bomber.

Sadly, many have forgotten the events of September 11, 2001, that happened just months after my return from Israel. I have not forgotten. I remember where I was and what I was doing. I remember the complete surprise of the people around me at the gym. I remember saying, “Did you really think it would never happen here?” It did happen. Lives were torn apart and for some, their lives would never be the same.

For Prime Minister Netanyahu, events like those of September 11, 2001 happen much too frequently in Israel and the people of Israel will never forget the people who want to wipe them off the map. With this in mind, they elected a strong man, Benjamin Netanyahu, a man of passion and vision, who knows God’s Word and stands on His promises. He will defend the land of Israel and God’s people.

I thank God for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s vision and his leadership. May the Lord bless him, his leaders and the people of Israel. I believe God’s promises and know, it is through Israel all the people of the earth are blessed.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.”
Psalm 122:6

~Staff Writer